The radical new leader of Somalia's Islamic militia said he would only support a government based on the Qur'an, offering little hope that the cleric the US accuses of collaborating with al-Qaeda will bring moderate rule to his chaotic Horn of Africa nation.
"Somalia is a Muslim nation and its people are also 100% Muslim. Therefore any government we agree on would be based on the holy Qur'an and the teachings of our Prophet Muhammad," Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys said in an interview.
The militia controls the capital and much of the rest of southern Somalia.
Aweys's stance, a harder line than that taken by his predecessor, could steer the country towards a collision with the United States and the United Nations (UN). The militia's previous leader, a relatively moderate cleric, had been reaching out to the West and Somalia's largely powerless UN-backed government in recent weeks.
The 71-year-old Aweys condemned any attempts to install a Western-style democracy and said he was under no obligation to abide by the West's wishes.
"Our relationship with the US administration will depend on how the US treats us. If it treats us well, we will also treat them well. If it behaves badly, it will be responsible," he said.
After the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, the United States put Aweys on a terrorist watch list because he and an Islamic group he founded - al-Itihaad - were believed to be linked to Osama bin Laden.
#2
"Somalia is a Muslim nation and its people are also 100% Muslim. Therefore any government we agree on would be based on the holy Qur'an and the teachings of our Prophet Muhammad,
"And we will tell you what kind of muslims you will be - all of you. Bwahaahaahaa." Islam - the religion of fear. Fear is what keeps muslims submitting, not faith. Slaves to tyranny and death.
KHARTOUM - Sudanese President Omar Al Beshir said his country could assume peacekeeping operations in war-torn Darfur, state media reported on Monday in a fresh rebuff of the UNs deployment plan. Sudan is prepared to undertake the peacekeeping process in Darfur if the AU abandons or relinquishes the mandate it was granted by the government, Omdurman Radio quoted Beshir as telling a cabinet meeting on Sunday.
'cause it's worked so well so far ...
Beshirs renewed opposition to a proposed UN takeover of peacekeeping responsibilities from the cash-strapped and ill-equipped African Union came amid heightened tensions between Khartoum and the world body.
The foreign ministry on Monday summoned the UNs top envoy in Sudan, Jan Pronk, or his deputy, to explain under what circumstances a Darfur rebel leader was allegedly transported on a UN flight over the weekend. Suleiman Jammus, a member of a dissident faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), was taken Saturday from the main Darfur town of El-Fasher to South Kordofan state on a UN helicopter flight, the foreign ministry said. It was clear that the act was planned to take place behind the back of the Sudanese authorities, a statement issued late Saturday said.
Jammus belongs to the wing of the SLM that opposes the fragile peace agreement signed between Minni Minawis SLM faction and Khartoum in Nigeria last month.
The foreign ministry said it had suspended all UN operations in Darfur until further notice, except those of the two largest agencies in the region -- the World Food Programme and the UN childrens fund UNICEF. UN offices in Khartoum did not confirm the incident and refused to comment on the governments reaction.
On Sunday, up to 5,000 demonstrators -- mainly from the ruling National Congress Partys student and youth organisations -- seethed protested in Khartoum against the UN peacekeeping plan, rolling their eyes chanting anti-US and making faces anti-UN slogans.
After completing a mission aimed at mustering support from the authorities for a UN deployment, the UNs undersecretary general for peacekeeping operations Jean-Marie Guehenno reported no breakthrough. The response we had was not the one that we would have liked to hear, he said last week in a briefing during which he enumerated the ideas he submitted to the government during his consultations.
Beshir has repeatedly warned he will turn Darfur into a graveyard for Western troops, accusing the West of seeking to recolonise Sudan.
And the feckless Y'urp-peons in charge at the U.N. believe him, of course.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
As long as we can stay out of it. I say, handle it, handle it, handle it.
Hokay Rantburgers, time to clean up yer language or you too could be sentenced for insulting His GrecianFormulaNess. That is, if you're ever dumb enough to travel to Cairo ...
CAIRO - Two journalists from an independent Egyptian weekly were each given a year in jail on Monday for reporting on a complaint accusing President Hosni Mubarak of misusing government money.
The Giza criminal court found Al Dustour chief editor Ibrahim Issa and reporter Sahar Zaki guilty of insulting and harming the president of the republic and the people of Egypt. They were both given a one-year prison sentence and a fine of 10,000 Egyptian pounds (1,735 dollars).
In April, Al Dustour published a story about a complaint filed by an Egyptian citizen, Said Mohammed Abdallah, who accused Mubarak of misusing 500 million Egyptian pounds (86 million dollars) during the privatisation of several public companies. Abdallah appeared in the same court as the two journalists on Monday and was given the same sentence.
It is the first time in Egypt that a journalist has been indicted for insulting the president. It is ironic that this sentence should be delivered even as the regime is talking about political reform, Issa told AFP. It shows that these reforms and promises are short-lived, he said, adding that both he and Zaki would appeal.
Sucks to live in a dictatorship, doesn't it.
Al Dustour is one of a handful of independent and opposition newspapers that have campaigned for democratic reform in Egypt and challenged Mubaraks 25-year rule.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
But it will be different under an islamic dictatorship.
Posted by: ed ||
06/27/2006 8:00 Comments ||
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#2
Our jounalists(???)should take note of how they might be treated in other countries other than democracies. Maybe our journalists should get their "spurs" by having to work for an Egyptian weekly before they are able to practice their crap in this country. Maybe they would be less inclined to sit on their spurs so often.
#3
Can you imagine what would have happened to the New York Slimes crew if they had dumped a story on the regime in Egypt like they just published here ? They would be in some dungeon in extreme pain now. Executed next week.
Future supplies of oil from Latin America are at risk because of the spread of resource nationalism, a study by the US military that reflects growing concerns in the US administration over energy security has found.
An internal report prepared by the US militarys Southern Command and obtained by the Financial Times follows a recent US congressional investigation that warned of the USs vulnerability to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávezs repeated threats to cut off oil shipments to the US.
The Southern Command analysis cautions that the extension of state control over energy production in several countries is deterring investment essential to increase and sustain oil output in the long term.
A re-emergence of state control in the energy sector will likely increase inefficiencies and, beyond an increase in short-term profits, will hamper efforts to increase long-term supplies and production, the report said. So far this year, Venezuela has moved to double the level of taxes levied on oil production units operated by multinationals, Bolivia has nationalised its oil and gas fields, and Ecuador has seized several oilfields from Occidental Petroleum, the largest foreign oil company in the country.
The report also noted that oil production in Mexico, which faces elections next weekend, is stagnating be-cause of constitutional restrictions on foreign investment.
Latin America accounts for 8.4 per cent of daily world oil output, according to the US Energy Information Administration, but energy supplies from the region make up 30 per cent of US energy imports, or about 4m barrels a day.
Mexico, Venezuela and Ecuador are the regions largest exporters of oil and refined products. Brazil, Argentina and Colombia also produce oil, although predominantly for domestic consumption.
That the US Southern Command, which oversees military relations with Latin America, has embarked on a detailed study of the subject underscores the view that energy has become a key facet of US national security.
It is incumbent upon the command to contemplate beyond strictly military matters, said Colonel Joe Nuñez, professor of strategy at the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
An exception to the trend, the Southern Command study noted, is Trinidad & Tobago, whose policy of opening its doors to foreign investment has allowed it to become the top supplier of Liquefied Natural Gas to the US. Analysts have warned that, while the wave of resource nationalism in Latin America is allowing governments to grab a greater share of the energy price boom, tighter control will curb output in the future if, or when, oil prices fall.
Pending any favourable changes to the investment climate, the Southern Command study concluded, the prospects for long-term energy production in Venezuela, Ecuador and Mexico are currently at risk.
#1
Their oil nationalism plus our oil environmentalism (as in moratoriums on drilling for oil in the likely places, such as offshore and in ANWR) = high oil prices for a while.
#4
It's time for America to realize that gasoline does not cost a puny $2.00 - $3.00 per gallon. Once you factor in the defense of our overseas oil producers (read Mid-East) along with the environmental impact of refining, tailpipe pollution and vehicle related contaminants (cadmium from tires) plus the medical complications of pollution, like emphysema and so forth, suddenly gasoline is costing around $5.00 - $10.00 per gallon.
We need to move to hydrogen right away. Build lots of nuclear power plants and tell the Arabs to eat sand.
#5
couldn't have said it better Zenster. That and ethanol and wind and solar and water and whatever else technology can fathom. There will be plenty of business for all of you oil industry folks for the remainder of your lifetime and there will be a better world for your children.
#8
If there were a serious oil embargo, US refiners could always purchase through third party brokers, and pay the mark-up. We can afford to, unlike the poor nations of the world. Separately, recently I read a front-page article in my local newspaper about the trend locally to turn in gas-guzzling vehicles for gas-sippers. This is the hilly part of the Midwest, where soccer moms and distance drivers abound -- who so love their minivans and SUVs. Another year or two of this and I suspect this country's gas imports will start to go down visibly. Not that this will affect world-wide sales -- India and China will take everything we don't, and more -- but we will be less beholden to the oil supplying countries, even before the various upstream technologies come to market.
#9
Zenster: the two things are not tied together. We would still have aircraft carriers if we got all our own oil domestically. We would still have troops in Iraq, and the possibility for war with Iran and China.
All the money we are spending now we would still spend, because the world is bigger than oil. And we found out long ago, and several times, that you ignore the rest of the world at your own peril.
#10
Oil sells on the open market, I don't see how anyone can say that they arent going to sell to us.
It's a mistake to think that oil is a standard commodity like wheat or copper. Refineries, which are hideously expensive to build, are tailored to one grade of oil and in some cases to specific country suppliers. That isn't something one can change easily or cheaply. And while I think that in some cases oil of different grades / origins might be substituted, with poorer or less output as a result, overall the substitution isn't without costs of its own.
#11
If we don't buy the oil from Venezuela, it will have to sell it to someone else, who will probably resell it to us with the ususal markup. In the worst of all worlds, we would have to buy from a new source.
Is someone here suggesting that it is in our interest to compel countries to sell products to us by military force? Is it our duty to assure that other countries manage their natural resources according to our interests?
#12
Don't know about others. I'm certainly not. I just view an investment in other energy sources as a prudent portfolio diversification and risk management strategy.
There's another dimension to the SouthCom analysis that isn't being discussed here. If the oil revenues get screwed up in Latin American countries - and especially in Mexico - that has geopolitical and security implications for us. I'm not suggesting we have any right or intent - or any good purpose - to intervene there, but we'd better be prepared for any side effects on us.
#13
Its another Rove conspiracy. Hugo will embargo. The MSM will go ballistic blaming Bush and the Republicans. The Pres will declare a national emergency and open the off shore sites for immediate development. Halliburton will have the equipment ready to deploy. See photo ops of first new oil flowing. The Dems who created the mess will be stuck with their 'starve you gas guzzlers' position, just like Iraq. Another log jam broken and the economy back on line before the 2008 election. The left will go more rad. The government will go more red.
#15
Zenster: the two things are not tied together. We would still have aircraft carriers if we got all our own oil domestically. We would still have troops in Iraq, and the possibility for war with Iran and China.
Yes, but these individual conflicts or potential conflicts would not require the sustained "boots-on-the-ground" like we have had in Saudi Arabia for so many decades. I do not overlook how necessary our military forces are. Nor am I so deluded as to think they only serve the security of our oil supply (i.e., the usual "Blood for Oil" horsesh!t). However, I do firmly believe that we have spent great treasure defending our Middle East oil interests (which our economy so heavily depends upon), to the detriment of America not developing alternative fuels and mass transit.
All the money we are spending now we would still spend, because the world is bigger than oil. And we found out long ago, and several times, that you ignore the rest of the world at your own peril.
Please see my above comments. Were it not for serious considerations about impacting world oil markets, we might well have been able to better focus on interdicting terrorist nations and rooting out stateless terrorist enclaves. Far too much of our military focus has been on keeping the oil flowing.
Long ago we should have recognized this vulnerability and retuned our economy over to mass transit, alternative fuels and crushing those who seek to do us harm. Our money-obsessed politicians have been in the pocket of big oil for far too long and have betrayed the American people's need to be freed from the Islamic oil teat. This is no big news, save to our politicians.
#16
My only quibble, Zenster, is that mass transit only works in the cities and the East Coast corridor. The rest of the country is too spread out and -- speaking about my own life at least -- too varied in personal schedules to line up neatly waiting for the next bus.
#17
Mass transit also refers to our nation's rail system, which is in such a shocking state of disrepair as to be a national disgrace. tw, you are well traveled. The European train system precludes the need for a lot of automobile travel that is otherwise required in nations like America, which have such spotty train service.
Also, our urban transit systems are so belated that suburban sprawl has occured without the centralized planning needed to include interurban and peripheral transit infrastructure. Americans were deluded into believing that the car was the end all and be all, much to our peril.
#18
"There will be plenty of business for all of you oil industry folks for the remainder of your lifetime and there will be a better world for your children."
Dont count on Bush and his Boys giving up their OIL power anytime soon, for patriotism or any other reason, wont happen.
Posted by: bk ||
06/27/2006 20:25 Comments ||
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#19
our urban transit systems are so belated that suburban sprawl has occured without the centralized planning needed to include interurban and peripheral transit infrastructure.
Our urban transit systems are over 120 years old in the north east. We have transit systems that suit the American desire for land ownership, space of our own and a liking for nature.
#20
If producing countries embargo the US but not other countries, the oil will move around and get to the US anyway, less efficiently and with some risk premium, but it will get there (Iraq managed to export to the world during the trade restrictions).
If producing countries just shut exports (as Iran is threatening) their own economies will suffer severely, possibly leading to government collapse.
Refineries are customized to specific feedstock blends, but mostly can be modified to adapt to changes, or else the blends can be rebuilt to acceptable 'fits' from alternative sources.
Such oil nationalists may have missed their best short-medium term opportunity for impact too - Canadian oil sands are coming on line and Iraqi exports may be increasing, at the same time US (and probably world) demand is flattening or even declining. Stockpiles in storage or shipments at sea are at their highest levels in quite a while. I'm starting to wonder if Bush is trying to pull a Reagan - recall the USSR fell because the US forced a military spending competition while simultaneously dealing with Saudi Arabia such that oil prices fell, squeezing the Soviet oil sales cash flow. Substitute Iraq/Afghan driven 'spending' competition with the Islamists and Canadian for KSA oil?
#21
Zenster, I strongly suspect urban sprawl has been deliberate government policy post-World War II, as the only sensible response to the real threat of undeclared nuclear or biological attack by an unsuspected enemy. And it's worked -- as far as I can gather, the US is best situated of all the nations of the world to survive a terror attack or pandemic - nuclear, biological or chemical - because the population is not concentrated, and most people have enough land for a small vegetable patch and a few chickens if necessary (not to mention the suburban deer population could probably feed us for a year or two!). The cost in oil-based fuel has been bearable to obtain this safety net, which is a separate issue from our continued choice to leave our oil unpumped in order to hold the OPEC knife to our throat.
Separately, the places I've been that have good and much-used public transport have significantly higher population densities than where I am in the middle of the American Midwest. In Germany, people assumed that my 1500 square foot house must contain three apartments, and most of my local friends did indeed have living spaces that small. In Belgium, my neighbors all drove anyway, because they were too important to take public transport, although their children did so in happy independence. In Hong Kong, as far as I could tell from a brief but wonderful visit, distances are so short that one would ride mostly to save one's favourite shoes from being scuffed.
But I've been plenty of places where the choice is either to stay home or go by car or taxi... so most people just stay home. Even in Germany -- when we first arrived, we lived in a small village with no public telephone, no public transportation, and it was several kilometers along major roads to get to the nearest village with either. The wait to get a phone installed in the flat was six months -- longer than we intended to stay. I was nearly suicidal by the time we found a house in Civilization (telephone, 3 minutes walk to the train station, 5 minutes walk to the village center and the shops, less than half an hour by train or car to the center of Frankfurt a.M., and people who understood that one might not speak their language fluently). Truly I don't think I'm being disingenous as I make my argument.
#22
urban sprawl has been deliberate government policy post-World War II
Then why have so many real estate developers had to bribe so many zoning commissioners to build the sub-divisions? As always the American voters got what they wanted, just as they have the energy policy they want, whether the Burg likes it or not.
#23
Herman Kahn used to tell the story of his talks with urban planning types in the late 60s/early 70s. He would explain and explain that polls and surveys and sales figures all showed that the vast majority of Americans wanted to live in a detached home with at least a little land.
The reponse of the planners? "How can we change their minds?" He didn't seem to think it was likely to happen .... ;-)
#24
San Diego's a real spread out place, and the "planners" are always spending transportation dollars on mass transit (which few use) and not freeway expansion....the last sales tax for road projects vote REQUIRED they spend no more than 1/3 on mass transit, to relieve freeway congestion
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/27/2006 22:50 Comments ||
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#25
I don't wanht to be forced to ride with loudmouths or people who need a bath. If you like that kind of thing have at it.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea has approved plans by a U.S. human rights envoy to visit an industrial zone run jointly by the two Koreas, a South Korean official said Tuesday. Jay Lefkowitz, the U.S. special envoy on human rights in North Korea, is likely to make the trip next month. Lefkowitz has openly criticized alleged worker exploitation at the Kaesong complex, just north of the inter-Korean border.
In a letter to the South's government, the North last week approved the proposed visit, an official at the South's Unification Ministry said. The trip will likely happen in mid-July, the official said on condition of anonymity, citing ministry policy.
South Korea has strongly protested the allegations, urging Lefkowitz to visit the site and see the working conditions for himself. South Korea cherishes the Kaesong project as a symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation. About 15 South Korean companies have set up shop in the enclave, and up to 2,000 businesses could fill it by 2012. The showcase project, launched after the only summit so far between the two Koreas' leaders in 2002, combines the South's management expertise with the North's starving cheap slave labor.
However, it has become a contentious topic between Seoul and Washington after Lefkowitz alleged North Korean workers there were being ill-treated. He cited a lack of labor rights and low wages paid through the North Korean government, not directly to the workers.
South Koreans: myopia or avarice?
In efforts to dispel concerns, South Korea took foreign envoys, including U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow, on a one-day tour of the Kaesong complex earlier this month. Kathleen Stephens, the U.S. principal deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, toured it in a separate trip.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/27/2006 00:02 ||
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Rooters, with a healthy scoop of BDS mixed in with the reporting...
During President George W. Bush's administration, North Korea has gone from having enough plutonium for one or two nuclear weapons to having enough for as many as 13, a study released on Monday said. It concluded that the reclusive communist state, whose threat to test a long-range ballistic missile has spread concern in Washington and in Asia, could have more than 17 such weapons by the time Bush leaves office in early 2009.
The study, authored by former U.N. weapons inspector David Albright, was based on analysis of satellite imagery indicating activity at the five megawatt nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, media reports and statements by North Korean officials. It said Pyongyang probably did not have enough plutonium stock for its own deterrence and so is unlikely to sell it.
But if production continued at current levels, North Korea's cash-strapped leaders may decide in a "few years" that they have enough for their own use and can market the excess. "We conclude that North Korea is estimated to now have enough separated plutonium to develop a credible nuclear arsenal, on the order of 4 to 13 nuclear weapons and similar in size to South Africa's nuclear weapons arsenal in the late 1980s at the height of its effort," Albright and co-author Paul Brannan said. The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), of which Albright is the president, issued the report. It found that North Korea's 50 megawatt reactor, which is still being built, had had no significant construction activity in recent months. When finished the reactor would increase North Korea's plutonium production tenfold.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john ||
06/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
North Korea is controlled by China - they have no sovereign manifest destiny, nuclearized or not, save to die or be destroyed first before any Chinese do. Thusly, it is useless for the Norkies to have indigenous nukes save to use as PC asymmetric nuclear defense on or near their own soil against any US-Western invasion force. Is why the WOT may ironically be NK's last chance to break China's hold before China begins to mil exert itself for Asian-Pacific hegemony/empire - as long as China controls Pyongyang, it'll likely be Norkies = Koreans whom will die first before Chicoms do.
#2
Instead of Radical Islamist-style self-suicide attacks, it'll be the Chicoms whom will blow the Norkies up from afar into radioactive kimchee-reenies.
#3
There was a recent post with pictures of North Korea.
There were very few cars (unsurprisingly) and also very few bicycles (which is odd).
The reason? North Korea didn't make bicycles. They recently opened a bicycle factory though, with technology transfer from China.
So one should soon see bicycles on North Korean roads.
Think about that for a moment. This is a country that did not have the technology for bicycle manufacturing, which (like Pakistan) cannot make a high speed metal lathe, or a tractor.
But thay can make storable liquid fuel engines for the Taepodong? This is Chinese technology, transfered lock, stock and barrel.
Posted by: john ||
06/27/2006 6:38 Comments ||
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#4
If NKor actually had the ability to test a small nuke they probably would have done so.
I suspect there may be something wrong with their bombmaking or maybe with their ability to store, handle and fabicate the Plutonium. The Chinese may not have sent the NKors their premium equipment.
#5
You have to assume any missile and atom bomb tech that NKor, Pakistan and Iran have are shared among them. Pakistan is known to use second generation Chinese bomb designs atop NKor supplied missiles. The same designs that Khaddafy turned over to us.
Posted by: ed ||
06/27/2006 8:53 Comments ||
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Immigration and Integration Minister Rita Verdonk is expected to inform parliament that Somali-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali is to keep her Dutch passport. The announcement will come on Tuesday or Wednesday, according to various media reports.
This follows an agreement reached by senior Cabinet ministers during a meeting in the Hague apartment of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende late on Monday. Deputy Prime Minister Gerrit Zalm (Finance), the first to leave the meeting, told journalists he had "good hope" Hirsi Ali's case could be finalised this week.
Zalm was leader of the Liberal Party (VVD) when he recruited the Somali critic of Islam to run for election for the party. She told him at the time that she had given a false name - Ayaan Hirsi Ali - to get asylum in the Netherlands in 1992. She was naturalised under this name five years later.
The other ministers at the meeting were Verdonk, Balkenende, Ben Bot (Foreign Affairs) and Piet Hein Donner (Justice).
Verdonk, who was campaigning to become leader of the VVD in May, caused consternation in parliament and abroad when she informed Hirsi Ali that she had six weeks to explain why she should not be stripped of her Dutch passport.
Hirsi Ali gave a press conference the next day to announce her resignation as an MP for the VVD. She also said she was accelerating her plans to relocate to the US to take up a job with a neo-conservative think tank.
Prior to this, Hirsi Ali was a staunch ally of Verdonk and her restrictive immigration policies. The foreign media blasted the Netherlands for what was seen as an attempt to silence a person who had faced death threats for her criticism of fundamentalist Islam.
Parliament passed motions calling on Verdonk to ensure Hirsi Ali remained a Dutch citizen, no matter what.
Verdonk is expected to send a letter to parlaiment on Tuesday or Wednesday to explain her about-face in Hirsi Ali's case. The reasoning is that under Somali law a person is entitled to use a grandfather's name.
The Minister's letter will be studied closely by MPs who still have not forgiven Verdonk for causing the crisis in the first place.
Left-wing groups will scrutinise it to see if it affords an opportunity for at least 60 other people stripped of their Dutch nationality for giving a false name during the asylum process.
#1
Anyone reminds last scene of "High Noon"? When Gary Cooper after being betrayed by the citizens takes his ensign off his chest, opens his hand and let's the ensign fall in the dust.
I were Hirsi Ali I would not want to have anything commopn with those people. Even a passport.
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will go to parliament within the next few days to ask for permission to start talks with ETA. The Basque terrorist group declared a permanent ceasefire three months ago. Zapatero had promised to visit the lower house of Parliament before the end of June, when MPs go on their summer recess until September.
It was still not clear if talks would have the support of the conservative opposition Popular Party (PP), which recently withdrew its backing claiming Zapatero's administration was following a timetable laid out by ETA and by its banned political arm, Batasuna. PP leader Mariano Rajoy refused to lay that question to rest on Sunday, saying instead that "you can't get rid of the terrorist group at any price" and adding that if the government "negotiates with the group on what (the latter) is asking for, that's against the law".
The interim chancellor of the University of Colorado at Boulder announced today that CU wants to fire ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill. "Today I issued to Professor Churchill a notice of intent to dismiss him from his faculty position here at the University of Colorado," said Phil DiStefano at a press conference. Churchill has 10 days to appeal.
"A university is a marketplace of ideas, a place where controversy is no stranger...indeed one of our most cherished principals is academic freedom, the right to pursue and disseminate knowledge without threat of sanction," said DiStefano. "But with freedom comes responsibility."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#9
Widmann said she hoped faculty at other universities would get the message that Churchill is being fired for academic misconduct, not for his unpopular opinions.
#12
So is he off to the Rez' to consult w/relatives and undergo a vision quest to see what he should do next? Yeah, I didn't think so either since he's not even really an Indian. Maybe the local Huddle House in Boulder will hire his ass. Of course I'd hate to insult restaurant workers every where by comparing them to old Ward.
#14
Churchill is being fired for misrepresentations of his background, and scolarship related issues. The U is ducking the free speech issue in order to make sure that the other stuff sticks.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/27/2006 14:52 Comments ||
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#16
That's what he should be fired for, Alaska Paul. Others have said as bad or worse than he. Of course, he never should have been hired in the first place -- he was provably doing such things long before he joined the UC@Boulder staff. Elmert Jinetle8240 pegged it.
Washington political pollster Frank Luntz, who in an earlier private memo told Congress that Americans are not only ready for an overhaul of illegal alien policy, "they are demanding it," is now warning members that the competing House and Senate solutions must contain one consensus: "No amnesty."
"Any Republican who votes for legislation on illegal immigration that walks, talks, looks or smells like amnesty will reap the wrath of a Republican electorate who see more and more reasons to stay home in November with each passing day," Mr. Luntz says in a memo we obtained. "For Republican members of the Senate and House there will be no election amnesty in November for a miscast vote now."
Reached yesterday, Mr. Luntz told Inside the Beltway that the amnesty argument is significant "because it is stepping right in the middle of the House and Senate fight, which is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. ... And since the Republicans control both houses, they are shooting themselves not in the foot, but in the head." His research paper concludes "conclusively that any association with amnesty will turn the so-called Senate heroes of this summer into the martyrs of November." Amen brother
Posted by: Steve ||
06/27/2006 11:19 ||
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#5
if you get those money solicitations from the GOP - put zero dollars and a nasty note and send them back - at their expense. It's a great way to get their attention.
GRAND ISLAND Vice President Dick Cheney accused the news media Monday of making the job of defending against further terrorist attacks more difficult. Cheney zeroed in on The New York Times in condemning the press for publishing detailed information about vital national security programs.
The attack, launched at a fund-raising luncheon for Republican congressional nominee Adrian Smith, was triggered by a story in The Times last week revealing a terrorist financial tracking program. Cheney also pointed to earlier news reports disclosing secret communications surveillance conducted without court approval.
The New York Times has now made it more difficult for us to prevent attacks in the future, the vice president declared. Publishing this highly classified information about our sources and methods for collecting intelligence will enable the terrorists to look for ways to defeat our efforts, he said.
Cheneys criticism coincided with President Bushs condemnation of the financial tracking disclosure during remarks to reporters at the White House on Monday. Obviously, no one can guarantee that we wont be hit again, Cheney said. But the relative safety of these past nearly five years now (since the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington) did not come about by accident, he said.
The programs disclosed by The Times help explain why we have been so successful in preventing further attacks, he said. Cheney said he considers it a disgrace that The Times was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for its stories disclosing the terrorist surveillance program.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/27/2006 00:10 ||
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#1
I saw quite a long ad for the NYT on either CNN or Fox News a little bit ago. Lots of heart warming stuff about how long people had been reading it, how much it meant to their daily lives, and how wonderful the reporting was. They were even selling year subscriptions for 50% off! (probably to make up for lack of truth in reporting). Suppose they might be running a bit scared these days?
Posted by: grb ||
06/27/2006 3:27 Comments ||
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#2
Well, it's time for U.S. security harm NYT back, I say.
#6
Talk is cheap Dick. You are a member of a body that has been granted, by the people, power to actually do something. I see nothing. It's just like the border issue. Talk, talk, talk. That's how you really create vigilantes. When those in power refuse to carry out their responsibilities they're entrusted with.
#7
Once again, it has been demonstrated that this current adminstration cares little for the rule of law, or violating the privacy of individuals. Further analysis of this program indicates that it has netted only minor players in the terrorist's game and is primarily effective in catching amateur wanna-be's. If it is effective, use the Court's and the Congressional oversight as is required instead of trying to establish an imperial presidency.
#8
Critiques based on facts are rather more persuasive than kneejerk rhetoric, Cynic.
The financial tracking via SWIFT was limited to banks, corporations and NGOs. Individuals presumably were id'd via other means once an organization was implicated - that's how Hambali was nabbed, for instance. And most would consider him more than a 3rd tier terror wannabe.
#9
Bank Data Is Sifted by U.S. in Secret to Block Terror Among the successes was the capture of a Qaeda operative, Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, believed to be the mastermind of the 2002 bombing of a Bali resort, several officials said. The Swift data identified a previously unknown figure in Southeast Asia who had financial dealings with a person suspected of being a member of Al Qaeda; that link helped locate Hambali in Thailand in 2003, they said.
In the United States, the program has provided financial data in investigations into possible domestic terrorist cells as well as inquiries of Islamic charities with suspected of having links to extremists, the officials said.
The data also helped identify a Brooklyn man who was convicted on terrorism-related charges last year, the officials said. The man, Uzair Paracha, who worked at a New York import business, aided a Qaeda operative in Pakistan by agreeing to launder $200,000 through a Karachi bank, prosecutors said.
...
One priority was to cut off the flow of money to Al Qaeda. The 9/11 hijackers had helped finance their plot by moving money through banks. Nine of the hijackers, for instance, funneled money from Europe and the Middle East to SunTrust bank accounts in Florida. Some of the $130,000 they received was wired by people overseas with known links to Al Qaeda.
Crawl back into your mom's basement and die.
Posted by: ed ||
06/27/2006 11:17 Comments ||
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#10
who worked at a New York import business,
Like their currency exchanges, very nice covers for action.
"Among the successes was the capture of a Qaeda operative, Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, believed to be the mastermind of the 2002 bombing of a Bali resort, several officials said. The Swift data identified a previously unknown figure in Southeast Asia who had financial dealings with a person suspected of being a member of Al Qaeda; that link helped locate Hambali in Thailand in 2003, they said.
In the United States, the program has provided financial data in investigations into possible domestic terrorist cells as well as inquiries of Islamic charities with suspected of having links to extremists, the officials said.
The data also helped identify a Brooklyn man who was convicted on terrorism-related charges last year, the officials said. The man, Uzair Paracha, who worked at a New York import business, aided a Qaeda operative in Pakistan by agreeing to launder $200,000 through a Karachi bank, prosecutors said."
Also, who knows what current covert investigations are going on. Are they now in jeopardy? How would you like to be some deep cover covert agent dealing directly with a much more sophisticated group of Alquees who are now looking at you with a distrustful eye. "Get in the car, my friend, we need to take a drive."
#13
If there is not some swift and severe legal action brought against Keller et al then this means nothing to me Mr. VP. Our Founding Fathers are turning in their graves. At least one of them would've offered Mr. Keller "an interview" on the heights for such disrespect.
wo, cynic bro', I told ya not ta be postin' on the 'berg after we been up all night hittin' the 'sheesh and the ludes, c'mon home now bro', the t.v. set just snowed out and I got some cheetos.......
#17
Hey Cynic: Why would the entire administration be upset about SWIFT being outed if it only exposed third-tier terrorists? Nevermind the fact that if you pull on the threads they probably lead to bigger fish.
Also: If you're so smart, why don't you go get yourself elected President and do something about it?
Posted by: grb ||
06/27/2006 19:32 Comments ||
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Thanks, Bill Keller. Enjoy your vacation, you've certainly earned it.
Justice Minister Laurette Onkelinx has responded with surprise to revelations late last week that the US government was able to examine international financial transactions over several years as part of its so-called war on terror. The Socialist PS
a Socialist, eh? yeah I was shocked too
minister said she was "completely unaware" of the practice. Her ministry said on Saturday that the security service VS-SE and the federal police money laundering unit (CFI in Dutch) will now investigate the matter. The Interior Ministry "officially denied" that the minister was aware of the US practices, first revealed by fishwrap 'New York Times' newspaper 'De Standaard'. "The minister was, just as the prime minister, completely unaware. She only heard it on Friday, via the media," Onkelinx' spokesman said. Consequently, Onkelinx requested a complete report about the matter, both from the VS-SE and the CFI. The federal police unit was also was also asked to draw up a legal analysis of the situation.
Financial institutes in Belgium are obligated by law to report suspicious transactions to the CFI in an effort to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The National Bank of Belgium (NBB) confirmed on Saturday it was aware of the fact that US authorities could examine transactions via Swift. The NBB released an official statement after media reports broke on Friday. But an NBB spokesman refused to confirm when the reserve bank was informed about Swift's actions, revealing only that it was informed in an informal manner via its contacts with the firm. The NBB said further it saw no ethical problems in Swift's actions. Despite the fact Swift had to comply with various standards to ensure a smooth working of the financial sector, the NBB also said America's espionage tactics did not place the sector's operations at threat.
I should note here that this is one politician making faces and rolling her eyes here; the actual banking/financial industry types don't seem too upset. Of course, they need to deal with the regulatory anaconda that *is* the EU body politic, so they may end up making faces too...
#3
BTW, I'm dreadfully tired of slapping "-gate" on the end of scandals, but it was the only punchy name I could think of to fit the headline. Does anyone have a better name for this thing?
#4
I thought that the EU was investigating the Swift boat vets.
Calling it "-gate" implies that it's some sort of scandal, which it is not. It was a successful intelligence operation that was betrayed by one of its officers and was ruined by a self-serving journalist.
#5
Makes me wonder how many European Politicians we ran across that have "curious" financial transactions on there too. Maybe it is time to twist some arms.
Posted by: ed ||
06/27/2006 8:54 Comments ||
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#7
Investigating the SWIFT program isn't nearly as important as investigating the NYT. As a Canadian (and I'd wager that the Brits, Dutch, etc. agree), the Times' leaking of national secrets doesn't just harm the US, it hurts everyone. Maybe we should add the NYT to our terrorist watchlist. Their actions appear to violate section 83.19 of our terrorism act.
#6
Wickedly accurate - and perhaps predictive, I fear.
When will we accept that the customary and comfortable approach is a woefully insufficient response?
The ante has been upped and the gauntlet thrown down. I hope Bush gives Atty Gen Gonzalez the green light and takes this head-on. Just as with The Corner article today on amnesty indicates, I believe everyone in political office grossly underestimates how quickly support for prosecuting these traitors, both the leakers (a no-brainer) and the publishers (tougher, but still easily a majority) would build.
Do it Dubya. Get righteously pissed and show passion, as you did in the news video sound-bite, repeat, repeat, repeat, and it'll take root. Then unleash your Junkyard Dog - Gonzalez - and pound the Bully Pulpit.
#11
Dave D and Besoeker: It has been interesting watching the country since 9/11. I hoped folks would awaken, but it seems that no one was really changed. People who loved America before, now love it more. The people who didn't...
I don't think nukes in our cities will awaken the moonbats. Moonbattery appears to be terminal.
#14
Thanks for reminding me to check what Scott Ott's dog, Scrappleface, has to say about the NYT. New York Times Secretly Sifting CIA Data (2006-06-23) Under a secret program launched in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks, which killed 3,000 people on American soil, The New York Times gained access to private information from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and disseminated it periodically on paper and electronically to al Qaeda and other terror organizations.
EFL
Times executive editor Bill Keller, in a hastily-called news conference, assured Americans that the scope of the intel-sifting and sharing program is strictly limited and that the results are crucial to the success of the war on the war on terror EFL
More at Link
Ott rocks!
#15
"I don't think nukes in our cities will awaken the moonbats. Moonbattery appears to be terminal."
Oh, I think we all know that by now. Those of us who support the war know it; the moonbats know it, and are determined not to wake up, ever; but most importantly, the enemy is beginning to figure it out, too-- just like North Vietnamese general Giap did, watching Walter Cronkite's "America Can't Win" broadcast after the Tet offensive in '68.
And I think the enemy is delighted by what he sees. Positively delighted.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/27/2006 17:45 Comments ||
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#16
Gotta agree with DD. Too close to reality to be funny. The NYT is our enemy within and is more interested in a headline reading America lost than a headline reading America wins. But then this is nothing new for east coast news. I wonder if colleges are covering the years of "Yellow Journalism" in their history classes. What's that old saying? Those that do not learn from history are...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/27/2006 22:19 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON (AP) - The annual cost of replacing, repairing and upgrading Army equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan is expected to more than triple next year to more than $17 billion, according to Army documents obtained by the Associated Press.
From 2002 to 2006, the Army spent an average of $4 billion a year in annual equipment costs. But as the war takes a harder toll on the military, that number is projected to balloon to more than $12 billion for the federal budget year that starts next Oct. 1, the documents show.
The $17 billion also includes an additional $5 billion in equipment expenses that the Army requested in previous years but has not yet been provided. The latest costs include the transfer of more than 1,200 2-ton trucks, nearly 1,100 Humvees and $8.8 million in other equipment from the U.S. Army to the Iraqi security forces.
Army and Marine Corps leaders are expected to testify before Congress Tuesday and outline the growing costs of the war - with estimates that it will cost between $12 billion and $13 billion a year for equipment repairs, upgrades and replacements from now on.
The Marine Corps has said in recent testimony before Congress that it would need nearly $12 billion to replace and repair all the equipment worn out or lost to combat in the past four years. So far, the Marines have received $1.6 billion toward those costs to replace and repair the equipment.
According to the Army, the $17 billion includes:
-$2.1 billion in equipment that must be replaced because of battle losses.
-About $6.5 billion for repairs.
-About $8.4 billion to rebuild or upgrade equipment.
One of the growing costs is the replacement of Humvees, which are wearing out more quickly because of the added armor they are carrying to protect soldiers from roadside bombs. The added weight is causing them to wear out faster, decreasing the life of the vehicles.
Congress has provided about $21 billion for equipment costs in emergency supplemental budget bills from 2002-06. All the war equipment expenses have been funded through those emergency bills, and not in the regular fiscal-year budgets. Pentagon officials have estimated that such emergency bills would have to continue two years beyond the time the U.S. pulls out of Iraq in order to fully replace, repair and rebuild all of the needed equipment.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/27/2006 00:08 ||
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#1
It's basically used up. Worn to junk status. Not worth dragging back when units rotate out. this is to be expected. How's about a few Billion in oil revenue to pay for some of this ?
#5
Army transformation is being paid for with funds dedicated for the Afghan and Iraq campaigns.
Posted by: ed ||
06/27/2006 8:56 Comments ||
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#6
ed is right, the lion's share of the money is going into transformation, not repairing the old wheel.
Congress is very fickle about funding parts, even for new systems, so the military is very careful to order up replacement parts in the balloon payment up front. This is one of the reasons that new systems are so expensive--the replacement parts that come with them probably outweigh the thing in itself.
#7
i'm about tired of hearing how much the shit cost. if it helps keep OUR troops safe and a great military force then who gives a shit about a couple billion dollars. Hell i'm sure we gave more than that to drug dealers and killers after katrina anyway but no one bitched and complained
#14
The same idiots that complained about not having armored Humvees are now bitching that it costs too much to maintain them. These are probably the same dumba%%es that buy a new car and never change the oil in it.
The new vehicles and equipment will soon need to be reset and the costs associated with that will drive the supplementals even higher.
What really pisses me off here is the silent implication that the cost is not worth the effort. Anyone who wants to bitch about the cost of this war and its value should go and talk to the families of the 911 tragedy and get their opinion.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/27/2006 22:39 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will leave Washington on Monday for visits to Pakistan and Russia, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. Rice will stop in Pakistan on her way to attending a meeting of foreign ministers of the Group of Eight industrial powers in Moscow starting on Thursday. "Secretary Rice will travel to Pakistan and Russia," McCormack told reporters. Rice will "follow up on a wide range of subjects of cooperation" raised during a visit to Pakistan in March by President George W Bush.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Dead horse pic?
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/27/2006 0:26 Comments ||
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#2
I see Condi is using the deadly double spider hand technique which she likely picked up from Rumsfeld!
#3
I believe she is describing what she will do with Musharaf and Putin's heads.
Posted by: ed ||
06/27/2006 15:08 Comments ||
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#4
She's telling the Paklanders and friends, "listen up donks, I know you've had a free ride with Rummy, but John Bolton has balls THIS BIG! He's the Rum Runner's replacement, so Wake TFU!"
ISLAMABAD - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was due to arrive in Islamabad later on Tuesday on a mission to make Pakistan and Afghanistan stop their bickering and work better together to fight the Taleban. Rices return to the region, just three months after accompanying President George W. Bush there, comes at a time when both the Afghan and Pakistani leaders are suffering from slumps in popularity and their credibility is being questioned abroad.
Rice praised both allies for their efforts in the war on terrorism in remarks to reporters on Tuesday while en route to Pakistan for talks with President Pervez Musharraf, but knows she has her work cut out. The piece we need to work harder on is the cooperation that is US-Afghan-Pakistani in that region, Rice said ahead of a refuelling stop in Scotland. We want (in Pakistan) to talk about what more we can do.
Or what we will do if they don't
The level of violence in Afghanistan, especially in the south, is now the worst it has been since the Taleban were driven from power in 2001, with over 1,100 people killed since January.
Most of which are the bad guys
Two years ago, Afghanistan was being held up as a US foreign policy success story following President Hamid Karzais election triumph in late 2004. Now, with elections for the US Senate and House of Representatives looming, Bush is under fire from Democrats for failing to subdue the Taleban threat.
He is? I only hear them jabbering about pulling out of Iraq
The insurgency and general levels of violence have fuelled disenchantment among Afghans, who already feel short-changed despite billions of dollars of aid money spent in their country.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/27/2006 09:29 ||
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GHALANAI: A Halimzai tribe jirga of Mohmand Agency decided on Monday that the families of "miscreants" who damage government property and are killed would not be compensated, and would have to pay fines of up to Rs 100,000 to the tribe.
Any militant who is injured while attacking government property will be expelled from Mohmand Agency, the jirga decided. The Halimzai tribe will cooperate with the government and support the decisions it makes against the accused. The jirga elders said "miscreants" damaging government property would be the enemy of the entire tribe and the tribe would take action against him. Elders of the Halimzai sub tribes signed an agreement to this effect. Unidentified militants damaged an electricity tower and poles in the agency a few days ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2006 00:00 ||
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VIENNA - Islamists should be given a chance to govern, Egypts Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (Unescwa), Marvat Tallawy, said on Tuesday. The process of elections and democracy should not be stopped because were afraid of the result, she said. Whether it was the Muslim Brotherhood or Hamas - Give them the chance to govern!. If the same group was always in government, there would only be more corruption, she pointed out in the newspaper Die Presse.
The fact that there wouldn't be any more elections after the islamists took power seems to have escaped her. Or not.
Tallawi, who was Egyptian ambassador to the international organizations in Vienna from 1988 to 1991, and social affairs minister in the Egyptian government in the late 1990s, also commented on the Wests relations with the Palestinians.
It would be negative and even disastrous if the EU completely halted its payments to the Palestinians. If the problems in Palestine grew, it would weaken the moderates in Arab countries and strengthen the extremists, she maintained. Theres already enough destruction and misery with the Palestinians, she said, adding that if they were further isolated, the entire region could explode.
They seem to be exploding quite nicely on their own
Asked about United States President George W. Bushs project to bring democracy to the Middle East, also by means of the Iraq war, she said that democracy must come from within and could not be imposed from without. Citizens of developing countries, which had been colonized for so many years by western nations were very sensitive to anything enforced from abroad, she added. The situation in Iraq, with all the massacres and lack of security, was not be a vehicle for democracy, but only served to put people off, she said.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/27/2006 09:22 ||
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#1
They will have a chance. In a democratic Iraq. Everywhere else they are nothing more than terroristic thugs that exploit the common man.
In other words lady, STFU and sit down. You are a usefull idiot to the terrorists.
#3
so, Marvat, have you considered going back to Cairo and saying that? Or does it apply to Pals, and not to Egypt? Or are you now persona non grata in Egypt. Regards to Hosni, in any case.
#7
"Islamists should be given a chance to govern, Egypts Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (Unescwa), Marvat Tallawy, said on Tuesday."
Okay a**hole, you go back to Egypt and enjoy the love of Shari'a Law. In nearby Somalia, a hint of what to expect.
"Some said the Islamists' plans to stone to death five rapists on Monday, since delayed, shows they want to pursue a hardline Islamic authority despite presenting a moderate face."--Somali Islamists seize checkpoints, demand sharia
(KUNA) -- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said Monday that with regards to torture in Iraq and the particular case of killing of the Russian diplomats, "we can collectively express our outrage of matters against parties that fall prey to these activities". Arbour called upon the new government that it will engage in a very robust fashion with all international actors to try to address these horrendous and continued large scale practices. High Commissioner for Human Rights made this statement in a press conference marking the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the UN Fund for Victims of Torture. Arbour launched the book Rebuilding Lives, which presents the experiences of torture survivors and the efforts of those who work to rehabilitate them. Rebuilding Lives includes five illustrated articles on current victim support projects in Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Pakistan and Rwanda.
Used to be, once upon a time, killing diplomats was an act of war ...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2006 00:00 ||
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Used to be the "Russians" considered it as such and took action too.
#2
IIRC back in the 'good old' days of the Cold War, some militant group in Lebanon pulled this stunt by kidnapping a Soviet Diplo. The Soviets understood the system. They knew what blood clan was involved and wacked a couple of the boys and sent the message that more would follow if the man wasn't returned. The Diplo was coughed up. They weren't bothered again.
I think we have enough info on which clan is which by now in Iraq. Just pass the info to the Russian Embassy with our compliments.
Actually, I remember watching an interview with the former sov envoy to Iran. According to him, he had the following message from Brezhnev (I think) to the Iranian Prez. "In two days we're going to have a nuclear missile test. If the kidnapped Soviet citizens are not free by then, there is going to be an accident---the missile is going to land on Qum."
#6
If the same group was always in government, there would only be more corruption... Their outrage was a shot that was heard, struck fear in the hearts of terrorists everywhere,fizzled out, was muffled, around the world stood for zilch around the world.
#10
Russians already have said... the US and their allies are to be blamed (!) for the tragic end of their compatriots who have been said by some Russian media stopped at a cheap alcohol shop violating embassy directives. What else could you expect?
Posted by: Dr Plikums ||
06/27/2006 17:31 Comments ||
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#11
But, of course, no outrage over two American soldiers who were tortured, mutilated and booby-trapped. Couldn't have that now, could we? Screw the Russians. Their meddling is surpassed only by France (and maybe China).
#12
I figure the UN dicks believe US soldiers are supposed to die. It's what we've done for the last 60 years to make the UN possible. It's expected of us.
Exiled Hamas leaders are taking seriously Israeli threats to kill them although they were not involved in a Palestinian operation that captured an Israeli soldier, a Hamas leader in Syria said on Tuesday.
"We consider the threat serious but it does not scare us," Mohammad Nazzal, a member of the movement's exiled leadership, told Reuters.
"Israel is trying to export its crisis by linking Hamas leadership in exile, especially Khaled Meshaal, to the operation ... the outside leadership of Hamas had nothing to do with it," Nazzal said.
Israeli has threatened to assassinate exiled officials of Hamas, including the group's most prominent leader Khaled Meshaal, unless a 19-year-old Israeli soldier is freed.
The Israeli soldier was captured on Sunday in an attack that included Hamas's military wing on an Israeli military position near Gaza.
Nazzal, Meshaal and several other Hamas politburo members have lived for years in Damascus. The Syrian government has resisted pressure by the United States, Israel's chief ally, to expel them and close the Muslim group's offices.
Hamas's armed wing and the other factions involved in the raid said Israel would not receive information about the soldier unless it freed all jailed Palestinian women and youths.
Israel, which has around 100 Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers positioned just across from northern Gaza, has rejected the offer.
Asked whether it was worth keeping the Israeli soldier captive given the risk of an Israeli attack on Gaza, Nazzal said:
"Estimating the situation lies with the groups holding him. Gaza has been subjected to numerous Israeli aggressions and the Palestinians feel that they won't pay more dearly than this."
Hamas's armed wing says it carried out Sunday's attack, which killed two Israeli soldiers, with other factions but has not said it was holding the soldier.
A senior Israeli military official said recently that Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, was predominantly under Meshaal's control, but diplomats in Damascus are less certain.
"It appears that they are more or less their own bosses. Meshaal cannot exercise meaningful control simply because of the difficulty to communicate securely between Damascus and Gaza," one Western diplomat said.
Israeli assassins failed to kill Meshaal, who has a degree in physics, when he was in Jordan in 1997. Israel has killed many Hamas leaders since.
#1
Hmm, are the Jews serious about killing terrorists leaders? I wouldnt give it a second thought, because I dont think your going to have time for a second thought. Sleep well Abu nothing tot worry about, allan will protect you.
The governing Hamas movement reached a political agreement on Tuesday with moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas but said it would continue to refuse to recognize Israel.
Well, that didn't take long
Abbas had sought to soften Hamas's hard line toward Israel -- the movement's charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state -- in the hope of ending a U.S.-led boycott of the cash-strapped Palestinian government by Western donor nations.
Hamas insisted it was sticking to its "agenda of resistance" against Israel.
"The document included a clear clause referring to the non-recognition of the legitimacy of the Occupation," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said, using the Islamist group's term for Israel.
It's in the fine print
The original political document, penned by Palestinians in Israeli jails, implicitly recognized Israel. Palestinian factions have been negotiating amendments to the manifesto, at the heart of a Hamas-Fatah power struggle, for weeks. "All the obstacles were removed and an agreement was reached on all the points of the prisoners' document," Rawhi Fattouh, a senior aide to Abbas, said after factions meeting in Gaza initialed the accord. But with Israel and the Palestinians preparing for a possible Israeli offensive in Gaza following the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier, there appeared to be little chance agreement over the document could open a path toward peacemaking soon.
Officials close to the negotiations said Abbas, of Fatah, and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, of Hamas, drafted a platform accepting a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, areas captured by Israel in a 1967 war. Such a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be in line with Fatah's recognition of Israel. But Hamas legislator Salah al-Bardaweel told Reuters: "We said we accept a state (in territory occupied) in 1967 -- but we did not say we accept two states."
The deal appeared likely to lead to the cancellation of a July 26 referendum Abbas had scheduled, over Hamas's objections, on the prisoners' document. Such a showdown would have heightened tensions between Fatah and Hamas, whose fighters have clashed repeatedly in recent weeks.
Israel has called the manifesto an internal Palestinian affair and has said it would have no dealings with Hamas until the group recognized its existence, renounced violence and accepted past interim peace deals. "Internal Palestinian politics is interesting but it is really irrelevant. We have a crisis. We have an Israeli serviceman held hostage by a group of terrorists in Gaza," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.
Under the accord, Hamas, leading the Palestinian government after an election victory in January, would agree to form a unity administration with Fatah and other factions, officials said before Fattouh made his statement. Hamas had insisted it would head any governing coalition, but it was not immediately clear if this was in the agreement. Islamic Jihad, another militant group, said it still rejected several points in the prisoners' document, including the concept of a Palestinian state limited to the West Bank and Gaza. Some Palestinian sources said the tense security situation, with Israeli armor massing on Gaza's border, had pushed the factions to intensify their efforts to reach agreement.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/27/2006 10:44 ||
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But Hamas legislator Salah al-Bardaweel told Reuters: "We said we accept a state (in territory occupied) in 1967 -- but we did not say we accept two states."
Rantburger's certainly understood this clearly. We know, dear.
Looks like Hamas - Syria wins. Let the war begin. Declare Pals terrorists by government order and include in the WOT.
A threat by a militant group to use biological and chemical weapons if Israel invades the Gaza Strip is probably a bluff, an expert here said on Monday. The Al-Aksa Martyrs' Brigades (the militant wing of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction) said it would surprise Israel with new kinds of weapons if Israel invaded the Gaza Strip. "With the help of Allah, we are pleased to say that we succeeded in developing over 20 different types of biological and chemical weapons...after a three-year effort" the group said in a leaflet distributed on Sunday. "We say to Olmert and [Defense Minister Amir] Peretz: Your threats of invasion do not frighten us. We will surprise you with new weapons you have not faced until now," they said. "As soon as an [Israeli] soldier sets foot on Gaza land, we will respond with a new weapon."
The group said that it would declare "open warfare without limits" if Israel invaded the Gaza Strip. But Israeli counter-terrorism expert Dr. Ely Karmon described the statements as "wishful thinking." They already indicated that they had chemical weapons in 2003, he said. It's "psychological warfare," said Karmon. Hamas tried to put chemicals in explosive belts worn by suicide bombers and it didn't work, he said. Israeli military sources would not say whether army intelligence believed the claims to be true or not. If and when the Israeli army enters the Gaza Strip, the troops will be prepared, the sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
They may have some of Saddam's missing booty. If they use any of it, they should be ground down to fine particulate matter.
#6
So your world-class scientists managed to develop twenty different kinds of weapons in just three years, eh? Probably chlorine bleach in 20 different kinds of pop cans. And if it were true that they had posession of almost any kind of chemical weapon, that would put Syria's head on the chopping block.
Caddy, the dull axe, please.
Posted by: grb ||
06/27/2006 3:08 Comments ||
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#8
grb, no, they have more than that. They have urine-filled water balloons, vomit-filled bags, and a few dog turds. And, of course, the well-aimed lugee and piece of rotten fruit. Those are the "biological" weapons.
#9
#8: grb, no, they have more than that. They have urine-filled water balloons, vomit-filled bags, and a few dog turds. And, of course, the well-aimed lugee and piece of rotten fruit. Those are the Paleo rations. "biological" weapons
#16
3dc: No work accidents. Twenty different types of weapons in three years? They're so vain they'd have mentioned they had them after the first one or two. Why tip your hand? Israel would have said something by now. Who is their expert? They have plenty of reason to bluff. Biological my @$$. They'd get crushed if they used them (militarily, politically, domestically, and internationally). They're dumb enough to have put them in one of their bottle rockets by now. Where do the hide them?
They may have recently obtained them, but they didn't develop them.
That's what I can think of.
Posted by: grb ||
06/27/2006 19:44 Comments ||
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The abduction of an Israeli soldier has laid bare deep rifts inside Hamas, with militants from the group claiming responsibility and Palestinian government officials insisting they knew nothing of the operation. Hamas leaders hotly denied a split. But the working assumption of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is that Hamas' exiled leader gave the green light for the raid without consulting the Hamas-led government, two senior Abbas aides told The Associated Press.
That's easy to fix. Meshaal obviously needs to come back straightaway to Gaza to iron this whole mess out. Long distance communication gets so garbled, you know.
In the power struggle between followers of the exiled Khaled Mashaal and more moderate leaders in Gaza, Mashaal's forces have the upper hand because they control the purse strings that keep Hamas afloat, said the aides. They spoke on condition of anonymity because their observations were not official policy. Hamas' military wind, known as the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, and two other groups tied to Hamas the Popular Resistance Committees and the Army of Islam claimed responsibility for kidnapping Cpl. Gilad Shalit. Shalit, 19, the first Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants in 12 years, was seized in Israel early Sunday in a raid that killed two other soldiers and three militants.
The abduction raised the specter of an overwhelming Israeli assault on Gaza, and set off a frenzied diplomatic push to win Shalit's freedom. Abbas, a moderate who was elected separately from Hamas, spoke with 19 foreign leaders to enlist their help. Most significant, according to the Abbas aides, was his call to President Bashar Assad of Syria, whose country shelters Mashaal and who is believed to have influence over the Hamas leader.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
When you got confounded wings, aim for the body.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/27/2006 0:30 Comments ||
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#2
Hey Mashaal, check out the dudes on your poster and contemplate your own fate.
The clock is ticking...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
06/27/2006 1:52 Comments ||
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#3
Hamas' military wind, known as the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades..
Ah yes, the farts with the weapons. Best typo ever!
Hilarious to learn that Hamas workers aren't paid because Hamas - Syria - is withholding money from Hamas - Gaza. This just keeps getting better.
France said on Monday it was seeking the release of an Israeli-French solider who was reportedly captured by an armed Palestinian group at the weekend, and had made contact with all parties involved. "We are in contact with all the concerned parties to find a solution to this situation," deputy foreign ministry spokesman Denis Simonneau told AFP. Simonneau confirmed an announcement by Israeli army radio that the 20-year-old solider, Guilad Shalit, had joint Israeli-French nationality and said French diplomatic services in Israel were already in touch with his family. "Our embassy (in Tel Aviv) and our consulate general in Haifa (northern Israel) are taking action... (and) have already made contact with his family by phone," Simmonneau said.
France's ambassador to Israel, Gerard Araud, was expected to visit the family during the day, he added. An armed Palestinian group called the Popular Resistance Committees told AFP on Monday that it was holding the Israeli soldier, saying he was alive and in good health. The group claimed responsibility for the attack jointly with the armed wing of the governing Hamas movement and the previously unknown Army of Islam.
#1
Intense negotiations are under way at this very moment. They are trying to come to an agreement on whether the payment will be in dollars or euros, and whether the money will go straight to the government or "to the people".
Posted by: grb ||
06/27/2006 3:22 Comments ||
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#2
French-Israeli? I wonder how recently they left the Olde Country, and how likely they are to welcome the ambassador of the government that allowed them to be driven from their homes for this result.
#3
The French have a long trail of asses to kiss and palms to grease starting in the banlieue mosques through Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, West Bank and Gaza. Pucker up mon amies.
Posted by: ed ||
06/27/2006 8:28 Comments ||
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#4
TW, IIUC one of Shalit's parents was born in France, and under French law he can have dual citizenship. I dont know if Shalits parent is Sephardic or Ashkenazix, but many French Jews are Sephardim and very strongly Zionist, and moved to israel out of, you know, love for the dream of living in a Jewish state, and not due to any particular persecution. Im sure Shalits family appreciates any help from France.
If Hamas were to use this to put the screws on France for money, I think theyd be making a huge mistake, alienating one of the few powers that can push the EU to a sympathetic position. This kidnapping was done, I think, to assert Hamas strength, to embarrass Abbas, and to get political concessions from Israel, not to collect pour boires from Paris.
#5
Darn it, there I was looking so clever, and someone who actually knows something about it had to go and show me up! (Thanks, liberalhawk -- I'd rather be educated (active verb) than right!)
June 27, 2006: The latest terrorist threat is from old, often 90 year old, chemical weapons falling into the hands of Islamic radicals, who would then incorporate those ancient, but still fatal, chemicals into a new bomb. For over 80 years, farmers in northern France have been coming across unexploded chemical shells. In Belgium and France, there are special organizations that will come pick up these shells, and safely dispose of them. The chemicals, usually mustard gas, is often still dangerous, even after the shell has been buried since 1917 or 18. Farmers are sometimes injured when they hit one of these shells with a plow, and break it open.
Until the end of the 20th century, the many live chemical munitions (mostly artillery and mortar shells) discovered in World War I battlefields in Belgium and northwestern France were moved to a storage site at Vimy, France. The storage area now contained up to 16,000 shells. Some of the ammo was from unused piles of shells that had been stored in bunkers and just left behind when the war ended. Many of the individual battles during World War I saw over a million shells fired. The portion of those shells that did not explode ("duds") was often over ten percent. These shells simply buried themselves into the torn up ground, to be discovered years later by farmers plows, construction crews or tourists. Many of the shells simply worked their way back to the surface because of erosion or changes in the water table.
These munitions have not aged well, and it was recently discovered that some were decaying to the point that the mustard or phosgene gas in them was leaking out. France began to move the most dangerous shells in sealed and refrigerated trucks to plants where they can be safely be destroyed. While not as dangerous as nerve gas, mustard and phosgene can cause injury and death. In the past, no one wanted to pay the high cost of destroying the chemical munitions. But now, with the increasing number of leaks, final disposal is unavoidable. Meanwhile, many of these old shells are held in lightly guarded facilities, or wait to be dug up by farmers.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve ||
06/27/2006 10:39 ||
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#1
I say we lock up the reporters for the NYT in a room full of 80s chemical shells for a month and let them see how "harmless" they really are.
#4
THere is no such thing as a depleted chemical weapon.
Obviously mustard gas has a shelf life of about a zillion years so the Times is lying again.
When in the hell are those morons going to get really slammed for their duplicity? First they blow up two of our best programs, then they won't report on WMD findings and when the WMD story hits the streets, they tell every wives' tale and urban legend they can remember to say that it doesn't matter.
I have to stop now because I can't control my vocabulary. Words like f@## and $### and @$$#### and m##### f#####$ don't play well on websites.
#5
Article is ridculous. First of all, most of the shells were explosive not chemical. Second: Many of the duds were located and detonated by the soldiers during the war. Many others detonated after a high explosive shell detonated in the vicinity.
Third: It does not account for the post war effort of mine sweeping and clearing of unexploded ordnance who was madatory in order to get those regions iback nto production Fourth: Guess what the thousandsn of unemployed did for a living during the 1929 crisis? Comb the region for metals. Fifth: Farmers have ploughed and reploughed the area for decades.
End result is that from time to time an unexploded shell is found. But not every day. You aren't going to find shells, let alone gas shells, just by walking in the country. In fact even with metal detectors it would need a massive effort just to locate a shell: the area is well over a billion square yards. Finally I don't know if mustard gas enclosed in metal deteriorates but I know for sure that the shell itself does and that at one point it will leak its gas. Of course if someine is in the immedite vicinity he will be affected but the point is how many shells are still intact and how many could be recovered by people who can't even operate openly?
Last note: We aren't talking of VX but of primitive combat gasses like phosgene who require high concentrations in order to do some harm so jihadists would need quiet more than a couple shells for what they have in mind.
June 27, 2006: The U.S. Air Force has put a new model of the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft into service. The first U-2S Block 20 model recently arrived in South Korea. This model has a digital "all glass" cockpit. That means that nearly al the information the pilot needs can be obtained from three 6x8 inch multifunction displays, and two smaller ones. With these displays, a lot of additional information can be displayed, like checklists, and a moving map to show where the aircraft is (at it flies at up to 70,000 feet altitude.) The new electronic systems contain more self-diagnostics and software that helps the pilot quickly figure out problems, and solutions to them.
With a range of over 11,000 kilometers, U-2s typically fly missions 12-18 hours long. The U.S. has 29 of the 18 ton U-2s in service, with another seven used for training and research. All will be upgraded to the Block 20 standard, and kept in service another five or ten years. Or at least until the robotic RQ-4 Global Hawk is completely debugged, and available in sufficient quantity to replace all the U-2s. The U-2 has been in service since 1955, in small numbers. Only about 850 pilots have qualified to fly the U-2 in that time.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/27/2006 10:37 ||
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A TERRORIST testifying at a trial over last year's triple suicide bombings in Bali said today militants would keep on attacking Australian and US targets to avenge injustices against Muslims.
Subur Sugiarto - alias Abu Mujahid, alias Abu Isa, 33 - said Australia was on Islam's list of enemies because it had "helped the US in the invasion to Iraq and Afghanistan".
Subur has denied Indonesian police claims that he had been an aide to Noordin Top, the fugitive leader of Jemaah Islamiah. He has also accused police of torturing him after his arrest last year.
He wore a white Islamic skull-cap, black knee-length tunic and black pants today when he stepped down from a police armoured car to appear as a witness at Denpasar District Court.
During his testimony, Subur shouted "Allahu Akbar" with his fist in the air.
Four Australians and 17 other people were killed when the bombs carried by three suicide bombers ripped through three restaurants at Bali's Kuta and Jimbaran districts.
Some family members of the bombs' victims flew from Australia to be at today's hearing of the trial of Anif Solchanudin, 24, one of several men arrested and charged after the triple atrocity.
During today's proceedings prosecutors showed the court an assembled bomb they claimed belonged to Top and Azahari Husin, who was killed in a police raid in Java last year.
A Koran-reciting teacher, Subur defended the use of suicide bombers to wage jihad.
He said Prophet Mohammed had promised that "if someone died as a martyr, then the first drop of his blood will wipe out his sins, a crown will be put on him, with a diamond worth more than the world and everything inside it, and that it would salvage the souls of 70 family members".
It is alleged that this belief enticed Anif to offer himself as a potential suicide bomber and to help in last year's bombings.
Subur said he also knew militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, and that he had attended a preaching session when Bashir visited his hometown of Semarang, Central Java.
Bashir was released two weeks ago after being imprisoned for more than two years.
His release caused concerns in Australia and it was raised by Prime Minister John Howard when he met Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on the resort island of Batam yesterday.
#1
"if someone died as a martyr, then the first drop of his blood will wipe out his sins, a crown will be put on him, with a diamond worth more than the world and everything inside it, and that it would salvage the souls of 70 family members".
What? No raisins to boink? Crown too heavy to boink anything? A $100 zirconium should reflect the value of this cultist's world (and everything in it). Nice to see the virgins get some time off being raped, at least by this guy.
#4
Look on the bright side: Now it will be easier to reach out and touch this guy.
Posted by: grb ||
06/27/2006 12:42 Comments ||
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#5
The MSM still says the Chicoms-Commies are still supporting the Indo terror orgs, besides others region(s)-wide, ergo only the Indos will be blamed iff the Aussies ever undergo any US-style 9-11(s).
PANIPITIYA: One of Sri Lankas top generals was killed on Monday by a suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber who rammed his motorcycle into an army convoy near the capital killing three other people, officials said. Army Deputy Chief of Staff Major-General Parami Kulatunga was traveling to army headquarters when the attacker approached his vehicle and an escorting army pickup truck in rush-hour traffic. The blast left the car a twisted wreck. The general is dead. Two others (soldiers) are also dead, Police Chief Inspector Chaminda Bamunuarachchi told Reuters at the scene. A civilian was also killed. Kulatungas car was left lying perpendicular across the narrow street, burnt-out and still smouldering. A Reuters witness saw the severed head of the suspected suicide bomber lying in the gutter around 50 metres down the street. Nine people were wounded in the attack in the town of Panipitiya, around 6 miles (10 km) from a big army base.
There was no report of military action against the Tigers. There have been no air strikes on the rebels since earlier in the month and the Tigers have warned of military retaliation if they resume. No decision has been made yet on retaliation, head of the government peace secretariat, Palitha Kohona told Reuters. This is sheer terrorism. I think the Tigers have lost the plot. They dont seem to realise that terrorism is not an acceptable way to achieve political ends, he added.
The Tigers said they had no immediate comment. Few analysts believe their denials for recent attacks. Rebel political wing leader SP Thamilselvan told Reuters this month that the LTTE would use all strategies including suicide bombers if war resumed in earnest. I guess they are trying to put pressure on the government by bringing the war to Colombo, said Jehan Perera, director of think-tank the National Peace Council. The Colombo stock market initially fell on news of the attack but regained much of its earlier losses.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Oh please, oh please, oh please . . . .
Posted by: grb ||
06/27/2006 3:31 Comments ||
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BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- The Syrian president warns of growing al-Qaida presence in neighboring Lebanon, and the state media in his closed nation quickly breaks news of gunbattles between police and Islamic militants in the Syrian capital.
Syria is touting what it calls an increasing threat of Islamic extremists, fueled by popular anger over the violence in Iraq. But opponents of President Bashar Assad's regime claim it's a dodge with a number of aims: to score support with the United States, to defuse international pressure and to provide a pretext for Syrian meddling in neighboring Lebanon.
Washington has long labeled Damascus as subscribing to terrorism - mainly for its support of the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah guerrilla movement in Lebanon, which is not connected to al-Qaida and is its enemy. More recently, the U.S. has pressed Syria to end its influence in Lebanon and stop the flow of Arab militants into Iraq to join the insurgency.
In an interview published Monday in the Arab newspaper Al-Hayat, Assad insisted his country was a victim of terrorism. "All Arab governments have the same worry now, particularly after the Iraq war. There is extremism, there is terrorism, and everyone is suffering from it," he said. Assad warned that al-Qaida's influence has grown in Lebanon ever since Syrian forces ended their decades-long presence in the country last year. "This has become a reality," he said. "When Syria was present in Lebanon, al-Qaida was there, but in a very limited way."
Ahhhh, do I detect a pretence to return?
He also said Islamic militants that Syrian security forces have been fighting were using Lebanon as a refuge, since "it's closest and easiest, and the roads are mountainous."
On June 2, security forces battled with militants in the heart of the capital, Damascus, near the Defense Ministry. Four militants and a police officer were killed. Syrian state media immediately announced the violence and showed the slain gunmen and captured weapons on TV - unusual coverage in a country where the government tightly controls the media and security issues are almost never discussed.
It was the latest in a series of clashes with militants in recent years in Syria. The government has said the militants are "takfiris" - referring to the radical Islamic ideology that brands all opponents, including fellow Muslims, as "kafirs," or infidels. It has said some of the fighters belong to the group Jund al-Sham, or the Soldiers of Syria, established in Afghanistan by Syrians, Palestinians and Jordanians with links to slain al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Assad told Al-Hayat most of the militants in his country were in small groups not connected to al-Qaida or any wider organization, though some had returned home after fighting alongside insurgents in Iraq. "They combine hatred of the Americans for killing Iraqis with religious extremism ... (and the belief) that they must fight all those who are not like them," he said.
Syria is a major crossing point for militants from around the Arab world - including Syria and Lebanon - to slip into Iraq to fight in the insurgency. In the face of U.S. pressure, Damascus has insisted it is doing all it can to stop the infiltrations but the long desert border is too difficult to seal. Syria's secular regime has dealt harshly with Islamic fundamentalists in the past. Most notably, Assad's father Hafez Assad launched a crackdown that killed thousands in the city of Hama in 1982.
Mohammed Habash, head of the Islamic Studies Center in Damascus and a Syrian legislator, said the Islamist threat to Syria was real, with militants' angry over its tentative moves to cooperate with the United States. "Syria is in the eye of the storm, and the whole region is burning," he said. "It is only logical that such (militant) cells emerge."
But opponents of the Assad regime question official accounts of the militant attacks. A former Syrian politician who is now a pro-democracy dissident living abroad said he believes Assad's regime manipulates militant groups and uses them as bargaining chips in its dealings with the international community. "The purpose of this is to win international backing so that they (the authorities) can tell the international community, 'Look, we have terrorism and we are resisting it,'" he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he has relatives in Syria and fears for their safety.
That view is also supported by Lebanese opponents of Syria, whose army withdrew from Lebanon in the wake of the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri last year. Syrian officials have been implicated in the killing, but Damascus denies involvement. "We know that the militants infiltrating the Lebanese borders from Syria are the same militants the government of Damascus has been sending to Iraq for the past four, five years under the claim they belong to al-Qaida," Saad Hariri, the slain Hariri's son, who leads the anti-Syrian parliament majority, said in a television interview earlier this year.
Lebanese authorities in January charged 13 people with planning terrorist attacks and said they had ties to al-Qaida.
Documents captured from al-Qaida in Afghanistan and released by the U.S. reveal Islamic extremists' hatred for Assad's minority Alawite regime, calling on Syrians to rise up in jihad, or holy war, against him. But they also express disappointment with militants for failing to do so. The Assad family is Alawite, an offshoot of Shiite Islam with about three million adherents in Syria, where Sunni Muslims form the majority of the population of 18.5 million. The Alawites hold many influential posts in the military and the intelligence services.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/27/2006 10:03 ||
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June 27, 2006: One of the biggest disparities is the media coverage often given to opponents and supporters of the war on terror. In many cases, assertions of the opponents are presented, often without challenge, while those of supporters are ignored, unless they are to be taken apart to support the anti-war crowd.
For instance, the media has often given pronouncements, like those from Congressman John Murtha, without close examination or criticism. This is despite the fact that one of his pronouncements, suggesting that quick-reaction forces for the Middle East be stationed in Okinawa, just didn't make sense. The distance between Okinawa and Baghdad is nearly 8,000 kilometers. This is nearly twice the ferry range of an F-16C. Murtha's claims of a cover-up involving an incident in Haditha got a lot of press coverage, but were recently found to have no basis in fact. His latest claim, that the American occupation of Iraq is a bigger danger to world security than Iran under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or North Korea, which is planning a test launch of its Taepo-Dong 2 missile, has been highlighted by some internet sites (like the Drudge Report) and blogs, but played down by the mass media.
Another often-unchallenged claims from anti-war activists is that the Bush Administration lied, particularly when it pertained to the relationship between Saddam's regime and al-Qaeda. It is presented, almost as an article of faith and common knowledge that there was no way for a "secular" Arab dictator like Saddam to work with a terrorist like Osama bin Laden, whose motivation for terrorism is based on a form of Islamic fundamentalism. Yet, the American mass media has not only tried to ignore evidence to the contrary (like the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi fleeing to Baghdad for medical treatment as the Taliban was driven out of power in Afghanistan in 2001, and memos that have been discovered and reported on as early as April, 2003), it has actively tried to debunk these reports.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve ||
06/27/2006 10:32 ||
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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.
KHARTOUM - Sudanese President 
During President George W. Bush's administration, North Korea has gone from having enough plutonium for one or two nuclear weapons to having enough for as many as 13, a study released on Monday said. It concluded that the reclusive communist state, whose threat to test a long-range ballistic missile has spread concern in Washington and in Asia, could have more than 17 such weapons by the time Bush leaves office in early 2009.
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will go to parliament within the next few days to ask for permission to start talks with ETA. The Basque terrorist group declared a permanent ceasefire three months ago. Zapatero had promised to visit the lower house of Parliament before the end of June, when MPs go on their summer recess until September.
The interim chancellor of the University of Colorado at Boulder announced today that CU wants to fire ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill. "Today I issued to Professor Churchill a notice of intent to dismiss him from his faculty position here at the University of Colorado," said Phil DiStefano at a press conference. Churchill has 10 days to appeal. 
GRAND ISLAND Vice President Dick Cheney accused the news media Monday of making the job of defending against further terrorist attacks more difficult. Cheney zeroed in on The New York Times in condemning the press for publishing detailed information about vital national security programs.
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will leave Washington on Monday for visits to Pakistan and Russia, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. Rice will stop in Pakistan on her way to attending a meeting of foreign ministers of the Group of Eight industrial powers in Moscow starting on Thursday. "Secretary Rice will travel to Pakistan and Russia," McCormack told reporters. Rice will "follow up on a wide range of subjects of cooperation" raised during a visit to Pakistan in March by President George W Bush.
GHALANAI: A Halimzai tribe jirga of Mohmand Agency decided on Monday that the families of "miscreants" who damage government property and are killed would not be compensated, and would have to pay fines of up to Rs 100,000 to the tribe.
(KUNA) -- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said Monday that with regards to torture in Iraq and the particular case of killing of the Russian diplomats, "we can collectively express our outrage of matters against parties that fall prey to these activities". Arbour called upon the new government that it will engage in a very robust fashion with all international actors to try to address these horrendous and continued large scale practices. High Commissioner for Human Rights made this statement in a press conference marking the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the UN Fund for Victims of Torture. Arbour launched the book Rebuilding Lives, which presents the experiences of torture survivors and the efforts of those who work to rehabilitate them. Rebuilding Lives includes five illustrated articles on current victim support projects in Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Pakistan and Rwanda.
A threat by a militant group to use biological and chemical weapons if Israel invades the Gaza Strip is probably a bluff, an expert here said on Monday. The Al-Aksa Martyrs' Brigades (the militant wing of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction) said it would surprise Israel with new kinds of weapons if Israel invaded the Gaza Strip. "With the help of Allah, we are pleased to say that we succeeded in developing over 20 different types of biological and chemical weapons...after a three-year effort" the group said in a leaflet distributed on Sunday. "We say to Olmert and [Defense Minister Amir] Peretz: Your threats of invasion do not frighten us. We will surprise you with new weapons you have not faced until now," they said. "As soon as an [Israeli] soldier sets foot on Gaza land, we will respond with a new weapon."
The abduction of an Israeli soldier has laid bare deep rifts inside Hamas, with militants from the group claiming responsibility and Palestinian government officials insisting they knew nothing of the operation. Hamas leaders hotly denied a split. But the working assumption of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is that Hamas' exiled leader gave the green light for the raid without consulting the Hamas-led government, two senior Abbas aides told The Associated Press.
PANIPITIYA: One of Sri Lankas top generals was killed on Monday by a suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber who rammed his motorcycle into an army convoy near the capital killing three other people, officials said. Army Deputy Chief of Staff Major-General Parami Kulatunga was traveling to army headquarters when the attacker approached his vehicle and an escorting army pickup truck in rush-hour traffic. The blast left the car a twisted wreck. The general is dead. Two others (soldiers) are also dead, Police Chief Inspector Chaminda Bamunuarachchi told Reuters at the scene. A civilian was also killed. Kulatungas car was left lying perpendicular across the narrow street, burnt-out and still smouldering. A Reuters witness saw the severed head of the suspected suicide bomber lying in the gutter around 50 metres down the street. Nine people were wounded in the attack in the town of Panipitiya, around 6 miles (10 km) from a big army base. 
