The Muslim Brotherhood released a statement Friday seeking to calm the fears of political and religious circles in Egypt. The officially banned group made historical gains in the parliamentary elections where it won 88 seats, making it the biggest opposition party in Egypt. Winning candidates are expected to meet on Saturday to set the agenda for the next parliament, according to Brotherhood MP Hassan Hamdi. MPs intend to confront Interior Minister Habib al Adly on the security violations throughout the polls, with 9 dead and more than 650 injured, he added.
The group owes its success to the effort and dedication of its members said Supreme Guide Mohammad Akef in his statement. He also attacked the hate campaign against his organization and dismissed claims it lacked a political program and was only using provocative religious slogans for political gains. The Brotherhood has been accused of abusing the freedom allowed by the government and of seeking to topple the current political system. Akef dismissed these claims outright and indicated the Brotherhood had already announced their support of reform and their vision of an Islamic project last year. He denied the group was abusing democracy in order to rise against it. âWe have suffered from dictatorship and oppression. How can such traits have a place in the hearts and minds of Brotherhood candidates?â In fact, he said, the group supported political pluralism and the peaceful transition of power, adding that the public was the source of power.
Akefâs latest statement comes in the wake of an open invitation to Coptic Christian intellectuals to begin dialogue with the group in various governorates. Brotherhood MP Akram Shaer has already initiated such talks in Port Said and dialogue is expected to start in Alexandria next week.
Hassan revealed that the Brotherhoodâs political reform program will include a draft law to end to the 24-year state of emergency and the temporary detention of journalists. The group also hoped to halt the use of military courts to try civilians and abolish laws which limit freedom of speech, he said. Constitutional reform would also be on the agenda during the next parliament.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/11/2005 00:00 ||
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Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the National Defence Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, inspected KPA Unit 667 honored with the title of O Jung Hup-led Seventh Regiment. After receiving a salute, he mounted a forward command post. Feasting his eyes on the defence theatres, he learned in detail about the terrain conditions and received a report on the situation from its commander.
He set forth tasks to be fulfilled to increase the unit's combat capability in every way, expressing great satisfaction over the fact that it is reliably defending the outpost of the country. He underscored the need for the servicepersons to maintain a high degree of combat alertness in order to safeguard people-centered socialism of Korean style as firm as an iron wall.
He learned about how the unit's training programme has been implemented. Watching a-match-for-a hundred soldiers engrossed in training, he appreciated their strong enthusiasm for training. He said that the primary revolutionary duty of the soldiers is to undergo successful training, highly praising the unit for concentrating all efforts on training so that its commanding officers and men may acquire war methods and combat capability applicable to an actual war.
Going round an educational room, a bedroom, a mess hall, a kitchen, a food processing room and entertainment and cultural facilities, he acquainted himself with every aspect of the soldiers' life including their beds, conditions for their diet, cultural life and cultivation of their emotions and feelings, the operation of a billboard for the honored and a wallpaper. He met commanding officers to learn about the problems arising in the soldiers' living and show profound loving care for them.
He walked the compound of the barracks. Seeing cosy barracks and buildings standing among various species of fruit trees and their surroundings kept neat and tidy, he highly appreciated the feats made by the commanding officers and soldiers, satisfied with the fact that they have spruced up their post with ardent patriotism. He had a photo session with the servicepersons of the unit.
In-line commentary here would've been like puttting earrings on a tap-dancing pig...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea denounced the new U.S. ambassador to South Korea for calling the communist nation a "criminal regime," saying Saturday his remark was tantamount to a declaration of war. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow made the comment Tuesday, citing alleged illicit activities by North Korea like money laundering and counterfeiting.
North Korea called the statement "a sort of provocative declaration of a war" and threatened to "mercilessly retaliate against it," the official Korean Central News Agency quoted an unidentified spokesman for the North's committee on peaceful reunification as saying.
A State Department spokeswoman said the U.S. was trying to verify the North Korean comments and had no immediate response.
"C'mon guys, wait til we stop laughing, okay?"
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12/11/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
The KCNA Spittle Machine finally got a tuneup, didn't it?
#3
It's the ChiCom aid from north of the border, 2b. The writers are starting to get some protein in their gizzards again, and it shows. They are starting to get that Hi-Pro-Glow.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/11/2005 13:35 Comments ||
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#4
Gee! I don't like the NKors amb. to China... WHat of it?
THE Forum on Australia's Islamic Relations (FAIR) has condemned race fuelled violence in Sydney as un-Australian.
Kuranda Seyit, director of the Islamic community group, said today he was disgusted by attacks on people of Middle Eastern appearance by crowds of drunken yobs in Cronulla, in Sydney's south, yesterday.
A series of apparent revenge attacks - including two stabbings - happened in Maroubra and Brighton-le-Sands overnight.
The crowds at Cronulla were mobilised by text messages circulated throughout the community calling for revenge on "lebs and wogs" following an attack on two lifeguards last week.
"The Cronulla police must send a loud and clear message to others who are potentially considering vigilante action against fellow Australians," Mr Seyit said.
"Australia is pluralist society, with many faiths and traditions all ravelled into one.
"This is the unique success of this nation and we cannot let it fall into chaos and lawlessness."
Mr Seyit said violence for any reason was not acceptable.
"I realise that the initial behaviour by the thugs who beat the lifeguard was unacceptable but to take it out on anyone who the mob think are not one of them, is not the solution," Mr Seyit said.
"Obviously the underlying racism and intolerance in the shire is now bubbling to the surface.
"We have over ... 3000km of beaches on the east coast, there's plenty of sand and ocean there for everyone.
"What happened to the Australian idea of a fair go and tolerance?"
#1
Maybe they should look within themselves and ask themselves why they are hated. Perhaps if you addressed the root causes, you might prevent the necessity for this sort of thing.
#2
I have to admit that it would help things if just once, ONCE! they would denounce those whose behavior inspired the riots instead of demanding tolerance only for themselves.
#3
"What happened to the Australian idea of a fair go and tolerance?"
They came into contact with Islam's systematic rejection of these ideals. Does that answer your question, Mr. Seyit?
Posted by: Dave D. ||
12/11/2005 21:28 Comments ||
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#4
"What happened to the Australian idea of a fair go and tolerance?"
It met Islamic intolerance and decided it sucked - and repaid it in kind.
Advice: Just get the fuck out of the West, Muzzies. Go the fuck back to your Islamic shitholes (yeah, that's redundant, I know). And stay there. Stew. Seethe. Shake your tiny fists and stomp your tiny feet. Who cares? Just stay the fuck away from everyone else. Why should they? Because the reservoir, that puddle of PC stupidity that keeps us from seeing them clearly for what they are, is drying up.
Day after day we see the stories of brutally backward insanity - Shari'a, which if the heart of Islam - and a fair percentage of the articles are spun like dervishes to try to mask or "explain" the cruelty and barbarism of Islam. That it's intolerant is beyond obvious. That they use our freedoms, institutions, and societal mores and customs against us is, also, beyond obvious.
Day after day. No change, just more and more. Where are the bloody edges between civility and barbarity? Wherever Islam touches any other system. Aggressive and implacable, it constantly pushes for dominion by any and all means possible.
Busy as little insane bees they are constantly at work. With every instance that pushes through the filters and comes to our attention, which you know is only a tiny fraction of the reality, we feel revulsion - perhaps anger - and renewed wonderment that anything can be so perverse. And the tendency is there, deep within us, to discount it, to forgive those not actively engaged... they're counting on that response, too.
The passives are not our friends or allies or even sympathetic to our plight. They are merely passive, going about their lives, a huge resource pool which will activate when called upon by the more obvious, read: active, jihadi Muzzies. They are waiting to be tapped into the game. They cheer when we are blooded, why would anyone think them neutral or anti-jihadi? The evidence for this view is scant - the evidence against is voluminous. 1400 years of it. It's in the book. It is written. It is who they are, if they're Muzzies.
It is an ideology, not a religion. It is a a supremely dangerous pestilence. It is fatal to tolerance, to thought, to progress, to freedom.
I used to say: "Someday we will have to choose: wipe it off the face of the planet, or submit."
Now I see it more clearly: The Muzzy nose of Shari'a is already under the tent flap. We submit incrementally, everyday.
#5
well, just let me say this. I think that the biggest problem is not the fanatical muslims. Why? Because we could put them down in a matter of weeks if we had the political will. With all our technology, know-how and current knowlege, we could round up those who actively seek to undermine their host society and deport them - tomorrow. We could crush their training grounds abroad. We could wipe out the Iranian missle sights.
The problem is that we don't have the will.
Rather I put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Peace Love and Happiness Immaculate Purity Crowd. If it wasn't for them, people like my sister in law would have assimilated quite nicely, free from the crushing social pressures that are imposed from her religion. Instead, the PLHIPC creates another mess - just like they did in our own ghettos by not only encouraging anti-social behavior - but rewarding and celebrating it.
It's not really so different as what caused the rise of the Blood and the Cripps. We allowed it to happen by doing NOTHING. By allowing them to seethe and operate beyond the control of the law. And then when they became monsters - we still didn't do anything. Better let off 2,000,000 guilty men than to catch one innocent in the net. Never mind the innocent victims of their rapes, robberies and mayhem. Don't want to make the poor widdle criminals suffer from low esteem.
There is a fine line between good and evil. I think those who enable evil shoulder an equal portion of the blame.
#6
Ah, it's the Muslim good cop/bad cop routine again. Send the bad cops onto the street to gang-rape Aussie women and attack Aussie men, and then get the good cops to utter soothing platitudes about the "pluralist society" and "fellow Australians". Not the most sophisticated strategy by any means, but easily good enough to fool the half-wits in the media and government.
Posted by: Ember ||
12/11/2005 22:39 Comments ||
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#7
sometimes when you shit, it splatters back, eh, Muzzies?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/11/2005 23:04 Comments ||
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MORE than 20 people have been injured and 16 arrested as race-fuelled violence spread through Sydney's beachside suburbs overnight.
A series of apparent revenge attacks - including two stabbings - happened after yesterday's unrest at Cronulla where more than 5000 people had massed.
New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma today said police were in control of the situation, after officers and an ambulance crew were earlier assaulted during the peak of racial tension.
Drunken mobs within the crowd at Cronulla yelled racist chants, chased down and bashed people of Middle Eastern appearance in an extended show of violence.
As the unrest spread overnight, a total of 25 people - including two ambulance officers - had been injured, about 40 cars vandalised and an Australian flag burned.
Police said 16 people were arrested across Sydney and charged with 42 offences.
Mr Iemma today described the behaviour as "stomach turning" and said it would not be tolerated.
"I saw yesterday people trying to hide behind the Australian flag, well they are cowards whose behaviour will not be tolerated," Mr Iemma said.
"That was the most disgraceful, disgusting behaviour that I've ever seen."
Mr Iemma said he planned to bring together community leaders for discussions about how to prevent further violence.
Police had the resources and the equipment to deal with the violent scenes, he said.
Police were forced to use capsicum spray and batons in their battle to subdue the Cronulla rioters, who pelted officers with bottles and stomped on patrol cars.
Later, a 23-year-old man was injured and more than 40 cars smashed with baseball bats in an apparent revenge attack at Maroubra, in Sydney's east.
A group of about 60 men of Middle Eastern appearance and armed with baseball bats smashed the windows of parked cars about 9pm (AEDT).
The group then clashed with local gang, the Bra Boys, outside the Maroubra Bay Hotel.
A 23-year-old Maroubra man was taken to Prince of Wales hospital after he was stabbed with a sharp implement, believed to be a stick or nail, in the hip.
Later, a second 23-year-old man was stabbed in the back by a group of males, described as being of Middle Eastern appearance, at a golf club at Woolooware, in Sydney's south.
He was taken to hospital in a serious condition.
Riot police were also called to Brighton-le-Sands, in Sydney's south, overnight to control a group of about 200 brawling youths who had reportedly thrown projectiles at police.
Twelve people were arrested at Cronulla. They will face Sutherland Local Court at a date to be fixed.
#3
not to be a party pooper - but I don't like this at all. On one hand - it's better than what's happening in France and on the other, it's a short step to pogroms. Innocent people get hurt in pogroms.
#4
I must add the disclaimer that I have personal reasons to feel concerned. If the bastards deserved it, fair enough, got what they had coming to them. But just grabbing random people off the streets and beating cause they look a certain way them is a bad thing. It's just a bad thing - no matter what.
#5
Red Dog's link in his comment on the other post today provides some background:
A stand against beach thugs
By ANITA QUIGLEY December 10, 2005
A YOUNG woman this week told a TV camera crew of the intimidation she has experienced on Cronulla beach.
"They'll stand over you while you're sunbaking, block your sun so they get your attention, then say, 'She's not worth doing 55 years for'," she told them.
For those unsure of what these lowlifes are referring to, it's the length of the prison sentence which was given to Sydney's infamous gang rapist, Bilal Skaf.
Our senior police officers have referred to them in the past as "entrepreneurial criminals". By this they mean they will form loose associations with others in the criminal milieu to take part in just about any illegal activity.
Taskforce Gain was set up after a spate of drive-by shootings in Sydney's south-west and continues to target Middle Eastern criminals involved in drugs, car rebirthing and extortion. You name it, and these men are into it, so it seems.For those unsure of what these lowlifes are referring to, it's the length of the prison sentence which was given to Sydney's infamous gang rapist, Bilal Skaf.
Now, even the most quintessential Australian pastime - spending a day at the beach - is at risk from these youths looking to cause nothing but trouble.
North Cronulla beach has been the scene of two incidents in the past week - an attack on two lifeguards on Sunday, reportedly by a gang of Middle Eastern youths, and a brawl later in the week.
The beauty of this island continent we call home is the equality our shores offer - literally. Here in NSW we don't have private beaches. Go to Bondi most mornings and James Packer, the son of Australia's richest man, can be enjoying the waves next to you.
The officer leading the crackdown against the youths, Assistant Commissioner Mark Goodwin, was right when he spoke out this week.
"The Australian way is about coming to the beach with your towel and sunscreen, and maybe a book, and lying back and relaxing," he said. "It's not about congregating and swarming in groups for any sort of anti-social behaviour."
>context: the Muslim thugs were swarming the beaches in gangs before the Aussie kids reacted.
Now Premier Morris Iemma has promised the law will come down hard on those causing trouble. And what of these Middle Eastern youths' families, and community leaders? They must have more than an inkling that many in their community are up to no good.
I can no more offer answers than the next person as to why this generation of men feel the need to be so anti-Australian.
But anyone who can attack a lifesaver - or shield those responsible - deserves nothing but our contempt, and to face the full consequences of the law.
This is not to condone mob attacks on any mideasterners in the area. OTOH, it does show that there is a lot more going on than the specific attacks by mideasterners on 2 lifeguards. There has, it would seem, been an escalating pattern of threatening and sometimes criminal behavior by gangs of them.
As a woman who made it through a rape attempt, I can say that the comments reported here are intended to frighten and intimidate -- and are degrading beyond belief:
"They'll stand over you while you're sunbaking, block your sun so they get your attention, then say, 'She's not worth doing 55 years for'," she told them.
This incident won't blow over quickly, I fear, if the story quoted here is true.
NICOLLE Dunk has been swimming at Cronulla since she was a toddler, but now the 17-year-old refuses to go to her favourite beach alone.
She has been harassed and assaulted by thugs of Middle Eastern descent who come to The Shire to threaten and intimidate.
"They kick sand into your face and scream the most disgusting abuse for no reason at all. A lot of locals are too scared to surf down here any more," she told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.
As police played down a culture of gang violence at one of Sydney's best known beaches in the wake of the bashing of three North Cronulla lifesavers last Sunday, locals told a different story.
Ms Dunk, along with friends Leiden Kronemberger and Dean Apostolidis, both 16, said yesterday the gangs had disappeared after the bashing but would return when publicity died down.
"They come from Hurtsville and places like that and they always come in numbers. They don't mind having a go if they can hide behind their friends," Dean said.
Another Cronulla local told how little girls taking part in swimming lessons at the beach were warned to keep their sun protection shirts on as they left the water after thugs called them "little tarts".
Others described the abuse of a pregnant woman because she was taking up room on a stair way to the beach as one of the most shocking recent incidents at the beach.
The father of a 16-year-old girl said she had been too afraid to return to the beach after she and two friends were asked if they were virgins by a group of men.
When she failed to respond the gang told her she would be carried off the beach and it was only when she spotted a friend nearby that the two girls were able to escape.
Locals said the behaviour of aggressive groups of youths of Middle Eastern descent had become progressively worse in recent years.
"I am not racist against their ethnicity, I am reacting to their behaviour," one surf life saving source said.
"There are a lot of people who go to the beach just to have fun and do the right thing."
It can also be confirmed that Sunday's brutal attack was not the first, with a council lifeguard chased by a machete wielding man two years ago.
Now, I haven't a clue about this particular newspaper and any slant it might have. But it does sound like a serious, growing problem that was allowed to simmer because it stayed below the radar horizon until the lifeguards were attacked.
#9
Race riots? Let's not get confused here. Anti-muslim riots. Muslims are not a race.
2b, yes, some middle eastern looking people got hurt, but they are not white lilly blameless. They do -- nothing, despite that the thuggish youts, that were the initial factor in the whole bandoogle, are from their community.
#10
Ok..it sure sounds like the bastards had it coming and I feel no sympathy for them. I hope they get hounded until they and their families feel compelled to go back to the hell-holes they wish to create.
No, I don't think the Aussies are interested in pogroms - but let's face it, after what has happened in France, the lack of adequate response by authorities, hamstrung by PC addled politicians, it's not hard to see this turning ugly if the authorities can't get it under control.
The irony is, once again, that the PC types refusal to meet unacceptable anti-social behavior with adequate force will make a huge freaking mess and lots of innocent people will get hurt. And the whole time that they are allowing the peaceful conditions to go to hell, they will tell us how peace-loving they are. Grrr. This is going to be a great Christmas.
#12
two-byfour these are not anti-muslim riots. They are anti-thug riots. The KKK claimed to be Christians and to speak for all whites. Yet they were just evil thugs. Yes, I know, it's more complex and dangerous with the Muslim religion, but we should not lose sight of the fact that not all of the billions of Muslims are thugs.
#13
and...I'm not saying that you were saying that all Muslims are thugs! I just felt the need to make the point! Sorry if it seemed I was directing it at you.
#14
NICOLLE Dunk has been swimming at Cronulla since she was a toddler, but now the 17-year-old refuses to go to her favourite beach alone.
She has been harassed and assaulted by thugs of Middle Eastern descent who come to The Shire to threaten and intimidate.
"They kick sand into your face and scream the most disgusting abuse for no reason at all. A lot of locals are too scared to surf down here any more," she told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.
The big question is, how long has this been going on? Allow an unpleasant situation to continue for long enough, and the people that have gritted their teeth and toughed it out will eventually get fed up. Anyone in Sydney who is genuinely surprised by this development obviously hasn't been paying attention.
#15
The koran empowers ALL muslims to be thugs. We should respect the muslim's god-given right to act like an ass-hole. Its all written in the book so its okay. Just be glad they don't have any bombs yet.
#16
Annoushka: 2b, if you think Aussies are interested in pogroms, you need to try and find a different dealer.
Let's see - Middle Easterners stab two Australians and destroy 40 cars. I guess you're right - that's a pogrom - by Middle Easterners against Australians.
#17
Don't know about you, but I call 5,000 a mob. Like I said, it sounds like these particular thugs deserved it. I offer them no sympathy - nor any of their commrades or apologists.
It just saddens me to see all of this sprialing out of control, regardless of the reasons or justness of the cause. The emotions expressed on this beach are not going to be subsiding any time soon. It's not a good thing - no matter how satisfying it may be to see a small token of payback. What this means is that the violence level has, predictably increased. We will win the war on terror. But things are going to get much worse before they get better. Lots of people will get hurt. I don't feel in the mood to celebrate.
About 5,000 people have gathered at Sydney's Cronulla Beach, where locals have vowed to fight Lebanese men they blame for violence in area.
Two men of middle eastern appearance were seen being pursued and attacked as they tried to flee the crowd.
Thousands of people waving Australian flags have gathered on the beach in Sydney's south in expectation of a fight.
The atmosphere had become more like a street party until one man of Middle Eastern appearance was chased into a hotel bistro. Within a minute the hotel was surrounded by several thousand people, who were screaming and chanting.
Police have been forced to stop traffic on Elouera Road, which runs along the foreshore, as the crowd, also chanting pro-Australian slogans, spilled on to the roadway.
Two men chased by the crowd were being protected by police who had moved in on Northies Hotel, on the foreshore, where at least one had sought refuge, it said.
Broken beer bottles scattered Elouera Road, with many in the crowd drinking heavily.
Mounted police and other units are maintaining a heavy presence at the beach today after two rival groups used text messages to urge attacks on each other.
Some of the text messages encouraged people to carry out vigilante style attacks, and some message had racial undertones.
One of the messages had urged "Aussies" to take revenge against "Lebs and wogs". Another urged locals to rally at point on the beach today to take retaliation against "middle eastern" gangs.
As the crowd moved along the beach and foreshore area today, one man on the back of a ute began to shout "No more Lebs" â a chant picked up by the group around him.
Others in the crowd, carrying Australian flags and dressed in Australian shirts, yelled "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie ... Oi, Oi, Oi".
North Cronulla Beach, in Sydney's south, was the scene of two violent incidents last week â an attack on two lifeguards on Sunday and a brawl later in the week in which youths turned on a media crew. Authorities have been calling for calm since those attacks, which are believed to have sparked the text calls for attacks between the two groups.
Premier Morris Iemma and Police Minister Carl Scully have warned people against taking the law into their own hands.
"Let there be no mistake â if anyone comes to this beach on the weekend with the intention of causing trouble, the police will respond with the full force of the law to maintain order," Mr Iemma said yesterday.
#7
Saw the coverage on 2 channels this evening. One was all agitprop - racist blah, blah, while the other was factual and gave the background - attacks on lifeguards on the beach by 'Lebs'.
#8
hmmmm - didn't we read a snotty comment by some Lebanese punk about the Aussies this week? Guess this is an editorial response. I just hope that the oh-so-rare "moderate muslim" misses the fun
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/11/2005 13:15 Comments ||
Top||
#9
A stand against beach thugs
By ANITA QUIGLEY
December 10, 2005
A YOUNG woman this week told a TV camera crew of the intimidation she has experienced on Cronulla beach.
"They'll stand over you while you're sunbaking, block your sun so they get your attention, then say, 'She's not worth doing 55 years for'," she told them.
For those unsure of what these lowlifes are referring to, it's the length of the prison sentence which was given to Sydney's infamous gang rapist, Bilal Skaf.
Our senior police officers have referred to them in the past as "entrepreneurial criminals". By this they mean they will form loose associations with others in the criminal milieu to take part in just about any illegal activity.
Taskforce Gain was set up after a spate of drive-by shootings in Sydney's south-west and continues to target Middle Eastern criminals involved in drugs, car rebirthing and extortion. You name it, and these men are into it, so it seems.For those unsure of what these lowlifes are referring to, it's the length of the prison sentence which was given to Sydney's infamous gang rapist, Bilal Skaf.
Now, even the most quintessential Australian pastime - spending a day at the beach - is at risk from these youths looking to cause nothing but trouble.
North Cronulla beach has been the scene of two incidents in the past week - an attack on two lifeguards on Sunday, reportedly by a gang of Middle Eastern youths, and a brawl later in the week.
The beauty of this island continent we call home is the equality our shores offer - literally. Here in NSW we don't have private beaches. Go to Bondi most mornings and James Packer, the son of Australia's richest man, can be enjoying the waves next to you.
The officer leading the crackdown against the youths, Assistant Commissioner Mark Goodwin, was right when he spoke out this week.
"The Australian way is about coming to the beach with your towel and sunscreen, and maybe a book, and lying back and relaxing," he said. "It's not about congregating and swarming in groups for any sort of anti-social behaviour."
>context: the Muslim thugs were swarming the beaches in gangs before the Aussie kids reacted.
Now Premier Morris Iemma has promised the law will come down hard on those causing trouble. And what of these Middle Eastern youths' families, and community leaders? They must have more than an inkling that many in their community are up to no good.
I can no more offer answers than the next person as to why this generation of men feel the need to be so anti-Australian.
But anyone who can attack a lifesaver - or shield those responsible - deserves nothing but our contempt, and to face the full consequences of the law.
SYDNEY - The threat of regional terrorism has forced an ended to a seven year ban on military contact between Australian special forces and Indonesiaâs elite Kopassus unit, with the two forces set to train together in early 2006.
Australia cut links with Kopassus in 1999 after the former Indonesian territory of East Timor voted for independence, sparking a spree of violence by pro-Jakarta militias backed by Indonesian military elements. âIn this era of heightened terrorist threats, it is in Australiaâs interests to engage with regional special forces, such as Kopassus, to safeguard the lives of Australians,â Defence Minister Robert Hill said on Sunday.
Hill said Australiaâs Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment and Kopassusâ counter-terrorism Unit 81 will stage a two week exercise in Australia in early 2006 called âDawn Kookaburraâ which will focus on counter-hijack and hostage recovery. âKopassus Unit 81 has the most effective capability to respond to a counter-hijack or hostage recovery threat in Indonesia,â Hill said in a statement. âIn the event of a terrorist incident, the safety of Australians in Indonesia could well rest on effective cooperation between TNI (Indonesiaâs armed forces) and the ADF (Australian Defence Force),â he said.
Necessity, bedfellows, etc.
In light of the 2002 Bali bombings, Australia announced a year later that it would renew links with Kopassus, but the closer ties collapsed due to restrictions on the training imposed by Australia. An Australian think tank report released a year ago found Kopassus had not reformed and urged the Australian Defence Force not to renew ties.
The report by the Australian National Universityâs Strategic and Defence Studies Centre said Kopassus had not changed from its history of illegal operations and human rights abuses. Kopassus earned a notorious reputation for its alleged role in the torture and abduction of dissidents during former autocrat Suhartoâs 32-year rule of Indonesia that ended in chaos in 1998. The last training exercise between Australian military and Kopassus took place in 1997.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/11/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Neat idea, giving tactical and operational secrets of the SAS to a Muslim army, so they can pass them along to their buddies in Jemaah Islamiyah.
In his young life, Abdullah Khadr has been labelled a fugitive, a suicide bomber, even a terrorist-training-camp instructor. Yet he insists that the reality is far less interesting.
"I was never in al-Qaeda," the unassuming 24-year-old said yesterday in his first remarks since returning to Canada last week. "I have no problem with anybody," he said in halting English. "Why should anybody have a problem with me?"
One of several Arab-Canadian siblings raised in Afghanistan by notoriously fundamentalist parents, Khadr describes himself as an aspiring businessman who is walking around in borrowed clothes until he can put his life back together. He quietly returned to Toronto under RCMP escort last Friday after spending the past 14 months in Pakistani jails.
The Khadr family first came to Canadians' attention when the patriarch, Ahmed Said Khadr, was arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of being involved in a deadly 1995 bombing. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the elder Mr. Khadr was killed and each of his four sons was separately jailed and accused of links to terrorism. The only one still in prison is Omar, accused of killing a U.S. soldier.
Most of the family is now in Canada, but the fate of Abdullah Khadr was unknown until this week.
Mr. Khadr was accompanied by his mother, Maha Elsamnah, for an interview yesterday at a Toronto lawyer's office. He said he had explanations for most of what's been reported about him. He also accused Canadian and U.S. agents of turning a blind eye to the conditions of his imprisonment.
Western agents who came to question him when he was in prison knew his Pakistani jailers abused him, he said, but were more concerned with asking him about top al-Qaeda figures and certain Canadian Muslims. He said he was beaten and threatened during the early phases of his 2004 arrest.
"It is torture," he said.
"They [the Pakistanis] have a big stick and they said, 'We'll put it inside you.' "
Mr. Khadr says RCMP, CSIS and CIA agents questioned him several times in Pakistan, and he suggested they knew of the abuse. The Canadian government won't comment on his story.
Mr. Khadr says he was asked about Canadian Muslims who were also arrested overseas in recent years, including Maher Arar, Abdullah Almalki, and Ahmad El-Maati, all detained in Syria. He also says he was asked about Aly Hindy, the controversial Scarborough imam who has complained Canada's spy service is targeting him.
Mostly, however, agents were interested in the Khadr family's relationship to al-Qaeda figures. The elder Mr. Khadr moved his children from Canada to Afghanistan in the 1980s so they could be reared in an Islamic state. Family members say they were there to do charity work for war orphans.
"We were close to Osama bin Laden, but living in a different compound," said Mr. Khadr. "I don't know if my father did any military work. I never saw it. I never heard."
His family fled Afghanistan for Pakistan after the 2001 U.S. invasion. Unlike his brothers, Abdullah Khadr was not arrested until late 2004.
In public remarks, Khadr family members have been inconsistent on whether they attended training camps. Mr. Khadr's brother Abdurahman has said that, when he was imprisoned by the Americans, he made up the story that Abdullah was a terrorist trainer in the hope they would let him go.
Abdullah Khadr would only say yesterday that he's "not friendly" with his brother at the moment. "Instructors have to be very, very, very, very, very inside [al-Qaeda]," he said, insisting that he spent only about two weeks at the infamous Khalden training camp when he was about 13 years old.
He said he always cared more about mechanics than violent jihad. "I wasn't interested in that stuff. I was more interested in cars."
Mr. Khadr says that he was nowhere near when his father was killed in a battle in 2003; that he lived openly in Islamabad for almost a year after that. He said he was with one of his father's friends "drinking juice" when Pakistani agents arrested him.
In the initial days after his arrest, he said, he was hooded, beaten and not allowed to sleep. He said his Pakistani captors never made good on the threat to rape him with a stick, but came close. An agent with an American accent told him that "whatever you saw here was nothing, compared to what we can do if you were sent to Egypt."
After he was transferred to a less harsh prison, he said Canadian consular officials visited him, often bringing spies. He said he had at least three visits with CSIS agents he knew as "Mike and Bob," as well as visits from a Mountie assigned to monitor the Khadr family, Sergeant Konrad Shourie.
Mr. Khadr said that Canadian consular officials were not much help to him. He also said he couldn't give them full details of the abuse. "I was never left alone with a Canadian," he said. "I couldn't say anything."
He said he was never charged with any crime. This month, he said, he was suddenly let go, accompanied back to Toronto by Sgt. Shourie.
He said the Mountie lent him his cellphone to call his family once he arrived in Toronto. They screamed with joy to hear he had come home.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/11/2005 01:22 ||
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EFL HT Human Events, via RedState.org
ARLINGTON, VA.âRetired four-star Gen. Tommy Franks gave a rousing address Thursday night in support of the War on Terror, raising speculation about a possible political career in the near future or at least a more visible role in defense of President Bush. I read a lot about this in the MSM, didn't you?
âWe believe that in this War on Terror we can fight them over there or we can fight them over here,â Franks told the group of Freedom Alliance supporters. âPeople ask me all the time, what good has come since 9-11-01? I donât know, the Afghans are working hard, the Iraqis are working hard. Nobody said it was going to be easy. And there has not been another attack on American soil.â
Franks, an ardent supporter of Bush, opened his speech with jokes about a future in Washingtonâwhich fueled talk among attendees that he could be asked to take a job in the Bush Administration or run for political office. âWhat a treat to be back in Washington,â Franks said, pausing momentarily as he awaited laughter. âSome of yaâll will get these jokes on the way home.â
In his speech before the Freedom Alliance, Franks didnât hold back criticism of the Clinton Administration, specifically for its failure to respond to terrorist attacks against Americans. Among the reasons he cited for the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon:
The 1983 terrorist bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, which killed 220 Marines and 21 other U.S. service members;
The first bombing of the World Trade Center in New York in 1993;
The United Statesâ decision to leave Mogadishu, Somalia, in disgrace in 1993 following the deaths of 19 U.S. soldiers;
The 1996 terrorist bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 U.S. servicemen;
The 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya by al Qaeda, killing more than 200 Africans;
And the 2000 attack by al Qaeda on the U.S.S. Cole, which killed 17 sailors.
âAmerican history is full of occasions where weâve found it fit to recognize there is something worth going to war for,â Franks said. âAnd our freedom and our liberty is of that stub. We didnât do it in â83, â93, â96, â98 or 2000.
âI stand here tonight as a proud Americanâproud of the fact that subsequent to 2001, this country, you and I, said and have maintained in the political process that we would do whatever is necessary to buy the next 200 years of freedom and liberty for our grandchildren and for their grandchildren and for generations yet unborn.â
Franks pinned part of the blame for the publicâs disapproval about Iraq on the mainstream media, which, he said, is providing only one side the story.
âWhen we look at the mainstream media, and they want to know, when are you going to get out of Iraq? And the President doesnât know when weâre going to know when weâre going to get out of Iraq because heâs feisty,â Franks said. âHeâs focused on it for as long as it takes. Heâs put energy behind it. The man has the highest integrity of anyone I have ever known, and I know it. He takes the blame, and so forth.â
About the mission in Afghanistan, he added: âI am proud that in a period of 75 days, my country gave 26 million people a chance for something they had never known in perhaps 2,000 years. I missed the stories in our media about what our country did for the people of Afghanistan.â It's not surprise that he saw nothing nor that you haven't seen coverage of this speech. A real front line in this conflict is management of public perception of the progress at the combat front lines. Neither is more important than the other because the MSM and the terrorists are hoping for a collapse of domestic will just like Vietnam. They and the Copperhead donks are allied in making this self-defeat happen. I hope Franks does run for the Senate to drown out the false veterans like Inouye and Murtha who counsel defeat and retreat. It would be good for the country to get this debate out on the table and settled once and for all infront of the world.
Franks also said he supports Bushâs strategy in Iraq that the United States cannot pull its troops out until the mission is completed.
âWhen we think about where we came from and how far Iraq has to go, what more could one do than to carry on until we reach a successful end stage, which means that Iraq will never ever become what Afghanistan was. And that is a place that supports and defends not a constitution but a bunch of terrorists who are bent on the destruction of the United States of American and our way of life,â Franks said. âWhat would we have the President do except say, âWeâll come home when itâs over over there.ââ I hope Tommy Franks gets so much political exposure Fred has to add his picture to the posing list.
#1
âWhat a treat to be back in Washington,â Franks said, pausing momentarily as he awaited laughter. âSome of yaâll will get these jokes on the way home.â
The American Empire in the early 20th century produced a cornucopia of striking characters: Marines like Smedley Butler and Dan Daly; soldiers like Frederick Funston and Frank Ross McCoy; colonial administrators like William Cameron Forbes and Charles Magoon. Almost all are forgotten today. That's a shame, because the American Empire has seen a resurgence in recent years. Modern-day proconsuls in Kabul or Baghdad could do a lot worse than to study their predecessors' experiences in Havana or Manila for tips on how to run a liberal imperium.
Of the great American imperialists, Leonard Wood is certainly among the most remarkable, but he too has fallen into undeserved obscurity. Thus we can be grateful for Jack McCallum's dutiful biography, which gives us a reliable, if uninspired, chronicle of Wood's meteoric ascent and a detailed record of his imperial achievements.
Born of impoverished Mayflower descendants in 1860, Wood grew up in rural Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard Medical School. He was fired for insubordination from his hospital internship and had no choice but to sign up as an assistant Army surgeon in 1885. His first assignment was in the still-wild West, where he took part in an expedition to recapture renegade Apaches led by Geronimo.
In an epic feat of endurance, a small number of troopers covered more than 3,000 miles, mostly on foot. Wood emerged as an iron man who could not be stopped by lack of food, extremes of heat and cold, or even a spider bite that left his leg badly infected. His feats of endurance won him a Medal of Honor and an officer's commission.
Before long, he wound up in Washington, where he showed a talent for making friends such as President Grover Cleveland and Assistant Navy Secretary Theodore Roosevelt. When war broke out with Spain in 1898, the restless surgeon seized a chance to leave his medical career behind. He became commander of the First Volunteer Cavalry, the Rough Riders, with Roosevelt as his No. 2.
The Rough Riders' exploits in Cuba are well-known. Less famous is the sequel. While Roosevelt went home to enter politics, Wood stayed on, first as governor of Santiago city, then, from 1900 to 1902, of the entire country.
As befits a medical man, Wood's most impressive achievement was his war on tropical disease. He began by cleaning up unsanitary conditions, at gunpoint if necessary, and ended up by supporting a medical commission whose investigations found that yellow fever and malaria were spread by mosquitoes. In 1900, more than 1,000 people died of malaria in Havana; within a few years not a single death was recorded.
In addition to saving countless lives, Wood opened up schools, reformed courts and police forces, and held elections. Along the way, this pillar of Calvinist rectitude passed up easy opportunities for enrichment and made sure that no American carpetbaggers exploited the Cubans either. He was hailed as a model administrator by no less than Lord Cromer, the legendary British proconsul in Egypt.
Upon leaving Cuba as a two-star general, Wood was dispatched to the southern provinces of the Philippines, where Islamic Moro extremists were in perpetual revolt against the central government. Here Wood showed another side of his character as he dealt ruthlessly with all opposition. The primary threat came from juramentados, knife-wielding assassins who thought that they could win a place in paradise if they died fighting Christian infidels. To defeat them, Wood shelled numerous cottas (forts) containing not only enemy fighters but also women and children. His scorched-earth policy sparked controversy but achieved results. Moroland had been temporarily pacified by the time Wood left for Manila to take over as military commander of the entire Philippines in 1905.
Five years later, by virtue of seniority, he became the first and only medical officer to lead the Army. Despite (or because of) a total lack of formal military education, he proved an energetic chief of staff who consolidated a baroque bureaucracy, launched officer-training programs for college students and bought the Army's first airplanes. He stepped down in 1914 but stayed on active duty. An ardent Republican, he antagonized Woodrow Wilson by giving speeches in which he blasted the administration's failure to do more to prepare for war. When the U.S. did enter World War I, the president got his revenge by forcing Wood to train troops at home rather than lead them to France.
She is lucky they let her leave
Angelina Jolieâs many visits to our land have led to a spate of stories that have cast us in pathetic light. Although the glamorous Hollywood star has done absolutely nothing to deserve anything but our praise, it seems that the countryâs top leadership is simply besotted with her and quite beside themselves to win her favours. While she has done everything humanly possible to assert to all and sundry that she is here only and only in her capacity as a representative of the UNCHR, her plea seems to have fallen on very deaf ears, of which there is no shortage, particularly in the countryâs capital.
There are numerous stories doing the rounds and some have found their way into print as well. On a visit to the Frontier, there was a tussle between the UNCHR officials, who must wonder what stuff we are made of, and the NWFP government over where Ms Jolie was to spend her nights. While the UNCHR was adamant that she would stay in the previously arranged facilities of Peshawarâs only 4-5 star facility, the governor, bless his dear heart, was rumoured to be insistent that she stay as his personal guest in the grand Governorâs House so that she could be âlooked afterâ properly. The desire to be in the company of the sultry actress was cloaked behind the NWFPâs traditional hospitality or the better term, âmahman nawaziâ. It is said that this tussle reached embarrassing proportions and eventually the UNCHR officials were panic-stricken about Ms Jolieâs personal well-being were she to be lodged at the big house.
How much of this was shared with Ms Jolie is not known and how discreet were the UNCHR in hiding from her the secret why the top man in the NWFP was so anxious to have her in his company is also not known, but people who live and work in Peshawar have many stories. The UNCHR prevailed, I am sure with their hearts in their mouths, and Ms Jolie was anchored safely in the hotel with clear instructions to bolt and chain-lock her door and not to respond to any knocking. What could she have thought of all this is something we will never know â certainly not till Ms Jolie reveals it one day â but while she did all in her power to dress conservatively, shrouded in miles of cloth and did not reveal even half a square millimetre of her delectable ankle or indeed of other areas where she is generously and wonderfully endowed, no one seemed unable to stop dreaming of Lara Croft, preferably in the horizontal position. Certainly it seemed that no one in the top echelons took her humanitarian work seriously.
While all this tugging and pulling over Ms Jolie was going on in Peshawar and its environs with high pressure on Ms Jolie to make âcourtesy callsâ on the high and mighty who perhaps would eventually settle for her autograph or a snap with her, over here in Punjab and our sleepy capital, more VIPs were lining up to have Ms Jolie in their midst. From reports doing the rounds, the Punjab chief minister was unable to understand why Ms Jolie was not having lunch with him in Lahore. There were offers of jetting her to and fro that were made in great generosity. Cousin Chaudhry Shujaat too was reported to be happy to escort Ms Jolie to lunch, dinner or whatever and numbers of minions in between were rushing about hoping to secure her favours and her assent to the many assignments that were being held up on silver platters. While none of us seems to have any definite news on how many of these dreams became reality, there are reports that on her second visit to the land of unending hospitality, it seems the NWFP governor had better luck and the authorities prevailed upon the lissom Hollywood beauty to make a trip to the Governorâs House. On her arrival there, who should greet her but, surprise, surprise, the governor himself. Since wonders will never cease, it also happened to be his birthday â just a happy coincidence â and she was led to the inner sanctum where an assortment of relatives, children, friends and well-wishers (no shortage of this variety when you are in power) waited with bated breath as the saying goes. Ms Jolie was persuaded to cut the Govâs birthday cake with both holding the hallowed knife and many snaps were taken to mark the wonderful occasion. One hears that Ms Jolie was not amused and left shortly thereafter. There has been no denial from the authorities that such an event never happened.
On her earlier visit, having survived the Frontier, she was however unable to say no to the prime minister, who took time off from his otherwise punishing schedule and had her all to himself of an afternoon of tea and a leisurely stroll in the prime ministerâs immaculately cut â like his suits â Rose Garden. As Mr Aziz and Ms Jolie walked, there were controlled photo ops for the few granted the privilege of being in royal company. The pictures splashed by the prime ministerâs ruthlessly efficient PR image-makers were in all the papers the next day and made for great star appeal. A young, dapper and suave businessman prime minister of a struggling, impoverished nation in the close company of a woman who makes your blood pressure race and whose luscious lips many of us dream about as we toss and turn at night. What were they talking about, one wonders. "How was Cambodia Angelina? May I call you Angelina? You know I have never missed any of your films? How do you fly through the air like that Angelina?" Weâll sadly never know but would it be exaggerating things to presume that Ms Jolie must have been rather amused by all this?
Her next visit with actor Brad Pitt last month led this paper to produce a headline, on the front page no less, which in immortal words said, "âUnbelievableâ scenes move Angelina Jolie to pits". I kid you not. While I am still groping with its devilishly clever rape of the language and still unable to fathom what precisely did the writer have in mind when the muse was upon him, there was the usual commotion in the higher regions of the government when Ms Jolie arrived in Islamabad. Dressed as if she was in permanent mourning, desperately trying hard to make people forget her actress persona, she travelled to the earthquake areas and spoke with passion at a very crowded press conference, on the need for more aid. However, she was unable to resist the insistent demands for a trip to the Presidency. Summoned to the Big House, she and actor Brad Pitt were entertained by the president, but en route she is reported to have been waylaid â if you will excuse the expression â and forced into a room where the khakis were waiting with autograph books, digital cameras and movie-making cell phones. Apparently Ms Jolie was stunned and angry and stormed out doing a version of âTake me to your leader,â which in this case was the president. There calmer waters awaited.
The question is why do we go over the top when such things happen? We are indebted to Ms Jolie for visiting us over and over again and admire the fact that she has done all she could to appear as a representative of a humanitarian cause, but it is very undignified the way the top people cave in and crave her company. Personal visits, cake-cutting pantomimes, walks in rose gardens â surely there is something called good sense and good breeding. There are things leaders should not be seen doing and the offices they represent come with a few public responsibilities. This is not the first time we have fallen over backwards fawning, scraping and bowing to whoever descends on us. This is also, sadly not the last. Sorry Ms Jolie that you have had to put up with this nonsense. Better sense should have prevailed, but then does it ever this side of the Suez?
Posted by: john ||
12/11/2005 06:58 ||
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#1
Is there anybody in the Pak hierarchy that is not randy as a goat?
Posted by: john ||
12/11/2005 9:22 Comments ||
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#2
Again, this only goes to show, how stupid these yocals are. Of course they see women undressed or dressed very scantily on the internet and in many movies and such. To insist that women wear all of the clothes to cover them up is ridiculous. You shouldn't have it both ways.
Yeah, if they posed together Jolie and this yocal, with all of her garb on, how do you know it's her? Could you make out that it really is her?
Even in America, nudity can be a big deal. But women are allowed to wear pretty much anything they want. I remind myself of that old joke about naked women on the planes screening terrorists. Haw. Kinda makes me wonder about how the muslims act in Europe, where nudity is more relaxed there, or at least it used to be.
Posted by: Jan ||
12/11/2005 9:32 Comments ||
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#3
Even in America, nudity can be a big deal. But women are allowed to wear pretty much anything they want.
Puleez.
How many men have heard this from their signifigant other: Are you going to wear that?
#4
Badanov,
lol, I guess I was thinking about not having to wear all of the garb. The single female.
Although, I think most women like wearing what their guy likes. And visa versa. At least here in america they can choose.
Posted by: Jan ||
12/11/2005 10:48 Comments ||
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#5
Although the glamorous Hollywood star has done absolutely nothing to deserve anything but our praise, it seems that the countryâs top leadership is simply besotted with her and quite beside themselves to win her favours.
I know the feeling.
Posted by: B. Pitt ||
12/11/2005 11:11 Comments ||
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#6
Kinda makes me wonder about how the muslims act in Europe, where nudity is more relaxed
We hear an awful lot of stories about Muslim men who can't stop themselves from raping the local girls.
#7
TW,
So it's the women's fault for not covering themselves? Do these muslims get punished or does this act go unpunished usually?
What animals, makes me glad to know my daughter is a brown belt ;) as for me I'm an old lady, I should cover myself heh.
Posted by: Jan ||
12/11/2005 15:52 Comments ||
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#8
it's tough to rape if the tools are removed as punishment
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/11/2005 16:31 Comments ||
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#9
Removal of the tools only prevents second offenses, Frank.
One has to admire Angelina for being insistent on using her celebrity in the field rather than just talking to the big-wigs.
QUETTA: Unidentified people believed to be from the Mazari tribe shot dead two men of a Bugti sub-tribe in Sui on Saturday. Police said that two motorcyclists belonging to the Mazari tribe opened fire at Bugtis of the Mohndrani and Chakrani sub-tribes. They killed two of them and injured a third. Sources told Daily Times that the three were working at a gas-well on the Sui Kashmor Road. Police registered a case against the assailants and started investigations.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/11/2005 00:00 ||
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A senior State Department official is warning that terrorists are continuing to seek nuclear, chemical and biological weapons for use in future attacks.
"If terrorists acquire these weapons, they are likely to employ them, with potentially catastrophic effects," said Robert Joseph, undersecretary of state for arms control and the senior Bush administration arms proliferation policy-maker.
Mr. Joseph also said the U.S. government will not back off from sanctions imposed on an Asian bank that the Treasury Department said was part of the North Korean government's illegal counterfeiting and money-laundering program.
On terrorism, Mr. Joseph said a well-organized terrorist group with technical expertise could fashion a crude nuclear device once it obtains the fissile material for the bomb's fuel.
Biological weapons also would be used in an attack by terrorists because of the availability of dual-use equipment and access to pathogens, some of which occur naturally, he said.
"The bioterror challenge presents a low-cost means of a potentially high-impact attack," Mr. Joseph said in a speech Friday at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. A copy of his remarks was obtained by The Washington Times.
"We cannot rest as long as enough material for even one nuclear weapon remains unsecured," he said.
U.S. intelligence officials have said al Qaeda was working on developing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime. Documents obtained from al Qaeda facilities there showed that the group had conducted research and some experiments.
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden also has said that obtaining nuclear arms is a religious duty for his extremist followers.
On North Korea, Mr. Joseph said the administration will not back off the sanctions imposed in September on Macao-based Banco Delta Asia. The Treasury Department has said that senior bank officials took large sums of counterfeit U.S. currency from North Korean government officials and agreed to put it into circulation.
North Korea's government announced recently that because of the sanctions, it would not return to the six-party talks on its nuclear program.
"We have made it clear that, while we are committed to pursuing successful six-party negotiations, we have no choice but to continue our defensive measures to ensure that we can protect ourselves from the proliferation actions of the North, as well as from its illicit activities such as money laundering or counterfeiting," Mr. Joseph said.
He said both the North Korea and Iran are major proliferation challenges.
"There should be no doubt that both countries have such programs," Mr. Joseph said. "President Bush has made clear that, while all options remain on the table, our strong preference is to address these threats through diplomacy."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/11/2005 01:23 ||
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It's all lies, lies, lies. Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrgghhh.
Posted by: H. Dean ||
12/11/2005 8:45 Comments ||
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"If terrorists acquire these weapons, they are likely to employ them, with potentially catastrophic effects," said Robert Joseph, undersecretary of state for arms control and the senior Bush administration arms proliferation policy-maker.
LIKELY!!!?!?!? How about "they are sure to use them"???
Timeline Yields Constitutional Order, Not Peace
By Peter Baker and Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, December 11, 2005; Page A01
above the fold, EFL
"The one single worst mistake was the rigid, shortsighted adherence to the August 15 deadline," said Jonathan Morrow of the U.S. Institute of Peace, who advised constitutional drafters. That "had consequences for Sunnis buying into the constitutional text. . . . It's a hopeless situation and it's progressively more difficult to remedy."
The idea at the time was to enforce to deadline to prevent it from being extended and re-extended until eventually the Crack of Doom would have arrived and one side would still have been yapping and the other side obstructing and exploding. The Bad Guyz' intent was to drag it out forever.
Fareed Yaseen, an Iraqi official, disagreed: "I used to think that a slight delay might have been useful. But it turned out what was the most important thing was the political process and adhering to it. . . . To get things done in Iraq, you have to have a deadline. If you push it forward, then nothing gets done."
That's what I just said...
Former undersecretary of defense Douglas J. Feith, a key architect of the war, said the political process has not been perfect but that Bush was right to stick rigorously to the timetable. "That was a calculation," he said. "It involved some risk. It turned out not only not to be a disaster but a great success."
Yet the vote that was supposed to end Iraq's transition will not be the last. The consequence of sticking to the schedule without Sunni agreement will be another year of haggling. The issues that most divide Iraq's factions have been put off until the new government opens a four-month debate on constitutional amendments. If there is agreement, then Iraqis will go to polls again -- part of a compromise that was not part of the Bremer script -- to vote on a revised constitution. "It remains to be seen whether it works," cautioned Morrow. "We can't assume there will be enthusiasm by the Shiites and Kurdish parties for far-reaching amendments." Without compromise, the danger of civil war deepens.
That assumes the onus for compromise lies exclusively with the Kurds and the Shiites. The Sunnis have the same requirement to compromise.
For all that, some of the administration's toughest critics still see a chance for success. "Despite all the mistakes in our myopic clinging to arbitrary deadlines and our vision of what the political transition and pace should be, and our succession of lost opportunities to broaden the arena, I think we're finally beginning to get it right," said Diamond. "There are some tantalizing signs of a political breakthrough."
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/11/2005 09:26 ||
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#1
The first thing we did with our constitution was to propose a set of amendments.
Kidnappers holding four Western hostages in Iraq - including Auckland student Harmeet Singh Sooden - probably have links to the terrorist network that executed Briton Ken Bigley, CNN has reported.
In a grim development as the deadline for the hostages' execution loomed yesterday, CNN said terrorism experts believed the previously unknown kidnappers identifying themselves as the Swords of Righteousness Brigade are connected to Jordanian-born Islamist militant Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi and his "al Qaeda in Iraq" network.
Sooden, 32, a Canadian citizen, and his Christian Peacemaking Team friends, fellow Canadian Jim Loney, American Tom Fox and Briton Norman Kember, were kidnapped near Baghdad University on November 26.
Their captors are demanding the freeing of all Iraqi detainees in return for the hostages' lives. Their deadline was originally Thursday, but they extended it to yesterday.
Bigley and US citizens Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong were beheaded in September last year after being kidnapped while working on civil engineering projects in Baghdad.
On Wednesday, the government invoked terrorist media protocols to control reporting about the abduction and threatened execution of Sooden.
It is only the second time the protocols have been invoked since they came into force in February - the first time was during the foot and mouth scare in May -and indicates the depth of government concern over Sooden's fate.
Under the protocols, news organisations and the government agree to discuss coverage to ensure it minimises the risk to Sooden's life and avoids inflammatory reporting.
The reasons for the protocols being invoked have not been revealed, but may be discussed when Sooden's situation is resolved.
Sooden's family waited anxiously for news at their Auckland home yesterday.
Brother-in-law Mark Brewer said it was "a very difficult day and bittersweet day".
Brewer is married to Sooden's sister Preety. They spent the day with her parents Manjeet Kaur Sooden and Dalip Singh Sooden, who are visiting New Zealand from Zambia.
Dalip Sooden, Harmeet's father, arrived in New Zealand on Thursday. Brewer said the family was exhausted but trying to look after themselves.
"We did not sleep at all last night and we're trying to get a couple of hours sleep later as a family... (Dalip) is coping as well as someone can whose son is a hostage in Iraq."
His arrival had been a great boost for the family, Brewer said.
The family is planning to go to Jordan early next week, with the help of the Australian government which has phoned and offered transit visas to Sooden's parents, both of whom are travelling on Indian passports.
Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Brad Tattersfield said yesterday that there was no exact timing given for the expiry of the threatened execution deadline, other than it was "any time from now".
There had still been no contact with the kidnappers, and Foreign Affairs had no further information as to their identity, or whether they were linked to Al-Zarqawi.
"We are in constant touch with the Canadians. Essentially they have the people on the ground who are doing their best to make contact."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/11/2005 01:21 ||
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Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday called on Palestinian militant groups to maintain a shaky cease-fire due to expire on Dec. 31, saying attacks on Israelis were counterproductive. Abbas spoke a day after Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said that the militant group should not renew the truce, or "calm," which has sharply reduced hostilities since it was brokered in February. There have been occasional flare-ups of violence, however, including one in Gaza in recent weeks, in which militants have launched rockets and mortar shells at Israel, provoking retaliatory airstrikes and targeted killings of Gaza militants.
"We should move ahead with this calm until security and stability have been reached in the homeland, until our people feel no fear from the threat of tanks and aircraft," Abbas said at a ceremony in Gaza City where Palestinians laid the ground for a U.S.-funded courts complex. "Anyone who commits acts of provocation against others, especially against Israel, should know that he is acting in an irresponsible way against the interests of his homeland and against the interests of his own people," Abbas added.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/11/2005 00:24 ||
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Iranâs foreign minister met leading figures from three Islamic militant groups to co-ordinate a united front against Israel days before a recent escalation of attacks against Israeli targets shattered fragile ceasefires with Lebanon and the Palestinians, writes Hugh Macleod in Damascus. The minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, held talks with leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah in Damascus on November 15.
Among those who attended the meeting were Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas leader, and a deputy leader of Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for last Mondayâs suicide bombing of a shopping mall in Netanya that killed five Israeli citizens.
Ahmed Jibril, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine- General Command, was also present. âWe all confirmed that what is going on in occupied Palestine is organically connected to what is going on in Iraq, Syria, Iran and Lebanon,â said Jibril.
Seven days after the talks, Hezbollah fired a volley of rockets and mortars at Israeli targets, sparking the fiercest fighting between the two sides since Israelâs withdrawal from south Lebanon five years ago.
The M-1 tank has finally, oficially, gotten its M1028 "shotgun shell" for its 120mm gun. This is for use against hostile infantry. The XM1028 shell holds 1100 10mm tungsten balls that are propelled out of the gun barrel and begin to disperse. The tungsten projectiles are lethal at up to 700 meters. The official requirement of the XM1028 is to kill or disable more than 50 percent of a 10 man squad with 1 shot and do the same to a 30 man platoon with 2 shots.
Production of the shell began in 2002, with plans for up to 30,000 shells (costing over $3,000 each) being produced. After initial production of some 2,000 shells, another 3,000 were to be built in 2004 and 5,000 in the year after that. But numerous delays over effectiveness, safety and reliability issues, delayed official introduction until now. Only small numbers of M1028 shells were shipped to Iraq since the round first became available in 2003. In the meantime, army and marine tank crews were getting more and more vocal in their displeasure at the leisurely pace of M1028 development. In terms of technology, thereâs nothing particularly special about it. Similar shells have been in service for decades. In Iraq, M-1 tank crews want a "shotgun" type shell to deal with groups of hostile Iraqis, especially at night when the Iraqis still don't realize that the thermal sight on the M-1 makes people clearly visible at night to the gunner, especially if they are carrying AK-47s or RPG launchers. The Iraqis still tend to bunch up, which allows one XM1028 round to wipe out entire teams of hostile fighters. The M-1 using the XM1028 shell is the world's largest shotgun, and makes tanks much more effective in urban combat. The 10mm projectiles are also effective against vehicles and lightly built structures. Israel has been using a similar round for years, making American tank crews even more impatient about when they would get an American made version.
#1
Why tungsten? While heavy and brittle, with a high melting point, it's also expensive, hence the $3,000 price tag. What's wrong with steel? Not as good of a kill range? Lead? Too messy for the gun and too environmentally unfriendly (does that matter to the Army?)?
Will someone explain this to me?
Posted by: ArmChair in Sin ||
12/11/2005 13:24 Comments ||
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#2
Rust?
I suspect these balls are not shot out like a shot gun, but in some sort of jacket that opens upon leaving the barrel to dsiperse the shot in a horizontal rather than a conical pattern. The chemicals in the charge are also probably pretty expensive as they have to have a shelf life of decades. Finally, it's hard to make money on spares and service parts for ammo:-)
#3
Lead is indeed messy for the gun and environmentally an issue, if only for the millions of rounds of all sorts of ammo expended in training. Congress has mandated significant environmental cleanup / prevention for military training areas.
Steel is okay for ducks and geese, to save the environment, maybe not ideal for military use? Others here would know more than I on that one ...
#4
Tungsten alloys are known for their impressive hardness. I suspect that would translate into pentrating power where lead would fail, such as concrete block.
If the "horizontal" supposition is correct, then the munition would probably also have an adjustable distance fuse, which would be very expensive. Impressive results, however. With 1100 1cm balls penetrating everything in the blast area, it would be a serious drag to be downrange.
#6
As a taxpayer, I'm good with more expensive munitions and fewer jihadis. $3K a piece seems like great value for the outcome and the fact it allows our guys to deal death from a distance.
#7
No problem with bang for the buck on this end. Rust isn't a problem when in a canister (a little oil goes a long way), and lead is very toxic in quantity. Steel doesn't seem that bad for the price, though. I understand the power of tungsten when propelled from a cannon, but that encompasses anything that's heavy and not soft (no lead).
C'mon, let's here from some material science/ordinance geeks...I'm not satisfied. Plus, I don't see anything about tungsten alloys, just tungsten. Then again, this isn't my field; I'm a physical anthropologist turned bartender, and my roommate is a tenured physical chemist at a UC. We'll eventually figure this out or find someone on campus who can really put down some knowledge, but we know someone out there has the quick answer (plus, I hate campus-- thus, my bartending); otherwise, my first instinct is follow the money...
Posted by: ArmChair in Sin ||
12/11/2005 19:53 Comments ||
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#8
You ARE aware that tungsten has replaced lead in other US army ammo, right? A while ago???
#9
It's called canister because the 1100 tungsten balls are held in a canister until the round clears the barrel. It was very dealy when used during the Civil War. The Abrams can fire it because the Abrams has a 120mm smoothbore cannon, therefore the round doesn't rotate. It does indeed act like a big shotgun.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/11/2005 20:11 Comments ||
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#10
DAMNIT! Three times now I've sent some nice economic, supply availability, and price links for tungsten v. steel. Every time I've ended up at roadsideamerica.com. Is this a hint? SCREW IT!!!!
(Tungsten makes sense, and I'd just like to pass on the info-- unless you're lotp and already know...;)).
Posted by: ArmChair in Sin ||
12/11/2005 21:25 Comments ||
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#11
Sounds like your cookie is messed up. That's odd, though, since you could post that last comment. Try putting a link or two in a comment here and let's see if that works.
SOCOM (Special Operations Command) is paying $56 million for an experimental special operations boat, the Stiletto. The 80 foot boat is made of carbon fiber, which is usually only found in aircraft, or much smaller boats. With a top speed of 90 kilometers an hour, and a range of 900 kilometers, the Stiletto is stealthy, and has a very small wake for a ship of its size and speed. In other words, itâs ideal for getting SEAL commandoes ashore, or for scouting missions. The ship is fully networked, so everyone on board is plugged into all information, and can use satellite communications to reach anyone on the planet. The boxy looking trimaran is 40 feet wide and has a draft of only three feet. It displaces 65 tons and can carry about 25 tons of weapons, troops or other material (like UAVs or USV, or Unmanned Sea Vehicles). It requires a crew of less than twelve (depending on the special equipment carried) and is designed to perform missions of less than 24 hours.) The Stiletto can use an amphibious ship, like an LSD, as a mother ship, and can, in turn, launch smaller inflatable boats for landing teams. SOCOM will test the first Stiletto over the next year, and based on the results, more may be built.
Good news! On Thursday, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, who recently called for Israel to be wiped off the map, moderated his position. In a spirit of statesmanlike compromise, he now wants Israel wiped off the map of the Middle East and wiped on to the map of Europe.
"Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces," Ahmadinejad told Iranian TV viewers. "Although we don't accept this claim, if we suppose it is true," he added sportingly, "if European countries claim that they have killed Jews in World War II, why don't they provide the Zionist regime with a piece of Europe? Germany and Austria can provide the regime with two or three provinces for this regime to establish itself, and the issue will be resolved. You offer part of Europe, and we will support it."
Big of you. It's the perfect solution to the "Middle East peace process": out of sight, out of mind. And given that Ahmadinejad's out of his mind, we're already halfway there.
So let's see: We have a Holocaust denier who wants to relocate an entire nation to another continent, and he happens to be head of the world's newest nuclear state. (They're not 100 percent fully-fledged operational, but happily for them they can drag out the pseudo-negotiations with the European Union until they are. And Washington certainly won't do anything, because after all if we're not 100 percent certain they've got WMD -- which we won't be until there's a big smoking crater live on CNN one afternoon -- it would be just another Bushitlerburton lie to get us into another war for oil, right?)
So how does the United States react? Well, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said that the comments of Ahmadinejad "further underscore our concerns about the regime."
Really? But wait, the world's superpower wasn't done yet. The State Department moved to a two-adjective alert and described Ahmadinejad's remarks as "appalling" and "reprehensible." "They certainly don't inspire hope among any of us in the international community that the government of Iran is prepared to engage as a responsible member of that community," said spokesman Adam Ereli.
You don't say. Ahmadinejad was speaking in the holy city of Mecca, head office of the "religion of peace," during a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. There were fiftysomething other heads of government in town. How many do you think took their Iranian colleague to task?
Well, what's new? But, that being so, it would be heartening if the rest of the world could muster a serious response to the guy. How one pines for a plain-spoken tell-it-like-it-is fellow like, say, former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali? As he memorably said of Iran, "It's a totalitarian regime." Oh, no, wait. He said that about the United States. On Iran, he's as impeccably circumspect and discreet as the State Department.
"Diplomatic" language is one of the last holdovers of the pre-democratic age. It belongs to a time when international relations were conducted exclusively between a handful of eminent representatives of European dynasties. Today it's all out in the open -- President Ahmaddasanatta proposed his not-quite-final solution for Israel on TV. McLellan and Ereli likewise gave their response on TV. So the language of international relations is no longer merely the private code of diplomats but part of the public discourse -- and, if the government of the United States learns anything from the last four years, it surely ought to be that there's a price to be paid for not waging the war as effectively in the psychological arenas as in the military one. What does it mean when one party can talk repeatedly about the liquidation of an entire nation and the other party responds that this further "underscores our concerns," as if he'd been listening to an EU trade representative propose increasing some tariff by half a percent?
Well, it emboldens the bully. It gives him an advantage, like the punk who swears and sprawls over half the seats in the subway car while the other riders try not to catch his eye. The political thugs certainly understand the power of psychological intimidation. Look at Saddam Hussein in court, so confident in his sneering dismissal of judge and witnesses that he's generating big pro-Baathist demonstrations in Tikrit. I was struck by his complaint that the real terrorism was that he hadn't been given a change in underpants in three days. I hope that's true. It requires enormous strength of will on the part of free societies to bring blustering cocksure thugs down to size, even after we've overthrown them and kicked them out of the presidential palace. In Iran, President Ahmaddamytree figures that half the world likes his Jew proposals and the rest isn't prepared to do more than offer a few objections phrased in the usual thin diplo-pabulum.
We assume, as Neville Chamberlain, Lord Halifax and other civilized men did 70 years ago, that these chaps may be a little excitable, but come on, old boy, they can't possibly mean it, can they? Wrong. They mean it but they can't quite do it yet. Like Hitler, when they can do it, they will -- or at the very least the weedy diplo-speak tells them they can force the world into big concessions on the fear that they can.
Look at the broader picture. The State Department's Ereli noted that President Ahmageddon's comments appear "to be a consistent pattern of rhetoric that is both hostile and out of touch with values that the rest of us in the international community live by."
Is that even true? That the Iranian president is "out of touch" with the "values" of the "international community?" The Hudson Institute's lively "Eye On The U.N." Web site had an interesting photograph of how the "international community" marked Nov. 29 -- the annual "International Day Of Solidarity With The Palestinian People." Kofi Annan and other bigwigs sat on a platform with a map flanked by the "Palestinian" and U.N. flags. The map showed Palestine but no Israel. The U.N., in other words, has done cartographically what Iran wants to do in more incendiary fashion: It's wiped Israel off the map.
There has always been a slightly post-modern quality to sovereignty in the transnational age: We pretend the Syrian foreign minister is no different from the New Zealand foreign minister, and in so doing we vastly inflate the status of the former at the expense of the latter. But with Ahmadinejad we're going way beyond that. If a genocidal fantasist is acceptable in polite society, we'll soon find ourselves dealing with a genocidal realist.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/11/2005 15:14 ||
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#2
He will have the Berlin/Hitler ending before he gets nukes.
Whatever sympathy I once had for the Iranian people has been completely snuffed by this clown. He has got to die, no matter how much collateral damage is required.
A U.N. inquiry into the murder of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri will summon more Syrian witnesses in the next few days, its chief investigator Detlev Mehlis was quoted on Saturday as saying. In an interview published in Lebanon's al-Mustaqbal newspaper, which was owned by the murdered ex-premier, Mehlis said he would ask Syria in the next few days if U.N. investigators could question new Syrian witnesses in Vienna, but did not identify them.
Probably to keep them from having auto accidents. His questioning of the original five would have produced further names, whether for corroboration of their stories or introducing them as new suspects or persons of interest. Nothing to really get excited about yet — though Mehlis seems an uncommonly good investigator.
International investigators questioned five Syrian officials in the Austrian capital this week in connection with the Feb. 14 truck bomb that killed Hariri and 22 other people in Beirut. Neither Syria nor the United Nations has identified the five but diplomatic sources say they included senior Syrian security officials, including Lieutenant-General Rustom Ghazali, Syria's former intelligence chief in Lebanon, and his aide Jamae Jamae.
Also known as Jamma Jamma...
Mehlis said the Vienna interviews had been more fruitful than a series of earlier interrogation sessions in Damascus. "The questioning was extensive and we received interesting information," the Arabic-language daily quoted him as saying.
Not having keepers present at the questioning would seem to have benefits. Some excellent booze and some knockout blonde hookers might also have proven useful...
The German prosecutor did not say whether he would ask Damascus to detain any Syrian officials as a result of the questioning. In an interim report in October, Mehlis implicated senior Syrian security officials and their Lebanese allies in the murder and requested more cooperation from Damascus. Mehlis also told the Arabic newspaper al-Hayat in comments published on Saturday that he would ask a Syrian witness who withdrew his testimony to clarify his statement to investigators. Hosam Taher Hosam accused Lebanese officials on Syrian state television last month of threats, bribery and torture to induce him to testify falsely against Syria, saying the inquiry's initial findings rested largely on his lies.
It's fairly obvious that he was the Syrian attempt to insert a monkey wrench into the investigation. Mehlis doesn't seem to be worried about him...
Al-Hayat quoted Mehlis as saying Hosam's accusations did not undermine the investigation because "other witnesses confirmed his statement and we still hold the information and it is naive to believe that any part of the report was based on his testimony".
Meaning that isn't the way it's done. A single hit is an "indication," usually flagged as a "possible." Two hits are "probable." Three hits or better allows you to make declarative statements. Intel reports are usually pretty boring reads because of the number of weasel words contained therein. It doesn't sound like Mehlis' report has an awful lot of them.
Mehlis, who is due to present his findings to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, left Lebanon on Saturday. Lebanon has asked the United Nations to extend the inquiry for a further six months but Mehlis is stepping down when its initial six-month mandate expires this month.
I'm guessing he doesn't actually need the additional six months.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/11/2005 00:28 ||
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Nobel peace laureate and U.N. nuclear watchdog agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei appeared to warn Israel not to bomb Iranian atomic facilities in a newspaper interview published Saturday. "You cannot use force to prevent a country from obtaining nuclear weapons. By bombing them half to death, you can only delay the plans," ElBaradei was quoted as saying by the respected Oslo newspaper Aftenposten. "But they will come back, and they will demand revenge."
ElBaradei was in the Norwegian capital to accept the Nobel Peace Prize awarded jointly to him and the International Atomic Energy Agency. The report said ElBaradei did not mention Israel but it was clear he was referring to the Jewish state's increasingly open discussion over whether to protect itself by bombing Iranian facilities it suspects are being used in a possible secret nuclear weapons program. The report was in line with what ElBaradei said at a news conference in Oslo on Friday, that military force was not a solution to world concerns about the Iranian nuclear weapons program and could be counterproductive.
In Israel, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said he was not interested in discussing the issue. "We have made it clear that the policy of the state of Israel is to put the Iran issue to the Security Council and that the diplomatic channel is the proper one to deal with this matter at this time," he said on Israeli Radio.
ElBaradei and the IAEA have been seeking a negotiated settlement with Iran, in which inspections could prove whether it was still attempting to develop nuclear weapons. On Friday, he said it was too early to bring the matter to the U.N. Security Council, but that the next few months would be crucial. Israel has been expanding its military arsenal to deal with what it considers the key threat to its existence: a nuclear attack by Iran. Although Israel says there are no short-term plans for an attack, senior officials have begun openly discussing the option.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/11/2005 00:20 ||
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#2
El Baradei: "You cannot use force to prevent a country from obtaining nuclear weapons. By bombing them half to death, you can only delay the plans. But they will come back, and they will demand revenge."
He's quite right, you know. If someone aims to kill you, it's a big mistake to wound him, better go all the way!
#3
Wuzzalib, would you be saying that he's right without sarcasm? (Read: Whether Israel could actually pull off the whole shebang. I'm reminded of that US Army report that thought otherwise.)
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
12/11/2005 2:38 Comments ||
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#4
"You cannot use force to prevent a country from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Oh, so you would use "pretty please"? That would work, yea, right.
By bombing them half to death, you can only delay the plans"
Israelis know that. They'll go for a kill. It may involve decapitation of MM regime, to be on the safe side.
#5
From the Israeli perspective, even delaying Iran's plans and production would be a good thing, giving them time to finish the job with less risk to the nation.
#6
I think people (mainly liberals, but some conservatives, as well) have this idea that air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities are an all or nothing proposition. That's simply wrong - practice makes perfect. During WWII, the allies bombed Germany's nuclear research facilities until they were rubbled. Ditto with Germany's coal gasification facilities and oil terminals.
#8
Pres Azzbang or whatever his name is has stated that Israel needs to be wiped off the map. I call that statement a desire for preemptive revenge. What planet is ElBaradei on? The Israelis are facing the gravest threat to their existance in their history. They are not going to sit idly by and hope that the IAEA will solve their problems. If Israel is nuked, ElBaradei will just weep and wring his hands, and go on with his lunch.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/11/2005 13:44 Comments ||
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#10
cheesy little Egyptian (muslim first!, right .com?) POS should be fired and stripped of any assets. He's as much as admitted he failed in Iran's case
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/11/2005 14:43 Comments ||
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#11
Mozaf has it right. He doesn't need or want to talk to idiots. Much like our Prez is ignoring moonbat Shehan. They have much more important things to do, like world peace and securing the world from tyrannical countries like Iran.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
12/11/2005 15:39 Comments ||
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#12
For those who can remember 26 years ago...
Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran.
Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran!
Let's take a stand, bomb Iran.
Our country's got a feelin'
Really hit the ceilin', bomb Iran.
Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
Went to a mosque, gonna throw some rocks.
Tell the Ayatollah..."Gonna put you in a box!"
Bomb Iran. Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
Our country's got a feelin'
Really hit the ceilin', bomb Iran.
Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
Ol' Uncle Sam's gettin' pretty hot.
Time to turn Iran into a parking lot. Bomb Iran.
Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
Call the volunteers; call the bombadiers;
Call the financiers, better get their ass in gear.
Bomb Iran. Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
Our country's got a feelin'
Really hit the ceilin', bomb Iran.
Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
Call on our allies to cut off their supplies,
Get our hands untied, and bring em' back alive. Bomb Iran.
Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
Our country's got a feelin'
Really hit the ceilin', bomb Iran.
Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, BOMB IRAN!
Let's take a stand, bomb Iran.
Our people you been stealin'
Now it's time for keelin', bomb Iran.
Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
Iran's top nuclear official said Saturday that his country will enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel in Iran despite the U.S.-led international drive to curb such efforts. "For me, there is no doubt that the process of producing nuclear fuel in Iran will be accomplished," Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of the Atomic Organization of Iran, said during a press conference. "There is no doubt that we have to carry out uranium enrichment." Aghazadeh, who is also an Iranian vice president, gave no date for when the processes would start, but stressed they would do so at some stage.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/11/2005 00:20 ||
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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.
The 
Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the National Defence Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, inspected KPA Unit 667 honored with the title of O Jung Hup-led Seventh Regiment. After receiving a salute, he mounted a forward command post. Feasting his eyes on the defence theatres, he learned in detail about the terrain conditions and received a report on the situation from its commander.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea denounced the new U.S. ambassador to South Korea for calling the communist nation a "criminal regime," saying Saturday his remark was tantamount to a declaration of war. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow made the comment Tuesday, citing alleged illicit activities by North Korea like money laundering and counterfeiting.
QUETTA: Unidentified people believed to be from the Mazari tribe shot dead two men of a Bugti sub-tribe in Sui on Saturday. Police said that two motorcyclists belonging to the Mazari tribe opened fire at Bugtis of the Mohndrani and Chakrani sub-tribes. They killed two of them and injured a third. Sources told Daily Times that the three were working at a gas-well on the Sui Kashmor Road. Police registered a case against the assailants and started investigations.
Palestinian leader 
A U.N. inquiry into the murder of Lebanese former Prime Minister 
Nobel peace laureate and U.N. nuclear watchdog agency chief 
Iran's top nuclear official said Saturday that his country will enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel in Iran despite the U.S.-led international drive to curb such efforts. "For me, there is no doubt that the process of producing nuclear fuel in Iran will be accomplished," Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of the Atomic Organization of Iran, said during a press conference. "There is no doubt that we have to carry out uranium enrichment." Aghazadeh, who is also an Iranian vice president, gave no date for when the processes would start, but stressed they would do so at some stage.
