Bahrain is taking serious steps to curb the problem of "free visas" in recent weeks with 43 business owners being investigated by the public prosecutor, according to Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Dr. Majeed Al-Allawi. "These are hideous people who trade in flesh," said the minister, who has launched a campaign to curb the phenomenon of 'free visa' since he came to the ministry two years ago. The 43 people being investigated will be dealt with firmly according to the law, Allawi said. He was speaking at a public meeting in Al-Muharraq. The problem of "free visas" has plagued the Bahraini job market for the last 20 years. "This is a complicated issue. For some people it is a thriving business that nets millions of dinars every year," Allawi said. He added that King Hamad had given him the authority to enforce the law to combat this problem.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2004 9:00:11 PM ||
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Fred, I don't get this one. Excessive "visas" - if that's what the article is about - is a problem rooted in the fact that no Bahraini wants to clean a toilet. In the USA we are addressign the problem by continually raising the minimum wage until it becomes cost effective to design and sell a robotic toilet cleaner. Ted Kennedy has us well on our way to that "final solution."
Posted by: Super Hose ||
08/03/2004 21:17 Comments ||
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#2
Don't you mean "fecal solution"?
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
08/03/2004 21:25 Comments ||
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#3
potty mouth
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/03/2004 21:34 Comments ||
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The wife of Saudi Arabia's crown prince defended wearing the veil, compulsory for women in the kingdom, saying in a rare interview published Tuesday that women are happy with the traditional garb.
Princess Hasah al-Shalaan praised her husband, Crown Prince Abdullah, for supporting women and their rights in the conservative kingdom.
"He doesn't distinguish (between his sons and daughters), and always says that a woman has her rights, given to her by God and Islam, so why should we take them away from her," she said in the interview with the Arab daily al-Hayat.
She also defended the wearing of the veil, saying, "I ask God to maintain the blessing (of the veil). This modest, conservative dress makes people equal and is a symbol of our religion."
"We respect our traditions and culture and the religion of others; why doesn't the West respect our reality and life and thoughts? Everyone must know that, especially for woman, we have our traditions and culture and we will not give them up. The Saudi woman is generally happy with this situation."
The paper published a picture of the crown prince with the interview, but did not carry a photograph of his wife. The wives of senior Saudi officials rarely give interviews to the media and are not often seen in public.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
08/03/2004 3:58:22 PM ||
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He doesnât distinguish (between his sons and daughters)
#2
By wearing veils, maybe they are doing the rest of us a favour.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
08/03/2004 22:53 Comments ||
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Why is the veils compulsory then?
If what you say is true then you should not need a 'ministry of vice and vurtue' (or whatever its called) who beats women for not wearing a veil would you?
Instead your government has to enforce your religions convictions on everyone else under pain of a beating or death.
In an effort to perpetuate the memory of the late Prince Ahmed ibn Salman, son of Riyadh Governor Prince Salman and former chairman of the Saudi Research & Marketing Group, the Kentucky World Trade Center (KWTC) seeks to introduce a novel program to boost Saudi-US relations through trade and education cum on-the-job training exchange. This was disclosed to Arab News by Ahmed Al-Ibrahim, one of the promoters of the scheme, who is mobilizing support for the project along with Dr. Edward F. Brown, a member of the board of directors of KWTC. A draft of the proposal has been submitted to Dr. Nail Al-Jubair, consultant at the Royal Saudi Embassy in Washington. The scheme, known as Ambassador Program, will be up and running on May 5 next year, the day when Prince Ahmed's colt, "War Emblem", made racing history by winning the Kentucky Derby. Saudi Ambassador to the US Prince Bandar ibn Sultan will inaugurate the program, with funds coming from both Saudi and American businessmen.
Al-Ibrahim, now in Riyadh on a private visit, said the late Prince Ahmed had endeared himself to the people of Kentucky, where he was a regular visitor and a participant in the horse race. Kentucky, as the venue of the horse racing, is keen on perpetuating the memory of Prince Ahmed who was a shining symbol of Saudi-American relations. At another level, Prince Faisal ibn Fahd ibn Abdullah has launched the Saudi-American Exchange Program to bring in American students who qualify for the program. "The idea is to let them discover the Kingdom and broaden their understanding. However, two things are off-limits for discussion — politics and religion. The program has had a favorable response, with the Boston Globe and the Washington Post giving it a good coverage. The program has helped in creating a better understanding of the Kingdom and its culture," Al-Ibrahim said.
He pointed out that he has been working closely with the Saudi Embassy in Washington in promoting the scheme. The Ambassador Program, he said, will enable business professionals and non-profit staff members to exchange ideas, study, teach and conduct research in the US and other countries in the Middle East. Asked about the anti-Saudi campaign in the US media, Al-Ibrahim said Adel and Nail Al-Jubair have been doing a good job in networking with the Congress. They have also been organizing seminars in American universities to clarify misconceptions about Saudi Arabia. Such events have gone down well with the American audience. Referring to the Saudi-American Exchange Program, he said it has worked effectively. Asked how they are going to change the public perception of the Arabs when the US media is working full time against the Arab world, Al-Ibrahim said they are not counting on the media as their communication tool. "If we are going to fight them through their media, it is a lost case."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: TS(vice girl) ||
08/03/2004 11:54:25 AM ||
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The scheme, known as Ambassador Program, will be up and running on May 5 next year, the day when Prince Ahmedâs colt, âWar Emblemâ, made racing history by winning the Kentucky Derby.
F*ck you and the horse you rode in on, Achhhhmed. *spit*
#2
From boston.com âAs reported last year by Gerald Posner in 'Why America Slept,' Prince Ahmed not only had alleged ties to Al Qaeda, but may also have known in advance that there would be attacks on 9/11. According to Posner, Abu Zubaydah, an Al Qaeda operative who was part of Osama bin Laden's inner circle and was captured in 2002, made these assertions when he was interrogated by the CIA. The commission should ask Mueller about Zubaydah's interrogation. They should also ask whether the FBI interrogated Prince Ahmed before his departure.
Seems he was 1 of 3 AQ connected Saudi princes to meet an untimely death after the WTC attack. Ahmed had a "heart attack" at 43. Another died of thirst in the deep desert.
Keep the saudis and their "Exchange Programs" the hell away from the US.
Posted by: ed ||
08/03/2004 12:31 Comments ||
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However, two things are off-limits for discussion â politics and religion.
Got bad news for you boys. Other than your oil, there's only two things we're going to talk to you about: politics and religion. Because your craphole of a country is poisoning the rest of the world with your...you guessed it: politics and religion.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair is being urged by opponents to spell out in detail the al Qaeda threat facing Britain.
Opposition Conservative home affairs spokesman David Davis called for a "detailed account" of threats and targets. He said it was "astonishing" Britons were getting more information from the U.S. than from their own government.
Davis also called for the appointment of a UK chief of homeland security to match Tom Ridge in the United States.
The Conservative spokesman issued the appeal after the Home Office described the threat as "real and serious" and the American authorities pinpointed specific targets in Washington, New York, and New Jersey -- all "iconic" financial institutions.
The UK Home Office indicated that no specific threat had been uncovered. Officials would only say Britain was in a state of "heightened readiness" after plans for terror strikes in the the U.S. and the UK were uncovered following the arrest of a senior al Qaeda suspect.
E-mails about attacks on both countries were on a computer belonging to Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, wanted for the 1998 twin U.S. embassy bombings in Africa.
The UK Home Office indicated that the emails did not constitute a specific threat.
"We are maintaining a state of heightened readiness in the UK," a spokeswoman said.
"We are taking every feasible precaution to protect British citizens here and abroad and, as ever, we keep the threat level under constant review."
Davis said in a statement that the Blair administration should be more forthcoming with information.
"The British Government should take this risk extremely seriously," he said.
"We find it very worrying that the Americans seem to be at a much more advanced stage than us in contingency planning and police presence. They also share much more information with their public than our government."
Davis said: "Mr Blair need to spell out the exact threat to the UK so that we are in a clear position as to where we stand. It is astonishing that we are getting more information about the risk to Britain from the Americans than from our own government.
"The raw truth is that local authorities are under-resourced and Britain does not have one person solely responsible for the job of keeping us safe against terrorists. The sooner we have a Minister for Homeland Security, the better."
Conservative shadow attorney general Dominic Grieve said that his understanding from the U.S. reports was that specific targets in the UK had been identified.
"The U.S. has shown a much greater readiness to inform people what is going on," he told Sky news.
He said Britons had been told for months it was not a question of "if" but "when" there would be a terrorist outrage in the UK.
"I think the public are entitled to as much information as possible which is compatible with intelligence requirements," he said.
He added that members of the public could be invaluable to police in being their "eyes and ears" to help prevent terrorist attacks.
Liberal Democrat spokesman Simon Hughes said that Britain traditionally had a more reserved approach to issuing terrorist alerts than the U.S., but if there were specific information a decision had to be made on whether it should be shared.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/03/2004 9:04:02 AM ||
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Bush is guilty of releasing the info to help his reelection. Tony is guilty of not letting the people know.
Posted by: B ||
08/03/2004 12:05 Comments ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
08/03/2004 13:21 ||
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Yikes! Used Golf II and Whiskeys, now that's a quality threat. BTW I remember some variant of the Whiskey carried a cruise missle hanger but a missle tube?
This really does sound like the work of agent A.L. Chappeau.
#2
Janes usually doesn't do the tin foil hat thing .... hmm?
Posted by: too true ||
08/03/2004 14:14 Comments ||
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From the article: It said Pyongyang was also helped by the purchase, through a Japanese trading company, of 12 decommissioned Russian Foxtrot-class and Golf II-class submarines which were sold for scrap in 1993.
Shades of Toshiba in the 1980's, which sold export-controlled milling machines to the Soviet Union, which helped them make ultra quiet propellers for their subs. Too bad we did not retain the sanctions imposed back then. (By the way, most Japanese conglomerates - including Matsushita and Toshiba - known for Panasonic and Technics stereo equipment - are known as trading companies - they have their fingers in a lot of pies).
#8
These things are more likely to be death traps for their crews and money pits for the North Korean defense budget.
Another major money pit would be for the North Koreans to figure out how to sea launch a missile. I doubt their technology is up to snuff on such a complicated deployment technique.
All the same, those "Japanese trading companies" need to be boycotted and banned from exporting to America. Enough of this sort of back-stabbing. The Japanese government cannot simultaneously whinge about North Korean missile overflights and then permit their corporate wolverines to sell launch platforms to the enemy. This sort of mercenary crap has gotta end.
#11
dreadnought, thank you for injecting a note of common sense into this issue. You are also absolutely correct about the Japanese escalating whatever quality of goods delivered as payment demand increases.
There needs to be a profound price attached to this sort of betrayal. More importantly, Japan's own government must be made aware of how compromised they are by such samurai tactics in their private sector.
While current North Korean missile development may not represent a substantial or credible threat to the United States, it most certainly does to our allies, South Korea and Japan. It is much like the situation in Iran. Any continued neglect of ongoing weapons programs only guarantees that these threats will assume much greater proportions in the very near future.
Sadly, this is much akin to further disregard for Japan's treachery. If we continue to ignore how Japan plays both ends against the middle, it is America that stands to lose the most. Most assuredly, Japan's obliteration would make some definite ripples in the Asian quadrant. However, major damage to the United States would result in a deterioration of all global progress for some time to come.
Here is a fairly well balanced site with satellite images of the North Korean facilities. Image number five (at left) shows the classic "carriage house" entrance and loop needed for a vehicle assembly facility. While this site provides some excellent dismissals of any immediate threat levels they might pose, that does not matter. North Korea will eventually divert sufficient resources to become a much larger problem if they are not addressed now.
Japan's sale of ocean-going launch platforms is a dramatic illustration of how America needs to clamp down on such renegade activities by our putative allies. One look to Europe and their dealings with Iran is proof enough.
NORTH Korea has boycotted Cabinet-level talks with South Korea scheduled to start in Seoul today. It is angry over the defection of hundreds of "human scum" North Koreans to the South last week.
Pyongyang described the mass defection as an act of "kidnapping and terrorism committed by South Korean authorities in broad daylight". The South Korean ministry of unification said in a statement that it deeply regretted Pyongyang's decision not to attend the talks. "We urge the North side to come to their senses the talks at the earliest possible date and discuss and resolve pending issues of the two sides so as to continue pushing forward inter-Korean ties," it said.
The two Koreas have been at odds over the defection and Seoul's earlier refusal to let pro-unification harebrained activists visit Pyongyang for the 10th anniversary of the death of the North's founding leader, Kim Il-Sung on July 8. North Korea also scrapped maritime and military talks with South Korea in retaliation.
Quite a hissy fit it was, too.
South Korea has played down the significance of the North Korean boycott, saying Seoul remains committed to engagement with the communist state, which is in dire need of assistance to revive its moribund economy.
Two South Korean chartered flights carried more than 450 North Korean refugees to South Korea last week. They had previously been holed up in an unidentified South-East Asian nation after escaping their impoverished homeland. It was the biggest mass defection to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Activists engaged in the defection said they came from Vietnam. Hanoi has declined to comment on the defection. South Korea's unification ministry said it planned to buy 100,000 tonnes of rice from Vietnam as part of a 400,000-tonne food aid for North Korea.
South Koreans are getting better at this bribery thing.
South Korean officials said the North Koreans had arrived in the country in small groups separately in the past few years and their accumulated number reached a level that the host country could no longer sustain, compelling Seoul to bring them here.
Despite the angry reaction from the North, South Korean officials said there would be no change in Seoul's policy to accept any North Koreans who are staying in foreign countries while waiting for the chance to come here. Up to 300,000 North Koreans are said to be in hiding in China according to some estimates and hundreds are believed to be gathering in various South-East Asian nations. Most are awaiting a chance to reach the South.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/03/2004 12:00:21 AM ||
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South Korea has played down the significance of the North Korean boycott, saying Seoul remains committed to engagement with the communist state, which is in dire need of assistance to revive its moribund economy.
The Norks do not need assistance, they need to fall so the North Korean people can be saved from their madness.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/03/2004 0:15 Comments ||
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NK should look at the issue philisophically - after the reunification, everybody will be together again anyway. What's a little defection among family?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
08/03/2004 0:35 Comments ||
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So how did they get to Vietnam? (the host country?)
It may be hard to get from Nork to China, but apparently its not at all hard to move around China - i mean youve got millions of Chinese moving around from rural areas to urban labor markets, and the Chinese seem to rely on pass programs in the cities to try to control that.
As for crossing from China to Viet Nam, a I suppose thats not to hard either, since VN is a lower wage country than China, and probably doesnt expect to get hordes of Chinese coming in.
#5
Hmmmm - wonder how eager they'll be for talks when the first snows hit?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/03/2004 9:48 Comments ||
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The South Koreans donât want the North Korean government to fall. They saw what re-unification did to Germany and know that absorbing their North Korean âbrothersâ would destroy their economy.
They hope to very slowly change the North Korean government. They want to put off the crisis.
China has concerns about refugees and instability along the Korean border. In addition China doesnât want a country friendly to the US along the China-Korean border.
âHmmmm - wonder how eager they'll be for talks when the first snows hit?â
The North Korean leaders care little for the peasants. Starving peasants are viewed as a good way to get international money that can then be spent on the leadership and the military.
Since the US, China, South Korea, and North Korea have different interests; the problem wonât be resolved by negotiation.
#8
Successful negotiation requires good will and compromise of positions. I do not see that anywhere, so nothing will happen. Anon 5032 brings out the point well in #6 above. The SKors don't want the north to fall fast. Neither do the ChiComs. So nothing will happen, except possible NORK nuclear blackmail. Great problem solving. Sheesh!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/03/2004 13:06 Comments ||
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CAIRO, Egypt - A group claiming to represent al-Qaida in Europe repeated threats against Britain, Italy, Bulgaria and other nations with forces in Iraq in a Web statement Tuesday. But the statement denied that the group, calling itself Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigade Europe, had demanded that Italy withdraw its troops from Iraq within 15 days. The ultimatum, also signed Hafs al-Masri Brigade, was posted on the Web on Sunday.
"No, they're the Hafs al-Masri Brigade. We're the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigade Europe, there's a difference."
Tuesday's statement was one in a series of claims and counterclaims in recent days that illustrate the difficulties of determining the authenticity of such Web threats or whether those that post them have any ability to carry them out.
Italy and other European countries face heightened alerts after the expiration on July 15 of a three-month truce offered by al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden to European countries if they left Iraq, Afghanistan and other Muslim countries.
Tuesday's Web threat echoed one on Friday that said: "From here in Italy, and from Britain and Bulgaria, and all European countries, we call on all our people to mobilize and prepare to engage in the battle, a new type and style of battle. Prepare to shed blood, let us make it an endless bloody war."
Posted by: Steve ||
08/03/2004 9:11:23 AM ||
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Anyone remember Justice League Europe?
Posted by: Chris W. ||
08/03/2004 12:00 Comments ||
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Justice League Europe wasn't bad, actually. It wasn't very "European"; it was a spinoff of JLA with a few exotic locations. However, the last episode in France, in which a John Cleese lookalike attacks the Justice League and the French do not One. Frickin. Thing. to help, was pricelessly funny!
Posted by: Steve Johnson ||
08/03/2004 12:12 Comments ||
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I left this comment yesterday in a posting that mentioned the Islambouli Brigade of al Qaeda:
I keep hearing about these clowns from the "So and so angry Arab Brigade" and the "Abu Hafs al get you my pretty . . . and your little dog, too, Brigade." What does it take to become a brigade these days? Now that the US Army is The Army of One, why don't we just change the nomenclature to declare each soldier a brigade of one? This would give us an astonishing 1.4 million active duty brigades and another 1.1 million reserve and national guard brigades. That ought to strike fear into our enemies. Just picture the headlines -- "300 Army Brigades Surround al-Sadr's House" or "Army Brigade Beats the P*ss Out of Michael Moore After Moore Attempts to Steal Brigades's French Fries and Blame Bush."
Posted by: Tibor ||
08/03/2004 14:10 Comments ||
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FORT BRAGG, N.C. - An Army investigator testified Tuesday that Pfc. Lynndie England and other members of her unit told him that photos of naked Iraqi prisoners piled in pyramids and other humiliating poses were taken "just for fun." As a military hearing started to determine if England should be court-martialed for her actions at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Paul D. Arthur testified that when he interviewed her, three months before the prison photos became public in April, she told him the shots were taken while "they were joking around, having some fun, working the night shift."
Nothing like a little abuse to make the shift go faster
Arthur said he believed the reservists from the 372nd Military Police Company, based on Cresaptown, Md., were responding to the stress of being in a war zone.
"It was just for fun, kind of venting their frustration," Arthur testified.
The hearing is designed to gather evidence that will be used to decide if England will be court-martialed. The Article 32 hearing is the military equivalent of a grand jury in civilian court, but it is open and the defendant attends it. Defense lawyers have said England was following orders when she was photographed mocking the detainees and that the U.S. government has made her a scapegoat for an incident that stirred anger in the Arab world.
But Arthur said that although England initially told him military intelligence officers allowed the reservists to take the photographs for use in interrogating other prisoners, there was no indication that ever happened.
"No one said they were going to turn them over to military intelligence," he testified.
In cross-examination, England's military lawyer, Capt. Jonathan Crisp, pressed Arthur about whether military intelligence officers ordered the reservists to take the pictures. Arthur said officials continue to investigate the use of military intelligence techniques at the prison, but added that in his interviews with 372nd members, "none of them stated that (military intelligence) specifically told them (to do this), except for the statement I got from Pfc. England."
England's demeanor as she arrived for the hearing contrasted with the images of a jaunty young woman shown in the photos. England was visibly pregnant beneath her green camouflage uniform and wore a black beret. Her expression was serious and subdued, and she looked down as she approached the courthouse and dozens of reporters and photographers. One of the prison photos shows England, from Fort Ashby, W.Va., smiling, cigarette in her mouth, as she leans forward and points at the genitals of a naked, hooded Iraqi. Another photo shows her holding a leash that encircles the neck of a naked Iraqi man lying on his side on a cellblock floor, his face contorted.
England, 21, is charged with 13 counts of abusing detainees and six counts stemming from possession of sexually explicit photos which the Army has said do not depict Iraqis. The maximum possible sentence is 38 years in prison.
Say goodbye, Lynndie
Arthur, who was stationed at Abu Ghraib to monitor prisoner interviews for the Army, was the first witnesses called by the prosecution. He said he was alerted to problems at the prison on the night of Jan. 13, when Spc. Joseph Darby of the 372nd gave him a compact disk containing the now-infamous photos, which were mixed with tourist-type photos of Iraq, and told him that prisoners were being abused. He said he started waking members of England's unit and questioning them within two hours. A Fort Bragg spokesman, Col. Billy Buckner, told reporters that the prosecution has 25 potential witnesses.
Witnesses on a list the defense released earlier this year included Vice President Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and top generals, although military officials say it is doubtful they will appear.
England is one of seven reservists from the 372nd who have been charged in the scandal. One, Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits, has already pleaded guilty and been sentenced to a year in prison.
He'll be one of the witnesses
Spec. Charles A. Graner Jr., 35, another soldier in England's unit, also has been charged with abuses and was involved in a romantic relationship with England; he faces adultery charges for allegedly having sex with England last October. England's lawyers have said Graner is the father of the child she is expecting.
He's the civilian prison guard with a history of abuse. I'll wager he'll be at the center of the abuse gang.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/03/2004 12:55:06 PM ||
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...My prediction: PFC Snookums will do twelve months at a minimum security stockade and recieve a DD. They're saving the big guns for Graner and Frederick.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/03/2004 14:15 Comments ||
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I still want to see Janis "I'm being persecuted" Karpinski in the dock over this. In civilian life, Karpinski gets paid (a lot) basically to haze people on behalf of business; that is, she conducts "high-stress" motivational seminars for junior executives. This reportedly includes some pretty degrading treatment as well as an element of new-age hokum.
This kind of thing has a following in management circles, where unions and the law will tolerate it.
I happened to witness the hazing of new employees at a local call-center last year. (I was there with a friend who was a major client and, ever curious, I happened to wander off on my own.) In one class for new-hires, people who made mistakes were forced to dance in front of the class. One who refused was fired on the spot. In another, trainees were forced to eat a jar of baby food if they made mistakes. The instructor had a whole stack of them on his desk. He joked that the clerks at Sam's thought he had quadruplets from the amount of baby-food he bought. I also saw security guards screaming at and threatening employees. I was told that this "high-impact" treatment was designed to weed out those who could not tolerate abusive callers. The union (CWA)apparently went along with it because new-hires are not members and are not eligible to join for 3 months. I suggested to one supervisor that this kind of behavior might well be against the law. VIP hanger-on or not, I was asked to leave and was escorted by a couple of the scowling security goons (all of whom had goatees for some reason).
A week later, a local media outlet got hidden camera video of these goings-on, the security goons and the baby-food punishment especially, but the story was never broadcast.
That could be true, I suppose. But his victims are dead because they weren't Muslims...
A military judge will reconsider 42 defense motions in the case of a soldier charged in a grenade attack on fellow troops in Kuwait. The March 2003 attack killed an Air Force major and an Army captain -- and injured 14 members of the 101st Airborne Division. A new judge today said he would review the rulings by a previous judge who has been transferred to duty in Korea. That first judge refused defense requests to move the trial, rule out a death sentence and to sequester the military jury when the trial starts. Defense lawyers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, have said there were no witnesses to the attack and Sergeant Hasan Akbar was accused because he is Muslim. Akbar's trial is scheduled to start in October. He faces two counts of premeditated murder and three counts of attempted murder.
#4
I say that we release Sgt. Akbar so he can team up with O.J. and form an elite crime-fighting duo. They'll specialize in solving murders where it looks really *&#$% obvious who did it.
#5
Well, yes, in a sense. He's charged because he fragged US troops. He fragged US troops because he's an a$$hole moonbat. Therefore, he is charged because he is a moonbat.
#8
of course a muslim did it. any other soldier who held strong anti-war beliefs would have used the system to object, even to the point of serving jail time because of conscientious objection. A muslim, instead, throws a grenade.
.S. Rep. Katherine Harris said Monday that the United States has "literally defeated 100 (potential) terrorist attacks on this country" in the past three years, some of which could have been as deadly as the 9/11 destruction of the World Trade Center.
Speaking Monday night in Venice at a rally in support of President Bush, Harris said the United States is winning the war against terrorism.
"His remarkable leadership ⊠has made our country safe," Harris told an overflow crowd of more than 600 at the Holiday Inn. The event was sponsored by the Republican Club of South Sarasota County.
In an interview after the speech, Harris said she learned from classified information about the 100 potential attacks that have been thwarted since 9/11.
"Actually, it's been more than 100," she said. "It's classified ⊠obviously not classified to me ⊠but things I can't go into detail about."
Harris, a first-term Republican congresswoman from Longboat Key, said terrorism remains the No. 1 challenge facing the nation.
"And the first line of defense is you," she told the audience.
Harris told the audience that while she was in the Midwest recently, the mayor of Carmel, Ind., recounted how a man of Middle Eastern heritage had been arrested. She said hundreds of pounds of explosives were found in his home.
"He had plans to blow up the area's entire power grid," she said.
Pressed after the speech for details about the arrest, Harris said it had not been made public and she asked a reporter not to name the city she mentioned to the audience.
"I probably said too much," Harris said.
Contacted Monday night, Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard said a man was arrested two years ago and was sent to the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
He said he knew of no explosives or threats to blow up the power grid, however.
Carmel Police Chief Michael Fogarty said he had "no knowledge" of an arrest. "I don't know where that information came from," he said. "I certainly haven't heard anything about it."
Harris also told the audience that the war in Iraq has been a success. Since the United States toppled Saddam Hussein, 1,700 schools have opened where "students learn the truth, not lies," she said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/03/2004 9:39:13 AM ||
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"And the first line of defense is you," she told the audience.
Okay, she has that right.
However, it really bothers me when US officials or organizations (I'm looking at you, CIA) claim successes but offer no real examples.
They should identify some verifiable cases to present to the US people; this is not just to justify their current strategy (and their jobs), but also to help the morale of the domestic populace.
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
08/03/2004 12:14 Comments ||
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be nice if they opened a few of those 'no lies' schools here in the usa
The information that led authorities to issue an unprecedented warning of potential terrorist attacks on financial centers in New York, Washington and New Jersey came from at least three al-Qaeda members deemed highly reliable, U.S. and Pakistani officials said yesterday.
Two were pivotal figures arrested last month in Pakistan in separate raids where documentary evidence also was captured, the officials said. The more important of the two was an al-Qaeda computer engineer who relayed communications to network members, they said.
The third is in British custody and is cooperating, one official said.
Disclosure of the multiple points of intelligence about planning for the attacks helps explain why the Bush administration decided Sunday to announce a heightened state of alert and identify specific potential targets - even though counterterrorism experts are unsure how far the terrorists' planning had progressed or whether the plan was even still under consideration.
Government officials told the Washington Post yesterday that most, if not all, of the information about the buildings seized by authorities in a raid in Pakistan last week was about three years old, and possibly older.
Analysts are racing through the captured documents to determine whether the terrorists' surveillance and attack planning are continuing, said a U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because classified information is involved.
One expert suggested the discovery of the plot and the government's announcement largely neutralized the threat.
"It kills it," said Vincent Cannistraro, a former top CIA counterterrorism official. "This is a dead operational plan."
Cannistraro said there was no doubt Sunday's alert "is a real one... a lot different qualitatively than the previous terror alerts, which have been based on much flimsier information."
The sources of such reports include the operative in British custody, who is knowledgeable about al-Qaeda's intentions and is cooperating, one official said. No other details were available. "The level and the texture and the quality of [the intelligence], you can't rule out" that attack planning is ongoing, the U.S. intelligence official said of the decision to raise the alert level. "When you see that kind of reporting... you really need to take notice."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/03/2004 9:06:17 AM ||
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The recent arrest in Pakistan of a computer expert with suspected ties to al Qaeda turned up evidence that the terror network has kept key U.S. financial buildings under surveillance, possibly for years, U.S. officials said Monday.
One U.S. intelligence official said the arrest yielded a "treasure trove" of information.
"Recent credible and specific intelligence reporting indicates terrorist operatives have done extensive research and reconnaissance activity," says an FBI bulletin sent Sunday to 18,000 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
A senior military official said a computer seized from the suspect in Pakistan contained hundreds of images, including photographs, drawings and layouts of potential U.S. targets.
Some of the photos were years old, while others had been taken as recently as the past few months, he said. Some images showed underground garages, leading to the conclusion that those areas had been under surveillance.
The Department of Homeland Security has said the New York Stock Exchange and the Citigroup headquarters in Manhattan; the Newark headquarters of Prudential Financial Inc.; and the Washington offices of the World Bank and IMF could be targets in a terrorist plot.
"The reporting does not specify the timing or mode of attack. Based on the nature of reconnaissance information, however, the most likely means of attack would be a vehicle borne improvised explosive device, to include limousines, large vans, trucks, and oil tankers which could be placed in underground parking areas or near highly populated entrance ways," the FBI bulletin says.
Senior government sources said the stream of intelligence revealed more than the five financial targets that officials have publicly named. These sources described the additional targets as financial institutions.
A Homeland Security official acknowledged there were a number of what he called "minute mentions," without any details, of other buildings. The official would not elaborate further.
The FBI has several investigations under way, stemming from the new intelligence, officials said.
One goal is to try to determine who carried out the surveillance and whether that person or people are still in the United States. Investigators are scanning employee and visitor records from the various sites.
In Washington, senior intelligence officials characterized al Qaeda's reconnaissance information as "chilling" in its scope and breadth.
Metropolitan police Chief Charles Ramsey and Capitol Hill police Chief Terrance Gainer said they expect the increased security around the buildings to remain in effect through at least the election November 2.
"I don't see anything on the horizon that would significantly change our posture prior to the election," Gainer said.
As part of the increased security, police around the U.S. Capitol have begun inspecting every car that drives by the Capitol and its office buildings.
Police will operate roughly 10 "vehicle screening checkpoints" around the perimeter of the Capitol complex, including heavily traveled Constitution and Independence Avenues from about 3rd Street on the west side and 2nd Street on the east side.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/03/2004 12:45:49 AM ||
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#1
Some of the photos were years old, while others had been taken as recently as the past few months, he said.
I thought the information found was old, really old! (/sarcasm, off)
Federal counterterrorism officials have told officials at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund that they believe plans for a possible attack on the two financial institutions were so detailed that terrorists must have had inside help from employees, contractors or visitors with access throughout the buildings, officials at the two organizations say.
Some federal officials have expressed some doubt on how recent the information is that spurred the government to elevate the threat alert status on Sunday. Still other officials are pursuing what they see as the possibility of an inside job regarding the World Bank and I.M.F. by telling officials of these institutions that they are preparing to formally request some lists of their mostly foreign employees and contractors. Special requests are required because the records of these institutions have diplomatic immunity, though not all of their staff does.
But officials said the World Bank and the I.M.F., both members of the larger United Nations family, are reluctant to hand over employee lists. "If the Iranian government asked for a list of our employees in Tehran we wouldn't comply,'' said one official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "How could we turn around and give names to the United States government?''
You'd think a banker would understand the need for peace, order and security.
SEATTLE (AP) - A Muslim chaplain cleared after being imprisoned for 76 days in an espionage probe submitted a letter of resignation to the Army on Monday, saying officials never apologized to him or allowed him to retrieve his belongings from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Capt. James Yee, 35, ministered to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay naval station, where the military is holding suspected Muslim terrorists. He was taken into custody after the military initially linked him to a possible espionage ring at Guantanamo. "Those unfounded allegations - which were leaked to the media - irreparably injured my personal and professional reputation and destroyed my prospects for a career in the United States Army," Yee wrote in his resignation letter.
Yee asked to be discharged on Jan. 7. The Army must approve his resignation, but Yee's lawyer, Eugene R. Fidell, said he did not believe Yee's wishes would be opposed. Fort Lewis spokesman Lt. Col. Bill Costello said he did not know when Yee might get an answer.
The Army arrested him last September carrying what authorities said were classified documents. He was eventually charged with mishandling classified material, failing to obey an order, making a false official statement, adultery and conduct unbecoming an officer. In March, Army officials dismissed all criminal charges against him, but found him guilty of the non-criminal Army charges of adultery and downloading pornography. The reprimand he received was thrown out by an Army general a month later.
Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts have asked the Pentagon to investigate the handling of Yee's case, saying it called into question the fairness of military justice.
Once he leaves the Army, Yee plans to continue working on a master's degree in international relations and perhaps pursue a doctorate, as well, Fidell said.
I still can't tell who was right on this one.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/03/2004 12:33:52 AM ||
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Once he leaves the Army, Yee plans to continue working on a master's degree in international relations..
Much of the information that led the authorities to raise the terror alert at several large financial institutions in the New York City and Washington areas was three or four years old, intelligence and law enforcement officials said on Monday. They reported that they had not yet found concrete evidence that a terrorist plot or preparatory surveillance operations were still under way.
But the officials continued to regard the information as significant and troubling because the reconnaissance already conducted has provided Al Qaeda with the knowledge necessary to carry out attacks against the sites in Manhattan, Washington and Newark. They said Al Qaeda had often struck years after its operatives began surveillance of an intended target.
Taken together with a separate, more general stream of intelligence, which indicates that Al Qaeda intends to strike in the United States this year, possibly in New York or Washington, the officials said even the dated but highly detailed evidence of surveillance was sufficient to prompt the authorities to undertake a global effort to track down the unidentified suspects involved in the surveillance operations.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/03/2004 12:26:32 AM ||
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Much of the information that -- was three or four years old,
al-Q takes at least two years to plan for their big attacks, look at 9-11 attacks. I believe the african embassy attacks took a long time as well.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/03/2004 8:19 Comments ||
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Notice anything, aside from this being a NY Times story?
Much of the information that led the authorities to raise the terror alert at several large financial institutions in the New York City and Washington areas was three or four years old, intelligence and law enforcement officials said on Monday. They reported that they had not yet found concrete evidence that a terrorist plot or preparatory surveillance operations were still under way.
But the officials continued to regard the information as significant and troubling because the reconnaissance already conducted has provided Al Qaeda with the knowledge necessary to carry out attacks against the sites in Manhattan, Washington and Newark. They said Al Qaeda had often struck years after its operatives began surveillance of an intended target.
Taken together with a separate, more general stream of intelligence, which indicates that Al Qaeda intends to strike in the United States this year, possibly in New York or Washington, the officials said even the dated but highly detailed evidence of surveillance was sufficient to prompt the authorities to undertake a global effort to track down the unidentified suspects involved in the surveillance operations.
"You could say that the bulk of this information is old, but we know that Al Qaeda collects, collects, collects until theyâre comfortable,ââ said one senior government official. "Only then do they carry out an operation. And there are signs that some of this may have been updated or may be more recent.ââ
Frances Fragos Townsend, the White House homeland security adviser, said on Monday in an interview on PBS that surveillance reports, apparently collected by Qaeda operatives had been "gathered in 2000 and 2001.ââ But she added that information may have been updated as recently as January.
The comments of government officials on Monday seemed softer in tone than the warning issued the day before. On Sunday, officials were circumspect in discussing when the surveillance of the financial institutions had occurred, and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge cited the quantity of intelligence from "multiple reporting streamsââ that he said was "alarming in both the amount and specificity of the information.ââ
The officials said on Monday that they were still analyzing computer records, photos, drawings and other documents, seized last month in Pakistan, which showed that Qaeda operatives had conducted extensive reconnaissance.
"What weâve uncovered is a collection operation as opposed to the launching of an attack," a senior American official said.
Still, the official said the new trove of material, which was being sifted for fresh clues, combined with more recent flows of intelligence, had demonstrated that Al Qaeda remains active and intent on attacking the United States.
The concern about the possibility of an attack was apparent on Monday. Armed guards were positioned at the five targets listed by Mr. Ridge: the New York Stock Exchange and the Citigroup buildings in Manhattan, the headquarters of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Washington and Prudential Financial in Newark. The buildings were subjected to their highest level of security since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, with barricades, rapid-response teams and bomb-sniffing dogs providing rings of protection.
With intelligence reports specifying a possible truck bombing, police stopped and searched vehicles in the Wall Street area, while vans and trucks were banned from bridges and tunnels entering lower Manhattan.
In Washington, President Bush said the alert issued on Sunday reflected "a serious business.ââ He said at a White House news conference, "We wouldnât be contacting authorities at the local level unless something was real.ââ
A sizable part of the information seized in Pakistan described reconnaissance carried out before the Sept. 11 attacks, officials said. The documents do not indicate who wrote the detailed descriptions of security arrangements at the financial buildings or whether the surveillance was conducted for a current operation or was part of preparations for a plan that was later set aside.
In a briefing on Sunday, a senior intelligence official said that the threat to the financial institutions "probably continues even today."
Federal authorities said on Monday that they had uncovered no evidence that any of the surveillance activities described in the documents was currently under way. They said officials in New Jersey had been mistaken in saying on Sunday that some suspects had been found with blueprints and may have recently practiced "test runsââ aimed at the Prudential building in Newark.
Joseph Billy Jr., the special agent in charge of the F.B.I.âs Newark office, said a diagram of the Prudential building had been found in Pakistan. "It appears to be from the period around 9/11,ââ Mr. Billy said. "Now weâre trying to see whether it goes forward from there.ââ
Another counterterrorism official in Washington said that it was not yet clear whether the information pointed to a current plot. "We know that Al Qaeda routinely cases targets and then puts the plans on a shelf without doing anything,ââ the official said.
The documents were found after Pakistani authorities acting on information supplied by the Central Intelligence Agency arrested Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, an engineer who was found to have served as a middleman in facilitating Qaeda communications. His capture led the C.I.A. to laptop computers, CD-ROMâs, and other storage devices that contained copies of communications describing the extensive surveillance.
Mr. Khan had been essentially unknown to the United States as recently as May, , who said the C.I.A. had described him to Pakistani authorities that month only as a shadowy figure identified by his alias, Abu Talha.
The lack of knowledge about Mr. Khan reflected how hard it has been for American authorities to penetrate Al Qaeda. He operated successfully without the government learning of his existence even after three years of an intensive intelligence war against Qaeda that has emphasized efforts to intercept the terror networkâs communications traffic.
In pursuing the new leads, intelligence and law enforcement authorities were working at several different levels, American officials said, in trying to make sense of what some described as a "jigsaw puzzle" that included first names, aliases, and temporary email addresses but little hard identifying material that could lead to suspects in the United States or overseas.
The scope of the inquiry ranged from "individuals who were orchestrating it from far-off lands to individuals who were in charge of different cells, to the actual operating of cells," a senior intelligence official said. The priority effort to identify people connected to the surveillance of the financial institutions has been under way since counterterrorism officials received the new information from Pakistan beginning Thursday evening, counterterrorism officials said on Monday.
The information, which officials said was indicative of preparations for a possible truck- or car-bomb attack, left significant gaps. It did not clearly describe the suspected plot, indicate when an attack was to take place nor did it describe the identities of people involved.
As a result, federal and local authorities began an effort to locate possible suspects who might have carried out the surveillance. Intelligence officers began interviewing Qaeda detainees asking whether they knew Mr. Khan or anyone who might have been involved in monitoring the targeted buildings and allied foreign intelligence services were asked if they had any information about the suspected plot.
At the same time, federal agents and local police began canvassing the buildings regarded as likely targets seeking to determine whether anyone recalled seeing people who appeared to be conducting surveillance. They sought lists of employees to determine whether anyone suspicious might have worked at any of the buildings and names of vendors, searching for anyone who might have visited the buildings to study security arrangements.
Senior counterterrorism and intelligence officials based in Europe said the information targeting the five buildings was developed by Qaeda operatives before Sept. 11, 2001. But a senior European counterterrorism official cautioned that "some recent informationââ indicated that the buildings might remain on a list of Qaeda targets.
"Al Qaeda routinely comes up with ways to hit targets for years at a time, so it may not mean much that these buildings were first targeted more than three years ago,ââ the official said.
#3
Not a single named source, of course. It's almost as if the NYT has a policy AGAINST naming sources.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/03/2004 9:01 Comments ||
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The right to cross-examination is based upon the simple fact that anyone can say anything as long as their name is kept quiet. If there is an attack, no one wants to be the idiot who disclaimed a threat. Therefore, make political points, anonymously, and save your job at the same time. Good catch Badanov.
Second, the dates on the earliest documents only proves planning. It does not, alone, prove that the plan was discarded.
#5
How old was the information in the August 6, 2001 President's Daily Briefing from which President Bush was supposed to divine the 9/11 attacks?
Posted by: Matt ||
08/03/2004 10:56 Comments ||
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This story is a bowl of chili for the speculative, gossipy, fanciful, doutful, "intellectual", conspiracy theory prone, nervous, diaretic mind; the kinds made of putty. The kind that reads the NYT and takes it seriously. Its gone from "some say" to "officials say".
Al-quds is a command and control structure. Its a top down corporate org. with control freaks all the way down the line. As a corporate entity, the mass media probably respects that.
So why would anyone want to join it if your ground level-entry level position starts at being held hostage? With a gun or a knife held to your head?
Posted by: an dalusian dog ||
08/03/2004 12:47 Comments ||
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This story is a bowl of chili for the speculative, gossipy, fanciful, doutful, "intellectual", conspiracy theory prone, nervous, diaretic mind; the kinds made of putty.
#9
Doesn't this whole thing stike anybody as just a little bit strange that all this OLD intell was finally released AFTER Kerry called W a softie on terror? Almost like maybe little G is afraid of losing his job??????
Looks like more of the vague, we are almost surely going to be under attack sometime, somewhere, from somebody song, except Ridge and the incompetent band of H/S boobs have written another (or been given )another verse to sing...
#10
I appreciate your service, USN, but do you always take a disrespectful attitude to the CiC?
It's not as if the NYSlimes doesn't have an agenda here, is it?
The only papers beating this story are the Slimes and the WaPo, both of which hate President Bush and want to bring his Administration down.
I can fully believe that Al Queda would use "old" plans for an attack as Osama was either killed 3 years ago or he hasn't exactly been able to settle in one place to plan new attacks.
#12
Doesn't this whole thing stike anybody as just a little bit strange that all this OLD intell was finally released AFTER Kerry called W a softie on terror? Almost like maybe little G is afraid of losing his job??????
What old information? It's based on NEW information, but NYT can't be bothered to find (or report, if they found) the entire story:
More financial institutions than previously disclosed may be at risk of attack, and an al-Qaida operative has told British intelligence that the group's target date is early September, intelligence sources said yesterday.
The operative, described as "credible" by British intelligence, told his debriefers that the attack would take place "60 days before the presidential election" on Nov. 2, according to a former senior National Security Council official. On Sept. 2 President George W. Bush is expected to address the Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden.
NYT lied to us, or was lied to by their "sources", or they stopped investigating once they had the story they wanted. In any case, I do hope the fools who got taken in by the NYT will admit their mistake.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/03/2004 15:37 Comments ||
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Were the attacks in Madrid tranist system years old? ...or weeks or days old in order to alter the national elections, which they did.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
08/03/2004 15:44 Comments ||
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Hi ya USN retired!
How about this Victory thing?
Think maybe the yids were pulling the woolsey over our (haliburton built, rothschild financed) eyes?
(nudge, nudge) Know what I mean?
Posted by: Col Flagg ||
08/03/2004 16:10 Comments ||
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USN, at least some media are in agreement...
Excerpts from: U.S. defends "three-year-old" terror alert
Wed 4 August, 2004 00:41
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=558751§ion=news
By Mark Egan
***
Ridge denied there was any political motivation behind raising the terror alert when President George W. Bush and his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry, are neck-and-neck in polls ahead of November's presidential election.
"This is not about politics. It's about confidence in government," Ridge said."
***
But former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean accused Bush of releasing the information now to dampen the rise in opinion polls, or "bounce," Kerry might have expected after his nominating convention in Boston last week.
"Isn't it unusual they might choose two days after the Democratic National Convention when John Kerry was in the middle of his bounce," Dean, who ran against Kerry for the presidential nomination, said in an interview on MSNBC's "Hardball." The alert, he said, could have been issued weeks ago.
#16
What's your point, 5607, except that all the Dimocrats are on the same page on this?
The Bush Administration can't win with them--if they put out an alert, it's political and for their advantage, to make the Bush Administration look good.
Same thing if there's a problem or an attack and then it's "Bush knew" but didn't do anything about it, or didn't do enough, or not soon enough, etc.
I'm sick to death of the Dims crying "wolf" (partisan politics) when it's a whine to try and get the political highground and "their" power back!
Why does it never occur to you that President Bush and Ridge and the rest of the Bush Administration are just doing their jobs to defend America, as best they know how, with the best information they have and at the right time?
Because the Left is INSANE with Bush hate, that's why.
(While reading this recall Islamic dates in history, sicne the enemy always does when plotting mass murder of infidels)
August 3rd, 2004
WASHINGTON -- More financial institutions than previously disclosed may be at risk of attack, and an al-Qaida operative has told British intelligence that the group's target date is early September, intelligence sources said yesterday.
The operative, described as "credible" by British intelligence, told his debriefers that the attack would take place "60 days before the presidential election" on Nov. 2, according to a former senior National Security Council official. On Sept. 2 President George W. Bush is expected to address the Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden.
Counterterrorism officials are analyzing data from a computer seized in Pakistan last month to see if financial institutions in addition to the five disclosed Sunday are at risk of attack, U.S. officials said yesterday.
The former senior National Security Council official said he was told by British intelligence that they are interrogating an al-Qaida operative who confirmed that financial institutions are being targeted and that an attack was planned for September.
And a U.S. official familiar with the ongoing analysis of the computer said, "There are references to other things [buildings]" in the al-Qaida computer's data, including a picture of the Bank of America building in San Francisco. "There is mention of other places."
The laptop computer was seized on July 25 following the arrest after a 12-hour gun battle of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who is wanted for his alleged role in the 1998 bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa.
Pakistan's information minister confirmed to The Associated Press yesterday that e-mail data retrieved from Ghailani's computer indicated planned attacks in both the United States and Britain. A British official said that the threat to the U.K. was not specific.
The CIA had tipped off Pakistani authorities on the location of Ghailani's safehouse in Gujrat, Pakistan, after tracking down an al-Qaida computer engineer, who had e-mailed the data to Ghailani, 12 days earlier, U.S. officials said.
The computer engineer, Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, ran a secret al-Qaida communications system and his arrest was described by a senior U.S. official as the "most significant" of a series of events that led to Sunday's raising of the threat level to "high" for five financial institutions. They are the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup building in New York, as well as the Prudential financial building in Newark and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund buildings in the nation's capital.
The former NSC official, who asked to not be further identified, said that the al-Qaida operative in British custody, while confirming that financial institutions were at risk, did not know which financial institutions were being targeted. A CIA spokesman declined to comment.
The U.S. official who disclosed yesterday that CIA and other counterterrorism officials are studying the vast amounts of computer data stored in the laptop said that the information on other institutions "does not reach the level of detail" retrieved on the five named Sunday.
Nevertheless, he said, analysts "are continuing to exploit the data to see if anything boils to the surface."
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
08/03/2004 11:17:04 PM ||
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This article on StrategyPage.com is claiming that what was on the hard drive captured in Pakistan was the terror network's master encryption codes. This is permitting the NSA to finally decode many of the messages that they have recorded over the past few years. This could be major! The keys to the AQ cells.
This explains why the adminstration finds it important enough to have alerts based on old data. They are reading the terror networks crown jewels.
Religious leaders in Indian administered Kashmir have sought a ban on a pop song by two Pakistani singers. A line in the song, Kachi Pencil (Fragile Pencil), says God has written the fate of man with a fragile pencil. The song has become popular with people across the disputed state, despite the protests by enraged clerics who say God would never do such a thing. They have threatened to take to the streets in protest at the song, which is sung by Akram Rahi and Naseebo Lal. The BBCâs Binoo Joshi in Jammu says the song has become all the rage with Kashmiri people for its melody and lyrics. But clerics in Jammu told the BBC it was blasphemous. "There is no question of Allah [God] writing our fate with a fragile pencil," said Moulvi Ghulam Rasool, who appealed to those owning the cassette to throw it away.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/03/2004 6:23:47 PM ||
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I'm gonna take out my fragile pen and write me a fatwah on your a$$
It is Verbotten!! Haram!! Turn off that infernal racket!! Blasphemy!! Apostacy!! Ki...i...ggggrrrr (keels over from fatal aneurism).
Posted by: Prince Abdullah ||
08/03/2004 19:11 Comments ||
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I think we'll go with "Islamic Tightasses" for 1000, Alex.
GRAND AYATOLLAH ALI AL-SISTANI ISSUED AN EDICT PROHIBITING HIS CLERGY FROM TRYING TO AFFECT THE UPCOMING GENERAL ELECTIONS IN IRAQ AND EMPHASIZED THAT PEOPLE ARE FREE TO ELECT ANYONE THEY WANT. (AL-MASHREQ, BAGHDAD, 8/1/04)
US-based group Human Rights Watch is warning that unresolved property disputes in northern Iraq have produced a crisis which may turn violent. The crisis stems from decades of forced displacement of Kurds, Turkmen and Assyrians. Hundreds of thousands of Kurds and other ethnic groups have been forced out of their homes in northern Iraq. The policy, practised by successive Iraqi governments over several decades, is known as Arabisation. Since the fall of President Saddam Hussein they have started to return. But the Human Rights Watch report, Claims in Conflict: Reversing Ethnic Cleansing in Northern Iraq, says ethnic tensions are now close to breaking point and urgent action is needed.
Overcrowded
The report says the authorities' failure to resolve property disputes in northern Iraq threatens to undermine security there. In rural areas, it says many Arabs are now living in overcrowded conditions in public or military buildings. Large numbers of them fled their homes before the end of last year's war; others were allegedly evicted by returning Kurds. This sounds like an ideal situation to drive home concepts like "right-of-return" to the surrounding Arab world. If the Jewish right-of-return is not recognized then neither should any Arab repossessions be considered. Of course, since this involves the Kurds, Arabs will feel entirely justified in doing whatever screws them best worst. Maybe it's time to begin making sure the Arab populations suffer too.
Meanwhile many Kurds remain displaced. Some say they cannot afford to reoccupy or rebuild their former homes, while Kurds who have returned to the city of Kirkuk but have no claim to property there often end up living in wretched conditions. Hania Mufti, co-author of the Human Rights Watch report, says attitudes over property disputes have been hardening. "When Human Rights Watch first entered the Arabised districts of Kirkuk city, for example, we talked to a number of Arab families who were, at that time, prepared and willing to consider moving out of homes that they knew were originally Kurdish homes," she said. "During the past year, ethnic tensions have risen to the extent that neither side is prepared to compromise now." Time for the Kurds to take a page from the Israelis and begin kicking a little @ss.
'Breaking point'
Meanwhile, the report says, some Iraqi Kurdish officials have been demanding that Arabs settled in Kirkuk by the previous Iraqi government should be resettled to other regions. Human Rights Watch says ethnic tensions are close to breaking point and urgent action is needed. Urgent consideration also needs to be given to the fact that the Kurds have been some of the most cooperative portion of the Iraqi population during the liberation.
It is calling on Iraq's interim government to implement a judicial mechanism which has already been put in place to resolve property disputes. And it is calling on the international community to help provide assistance for thousands of displaced families, from all ethnic backgrounds, living in desperate conditions. Donor fatigue beginning in 4 ... 3 ... 2 ...
Last Updated: BBC: Monday, 2 August, 2004, 08:48 GMT 09:48 UK
Fahrenheit 9/11, calling the film insulting to the Saudi Arabian royal family.
Authorities in Kuwait, a US ally, also objected to the film's criticism of America's invasion of Iraq.
"We have a law that prohibits insulting friendly nations," said Abdul-Aziz Bou Dastour of the Information Ministry.
The controversy over Fahrenheit 9/11 has helped it break box office records for a documentary.
The film, which won the Cannes Film Festival, was the first documentary to make $100m (£54.5m) in North America.
It criticises President George Bush for being unprepared for the 11 September attacks and using propaganda to gain public support.
The Saudi royal family also features, along with claims that Saudi nationals were allowed to flee the US in the aftermath of 11 September despite the country's airspace being closed.
'Failed research'
Abdul-Aziz Bou Dastour said the film "insulted the Saudi royal family by saying they had common interests with the Bush family and that those interests contradicted with the interests of the American people".
He added: "The movie made Iraq look like a paradise whose problems started with the American invasion. It would have angered Kuwaitis."
Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to London, has said Moore failed to carry out proper research for the documentary.
He said the film "criticised America's policy on invading Iraq and this was tantamount to criticizing Kuwait for [what it did] to liberate Iraq".
The state-owned Kuwait National Cinema Co had applied for a license to show Fahrenheit 9/11 but its request was turned down by government censors.
It is showing in other Middle Eastern countries including the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon.
Meanwhile, a US newspaper is seeking a token $1 in damages from Michael Moore and the film's distributor, Lion's Gate, for allegedly doctoring its front page for the documentary.
The Pantagraph newspaper, based in Bloomington, Illinois, said the film included a shot showing a front page headline "Latest Florida recount shows Gore won the election" that never actually appeared on page one.
It said the headline only appeared in much smaller type on the letters page which reflects "only the opinions of the letter writer".
"If [Moore] wants to 'edit' The Pantagraph, he should apply for a copy-editing job," the paper said.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
08/03/2004 3:28:29 PM ||
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Meanwhile, a US newspaper is seeking a token $1 in damages from Michael Moore
I know there are quite a few GIâs that are pissed off at MM for showing their faces in this film. I know if I found out my mug was anywhere near that film, I would sue the shit out of that fat Cock-Sucker-Head⢠and I encourage any and all who have been blasphemed and plagiarized to do the same. Shit on small numbers, start the damage a 10 million a pop.
"I'm outta here!"
The powerful head of the Algerian army, General Mohamed Lamari, resigned for health reasons, an official statement said, following recent speculation that he was about to step down. Lamari presented his resignation to Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who also holds the defence ministry portfolio. Bouteflika named General Salah Ahmed Gaid, commander of ground forces, to replace Lamari as military chief of staff, a statement from the president's office said.
When Bilal Motsau converted to Islam in 1976, he was considered an oddity in Soweto, a sprawling black township on the outskirts of Johannesburg that was once the center of anti-apartheid activism. In the South Africa of that period, Islam was practiced primarily by the country's small South Asian and Malay populations, and blacks considered it an "Indian" religion. But these days, Mr. Motsau, who wears short, trimmed beard and a black and white prayer shawl over dark, Western-style clothes, is being joined in his faith by a growing number of South African blacks. Though still a small force in black townships, Islam is gaining a foothold in many black communities in this predominantly Christian country. The faith is attracting both poor shantytown dwellers who appreciate Islam's emphasis on charity, and young intellectuals attracted by the faith's focus on lifestyle and social reform. "In 1976 there were about 10 black Muslims in Soweto, and everyone knew each other," says Motsau, who, like many black South African converts traded his Christian first name for a Muslim one, but retained his African surname as a sign of his heritage. "There used to be one Bilal and everyone knew who I was. The growth of Islam these days has been tremendous."
Many of the new converts are young men like Omar Khambule, who was attracted to Islam's belief in one God and saw it as a way out of gangsterism and drugs. "Islam teaches you how to behave," he says, sitting with a friend outside Soweto's one mosque, a traditional Muslim skullcap on his head. "I was corrupt and was heavily involved with dagga [marijuana] and a gang. But then I found Islam and felt that this offered me a different path." Mr. Khambule says he has left that life behind. Now he lives with other Muslims and says he tries to pray five times a day, going to mosque as often as possible. For Khambule, who is young and unemployed, Islam offers stability, community, and enough charity to survive.
Few women in black South Africa find their way to Islam on their own. Most female converts, like Layla Zange, follow husbands, boyfriends, fathers, or brothers. But those who do convert say the religion offers a refuge from the early sex, AIDS, alcoholism, and domestic violence rampant in many poor black communities in places like Soweto. But it is only recently that Muslim women in Soweto say they have begun feeling comfortable wearing headscarves in the township. "People used to call us Indians. It was difficult, and they called us names," says Ms. Zange, who once worshipped primarily in Indian communities. But now, she and some 2,000 others attend the Dlamini mosque near home. "Now I wear a scarf. People understand what it means. But that's new."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/03/2004 9:26:43 AM ||
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#1
"But then I found Islam and felt that this offered me a different path."
#4
How long before South Africa goes under? I don't exactly think this is what Mandela and the ANC had in mind.
Posted by: Jim K ||
08/03/2004 13:00 Comments ||
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#5
I work with a bunch of South African expat's, according to them SA has already gone under. It's getting uglier by the day. They say Botha and DeKlerk did the civilized world a favor because they knew the change would come and the new ruling majority couldn't be left with nukes, - that's the real reason they gave them up.
Now that the moongod death cult plague is taking root there, we should probably be even more thankful those nukes are gone.
#10
They will rediscover apartheid in Mecca during their Hage.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
08/03/2004 23:48 Comments ||
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#11
I don't know if any of you have read articles by Dr. Walter Williams or heard him speak - he sometimes subs for Rush. He paints a scary future scenario about S. Africa. Fyi, Dr. Williams is an articulate black economist who is a professor at a US college, whose name escapes me at this moment. Dr. Williams would agree with all your comments. The S. African president, Mr. Thabo Mbeki, is a big commie pal of Robert Mugabe. He's also the same moron who claimed for several years that AIDS did not exist in his country and that AIDS had no connection to promiscuity and that AIDS drugs were worse than the disease itself. Sheesh. S. African ANC leaders hate whites and the West, so I have no doubt that Muslim "brown" power is appealing to them. Also the political leaders in S. Africa need a scapegoat to blame their miserable handling of the economy there. S. Africa has a 30% unemployment rate, its GDP has nose dived since 1989, and its homicide rate is one of the highest in the world and it has the highest rape rate in the world. Nasty. http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/cri_mur_cap
Posted by: rex ||
08/04/2004 0:22 Comments ||
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#12
Williams (as he refers to himself) is awesome: smart, concerned without the victimhood and self-pity, preaches self-disciplne and success, and an American first
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/04/2004 0:29 Comments ||
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#13
Man, these people must be f-ing miserable. You have to be for Islam to look attractive. Shudder.
Inside the Muslims Against Global Oppression's Information Center, nestled on a quiet block where women wear black Muslim head scarves, Moain Achmad wages war on America's policies for a living. Behind him is a row of T-shirts glorifying the United States as enemy No. 1. The shirts read "Long live bin Laden," a reference to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. He sells several every week. South Africa, one of the most liberal countries in the world, has become a focal point of concern in the war on terrorism. Anger toward Bush administration policies in Iraq is fueling admiration for bin Laden, even among moderate Muslims, in a region the United States believes is fertile ground for future terrorists, according to terrorism experts and Muslim leaders. "Bin Laden is a hero," Achmad said. "Saddam overnight has become a hero," a reference to ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Last month, U.S. customs agents at an airport in south Texas arrested a South African woman thought to have Al Qaeda links as she tried to fly to New York. That is just the latest incident in what terrorism experts fear is a growing danger that Al Qaeda and its ideologies have inspired South African groups to commit acts of terrorism at home and abroad. South African authorities announced in May that they had uncovered an Al Qaeda plot to disrupt the nation's presidential elections. Five suspected agents were apparently deported after entering on South African passports that had been obtained fraudulently, an action that led to more arrests in Jordan and Syria. Last week, two South Africans suspected of having ties to Al Qaeda were arrested in Pakistan.
Those incidents come, say terrorism experts and Western diplomats, amid a growing unity within Cape Town's 600,000-strong Muslim community against U.S. policies in the Middle East. Protest marches have erupted at crucial points of the war in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Muslim radio stations and imams at Friday prayers in scores of mosques across Western Cape province routinely denounce U.S. tactics in Iraq and the Arab world and its support for Israel. "One can clearly see there is a movement of resentment here, and that could be used as a mobilizing vehicle in the future," said Anneli Botha, a terrorism expert at South Africa's Institute for Security Studies in Cape Town.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/03/2004 9:30:41 AM ||
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Anger toward Bush administration policies in Iraq is fueling admiration for bin Laden, even among moderate Muslims, in a region the United States believes is fertile ground for future terrorists, according to terrorism experts and Muslim leaders.
EFL
After commanding the operation that toppled Saddam Hussein, Gen. Tommy Franks suggested that President Bush publicly mark an end to major combat in Iraq - an idea that led to the president's politically controversial appearance aboard an aircraft carrier. But, but, but...I thought Karl Rove pulled the puppet strings?
Bush's announcement, under a banner that read "Mission Accomplished," took place just six weeks after the start of the war, generating harsh criticism as being a premature celebration and political grandstanding. "Generating harsh criticism," translation: Democrats crapped themselves. Then, they crapped in our pools.
Franks, who retired a year ago, said he thought a public announcement would send a green light to countries that had balked at joining combat operations but had expressed willingness to join efforts to rebuild Iraq. Seems reasonable. I bet Kerry could have brought the French on board (help I just swallowed my tongue).
"That was not so everyone could have a victory lap," Franks said in a telephone interview Monday. "We'd been given to believe that once major hostilities were over, we would have lots and lots more help from the international community." Never underestimate the power of cowardice.
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
08/03/2004 11:35:18 AM ||
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Bushâs announcement, under a banner that read "Mission Accomplished," took place just six weeks after the start of the war, generating harsh criticism as being a premature celebration and political grandstanding.
GWB never himself said "mission accomplished"; he understood that there was more work still to be performed in rebuilding Iraq.
However, from the point of view of disposing of Hussein's rule, yeah, I'd say that the objective was achieved.
#2
Bomb-a-rama...It could also be thought of this way: Imagine you were on the aircraft carrier. You just spent a year at sea. You did what you were asked to do. If I were on the carrier, it would have been great to have my Commander-in-Chief to send a signal of Mission Accomplished.
#3
I thought the banner was a note of respect and congradulations to the crew for a mission well done. Usually, when I ship returns home, its mission is considered to be "accomplished." It is not very motivational to post a sign that announces, "Half Finished - we left enough to keep the others busy."
Posted by: Super Hose ||
08/03/2004 23:13 Comments ||
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#4
BAR, DF, and SH: all correct!. Tell the limp dicks complaining to "Shove It". Apparently it's not an offensive phrase now....
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/03/2004 23:23 Comments ||
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The second stage of the Rubezh-2004 manoeuvres of the Collective Rapid Reaction Force (CRRF) of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) has begun in Kyrgyzstan.
The Kyrgyz Defence Ministry held a meeting of the exercises' staff. Deputy commander of the exercises Malik Dzhumagulov pointed out, "No state is capable of fighting terrorism alone and the CSTO is becoming more and more serious political, economic and military force for the stabilization of the situation in the region and ensuring national and collective security as years pass."
The CRRF commander, Major-General Sergei Chernomordin stressed, "All the units of the Rubezh-2004 exercise are concentrated in the zones of departure."
In the period from August 3 to 5, said the commander, the manoeuvres controls will study the operational environment and on August 6 will carry out the field firing exercise.
According to the manoeuvres scenario, the Al Qaeda group and other terrorist organisations are heading to the Fergana valley with the aim of establishing a united Caliphate.
The CRRF task is to eliminate the bandit formations with the support of aviation. Taking part in the exercises are 1,700 military servicemen of the CRRF.
Elite special task force units of the Volga-Urals military district, 23 aircraft and helicopters, including the famous Black Shark are taking part in the manoeuvres on the part of Russia.
On Tuesday, the dress rehearsal of the forthcoming manoeuvres, watched by Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force General Vladimir Mikhailov, will be carried out.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov and CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Borduyzha will also monitor the exercises.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/03/2004 9:07:42 AM ||
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Ukraine's prime minister on Monday called for reducing the country's troop contingent in Iraq, openly disagreeing with top defense officials who want to increase the force. The statement by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych reflected deep divisions over what is likely to be a key issue in Ukraine's Oct. 31 presidential election, in which Yanukovych is a top contender.
Ukraine opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq, but afterwards became one of the largest contributors of troops to the postwar security efforts. Its 1,576 troops are the fourth-largest non-U.S. contingent. On Sunday, Defense Minister Yevhen Marchuk said that a new brigade to be rotated into Iraq beginning in September would consist of 1,722 - an increase of nearly 10 percent. But "I believe the contingent should be reduced," Yanukovych said, according to the news agency Interfax. Yanukovych's statement appeared to be aimed at boosting his ratings among Ukrainians who strongly opposed the deployment. Yanukovych is widely seen as running in second place in the presidential campaign behind opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, who supports the deployment even though many in his political bloc do not. Seven Ukrainian soldiers have died in Iraq, three of them in combat in April. About 20 have been wounded. The Ukrainian troops serve under the Polish command in southern Iraq.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/03/2004 12:27:36 AM ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
