WEST POINT, N.Y. - Like other new cadets reporting to West Point this summer, Shoaib Yosoufzai is bracing for the ice-water shock of a military education — the marching, the drilling, the cramming, the shouting. But the trim 20-year-old acknowledges carrying an additional burden as the academy's first cadet from Afghanistan.
"I am an ambassador of my country," Yosoufzai said after arriving at the U.S. Military Academy this week. "It will be a challenge for me."
Less than four years after toppling the Taliban, the United States is providing a military education to the young Afghani under a program that takes in cadets from around the world.
By Monday, Yosoufzai's thick mop of black hair will be shaved down and the Pashto speaker will be taking orders barked in English. He said the change is worth it for the chance to serve his country as a military officer in four years. "I think the experience that I carry from the United States will help my people and my country," he said.
Yosoufzai is a walking symbol of the relationship between the venerable Hudson Valley training ground and the faraway country now struggling with a surge in violence. This is an AP story, after all. West Point officers have provided tips to Afghan officials starting their own national military academy and a delegation toured West Point a little over a year ago. Among the visitors was Yosoufzai's father, Col. Hamdullah Yosoufzai, who is now dean of academic programs at the country's fledgling military academy.
Yosoufzai, then a sophomore at Kabul University, wanted to follow his father's footsteps to help his country's military become more professional. He could have pursued a military academy education in Kabul where his family lives, but instead applied to West Point, which he calls the top military academy in the world.
He comes to the academy under the international cadet program designed to generate goodwill and inculcate American military ethics and values abroad. The long-running program has taken in cadets from dozens of countries, from Nigeria to Singapore to Croatia.
Past international graduates of West Point include former Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza (`46), former Philippine President Fidel Ramos (`50), former Costa Rican President Jose Maria Figueres (`79), and a son of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Hun Manet (`99). Any good guys come out of it, AP?
This year, 21 international cadets are coming to West Point. Romans said the international slots are very competitive, and Yosoufzai was ultimately accepted on the strength of his application, not his family connections.
Yosoufzai has been making three-mile runs and lifting weights to prepare for the summer shakedown. But he faces other hurdles unique to foreign students.
Yosoufzai came stateside last fall to improve imperfect English skills at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The early move also softened the culture shock — things like switching from a diet heavy on the staples of bread and rice to America's bounty of burgers and bagels and the like.
Yosoufzai seems unfazed by the tough haul ahead. Although he will be the only cadet entering the Afghan army after graduating in four years, he still sees himself as just one more link in a long gray line.
"I'm not alone," he said. "If they can make it, I can make it." Good luck, kid. I hope you make it, and then fall off the AP radar screen by doing good!
Every year West Point admits a small number of cadets from other countries. Their countries pay for their attendence IIRC. They live, study and work with the other cadets and graduate after the same 4 year program ... they just are commissioned in their own countries' military rather than the U.S. Army. Recent graduates have come from countries like Kyrgistan, Singapore, Mongolia, Slovenia, Costa Rica, Turkey ... There are also shorter stays ... last term some French cadets from St. Cyr spent a semester pursuing an intensive independent study/research program, for instance.
Photos of the new Afghan National Military Academy on opening day here and a comment re: the setup of the academy here.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/24/2005 09:50 ||
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#1
I understand Pashto is even more reentrant that Java.
#2
The Air Force Academy and Anapolis also admit cadets from other countries. It a good program and usually fosters better ties with future military leaders and sometimes future Dictators. I wish Cadet Yosoufzai all the best and good luck on his studies.
An official in the Saudi Interior Ministry revealed new details, on Tuesday, about the militants, kamal Foudah, and Monsur Al-Tibeythi, suspected of killing a police chief, in the city of Mecca , last Saturday. The latest information confirms Asharq Al Awsat's own investigation into the murder of Major Mubarak al Sawat.
The source indicated that Foudah, a Saudi citizen, aged 45, had visited Afghanistan on four occasions, since 1987. He was arrested, in 1991, in the Eastern region for heading a five member gang that stole considerable sums of money, video equipment, and personal belongings from five houses in the area. Foudah justified his crime by blaming his infidel victims. He was sentenced to five years in jail.
For his part, Monsur Al-Tibeythi, aged 23 and also a Saudi national, is a university drop out who was arrested for car theft last year, the source added.
In a statement released to the media, the Ministry of Interior said police had also confiscated weapons and ammunition, including those used to murder al Sawat, in addition to a computer, a camera, a phone, money and documents proving the suspects ascribe to militant ideologies.
Retired General Major Yayha al Zaidi, a specialist in security matters, applauded the police force's swift response, adding that they are in control of the Kingdom's security. He said, "The public needs to know that the authorities are able to respond quickly. Security missions vary between investigation, intelligence gathering, and technological duties. It is difficult for a criminal to escape justice, especially if he is already known to the authorities", as was the case with Foudah.
He confirmed Foudah was a militant "immersed in extremist ideology" whose criminal record and repeated visits to Afghanistan are "evidence of deviant beliefs". Al Zaidi added that it was "unconceivable for [anyone] arrested for robbery to claim to defend religion". Rather, the former general believed, Foudah's behavior should be attributed to "attempts to fund his fundamentalist beliefs".
Al Tibeythi had quit university after swapping his English language classes for Islamic studies. His tale should "serve as a warning for all parents. It is important children are provided with care and attention when growing up" al Zaidi said.
Al Zaydi's belief that "confused people such as Monsur can be easily misled" was confirmed by the suspect's neighbors in the al Hawiya district, with one claiming al Tibeythi suffered from his parents separating.
When asked about the militant tactic of targeting security officers in the Kingdom, al Zaidi said "terrorists are convinced everyone is an infidel. They can only understand reality through their own narrow perspective. Whoever targets police forces, whose only aim is peace and security has no principles or morals."
This article starring:
Major Mubarak al Sawat
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/24/2005 17:20 ||
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Participants who gathered in a preliminary session of the 5th National Forum for Dialogue which is to be held in Abha, have asked that the word "infidel" be substituted by "other" in all religious and media speeches in the Kingdom when referring to non-Muslims.
Oh, that'll work. I like the sound of "kill all the others!" much better than I like the sound of "kill all the infidels!"
They also called for better upbringing according to universal Islamic teachings of children, where youngsters would learn how to properly deal with "others" and called for religious institutions in the Kingdom to acknowledge their mistakes and correct them in this matter, whether they were in the judicial system or during sermons in mosques. Furthermore, they said that the hatred taught about non-Muslims in the educational system and in the media should stop and called for a definition of "religious standards" on how to deal with non-Muslims. Dr. Abdullah Omar Naseef, deputy head of the National Forum for Dialogue who attended Wednesday's preliminary session in Abha, said that efforts must be exerted for permitting what he called "an open channel" where citizens would express their concerns and discuss matters of interest at all levels. Dr. Naseef also stressed in his opening speech the importance of how we deal with others and others' feelings about us. He also said it was important to know our shortcomings in our dealing with others, adding that it was equally important to improve the way we deal with others, no matter where they were or where they come from.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Oh baby. They're really asking for trouble with this. It's an open question whether even the nastiest jihadi, Zarqi for example, is a match for the MPAA... Those guys never give up or give in. And they would ace their grandmother for a buck.
#6
Participants who gathered in a preliminary session of the 5th National Forum for Dialogue which is to be held in Abha, have asked that the word âinfidelâ be substituted by âotherâ in all religious and media speeches in the Kingdom when referring to non-Muslims.
Fine with me as long as we can substitute "target" for the word "Muslim."
#8
"others" I LIKE IT!! It's simple yet brilliant. One size fits all. Why limit yourself to "infidel" when that implies that simply being a Moslem means that you are "one of us". And imagine the time we will save for all clerics, everywhere, by not having to say "Jews and ..."
Everyone can leave the conference with their little documents that say "others" and no one actually has to agree on who the "others" are.
I don't mean YOU, Mohammed, I mean "others". I love you (kiss, kiss, smack, smack xxox)
(Back at the sand ranch)...Yes...this document shows we can kill the others...Death to Mohammed!!
The UN never found torture in Iraq but it's really good at fighting it elsewhere ...
BISHKEK - Kyrgyzstan plans to hand 29 refugees who fled Uzbek troops back to its authoritarian neighbour, its top prosecutor said on Thursday, ignoring a United Nations warning that they may be tortured or executed.
Kyrgyz Prosecutor General Azimbek Beknazarov said the refugees were criminals who broke out of jail last month during an uprising in the eastern Uzbek city of Andizhan that was put down bloodily by troops and police. "These are criminals, they killed people," Beknazarov told reporters in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek. "They need to be punished, their place is in prison."
"Get the hell out and stay out!"
He said they would be handed over in a week's time. His country sent four other asylum seekers back two weeks ago.
Around 500 Uzbeks fled across the border from Andizhan to southern Kyrgyzstan on May 14, a day after police opened fire on a crowd of armed rebels and civilian protesters, killing around 500 people according to witnesses. Uzbekistan says 176 people were killed in its police action against what it says were "terrorists" and "bandits". By either account it was the country's worst violence since it became an independent state when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour urged the Kyrgyz government to reconsider. "There are well-founded reasons to believe that asylum-seekers in Kyrgyzstan, in particular those currently in detention, may face an imminent risk of grave human rights violations, including torture and extra-judicial and summary executions, if returned to Uzbekistan," she said in a statement.
Arbour, a former UN war crimes prosecutor, said it would be a breach of the UN Convention against Torture, which Kyrgyzstan has signed, to send the refugees back especially as they were eyewitnesses to the events in Andizhan.
Eyewitnesses? Wonder if they were participants?
Two weeks ago, the UN refugee agency and human rights groups criticised Kyrgyzstan for handing back the first four refugees, all of whom were registered as asylum seekers. That decision breached the 1951 Refugee Convention and Kyrgyz national law, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees head of mission in Kyrgyzstan said at the time.
Kyrgyzstan, which shares part of the Ferghana Valley with more powerful neighbour Uzbekistan, has come under pressure from Uzbekistan to hand back some of the refugees, while the West has urged it to live up to commitments to protect them.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, in the same statement as Arbour, urged the Kyrgyz government to consider very carefully whether refugees were criminals or people fleeing persecution. "There must be a proper procedure, not a hasty effort to rubber stamp a politically expedient ending to the current tensions with Uzbekistan," he said.
You guys are in for it now, you got not one, but two UN High Commisioners on your case.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2005 00:00 ||
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Pyongyang, June 23 (KCNA) -- The Headquarters of the People's Movement for the Withdrawal of the U.S. Forces in south Korea in a commentary on June 18 reportedly said that the abrogation of the south Korea-U.S. "mutual defence treaty" and the total withdrawal of the U.S. forces from south Korea are preconditions for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Noting that the U.S. has no right to say about the denuclearization of the peninsula as its forces are present in south Korea, ready to use nukes any time, the commentary said that the north's access to nuclear weapons is a just countermeasure to cope with the U.S. undisguised military nuclear threat. The denuclearization of the Korean peninsula can never come true unless the U.S. nuclear threat is completely gone, the commentary said, adding: If the U.S. truly wishes to see the denuclearization of the peninsula, it should pull out its forces from south Korea and normalize its relations with the DPRK.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2005 00:00 ||
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You would like that wouldn't you Kimmie? Come to think of it, so would I. Move 'em to Japan. Have fun SKorea!
#2
breaks my friggin heart that 1 of the 5 currently most-stocked electronics willl no longer be available...like...um...nevermind
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2005 0:29 Comments ||
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Well, what rampaging wealth, lands, crops, woemne and dog-stealing, etc. medieval Bandit-Slaver-Warlord-Barbarian gone PC and Political doesn't get MORE ARROGANT AND DEMANDING once you give them 50,000 tonnes of Tribute, i mean Food, to feed their starving mases. FOOD, ETC, = MORE FOCII BACK ON THE SHARP SWORD, NOT THE PLOW!
#7
There good for this about once a week. They also expect the Japanese to invade any day now. That's about twice a week. Kimmie offers field guidance about once a day. They invent another snake oil about three times a week. And the eatings never been better.
#12
Can we give South Korea back to the North Koreans, now? I'd like to see the NorKs try to occupy it. I still have some bags of popcorn sitting around here...
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/24/2005 13:17 Comments ||
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Political leaders in Germany on Friday agreed to vastly increase deportations of refugees to Afghanistan and Kosovo following expiration of a nationwide moratorium.
In addition, Iraqi refugees convicted of offences in Germany will also be deported to their home country as soon as the security situation there permits, it was agreed.
The agreements came at the end of two days of at times acrimonious discussions among interior ministers of Germany's 16 regional states. In Germany, enforcement of immigration laws falls under regional jurisdiction.
On European immigration, the ministers agreed to limit immigration of Jews from eastern Europe to those who can support themselves financially and who speak fluent German.
A moratorium on deportations of political refugees, primarily those from Afghanistan, expired last April 30.
Authorities in the city-state of Hamburg became the first in Germany in May to start deporting Afghan refugees, though so far only a handful of 'volunteer' deportees and convicted felons have actually left.
Friday's agreement paves the way for much larger numbers of refugees to be deported, not just those with criminal records.
Critics of the agreement said it would tear apart families. Those in favour said it was necessary for security reasons.
"Permitting members of ethnic minorities from Kosovo to remain in Germany indefinitely works counter to efforts toward integrating ethnic groups in Kosovo," said Heribert Rech from Baden-Wuerttemberg.
"Against the backdrop of combatting terrorism, we have no choice but to give priority to deportation of Islamic extremists," he added.
He also noted that Afghanistan's minister of refugee affairs, Mohammad Azam Dadfar, agreed with Hamburg authorities to accept back 10 to 15 refugees per month.
"We take that as tacit approval," Rech said.
Dadfar told a German news magazine in May that Germany had the "same right as any other country to send refugees back to the country of origin".
Posted by: too true ||
06/24/2005 18:53 ||
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I will believe it when I see it actually happen.
Authorities in Berlin on Thursday launched deportation proceedings for a second time against an Islamic cleric who made headlines nationwide for saying Germans "stink". The new proceedings come after the German high court overruled a Berlin court's deportation order issued last March. The Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the imam's constitutional rights had not been adequately protected during the proceedings. "We're starting from scratch to present a new case with much stronger evidence," said Bjoern Schaefer, a spokesman for the Berlin Administrative Court. The 59-year-old cleric, a Turkish citizen who has lived in Germany for some 30 years, spawned controversy with remarks during prayers at Berlin's Mevlana mosque in which he admonished his listeners to resist temptations of the flesh.
"You don't want to become like the Germans who revel in eating pork and drinking beer, both iniquitous to good Muslims, and whose women don't even shave under their arms. You don't want to be like them and stink both physically in the eyes of man and morally in the eyes of God," he was quoted in news reports as having said.
The deportation order followed a criminal investigation on charges of public incitement. The cleric initially denied having made the comments. When confronted with tape recordings of his remarks, he later said the remarks had been taken out of context and apologised for any misunderstanding.
"Mistakes were made. We regret any inconvenience. The members of the class action will each receive a coupon good for a 10% discount off their next fatwa."
Is anyone else disappointed with Al Franken's daily defense of the continued war in Iraq? Not Bush's version of the war, because that would undermine Air America's laudable purpose of rallying an anti-Bush audience. But, well, Kerry's version of the war, one that can be better managed and won, somehow with better body armor and fewer torture cells. This morning Franken was endorsing Sen. Joe Biden's proposal to send 5,000 NATO troops to close the Syrian-Iraq border, bring in foreign trainers for the Iraqi officer corps, and put Iraqis to work cleaning up the destruction of our invasion. "Last chance to get it right."
But get what right? Now that Bush has manipulated us into the invasion, Franken thinks, we have no choice but to...stay until we crush the insurgents. It's a humanitarian excuse for open-ended American occupation. And it's shared widely by the professional political and pundit class who think of themselves as the conscience of the American establishment and the leadership of the Democratic Party.
It gets worse. Last week the Center for American Progress, a lavishly-funded think tank mainly for Clinton officials in exile, issued a paper calling for greater efforts at military recruiting to fulfill our "moral" obligations in Iraq.
Who knows, maybe it's possible to "crush the insurgency", "fix the pottery", and leave. The estimated calendar for these achievements runs from two years (Biden) to five or ten years (Pentagon sources). That's at one billion dollars per week.
Meanwhile, the majority of Iraqis, the people these humanitarian hawks seek to save, want the US to set a timetable for withdrawal. One hundred thousand have marched in Baghdad's streets for withdrawal. This week 82 members of the Iraqi parliament issued a statement demanding US withdrawal and criticising their leadership for reneging on pledges made to Iraqi voters.
Our government is the chief provocateur of the insurgency. Our government has installed a Shiite regime whose security forces are killing Sunnis. Our government is ignoring Iraqi opinion, and even Iraqi parliamentarians, who want to take their chances in an Iraq without our occupation.
Why can't Air America "liberals" support the Iraqi peace movement?
I love it when they eat their own
Posted by: Steve ||
06/24/2005 13:52 ||
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Tom Hayden?
They making dumpsters with internet access now?
#2
So how come I don't see these articles about how "the majority of Iraqis, the people these humanitarian hawks seek to save, want the US to set a timetable for withdrawal."? Huh?
Or that "One hundred thousand have marched in Baghdad's streets for withdrawal."? If true, that'd be about 2% of the population of the city. Can the number be "independently verified"?
Now I can believe this, "This week 82 members of the Iraqi parliament issued a statement demanding US withdrawal and criticising their leadership for reneging on pledges made to Iraqi voters." because there's 275 members of Parliment, so the complainers number just 30%, about the same as the LLL wackos, here.
You guys holdin' out on us? Where's all this baaaaaad news?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/24/2005 15:47 Comments ||
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S"en. Joe Biden's proposal to send 5,000 NATO troops to close the Syrian-Iraq border." Like anyone in NATO has 5,000 troops to send to Iraq for border security.
The protest Hayden is referring to is the April 2005 protest by Muqtada al-Sadr and his Iranian mullah masters demanding troops leave so they can impose a theocracy, and torture and execute heretics (i.e. anyone who does not think the same) in basements. As for the 100,000, Hayden must a proponent of Ethnomath (see other thread). CNN had a figure of "Several thousand". Iraqi protesters: 'No, no to America'.
Somebody tell Hayden that Franken's call for others to fight is not support for a war that started with an attempt to kill 50,000 people in Franken's home town. Hayden himself, is trying to relive his glory years. For him, it's always Cambodia 1975. And what is it about Biden trying to weasel out of the hard work, whether it's law school plagerism, claiming credit for things he has not done, or trying to get others to fight our war?
PS. When I read the title of this post, I thought it was satire from HuffingtonToast, but it seems in this day and age, irony is dead.
Posted by: ed ||
06/24/2005 17:59 Comments ||
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Morgan Spurlock got famous from his Oscar-nominated documentary "Super Size Me." He ingested big McDonald's meals three times a day for 30 days, then blamed McDonald's for his bloated body and dodgy health. Now he's using his 30-day premise to get Americans to ingest his version of radical Islam on cable's FX Network.
Last year, I received a request to appear on Mr. Spurlock's new reality show, "30 Days." The episode for which I was being recruited, "Inside an American Muslim Family," airs next Wednesday. It features Mr. Spurlock's childhood friend from West Virginia, David Stacy, spending 30 days "living as a Muslim" in the Detroit area.
While Mr. Spurlock is often referred to as a journalist, and touts "30 Days" as a "documentary," the outcome of the show was decided before production began. A show summary sent to me before taping said: "This process aims to deconstruct common misconceptions and stereotypes. . . . Our character will learn firsthand about Islam and the daily issues that . . . Muslims in America face today. The viewers will witness our character emerge from the immersion situation with a deeper understanding and appreciation for the Muslim-American experience. . . . The potential is great for this program to enlighten a national television audience about the Muslim American experience and increase their compassion, understanding and support."
And indeed, The Wall Street Journal's own Dorothy Rabinowitz, writing about the show last week from a preview tape, noted that Mr. Stacy, by the end of his 30 days, "has become so enlightened that he is pronouncing, if incomprehensibly, on the meaning of Islam, his knowledge of the Quran, the real definition of jihad."
I asked the show's executive producers--all of whom worked on "The Awful Truth With Michael Moore," a cable TV show--how this could be a documentary when they had decided the outcome in advance. Wasn't it possible that Mr. Stacy would come out seeing that there isn't Islamophobia to the extent that the Muslim community claims? Might he see that there is disturbingly strong support in the Detroit-area Islamic community for terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah--a fact regularly documented even in the normally pliant Detroit media?
No, the producers told me. "Morgan wants the show to demonstrate to America that we are Islamophobic and that 9/11's biggest victims are Muslims." With this in mind, I agreed to be filmed only with final approval of my appearance, which I never gave. Thus I will not appear in Wednesday's show.
When I met David Stacy, about halfway through his 30-day experience, I was amazed at how uninformed he was. This new "expert" on Islam never heard of Wahhabism--the extremist Sunni strain of Islam that dominates Saudi Arabia and informs the terrorist-breeding madrassa schools throughout Arab and other Muslim lands. He was unfamiliar with groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. He did not believe me when I told him that Hezbollah had murdered hundreds of U.S. Marines and civilians in Beirut and elsewhere. He seemed mystified to learn that President Bush shut down American Islamic charities, like the Holy Land Foundation and Global Relief Foundation, for funding Hamas and al Qaeda.
In Mr. Stacy, it is clear, Mr. Spurlock had found the perfect tabula rasa. He had also found the perfect "experts" and "key members" of Detroit's Islamic community to educate him. One such was Muqtedar Khan, a professor at Adrian College whose occasional columns in the Detroit News and elsewhere have urged us to understand how devout Muslims can be driven to commit terrorism because of the West's economic alliances.
Mr. Stacy was also taught by Imam Hassan Qazwini of Dearborn's Islamic Center of America, the largest mosque in North America. In November 1998, Mr. Qazwini's mosque hosted Louis Farrakhan, who was introduced as "our dear brother" and "a freedom fighter." I was there and watched Mr. Qazwini cheer on Mr. Farrakhan's attacks on America and his descriptions of Jews as "evil" and "forces of Satan."
When I told Mr. Spurlock's executive producer that I felt David Stacy was, well, a moron, she replied that Imam Husham Al-Husainy, a prominent Dearborn Shia cleric, "said the same thing" and refused to continue teaching him about Islam for the show. The biggest morons, though, will be not Mr. Stacy but the critics and viewers who fall for this supersized phony "documentary."
Ms. Schlussel is Detroit area attorney, columnist and talk show host.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/24/2005 13:10 ||
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Figures. Spurlock's got 'confidence man' written all over him.
#2
Oh please, oh please... I will be watching this show with bated breath to see if Mr. Spurlock, in his zeal to show his diversity-lovin' wonderfulness, decides to recite the shahada. Thirty days, my ass.
#3
Oops, should have said Stacy instead of Spurlock. Still, this should be a piece of cake. "Please, if you would live like a muslim you must say this one thing. It's very easy."
#6
I felt David Stacy was, well, a moron, she replied that Imam Husham Al-Husainy, a prominent Dearborn Shia cleric, "said the same thing" This doesn't surprise me.
WASHINGTON - A White House official said Friday the administration finds it "somewhat puzzling" that Democrats are demanding presidential adviser Karl Rove's apology or resignation for implying that liberals are soft on terrorism.
"I think Karl was very specific, very accurate, in who he was pointing out," communications director Dan Bartlett said. "It's touched a chord with these Democrats. I'm not sure why."
Rove, the architect behind President Bush's election victories, on Wednesday night told a gathering of the New York Conservative Party that "Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers." Conservatives, he said, "saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war."
He added that groups linked to the Democratic Party made the mistake of calling for "moderation and restraint" after the terrorist attacks.
Bartlett, appearing on morning news shows Friday, said that Rove was referring in his talk to Moveon.org, a liberal group that has been identified with movie producer Michael Moore. "It's somewhat puzzling why all these Democrats ... who responded forcefully after 9-11, who voted to support President Bush's pursuit of the war on terror, if you supported the President, why would you think you were being criticized? are now rallying to the defense of Moveon.org, this liberal organization who put out a petition in the days after 9-11 and said that we ought not use military force in responding to 9-11," Bartlett said on NBC's "Today" show. "That is who Karl Rove cited in that speech ... There is no need to apologize." If the shoe fits, wear it!
Appearing on CBS's "The Early Show," Bartlett said that Rove was "just pointing out that MoveOn.org is a liberal organization that didn't defend or accept the way that we prosecuted the war in the days after" the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington.
Bartlett told interviewers that he didn't understand why Democrats "are throwing up such a huff." Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, in a letter to Rove co-signed by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Democratic senators from Connecticut and New Jersey, called the presidential adviser's speech "a slap in the face to the unity that America achieved after Sept. 11, 2001." And the liberals - and several democrats - have been eroding ever since.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Thursday there was no reason for Rove to apologize because he was "simply pointing out the different philosophies when it comes to winning the war on terrorism." "Of course not," McClellan said when asked by reporters whether Bush would ask Rove to apologize.
Democrats said Rove, and his Republican allies, were now trying to change the subject when Democrats, and many Americans, are becoming increasingly critical of the course of the war in Iraq. For Rove "to try to exploit 9/11 for political purposes once again just shows you how desperate they are," said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California, who is getting pretty desperate, herself in recent days has been the target of Republican attacks for saying that the Iraq war was a "grotesque mistake."
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/24/2005 09:50 ||
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"I show you a coat of general cut and you claim it's tailored to you? Fascinating."
#3
The Donks are soooo stupid. Rove said nothing aboput
Democrats, only liberals. Now they go caterwauling and Bartlett can rightfully extend the charges to Democrats instead of just liberals. Did the evil genius Rove have that figured out beforehand? Ya really think?
I'm surprised nobody had a hernia laughing when they planned this thing.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/24/2005 10:39 Comments ||
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Mrs. D - They probably did. The Dims are getting easier all the time.
#6
Seems to me the party that gave Michael Moore a place of honor at its national convention has no business complaining about anybody "exploiting 9/11 for political purposes".
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/24/2005 10:56 Comments ||
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Karl Rove just makes me proud to be an American. He got ALL of them in one shot and they didn't even see it coming! I am betting about now Clinton, Polosi, and Shuma are trying desperately to find a sound bite by Rove that equates Dhimicrats and Liberals. Good show Karl!
#8
This gets more brilliant every time I think about it. Every time the Donks bring this up, the Trunks are going to get to use the words Liberal and Democrat in the same sentence.
Welcome to the 2006 mid-term election campaign. It's going to be a laugher. Rove will have picked up House seats in all four elections, will he not?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/24/2005 11:03 Comments ||
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I think the Dems got blind-sided here. Who could have foreseen that in the wake of 9/11 people would actually start listening to the words coming out of their mouths?
#10
See Hugh Hewitt's 3:00 PM posting on June 23. He cites several RNC chairman Ken Mehlman's quotes from the LLL which fully support Rove's contention
that the liberals wimped out over 9/11. The money quote: "Itâs outrageous that the same Democrats who stood by Dick Durbinâs libeling of our military are now expressing faux outrage over Karl Roveâs statement of historical fact. George Soros, Michael Moore, MoveOn and the hard left were wrong after 9/11, just as it was wrong for Democrat leaders to stand by and remain silent after Dick Durbin made his deplorable comments.â
- RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman
#11
Hmm... Mehlman makes a good point, but what doe Howard Dean say? -snicker-
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/24/2005 12:08 Comments ||
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#12
Rove could have said that not all liberal want to fight terrorism through therapy since some liberals actually are basically terrorist apologists or even terrorist supporters.
#16
I am still mad as hell over being attacked on Sept 11, I am livid. I am in the mood to kill everytime I hear the words Al Qaeda, or Wahabbi for that fact. I want to hand Osama's mother his ass and his head on separate silver platters.
Who is stronger on the War on Terror, none of the Chickenhawk neocons or the Far lefty "lets reform them freaks" are doing anything that can be legitimately referred to as a significant and directed effort to destroy the enemies of the US.
What the F$%k did Saddam have to do with Terrorism, much less than Iran or Syria I assure you. However we did not attack them, why because terror wasn't why we went to Iraq, energy and regional dominance were, which I'm cool with, but what about our Sept 11 revenge, justice? Let's finish that job first.
Im want blood, not excuses about Tora Bora or lack of Human intelligence. I want Osama's head on a platter, period. I want Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, and Palestine to all submit or be destroyed, none of this "we cant intrude on their sovereign territory bullshit." They finance, encourage and breed terrorism, therefore, they are our enemies. Osama wanted a war against he and his Wahabbi brothers, guess what, we've got a special on whoop ass today, and we'll open a can just for you!
Bombs, bullets, nukes, chemicals,biological terror I don't care. I want our enemies to die, period. I want their wannabe suicide bomber 10 year olds dead, and I want their dancing in the streets on Sept 11 bhurka wearing sisters dead, and their poor old "kill the jews" grandad dead too. I'd like to see our boys give Meccah a new Napalm makeover.
No excuses, no "we've got to secure a pipeline rather than capture Osama", no "we have to gather more allies", no "we can't institute a draft" bullshit. I want blood, and a short list of those who remain to be killed.
Whatever happened to you're with us or against us from George? Nothing because he didn't mean it, he meant watch me act like this Iraq war is more important than catching Osama. Because catching Osama isn't profitable for George or Dick's buddies.
So none of you give me this the righteous neocons are the saviours of Democracy bullshit, because it aint true. They and their liberal counterparts both are corporate whores and we all know it, we just don't want to look soft by supporting the other side because all we see in our media is the partisan bullshit that says one side is right and the other is wrong.
As far as I've seen both sides suck ass in their efforts, they are boot licking politicians that don't know shit about sacrifice.
My best friend is in Kirkuk biting at the bit to kill our enemies, and he can't get armor for his humvee, but Halliburton charges us $1000 a barrel for the gas they buy in Iraq. And nobody questions this? Where the hell are our priorities folks?
Let's put politics aside and see the truth that we are getting screwed by both sides, because they are all bootlicking piss ant politicians.
Nuke North Korea and Iran, and tell Pakistan they're next if they want to step when we "infringe on their sovereign territory" to catch Osama and his boys. Syria is a given, hopefully the fallout will blow over from Iran.
I don't give a shit about Rove, Pelosi, Bush, Dean whoever they are or whatever party they represent they are all letting their own personal interests get in the way of my righteous bloodlust.
Never forget, this is about America folks, not the Republican Party, Democratic party or whoever, this is about killing those who threaten us, and dragging their bullet-ridden bodies behind a New York city firetruck right down the main street in Riyadh or where the hell ever.
Death to our enemies!And death to whoever stands in our way of protecting America from these enemies.
Kill em all and let God sort em out!
I welcome your comments suggestions and thoughts.
Mountain Man
Posted by: Mountain Man ||
06/24/2005 19:23 Comments ||
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#17
I think that Karl Rove should immediately apologize for his comments.
I have learned from my statement that historical parallelsfacts can be misusedembarrasing and misunderstoodinconvenient. I sincerely regret if what I said causes anybody to misunderstand myreveal their true feelings.
When he delivers it, he should remember to sob with emotion - or at least not burst out giggling.
Posted by: Darth VAda ||
06/24/2005 20:17 Comments ||
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#18
I am no Trent Lott fan, but if I am him, I am scratching my head on this. Trent gets dumped for his stupid comment; Durbin gets to skate with a phony half-apology.
It is foolish to make the comparison between Durbin and Rove. Only the Dummycrats would try to equate the two.
But, Rove gave his remarks at a conservative conference in NY. Durbin gave his assinine remarks on the floor of the Senate. Rove has plenty on the public record to support his statement; Durbin is using a classified, unvetted written statement by an FBI person.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/24/2005 21:31 Comments ||
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The nation's top military leaders clashed with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy yesterday, challenging his assertion that the Iraq war has descended into a Vietnam-like "quagmire."
At a high-powered Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Vice President Dick Cheney's recent assessment that the insurgency was in its "final throes" seemed to be contradicted by the top general in the region.
The Massachusetts Democrat prompted a show of support for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld after the senator again called for his resignation.
"Secretary Rumsfeld, you know we are in serious trouble in Iraq," Mr. Kennedy said. "This war has been consistently and grossly mismanaged," Mr. Kennedy added. "And we are now in a seemingly intractable quagmire. Our troops are dying, and there really is no end in sight."
Mr. Kennedy then listed what he considered a series of misjudgments, such as underestimating the insurgency and failing to provide enough armor, and then asked, "Isn't it time for you to resign?"
Mr. Rumsfeld, flanked at the witness table by three four-star generals, rebutted each point.
"I will say that the idea that what's happening over there is a quagmire is so fundamentally inconsistent with the facts," he said. "The reality is that they are making political progress without question."
Army Gen. George Casey then injected himself into the debate.
"As the commander in Iraq, I would like to put myself on the record, Senator Kennedy, as saying that I also agree with the secretary that to represent the situation in Iraq as a quagmire is a misrepresentation of the facts," Gen. Casey said. "Senator, that is not a quagmire."
Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, Joint Chiefs chairman, added, "It's clearly not a quagmire. ... The term has been used loosely, and it's not accurate in my estimation."
Mr. Rumsfeld's top commander in the region, Army Gen. John Abizaid, then offered his vote of confidence in the secretary.
"When it comes to toughness and stick-to-itiveness and fighting the enemy the way they need to be fought, I'm standing by the secretary," he said.
The sharp exchange came on a day when the Bush administration sent its biggest guns to Capitol Hill to defend an Iraq war policy that is losing support among Americans and a smattering of Republicans.
Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the committee's top Democrat, used the hearing to try to expose a split between the White House and Gen. Abizaid.
Mr. Levin asked whether the general thought the insurgency was in its "last throes," as Mr. Cheney said in a CNN interview last month.
"In terms of the overall strength of the insurgency, I'd say it was the same as it was" six months ago, Gen. Abizaid replied.
Posted by: too true ||
06/24/2005 15:08 ||
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#1
Too bad you didn't run the Oldsmobile into a quagmire back in '69, Teddy. It might not have sunk.
Rumsfeld should've called him outside the capitol and bitch slapped his fat ass.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/24/2005 15:28 Comments ||
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#3
"And we are now in a seemingly intractable quagmire. Our troops are dying, and there really is no end in sight."
If you really care about our troops all that much, Senator Lardass (and we both know damn well you don't), then stop encouraging the enemy in his belief that he can make us give up and go home just like we did in Somalia and Beirut. YOU are getting American soldiers killed, Senator.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/24/2005 16:12 Comments ||
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#4
YOU are getting American soldiers killed, Senator.
Like he cares. He's hated this country ever since it refused to give the White House to him.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/24/2005 16:30 Comments ||
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#5
Military brass hit Kennedy for saying war is 'quagmire'
TAMPA - Prosecutors on Thursday showed jurors a document linking an organization founded by Sami Al-Arian to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, pledging unity with another terrorist organization and glorifying an Islamic Jihad attack. ``The Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine has declared its total solidarity with our brothers in Hamas and called on all muslims to take all means available to support the detainees and demand their unconditional release, and warn the enemy from taking any further suppressive actions,'' the document says. ``No to surrender of humiliating peace ... Yes to Holy Land from the River to the Sea ... Glory to the martyr, Wounded, Prisoners and Children of the Stones.''
The 1989 document found on a computer taken in 1995 from the offices of the World and Islam Studies Enterprise had the name of the Islamic Committee for Palestine on the bottom. Wish I could get hard drives to last 6 years.
The Islamic Committee for Palestine was founded by Al- Arian in 1988. It hosted annual conferences on Palestinian issues and had a stated purpose to unite various organizations and mobilize the Muslim community in America. But federal prosecutors say it was really a front for the Islamic Jihad. The document introduced as evidence Thursday afternoon refers to Nidal Zalloom, an Islamic Jihad member who killed two elderly Israelis and injured three in a knife attack on a Jerusalem street on May 3, 1989. ``The new terror campaign by the enemy against the combative islamic movements has intensified, especially after the bold action undertaken by the Mujahid Nidal Zalloom in the last week in the Holy month of Ramadan in Jerusalem,'' the document states. ``In addition, an extensive campaign of repressive measures and wide arrest campaign have taken place against the leaders and members of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) including the arrest of their spiritual leader Sheik Ahmad Yasin, in another attempt by the enemy to break the back of the heroic Islamic resistance in Palestine.''
The Zalloom incident was among 14 attacks that attorneys in the case have stipulated were committed by Islamic Jihad members.
This article starring:
NIDAL ZALLUM
Islamic Jihad
SAMI AL ARIAN
Islamic Committee for Palestine
SAMI AL ARIAN
Palestinian Islamic Jihad
SAMI AL ARIAN
World and Islam Studies Enterprise
SHEIK AHMED YASIN
Hamas
Islamic Committee for Palestine
Palestinian Islamic Jihad
World and Islam Studies Enterprise
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/24/2005 11:43 ||
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#1
at: http://reports.tbo.com/reports/alarian/
there are images of the accused
also USF has finally fired Al Arian based on his indictment
U.N. human rights investigators, citing "persistent and credible" reports of torture at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, urged the United States on Thursday to allow them to check conditions there. The failure of the United States to respond to requests since early 2002 is leading the experts to conclude Washington has something to hide at the Cuban base, said Manfred Nowak, a specialist on torture and a professor of human rights law in Vienna, Austria. "At a certain point, you have to take well-founded allegations as proven in the absence of a clear explanation by the government," Nowak said. However, he added: "We are not making a judgment if torture or treatment under degrading conditions has taken place."
No, no. Certainly not.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
I'd bet that a slightly overdone rice pilaf would be considered turture by the UN mooks. Give 'em the raspberry...
#2
Complete and total bullshit. No matter of how deserving those animals are of being shot, they are treated with kid gloves.
Funny how the UN couldn't give a shit about torture chambers in Cuba, or China, or genocide in Zimbabwae or any of the true horrors being imposed on defenseless civilians at countless places in the world - but when the US locks up un-uniformed combatants (who should have been shot on the battlefield BTW) they begin to shout of abuses and torture.
FU.
#6
Just tell them regardless of the menu listed in the press, there are no five star restaurants and no double parking at Gitmo. Besides all they have to do is ask ICRC what's up cause they've already been there on the ground for a while. Dining in Geneva or Gitmo? There's no first class to Gitmo either. Easy choice boys.
#8
First, they can't get into any of those other places, either.
Second, even if they did, why would they believe it was anything but a setup? So it's a waste of thyme.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/24/2005 10:17 Comments ||
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#9
It's funny, if the U.S. won't let them into Guantanamo, they say they'll be forced to conclude we're hiding something. But when Saddam wouldn't let us inspect his sensitive sites, they were forced to conclude that he was concerned about upholding the independence and national dignity of Iraq. I guess that's a consistent position.
#10
Strangely, it is consistent, Cap'n - consistently anti-American.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/24/2005 12:30 Comments ||
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#11
Sure, we'll let you inspect. Give us a couple days to get a banquet spread laid out and some underaged girls for your bedrooms. Meanwhile, why don't you take a tour around the rest of Cuba and inspect the prisons there?
They'd fit right in with the rest of the clowns there who want to destroy America.
And make sure to give them korans. Especially if they're not moslems.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/24/2005 15:24 Comments ||
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#14
Interesting theory, Mr Nowak. So, if some group of people say something often enough it must be true?
Funny, but I remember all the adults telling me there was a Santa when I was little. They were pretty persistent about it, and, not knowing any better, I thought it was credible. They also told me that if I didn't start behaving, Santa would find out and take away all my toys. Santa didn't answer my rather pointed letter regarding toy confiscation when I was five, either. I'm sure I put enough postage on the letter, because Mom yelled at me later for using up her stamps. All the while I saw really cool TV shows that definitely showed a Santa, with his collaborators Rudolph & Frosty. The closest I ever got to an official government statement on the matter was from my teachers. They agreed with my parents.
Therefore, I guess Santa exists?
Nah, didn't think so.
Nice 21st century adaptation of Hitler's "big lie" theory, though. I must give the specialist his props for that one.
(I'd give him even more props if he came out and said all he really wants is a tropical vacation at US expense, preferably during the cold winter months, after the holiday sales are over....natch. Yeah, I'm cynical, and still not over the Santa crap. ;) )
Indonesian anti-corruption officials hauled the governor of tsunami-hit Aceh province from his hospital bed to a Jakarta prison to serve a 10-year sentence for graft, despite his plea that he was too sick to be in jail. Abdullah Puteh was ordered jailed by the country's newly established anti-corruption court in April and fined 3.8 billion rupiah ($US400,000) for his role in marking up the price of a Russian helicopter bought by the province. Judges at the Jakarta appellate court upheld the sentence earlier this month, despite alleged attempts to bribe them.
Puteh had been treated in a VVIP room at a Jakarta international hospital since June 17 and his doctors said he had severe heart and gastric problems. But physicians from the country's top heart hospital, who were asked to give a second opinion, said the governor was healthy enough and did not need to be treated in hospital.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2005 00:00 ||
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Moderate Iranian cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has lost a presidential election run-off against ultra-hardliner Mahmood Ahmadinenjad, a close aide to Rafsanjani conceded to AFP Saturday.
#3
The BBC is saying that Mahmood is ahead also. Charges of election fraud are flying, which, since the whole election is a fraud, is a bit of a joke. Thermidor has arrived.
#7
I wonder if Rafsanjani will be asking for any recounts. Protests about the Illegal Iraqi's allowed to vote.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/24/2005 21:02 Comments ||
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#8
This was a sham run-off. In truth, it all falls to the moolah behind the curtain.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/24/2005 21:21 Comments ||
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#9
Calling Rafsanjani a "moderate" is like looking at Stalin and Trotsky and calling Uncle Joe the moderate because he wasn't pushing the "permanent revolution". Not that I don't think that Joe wouldn't have gotten an ice pick to the back of the skull if Trotsky had managed to win the power struggle...
At least we won't have the useful idiots going on about how Ahmadinenjad was legitimately elected and thus untouchable. At least, I hope we won't... never can tell with the objective pro-fascists.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/24/2005 21:29 Comments ||
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#10
"Rafsanjani, Ahmadinenjad, what's the damned difference ?"
LONDON — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice won support from the world's richest nations over Syria yesterday, as Washington stepped up a campaign to isolate Damascus on the international stage. Rice repeatedly accused Syria of fomenting instability in Lebanon, doing too little to stop insurgents crossing into Iraq and supporting anti-Israeli militant groups. Ending a week-long trip to the Middle East and Europe, she pushed the issue of Syria at a Group of Eight (G-8) gathering in London, said diplomats.
"We call on Lebanon's neighbours, in particular Syria, to cooperate in ensuring full compliance with (a UN resolution) and to contribute actively to regional security and stability," the G-8 said in a statement after the meeting.
Rice said Syria had pledged to curb insurgents entering Iraq but the United States wanted results. "Let's have action," she said at a news conference with her foreign minister counterparts at the end of the G-8 meeting. "If they are prepared to do it, they should just do it."
Syria said it would ask Baghdad to provide evidence behind US accusations Damascus was letting Arab militants cross into Iraq to fuel the insurgency there and vowed to prove it false. "We will counter any accusation by evidence and facts and take this to the highest level," Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq Al Sharaa told reporters in Damascus, adding Syria would "very soon" reopen its Baghdad embassy.
To service the, um, tourists coming in from Syria.
Rice told reporters before the G-8 meeting she and French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy discussed Syria and "expressed concern ... about the need for Syria to make certain all of its forces are withdrawn from Lebanon". Douste-Blazy said: "We must not allow that country to destabilise Lebanon."
Whacking a few Syrian "intelligence" agents might help set an example.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2005 08:13 ||
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id say Rice's attempt to reconciliate and coordinate with the G8, including France and Germany is going well. although Lebanon continues to be a place where our interests match up with France as they do not elsewhere in the mideast.
BEIRUT - Thousands of people marched in Beirut on Friday behind the coffin of a slain anti-Syrian politician whose assassination this week intensified calls for President Emile Lahoud to step down. Some 10,000 people took part in the sombre funeral procession for George Hawi, a former leader of the Lebanese Communist Party and long-time critic of Syria's role in Lebanon, who was killed on Tuesday when a bomb exploded in his car.
Nationalist songs and recordings of Hawi speeches blared from loudspeakers as the crowd, holding up red-white-and-green Lebanese flags and red Communist flags, walked silently behind the hearse as the cortege made its way to a church in central Beirut. Only sporadic chants of "Communist, Communist", were heard.
"Lebanon is like an evergreen tree," Communist mourner Salman Ballout, 55, told Reuters. "George Hawi and others may have died but a new generation is born to carry the message."
"The Syrians are the irresponsible campers in the forest, throwing cigarette butts all over the place," he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2005 08:08 ||
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yeah, like we are going to listen to a communist tell us about a "new message". That's funny.
Jeesh, you think the communists would at least try to slap a "new and improved" label on their name, seeing as how every baby born today, except the special ones, looks to communism for a "new message", like American's look to the Confederacy or the Kingdom of Henry the VIII.
What is the reason that we only get quotes from communists in these reports from Syria?? Is communism so popular that they can't find someone other than a communist to quote? Who knew so many special children were still young enough to get up out of their walkers and attend a rally??
Oh wait, maybe I have answered my own question. The old communists never make it to the rally - they just hang out in the bar.
Iran said yesterday said it had arrested 26 people, including at least one military figure, for suspected electoral violations ahead of an unpredictable presidential run-off vote. The arrests appeared to lend some credence to reformist charges that an inconclusive first round vote on June 17 was marred by dirty tricks. The reformists question a late surge in support that took hard-line Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad into today's run-off.
Ahmadinejad, 48, a former Revolutionary Guardsman who draws his support from Iran's pious poor, faces veteran cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in a vote that has split the Islamic state broadly along class lines. Supporters of Rafsanjani, 70, who is bidding to regain the post he held from 1989 to 1997, say a win for Ahmadinejad would roll back outgoing President Mohammad Khatami's modest reforms and could lead Iran into international isolation. Khatami voiced fresh concern yesterday about electoral "irregularities" and called on officials to confront them. "It has been heard that some have attempted to influence people ... by creating fear and threats in the society," he said in a letter to the ministers of justice, interior and intelligence, state media said. "Reports suggest that some organizations in charge of identifying such irregularities are themselves committing them," he added, without specifying which bodies he was referring to.
Citing an Interior Ministry statement, the official IRNA news agency said 104 cases of electoral violations had been recorded in the first round of elections, leading to 26 arrests. Forty-four cases involved military personnel and one "prominent military figure" was arrested for "delivering speeches against a candidate and destroying the image of the Islamic system," IRNA said. Defeated reformist candidates, now backing Rafsanjani, have accused the hard-line Revolutionary Guards and Basij militia of supporting Ahmadinejad. Electoral laws bar members of the military from campaigning for any particular candidate.
Ahmadinejad says the allegations are further smears in what has become an acrimonious campaign. A Shiite cleric and key founder of the Islamic state, Rafsanjani now casts himself as a liberal. He has vowed to increase social and political freedoms, liberalize the economy and seek better ties with the West. His support base lies mostly among the upper and middle classes and senior bureaucrats terrified of the sweeping changes Ahmadinejad may bring to OPEC's No. 2 oil producer. Seeking to cut into Ahmadinejad's hardcore support among the poor, Rafsanjani pledged late Wednesday to introduce unemployment benefit of up to 1.5 million rials ($165) a month. He also endorsed a multibillion dollar plan to expand share ownership by giving each Iranian family about $11,000 of stock options in privatized state firms.
It was not clear whether the last-ditch pledge on a late-night television show would sway many voters. Ahmadinejad's support comes mostly from the working class, rural poor and unemployed who admire his humility and pledges to redistribute the country's vast oil income. Ahmadinejad on Wednesday dismissed rumors that he would impose gender segregation in public and force women to wear the head-to-toe chador.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2005 00:00 ||
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Pins and needles time again. I can say no more.
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - The anti-Syrian coalition, fresh off its election victory, blamed Lebanon's president Thursday for the assassinations of several opponents of Damascus and demanded his resignation. The demand points to what will likely be a bitter confrontation between President Emile Lahoud, a staunch Syrian ally, and the new government to be formed, which will be dominated by the anti-Damascus alliance. Lahoud has vowed to fight any attempt to remove him.
The coalition leaders demanded the dismantling of the close links between the Lebanese and Syrian security agencies, which they say are behind the assassinations of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on Feb. 14, of journalist Samir Kassir in early June and of politician George Hawi this week. Lahoud is "ensuring protection to the existing security and political system and ... is responsible for all its practices," the coalition said in a statement Thursday after a two-hour meeting of its newly-elected legislators and other figures.
"The terrorist cycle .... can be brought to an end only ... by the president stepping down and by dismantling the intelligence structure," it said.
Lahoud and the Syrian government have denied any role in the killings.
"Lies! All lies! Hey, how come no one believes us?"
The coalition, which won a majority in the parliament that will be installed next week, also called for a U.N. team that is already investigating Hariri's slaying to expand its probe to uncover the killers of Kassir and Hawi. It said those killings - as well as a failed attempt in October to kill legislator Marwan Hamadeh - appeared to be "one crime by one decision by one perpetrator."
Thursday's meeting came amid fears that other anti-Syrian figures might be targeted for rejecting Syria's domination of Lebanon. Walid Jumblatt, a senior figure in the alliance, urged his Druse followers in Lebanon's central mountains to remain calm if he is killed.
Taht shouldn't be hard.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2005 00:00 ||
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STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Former chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said Thursday it would take many years for Iran to achieve the capability to produce highly enriched uranium needed for an atomic bomb.
If God has a sadistic streak in Him, the Iranians test a nuke this afternoon.
Blix also dismissed worries about a new nuclear reactor being built in Iran, saying it was not suitable to produce weapons-grade material. "They have many years to go before they will be able to produce highly enriched uranium for a bomb and I believe there is plenty of room for negotiations," Blix said in an interview with Swedish Radio.
And he knows this, of course.
Blix dismissed worries about a nuclear reactor Russia is building in the Iranian city of Bushehr, which the United States fears could help Tehran develop nuclear weapons.
Iranian state television on Thursday quoted Asabollah Sabori, deputy head of Iran's nuclear agency, as saying the Bushehr reactor will become fully operational by end of 2006. "These type of reactors are not very suitable to produce plutonium. It is possible, but it is very difficult," Blix said.
"The way to go normally is to build a research reactor. The Iranians have such plans for a 40-megawatt reactor and to use heavy water, which has led to some suspicions. "But these plans are very much in their infancy and the West is not particularly worried and maybe (can) count on being able to talk the Iranians out of it."
The EU3 having such success with such things.
Blix, a former Swedish foreign minister, said in 2003 he believed Iraq had destroyed most of its weapons of mass destruction years before, but kept up the appearance that it had them to deter a military attack.
Worked well, didn't it.
He now heads a Stockholm-based independent retirement home commission on weapons of mass destruction.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
And if Iran exploded a nuke sometime this year or next, somehow, WE will be blamed for it.
#5
i'm 4 years away from putting away enough absolute disposable income to pay for the necessary travel and hardware to hunt down and eradicate the Plague Blix.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/24/2005 1:26 Comments ||
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#7
Suggestion: take your hot flashes over to DU or some such similar ilk spots.
OTOH maybe it's discipline yr after Thotch? There's a multitude of groups for that out there on the internets.
[disclaimer: my comment is in no way a dis towards some of my favorite wimins who are 'pausing or past 'pausin.]
Posted by: Red Dog ||
06/24/2005 3:43 Comments ||
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#8
"But you know in your hearts that I speak the truth..."
So solemn. So pompous. So, um, remarkably conceited, lol! Did it ever occur to you that we know far better what's "in our hearts" than you? I think clearly not. Such an amazing melodramatic overwrought blithely blind pile of poopery, puffery, and self-fluffery. Kudos, you're approaching utter self-absorption.
I wonder... when one totally absorbs oneself, does one disappear? *poof* Or become a black hole? Or go super nova? I look forward, with great eagerness, to that moment.
There is a man in a dark street. He is pointing something at another man, threatening him. You can't see what it is because he has it under his coat but it looks like a gun.
A cop arrives, asking the thug to reveal what he has under his coat. The thug refuses. The cop checks his database. The thug has a record. He has owned lots of guns in the past, he has used them, killed people, he's out on probation under the condition that he destroys or delivers all his weapons. The cop finds out that there is no record of that ordered destruction.
The cop points his gun at the thug, ordering him to open his coat. The guy refuses, says that's no gun but continues the menacing pose. The cop asks the thug to prove that he destroyed all weapons in his posession. The thug produces a cinema ticket and a laundry note, says that must be good enough.
The cop tells the thug to open his coat or he will disarm the thug by force. The thug refuses again.
So how long do you think this charade will go on? 5 minutes? A day? A week?
No, it went on for 12 years.
So, if the thug is overwhelmed by force and he did not carry a gun but a banana... Do you blame the cop?
#16
not to mention our Muslim allies
TG, do you honestly think that we have any? What we have are relationships of convienance, not "alliances".
I wouldn't expect you to know the difference.
#17
TG gave it his best shot, and a good one it was, no chimpy Bushitler nonsense, but TGA topped it with the truth well told. A mugger in the streets, a bear in the woods, same thing, time after time. The same fifth column leftist backbiters who are satisfied with nothing when not in power.There's nothing new under the sun.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/24/2005 7:58 Comments ||
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#18
"So the morale of my story..."
So typical of your breed, Thotch. Lots of morale but a bit weak in the moral department.
Nice going, TGA.
Posted by: Tom ||
06/24/2005 8:05 Comments ||
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#19
Ok, since we haven't described Blixie's role in the story:
He's the guy who makes the thug take his hat off, makes him believe that the cop would be satisfied with that and walk away because...
Since the thug had nothing under his hat he couldn't possibly hide a weapon under his coat.
#23
"But you know in your hearts that I speak the truth and that I echo the concerns of most Americans."
Ya know, TG, I understand how you might have convinced yourself of that last October, but in November, most Americans did not vote for your candidate. Since then, your friends in the opposition party have done nothing but oppose, seemingly unable to come up with a cogent alternative for anything they complain about. I know in my heart that you and your friends will be more marginalized by the next election, and I expect you will only grow more shrill as that day approaches.
Good bye. Have a nice day.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/24/2005 10:07 Comments ||
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#24
Hans Blix? That boy couldn't find lumps in a lump factory.
#25
come on now, the poor woman is distraught! Her world is crashing in on her. People all around you and yet she feels so alone! The darkness, the darkness surrounds her.. she's falling deeper and deeper....into the a bottomless well.
#28
TGA - you've still got troll on the sole of your shoe....here's a stick to clean the rest off
heh heh
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2005 13:17 Comments ||
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#29
I love the selective memory of the left.
1) there were a LOT of trucks that went from Iraq into the the Bekka. Still unaccounted for, and the ones I am talking about came from the suspected WMD development areas.
2) Remember that there is still a large amount of antrhax that Iraq ADMITTED having that is unaccounted for. IT could be sealed into approximately 40 55 gallong drums and look like any other cargo, as it left Iraq.
3) Recall that the issue was not posession of the WMD so much as it was they were developing the capacity to produce them. And that was found to be true after the invasion.
4) Also remember that Saddam refused to give inspectors ANY access to some areas, and it was these areas that many of the trucks in (1) above came from.
5) Remember also the findings that there was substantial evidence of Saddams intent to resume WMD production after the sanctions were lifted - and the UN was crumbling on those even as the war was looming.
6) Also you seem to have forgotten that 9/11 happened. Remember the people jumping from the buildings? Remember the gleee in the middle east, remember the intent of the terrorists? Saddam had previously supported terror in many guises. And Saddam hated the US for throwing him out of Kuwait.
The decision to take Saddam out was based on the nexus of probabl WMDs, terrorists and a hostile despot. IN pre-9/11 they woudl be cause enough for action, but in the post 9/11 world, quick ation was needed, and that was what was taken.
The problem was that it was not quick enough, and gave Saddam time to ship the stuff out, and cover his tracks.
Search your mind, use your reason, you KNOW I'm right, just liek most Americans do when they get ALL the facts.
Most informed Americans do not accept your Bush-Hatred no matter how you try to mask it, nor the one-sided misrepresentations from the MSM.
Like Turban Durbin and Michael "Hate America" Moore, Apologists for terror like you should be ashamed of yourselves for taking crap like yours and peddling it to the ignorant, to the detriment of the country.
#31
Actually, TGA, your analogy isn't quite strong enough. The cop says the thug had a machine gun hidden in his coat.
Just before he was shot, the thug turned away hugged an accomplice, who then hurried away. No one searched the accomplice.
It turns out the thug has some plans, some parts of machine guns, a revolver, and a shutter gun. Now the ACLU comes by and says that since he didn't have the fully operational machine gun, he was "unarmed."
#33
"None of you care about the GOP - it's quite obvious."
Then why the hell do you keep coming back here, Dipshit?
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/24/2005 14:18 Comments ||
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#34
Honestly, I dont know who is worse - the loonie left, or the John Bircher type assholes who deny reality just as stringently.
Since this is Rantburg, its time I left a real rant fly...
(Begin Rant)
Thotch - kiss my ass. You are wrong in so many ways - and offensively so. This old man would demand personal justice were you not so craven as never show your face anyplace where I would be.
I've served in the army, went over there the first time. And as a civilian I've been over in the stans a couple times recently too.
So here's a nice cup of "shut the fuck up" for you to drink with your "no excuse for not going".
You're probably one of those cheesedicks who never did anything except bitch, never served, never sacrificed, never put it on the line. You talk just like them. And indeed, your cowardly spewing from "behind the keyboard" marks you as exactly what you accuse others of being: chickenshit. Its called "projection" - I suggest you look it up, since you are obviously too ignorant to have learned it on your own.
Also, you ignorant fuckwit, there are people keeping an eye on things and plans being laid with regards to China. But you are not privy to such conversations. The people involved in doing usually ignore braying ingornat assholes like you who only talk, never walk the walk. And your talk reveals a great chasm of ignorance of the real world and issues at hand.
Now on to your references about "sides" in the GOP. You are so full of shit its surprising you are not bursting at the seams. You are as bad as the Dems who pander to Moveon and Michael moore - you are willing to sell out the military and the cause of Liberty in order to retain political power. What a political piece of crap you are.
We dont need your kind in the GOP - go form a splinter party with the other half dozen GOP'ers who would go with you and fellate Pat Buchannon as you seem to do with your posts.
There is NOT an "see no evil" here - there is only your abrasive and willingly ignorant diatribes by some armchair pussy like you against those who do or have done what is needed. We emphasize the positive here because its not getting out in the MSM. Your own posts are indicative of that - you distort the situation in Iraq massively - Ask the warriors who are doing the work, not backstabbing chumps like you who are making themselves tools for the Terrorists.
"You represent the tiny group of true believers left re: this Iraq invasion, err I mean, liberation and your group is shrinking day by day, thankfully."
Dead wrong buddy. A majority of the population doe nto support a "cut and run" strategy. SO thats hradly "tiny". Then again self-deluded paleolithic morons liek you have always had difficutly with fats - your on the wrong side of the so often and yet you amazingly never seem to realize it. Such brilliant idiocy.
And this statement of yours shows you to be totally misinformed - or else so stupid as to not be believed:
Iraq was LIBERATED.
Gaining civil rights, freedom of speech, self government, self determination, and sovereignty prettymuch spells LIBERATION.
OK? Capiche? Comprende? Vershtehen Sie?
Even someone as obviolusy as stupid as you can recognize that truth.
The question now is, "Thotch the biotch", will you contiinue to lie, slander and damage the US in your political axe-grinding, or will you admit the truth and apologize?
"Now do the right thing and join the National Guard."
Been there, done that, threw away the Tshirt long ago.
Where's your service to the nation, hmmm pussyboy?
Typical Bircher or Lefty: talks shit, but not man enough to do anything.
Sad thing for you, my son is going to love having your kids serve him at the drive thru.
Now beat feet before I (verbally) kick your fucking head in again, you traitorous, spineless slug.
#35
tg...go get some progesterone now. Rub it on your abdomen or the fleshy part of your hands, for a week or two. Only then will the tears stop. Better yet, in your case, I suggest competent medical help.
You need to stop shaking your finger and squawking like a loon.
Its not Debka I am referenceing with regard to those trucks.
So you're wrong once again.
And again - if you have the reading comprehesion skills of a third grader, read what I wrote. We found PLENTY of documentation that was evidence of a WMD program, one that was prepared to spring into operation as soon as the opportunity arose.
I didnt contrue the UN as important, its the fact that the UN was going to provide an escape for Saddam that cuase us to act in Iraq.
As for Abazaid - read ALL that he has said, dont jsut cherrypick things that reinforce your incredible bias. He is warning that the terrs are up for their last gasp - and that it will get worse leading up to the approval of the constitutiona nd the free electiosn that follow it. I suggest you go back and read ALL of it, not selectively. Are you capable of that?
Are you really so fucked in the head that you cannot comprehend what was written, until your little mental-diosease Birch filters kick in to tilt it for you?
And I do care about the GOP - to the point where I will nto let it bceome a party run by morons like you who would drive it into the ground. The GOP is built around integrity - something you seem to lack.
You'd rather be concerned about political power, and sell out the military, Liberty and increase the dangers to this neation abroad from terrorists and hostiles.
Where does that leave you? IN the same place Hillary Clinton and Dick Durbin are: political opportunits with an axe to grind.
Thotch you are a disgrace, and I thank God that there are very few like you in the GOP. IF there were, We'd be nowhere. Goldwater is roilling in his grave when you make bullshit statements liek you do here.
#40
LOL!
Here's a floater I missed... You don't care about who wins the WH. You care only that your agenda is supported and from your point of view, it can be the GOP or the DNC
Damn! Brilliant! And correct. Now is Pat running this year or not?
#42
Okay - enough. I've TROLLed tg because of comments like his last one about federal officials buying stock in Unocal ahead of the Chinese.
And RB buddies - while I understand the frustration trolls like him / her create, take a deep breath if you will. The high blood pressure isn't worth it ... and this war on terror will go on for a long while, as will no doubt attitudes like his.
#43
Howard? Howard Dean? Is that you behind the Thotch puppet?
chuckle
Nice try. But I think they sussed out your "split the Republicans" plan.
Face it Howard, you are never going to be as successful as I am. My using DU to expose the real lunacy at the core of liberalism is still the trump card ol' buddy. They give me fresh material every week to plant into the minds of Durbin and others at the top of your party. You've even bit down hard on the hook recently.
But I do give you credit for getting Oldspook riled up. You might not want to do that too often. That old wardog still has a bite.
Try again, I will wait.
diabolical laughter Mwahahhaha
Posted by: Karl Rove ||
06/24/2005 15:04 Comments ||
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#48
I'm rating OS's rants a 9.2, would've been a 9.4 if he'd a typed a bit slower...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/24/2005 15:25 Comments ||
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#49
I'm only sorry I missed it when TG melted down. Was it really that bad?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/24/2005 15:28 Comments ||
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#50
"d" - A bit salty, yeah I know. I wish I could cuss like a Russian, those guys are the masters. You didn't see my apology for my use of old-school Drill Instructor language?
#51
It was repetitive namecalling. Shouting louder as if that made your argument more persuasive. A judgement call, but by the time he got around to saying that the giant brains creating our China policy mainly were hoping to cash in on Chinese takeover of Unocal, it had lost any useful content as a POV to debate.
And d, I or the handful of other people Fred has invited to act as moderators decide. Had Old Spook started this thread, rather than responding to some pretty egregious provocation, I'd be having a conversation with him instead -- but then, he has a track record of NOT starting a pissing contest like this. He just decided to finish the one Thotch began.
#52
I didn't have any problem with what you wrote, though I thought your Durbin moment unnecessary. I thought #7 was OK, but missed the rest. For me, saying the folks who make policy hope to cash in on it is no worse than a lot of stuff said about Clinton.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/24/2005 15:39 Comments ||
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#53
*Drat* i missed Thotch's full sh*t kaniption. *sniff*
..and here I went out an bought some whoremoans, laying mash,and scratch feed thinking she might get cheered up by laying real eggs...oh well.
thanks OldSpook an everyone else,you guys did good.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
06/24/2005 17:23 Comments ||
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#54
I didn't have any problem with what you wrote, though I thought your Durbin moment unnecessary.
Mrs. D, your wicked..GOOD wicked!<:ô)
Posted by: Red Dog ||
06/24/2005 17:33 Comments ||
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Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/24/2005 19:19 Comments ||
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#57
Um... as much as I disagree with what TG2372 has to say, and unless there's some technical reason for it, I think his/her comments should not have been deleted. Edited for brevity perhaps, but not deleted. Or....change the wording to "[OFF-TOPIC OR ABUSIVE COMMENTS HAVE BEEN MOVED TO THE SINKTRAP]". Perhaps I'm a bit overly sensitive, but I get nervous when comments get deleted, especially now that SCOTUS decided anyone can take your home away too ;-)
Posted by: Rafael ||
06/24/2005 19:48 Comments ||
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#58
d wrote: More than OS? Who decides?
Then Dave D. stepped up to the plate:
I'm rating OS's rants a 9.2, would've been a 9.4 if he'd a typed a bit slower...
So I guess Dave is deciding.
Then OldSpook wrote:
You didn't see my apology for my use of old-school Drill Instructor language?
You mean you used bad language?
(Scrolls back up... reads...)
What you wrote was insulting, but to be honest, while I've never been a DI, I am in the oilfield, so...
+-----+
| 6.5 |
+-----+
A little constructive criticism: next time you need to work in both references to bodily fluids and asperations on his ancestry.
I wouldn't be saying this if I didn't feel strongly that you could do *better* than that.
Since he's been banned as a troll, I'm *not* going to tell you to go back and do it *over*... just keep this in mind for next time, OK?
(OTOH, maybe there are different standards for oilfield cursing and cursing in the services... Maybe Dave's score is closer to correct).
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/24/2005 20:23 Comments ||
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#59
Just to clear things up: the 6.5 is for #37. I'd rate #40 about a 9.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/24/2005 20:44 Comments ||
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#60
Rafael, maybe that would have been a better way to handle him. I was in a hurry, between meetings, and reading through the thread really came away with the impression that he was determined to stir things up destructively.
Hence the TROLL button. I understand the SCOTUS ref. ;-)
#61
I guess I'm missing the point of why posters are knocking Blix. Blix turned out to be right in the main and we were 100% wrong about WMD in Iraq and about Saddam harboring AQ operations, so now 2 years later we've turned the Iraq "invasion" into an Iraq "liberation" and we've spent mega bucks to re-construct a nation we've blown up to smithereens in our search for non-existent WMD
(even President Bush made fun of the futility of ever finding WMD in Iraq) and we've lost 1700 soldiers and counting as well as 10,000+ GI's being seriously injured,Raphael posted an article that shows we've lost respect with most of our Western allies(except for Poland whom we've bribed, I mean, supported handsomely) not to mention our Muslim allies think we're nuts (except for Indonesia whom we've showered with tsunami aid money) and let's not forget that all polls, even FOX News, show that the majority of US citizens regret our invading Iraq in the first place and these same Americans are cynical about a happy final outcome and furthermore today "bi-partisan worries in Congress about the Iraq War boiled over" ( to quote a news headline) at a Congressional questioning of Rumsfeld and General Abizaid and yet despite all these obvious setbacks, some of you have the royal nerve to mock Blix??? What's so funny about Hans Blix? The joke is on us about Iraq and we're lurching to a similar situation with Iran. Everything is everyone's fault except what we own. Today I am reading that Rice is once again "warning" Syria about not doing enough to gurad their borders - say what? What about the US gov't sealing shut our porous border with mexico with thousands of illegals crossing 24/7 if Rice thinks it is so easy for any nation to guard its borders. That's one example of many where our gov't officials accuse others of things our country is hopeless at doing any different or better.
Perhaps some of you should take your true believer hats off and consider that maybe just maybe the considerable screw up regarding the Iraq War is not a result of biased MSM reporting, or a wobbly US public's Vietnam War insecurity syndrome, or a chicken traitorous Democrat Party. Maybe the reality is that there are jackass civilians in our GOP Admin. who got us into this war and that we have an incompetent intelligence service who couldn't find Easter Eggs at a children's Easter Egg hunt much less ascertain whether a country harbors WMD and we have military leadership whose business it is to fight wars and not to question orders even if the orders for waging war are given by nincompoops on high...
So the morale of my story is that before we invade yet another country - this time round with the support of zero allies except for that famously reliable good ally named, Israel, yes dear Israel a country which recently sold at least 60 sensitive weaponry secrets to our arch enemy China ; yes the same Israel that has a very bad habit of spying on us... anyways, just maybe, maybe we should listen to what Blix has to say this time round about Iran before we make yet another impetuous mistake about Iran, which we regret afterwards.
Go ahead and flame me with all the predictable swear words and tacky cussing. But you know in your hearts that I speak the truth and that I echo the concerns of most Americans.
#62
TGA, better one thug known and monitored than a bottomless pit of thousands upon thousands of thugs created by our invasion...err, I mean, liberation.
Good news though - cheerleading peanut gallery types like what most of you folks are don't have any excuse for staying stateside anymore - the National Guard has raised its age limits, so you too can "do the right thing" instead of just talking about it from afar. I'm waiting for volunteers...I'm waiting... it's easy to talk courage when the weapon of choice is a keyboard.
And there's more news emerging - unfortunately our arch enemy China is trying to out bid Chevron and take over a US oil company. He who controls his enemy's resources, controls the enemy. So while we're tied down "as long as it takes" nation building in that shining city on the hill Baghdad, the Chinese are on the move fighting the real war- taking control of resources - China is getting real close with Russia and with Iran and and thanks to our good friend Israel China now has access to valuable defense technology. No worries, just keep cheering.
As for the 2004 election, none of you get it. My side, your side the GOP won. We just represent different parties in the big tent - unfortunately your side, the see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil about facts on the ground in Iraq is going to cause our party to bleed seats in 2006. We were lucky that Kerry ran in 2004. It wasn't that Bush was so strong. And the "thug" he foolishly choose to remove will cost our party the WH in 2008 unless there's a huge turn around. You represent the tiny group of true believers left re: this Iraq invasion, err I mean, liberation and your group is shrinking day by day, thankfully. Now do the right thing and join the National Guard.
#63
OS, you love the selective memory of the left? Oh I've got one better for you - the selective memory of the true believers on the right. Like the trucks that carried away the parts to Russia or was it Syria or maybe it was Baja California or Rodeo Drive??? - Debka says alot of things and even on this board of true believers Debka is mocked 99% of the time for getting it wrong 99% of the time. The only time Debka is quoted is when someone like you in this instance is desperate. Quit talking about what was said but show me what was found - facts on the ground confirm there are no WMD in Iraq and that after Gulf War I, Saddam was so cleaned out of potential materials for WMD by inspectors that he needed to lie to keep from being invaded by Iran or by being toppled by his own people.
As for UN sanctions and by-laws Saddam ignored, oh yes, that's really important to a crowd who could care less about the UN 99% of the time except for those selective memory times when it's useful to bring up the UN argument to support a pencil thin argument. If a country deserved to be invaded for the number of times it ignored UN by laws etc, we would have invaded Israel, not Iraq. Wise up.
Yes, ship, you got it right, if you're not signed up with the National Guard, you are indeed a big mouth all talk no courage chickenhawk. You take the prize for self-discovery.
Today's issue of CS Monitor has an article that painfully details the comments of General Abazaid about the Iraq war to remove the oh-so dangerous thug - you know, the guy who's actually in the thick of battle, not just writing or reading about it on RB - anyways, not that any of you want to believe it -( Abazaid must be a defeatist, what does he know he's Lebanese, he must be getting $ from the DNC or the MSM...the usual predictable defensive comments will come out, no doubt)Anyways, Abazaid says the violence and the chaos in Iraq is as bad as before and getting worse. By September he predicts it will be really bad - but hey, no worries, the thug is gone, how smart we were to go against all opinion to remove that thug and keep America safe tut, tut Better we fight them in their backyard than in Chicago - gasp, when will that absurd mantra die a natural death?
None of you care about the GOP - it's quite obvious. You don't care about who wins the WH. You care only that your agenda is supported and from your point of view, it can be the GOP or the DNC - you switched once before, so there will be no problem to switch your loyalties again if you deem it necessary. You're as much conservative as Arlen Spector or John Mccain are.
#64
Apart from your vociferous cussing, OS, what exactly was the point you were trying to make?
Iraqis were liberated? And they are grateful aren't they - let's see, how many of these grateful newly liberated Iraqis have signed up to defend their country - the numbers don't look good. And how's about the numerous tips they give us about the bad guys living in their midst? Nice they're liberated, but about their constitution in the making, I read to my amazement that Iraq has invited some Arab countries( none of them democracies btw) to help the Iraq gov't "tweak" the constitutional details.
And do Americans give 2 hoots about their GI's dying to "liberate" Iraqis? No, they were told that GI's were invading Iraq to "protect and defend" America. In fact, GWB was quoted after the 2000 that he would never put American military in a nation building exercise. Fooled us didn't he.
Check out the latest polls to see what Americans at large think about "liberating" Iraq - you are wrong about Americans being proud of "liberating" 25 Million people they distrust - only 39% of Americans think the Iraq War was worth it - looks like theresure are a lot of John Birchers out there in America - let's see - would you believe that 61% of Americans are John Birchers?
As for China... oh I have no doubt that the famous giant brains in DC are "keeping an eye" on China - riggghhht - the same giant brains are more than likely buying shares in the Unocal before the value soars (UCL for those of you who want to dabble in the stock market)
As for your previous service, nice, but what does that have to do with the Iraq War? Are you fighting in Iraq now? Then why do you think you know better the facts on the ground than General Abazaid?
Lebanon's anti-Syrian coalition, which swept parliamentary elections this month, called on President Emile Lahoud to resign, saying it held him responsible for a series of political assassinations. "The gathering affirms ... that the president is providing protection for the existing political security system and is responsible for its acts," it said in a statement issued after meeting to discuss the killing of an anti-Syrian politician this week. It continued: "The president's departure would be a main path to law and justice".
The coalition called for a general strike on Friday in protest over the killing of George Hawi, a former head of the Lebanese Communist Party and critic of Syria, and urged Lebanese to turn out in force for his funeral, also on Friday. Mr Hawi, killed when a bomb exploded in his car on Tuesday, was the second anti-Syrian figure to be assassinated this month. Newspaper columnist Samir Kassir was killed on June 2 in a similar attack. The killings followed the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri on February 14 and the subsequent withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon in April.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
just for that gloryhole smile they oughtta reject him
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2005 0:23 Comments ||
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No sooner did the FBI arrest two Pakistanis, father and son, in Lodi (Calif.), and allege the son, Hamid Hayat, 22, was trained at an al Qaeda terrorist training camp near Rawalpindi, Pakistan, than the military regime went into deep denial. How could Osama bin Laden's terrorists operate a training facility near the army's principal garrison town where President Pervez Musharraf has his principal residence at Army House? The very idea was too ridiculous to be taken seriously.
Think again. Hamid told the FBI his father had paid for his trip back to Pakistan and his training at a jihadi facility called Tamal in Rawalpindi run by Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
It so happens there is just such a jihadi training facility known as Dhamial within the sprawling army city, 20 minutes from Islamabad, the capital. But it isn't run by firebrand Fazlur Rehman, one of two chairmen of Mutahhida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), the coalition of six Islamist politico-religious parties that emerged from the last elections as the third-largest group in Pakistan's National Assembly (and governs two of Pakistan's four provinces). The top honcho at Dhamial (which the FBI phonetically juxtaposed to Tamal) is another jihadi extremist, Fazlur Rehman Khalil.
Dhamial has trained hundreds of youngsters to become good jihadis. But Mr. Musharraf has had to develop a Jekyll and Hyde personality that distinguishes between what the U.S. considers terrorists and what Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency considers patriotic jihadis, holy warriors that backed Taliban rule in Afghanistan before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the liberation of Indian-held Kashmir.
Mr. Musharraf is committed to eradicating al Qaeda and is convinced he speaks the truth when he assures his American allies there is no terrorist training camp in Pakistan. But if he were serious about eliminating militancy that is borderline terrorism, he would have ordered Dhamial closed. Instead, it has been allowed to train jihadis with impunity, both before and since September 11. Thus, deep denial became policy.
One knowledgeable Pakistani who is familiar with Mr. Musharraf's split personality that speaks one language to U.S. interlocutors and another to MMA chieftains is Husain Haqqani, associate professor of international relations at Boston University. Mr. Haqqani served in a wide variety of key posts in his native Pakistan that included ISI, ambassador to Sri Lanka, and advisor to Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, two former prime ministers and Pakistan's principal democratic leaders, in exile abroad and banned by Mr. Musharraf from returning.
In his latest book, "Pakistan Between Mosque and Military" (Carnegie 2005), Mr. Haqqani says, the military regime's priority appears to be to suppress or deny bad news rather than change the circumstances that give rise to it. Rehman Khalil, Mr. Haqqani reminds us, was one of the signatories of Osama bin Laden's 1998 fatwa against the United States and all Americans, and was reported to be in the Afghan camp President Clinton ordered hit by U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles in 1998. Following the terrorist attacks on America of September 11, 2001, and Mr. Musharraf's decision to answer affirmatively President Bush's are-you-with-me-or-against-me phone call, Rehman Khalil's Harkat-ul-Mujahideen organization was banned. He quickly popped up again as the leader of the equally extremist Jamiat-ul-Ansar.
Bugged by U.S. questions about the wisdom of letting Khalil run free, Mr. Musharraf finally ordered him arrested in March 2004 -- only to have him surface again seven months later a free man. When news broke of the FBI arrests in Lodi (where 2,500 of the town's 62,000 residents are Pakistanis and Pakistani Americans), Khalil slipped underground and the authorities said they couldn't find him.
As Mr. Haqqani points out, the same government that kept Benazir Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari in prison for eight years without a conviction has never found sufficient grounds for detaining all manner of jihadi-preaching extremists. Nor can Mr. Musharraf accede to repeated U.S. requests for direct access to Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal and the Don Corleone of a nuclear black market that sold America's enemies -- North Korea, Iran and Libya -- the wherewithal to acquire weapons of mass destruction.
Suspicion is growing in U.S. intelligence circles that those protecting A.Q. Khan wish to keep open the option of a lucrative nuclear black market for future years. Pakistan's national hero acquiescing to CIA interrogation would most probably trigger widespread riots in the country's major cities.
Abu Ghraib prison pictures, the Newsweek story about Korans flushed down the toilet, Amnesty International's preposterous and insidious comparison of Guantanamo to the Soviet forced labor concentration camps, and the anti-U.S. insurgency in Iraq, all have been force multipliers for venting anti-U.S. feelings in Pakistan and in the rest of the Muslim world.
Pity poor Karen Hughes who as the Bush administration's image-improvement czarina has to swim against a rip tide -- without any salmonlike attributes. This same powerful current keeps Mr. Musharraf from cracking down on Taliban's Pakistani support group. "Pakistani authorities cannot eliminate the international terrorist network or the sectarian militias without decapitating the domestic jihadis groups," writes Mr. Haqqani. What the FBI did in California, President Musharraf cannot do in his own country.
This article starring:
Abdul Qadeer Khan
Amnesty International
Asif Ali Zardari
Benazir Bhutto
FAZLUR REHMAN KHALIL
Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen
HAMID HAIAT
al-Qaeda
Husain Haqqani
Inter-Services Intelligence
Karen Hughes
MAULANA FAZLUR REHMAN
Mutahhida Majlis-e-Amal
Nawaz Sharif
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen
Jamiat-ul-Ansar
Mutahhida Majlis-e-Amal
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/24/2005 17:24 ||
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June 24, 2005: Yet another combat robot is on the market. An Israeli firm has developed a baseball sized wireless camera that can be thrown into a building, cave or whatever. The "Eye Ball R1" then scans it's surroundings at the rate of four times a minute and transmits what it sees, up to 200 meters, to an operator using a specially equipped PDA to see, and hear, what's in there. The R1 can also be manually placed anywhere, to provide an extra set of eyes. The "Eye Ball" is rugged, and designed to survive hitting a hard surface, and promptly begin scanning and transmitting. The device was developed with police and commandoes in mind, but any infantryman would find it useful. Each Eye Ball R1 costs $1,500. Sales are only made to government agencies, not individuals.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/24/2005 13:51 ||
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Rats. I've always wanted to watch a baseball game from the baseballs standpoint.
June 24, 2005: The Marine Corps is using latest "lessons learned" from Iraq to develop new training, tactics, and requirements for new equipment. As a result, every Marine Corps battalion will receive a two-week basic urban-skills training (BUST) course. BUST, once limited to a small number of Marines, focuses on urban combat skills, including patrolling techniques, clearing rooms, dealing with IEDs, handling detainees, collecting intelligence, conducting sniper operations, and working with the local population.
Training exercises are being held at two former Air Force installations in California; George Air Force Base and March Air Reserve Base. The installations provide more room and a more realistic environment. Older facilities provided 20 to 30 buildings, while the large bases have more building variety and provide a square kilometer or more of maneuver space, enough for battalion-sized and larger exercises. Iraqi city battles, such as Fallujah and Najaf, have been multiple battalion operations.
"Distributed operations" is another new concept that will be implemented throughout the Corps. Small units — rifle platoons, squads, and fire teams — will operate more independently. In urban block-to-block fighting, small units often find themselves out of communication with battalion and company-level headquarters, so they need to be able to perform many of the functions usually performed at higher levels, such as calling for fire support. To conduct distributed operations, the Corps will have to improve (the already excellent) education, training, and equipment of Marines in small combat units. It will require installing a "patrolling culture" similar to what the Marines were doing in Vietnam.
New equipment is part of the program. The Corps is acquiring a new class of mobile light trucks called internally transportable vehicles (ITVs) that are small enough to fit into the cargo bay of CH-53 heavy-lift helicopters and the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. General Dynamics is scheduled to deliver four prototype ITVs in 2005 and eight in 2008 to equip an infantry battalion. ITVs will be armed with machine guns and used to perform recon patrols and raids.
A "rifleman's suite" of equipment is also specified, and would include an M-16A4 rifle with a collapsing stock more suited for urban combat, day and night rifle scopes plus a bipod for improved marksmanship, a flash suppressor for better location concealment, a better bayonet, a personal radio to allow squad members to talk to each other over short distances without shouting, and a compass and GPS device.
One man in each squad would be trained to call in fire support. Currently only three in each battalion are trained for such duties. Enlisted personnel would perform some of the functions previously restricted to lieutenants and captains, so they would require more training.
Finally, the platoon organization would be "tweaked," by shrinking the squad size from 14 to 12, with a second command group created from the two men taken from each of the three squads. The second command group would be used to help run the platoon and could either replace the platoon leader's unit or conduct operations independent of the platoon leader.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/24/2005 13:48 ||
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June 24, 2005: The U.S. Navy is working on a dramatic change in weapons, ships and tactics. Many admirals believe the navy has been resting on its laurels, brought about because of the lack of any real opponents since World War II. The Soviet Union tried to provide a meaningful threat, but, when you consider Russian naval history, the smart money was always on the U.S. fleet. The navy could continue to dominate the oceans using the World War II model, but there are better ways to do it today, and that's what is driving the current changes.
The LCS (Littoral Combat Ship) is seen as the model for the 21st century navy. While the aircraft carrier will remain the "capital ship," the next generation of them (the CVN 21 class) will be very different from current carriers. The navy wants to spend more money, and effort, on increasing the capabilities of sailors, using more robotics and making the navy more mobile and in touch. Admirals recognize that, unlike in the past, there is no one enemy fleet you go after. The future threats will be all over the place, and you have to be able to get to them quickly, and with the kind of forces that will take care of the problem before it gets any worse. The navy is looking at doing more with mobility, in the same sense that the army has long studied that issue.
All of this means more "jointness" (close cooperation with the other services.) Up until the 1991 Gulf War, the U.S. Navy was, as it had long been, a force unto itself. But after several embarrassing moments during the Gulf War (difficulty in communicating with the other services, lack of the right weapons and some cooperation problems), the navy turned around. Since then, the navy has provided one carrier to the army, to transport an infantry division to Haiti, and another to serve as an offshore base for SOCOM helicopters in 2001. Naval aviation was crucial in the 2001 Afghan invasion, and now the navy wants to institutionalize this kind of cooperation. For centuries, admirals operated far from home, and communication took so long that the sailors had to act on their own. But the world is a much smaller place now, especially when it comes to communications. Soldiers can get to distant battlefields, via air force transports, long before the navy amphibious ships can. So the navy wants a force that can communicate faster, see more and act more quickly than ever before.
This means a very new type of navy, one that it is having a hard time selling to Congress. The politicians have come to rely on those very expensive contracts for building large warships. But the navy is pulling back from that, and getting some political heat as a result. It's tough to sell the politicians on a lot of untried ideas. But it's a new century, with new technology. If the U.S. Navy doesn't figure out what to do with all this, someone else may.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/24/2005 13:46 ||
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Our theoretcial enemey is the combined fleets of the rest of the world excluding only the UK and OZ. It could take several weeks maybe two months to finish. And four of those weeks will be running down the Japaneese.
#2
The US Navy's primary enemies remain the US Army and US Air Force. There isn't enough money to fund all those new ships and toys, buy F22s and F35s, and still buy bullets and beans for the Army and Marines. Somebody, perhaps everybody, is going to get a lump of coal in their stockings. Watch what they do, not what they say.
#4
I have become disturbed about the rosy picture painted about Naval R&D. The magazine "Proceedings", published by the US Naval Institute, though not an official publication, is the most widely read Naval journal in the world, whose articles are mostly written by senior US Navy Officers. An issue or two ago, their lead editorial, concerning procurement of new ships and technologies, began by saying "The United States and China are preparing to have a naval war. The United States will lose." The author then blamed this on combined factors in procurement and construction, mostly the cross-purpose desire to have only a relatively small number of very advanced ships, combined with no clear-cut strategy of design and construction. In this, it was pointed out that a naval construction program takes years to produce a ship, much less a fleet, and needs consistency of purpose and design lasting more than a decade. But as it is now, the US Navy has a magnificant, high-tech fleet on paper, and no real program to make it a reality. Their estimate of the loss of US Pacific naval supremacy is between the years 2010-2015.
KUALA LUMPUR - Muslim countries, including oil-rich Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and the Islamic Development Bank are doing little to help in the reconstruction of war-ravaged Afghanistan, a senior minister from that country said on Friday.
Kuwait has yet to give any financial support while the money given by Saudi Arabia and the IDB is mostly in loans not grants, Afghan Finance Minister Anwar ul-haq was quoted as saying by the national Bernama news agency. Haq is in Kuala Lumpur to attend an IDB governor's meeting that ends Friday. "Saudi Arabia pledged US$200 million but they are all in loans," Haq told Bernama. "Kuwait is yet to give financial support nor other Muslim nations."
Anwar also criticized the Islamic Development Bank, the lending arm of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, or OIC, for allocating only US$70 million for the reconstruction efforts over a three-year period. Most of the money has still not reached the Afghan people. "... less than 1 percent is grants and so far only 5 percent of the fund has been disbursed," Haq said.
Funny, the OIC books show the money's all been spent ...
Haq also lamented that IDB loans came with tough repayment conditions that he said Afghanistan would have a tough time complying with. "We do not have the capacity to take more loans, we want IDB to give more grants like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank," Anwar told Bernama.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2005 08:06 ||
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#1
:)
Story reads like it was written by Senior Spemble.
#3
Sounds like an excellent time for Israel to step forward and offer Afghanistan a couple hundred million dollars in the manner of "inter-religious friendship". Of course, if the money is BOA banded banknotes, much of a muchness, eh?
"Can you help in the destruction of Israel? No? Ah, I see; too far away. Okay, how about crude oil reserves? You got any? No? Okay.....well, thank you for coming, and the exit is out that door right there..."
The Palestinian Authority has agreed to absorb some 700 activists of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades into Palestinian security services in an attempt to keep the streets free of armed elements.
Ummm... Right. Give the gunnies jobs as coppers so you don't have gunnies infesting the streets... Have you considered midnight basketball?
It would be the biggest move yet to absorb fighters from the Brigades, part of the Fatah movement, but the officials gave no immediate timetable for taking away their personal weapons. Abbas is under pressure from Israel to disarm militants as a condition for resuming peace moves and faces calls from Palestinians to curb growing lawlessness in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The program of offering government jobs to fighters in exchange for giving up their weapons has been a centerpiece of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' efforts to impose law and order in the chaotic West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Oh. So it's not just cop jobs they're getting. That'll make for an interesting trip to the MVA...
Israel has said the tactic is ineffective and demanded tougher action against the activists, and even Palestinian officials conceded the weapons collection would not take place anytime soon. Still, reaching a deal in Nablus could be significant. The West Bank city is widely considered to be a center of militancy — a concern that was underscored Wednesday when gunmen in a nearby refugee camp opened fire and set off a bomb as Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei made an emotional appeal for an end to the chaos. No one was injured.
Yep. That's just the kind of people you want doing customer service at the Social Security Administration...
The deal was sealed by Qorei during the visit. Brigades activists confirmed they had agreed to the plan and said some of their forces would also take civilian jobs.
"Mahmoud looks good with his paper turban, don't he?... Y'want cous cous with that?... Why not?"
The deal will include fighters in Nablus and nearby Palestinian refugee camps. Samir Huleilah, chief of staff for the Palestinian Cabinet, put the number of those involved in the hundreds. "All have signed. This will be the test case. This is the first comprehensive agreement," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2005 00:00 ||
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Love the pic!
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/24/2005 1:43 Comments ||
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Old terrs forced to share the moola with young terrs.
#3
Palestinian gunmen kill Palestinian policeman
JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian gunman shot dead a Palestinian policeman in the West Bank on Thursday, only hours after the Palestinian Authority agreed to give jobs to hundreds of militants in a bid to end growing lawlessness.
#8
Nablus is a center of terrorism but also a center of commerce. The palestinian stock exchange is located there and a lot of the merchant class are desperate for calm and order.
#9
I hate to say this, and I hope that I am wrong. But I'm afraid that these people will have to have a civil war and fight it out until they are tired of fighting. For so long they have blamed the Jews. But the Jews were never their problem.
I'd like to think that offering them jobs, just like is proposed here could work. It's certainly worth a try.
An optimistic part of me thinks that this could work. But life has taught me not to bet on Pollyanna. More likely that they will just have to fight each other until they get too tired to fight any more.
in a sense a civil war has been going on since Oslo -- it just doesn't look like a civil war since fighting is mostly in the shadows and, in any case, isn't a large scale thing
people are killed every week-- PA officials, Fatah officials, Hamas officials, policemen, members of one faction or one tribe or another faction or another tribe
sometimes it is picked up by the media but mostly not --- oddly enough, post separation, Gaza may actually become more stable than parts of the west bank
Egyptian authorities yesterday banned Ghad Party leader Ayman Nour from leaving the country to attend a meeting with the European Parliament, party officials said. Nour, who was heading to Brussels to attend a meeting of the European Parliament addressing democracy in the Middle East, said he was held at the Cairo International Airport amid tight security after being told that he has to get a permission from the prosecutor general to leave the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2005 00:00 ||
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PARIS - The 170 palaces of former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein are to be turned into cultural centres, research institutes and libraries, Iraqi Culture Minister Nuri Farhan al-Rawi said Thursday in Paris. "We have already put an appropriate request to the American cultural attache," al-Rawi told delegates to a UNESCO conference on stolen and illegally exported cultural objects.
At the present, most of Saddam's palaces are occupied by American and British soldiers of the occupation force in Iraq, al-Rawi said.
I'm sure we can get our bases built within the year.
The two-day conference dealt primarily with the continuing plunder of Iraqi cultural objects. On Wednesday, UNESCO head Koichiro Matsuura called for a "mobilisation" against the pillaging of Iraq's many archeological sites. Al-Rawi said that three different groups were responsible for the damage to Iraq's cultural heritage.
"In the first days after the (US-led) invasion, the Ba'athists thieves took furniture and computers," he said. "Then Ba'athists people who knew art broke into the (Baghdad) museum and stole gems. Finally, what was left was taken by organized bands of thieves."
Of the 15,000 pieces stolen from the Baghdad Museum by Ba'athists, about 4,000 have been recovered, al-Rawi said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2005 00:00 ||
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Hey, their call. Personally, I'd go for a complete turnover to an Arby's franchise chain. mmmmmm, Horsey Sauce®
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/24/2005 1:36 Comments ||
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MMmhh great.
Finally a venue with decent toilets...
Iraq's Sunni Arabs endorsed a list of 15 men Thursday to represent the minority on a Shiite-dominated committee drafting the new constitution. The agreement removes the final obstacle hampering efforts to get the minority's representatives to sit on the committee, which has just until mid-August to draft a charter to guide Iraq in the post-Saddam Hussein era. The list of 15 was approved by a group of 50 Sunni Arab religious, tribal and political leaders who met in Iraq's old parliament building in downtown Baghdad. They and a single representative of Iraq's small Sabian community, will sit on a special committee that will be formed in tandem with an existing 55-member body exclusively made up of elected legislators.
"The atmosphere in the meeting was very cordial," said Abdul-Rahman al-Noami, one of the two Sunni Arab legislators on the 55-member committee. "We cannot satisfy everyone on the Sunni street but I can say that we have achieved about 90 percent of this and that's excellent." The 71-member group will make decisions on the constitution through consensus and send them to the other group for ratification. The awkward setup was necessitated by a Sunni Arab decision to boycott the Jan. 30 elections, leaving them with just 17 legislators in the 275-member parliament. An additional 13 Sunni Arabs also joined the parallel committee, but only in an advisory capacity.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2005 00:00 ||
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Well, sure, this looks like good news, but I say we give 'em another six weeks - no, make that six days, on the schedule we dreamed up, or we call "quagmire" and take our toys and and boys and go home. (no disrespect intended for the women serving in Iraq, just that "boys and toys" rhymes.)
How long did it take the US to write our constitution? Were Virginians killing New Yorkers trying to get their way? It does seem to me there were a lot of contentious discussions some 215 years ago, but not to many bombs.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/24/2005 7:24 Comments ||
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Damn! Bombs of course! Never thought about that, too late now.
#6
Hell it takes those no account Sunnis months to kill as many of their fellow Iraqis as I managed of Yankees in ONE DAY at Antietam! And thats even WITH those scoundrels having my plans!
Posted by: Robert E Lee ||
06/24/2005 8:59 Comments ||
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Whiskey Rebellion leader? What the hell? that was me!
No wait... it was Moonshine War.
Sorry, my bad.
Posted by: A Alda ||
06/24/2005 8:59 Comments ||
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Shoulda smoked that stogy
Posted by: A Alda ||
06/24/2005 9:00 Comments ||
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TGA
A French pseudoaristocrat: the descendent of some parvenu who bought the name to the empoverished descendent of Admiral d'Estaing (the one who operated against the British fleet at the time of Yorktown).
President Musharraf telephoned Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday to remove misgivings and address Kabul's allegation that "Islamabad failed to curb Taliban attacks from its soil." "Musharraf assured Karzai Pakistan is not involved in any incident in Afghanistan," said Information Minister Sheikh Rashid.
Hmmm... Called him yesterday, too. Wonder if it has anything to do with the 132 mostly Paks getting bumped off around Dai Chopan? Or if he's still working on playing down the assassination attempt on Khalizad?
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2005 00:00 ||
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Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said on Wednesday that Al Qaeda had established a strong nexus with outlawed extremist groups in Pakistan.
Gee golly gosh. Who'da ever thunkit?
"There is a nexus of Al Qaeda and extremist elements in Pakistan. Whenever they feel hurt, they react. But it will not decrease our resolve against terrorism," he told Daily Times in an exclusive interview on Thursday. Without naming any organisation, the interior minister said the banned groups were facilitating Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan. Pakistan has banned religious groups including Jaish e-Muhammad, Harkatul Mujahideen, Jamiatul Ansar, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Khuddamul Furqan and Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami.
Even though "banned," the groups seem to be quite as active as they've ever been, to include publishing their monthlies and collecting funds...
Sherpao also refuted a recent Los Angeles Times report on the presence of scattered training camps countrywide, saying there were no such training facilities in Pakistan. "Terrorists don't have to train a suicide bomber. They have people indoctrinated for such a type of job. So there are no training camps," he added.
On the other hand, recruiters of suicide boomers do need a certain amount of highly specialized training, even given a willing pool of rubes who're willing to become meat puzzles...
However, he did not deny the involvement of extremist groups in training people at secret locations. "There are no such reports, but they can do so. There are several proclaimed offenders who have not been caught. So they may be doing these activities," he said. President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and other senior government officials were on Al Qaeda's hit list, he said, adding, "One has to be very careful and security for all government officials has to be on alert in that sense."
One has to be real careful if one's a Shiite or a Christian, too. And if one's a Western reporter. And if one works in a Western diplomatic mission... Thankfully, it also looks like one has to be careful if one's a big turban at Jamia Binori, too.
He claimed that the government had a fair idea about the people involved in the bomb blast at the Bari Imam Shrine and terrorist incidents in Karachi.
Omar Saeed Sheikh isn't dead yet, though...
He denied allegations about the failure of intelligence and law enforcement agencies to ensure security of citizens.
Well, then, where precisely are you falling down in ensuring the security of your citizens?
Sherpao also claimed Osama Bin Laden and Mulla Omar could be in southern or southeastern Afghanistan. "US and Afghan forces haven't operated extensively in the border areas with the southern and southeastern Afghan provinces. There is a likelihood of their presence in those areas in Afghanistan," he added. Osama remained in Afghanistan for a long time and there were still several areas that were considered Taliban-friendly, he said. Sherpao denied claims of former US ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad about the presence of Osama and Mulla Omar in Pakistan. "I just don't know how the ambassador made this statement. If he had certain information he should have shared it with us," he added.
Maybe it was intel on you?
He refused to comment on Dr AQ Khan's health and the status of the investigation into his actions.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2005 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Participants who gathered in a preliminary session of the 5th National Forum for Dialogue which is to be held in Abha, have asked that the word "infidel" be substituted by "other" in all religious and media speeches in the Kingdom when referring to non-Muslims.
Pyongyang, June 23 (KCNA) -- The Headquarters of the People's Movement for the Withdrawal of the U.S. Forces in south Korea in a commentary on June 18 reportedly said that the abrogation of the south Korea-U.S. "mutual defence treaty" and the total withdrawal of the U.S. forces from south Korea are preconditions for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Noting that the U.S. has no right to say about the denuclearization of the peninsula as its forces are present in south Korea, ready to use nukes any time, the commentary said that the north's access to nuclear weapons is a just countermeasure to cope with the U.S. undisguised military nuclear threat. The denuclearization of the Korean peninsula can never come true unless the U.S. nuclear threat is completely gone, the commentary said, adding: If the U.S. truly wishes to see the denuclearization of the peninsula, it should pull out its forces from south Korea and normalize its relations with the DPRK.
Authorities in Berlin on Thursday launched deportation proceedings for a second time against an Islamic cleric who made headlines nationwide for saying Germans "stink". The new proceedings come after the German high court overruled a Berlin court's deportation order issued last March. The Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the imam's constitutional rights had not been adequately protected during the proceedings. "We're starting from scratch to present a new case with much stronger evidence," said Bjoern Schaefer, a spokesman for the Berlin Administrative Court. The 59-year-old cleric, a Turkish citizen who has lived in Germany for some 30 years, spawned controversy with remarks during prayers at Berlin's Mevlana mosque in which he admonished his listeners to resist temptations of the flesh. 
U.N. human rights investigators, citing "persistent and credible" reports of torture at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, urged the United States on Thursday to allow them to check conditions there. The failure of the United States to respond to requests since early 2002 is leading the experts to conclude Washington has something to hide at the Cuban base, said Manfred Nowak, a specialist on torture and a professor of human rights law in Vienna, Austria. "At a certain point, you have to take well-founded allegations as proven in the absence of a clear explanation by the government," Nowak said. However, he added: "We are not making a judgment if torture or treatment under degrading conditions has taken place."
Indonesian anti-corruption officials hauled the governor of tsunami-hit Aceh province from his hospital bed to a Jakarta prison to serve a 10-year sentence for graft, despite his plea that he was too sick to be in jail. Abdullah Puteh was ordered jailed by the country's newly established anti-corruption court in April and fined 3.8 billion rupiah ($US400,000) for his role in marking up the price of a Russian helicopter bought by the province. Judges at the Jakarta appellate court upheld the sentence earlier this month, despite alleged attempts to bribe them. 
LONDON — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice won support from the world's richest nations over Syria yesterday, as Washington stepped up a campaign to isolate Damascus on the international stage. Rice repeatedly accused Syria of fomenting instability in Lebanon, doing too little to stop insurgents crossing into Iraq and supporting anti-Israeli militant groups. Ending a week-long trip to the Middle East and Europe, she pushed the issue of Syria at a Group of Eight (G-8) gathering in London, said diplomats.
BEIRUT - Thousands of people marched in Beirut on Friday behind the coffin of a slain anti-Syrian politician whose assassination this week intensified calls for President Emile Lahoud to step down. Some 10,000 people took part in the sombre funeral procession for George Hawi, a former leader of the Lebanese Communist Party and long-time critic of Syria's role in Lebanon, who was killed on Tuesday when a bomb exploded in his car.
Iran said yesterday said it had arrested 26 people, including at least one military figure, for suspected electoral violations ahead of an unpredictable presidential run-off vote. The arrests appeared to lend some credence to reformist charges that an inconclusive first round vote on June 17 was marred by dirty tricks. The reformists question a late surge in support that took hard-line Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad into today's run-off.
Lebanon's anti-Syrian coalition, which swept parliamentary elections this month, called on President Emile Lahoud to resign, saying it held him responsible for a series of political assassinations. "The gathering affirms ... that the president is providing protection for the existing political security system and is responsible for its acts," it said in a statement issued after meeting to discuss the killing of an anti-Syrian politician this week. It continued: "The president's departure would be a main path to law and justice".
The Palestinian Authority has agreed to absorb some 700 activists of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades into Palestinian security services in an attempt to keep the streets free of armed elements.
Iraq's Sunni Arabs endorsed a list of 15 men Thursday to represent the minority on a Shiite-dominated committee drafting the new constitution. The agreement removes the final obstacle hampering efforts to get the minority's representatives to sit on the committee, which has just until mid-August to draft a charter to guide Iraq in the post-Saddam Hussein era. The list of 15 was approved by a group of 50 Sunni Arab religious, tribal and political leaders who met in Iraq's old parliament building in downtown Baghdad. They and a single representative of Iraq's small Sabian community, will sit on a special committee that will be formed in tandem with an existing 55-member body exclusively made up of elected legislators.
Interior Minister A
