Jordan's King Abdallah held talks with Kuwaiti leaders on regional developments and bilateral ties during a brief visit to the Gulf state yesterday, the official KUNA news agency said. King Abdallah, who led a high-level delegation including Prime Minister Faisal Al-Fayez, was received at the airport by Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. He met Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and Parliament Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi before returning home, KUNA said. Kuwait is the leading Arab investor in Jordan with more than $1.5 billion of investments, although their relations were strained for more than a decade.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2004 10:05:40 PM ||
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BIOLOGICAL weapons that target selected ethnic groups could become part of the terrorists' arsenal unless governments and scientists act now, the British Medical Association warns. Such designer weapons would be based on the growing ability of scientists to unravel and compare human DNA. In theory, experts could engineer organisms to attack genetic variations commonly found in, say, Chinese or German populations. Genetically engineered anthrax, smallpox and polio viruses are also "approaching reality", the BMA claims in a new report, Biotechnology, Weapons and Humanity II.
The report, released yesterday in London, adds that organisms designed to attack food crops and even human immune and nervous systems are serious threats. For instance, the agent used by Russian authorities to end the Moscow theatre hostage crisis in 2002, a fentanyl derivative, is an example of a "bio-regulator" targeted against the human nervous system. "All of the above are feasible or possible if anyone would be mad enough or evil enough to do it," commented University of Melbourne immunologist Sir Gus Nossal. "There already exist potential biological weapons of enormous destructive power, chief among them smallpox and anthrax," added Professor Emeritus Nossal, who in 1979 announced the eradication of smallpox on behalf of the World Health Organisation. He agreed with BMA head of science and ethics Vivienne Nathanson that, "If we wait too long it will be virtually impossible to defend ourselves (against biological weapons)". According to the BMA report the "window of opportunity" to control the spread of powerful biological weapons is shrinking fast. That's so, said the report's author, Malcolm Dando of Britain's Bradford University, because "the same technology being used to develop new vaccines and find cure's for Alzheimer's and other debilitating diseases could also be used for malign purposes". Professor Dando said it was essential that governments worldwide beef up the international Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention when it comes up for review in 2006.
The BTWC prohibits signatory states from acquiring biological weapons and means of delivery them. But eminent Australian microbiologist Frank Fenner questioned the effectiveness of the BMA recommendations. "It's all very well to say governments ought to adhere to these suggestions, but they didn't adhere to them before and even now the US Government says it's not going to take any notice of the (BTWC)," he said. According to Emeritus Professor Fenner -- who was central to the development of myxoma virus to control rabbits, as well as the WHO smallpox eradication campaign -- public health strategies designed to respond to biological weapons such as smallpox are more likely to be effective. In Canberra, a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Australia signed the BWTC in 1972 and ratified it in 1977.
#1
The only problem is that the US has far more advanced DNC coding ability, if they want to make this a rush to the bomb like the Manhatten Project, I think we know the Germans didn't reach the finish line first. If the otherside even tries, the ability of the US to design and deliver such weapons dwarfs their wildest imagination.
Posted by: Don ||
10/26/2004 19:56 Comments ||
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#2
"Ethnic" weapons are bound to backfire. In the US melting pot, there are genes virtually from all over. It is more likely that US is developing measures to counteract these weapon types.
#7
Huh, the article begins with three sentences talking about fantasy "ethnic weapons", quoting no one, and then goes on to discuss only general bioweapons. Scare-mongering? Nawwwww.
I looked up the report on the BMA's web page. Apparently, it costs ten pounds. A helpful footnote tells us the part about ethnic weapons begins on page 86, but I don't expect to read quotes from it in the papers.
Yongbyon 0.1 megawatts thermal (MWt) critical assembly - This small reactor is believed to be the first nuclear reactor in N Korea. It was provided by the Soviet and went into operation in early 1960s. Its primary function is isotope production.
Yongbyon Reactor I - The construction of this natural uranium-graphite power reactor began in 1980 at Yongbyon, 100 km north of Pyongyang. It is based on a 1950 MAGNOX technology (graphite moderator, aluminum-magnesium clad natural uranium fuel , CO2 gas cooling). The reactor was completed in 1984 and it as was activated in February 1987 under Prof. Ha Kyong Won, a Korean physicist educated in US. After many startup problems, it was operating at 20-30 MW by 1990.
N Korea removed about 30 lb. of plutonium from this reactor in 1988 and built two nuclear bombs. From 1989 to 1991, N Korea may have extracted additional 60 lb. of plutonium, enough for five nukes.
Yongbyon Reactor II - A 50 MW MAGNOX-type reactor was started in 1984. N Korea built a military nuclear complex next to this reactor. This complex was completed in 1989 and the reactor was tentatively activated in 1992. This reactor alone is capable of producing enough plutonium for 10-12 nukes a year.
Taechon Reactor I - The construction of a 200 MW MAGNOX-type reactor was started at Taechon, 60 miles north of Pyongyang in 1988 and it is expected to be completed in 1996.
Taechon Reactor II - A 600-800 MW reactor is also underway at Taechon (completion possible by 1997). This reactor could produce 180-230 Kg of plutonium a year, enough for 30-40 nukes.
Simpo Reactor I - This 635mw reactor is based on a German design. In May 1989, N Korea and Germany signed a comprehensive agreement on the transfer of "substantial" amounts of German nuclear technology and nuclear weapons materials, including enriched uranium, to Pyongyang. The transfer of the German nuclear know-how has continued via Iran, Libya Syria and Yugoslavia.
Yongbyon Separation Plant - A plutonium separation facility ("Radiological Research Lab") was built at Yongbyon in 1987. This plant is capable of handling several hundreds of tons of fuel a year, enough to handle fuel from all of the reactors , some 33 lb. of plutonium annually.. The plutonium factory for the nuclear weapons is a single story building constructed on top the main plutonium reprocessing facility, deep underground.
In 1993, N Korea completed a second plant, doubling its capacity for plutonium production.
About 70 lb. were believed to have been extracted from the reactors since 1991. In 1992, N Korea bought 120 lb. of plutonium from a former Soviet block country and may have produced 10 bombs. It is quite possible that N Korea has acquired additional nuclear material from the former Soviet republics.
Most intelligence sources, including Russian and Chinese, state that N Korea has close to 10 operational nuclear warheads for its missiles and two nuclear devices that can be carried by truck, boat or transport aircraft. N Korean warheads are of 50 KT class, weighing around 1,100 lb.
N Korean Missiles
N Korea has deployed over 300 Nodong-x (medum range - Japan and Okinawa) and close to a thousand Scud-B/C missiles (short range - S Korea) all of which can carry nuclear or chemical warheads. NoDong-1's have a range of 1,300km and NoDong-2's have a range of 1,500-2,000km. N Korea is believed to have a limited number of Taepodong-x ICBMs (long range - America) hidden in underground tunnels.
The Taepo Dong-2 ICBM has a maximum range of 6,200 miles. The US DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) estimates that the missile has a range of about 4,650 miles with large nuclear warheads and 6,200 miles with smaller warheads. At the extreme of 6,200 mil es, the missile could reach all major West Coast cities (Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego,,,) and reach as far east as Chicago.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/26/2004 5:51:01 PM ||
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#1
Ticondos backed up by Alaska Interceptors. The norks don't have enough resources to overwhelm a missle defense.
#2
Exactly the correct approach and we've begun to deploy the interceptors.
Bottom line is that any future 'Korean War' will be fought with strategic weapons and we'll win.
Unfortunately we still haven't gotten our troops out of there.
Bush is paying the political price for the disaster that was the 'agreed framework.' But at least he's addressing the NK issue through the Proliferation Security initiative, layered BMD and gradual troop pullout. Kerry will benefit from this strategy after his promised 'face to face' diplomacy fails as it will inevitably.
PARIS France is making classified documents available to investigators of suspected fraud in the United Nations' oil-for-food program in Iraq in an attempt to refute allegations by a U.S. arms inspector that French companies abused the system, diplomats said Tuesday. edited of course ..
Foreign Minister Michel Barnier told Paul Volcker, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve who is now heading the UN investigation, in a private meeting earlier this month that he would be given full access to France's oil-for-food paper trail. Barnier also said that Volcker could interview any individuals involved in the contracts, said one official at the Foreign Ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We are completely open to this investigation - anything he wants from us he will get," the Foreign Ministry official said. "It's in everybody's interest that this is cleared up."
The French government said yesterday that it would seek a "new alliance" with whomever won the US presidential election next week. A diplomatic chill has characterised exchanges between Paris and Washington over the past two years as a result of French opposition to the war in Iraq. But the French foreign minister, Michel Barnier, said that the two countries needed to forge a new alliance. This alliance "must be based on mutual respect, which is not allegiance", he said.
#8
The train was quite crowded, so the U. S. Marine walked the entire length looking for a seat, but the only seat left was taken by a well-dressed, middle-aged, French woman's poodle. The war-weary Marine asked, "Ma'am, may I have that seat?" The French woman just sniffed and said to no one in particular, "Americans are so rude. My little Fifi is using that seat."
The Marine walked the entire train again, but the only seat left was under that dog. "Please, ma'am. May I sit down? I'm very tired." She snorted, "Not only are you Americans rude, you are also arrogant!" This time the Marine didn't say a word, he just picked up the little dog, tossed it out the train window, and sat down. The woman shrieked, "Someone must defend my honor! Put this American in his place!"
An English gentleman sitting nearby spoke up, "Sir, you Americans often seem to have a penchant for doing the wrong thing. You hold the fork in the wrong hand. You drive your autos on the wrong side of the road. And now, sir, you've thrown the wrong bitch out the window."
#9
This alliance "must be based on mutual respect...", he said.
Oh, well, that's impossible.
Posted by: Tom ||
10/26/2004 8:31 Comments ||
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#10
This alliance "must be based on mutual respect, which is not allegiance", he said.
allegiance: Loyalty or the obligation of loyalty, as to a nation, sovereign, or cause. See Synonyms at fidelity.
alliance: A close association of nations or other groups, formed to advance common interests or causes
So, in essence, the French want to say a lot of nice words but show no loyalty to the causes underlying those words. Or, to put it another way: business as usual for the French.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/26/2004 9:16 Comments ||
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#11
That braught on a big grin,JH.
"This alliance "must be based on mutual respect, which is not allegiance".Is this some of that Kerrinian naunce stuff that us cowboys just don't understand?
#12
This alliance "must be based on mutual respect, which is not allegiance", he said.
What "alliance?" Before anybody stateside can trust France farther than we can throw them, they are long overdue for some unilateral actions of their own. Those actions had better be ones that demonstrate a succinct and definitive policy of fighting terrorism. Should they fail to do so, no cooperation should be forthcoming as America goes about ensuring that France is relegated to history's scrapheap of uselessly ornamental socialist fantasies.
#14
The more they prance, talk and cadoodle - the more sad they appear. They have lost their empire, their national honor (WWI & II), their language is kaput, and they are in denial. The only power they possess is their veto at the UNSC. And since the UN is becoming more and more an anachorism and immaterial to our foreign and security policy - the French are trying really hard to be important again - at least in their own minds. They offer nothing but opposition and each time they do they demonstrate how emaciated they really are geo-politically and militarily.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
10/26/2004 9:55 Comments ||
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#15
Jack, Do not underestimate the abilities to the frogs to frustrate the Anglosphere. It is a lot easier to tear down than build up. They've got 500 years of practice as they proved when they seduced Turkey into keeping the 4ID out of Iraq.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
10/26/2004 10:17 Comments ||
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#16
Friggin frogs trying to finagle an erection election.
Posted by: John Q. ||
10/26/2004 10:55 Comments ||
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#18
The US should make a push into French west africa with our aid and diplomacy. Shove the French right out of their and remove the last vestiges of their empire.
#19
A "new" alliance? No thanks. The old one didn't work, which doesn't necessarily mean that a new one would.
This alliance "must be based on mutual respect, which is not allegiance", he said.
This dumbass has got to be joking. This sounds like nothing more than expecting respect simply because France is France. Bull$hit. Do some heavy lifting of your own, Frogs, and we might have some respect to spare. Otherwise, buzz off.
#20
I watched 'the history channel' move on 'Ike' the other day. With Tom Sellack as Ike. (Did anyone else see that?)
Anyway there was one scene where Ike, Churchill and the French leader (forgot his name) entered the situation room and everyone was busy working. It was known that there was no saluting there because everyone was too busy and what they were doing was too important to jump up for each senior officer who walks by.
Well the French leader just stood there and pretty much insisted that everyone salute him!
Later he refused to help the allies when they entered france. Would not issue a proclamation after Ike or tell the french people to accept the allied 'money' or anything. Because he wasn't leading the allies.
I dont know who they got to play the frenchmen but he played the arrogance and elistism perfectly.
#21
I would say to the French: look up the word 'mutual' in your dictionary. I would also ask them to take a time out, just like the ones you give little kids when they're out of control and bratty. The French need to sit in the corner (they're practised at sitting, no problem there) and think about how all forms of life survive in this world: through effort and struggle. They need to think about what their current philosophy of getting something when they give so little is costing them. Then they need think about how they can make amends to those they've wronged.
After that, there might be a chance for mutual respect.
#22
France should be told to lok up the word "enemy" in the dictionary. Thast is how they behave. We should do nothing to France until it adopts Sharia. Then treat them like the rest of the middle east.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
10/26/2004 16:36 Comments ||
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#23
I dont know who they got to play the frenchmen but he played the arrogance and elistism perfectly.
Apparently, not much has changed in Phrance in fifty years.
Someone other than me, needs to analyze this -- it is from AP and we know where they stand! Right beside NY Times (HiLite and Bold not working)
By Associated Press, 10/25/2004 16:24
1991: The International Atomic Energy Agency placed a seal over storage bunkers holding conventional explosives known as HMX and RDX at the Al-Qaqaa facility south of Baghdad as part of U.N. sanctions that ordered the dismantlement of Iraq's nuclear program after the Gulf War. HMX is a ''dual use'' substance powerful enough to ignite the fissile material in an atomic bomb and set off a nuclear chain reaction.
January 2003: IAEA inspectors viewed the explosives at Al-Qaqaa for the last time. The inspectors took an inventory and again placed storage bunkers at Al-Qaqaa under agency seal.
February 2003: IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei told the United Nations that Iraq had declared that ''HMX previously under IAEA seal had been transferred for use in the production of industrial explosives.'' This apparently did not include the HMX that remained under seal at Al-Qaqaa.
March 2003: Nuclear agency inspectors visited Al-Qaqaa for the last time but did not examine the explosives because the seals were not broken. The inspectors then pulled out of the country.
March 2003: The U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq.
After the invasion: The Pentagon said Monday that ''coalition forces were present in the vicinity at various times during and after major combat operations. The forces searched 32 bunkers and 87 other buildings at the facility, but found no indicators of WMD (weapons of mass destruction). While some explosive material was discovered, none of it carried IAEA seals.
Oct. 10, 2004: Iraq's Ministry of Science and Technology told the nuclear agency that 377 tons of explosives had disappeared from the Al-Qaqaa facility. The Iraqis said the materials were stolen and looted because of a lack of security.
Oct. 15, 2004: The IAEA informed the U.S. mission in Vienna about the disappearance. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice was informed days later, and she informed President Bush, according to White House press secretary Scott McClellan.
Oct. 23-24, 2004: The Pentagon ordered the U.S. military command in Baghdad and the Iraq Survey Group to investigate the IAEA report, the Pentagon official said, adding it was not clear how or by whom the explosives were taken or whether any of the material had been used in insurgent attacks.
Oct. 25, 2004: ElBaradei reports the explosives' disappearance to the U.N. Security Council after The New York Times reports the cache is missing.
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX TUE OCT 26 2004 11:02:38 ET XXXXX
60 MINS PLANNED BUSH MISSING EXPLOSIVES STORY FOR ELECTION EVE
News of missing explosives in Iraq -- first reported in April 2003 -- was being resurrected for a 60 MINUTES election eve broadcast designed to knock the Bush administration into a crises mode.
Jeff Fager, executive producer of the Sunday edition of 60 MINUTES, said in a statement that "our plan was to run the story on October 31."
Elizabeth Jensen at the LOS ANGELES TIMES details on Tuesday how CBS NEWS and 60 MINUTES lost the story [which repackaged previously reported information on a large cache of explosives missing in Iraq, first published and broadcast in 2003].
The story instead debuted in the NYT. The paper slugged the story about missing explosives from April 2003 as "exclusive."
An NBCNEWS crew embedded with troops moved in to secure the Al-Qaqaa weapons facility on April 10, 2003, one day after the liberation of Iraq.
According to NBCNEWS, the explosives were already missing when the American troops arrived.
It is not clear who exactly shopped an election eve repackaging of the missing explosives story.
The LA TIMES claims: The source on the story first went to 60 MINUTES but also expressed interest in working with the NY TIMES... "The tip was received last Wednesday."
CBSNEWS' plan to unleash the story just 24 hours before election day had one senior Bush official outraged.
"Darn, I wanted to see the forged documents to show how this was somehow covered up," the Bush source, who asked not to be named, mocked, recalling last months CBS airing of fraudulent Bush national guard letters.
Developing...
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2004 11:44:45 AM ||
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#1
This is bullshit. I think the CBS network should have its broadcast license revoked for this.
See? And I know I'm preaching to the choir, but this is what happens when there are no consequences for people's dishonest actions, ref: Dan Rather. They just keep doing it until someone final stops them. Hopefully this will be the last time people accept it.
#5
They better make sure Kerry wins, because this is getting to the point where Bush might actually do something after the election.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
10/26/2004 12:41 Comments ||
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#6
This story just shows that John Kerry really does have a New York Time Machine, he knew about the theft of these explosives before anyone else. He told us in the second debate: Kerry: "A president's job is to win the peace. The president did not do what was necessary. Didn't bring in enough nation. Didn't deliver the help. Didn't close off the borders. Didn't even guard the ammo dumps. And now our kids are being killed with ammos right out of that dump."
Posted by: Steve ||
10/26/2004 13:39 Comments ||
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#7
Bush is still president for at least two and a half months after the election, Mrs. D. ;)
The RNC needs to file a CBS complaint at the FCC and Bush needs to personally and publicly rebuke the NYT, mocking them as a "so-called newspaper".
Posted by: Tom ||
10/26/2004 13:48 Comments ||
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#8
How do we file a complaint with the FCC?
When the local affiliate's license comes up for renewal, protest to the FCC. Point out that the station's blatant disregard for the truth put our soldiers and ourselves at risk, and for that reason the station deserves to have its license revoked.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/26/2004 13:49 Comments ||
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Here is the FCC webpage with the information on objecting to the renewal of a TV license. The key parts are:
Procedure for Filing Informal Objections. In the alternative, a person or entity opposing the grant of a television station's license renewal application may file an informal objection against the license renewal application at any time prior to staff action on the license renewal application. The informal objection (a signed original and two copies) must be mailed or delivered to one of the FCC addresses above; electronic or facsimile transmission (including e-mail) is not acceptable.
The address referenced is:
Video Division, Media Bureau
Federal Communications Commission  ÂÂ
445 12th Street SW
Washington, D.C. 20554
The page linked for the FCC has a table that shows the File Date and Expiration Date for each state.
I encourage you to send out polite objections each quarter for the next four years.
Licensees in the folowing states are to submit for renewal in 2005:
Here is the FCC webpage with the information on objecting to the renewal of a TV license. The key parts are:
Procedure for Filing Informal Objections. In the alternative, a person or entity opposing the grant of a television station's license renewal application may file an informal objection against the license renewal application at any time prior to staff action on the license renewal application. The informal objection (a signed original and two copies) must be mailed or delivered to one of the FCC addresses above; electronic or facsimile transmission (including e-mail) is not acceptable.
The address referenced is:
Video Division, Media Bureau
Federal Communications Commission  ÂÂ
445 12th Street SW
Washington, D.C. 20554
The page linked for the FCC has a table that shows the File Date and Expiration Date for each state.
I encourage you to send out polite objections each quarter for the next four years.
Licensees in the folowing states are to submit for renewal in 2005:
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
10/26/2004 15:15 Comments ||
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#11
OK - Let's look at "highly skilled" Islamofacists and renegade Ba'athists trying to not trip over their beards, and long white smocks, and try to move highly expliosive materials from a bunker, out of sight of US troops, and not sending themselves to the 72 virgins in the process...
All these assumption having been met, the Captain's Quarters Blog had a operations engineering approach to labor required to transport the super secret special stuff out of the way, and out of sight of our guys...
Imagine supervising 100 of borderline psychotics screaming "Allah Akhbar" at the sound of a backfiring truck which is confused for gunfire...
If they moved all this miraculously it would take 100 men two weeks...
#12
Can anybody now doubt that the institutional media are the true enemy in this war, and the international terrorists merely their proxies?
Extreme?
Not if you have read what I regard as the most significant book of the last 10 years, The Conquest of Cool by Thomas Frank.
Frank himself is a card-carrying lefty, which only makes his indictment of big media that much more damning.
In this landmark cultural history, Frank goes back to the late 1950s to document the origin and real nature of the media industry's characteristic internal culture. This specific internal culture remains dominant to this day, and its values are the primary basis for the obvious set of biases we see in most mainstream media.
EFL and a nugget - Caught Via Hugh Hewitt
An academic researcher has found 11 passages in Senator Kerry's published writings that appear to have been taken from other works without attribution, though experts disagree about whether the copying should be considered plagiarism. Six of the passages come from Mr. Kerry's 1997 book, "The New War: The Web of Crime That Threatens America's National Security." All bear some similarity to news accounts that preceded publication of the book.
In one instance, Mr. Kerry wrote, "Russian mobsters have been arrested in Germany for extortion, car theft, counterfeiting, prostitution, selling drugs and illegal weapons, and smuggling everything from icons to uranium." A 1993 Philadelphia Inquirer article, written by Barbara Demick, said, "Suspected Russian mobsters have been arrested in Germany and charged with extortion, car thefts, counterfeiting, prostitution, gambling, and selling drugs and illegal weapons. They have been caught smuggling everything from religious icons to uranium." Mr. Kerry's book contains endnotes but makes no reference to the Inquirer story. As Hugh sez: The passage highlighted looks like a complete lift and paste job. Shades of Joe Biden in 1988. No wonder Slow Joe Biden is in line for a job in the never-to-be-named Kerry Adminsitration.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2004 11:00:04 AM ||
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Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom ||
10/26/2004 01:04 ||
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#1
Just one more proof that neither the NYT nor the IAEA are reliable and trustworthy. Any bets on how deep the NYT will bury this part of the story? November 3 retraction on page A43? What else are they going to piss all over the place in the next seven days? If sKerry wins, he certainly didn't come by it honestly.
Posted by: Tom ||
10/26/2004 8:21 Comments ||
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#2
There were 380,000 tons, 150,000 tons, 50,000 tons , 25, 000 lbs , 10 lbs , 1 lb of RDX missing according to Kerry......."I voted for the RDX and then I voted against the RDX." "There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq." "They were there and then they weren't there."
More from the Democrat, MSM, left-wing "Weapons of mass deception."
Posted by: John Q. ||
10/26/2004 10:42 Comments ||
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#3
I am not sure how this dichotomy is able to survive in the el cubo's brain, but there must be something that prevents any apparent discomfort to the bearer. Maybe H.G Wells was right. Our species is splitting into standard type of humans and Morlocks.
I'll let you decide which ones would be with the Morlock potential. (It's easy).
#4
Brent Hume just pretty much destroyed this whole story. He just interviewd a former NBC reporter who was there who now works for FOX. Also this story led the broadcast. John Gibson close with "His Word" on it he called Kerry's attempts to make this a story essentially Bull Shit.
From a Cotecna statement about Kojo Annan: His activities concerned exclusively Cotecna's separate activities in Nigeria and Ghana, and he was not involved in any of Cotecna's operations involving the United Nations or Iraq.
Following an international tender Gateway Services Limited (GSL), a joint venture company in which Cotecna holds a 70% share, was awarded a 10 year contract with the Government of the Republic of Ghana. Under the terms of the contract, beginning 01 April 2000, GSL is mandated to carry out price verification, customs classification and the calculations of import duties and taxes based on the value of imports as assessed by COTECNA's specialists. GSL is responsible for the issuance of final documentation in the form of a Final Classification and Valuation Report (FCVR) for ALL SEA IMPORTS. The contract further calls for the scanning of containers at the Port of Tema utilising X-ray scanning technology.
Of paramount importance under this contract is the technical assistance given to the Customs Excise and Preventive Services (CEPS) by assisting them to establish a Transaction Price Database (TPD) of imported goods and the transfer of know-how through various training programmes, including:
Valuation under WTO/GATT
Risk Management
X-ray Scanning, including Image Analysis
Identification of undervalued consignments;
Reconciliation of duties and taxes assessed by GSL against duties and taxes collected by Customs;
transfer of know-how and technology.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Since 01 April 2000, GSL has:
Fully implemented a Destination Inspection Scheme
Successfully implemented WTO/GATT Valuation regime
Introduced first a Mobile X-ray and Fixed X-ray scanning of containers at the Port of Tema.
Introduced a Risk Management Approach to assist in facilitating legitimate trade while focusing on high risk imports
TRAINING
COTECNA has trained GSL employees in:
Valuation methods under ACV
Risk Management and Analysis
X-Ray Scanning
Image Analysis
Data processing and entry
Communications
Database management
The innovative approach used by COTECNA in establishing a joint venture with GSL, with partners that includes COTECNA, CEPS, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI), represents a "first" in the world of inspection and verification industry. The success of the venture to date has provided a model for other countries seeking to move from PSI to a new regime that ensures security, revenue and development of technical and professional capacity.
From Cotecna's website
Cotecna won the first UN call for tender for the authentication of imported goods in Iraq as early as 1992. At the time, finalization of negotiations for a contract ceased because of the lack of agreement by the Iraqi government.
In April 1995, the UN Security Council issued Resolution 986, setting forth the framework for the Oil-for-Food Programme, allowing Iraq to use 53% (later increased to 59%) of oil sales revenues for the purchase of humanitarian goods. The resolution also requested the UN Secretary General to receive authenticated confirmation that exported goods had arrived in Iraq and, for this purpose, the UN contracted for the services of an agency internationally recognized as an expert in that field.
In July 1996, the UN issued its call for tender for the Oil-for-Food programme. In August 1996, Cotecna Inspection S.A. responded but was not awarded the contract. Rather, the contract was awarded to a British inspection company.
Cotecna participated in a new UN call for tender for this programme in the fall of 1998 and was selected, based on its efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and technologically advanced solutions, to commence providing services in February 1999. Indeed, the quality of Cotecna's performance led to three extensions of the initial contract through to July 2001.
In the summer of 2001, the UN issued a new call-for-tender and Cotecna was again selected and awarded a one-year contract. This contract was extended twice until November 2003.
In November 2003, this contract was assigned by the UN to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq (CPA), and was later extended by the CPA to June 2004 under identical terms, following termination of the UN Oil-for-food programme. Cotecna responded to a new tender issued by the CPA for the Oil-for-Food Contracts Deliveries under a competitive bidding process and was advised on June 22, 2004 that the contract had been awarded to Cotecna by the CPA and the Iraqi Interim Government.
Cotecna's limited, technical role in the Oil-for-Food programme was carried out in full compliance with its contract requirements, with its own strict code of ethical conduct, and according to the best practices in the industry, as codified by the International Federation of Inspection Agencies.
In 1999, following reports in the British press on Cotecna's employment of Kojo Annan, the son of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and allegations regarding the selection of Cotecna as UN agent for the Oil-for-Food programme, Joseph Connor lead an internal investigation at the UN which found that the Oil-for-Food authentication contract had been awarded in full compliance with UN requirements.
It should be noted that Kojo Annan's full-time employment by Cotecna as a graduate trainee and later as an Assistant Liaison Officer in Lagos, Nigeria, ended well before the selection of Cotecna for the UN mission; Mr. Annan's full-time employment began in December 1995 and ended in December 1997, after which Kojo Annan was retained as a consultant until the end of 1998. His activities concerned exclusively Cotecna's separate activities in Nigeria and Ghana, and he was not involved in any of Cotecna's operations involving the United Nations or Iraq.
Cotecna intends to continue to clarify any questions remaining about the professional mission it accomplished through its limited, technical role in the Oil-for-Food program and to respond to any misinformation that unfairly distorts its record of professionalism and ethical business practices.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
10/26/2004 9:42:06 PM ||
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It should be noted that Kojo Annan’s full-time employment by Cotecna as a graduate trainee and later as an Assistant Liaison Officer in Lagos, Nigeria, ended well before the selection of Cotecna for the UN mission; Mr. Annan’s full-time employment began in December 1995 and ended in December 1997, after which Kojo Annan was retained as a consultant until the end of 1998. His activities concerned exclusively Cotecna’s separate activities in Nigeria and Ghana, and he was not involved in any of Cotecna’s operations involving the United Nations or Iraq.
And he didn't tell 'em a thing. Nope, not a thing. Kept his mouth shut the entire time. Didn't know anything, so he couldn't tell 'em antything. You bet.
The lad's got a future in Chicago, inspecting buildings, verifying elections, and staying dumb.
Posted by: Darth VAda ||
10/26/2004 22:43 Comments ||
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The U.N. investigation into Iraq's corrupt oil-for-food program has started running into resistance, the lead investigator told the Financial Times. Paul Volcker said after six months of work, documents found at the Iraqi oil ministry include the names of several prominent politicians in France, Russia and elsewhere who allegedly received illegal Iraqi oil from Saddam Hussein. He said so far investigators have had "good cooperation," but as the web of corruption peels away, "a certain amount of friction" was being encountered. "When you begin to appraise and find out about a particular company that was really corrupt, and the people who may have been behind that, then you will get some resistance, whether by government or otherwise," he said. The U.S. Congress has four congressional committees also investigating, as well as two New York law enforcement agencies, which Volcker said was not working out well. "We'd like to think that they are complementary (to the investigation). But they are not. They are competing," he said.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/26/2004 9:41:17 AM ||
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I'll be back at 17:00 zulu, have your links in good order.
#5
Interesting that the investigator told the Financial Times, which is based in London. Claudia Rosett pretty much broke this story -- in the Wall Street Journal. Wouldn't be fair to give them all the goodies, and anyway, wouldn't it be more fun for Kofi Annan to get pressure from both sides of the Atlantic?
#6
It seems to me that the only way investigations can be "competing", is if they set out to prove different conclusions, ie: one will win and one will lose.
#7
FT link: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/3bee4030-26c8-11d9-9157-00000e2511c8.html
After posting above, I went to read the Financial Times story. This was not a leak; its written as an short interview Volker had with reporters from the FTand the Italian business daily Il Sole . This is a warning shot across the bow of Kofi & Friends that Volker's investigation will not be stopped, nor the results kept quiet. The movers & shakers of the world read these particular papers -- what they report carries more weight than any old New York Times "papers of record."
"The independent investigation into corruption under the United Nations oil-for-food programme will pursue its inquiry wherever it leads even to a presidential palace, Paul Volcker, its chairman, has said." Now where is it that presidents live in palaces, pray tell?
#8
In other news, the bank robbers are resisting cooperating fully with the constabulary, and have not been forthcoming with documentation concerning the alleged robbery.
#9
TW, thatks for the link and info about Il Sole. Interesting choice for the interview. It seems like as much of a warning shot for the DOJ and Congress as for Kofi and friends.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
10/26/2004 11:20 Comments ||
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"We'd like to think that they are complementary (to the investigation). But they are not. They are competing," he (Volcker) said.
Hey, Paul - we're Capitalists. Competition is good.
COTECNA INSPECTION S.A. was incorporated in 1974 in Fribourg and 1975 in Geneva, Switzerland. Initially, COTECNA specialised in the inspection of a variety of goods on behalf of private traders and governmental entities involved in international trade. In 1984, COTECNA INSPECTION S.A. in partnership with OMIC International Ltd. was appointed by the Nigerian government for the Preshipment Inspection of the country's imports, in order to curb the foreign exchange evasion that was draining the country's resources. Since then, COTECNA has specialised in government mandated services which have evolved towards reducing the appeal for importers of evading foreign exchange and increasing Customs revenue.
Since the early eighties in partnership with OMIC International Ltd., a Japan based inspection company, with whom COTECNA has a long-standing relationship under a unique joint-venture operation. Both companies' policy is, and has always been, to achieve excellence by employing highly skilled and specialised staff, trained and experienced in all aspects inherent in the preshipment inspection activities.
Currently, the COTECNA Group has a combined workforce of about 4,000 personnel in over 100 offices and holds 13 government inspection scheme contracts. Over 4,000 personnel, one of whom was Kojo Annan. After establishing his evil influence directly within Cotecna, Kojo Annan left Cotecna 13 months before the UN awarded Cotecna a oil-for-food contract. The obvious reason for the award was that Cotecna submitted the lowest bid, but the real, secret reason was to allow Kojo Annan to skim huge profits from the deal. Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
10/26/2004 9:13:03 AM ||
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Exactly! And let me say this, an obsessive-compulsive complex is nothing to be ashamed. I remember back in Minneapolis I used to brush my teeth according to the date. Once on the first thru the 30th or 31st or what have you. Did I leave out February? Some of my best friends were born in February it's a fine month and one looked forward to with eagerness by my unionized friends over at FTD. Toothbrushes! Made in America by American Unionized Workers! I have links for you all! Good links, well made links and not to expensive. Our Great Society Program Give Everyman A Link is responsible for this plentitude of LinkWealth. Vote Your Conscience Once! Vote Democratic Line the rest of the time! I'll be back around 4 to make sure there are enough links for everyone, unless a crowd forms, in which case I have a small speech and few words ready to share with my friends.
#2
:-) Mikey - give your obsession a rest and maybe your credibility might rise from the dead. Cotecna's "about us" as a source? Puhleeaazzze!
I'll check back to see your extensive links to Kofi's PR firm. Thx in advance
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2004 11:19 Comments ||
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Thank you, Mike. The articles you are posting on the various questions you'd posed to the Rantburg readership are nicely underlining the points we tried to make to you. I knew you were smarter than your bahaviour :-) Keep up the good work!
Really long, so trim as needed, but it sheds quite a bit of light on a lot of details we didn't know until now.
In the tumultuous first year after Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush confronted a deluge of classified threat reports about the spread of nuclear weapons technology to unfriendly hands.
An atomic black market, operating on three continents, was funneling bomb-making equipment to Libya — and to customers unknown. Iran had made unexpected strides toward a weapon along a route concealed for more than a decade. North Korea, judged in June 2002 to be years away from domestic uranium enrichment, was discovered a month later to be on the brink of it. The National Intelligence Council assessed that there was "undetected smuggling" of "weapons-grade and weapons-usable nuclear materials" known to have been stolen in Russia on four occasions between 1992 and 1999. And two senior figures from Pakistan's nuclear establishment, who met with Osama bin Laden a month before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, were failing polygraph tests about the purpose of their trip.
No president before Bush faced such a diversity of nuclear dangers. Some threats came from hostile nations. Others were stateless: a business underworld that supplied the makings of a nuclear weapon, and a jihadist underworld that sought to buy one. The profusion of threats laid competing demands for Bush's attention in a climate of uncertainty and rapid change.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/26/2004 1:15:04 AM ||
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The U.S. military reports a 30 percent increase in insurgency attacks during the second half of October. Officials said that until Ramadan, violence had decreased throughout most if Iraq. U.S. officials attributed the increase in attacks to the Islamic fast month of Ramadan as well as to the upcoming U.S. presidential elections. The officials said the Iraqi insurgency has been bolstered by fresh funding and orders from within and outside of Iraq, Middle East Newsline reported. "We've known that money has come in from Iran and money has come in from Syria," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.
"Symbolically, it's been a time, as we experienced last year, for increased attacks against the multinational forces." U.S. Brig. Gen. Erv Lessel, deputy operations director of the Multinational Force Iraq, said. "The fortunate thing is that these attacks have been less lethal than we anticipated." In an interview with the Pentagon Channel, Lessel cited an increase in the number of indirect-fire attacks and car bombings throughout Iraq. He attributed the rise in insurgency strikes to both Ramadan as well as U.S. national elections in November. Officials said that until Ramadan, most of Iraq underwent a decrease in violence. They said 10 out of 18 Iraqi provinces reported an average of less than one attack per day from June until Oct. 15, 2004. Four provinces reported between two and four attacks daily.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/26/2004 12:51:09 AM ||
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Link:
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/26/2004 0:58 Comments ||
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Iran's Presidential Advisor Mohammad Sadr on Tuesday in separate meetings with Lebanon's National Assembly President Nabih Berri and the Premier-designate Omar Karami discussed expansion of mutual ties. Berri has for more than 20 years been one of the strongest leader of the Shi'is in Lebanon. But still he is no more than a puppet for the rulers of Damascus — his popularity with the Shi'i groups has dwindled over the years, and he needs foreign support to remain in his position.
In the meeting with Berri, parliamentary ties and various dimensions of Iran-Lebanon cooperation were discussed and special focus was placed on further bolstering of relations. Berri pointed to the foreign pressures on Lebanon and Syria and termed ratification of the UN Security Council's Resolution 1559 as a risky measure and an obvious example of interference in the domestic affairs of his country. He underlined that maintaining domestic unity is the most appropriate way for tackling foreign pressures and the difficulties facing Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Sadr referred to the current sensitive condition in Lebanon and the pressures facing it and said that its progressive approach towards the current Middle East developments mainly account for the present situation. The presidential advisor also called for the solidarity and awareness of all movements and ethnic groups. In another meeting, Lebanon's new Prime Minister and Sadr exchanged views on bolstering bilateral relations in political and economic fields and reiterated the need for solidarity and alertness of all factions and ethnic groups as well as regional and international developments. Turning to the current condition of Lebanon, Sadr underlined Iran's political and economic support for Lebanese government and people. He also announced the country's readiness to strengthen bilateral ties in economic domains, in particular giving momentum to the joint economic commission, and implementing mutual agreements.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/26/2004 8:29:07 PM ||
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Iranian scientists have developed technology to produce zirconium, a key metal used in the heart of a nuclear reactor to produce nuclear fuel, a top nuclear official said Monday. "Iranian scientists have achieved the technology to design and produce zirconium, the world's most sophisticated nuclear metal," Mansour Habashizadeh told state-run radio. Habashizadeh, head of the Iranian Center for Research and Production of Nuclear Fuel in the central city of Isfahan, said the metal is used in the heart of a nuclear reactor and used as protector of nuclear fuel. He gave no further details, including where it will be produced, and it was not immediately clear what prompted the announcement. He did say that only two important industrialized countries are currently able to produce the metal.
Zirconium is a grayish-white material that ignites spontaneously at high temperature. A naturally occurring substance, it can be found in the earth's crust, but not typically in large deposits. Zirconium alloy cladding is also used for nuclear fuel tubes used in the reactor core at the heart of the nuclear reactor. Iran is under international pressure to give up its nuclear enrichment program, which critics, led by the United States, allege is part of Tehran's bid to make nuclear weapons. Iran denies it has any atomic weapons ambitions and says its nuclear program is peaceful and aimed at generating energy.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/26/2004 1:00:47 AM ||
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Yea and you Iraninan fools can coat razor blades with the oxide too. If you would break doen and shave and wash once and a while that is.
#2
zirconium is used to make the tubes that hold the pellets of Uranium in reactors; zirconium is used for this because it doesn't absorb neutrons well
In Chernobyl, when the core overheated superheated steam reacted with the zirconium to cause an explosion
#3
"Iranian scientists have developed technology to produce zirconium..."
I guess "developed" and "stolen" translate about the same from the Farsi.
Posted by: Tom ||
10/26/2004 8:25 Comments ||
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Zirconium is a grayish-white material that ignites spontaneously at high temperature.
We need to independently verify that Iran's zirconium is of sufficient purity by performing thermal decomposition tests using atmospheric introduction of bulk accelerants. I'm sure they'll thank us for the unbiased analytical assay.
Iran's top security official on Monday suggested Teheran may agree to extend its freeze on uranium enrichment but warned it could not be forced to scrap its nuclear technology for good. The EU's "Big Three" powers, Britain, France and Germany, have offered Iran a deal in which Teheran would indefinitely suspend nuclear fuel cycle activities in return for EU help with civilian nuclear technology and a resumption of trade talks. The freeze on enrichment activities -- which can be used to make bomb-grade material -- must happen before the International Atomic Energy Agency on Nov. 25 or the EU would join Washington in seeking to send Iran's case to the UN Security Council. Iranian officials on Sunday rejected the EU proposal as unbalanced, but also said they wanted further negotiations.
But in a sign Teheran may agree to the original EU offer, Hassan Rohani, secretary-general of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said an "indefinite" freeze did not mean the the same thing as a "permanent" halt to enrichment. "The Europeans say indefinite because Iran and Europe are supposed to hold negotiations for a long time," he told reporters after a meeting with parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission. "We have always said that if Iran agrees to suspend uranium enrichment, to whatever extent, it will be voluntary because no country can force another to stop having peaceful and legal nuclear technology, not even for one hour," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying. The United States accuses Teheran of trying to develop an atomic arsenal under the cover of a civilian nuclear programme. Iran says it only wants to generate electricity. Iran pledged last year to freeze all uranium enrichment activities, but resumed producing and assembling parts of enrichment centrifuges this year, much to the EU's annoyance.
"Oh, Gerhard! I am so annoyed!"
"Me, too, Jacques! More patè?"
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2004 9:11:32 PM ||
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EFL. The list is at the link.
In the last two months, the Moslem media have begin to raise the issue of widespread terrorism by Islamic groups. As is often noted, not all terrorists are Moslem, but most of those operating currently are. The Islamic media had largely ignored this fact until recently. But Islamic terrorism is not a recent phenomena. It's been going on for over three decades. A list of the attacks by terrorists since 1968 makes grim reading. Such a list is displayed below.ÂÂ
...
There is much discussion in the Moslem world about why there should be this much terrorism, and there is no agreement on the reasons, other than that the Arabs are incapable of effective military operations, and are only capable of terrorist attacks. Other groups (Sikhs, Tamils, fundamentalist Christians, political radicals) have been responsible for terrorist attacks during this period, but these groups eventually gave it up, and their death toll, combined, does not match the number killed of Islamic groups. Grim reading indeed. There is something wrong in Islam. We need to fix it. What the Muslims need to fugure out is that this will be very painful for them and change first. Too bad they aren't that smart.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
10/26/2004 1:30:18 PM ||
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Great article, Mrs. Davis; I'm saving the list for future reference.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
10/26/2004 21:31 Comments ||
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A Bush administration legal opinion says not all non-Iraqi prisoners captured in Iraq are protected by the Geneva Convention, the New York Times reports. White House officials said the opinion would allow the military and the CIA to treat a small number of non-Iraqi prisoners captured in Iraq the same way as members of al-Qaida and the Taliban captured in Afghanistan, Pakistan or elsewhere.
Some go to Gitmo, some go to Bagram and some vanish into a blackhole.
The officials outlined the opinion in response to a Washington Post report the Central Intelligence Agency had secretly transferred a dozen non-Iraqi prisoners out of Iraq in the past 18 months.
"Prisoners? What prisoners?"
In the past, the International Committee of the Red Cross and a number of human rights advocates, have criticized the administration for applying the protections of the Geneva Conventions too narrowly. Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits "the deportations of protected persons from occupied territory" no matter what the motive.
But since non-iraqi prisoners were not former members of any Iraqi Army, they can't be considered prisoners of war. So, Article 49 doesn't apply, but thanks for playing.
U.S. officials said the new ruling could open the way for additional transfers on a broader scale, because the status of prisoners being held in Iraq is reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/26/2004 9:44:20 AM ||
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These guys easily fit under the catagory of spies, saboteurs, mercenaries, and other such scum that can be given a drum head trial and hanged on the spot without violating the Geneva Conventions. They have close to zero protection. I believe that you properly need to record whatever personal information they offer; however, this is minimal, as in name, country of origin, military rank if any, identification number if any.
#2
send the fake passport to the fake address noted -job done
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2004 11:12 Comments ||
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Well DUH! I said that from the begining of the WOT. And exactly how many terrorists attacks had the Geneva Convention stopped? Golf clap for the legal eagles on this one.
#8
Many of the "Geneva Conventions" that are cited are not part of the 1949 conventions and have never been accepted or ratified by the US. They don't even apply. The press is to stupid to recognize the facts. The exceptions to the 1949 conventions apply as these clowns are not part of an authentic domestic resistance, they are almost to a man are foreigners and not subject to any applicable treaty or conventions.
Two families, including parents and children, moved into the new Rachel's Tomb complex yesterday - for the first time in hundreds of years. The National Union party's Knesset faction convened today at Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, in commemoration of the anniversary of the death of Matriarch Rachel - but this was only part of the story. More historic was the fact that two families, including parents and children, moved into the new Rachel's Tomb complex yesterday, becoming the first Jews to take up permanent residence in Bethlehem in hundreds of years. (Benjamin of Tudela, who toured the Holy Land in the 12th century, found two Jewish families living in Bethlehem.)
The families are living in newly built apartments on property duly purchased, over the course of the last several years, from the Arab owners. Behind these efforts have been the Rachel's Children Reclamation Foundation, chaired by Evelyn Haies, Uvneh Yerushalayim and Yeshivat Beit Orot. The IDF has so far agreed not to forcibly remove the new residents - especially in light of the tens of thousands of people who are expected to arrive tonight and tomorrow for special prayers in memory of Rachel. Groups and individual worshipers from the length and breadth of the religious spectrum are expected to visit the site to mark the date, as they have in previous years. A group of yeshiva students have also lived at the site over the course of the past year, studying in the Bnei Rachel yeshiva.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/26/2004 12:42:25 AM ||
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Foreign leaders who still talk to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat must pressure him to step aside, now that Israeli leaders are pushing a plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said. Rice, who has planned speeches in several states considered battlegrounds in the presidential race, said Monday there has to be a discussion with Arafat "to say, 'All right, land is now being returned to the Palestinian people. ... You said that's what you wanted all these years. Now is time to step aside." The conversation must be conducted by "by those who still talk to him ... we're not among those," Rice added.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2004 10:26:12 PM ||
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People can say what they want about the Bush Administration, but just for a second compare Condoleeza Rice to Donna Shalala and Madelein Albright. The difference in quality is stunning. I hope that in the future Ms Rice stands for elective office, either vp or president.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat on Monday night underwent a "minor surgical procedure" after complaining of severe pain in the stomach and vomiting, PA officials confirmed late Monday night. The officials told The Jerusalem Post that Arafat, who was recovering from the flu, was suffering from intestinal infection. They said a group of doctors performed on the 75-year-old Arafat an endoscopic examination, which involves the use of a long slender medical instrument for checking the interior of hollow organs.
This probably means little; an upper GI endoscopy is a diagnostic procedure. Differential diagnosis would have included a gastric or duodenal ulcer (bonus points for perforation), gastritis, severe reflux disease (doubtful), carcinoma (usually not that painful unless there are liver mets or outlet obstruction), biliary disease (gallstone, carcinoma, obstruction), or a number of things that endoscopy wouldn't diagnose (e.g., peritonitis, pancreatitis).
A senior PA official said Arafat was in "good health" after the endoscopy and was surrounded by a large number of aides. "President Arafat is in good shape and is recovering," said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Arafat. "He only needs to rest."
Abu Rudeineh denied that the PA had asked for permission from Israel for Arafat to go to a hospital in Ramallah for medical treatment. Earlier, Defense Ministry officials said Israel had agreed to let Arafat leave his compound briefly for medical treatment. PA Minister of Civilian Affairs Jamil Tarifi confirmed that he had approached the Israeli government asking for permission to allow Arafat to go to hospital, but explained that he did not make a formal request. Another PA minister said Arafat was originally set to undergo the endoscopic at hospital, but he refused to leave his office for fear that Israel would not allow him to return. Scores of PA officials converged on Arafat's compound on Monday night following reports about a serious deterioration in his health condition. Some expressed deep concern about Arafat's failing health. For a while, there were rumors in the city that Arafat had passed away, prompting top officials to issue vehement denials. A Tunisian medical team that arrived in Ramallah over the weekend to examine Arafat determined that he was recovering from an acute flu, but recommended that he go to hospital for further check-ups. The doctors returned to Arafat's office on Monday after the PA chairman complained of fatigue and stomach ache.
It's certainly possible that all he had was "flu" -- some sort of viral gastritis/gastroenteritis. Then again, we're depending on these jokers to tell the truth.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2004 10:28:28 PM ||
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Total face removal?
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/26/2004 0:29 Comments ||
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Maybe when he croaks they'll just prop him up in a rocking chair like Norman Bates' mother. He already looks the part...
#9
#2 "Maybe when he croaks they'll just prop him up in a rocking chair like Norman Bates' mother."
That'll be fine, as long as they keep the back of the chair towards the camera.
#15
#14 flash - AP reports Pal doctor says Arafat has gallstones.
Anyone know what Lorena Bobbit is up to? Maybe she could help the old man out, eh? What a week between this news and seeing Castro(il) bust his crack up the stairs the other day!
Posted by: BA ||
10/26/2004 13:54 Comments ||
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#16
Practicing the 'Arafat's gone hip-hop' & 'Election Day Victory'.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/26/2004 17:59 Comments ||
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#17
What's that got to do with the price of oil?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
10/26/2004 18:03 Comments ||
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Algeria's largest Islamist political party is teetering on the brink of disintegration amid reports of sexual scandals and the resignation of five of its top leaders. A spokesman for the Harkat Al-Islah (Movement for Reform) confirmed the resignations yesterday but blamed them on "intrigues by outsiders."
"Dat's right! The Mossad set us up wid dem nekkid wimmin!"
Led by Abdallah Jaballah, Islah is the second political bloc in the Algerian Parliament. Last April it fielded Jaballah as its candidate in the presidential election, which the incumbent President Abdelaziz Bouteflika won in a landslide. Jaballah came in third. Scandals surrounding the party broke out earlier this week when a member of the leadership, who must remain anonymous for legal reasons, filed a lawsuit claiming that his wife had been "sexually assaulted" by Sadiq Sulayemah, another party leader.
"He jumped her like a sheep, he did!"
The plaintiff has accused the party's leadership of trying to cover up the incident along with other instances of "illegitimate sexual activity" at the highest levels. Sulayemah, a well-known poet, and a life-long friend of Jaballah, has denied the charge, explaining his presence in the plaintiff's house as an accident.
"Y'see, I wuz lookin' fer my Koran, an' I thought I saw it there, under her bed. An', wotta y'know, there she was in it. Nekkid!"
Party sources said yesterday that the poet had met Jaballah and "confessed to his sins" and asked for pardon. Jaballah is reported to have asked the poet to keep the incident a secret so as not to harm the party. "It is hard to know what happened at the house," says Abdul-Ghafour Saadi, the party's deputy leader. "There were no witnesses to see what our comrade and the lady did."
No witnesses, so no crime was committed, right?
Sulayemah has published an ode lampooning unnamed party leaders for their obsessions with adultery and sexual deviation. The scandals come as a blow to a party that has built its platform on the claim that the Algerian society has become corrupted by Western influence. Last year the party presented a bill to make Algeria alcohol-free by banning the sale of drinks in public places. The bill failed to get enough support for inclusion in the parliamentary agenda. The party has also campaigned to make polygamy legal again, and opposed reforms presented by President Bouteflika to improve the condition of women. Juhaid Yunesi, the party's number-three and one of those who have resigned, yesterday blamed Jaballah for "creating a dictatorship to cover immorality with an Islamic vocabulary."
Doesn't like the dancing girls, huh?
Another prominent party leader to resign is Miloud Qadiri who led Islah's group in the National Assembly. "We cannot invite people to Islam when our party is sinking in immorality," Qadiri said.
"So just put them things away and read yer Korans!"
Jaballah first made his name in 1993 when he was named as one of the nine men to form a Majlis Al-Shuyukh (Council of Seniors) at a Pan-Islamist conference held in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital under the chairmanship of Hassan Turabi. Among the council members was Osama Bin Laden. In a press statement yesterday the five resigning leaders of Islah said they rejected Jaballah's offer to bring forward the date of the party's conference in a bid to defuse the situation.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2004 9:14:15 PM ||
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get 'em some old playboy magazines and invite them to a friday after mosque circle jerk--problem solved
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
10/26/2004 0:37 Comments ||
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Shouldn't there be an honor killing somewhere here? It must be his wife's fault, after all she's a woman and you know what brazen hussies they are!
#4
When I came home on Saturday night,
as drunk as drunk could be
I saw a rise beneath the sheets
where my old rise should be
Well, I called me wife and I says to her
would you kindly tell to me
Who owns that rise with you in the bed
Where my old rise should be?
She said....
Ahmed, you're drunk you're drunk ya silly old fool
It's plain as plain can be
It's nothing but a hookah that me father gave to me
But it's many a day I travelled
a hundred miles or more
but knickers on a hookah, aure
I never saw before
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/26/2004 23:29 Comments ||
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Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will visit India and other South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations next month, the foreign office said Monday. It will be Aziz's first visit to India since his election as prime minister in August and follows a thaw in relations. "Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will go to India and other SAARC countries as SAARC chairman," spokesman Masood Khan Khan told a weekly press briefing. The two countries have agreed on the visit but a date has not yet been announced, he said. Newspapers said Aziz will visit Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal during the first leg of his South Asian tour starting from November 1. His visit to the three other SAARC member states, India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, will take place later next month, according to media reports. Pakistan hosted the SAARC summit in January this year. The grouping's next summit is to be held in Dhaka next year.
That should be an adventure, shouldn't it?
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2004 9:03:07 PM ||
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Explosives packed into a car exploded on Monday killing one passenger and seriously injuring two others near Hyderabad, police said. The explosion occurred on a highway near Hyderabad, said Allah Dino Khawaja, a local police official. Gul Muhammad, who died in the explosion, was carrying the explosives from Hyderabad to Thatta to sell to coalminers in the area, Khawaja said. The injured men suffered serious burns in the explosion and were being treated at a hospital in Hyderabad, Khawaja said. It was not known what caused the dynamite to explode and Khawaja said police were investigating.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2004 10:58:43 PM ||
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#1
If this was actually dynamite, and it was old, the nitro can leak out and pool. Then all it takes is a little bump in the road...
#2
"Boy, this road get's worse every time we drive it. Ahmed, did you make sure the explosives are packed securely?"
"Yeah, and to make sure the blasting caps don't shift around I put the cases of dynamite on top of them....."
Posted by: Steve ||
10/26/2004 8:21 Comments ||
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A number of unlicensed FM radio stations are airing broadcasts in the Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency which may provoke sectarian clashes among locals, Daily Times has learnt. Sources told Daily Times that the first FM radio station was established in October 2003 by a religious organisation, Amer Bilmaroof Wanahi Anilmunkar (ABWA), which aims at implementing the Sharia in the Qamber Khel tribe. The ABWA radio used to air translation of the Holy Quran. Later, cracks appeared between ABWA and the Sheikhmal Khel tribe, a sub-tribe of Qamber Khel, over some religious matters which resulted in a fiery clash between the two groups. The clash lasted for two months leaving 10 people dead and dozens injured. The Sheikhmal Khel tribe set up its own radio station to counter the propaganda war of its rival organisation. Both groups are now engaged in the 'media war' by airing controversies against each other which may trigger sectarian conflict. According to a survey, five FM radio stations have been established in Bara in one year. Two stations have been established in the area of the Malikdin Khel tribe and one at Tarkho Kass, which also comes in the jurisdiction of Qamber Khel tribe.
Various religious factions are operating these stations to propagate their brand of Islam by preach their own viewpoints and mocking others. The political administration seems to be mesmerised by the broadcast as it has not taken any action against these radio stations. Although they had served notices to the organisations to stop their transmission, due to heavy pressure from the tribesmen, they did not act upon their decision, an official told Daily Times. These radio stations are also violating the rules and regulations of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). According to the PEMRA regulations, a person transmitting radio programmes without having a license may be subjected to a fine of up to Rs 1 million or imprisonment of up to four years or both. Some locals told Daily Times that these radio stations should not be stopped as they were performing a "sacred mission of preaching Islam".
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2004 10:40:30 PM ||
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#1
my god is bigger than your god--lol
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
10/26/2004 0:30 Comments ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2004 12:40 Comments ||
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That was back when I had a dog, so I didn't need any Pashtun music.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2004 14:01 Comments ||
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#9
mojo you are thinking about bagpipes played by an amateur. A good bagpipe players sounds like he/she got the got cat under his/her arm and is simlataneuously (at the same time) squeezing the lungs and biting the tail.
The Jammat-e-Islami (JI) is still unsure about whether its women members will participate in an anti-Musharraf campaign scheduled to start during Ramzan, sources told Daily Times on Monday. JI's women wing is an organised political platform for Pakistani women and provides technical and management training to women. About 16,000 women participated in the JI annual congregation held at Azakhel Park in Nowshera from October 1 to 3. According to sources, some JI provincial leaders are influencing the leadership to allow women to participate in the Muthida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) anti government rally because they think the party will be unable to motivate the public without them.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2004 10:38:57 PM ||
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No, no, no! However politically aware our wimminfolk are, they mustn't leave purdah. If they leave the secluded back portion of the house, someone might pollute their purity by seeing them. Send the servant girls instead; nobody cares about them, and they can speak their mistress's words for all to hear.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The U.N. investigation into Iraq's corrupt oil-for-food program has started running into resistance, the lead investigator told the Financial Times. Paul Volcker said after six months of work, documents found at the Iraqi oil ministry include the names of several prominent politicians in France, Russia and elsewhere who allegedly received illegal Iraqi oil from Saddam Hussein. He said so far investigators have had "good cooperation," but as the web of corruption peels away, "a certain amount of friction" was being encountered. "When you begin to appraise and find out about a particular company that was really corrupt, and the people who may have been behind that, then you will get some resistance, whether by government or otherwise," he said. The U.S. Congress has four congressional committees also investigating, as well as two New York law enforcement agencies, which Volcker said was not working out well. "We'd like to think that they are complementary (to the investigation). But they are not. They are competing," he said.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat on Monday night underwent a "minor surgical procedure" after complaining of severe pain in the stomach and vomiting, PA officials confirmed late Monday night. The officials told The Jerusalem Post that Arafat, who was recovering from the flu, was suffering from intestinal infection. They said a group of doctors performed on the 75-year-old Arafat an endoscopic examination, which involves the use of a long slender medical instrument for checking the interior of hollow organs. 
Algeria's largest Islamist political party is teetering on the brink of disintegration amid reports of sexual scandals and the resignation of five of its top leaders. A spokesman for the 
