Well duh. Let's just broadcast it a little more, shall we? Follow-up on a previously posted story.
British special forces have flown to the remote area of Ethiopia where five Britons were kidnapped, defence sources said yesterday. An SAS troop trained in hostage rescue is on standby in Britain and two soldiers from the elite unit, described as being in a "liaison" role, are already on the ground. "They are looking at the ground in case they are needed," a senior defence official said yesterday.
The two women and three men were kidnapped when a gang overpowered their guards, torched the guesthouse in which they were staying and set fire to their cars on Thursday. All five are members of staff from the British embassy in Addis Ababa, relatives of diplomats or officials from the Department for International Development (DFID). Last night a spokesman for the Foreign Office said they were working round the clock to secure the release of the hostages.
A 10-strong team from the Foreign Office arrived in Addis Ababa on Saturday to assist local British embassy staff. Some were dispatched to Mekele, the nearest large town to the site of the kidnapping, and others are expected to arrive in the border area today.
An unverified report suggested a herder had spotted the Britons at an Eritrean army camp on Saturday, 20km (12 miles) from the border between the countries, suggesting that Eritrean soldiers were behind the kidnapping.
Army units kidnapping embassy staff? From where I sit, that's an act of war.
However, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Office in Addis Ababa said the kidnappers' identity was still unknown. "Our investigations are moving forward but we are still not sure who took them or where they are," she said.
The Britons, who were travelling with 13 Ethiopians, were touring the remote Afar region. Questions have been raised about why the party chose to visit an area considered to be so dangerous that the Ethiopian government requires tourists to travel with armed guards. But yesterday local tour operators said they were following a well-established tourist path that was particularly popular with French, German and Italian adventurers.
Adventurers. Stupid, bumbling adventurers.
In Hamedela, the village where the Britons were abducted, more than 100 tourists camped over Christmas and New Year, according to Tony Hickey, general manager of Ethiopian Quadrants, a local tour operator. "Afar is no more dangerous than the London underground was before the July bombings," he said.
Most tourists to the region go on organised tours, but, being resident in Ethiopia, the Britons already had vehicles and chose to arrange their own trip. They asked Mr Hickey, an expatriate Irishman who has lived in the country on and off since 1973, to find them a cook, guide and tents. He also arranged for the travel permit from the regional government. "I warned one of the [British] men that the trip was going to be tough but he said that all of them were fit and some had mountaineering experience."
The party set off in two four-wheel drive vehicles from Addis Ababa on Friday February 23, spending the night in Awash and then in the village of Serdo. At Lake Afrera, known locally as the Great Salt Lake, they picked up two armed policemen. Before scaling Erta Ale, an active volcano that last erupted in 2005, they picked up two more local militia and another guide. They returned to Hamedela on Thursday and were due to return to Mekele the following morning, and then back to the capital. When the party failed to arrive in Mekele on Thursday night the hotel contacted Mr Hickey. "They were complaining to me, asking why the guests had not checked in. That's when I realised that they were missing."
According to eyewitness accounts the Britons and around a dozen Ethiopians were woken at 2am by up to 50 men in military uniforms. They were marched away in the direction of the Eritrean border. Their wallets and phones were apparently left in the compound. The two cars were damaged by the kidnappers to ensure that they were not followed.
Foreign Office minister Geoff Hoon yesterday described the situation as "grave" but said every effort was being made to ensure the safe return of those kidnapped.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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The trial against two Egyptian police officers accused of sodomising a detainee in torture shown on video, has been adjourned by a Cairo court until next month.
Islam Nabih and Reda Fatih's lawyers appeared at the Giza ciminal court on Saturday and argued that the widely circulated video was forged, a security source said.
"Lies! All lies!"
They also told the court that their clients were not in the police station on the day of the alleged incident.
"No, no, certainly not!"
The lawyers also referred to the case of an Al Jazeera reporter, who was arrested with videotaped re-enactments of torture scenes for a documentary she was making. Taha is facing charges of forging tapes and "harming Egypt's national interest".
"Wudn't us. It was her. She faked it all!"
According to press accounts at the time of the police officers' arrest in December, prosecutors brought in experts to ascertain the veracity of the abuse video and identify the policemen's voices. The officers' defence team has asked for another expert to check the video.
In January 2006, Imad al-Kabir, a minibus driver, intervened in a fight between his cousin and a police officer, for which he was arrested and taken to Bulaq al-Dakrur police station and tortured, according to his testimony to the New York-based Human Rights Watch. The abuse was filmed with a mobile phone camera.
"The officers circulated the video among other microbus drivers in his neighbourhood and told him that they had done so to 'break his spirit' and to send a message to the other drivers," the organisation said.
The video began to appear on blogs and websites in Egypt around November 2006, sparking an outcry and extensive media coverage, and resulting in the arrest of the two police officers alleged to have taken part.
Sarah Leah Whitson, the middle east director at Human Rights Watch, said earlier this year: "The fact that the people who tortured Imad al-Kabir videotaped their crime suggests that they thought they could get away with it.
"The government must end the culture of impunity that gave them this idea."
In other words, you want them to stop acting like a dictatorship. Sure, Sarah, this afternoon okay with you?
Al-Kabir was subsequently sentenced to three months in prison in January for "resisting authority".
The case against the police officers was adjourned until April 2.
A Yemeni rebel leader has rejected government accusations that rebels are receiving Iranian and Libyan support. “These are baseless allegations used repeatedly since the (1979) Islamic revolution in Iran,” Yahya al-Houthi told Al Arabiya television in remarks aired on Saturday. The exiled brother of rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi was referring to accusations by a Yemeni ruling party official that Libya and Iranian religious institutions were backing the Shi’ite Muslim rebels fighting government forces. At least 105 soldiers and 90 rebels have died this year in sporadic clashes, according to government officials who say the rebels want to install religious rule. Houthi also denied the rebels received Libyan support and said Libya had tried only to mediate in the conflict. “The government is equating us with terrorists who kidnap tourists and blow up ships ... but they have failed to convince the (Western) coalition countries to label us as terrorists,” said Houthi, speaking from Berlin. “Our people are just defending themselves and their homes.”
This article starring:
ABDUL MALIK AL HUTHI
Faithful Youth
YAHYA AL HUTHI
Faithful Youth
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"No, no, it ain't them, it's uh ... it's somebody else! Yeah, that's it, it's somebody else. No, I can't tell you who it is. You wouldn't know them, anyway."
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/05/2007 12:56 Comments ||
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A Bangladeshi man held at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay says he was tortured with electric shocks and accuses his guards of desecrating the holy Quran. Mubarak Hussain Bin Abul Hashim, 32, was freed last Thursday after being returned from the United States in December and detained in Bangladesh for a further two months. Describing his five years at Guantanamo as a “living hell,” Mubarak, who denies any militant links, said his release was the “happiest day” of his life.
He was one of about 400 “enemy combatant” suspects detained at the base and later released after investigators there found no evidence he had links to Islamic militants. No terrorism charges were ever filed against him. “I lived for five years in a perpetual state of fear but I thought Allah will save me because I am not a terrorist,” he said, speaking to AFP at his middle-class family home in eastern Brahmanbaria district.
The former madrassa student echoed allegations by other former detainees about desecration of the holy Quran at the US camp. “They (the guards) kicked the holy Quran and threw it in the toilet,” he told AFP.
During interrogations, Mubarak also said he received electric shocks, was deprived of food and subjected to cold temperatures at Guantanamo. “They used to give electric shocks, saying I had links with international terrorist groups. They gave electric shocks for a few seconds, several times in a day when they took me for interrogation,” he said. “There were air conditioners above the interrogation cells and they used to put us inside the cell at a cold temperature. Some prisoners used to be kept for months in those interrogation cells at low temperatures. I was kept for two days straight without food and without any clothes,” he added.
Mubarak, who is single, said he did not have any immediate plans for his future and was still struggling to cope with the psychological strain of his detention. “I still cannot sleep properly because these terrible memories haunt me,” he said, adding he could not describe his happiness at finally being reunited with his family.
Mubarak was arrested in Pakistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks and flown to Guantanamo. Bangladesh police had said Muabark was picked up in the Pakistani city of Peshawar and then handed over to the United States. The son of a Muslim cleric, Mubarak said he had gone to Peshawar to study at a madrassa. Mubarak’s father has said the US authorities “destroyed” his son’s life. He said that his son was “a victim of the American war on terror.” Although Mubarak has not been indicted on an any terrorism-related offences in Bangladesh, he was charged in February with failing to produce a passport on his return to the south Asian country and is now on bail. About 385 detainees are still being held at Guantanamo.
This article starring:
MUBARAK HUSEIN BIN ABUL HASHIM
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
It sounds like he is using AQ training manual 101 and trying to make amends with his masters. I wonder what his buddies will think of him after he broke.
#2
He's probably not a jihadi. Probably a member of the New Biplopi Communist party. The RAB should look into it. He probably has several rounds of bullet.
#3
Why blame the United States? It sounds like this is one of the people the Pakis picked up and "sold" to the United States to "prove" they were cooperating in the War on Terror. I wonder how many of the so-called "jihadis" we got from Pakistan had actually participated in training or combat against the US or with the Taliban. I think the US has done everything possible to discover the truth, and when they do learn it, they flush the trash back to where it originated. We also need to whack Perv for the deception.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/05/2007 13:00 Comments ||
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#4
VE Have VAYS, No more nice guy, it is in your best interests to answer the QUESTION! WHAT THE HELL IS A SHUTTER GUN? YOU WILL TELL US!
Posted by: bruce ||
03/05/2007 22:06 Comments ||
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#1
D *** ng it, we're de facto hurting their feelings by not letting them control or destroy us. Clintonian America = Amerika, Hated DEspicable Fascist = Well-Meaning but Errorful Limited Communist, USSA = SSR/USR, etc G ** D**** have to do a btter job of SAVING ISLAM FOR THE ISLAMISTS, besides SAVING SOCIALISM FOR THE SOCIALISTS, LEFTISM FOR LEFTIES, ..............@.
#3
The Catholic hierarchy (or some of them, at least) are taking their cue from the Pope in publicly confronting unacceptable Islamic attitudes. And the Australians are taking their cue from the Prime Minister. Such plain speaking triggers changes.
Couldn't agree more. I believe that this process, though, needs to go through stages. First, confront islam. The reaction, initially, was/will be outrage in the islamic community (cartoons, anyone?). Ultimately, though, consistent, rational confrontational pressure will (should?) trigger muslims themselves to challenge their own assumptions.
The other side of that is what we've been doing, for the most part in the face of muslim anger. Appease. Understand. Accept. Rationalize. Basic psychology says that when a behavior (even unpleasant behavior) is followed by a desired outcome, it is more likely to be repeated. We've done a helluva good job at reinforcing the very behavior we say we hate. Whenever muslims get upset, are offended, demand unreasonable accomodations, etc., we comply. Positive reinforcement. Couldn't get much plainer.
However, if we stop giving in and reinforce more desired responses within the muslim community, we might eventually begin to see more acceptable behavior.
Understand, though, that when you take reinforcement away, it doesn't go peaceably. Think about how we shut a tantruming child up (we give in) vs. how we make the kid more angry (we hold out).
#6
MUSLIMS are overly sensitive and are the only migrants who have plotted violence against Australia, Catholic Archbishop Cardinal George Pell has claimed.
Only the migrants? Ever been to one of your own beaches Pell?
Dr Pell said a fear of Muslims had been "created" by the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Bali bombings of 2002 and 2005 and the attacks on London transport in 2005.
What Pell doesn't get it that Islam created the Muslim terrorist simply by teaching Muahammad's own actions. Clue bat Pell.
The rest of his stances are refreshingly right on.
#7
I can kinda sorta understand muslim sensitivity. If I belonged to a culture that produced nothing of value for half a millennium or so, I'd be a little sensitive too.
#10
Should've read the article before I posted. Sorry. While what you said is true, Planet Dan, this article is about Australia.
I loved this quote:
"Flexibility and adaptability are called for when refugees and immigrants arrive in our country but there is a limit in (adopting) minority demands beyond which a democratic host society cannot go without losing its identity ."
One of the hidden goals of the US invasion of Iraq was that by setting up several large bases in Iraq, the US would have the equivalent of a "super aircraft carrier" on permanent station in the middle of the most potentially militarily troublesome part of the world.
Exactly where we want to be forwardly deployed, if we wished to involve ourselves. Like we were in Germany, during the Cold War.
France has realized this, and also that they need some way of both protecting their regional assets and force projection in the area, or else they are out of the equation entirely.
With the ugliest possible scenario, the French could use this Cyprus airport to menace Israel, on behalf of the Arab allies.
#3
I would also add that Turkish officials have been increasingly pushy about joining the EU, as most of Europe -- France in particular -- has soured on the idea. So this could also be interpreted as a French reminder to Turkey not to get uppity.
Furthermore, France is bent on establishing a common EU defense policy independent of NATO, and Turkey is better NATO team player than France. So, this could also be a message to Turkey that its bid for EU membership might go better if they were to turn their back on NATO as France has.
Italy has raised the stakes in a spat with the United States over the killing by a U.S. soldier of an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq, saying Washington must set things right by assuming responsibility for the death. Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema openly challenged the United States at a weekend commemoration of Nicola Calipari, the agent killed on March 4, 2005 at a U.S. military checkpoint near Baghdad airport. His speech made headlines such as that in Sunday's La Repubblica newspaper of Rome: "D'Alema accuses the United States over the Calipari case."
Calipari became a national hero for securing freedom for kidnapped journalist Giuliana Sgrena. He died shielding her from gunfire at the checkpoint just after her release.
A Rome judge last month ordered the U.S. soldier to stand trial for the killing but Washington has refused to hand him over and considers the case closed. "The name of the person who is believed to have fired the shots is known. Whatever the truth is, this was a lost opportunity for the Americans," D'Alema said. "Right now, there is a need for justice to be done."
Mario Lozano, of the U.S. Army's 69th Infantry Regiment, has been charged with voluntary homicide for the shooting. The trial begins next month and Lozano will be tried in absentia. While the defence departments of Italy and the United States say the killing was an accident in a war zone, Italian prosecutors will try Lozano on charges of murder for Calipari and attempted murder for the two other people in the car.
Lozano, of the New York Army National Guard, was the gunner at the U.S. checkpoint. The U.S. military says the car carrying the Italians did not slow down but Italian prosecutors contest this.
Contest it? I think they've already decided their version of the truth.
D'Alema said Washington should have behaved the way it did over an incident in 1998, when a low-flying U.S. jet on a training mission in northern Italy clipped the cables of a ski gondola at the northern town of Cavalese. Twenty people were killed when the gondola crashed into the Cermis mountain. In that incident a U.S. military court convicted a Marine pilot of obstructing justice but absolved him of manslaughter.
Still, the United States offered compensation to victims of the families and the U.S. ambassador at the time, Thomas Foglietta, went to the area and literally got down on his knees to ask forgiveness in the name of former President Bill Clinton. "The American government assumed responsibility with an act of great political and moral value (for the Cermis deaths)," D'Alema said. "This has not happened this time."
Because the circumstances are completely different.
In a Sunday TV talk show, deputy prime minister Francesco Rutelli backed D'Alema, saying that as a U.S. ally, Italy deserved "more than a bureaucratic response" from Washington, particularly since Calipari had "sacrificed" his life.
Calipari's widow Rosa has denounced Washington for exonerating Lozano and the former government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for accepting the shooting was an accident. Sgrena, the freed Italian journalist, was wounded in the shooting and is seeking damages from Washington.
Of course she is. She'll be alleging torture next.
#2
Jeez. They really are pissed, aren't they? Next time our guys will shoot a little more accurately!
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/05/2007 5:14 Comments ||
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#3
And what about the ransom paid for the two Simonettas, and for that Sgrena woman, when they were kidnapped by insurgents... how many IEDs did that buy, and the blood of how many dead Iraqis and Americans is on Italian hands, Minister D'Alema? Answer me that... if you dare!
#4
Time to cash in a chip with the Iraqis and have them issue warrants for the agents involved in providing bag money to the terrorists and conducting an independent operation without coordinating with the Coalition Authority in their sovereign territory.
#6
The U.S. military says the car carrying the Italians did not slow down but Italian prosecutors contest this.
Unless you were there, piss off.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/05/2007 10:29 Comments ||
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#7
Didn't Giuliana Sgrena work her way through journalist school in a Korean whore house? Does this bitch looked scared to you?
The background on this pile of shit is amazing. Sgrena produced several versions of the shooting including the complete fabrication that Calipari "shielded her".
Check out the photos of her car. The same one she claimed had 300 bullets fired at it. Not to mention some bullshit story about tanks shooting too.
#11
Close Aviano AB and bring the forces home. Close the Naples Naval Base and have the 6th Fleet home-port in Haifa, if Israel will allow us. Shut down the rest of US operations in Italy, and recall our Embassy staff. Slap a 15% tariff on all Italian goods. Ignore the screaming as their economy tanks, their unemployment goes up 10%, and their GDP actually shows a negative "increase". See if Prodi survives a "no-confidence vote" after THAT.
We spend too much time and energy appeasing Europe. They're not going to like us, no matter what we do. We've done the same thing to Europe that we did to the Middle East - shown them to be the idiots they are. That NEVER wins "hearts and minds". The only way we could possibly please Europe is to adopt Kyoto and allow it to destroy our economy, so the Europeans could snub us with impunity. Europe is a geriatric basket-case complicated by socialism and snobbery. They can FOAD.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/05/2007 13:14 Comments ||
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#12
Berlesconi was the only Italian PM in recent memory who was even close to rational. For that matter, Italy hasn't mattered much on the world stage since the Black Death landed there in 1348. Ignore Prodi and his stooges.
Donations to a multifaith retreat center have fallen off since it sheltered a National Guard deserter, and the facility is up for sale, the founder said.
Annual contributions to the Peace Abbey dropped from $80,000 to less than $30,000 since 2004, when Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia stayed there, said Lewis Randa, the center's founder and director.
Mejia, from the Florida National Guard, later surrendered and served a year for desertion.
"Quite frankly, we became very controversial in the eyes of many, and the funding dried up," said Randa, who was discharged from the National Guard in 1971 as a conscientious objector.
He hopes to sell the three-acre property for $5.5 million within five months, ideally to a buyer who would let the center continue its work.
"For its entire existence," Randa said, the abbey "has been operating on a wing and a prayer."
The Peace Abbey was founded in 1988 in the affluent community of Sherborn, about 20 miles west of Boston, following a visit by Mother Teresa to a nearby special needs school run by Randa. It features a statue of Mohandas Gandhi and has been visited by Muhammad Ali, Maya Angelou, Buddhist nuns, and thousands of others over the years. Yoko Ono once donated $40,000.
Part of the abbey's $350,000 debt was incurred by the erection of a $160,000 statue in a section dedicated to animal rights. The statue commemorates Emily, a heifer rescued by Randa and his wife in 1995 after escaping from a slaughterhouse.
Randa refuses to conduct any fundraising, calling it degrading.
Randa is director of The Life Experience School, which holds title to the Peace Abbey property. Randa fears state funding for the special needs school could be withheld if the abbey's debt is not settled by June 30.
"For its entire existence," Randa said, the abbey "has been operating on a wing and a prayer."
Maybe they should have been praying to somebody besides the God of Smug & Stupid Lefty Causes. Just sayin'.
Part of the abbey's $350,000 debt was incurred by the erection of a $160,000 statue in a section dedicated to animal rights. The statue commemorates Emily, a heifer rescued by Randa and his wife in 1995 after escaping from a slaughterhouse.
These clowns are just too stupid to live.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/05/2007 16:33 Comments ||
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#8
The Peace Abbey was founded in 1988 in the affluent community of Sherborn, about 20 miles west of Boston, following a visit by Mother Teresa to a nearby special needs school run by Randa. It features a statue of Mohandas Gandhi and has been visited by Muhammad Ali, Maya Angelou, Buddhist nuns, and thousands of others over the years. Yoko Ono once donated $40,000.
As many times as I've driven by it I never bothered to find out what the place was - I just always assumed some sort of ecumenical Christian retreat center. I didn't realize it was such a hotbed of moonbattiness. Pfeh! I vote for a Wal*Mart in its place.
#10
Okay, I'll bite, iff the 160K was built thru donations or mostly thru donations, save for maintenance how is it a debt? Wouldn't same also be maintained via donations, + TAX-FREE? Iff Yoko can donate 40K, can't she donate 00's or 1-5-10K for upkeep - the statue taint that old!?
#4
The GOP can still lose 2008 by fielding candidates that are weaker than the Dems. THat being said, ISRAEL ala CHENEY'S BAGRAM Incident roughly believes that Radical Iran will continue to escalate and ultimately will choose to attack US-Western interests, NOT just regionally but globally including WMD-focused, high casualty Terror attacks within CONUS itself. 2008 POTUS ELEX > MAY NOT BE A "NORMAL" CONSTITUTION-STYLE ELEX. Something must change for Radical islam to assert control over the ME, and said thingy must be strong enuff for mainstream America to OVERLOOK/DOWNGRADE/DE-PRIORITIZE 9-11, 3000 dead, + anti-US fatwas of US-only national destruction. WHEN JAPANESE ATTACK PLANES BLEW UP THE USS ARIZONA, IT WAS ONLY A MERE EXPLOSION, A MERE "INCIDENT" + "MISUNDERSTANDING" + "ONLY 1,777 DEAD OF 2500 TOTAL DEAD" NOT WORTHY OF AMER DECLARING WAR = GOING TO WAR OVER. * RIAN Commentary > Radical Islamists are watching America's Leftist-Liberals.
#1
"Without a doubt, the Internet is the single most important venue for the radicalization of Islamic youth," says Army Brigadier General John Custer, who is the is head of intelligence at central command, responsible for Iraq and Afghanistan.
Custer says he knows where the enemy finds an inexhaustible supply of suicide warriors. "I see 16, 17-year-olds who have been indoctrinated on the Internet turn up on the battlefield. We capture 'em, we kill 'em every day in Iraq, in Afghanistan," he says.
Asked if the Internet is training up new battalions of those young people, Custer tells Pelley, "It's a self-fulfilling prophesy thatÂ’s exactly what the jihadist Internet is there to do."
Timber Wolf has been warning about this for years. Wonder if they take Pay Pal or do they just demand the blood of women and children?
The abrupt departure of the secretary of the Army, taking place as an angry Defense secretary responded to public criticism of how the Pentagon has treated its war wounded, is giving Congress fresh reasons to look more closely at war operations.
Monday, lawmakers are to begin a week of hearings that will look into the situation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington – how conditions worsened there and why it appeared, at least, that no one was paying attention. The Army's surgeon general, Army Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, and the commander of the hospital who was relieved of his duties, Army Maj. Gen. George Weightman, are to appear Monday on Capitol Hill. Intense questioning is expected from lawmakers on a subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The Army, meanwhile, is scrambling to rectify the situation: It's moving patients out of certain areas of Walter Reed in preparation for those places being refurbished, and it's creating new support initiatives to help wounded veterans of the war in Iraq.
"We've got to make sure that our VA hospitals and our military hospitals in this country are equipped to provide the services [so] that our men and women in uniform and our veterans can be confident that they're going to get the help they need," said Sen. Trent Lott (R) of Mississippi, appearing on "This Week" on ABC.
It's important to find out what happened, not to point fingers, Senator Lott said. "Why didn't we know more and do more?" he said. "I'm not ... trying to fix blame. I want to know how we're going to fix it."
The unraveling at the Pentagon began after a story in the Feb. 18 editions of The Washington Post, which detailed problems at what's been considered the nation's premier military medical facility. The story outlined issues with the physical condition of one of the buildings, Building 18, where troops recuperate, receive counseling, or await outprocessing from the military. The report included details of rotting walls and mold and pest infestation, as well as bureaucratic bungling that delayed services or support.
The portrayal of the hospital in the story sparked a furor in Washington. Within days, the Army had relieved General Weightman, and its leadership had identified General Kiley as the acting commander. A number of other, lower-level military personnel were also reassigned.
But that was not enough for Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who didn't like the way the Army, which runs the hospital, was responding. For example, Kiley, in a press tour of the hospital in the wake of the newspaper article, criticized the report for being too one-sided.
"I am disappointed that some in the Army have not adequately appreciated the seriousness of the situation pertaining to the outpatient care at Walter Reed," Secretary Gates said in a briefing last Friday. "Some have shown too much defensiveness and have not shown enough focus on digging into and addressing the problems."
Following Gates' remarks, the Army announced that Maj. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, a physician, would be named as the permanent commander of the hospital. General Schoomaker's older brother, Gen. Peter Schoomaker, is the Army's chief of staff. Another flag officer who is not a physician is expected to be named to the hospital's command structure to ensure someone without a medical background can keep an eye on the improvements, according to a Washington Post report Sunday.
Weightman's side of the story may emerge during the hearings. This may include the information that he did in fact listen to internal warnings last year about problems with staffing.
The Army released a statement Saturday that indicated Weightman had responded to those internal warnings from Army Col. Peter Garibaldi, the Walter Reed garrison commander. Colonel Garibaldi had warned that "patient care services are at risk of mission failure" due to a privatization effort that left the hospital short-staffed. According to media reports, Garibaldi said that Weightman had addressed each of three issues raised.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D) of California, who leads the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the Garibaldi memo raises "a new dimension to the problems at Walter Reed."
The problems at Walter Reed could be symbolic of the kind of neglect that many lawmakers believe exists across the military. Funding for a war that costs up to $7 billion per month has strapped resources that normally would be spent elsewhere.
Rep. John Murtha (D) of Pennsylvania, a respected by a few Marine veteran who is conniving pushing to bring troops home, asserted Sunday that the problems at Walter Reed have occurred because war costs have trumped so many other needs. "It happened because the resources are so much in Iraq. They've spent so much money that they've ignored the very thing that is so important to our troops at home," Representative Murtha said on "Meet the Press."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"Some have shown too much defensiveness and have not shown enough focus on digging into and addressing the problems."
We get a lot of this in China. The problem isn't the problem, the problem is that someone is talking about it. Silence the talker, and the problem goes away. Not surprised to see the U.S. government act the same way, though.
#2
"Some have shown too much defensiveness and have not shown enough focus on digging into and addressing the problems."
We get a lot of this in China. The problem isn't the problem, the problem is that someone is talking about it. Silence the talker, and the problem goes away. Not surprised to see the U.S. government act the same way, though.
#3
For those of us who've served, what's so different from what we've experienced at one time or another? From one assignment to another?
I'd be surprised if someone out there hasn't lived in substandard housing, worked or been serviced in substandard facilities, done without proper equipment, or had rotten rations for a period of time.
Unfortunately, the process witnessed all too often is that someone has to be the 'Lucky Pierre', the sacrifice, before something actually get done. He/she is the person who's sitting in the chair when the event finely comes to front, after numerous others had chaired the same seat for assignment after assignment with the same deficiencies present. I've never seen a 'look back' to tag those previous holder of the skunk. It's only the present occupant who pays. Like theater, timing is everything.
#4
What caused the problem? Congress, specifically BRAC 2005:
the merger of Walter Reed Army Medical Center and National Naval Medical Center by September 2011 into one tri-service military medical center located on the Bethesda campus. That facility will be called the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and it will be staffed by Air Force, Army, and Navy military personnel.
When you're told your facillity is going to be closed in a few years, your maintenance budget goes away. Anyone who has been on a BRACed base will tell you how things go down hill.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/05/2007 8:36 Comments ||
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#5
"It happened because the resources are so much in Iraq. They've spent so much money that they've ignored the very thing that is so important to our troops at home,"
Of course, Johnny boy, if they hadn't gone to war, none of 'em would be in the hospital. If the best emergency care in the world hadn't saved so many lives, there wouldn't be so many in the hospital.
And what about your votes on military spending, Johnny? Congress didn't have enough oversight to prevent this? What about your calls to retreat? How many are in the hospital because of YOU, Congressman Murtha?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/05/2007 8:36 Comments ||
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#6
Free national heath care for the Military works so well, why not extend it to the entire country? It's free. And worth every penny. In fact, exactly so.
#7
The outbuildings at Walter Reed were decaying as far back as the late 80s. Reason: the hospital has long been on the closing-block.
This all would be a good thing if it wasn't for the fact that the entire motivation here is political-based, and not out of concern about the wounded. They're just a convenient tool.
#8
It's important to find out what happened, not to point fingers, Senator Lott said.
Got that dead backwards did you? and I'll just bet you expect us citizens to swallow that lie whole without question, Won't happen, we know Walter Reed was strangled financialy, we know you know it too, so happy Witch Hunt, Watch your polls fall like a rock while you scramble to find someone to blame that's NOT a member of the Finance Committee.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/05/2007 10:25 Comments ||
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#9
Mental Image of a Cat scratching franticly trying to "Cover" a Mess on a Tile Floor.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/05/2007 10:34 Comments ||
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#10
To piggy back on the many good comments here, this is NOT a new problem and has been around for generations. My fear is that after a lot of finger pointing they will do little to fix the problem. The problem is that they have not allocated money to upgrade or repair facilities for outpatient/recovery. The “fix” is simply for Congress to allocate some funding directed solely at that problem.
#11
The fix is to get rid of the VA providing health care. Let the veteran pick the provider of the health care and have the VA reimburse the vet. Socialized medicine stinks, whether in Britain, Cuba, Russia or the US.
#12
There's a part of the problem that isn't being addressed here. Call it "institutional apathy". Generals are only interested in combat forces. The maimed and injured are not combat forces, and get what's left over. There's only one clear way to solve this - put the Veterans' Department under the Department of Defense, and make the care of military veterans as important to Defense as offensive combat operations (in other words, you broke it, you fix it or pay for it). I've personally seen too many instances where "operational readiness" took precedence over safety and individual health issues. Make the DOD responsible for the military veteran from the day he joins until the day he dies. It's the only way to get the generals' and admirals' attention.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/05/2007 13:23 Comments ||
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Commanders never in Building 18 WASHINGTON, March 5 (UPI) -- Two former heads of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington testified they were unaware of conditions in Building 18 because they'd never been there. The Washington Post last week exposed the poor conditions under which wounded U.S. soldiers are being housed at what has been described as the crown jewel of the nation's military medical system, including black mold and holes in the walls.
"How could you not know?" U.S. Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, Monday asked Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley and Maj. Gen. George Weightman during a U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reforms Committee hearing. "I don't do barracks inspections," said Kiley, who lives across the street. Weightman said he had walked through many of the buildings at Walter Reed, but not Building 18.
Bet they're both career doctors who never led any troops.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/05/2007 14:10 Comments ||
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That was pretty much BG COL Janis KarpinskiÂ’s defense.
From the GI War , Epilogue, by Ralph G. Martin:
… As soon as Representative Kelly introduced him, Regan showed the Committee just how his leg worked, with all the belts and straps. He told them how tough it was to sit down, that it was outmoded a hundred percent, because it was the same amputees got twenty-five years ago. Then he told how it weighted thirteen pounds, and he never wore it anymore because it was too heavy. “It seems I wear it under the same strain as if I were running with two legs,” he said.
“I realize I have a very bad amputation,:” he continued, “I realize that I’m very lucky to be alive but I feel that something should be done to make these legs lighter. All I ask for is a limb I can get around on comfortably. If the government and private companies can build a B-29, surely they can do this job. Remember, there are 16,000 amputees coming out of this war.”
When Representative Kelly thanked Regan and ll the others for coming, a veteran named Robert Rogers jumped up and said, “We thank you for listening. Most people are scared to listen and say, ‘Jesus Christ, let the Army look after you.’ Of course, they do nothing about it. We certainly thank you for listening.”
Outside the small red building of American University, the sidewalk was dangerously icy. Some of the students were slowly crossing the slushy street, but most of them were still eating in the small luncheonette. Several of the men were talking about a story in the newspapers, telling how the government had indicted forty-five manufacturing firms of artificial limbs for agreeing on “identical and noncompetitive prices” forcing amputees to pay several hundred dollars for a limb. The story also mentioned that the government had decided to spend a million dollars a year for prosthetic research.
Â…
You got to ask yourself how much has really changed?
Not only did the commanders fail in management by wandering around [if it donÂ’t get looked at, it donÂ’t get done], but how many of those preening posturing pols right there in the beltway have spent any time down at WRAMC outside a photo op?
Addressing the ceremony, the PPPP, JUI and Jamaat-e-Islami members said that they had decided to join the PML-Q since their respective parties had failed to fulfill the public mandate. Muhayuddin said that the people of Chitral supported President General Pervez Musharraf due to his public friendly policies. He noted that the president had allocated billions of rupees for the socio-economic development of Chitral, including the construction of a high school, a veterinary centre, water pipelines, electricity supply lines and other projects. He said that the federal government had allocated Rs 140 million for the provision of electricity to the area, and Rs 12 billion for the Golain Goal powerhouse.
This article starring:
Jamaat-e-Islami
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam
Pakistan Muslim League – Quaid-e-Azam
Pakistan PeopleÂ’s Party Parliamentarians
Shahzadad Muhayuddin, PML-Q NWFP chapter senior vice president
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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A key Democratic senator said here on Sunday that Pakistan should either go for Al Qaeda itself or let the US do what was necessary. At a session of the Senate intelligence committee, Diane Feinstein – the second most senior member of the committee from the Democratic side – was critical of “half measures” by President Pervez Musharraf at what she said was a critical moment for the US and its allies.
Who thinks her 'support' would outlast the first bombing raid on Quetta ordered by President Bush?
She called for “pinpoint” attacks against Al Qaeda before the anticipated spring offensive by the Taliban and Al Qaeda elements.
Ah yes, the Dhimmicrats favorite kind of war -- 'pinpoint' and 'precision' strikes against an enemy. This assumes, Di, that we know exactly where the enemy is at that moment, and that we can hit them with 'precision'. JDAMs are good but they aren't good enough when the information is wrong. And the first time we hit a nursery, hospital, school or mosque in Quetta, because the intel said (right or wrong) that the bad guys were using said building for their own purposes, will be the time that the Senator withdraws her support and blames the military for 'incompetence'.
Feinstein, also a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said, “The Pakistanis either have to let us go in or go in themselves when they have intelligence. There’s no question that there’s going to be a spring offensive in Afghanistan, that they’re trying to reach out, that training is going on, recruitment is going on.”
Too bad the senator doesn't remember what happened tothe last Taliban spring offensive.
Another senator, Republican Peter Hoekstra, said the region around Pakistan was a growing threat, but stressed that a “balancing act” was needed to make sure that Musharraf’s government remained in power. He said, “We need stability in the regime. We need this regime to survive. The Pakistanis have been doing a number of things to help us go after Al Qaeda.”
This article starring:
Diane Feinstein
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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No battle plan Democratic support survives first contact with the enemy.
Posted by: Jeff C ||
03/05/2007 7:04 Comments ||
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...This si getting a bit odd. First, Sen. Obama says that 'Iran is the main threat', and now DiFi says we need to go after Al-Q in Pakistan. Wondering exactly what they've got in mind...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/05/2007 8:58 Comments ||
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#3
would Difi stick to it? I think she might. As far as now shes never wavered on Afghanistan, and she stuck pretty long on Iraq. And ya know, if we were attacking Osama Bin Laden it would be easier for to stick to it than in Iraq.
And yeah, select air attacks CAN be helpful. Certainly if Perv tomorrow said that selective air attacks by the coalition on Paki soil were ok, but not ground troops, is there anyone here who wouldnt see that as a huge gain?
Doesnt necessarilly mean doing that without Pervs permission is a good idea. OTOH having folks like DiFi saying this sure doesnt hurt when Cheney or Rice go visiting Perv, ya know? Let the Dems play "bad cop". That MAY be part of why Mr Maliki is suddenly more cooperative than hes been.
#4
Cynicism aside, it's surprising to hear anything this close to a realistic assessment coming from a Dhimmicrat. I would have expected something a lot less reasonable from a senator of her stature.
#7
The only issue that we are REALLY concerned about are Perv's nukes. Secure those and let this PakLand Sh*thole head for the bottom. We know that we need a line of supply through PakLand to supply much of the Afghanistan op. Since PakLand is so corrupt, we ought to figure out how much backsheesh they need to keep us operating.
I am sick of these games we are playing with Perv and the rest of the Paks. Only problem, we have the means to make an example, but we don't have the will.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/05/2007 18:08 Comments ||
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Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leaders have urged their party chief, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, to avoid “harsh decisions” on parliamentary resignations and the launch of an anti-government drive without taking the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) into confidence. At a meeting of the JI shoora on Sunday, the leaders said that it was in the largest interest of the JI that the MMA remained intact. They said that if the alliance came to any harm because of a decision by the JI, religious parties would not achieve the desired results in the manner of the last general elections, sources told Daily Times.
This article starring:
QAZI HUSEIN AHMED
Jamaat-e-Islami
Jamaat-e-Islami
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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Perv should be hoping they fully resign from Parliament as they are part of the Taliban/Al Qaeda problem!!!!
I noticed that MMA recently visited Saudi.Says it all where the funding/ideology is coming from.Please note Mr Bush!!!!
Posted by: Paul ||
03/05/2007 6:30 Comments ||
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#2
Paul, there's an awful lot of information about the politics and personalities of Pakistan in Rantburg's archives. There was another Paul who used to comment very knowledgeably on the subject. Since this seems a particular interest of yours, I'm sure you'd enjoy leafing through it.
Everyone talks about Iran but the Saudi/Pakistan connection is a major threat!!!!
Posted by: Paul D ||
03/05/2007 10:10 Comments ||
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#4
Iran is an immediate concern, Paul. The Saudi/Pakistan thingy will still be there afterward... unless the Ayatollah's 5th column is as effective as they claim, in which case only Pakistan will be a concern. ;-) Given Vice President Cheney's recent little threat to withhold some $700million in funding unless certain people -- whose names and current addresses he had in hand -- were arrested post haste, I suspect President Bush is aware of the situation, too.
During a White House meeting last week, a group of governors asked President Bush and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about their backup plan for Iraq. What would the administration do if its new strategy didn't work? The conclusion they took away, the governors later said, was that there is no Plan B. "I'm a Marine," Pace told them, "and Marines don't talk about failure. They talk about victory."
Pace had a simple way of summarizing the administration's position, Gov. Phil Bredesen (D-Tenn.) recalled. "Plan B was to make Plan A work."
In the weeks since Bush announced the new plan for Iraq -- including an increase of 21,500 U.S. combat troops, additional reconstruction assistance and stepped-up pressure on the Iraqi government -- senior officials have rebuffed questions about other options in the event of failure. Eager to appear resolute and reluctant to provide fodder for skeptics, they have responded with a mix of optimism and evasion.
Even if the administration is not talking about Plan B, the subject is on a lot of minds inside and outside the government. "I would be irresponsible if I weren't thinking about what the alternatives might be," Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates acknowledged last month to Congress, where many favor gradual or immediate withdrawal.
Gates did not elaborate. Several administration officials, while insisting that a wide range of options was discussed before Bush's Jan. 10 announcement, firmly closed the door on the subject of fallback plans. "I don't think anyone is going to be inclined to discuss any contingency-type planning," said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe. Well, then, we'll talk about talking about contingency planning!
National security experts outside the government have stepped into the void, offering detailed options through public papers, speeches and policy proposals over the past several weeks. "The ultimate Plan B is pull everybody out," said Stephen D. Biddle, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and an adviser to the Defense Department. "Nobody wants to do that. Most are looking at the middle ground between surge and pullout."
Most options involve partial or complete U.S. redeployment from Baghdad and other violent urban centers, followed by containment of the civil war within Iraq's borders -- keeping out meddlesome neighbors such as Iran and preventing a wider, regional conflict. Retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, a former chief of Central Command, the U.S. military headquarters for the Middle East, said Congress is "drifting toward containment" and predicted that option will soon begin gaining popularity.
Daniel L. Byman and Kenneth M. Pollack of the Brookings Institution last month released the most comprehensive public exploration of containment. The two national security experts seemed to wince even as they proposed keeping up to 80,000 troops along Iraq's borders, cautioning that "there would be no end in sight either for the war or for their mission." But it is "the only rational course of action," they wrote. But we don't need any explanation of why that's the most rational course of action - everyone knows that, right?
"I firmly believe that is where we should wind up, and is what we should be doing now," said retired Air Force Gen. Charles F. Wald, formerly the No. 2 U.S. officer in Europe.
One military officer involved in long-term planning for Iraq said he does not think the idea is feasible. "It would be a massive operation," the officer said. "But having said that, it's probably the best option if they go into open civil war."
Other senior military officials are skeptical of containment, fearing that it would be almost impossible to achieve and that a policy of standing back and letting Iraqis kill each other would be morally indefensible and a recruiting boon for al-Qaeda and other extremist groups. Even proponents of containment warn that it would leave U.S. troops as concentrated targets while limiting their ability to control the situation militarily. Containment combines the worst features of 'Cut and Run' with 'Hiding Inside the Wire" and 'Do Nothing'.
A related option would involve redeploying U.S. forces to the relative safety of the Kurdish region in northern Iraq, to more peaceful areas in the south and to Anbar in the west, where they could focus on fighting al-Qaeda. "You can have your civil war without us," columnist Charles Krauthammer recently suggested that Bush tell Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. "We will be around to pick up the pieces as best we can."
Biddle, who noted that new Iraq strategy proposals "proliferate hourly" in the public domain, said another variant is to set up "heavily defended forward operating bases out in the desert somewhere [and] either sit there and mind our own business and do nothing except be present -- enabling us to say we're still there -- or, in a somewhat more activist flavor, to conduct raids of various kinds" against al-Qaeda bases and rescue missions for Iraqi military units. Do nothing, but waste a lot of money doing it.
Steven N. Simon, senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and the NSC's director for national security threats during the Clinton administration, a really good post to have on your resume last month proposed U.S. disengagement from Iraq itself, calling for containment from the outside with a reinforced U.S. presence elsewhere in the region and the opening of a regional diplomatic dialogue. Those steps should be initiated immediately, Simon wrote, before the costs of the war begin to widen across the Middle East and beyond.
Still other withdrawal possibilities center on the replacement of conventional troops with a significant Special Forces contingent who are presently just lounging around twiddling their thumbs to engage in counterterrorism, along with what Biddle called "facilitating ethnic cleansing" by providing armed escorts for Iraqis who want to leave contested areas.
Any containment option is likely to add substantially to the nearly 4 million Iraqis who have fled to Jordan and Syria or have been displaced from their homes within Iraq, said Carlos Pascual of the Brookings Institution, who served as director of the State Department's Office of Reconstruction and Stabilization until October 2005. Humanitarian agencies are already drawing up plans for huge refugee camps inside and around Iraq's borders, although many are concerned they will only add to the country's problems. There really is just no solution, is there?
"When refugees and displaced persons start collecting in camps," Pascual said, "you get a vulnerable population -- and a lot of unemployed men -- who are subject to attack, recruitment and internal violence. This is where you often get further radicalization, and the camps themselves become a source of the problem." Like in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, for example.
Over the years of U.S. involvement in Iraq, new plans have been launched with assurances of success -- the return of sovereignty to a handpicked Iraqi administration in the summer of 2004; a democratically elected government in January 2005; "Plan Baghdad," designed to retake the capital from insurgents and militias, in the summer of 2006. The current Plan A is arguably already Plan D or beyond. "News" at its' best. They 'report', they decide.
Since last summer, public opinion has turned against Bush's handling of the war and favors withdrawing, rather than increasing, troops according to some poll, I'm sure I saw, somewhere. Although the administration has said the new strategy should show progress within months, many officials privately say it could be years, if ever, and the Democratic majority in Congress has shown little inclination to wait patiently. No, they're going to wait impatiently, and bitch and whine and pontificate the whole time.
Any substantive administration planning for other contingencies is occurring at the margins of policy, far from key decision-makers. "Planners plan, but I don't think anyone is saying, 'Let's do the partition,' or 'Let's pull back and let Baghdad burn,' " one Pentagon official said. "That would be a tectonic shift. That would be catastrophic failure."
One military officer and another defense expert said they believe that retired Army Col. James Kurtz, a specialist in strategic planning, has been asked by the Pentagon to begin studying alternative strategies at the Institute for Defense Analyses, a government-run think tank. "It's just not appropriate to ask for that," Kurtz said in response to an inquiry. "We keep what we do with our sponsors, okay?" But we'll trot that out here, so there is a reasonable suspicion of someone in the military figuring out how to cut and run.
Bush has warned that the U.S. commitment to Iraq is not open-ended and will require increased effort from Iraqis. Pressed to specify U.S. limits, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice promised the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that there would be ample opportunity "to see whether or not in fact the Iraqis are living up to the assurances they gave us."
And what if they don't?" Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) asked. "I don't think you go to Plan B," Rice replied. "You work with Plan A."
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/05/2007 15:18 ||
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#1
The Democrats are working on Plan B. The first point under Plan B is - make sure Plan A doesn't work. The second point is to do nothing to risk being directly responsible for anything in Iraq (good or bad), lest their election issue be squandered. Third, remember Vietnam.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/05/2007 18:17 Comments ||
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#3
Dubya > IMMOVABLE OBJECT, MOUD > IRRESISTABLE FORCE - when such entities collide there will be sparks and grunts. Dubya is in "Fortress ME" mode - his Admin has said that attacking Iran is NOT his intention, BUT-T-T US = US-Allied? forces will be staying in the ME for a long while to come, or at least for the remainder of Dubya's second term. BALL IS SQUARELY IN MOUD'S COURT > While Iran can play the "waiting game" until after 2008 elex, Iran also knows or is aware that over time "America in ME" will most likely get STRONGER = ENTRENCH ITSELF, NOT WEAKER OR TO WITHDRAW, and to be so at behest of regional Iran-fearing Muslim Govts-Nations. Moud also knows the BLAMELESS US DEMOLEFT WANTS TO STAY BLAMELESS, NOT BE LINKED OR SEEN AS THE CAUSE OF AMER FOREIGN POLICY FAILURE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. ITS NOT DUBYA'S "PLAN B" BUT MOUD'S THAT WAPO NEDS TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT. It is NOT to Radical Islam's advantage to fight US milfors directly but neither is it for them to see America stay beyond January 2009 or thereabouts. ALA FALL OF SAIGON in 1975, RADICAL ISLAM WILL NOT CONTROL/DOMINATE UNLESS USA PULLS OUT, OR THE US CONGRESS AS PER PC NATIONAL CHAOS REFUSES TO AUTHORIZE NEW MILITARY AID-SUPPORT FOR THE ME. Wid 9-11, 3000 dead Amers, and OBL's, etc. fatwas of war promoting the destruction of the USA, other than winning the WH in 2008 or anti-US Globalism-SWO THE DEM CONGRESS HAS NO JUSTIFICATION BEFORE MAINSTREAM AMER VOTERS TO UNILATER PULL OUT OF THE ME. Mainstream Amers may not agree wid all of Dubya's policies, but the majority do agree wid "over there, NOT over here". THERE IS NO REASON TO PULL OUT UNLESS TO JUSTIFY ANTI-US OWG vv AMERICAN DEFEAT/FAILURE, wid Defeat more potent for anti-US OWG-SWO than policy Failure. THE "STATUS QUO" IS NOT AN OPTION ANYMORE FOR AMER'S ENEMIES - WOT > besides WAR FOR THE WORLD, is also SUBSTITUTION OF NATIONS/POWERS, i.e. WEAK TAKE OVER FROM THE STRONG, THE INFERIOR FROM THE SUPERIOR. MOUD + Radical Islam must either give up, or ATTACK - ISRAEL believes Iran will choose to attack, NOT JUST REGIONALLY BUT AGAINST CONUS VIA NEW, WMD-CENTRIC, CASUALTY-INTENSIVE TERROR ATTACKS, i.e. AMER HIROSHIMAS. TIME FACTORS > RADICAL IRAN = USSR = THEY LOSE.
Could 650,000 Iraqis really have died because of the invasion?Anjana Ahuja
The statistics made headlines all over the world when they were published in The Lancet in October last year. More than 650,000 Iraqis – one in 40 of the population – had died as a result of the American-led invasion in 2003. The vast majority of these “excess” deaths (deaths over and above what would have been expected in the absence of the occupation) were violent. The victims, both civilians and combatants, had fallen prey to airstrikes, car bombs and gunfire.
Body counts in conflict zones are assumed to be ballpark – hospitals, record offices and mortuaries rarely operate smoothly in war – but this was ten times any other estimate. Iraq Body Count, an antiwar web-based charity that monitors news sources, put the civilian death toll for the same period at just under 50,000, broadly similar to that estimated by the United Nations Development Agency.
The implication of the Lancet study, which involved Iraqi doctors knocking on doors and asking residents about recent deaths in the household, was that Iraqis were being killed on an horrific scale. The controversy has deepened rather than evaporated. Several academics have tried to find out how the Lancet study was conducted; none regards their queries as having been addressed satisfactorily. Researchers contacted by The Times talk of unreturned e-mails or phone calls, or of being sent information that raises fresh doubts.
Iraq Body Count says there is “considerable cause for scepticism” and has complained that its figures had been misleadingly cited in the The Lancet as supporting evidence.
One critic is Professor Michael Spagat, a statistician from Royal Holloway College, University of London. He and colleagues at Oxford University point to the possibility of “main street bias” – that people living near major thoroughfares are more at risk from car bombs and other urban menaces. Thus, the figures arrived at were likely to exceed the true number. The Lancet study authors initially told The Times that “there was no main street bias” and later amended their reply to “no evidence of a main street bias”.
Professor Spagat says the Lancet paper contains misrepresentations of mortality figures suggested by other organisations, an inaccurate graph, the use of the word “casualties” to mean deaths rather than deaths plus injuries, and the perplexing finding that child deaths have fallen. Using the “three-to-one rule” – the idea that for every death, there are three injuries – there should be close to two million Iraqis seeking hospital treatment, which does not tally with hospital reports.
“The authors ignore contrary evidence, cherry-pick and manipulate supporting evidence and evade inconvenient questions,” contends Professor Spagat, who believes the paper was poorly reviewed. “They published a sampling methodology that can overestimate deaths by a wide margin but respond to criticism by claiming that they did not actually follow the procedures that they stated.” The paper had “no scientific standing”. Did he rule out the possibility of fraud? “No.”
If you factor in politics, the heat increases. One of The Lancet authors, Dr Les Roberts, campaigned for a Democrat seat in the US House of Representatives and has spoken out against the war. Dr Richard Horton, editor of the The Lancet is also antiwar. He says: “I believe this paper was very thoroughly reviewed. Every piece of work we publish is criticised – and quite rightly too. No research is perfect. The best we can do is make sure we have as open, transparent and honest a debate as we can. Then we'll get as close to the truth as possible. That is why I was so disappointed many politicians rejected the findings of this paper before really thinking through the issues.”
#2
This preposterous s**t is a prime example of the world losing its mind in its hysteria to oppose the removal of one of modern history's worst governments. Apart from the facially absurd total number they pulled from their hindquarters, there's this ridiculous presumption that Coalition forces have caused more than a tiny fraction of post-invasion deaths. The slightest familiarity with the situation, of course, reveals that the terrorists and so-called insurgents - and criminals - have caused almost all of the "excess" deaths. The critic cited covers the main technical points but the overall problem with pinning excess deaths on the Coalition never seems to be mentioned.
Posted as "Opinion" at the LA Times. I guess it contains too many facts that don't fit their perspective. My personal favorite is [8] Taking charge of a detention center in Iraq? Here's what you need to remember.
By Mike Carlson
Mike Carlson served as the officer in charge of the Camp Fallouja Regional Detention Facility from March 2006 to October. He is now a graduate student in creative writing at the University of Central ... Florida? Oklahoma? I didn't carelessly omit it; the LAT did.
March 4, 2007
[ 1 ]
They're not prisoners, they're "detainees."
It sounds better, as if they're merely inconvenienced rather than shoehorned into cinderblock cells, thumbing their military-issued Korans and waiting to be interrogated. One-third are innocents caught up in sweeps; one-third are jihadists who will slit your throat, and one-third are opportunists who will rat out their neighbors. You will hold them for 14 days, no more, while the interrogators try to figure out who is what. Each gets a CF, for Camp Fallouja, and a four-digit number. No names will be used, mainly because numbers fit more easily onto spreadsheets. They will be forever known as entas. "Enta" means "you" in Arabic, and that's what you call them day after day, meal after meal, port-a-potty call after port-a-potty call. "Enta, ishra mai," you say, and the enta drinks his water, and if you say, "Enta, ishra mai kulak," he drinks all of his water, every drop, and holds the bottle upside down to prove it.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/05/2007 06:40 ||
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The 'CF' stands for Camp Fallouja? How convenient - when captured there you don't even have to change their initials, just what they stand for (and add a number.)
#2
As an aside, #7, about drinking until your urine is clear, is an eccentricity of the Marines.
Some years ago, after a hard march on a hot day at a Marine training camp, there was an unusually high number of cases of heat exhaustion due to dehydration. This irritated the camp commander who issued instructions directing "over-hydration" before such exercises in the future.
This amounted to all Marines lining up to fill their canteens, then as a group, to drink the entire contents of their canteens, then to refill them again before leaving.
This caused the number of dehydration casualties to drop to zero. This caught the attention of the higher ups, and it became part of US Marine Corps culture ever since.
While it does result in the need for rather odd looking, mass "pee" breaks in increasing intervals at the start of a march, the medical statistics prove this to be a very good idea.
But having trained in hot desert myself, where water consumption can be as high as five gallons per man per day, and you *still* don't seem to ever need to urinate because of sweating, forcing yourself to drink until your urine is clear is a major, major deal.
When it comes out deeply yellow to almost brownish in color, that is bad. And you drink so much water that you almost feeling like throwing up, again and again.
#3
Moose-
When I went to the Sandbox in the mid-90s, my dad - a former Marine - pounded that into me over and over again, and I did the same with my guys. In 6 months we didn't have a single heat-related casualty, while the other five teams had at least one a week between them.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/05/2007 12:24 Comments ||
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#4
Yup, dehydration can really make an impression on a guy, like the kidney stone I came down with the day after hiking in Chaco Canyon, NM, with not quite enough water.
Hamas orders book ban of Palestinian folk tales
The Hamas-run Education Ministry has ordered an anthology of Palestinian folk tales pulled from school libraries and destroyed, reportedly over mild sexual innuendo Who ever knew Paleos have folk-tales involving sex other than gun-sex? Meanwhile EU stance on PA gov't priority for foreign ministers
Some European Union governments are signaling that they would favor early encouragement of the new Palestinian government - a stance that could test the bloc's unified position on Hamas when foreign ministers meet Monday. Of course now, when Hamas started banning books, their position is going to change. Meanwhile Gunbattle breaks out in Gaza City
Members of Hamas engaged in a daytime gunbattle with security officers in the worst outbreak of internal violence since rival Palestinian factions agreed to form a unity government last month, security officials said.
The gunbattle broke out in Gaza City when Hamas and Fatah loyalists argued over who had control of a nearby training compound, security officials said. Live-fire exercises are training.
(KUNA) -- Arab foreign ministers meeting in here on Sunday called on the UN security council to bear the responsibility and send observers for the protection of the Palestinian people and to condemn the Israeli digging works underneath the muslim holy mosque of al Aqsa.
Tunisian Foreign Minister, chairman of the current Arab Foreign Ministers Council, Abdelwahab Abdullah, said after a session of the ministers here today, all Arabs agreed on the commitment to peace as a strategic option and voiced support to the Makkah agreement for Palestinian national conciliation.
The Arab foreign ministers also agreed on denouncing the military, economic and political siege of the Palestinian people. He said a draft agenda for the Riyadh Arab summit was agreed upon, noting that the articles includes a report by the current Chairman of the Summit and another by the Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa. He said that the agenda covers the situation in Iraq, solidarity with Lebanon, suppot of Sudan, Somalia, the Comoros Islands, drawing out a united Arab stance on Making the Middle East a region free of weapons of mass destruction, Arab peaceful use of atomic energy and back up of the dialogue of the civilizations.
On his part, Moussa expressed hope that all member countries of the Arab League would attend the Riyadh summit. He was commenting on Libya's announcement to boycott the conference. "Given the grave situation in the region, we hope full Arab presence during the summit", Moussa said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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"Waitress! Can we get some more hostages over here?"
(Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister-designate Ismail Haneya ended their meeting midnight Sunday without announcement of the expected national unity government. However, the two leaders agreed to continue talks on Monday, said Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas-led caretaker government. Hamas denied that there were obstacles in the meeting, saying that "There are no obstacles and the atmosphere was very encouraging. During the meeting, some points were agreed upon... even the Interior Minister post will not be an obstacle."
Meanwhile, Nabil Abu Rudaina, spokesman for Abbas, also denied any "serious problem" during the meeting, pledging that the talks will be resumed Monday. "But the matter needs some days or no more than a week," said Abu Rudaina.
Hamas handed over its minister candidates list to Haneya on Saturday, a day before Abbas-Haneya meeting, while Fatah did not announce its list. Before Sunday's meeting, Palestinian sources at Abbas headquarters said that Abbas and Haneya would discuss the nomination of the key cabinet posts of interior minister and deputy prime minister. However, Abbas and Haneya failed to reach a result on these two posts during Sunday's meeting.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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Indonesian prisons are a weak link in the country's fight against terrorism, with militants often emerging more organized and committed to violence than before they were jailed, a top anti-terror official said Monday.
Gen. Ansyad Mbai made the remarks on the sidelines of a six-nation conference aimed at strengthening cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Southeast Asia. "The prisoners should be treated specially; they should be split up from one another," Mbai told reporters. "We must not allow them to become united, stronger and more radical while they are in jail." He noted a recent case in which Indonesian police seized a laptop from a notorious militant who they said used it to communicate with sympathizers outside the prison.
Countries represented at the meeting included the Philippines, which is fighting the Abu Sayyaf Islamic militant group, Thailand, where militants are engaged in a bloody campaign for an Islamic state in the south, and Malaysia and Singapore, which have both locked up scores of militants in recent years.
The Australian and Indonesian foreign ministers said nations had made progress against Islamic terrorism in the region, but that radicals were continually changing tactics and remained a threat. "We have foiled terrorist plots, captured and prosecuted terrorists and disrupted their networks, but they are still out there," said Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. "Even as our capacity to stop them improves, their methods and abilities become more sophisticated."
Indonesia has arrested and prosecuted almost 200 militants with direct or supporting roles in attacks on its soil, the most deadly being the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, 88 of them Australian tourists. "We owe it to our citizens to wage an effective battle against terrorism," said Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda, adding more regional cooperation was needed to "counter the clever and seductive propaganda of the terrorists."
#1
Some of these prisons defy belief. No discipline, and prisoners do whatever they want. It doesn't help that the guards get paid peanuts and are open to bribery.
#1
I feel your pain, John Curtis, but too bad. The sites that haven't been excavated yet can be excavated later. The chances are that if we don't break some pots now, the ensuing khalifate would do it in any case as they would attempt to erase any traces of history that is not related to Islam, in a short order.
#2
I don't feel his pain at all. The "we shouldn't defend civilization because it will break the old pottery" argument is pretty thin. If the Iranians value their cultural artifacts they can move them or cooperate with us to limit their nuclear program to peaceful purposes. Otherwise, they can look to WWII for context: a lot of pottery got broken in Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Dresden, and Berlin.
#4
Iran bears sole responsiblity for whatever happens to their ancient patrimony. Let's hope they remember that potsherds are much harder to reassemble once they've been fused.
#7
geez Wally how about we stop the Paleos from lobbing rockets into Israel and damaging some CHRISTIAN Holy site or antiquities. Their hypocracy is soooo open.
#2
""The Syrians believe they can vaccinate themselves and they are working within the Syrian military. They're certainly not worried about releasing these biological weapons in a military setting, or even if civilians were infected as well, as long as they are vaccinated."
Two thoughts: first, I wonder if any of this stuff came from Saddam, and second, I wonder how the Syrians think that vaccination deal is going to work against a nuclear firestorm in Damascus?
Posted by: mac ||
03/05/2007 8:32 Comments ||
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#3
"I believe they are testing biological weapons right now, in Sudan, in the conflict in Darfur," she answered. "There is credible information about flyover activity in Darfur, where little parachutes have been dropped down on the population.
Hmmm, bioweapons in the Sudan. Have not seen mention of that before. Confirmatino from anywhere else?
#5
OOk, search gave nothing, so this perhpas means this was rearlier than what i recall (everything's a blurr to me after a short while, save the last meal I had, and the names of various porn starlets).
Lemme Google™ it :
#6
Bio weapons are terribly overrated. Against military forces, high explosive is much more effective, and the few pathogens useful against civilians are so terribly infectious that they are just as likely to infect your side, too. And any vaccination program will attract a LOT of attention.
Even when used against primitive peoples, toxins such as "yellow rain" were preferred to live weapons, because they are just more effective in the long run.
Now that the US military controversially vaccinates against some strains of anthrax, which is hard as hell to disseminate effectively anyway, it pretty well leaves just using some agent that will maybe kill a couple dozen people before being stomped out.
Just not worth it. And Muslims don't like it anyway, as there is no big explosion.
#8
I guess they forgot that the US equates all weapons of mass destruction, that is biological=chemical=nuclear and has said that it will respond to any wmd attack with nukes.
#10
The Syrians wouldn't have to worry about bio contamination of their country. Radiation would take care of that. Lot of sabre rattling and rhetoric in the mid-East. All a bunch of Baghdad Bobs.
(Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said on Sunday that Iran was ready to hold talks with five UN Security Council members plus Germany on its nuclear issue with no preconditions. Hosseini made the remarks when answering a question at his weekly press conference on whether an upcoming security meeting in Baghdad would open doors to negotiations, the official IRNA news agency reported. "The venue is not the question that we lay emphasis on Baghdad meeting," he said, adding that "we are ready to negotiate with ...the permanent members of the UN Security Council including China, Russia, France, Britain, the U.S. plus Germany without any preconditions."
Iraq will host neighboring countries and other world powers on March 10 for a meeting meant to enlist support for Iraqi government efforts at stabilizing the country. In response to a question on whether he had any recommendations to the Monday meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors, the spokesman said, "The solution to this case is negotiations and anything else will make the case more complicated."
A senior U.S. official said in Washington on Saturday that major powers failed to settle all their differences over a second UN sanctions resolution against Iran for its nuclear activities. "There is still some work to be done on a few outstanding issues, but all parties remain committed to a second resolution in the near future," State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper said in a statement after U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns and his counterparts from China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany held discussions by phone. "They had a good discussion in keeping with the positive atmosphere of their conversations" in recent days, Cooper said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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NEWSMAX > Obama blames failings of Dubya's Admin. for stronger Iran. FREEREPUBLIC > Brits > AIR STRIKES AGAINST IRAN MAY BACKFIRE [on USA] - May cause or induce Iran to intensify NucDev espec Nuklar Weeepuuuns.
#2
See also DRUDGEREPORT > MCCLATCHY > KANSAS CITY STAR > USA MUST BOOST PREPAREDNESS FOR A NUCLEAR ATTACK [Attacks?]; + RUSSIAN MILITARY PREPARING TO COUNTER US THREAT artiiiickles - US BMD-GMD in Poland-Czech "absolutely unacceptable".
Somewhat surprizingly, several arab media orgs are covering this objectively. I would be surprized if the WaPo or the NYT had anything other than a sneering article but who knows. example of agenda
MONDAY, MARCH 5
10am-12pm
SECULARISM AND ISLAMIC THOUGHT
panelists:
Amir Taheri
Nonie Darwish
Wafa Sultan
Ibn Warraq
Media coverage
The prominent Arabic 24-hour news channel Al Arabiya has reported on the Secular Islam Summit. The station, based in Dubai Media City, was launched in 2003 and now broadcasts in the Middle East, Asia Pacific, South East Asia, North Africa, Europe, the Americas and Australia
--------------
The Kuwait News Agency released a favorable story on the Secular Islam Summit in English and Arabic. The agency provides stories for Arab Times and Gulf Times in Kuwait, as well as other English- and Arab-language papers in the region.
In the article, Summit co-organizer Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi described the gathering as "a sanctuary for a lot of people who have been intimidated by the Jihad and radical Islamist forces, " that would create an atmosphere of embracing the ideas of enlightenment, of greater understanding of science, reason, secular ideas, such as separation of religion and state, and of embracing their own cultural and national heritage, their historical identities and the formation of a solidarity movement that will help the Middle East and South Asian countries to have a leap forward in societal growth.
-----------
An article in the Friday, February 23 edition of the weekly newspaper Muslim World Today discusses the Secular Islam Summit in the context of the "dialogue of civilizations.":
#1
Ibn Warraq's book, "why I'm not a muslim" is a must read. Basic introduction to historical islam, sources, myths and so on.
Makes me wonder how many other "muslims" at this conference have death sentence fatwas over their heads. And you're right mh, the American media will never cover this.
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.
A Bangladeshi man held at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay says he was tortured with electric shocks and accuses his guards of desecrating the holy Quran. 
Even if the administration is not talking about Plan B, the subject is on a lot of minds inside and outside the government. "I would be irresponsible if I weren't thinking about what the alternatives might be," Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates acknowledged last month to Congress, where many favor gradual or immediate withdrawal.
(Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister-designate Ismail Haneya ended their meeting midnight Sunday without announcement of the expected national unity government. However, the two leaders agreed to continue talks on Monday, said Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas-led caretaker government. Hamas denied that there were obstacles in the meeting, saying that "There are no obstacles and the atmosphere was very encouraging. During the meeting, some points were agreed upon... even the Interior Minister post will not be an obstacle." 
(Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said on Sunday that Iran was ready to hold talks with five UN Security Council members plus Germany on its nuclear issue with no preconditions. Hosseini made the remarks when answering a question at his weekly press conference on whether an upcoming security meeting in Baghdad would open doors to negotiations, the official IRNA news agency reported. "The venue is not the question that we lay emphasis on Baghdad meeting," he said, adding that "we are ready to negotiate with ...the permanent members of the UN Security Council including China, Russia, France, Britain, the U.S. plus Germany without any preconditions." 
