Hi there, !
Today Wed 10/10/2007 Tue 10/09/2007 Mon 10/08/2007 Sun 10/07/2007 Sat 10/06/2007 Fri 10/05/2007 Thu 10/04/2007 Archives
Rantburg
533621 articles and 1861743 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 76 articles and 284 comments as of 20:29.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion    Local News       
Support network in Pakistan accused of helping Taliban, others sneak across border to attack U.S
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
8 00:00 Phinater Thraviger [6] 
2 00:00 Mullah Richard [] 
2 00:00 JosephMendiola [6] 
2 00:00 Silentbrick [10] 
3 00:00 Penguin [] 
5 00:00 JFM [1] 
2 00:00 Frank G [] 
2 00:00 Zenster [] 
1 00:00 Bobby [2] 
2 00:00 trailing wife [] 
16 00:00 gorb [13] 
1 00:00 Zenster [4] 
13 00:00 JosephMendiola [10] 
6 00:00 Zenster [25] 
1 00:00 Zenster [4] 
1 00:00 Zenster [5] 
3 00:00 Redneck Jim [6] 
4 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [1] 
3 00:00 Pappy [6] 
0 [5] 
2 00:00 gromgoru [] 
17 00:00 Eric Jablow [8] 
2 00:00 Bobby [1] 
9 00:00 Rambler [4] 
5 00:00 Zenster [] 
0 [4] 
0 [1] 
5 00:00 Nimble Spemble [1] 
1 00:00 Anonymoose [] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
8 00:00 SteveS [13]
1 00:00 Xenophon [3]
3 00:00 Zenster [1]
0 [1]
6 00:00 Mike N [3]
6 00:00 JosephMendiola [7]
6 00:00 SteveS []
12 00:00 Old Patriot [1]
0 [1]
5 00:00 Pappy [4]
4 00:00 wxjames []
0 [5]
0 [6]
0 [7]
12 00:00 Frank G [3]
0 []
0 []
0 [3]
1 00:00 Zenster [7]
3 00:00 Frank G [4]
Page 3: Non-WoT
0 [1]
2 00:00 Procopius2k [3]
2 00:00 3dc [3]
5 00:00 JosephMendiola [5]
9 00:00 SteveS [4]
0 [2]
0 [5]
0 [4]
0 [4]
0 [4]
8 00:00 JosephMendiola [5]
3 00:00 Frozen Al [13]
2 00:00 JosephMendiola [3]
2 00:00 trailing wife [1]
6 00:00 Frank G []
9 00:00 anonymous5089 [1]
Page 4: Opinion
0 [1]
3 00:00 OldSpook []
10 00:00 JosephMendiola [4]
10 00:00 gromgoru [1]
2 00:00 JosephMendiola [10]
0 [2]
Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
0 [1]
10 00:00 Mike N. [4]
1 00:00 anonymous5089 [2]
11 00:00 trailing wife [1]
4 00:00 anonymous5089 []
Arabia
Saudi Gitmo Detainees Get Gift
Ain't that sweet? Are they letting the people they killed come out of the grave for a few days, too?
The Saudi Arabian government will temporarily release 55 prisoners recently transferred from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and will give each of them about $2,600 to celebrate the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, a newspaper reported Saturday.

Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz granted the temporary releases from detention centers in Saudi Arabia so the prisoners could spend time with their families during the holiday in mid-October, the Okaz newspaper reported. They will return to the jihad in Iraq or Sudan police custody after the holiday and will be referred to Saudi courts at end of this month for upcoming trials, the paper said.
Posted by: Fred || 10/07/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda

#1  Those wacky Saudi allies of our. What will they think of next?
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 7:27 Comments || Top||

#2  They will return to the police custody after the holiday


Wanna bet?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 10/07/2007 13:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Saudi Arabian government will... will give each of them about $2,600 to celebrate the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

Airfare to Detroit.
Posted by: Pappy || 10/07/2007 14:57 Comments || Top||


Yemen warns against unauthorised demonstrations
Yemen's interior ministry has warned political parties and professional associations against staging unauthorised demonstrations, the official Saba news agency reported Saturday. Anyone who violates this rule "will have to take the consequences," it said.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets in recent weeks to protest against rising prices in one of the world's poorest countries and to press for better public services. The protests have been orchestrated by opposition parties, including the Al-Islah (Reform) Party, the main Islamist opposition party, and the Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP), which ruled the former south Yemen. Two people were killed and 18 wounded on September 10 when security forces clashed with protesters in the southern town of Dhaleh.

Some of the demonstrators were former soldiers, who complained they had been forced into early retirement after Yemen's 1994 civil war, which was sparked by a southern secession bid. A human rights group said one person was killed and nine were wounded on September 1 after similar protests in the southern city of Al-Mukalla triggered clashes with police.
Posted by: Fred || 10/07/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
The Changing Colour of Britain
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/07/2007 09:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Global Jihad

#1  It is not their color that is the problem.
Posted by: Unutle McGurque8861 || 10/07/2007 11:29 Comments || Top||

#2  HEH!
A Welsh farmer walking through his field, notices a man drinking out of a pond.

The Welsh farmer shouted: "Paid a yfed a dwr, maer gwerthin wedi cachu un a for."
(Which means: "Don't drink the water, the cows have crapped in it.")

The man shouts back: "I am a Muslim, I do not understand. Please speak in English."

The Welsh farmer says: "Use two hands, it holds more."
Posted by: Frank G || 10/07/2007 17:37 Comments || Top||


Europe
Muslim medical students get picky - about alcoholics and females
Some Muslim medical students are refusing to attend lectures or answer exam questions on alcohol-related or sexually transmitted diseases because they claim it offends their religious beliefs.

Some trainee doctors say learning to treat the diseases conflicts with their faith, which states that Muslims should not drink alcohol and rejects sexual promiscuity.

A small number of Muslim medical students have even refused to treat patients of the opposite sex. One male student was prepared to fail his final exams rather than carry out a basic examination of a female patient.

The religious objections by students have been confirmed by the British Medical Association (BMA) and General Medical Council (GMC), which both stressed that they did not approve of such actions.

It will intensify the debate sparked last week by the disclosure that Sainsbury’s is permitting Muslim checkout operators to refuse to handle customers’ alcohol purchases on religious grounds. It means other members of staff have to be called over to scan in wine and beer for them at the till.

Critics, including many Islamic scholars, see the concessions as a step too far, and say Muslims are reneging on their professional responsibilities.

This weekend, however, it emerged that Sainsbury’s is also allowing its Muslim pharmacists to refuse to sell the morning-after pill to customers. At a Sainsbury’s store in Nottingham, a pharmacist named Ahmed declined to provide the pill to a female reporter posing as a customer. A colleague explained to her that Ahmed did not sell the pill for “ethical reasons”. Boots also permits pharmacists to refuse to sell the pill on ethical grounds.

The BMA said it had received reports of Muslim students who did not want to learn anything about alcohol or the effects of overconsumption. “They are so opposed to the consumption of it they don’t want to learn anything about it,” said a spokesman.

The GMC said it had received requests for guidance over whether students could “omit parts of the medical curriculum and yet still be allowed to graduate”. Professor Peter Rubin, chairman of the GMC’s education committee, said: “Examples have included a refusal to see patients who are affected by diseases caused by alcohol or sexual activity, or a refusal to examine patients of a particular gender.”

He added that “prejudicing treatment on the grounds of patients’ gender or their responsibility for their condition would run counter to the most basic principles of ethical medical practice”.

Shazia Ovaisi, a GP in north London, said one of her male Muslim contemporaries at medical school failed to complete his training because he refused to examine a woman patient as part of his final exams.

“He was academically gifted, one of the best students, but gradually he got in with certain Islamic groups and started to become more radical,” said Ovaisi.

“You could see there was a change in his personality as time went by. During the final exams he was supposed to treat a female patient in hospital. He refused to do it, even though it would have been a very basic examination, nothing intrusive.

“But he refused and as a result he failed his exams. I was quite shocked and disappointed about it because I don’t see there being anything in our religion that prohibits us from examining male and female patients.”

Both the Muslim Council of Britain and Muslim Doctors and Dentist Association said they were aware of students opting out but did not support them.

Dr Abdul Majid Katme, of the Islamic Medical Association, said: “To learn about alcohol, to learn about sexually transmitted disease, to learn about abortion, it gives us more evidence to campaign against it. There is a difference between learning and practising.

“It is obligatory for Muslim doctors and students to learn about everything. The prophet said, ‘Learn about witchcraft, but don’t practise it’.”
Posted by: mrp || 10/07/2007 18:25 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Global Jihad

#1  Two words: No. License.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 18:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Some Muslim medical students are refusing to attend lectures or answer exam questions on alcohol-related or sexually transmitted diseases because they claim it offends their religious beliefs.

Seems like just about everything offends muslim religious beliefs. If everything offends your religious beliefs, it is time to question your religion.
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/07/2007 19:23 Comments || Top||

#3  do not finance any of these asshole's studies, instead, deport them to the Shitholeistan wher ethey will be equally unable to address these sae ills. At least they are providing a list...nice of them to do that without profiling...
Posted by: Frank G || 10/07/2007 19:37 Comments || Top||

#4  If they don't want to learn and actually be a fucking doctor instead of a 7th century hack that kills people on the side, then they need to be deported back to their own country via C-130.

Sans parachute from 20,000 ft.
Posted by: DarthVader || 10/07/2007 19:38 Comments || Top||

#5  jeebus...PIMF. Still pumped over the Charger's win....My apologies
Posted by: Frank G || 10/07/2007 19:39 Comments || Top||

#6  If everything offends your religious beliefs, it is time to question your religion.

What if questioning your religion offends your religious beliefs?
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 20:04 Comments || Top||

#7  Insist that your doctor is not a muslim.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/07/2007 20:34 Comments || Top||

#8  islamic bliss is ignorance
Posted by: Phinater Thraviger || 10/07/2007 20:59 Comments || Top||


Expert: Racism alive in France
Racism in France is "alive, pernicious and most of its victims are French citizens from visible minorities, not immigrants," the UN's independent expert on minority issues said on Monday.

"Because of the colour of their skin, their religion, their surname or their address, these young people in France see no chance of social mobility" said Gay J McDougall, after a ten-day visit to the country.

"...People who work hard, play by the rules and believe in the ethos of the Republic, yet find themselves trapped in ghettos, isolated in enclaves where the unemployment rate can reach 40%," she said.

Members of visible minorities "feel discriminated against and rejected by a rigid preconceived idea of 'French-ness' which they don't correspond to", she added.


News24
Posted by: lotp || 10/07/2007 10:16 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Of course, it's all our fault. Glad the UN is here to teach us the errors of our way. Thank you sir, can I have an another one?
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/07/2007 10:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Expert: Racism alive in France

Too right! Racism is directed against these victims "Because of the colour of their white skin, their Christian religion, their French surname or their address outside the banlieues ...

All fixed.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 10:42 Comments || Top||

#3  AND they're off.
African Yoots jumps out to an early lead, always a fast runner and strong finisher. Followed by Denial and Appeasment Never Works. Car-b-que moves up on the outside with Nightly Riots. It's African Yoots, Car-b-cue, Denial, and More Denial. And here comes Racism working its way through the pack. Its Car-b-que, Nightly Riots and Racism. Coming toward the wire, its Car-b-que on the rail, African Yoots and Denial neck and neck and on the outside Racism. Closing in the final stretch, its Appeasment Never Works, More Police On The Streets, and Racism. And in the end, its Civil War, Go Back Where You Came From, and France Is For The French.
Posted by: wxjames || 10/07/2007 12:29 Comments || Top||

#4  Brilliant, wxjames!
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 12:32 Comments || Top||

#5  An experrt from the UN. The organization who has Koffi Anan as its chairman. Enough said.
Posted by: JFM || 10/07/2007 15:45 Comments || Top||


Dutch treat for Ayaan Hirsi Ali! Protection pulled.
Posted by: 3dc || 10/07/2007 00:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Global Jihad

#1  I'm surprised that the AEI didn't make some connections to have security provided for her in the US. If nothing else, putting her on the Justice Department WPP would be an excellent opportunity to put her somewhere safe, then use her name for bait to attract murderous Muslims in the US into an FBI trap.

It's almost like hunting in a baited field. Let it slip out that she is living alone in a rural house, out in the middle of nowhere. To get there, the attempted murderers would have to follow an elaborate path to show their intentions, and would carry weapons or explosives onto a restricted federal reservation.

Just being there with weapons could get them ten to twenty years in federal prison.

Unless they really wanted to mess with them. Then say she is living in some chemical weapons storage depot, where the guards are authorized to shoot intruders until they are *sure* they are dead.

If the FBI was cagey about it, they could round up a good 20 or 30 attempted murderers every year.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/07/2007 0:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Look, she got a year at the Dutch government's expense, even though it was their fault she had to leave. The Dutch stereotypically are penny pinchers, so it's no surprise they did only as much as necessary to make her go away quietly. The American Enterprise Institute saved the cost of a year's worth of bodyguarding, Ms. Ali is nicely settled in her new home, so everyone wins.

Agreed about hunting the baited field, though.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/07/2007 11:50 Comments || Top||


European Court to decide on the fate of religion classes
The European Court of Human Rights will issue its verdict Tuesday on a case brought forward by two Alevi Turks against compulsory religion lessons in Turkish schools.

The plaintiffs say that the religion courses that have a uniquely Sunni perspective violate articles of the European Convention on Human Rights guaranteeing liberty of faith and education rights. They also claim that different religions are treated differently despite the principle of secularism and want religion lessons to be removed from the obligatory course list.

The Turkish government defends itself saying that the lessons in question are not lessons on religion per se, but provides cultural knowledge on morals and religion. The court's decision will be important, as it will set an example for similar cases in the future.

Posted by: lotp || 10/07/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Global Jihad


Turkey denies airspace to Iraq-bound airline
Turkey has turned down a request by a private German company to use Turkish airspace for flights bound for northern Iraq because it objects to the name of the carrier: “Kurdistan Airlines”.

Diplomatic sources told the Turkish Daily News on Thursday that the Turkish side did not want to grant use of its airspace to an airline that uses the name "Kurdistan," a politically charged reference to land inhabited by millions of Kurds in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq. The German government, acting as a mediator between the private German company Hamburg International and Turkey, passed on the request to Turkish authorities who refused the use of Turkey's air corridor for the airlines' flights to northern Iraq.

Hamburg International confirmed that Turkish authorities have "temporarily" withdrawn its overflight permits for flights between Germany and Iraq. "Those flights have already been operating on this route twice weekly on average since 2005. All such flights are conducted as charter flights on behalf of the tour operators Everest Travel and Zozik Air," an official for the company told the TDN.

The same official added, "For the time being, we have chosen to use the airspace of neighboring countries for this operation." Greek Cyprus is known to be one of the countries through which Hamburg International is routing flights to Iraq.

Diplomatic sources told the TDN that after Turkey rejected the request, Hamburg International discontinued cooperation with "Kurdistan Airlines". However, the official from Hamburg International declined to comment on this issue.

Turkey has not always opposed private flights to northern Iraq. Previously a private Turkish airline company, Fly Air, wanted to launch flights to the northern Iraqi cities of Arbil and Sulaymaniyah. Turkish officials said at the time there was no obstacle for direct flights to Baghdad or any other Iraqi cities. In this instance, the name “Kurdistan Airlines” seems to have been the main source of concern for Ankara.
Posted by: lotp || 10/07/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So if they change the name to "F*ck You Airlines" it'll be OK?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 10/07/2007 0:27 Comments || Top||

#2  I wonder when the Islamic world will finally realize that the West translates "offended Muslims" into "thin-skinned flaming assholes"?
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 7:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Very big money is being made in Iraq by the Turks, very, very big money. Since all Turkish contractors (and airlines) operate in Iraq at the pleasure of the US and Iraqi gummits, I suspect a little Department of State arm twisting whould be in order, it's the least they can do.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/07/2007 7:41 Comments || Top||

#4  suspect a little Department of State arm twisting whould be in order, it's the least they can do.

Given Germans stand on Iran, why?
Posted by: gromgoru || 10/07/2007 7:49 Comments || Top||

#5  And they wouldn't want to threaten their pensions.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 10/07/2007 8:02 Comments || Top||


Batasuna calls raid a 'declaration of war'
A senior leader of Basque separatist group Batasuna has called the arrest of 23 key members a "declaration of war" by the Spanish government. Pernando Barrena is the only top leader still at liberty following a police raid on a party meeting on Thursday.

Batasuna was banned in 2003 for failing to condemn violence and cut links to Eta, which has killed more than 800 people in a four-decade campaign. Eta called off a 15-month ceasefire earlier this year. The separatists want an independent Basque state in northern Spain and south-western France. Mr Barrena told journalists at a press conference in the northern Basque city of San Sebastian that Thursday's arrests were "kidnappings".

"This police operation uncovers the decision of the Spanish government, which is to issue a total declaration of war against Basque independence," Mr Barrena said.

The Segura raid was on a secret executive committee meeting. "The repression will not make us back down," he said.

Thursday's raid in the town of Segura was ordered by top anti-terrorism judge Baltasar Garzon. He led the move four years ago to ban Batasuna. Mr Barrena said the raid on the secret executive committee meeting was because of Batasuna's hardline approach to peace talks. Judge Garzon is expected to question the detained members on Sunday.

On Friday, hundreds of people protested in Basque towns and cities against the arrests.

Thursday's operation was the latest in a four-month crackdown against Basque separatists that has included the arrest of Batasuna's leader, Arnaldo Otegi, on charges of "glorifying terrorism". Before Batasuna was banned in 2003, it represented about 15% of the people in the Basque region on local councils and in the regional government.
This article starring:
Baltasar Garzon
Batasuna
Pernando Barrena
Posted by: lotp || 10/07/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There are a lot of people in Spain who would be glad to break it up into its ethnic regions, not just the Basques. Especially Catalans and Galicians.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/07/2007 10:51 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Judge halts Iraq war traitor objector’s court-martial
TACOMA, Wash. - A federal court judge has temporarily blocked a court-martial scheduled to start Tuesday for an Iraq war objector based at Fort Lewis.

First Lt. Ehren Watada is charged with refusing to deploy to Iraq. His lawyers argue the Army is violating his constitutional rights by trying him twice for the same crime.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle
A Bush appointee (June 07)
ruled he has jurisdiction to issue the stay and that Watada's double-jeopardy claim is not frivolous.

“This is a remarkably clear case of an egregious violation of the double-jeopardy clause,” Watada’s lawyers, James Lobsenz and Kenneth Kagan, wrote in an emergency motion to block the court-martial.

Watada has said the war is illegal and that he would be party to war crimes if he served in Iraq.
Don't forget that he enlisted after the war started. He knew what he was getting into.
The Army, which refused his request to be posted in Afghanistan or elsewhere, declared his first court-martial a mistrial in February, over the lieutenant’s objections.

The Army Court of Criminal Appeals has ruled that Watada can be court-martialed again, but Watada appealed that decision to the U.S. Circuit Court for the Armed Forces, which has not ruled, his attorneys wrote.
And then he, at the same time, appealed to this Federal judge?
Watada’s attorneys also asked that he be allowed to leave the Army. Watada’s term of service ended in December, but the pending legal proceedings have prevented his discharge.

He lives in Olympia and continues to perform administrative duties at Fort Lewis, south of Seattle.
Hopefully just shuffling papers of a non-important matter. I wouldn't trust him to handle my toilet paper.
“The only reason he’s still in the Army is that the Army will not let him leave while there’s discipline pending,” Kagan said.
Wouldn't the military lose jurisdiction if they cut him loose?
“The government has followed the law and rules throughout the process of bringing this case to trial,” the Army said in a statement released by Fort Lewis spokesman Joe Piek. “The U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals in Ballston, Va., determined that this case was not prohibited by double jeopardy and may properly proceed to trial. The Court issued its ruling after considering comprehensive briefs and arguments from the parties.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/07/2007 10:02 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sorry judge, the Congress, under Article I, makes the rules here, no matter what you like. Remember even SCOTUS sent the detainee issue back to Congress, because that is the demarcation line between Constitutional authority. Another shining example of your new aristocracy [just remember that law schools discriminate on who gets into the ruling new ruling and who doesn't] sticking its fingers into what it thinks rather than follow the printed word. There will allows be 'issues' that they rationalize for another intrusion of their power authority.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/07/2007 11:19 Comments || Top||

#2  oops

..who gets into the ruling class and...
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/07/2007 11:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Every time Watada is mentioned in news blogs someone should post a link to what the unit he was supposed to serve with did, and the casualties from their action against Al Qaeda and insurgents.

It would be great if someone could do this research so we could link to it. When readers reflect on Watada's political convictions, they should understand the sacrifices of the men he was chosen to lead in combat against sworn enemies of the United States.
Posted by: Penguin || 10/07/2007 14:16 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Bush Says Interrogation Methods Aren't Torture
Posted by: Fred || 10/07/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Global Jihad

#1  I wonder if those people who jumped to their deaths from 80+ stories or stayed behind on 9/11 and were burned alive would give a damn?
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/07/2007 6:51 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm reading Flyboys, and am at the Japanese torture of the Doolittle Raid captives. Perhaps some of the clowns asking the question again and again need to read more.
Posted by: Bobby || 10/07/2007 16:23 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Imam: Lal Mosque to be repainted red "with our own blood" if necessary
"There can be no compromise. If our demands are not fulfilled, we cannot guarantee that there will be law and order"
The new imam at Islamabad's oldest mosque, the scene of a July "massacre" of up to 1,000 female students by police commandos, yesterday told the first Friday prayer service since the mosque reopened that the building would be repainted red "with our own blood" if necessary. At least 10,000 worshippers knelt in prayer at the Lal Majid, or Red Mosque, which was repainted yellow during an earlier attempt by authorities to patch bullet holes and reopen the mosque under government control.

The congregation yesterday spilled out onto an adjacent four-lane boulevard with a tree-lined median, where men in white skull caps knelt shoulder to shoulder as Abdul Ghaffar, the chief imam who survived the July 10 raid in which the former leader died, gave the traditional Friday sermon. "It should be painted again red because red is the color of the blood we shed. If the government doesn't do it, we will repaint it with our own blood," said Mr. Ghaffar, who took over the mosque this week under orders of the Pakistani Supreme Court.

He said a sprawling girls' seminary adjacent to the mosque, where many if not most of the victims are thought to have died, must be rebuilt.

"There can be no compromise. If our demands are not fulfilled, we cannot guarantee that there will be law and order. There will be protests, unrest and we may have to use our last option," he said — possibly a cryptic reference to threats to unleash "waves of suicide bombers" made by the former chief imam, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who died in the raid.

Posted by: Seafarious || 10/07/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [13 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Lal Mosque to be repainted red "with our own blood" if necessary

Please. It's necessary. Trust me, I wouldn't lie to you.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 0:09 Comments || Top||

#2  "Lal Mosque to be repainted red 'with our own blood'"

Works for me.

The sooner the better.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 10/07/2007 0:22 Comments || Top||

#3  In one afternoon! Two coats!
Posted by: Franz Liebkind || 10/07/2007 0:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Very likely the best idea this guy ever had!
Posted by: Dave S. || 10/07/2007 1:27 Comments || Top||

#5  Where can I donate some 6" paintbrushes?
Posted by: gorb || 10/07/2007 6:21 Comments || Top||

#6  So what's the bad news?
Posted by: Guillibaldo Spaitle1733 || 10/07/2007 7:28 Comments || Top||

#7  What will they use for primer?
Posted by: Raj || 10/07/2007 8:49 Comments || Top||

#8  Well Raj, the color folks at HGTV, highly recommend a deep red primer anytime you're going for red on the walls. That way you can avoid having to do several coats of paint. On the other hand, multiple coats maybe what you want. Extra work, but the results....
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/07/2007 10:06 Comments || Top||

#9  Just repainting was not good enough. The government should have replaced all the leaders in the mosque with government bureaucrat Imams, trained in giving Episcopalian quality (mind numbingly boring) sermons.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/07/2007 10:39 Comments || Top||

#10  ...you missed a spot over there...send out Rage Boy with a bucket.
Posted by: Phinater Thraviger || 10/07/2007 11:32 Comments || Top||

#11  Contemporary news reports confirmed the armed status of the terrorists, and All were male. There is no evidence that the army massacred unarmed females. That mosque would have been easy to infiltrate, thus
the Pakistan military would have known how to overwhelm enemy chokepoints.
Posted by: McZoid || 10/07/2007 18:11 Comments || Top||

#12  Let's hope the monsoons come at the same time the painting begins, so they'll have to apply ten or twelve coats. A pint will cover about 20 square feet, if applied correctly. The human body contains about 20 pints, I believe. Of course, blood dries to an almost black appearance, so fresh coats will be required periodically. I've got a couple of sharp knives, if they're needed...
Posted by: Old Patriot || 10/07/2007 18:40 Comments || Top||

#13  I love when a plan comes together.
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/07/2007 19:29 Comments || Top||

#14  It warms the heart to see how you've all eagerly joined in to support this effort.
Posted by: wxjames || 10/07/2007 19:50 Comments || Top||

#15  Hmmm....lemme see....45000 square feet of exterior surface area to be painted.....and I guess you get about 300 square feet to a gallon of blood, give or take the blood type.....so....carry the three......about 150 gallons......say around 3/4 gallon yield per muzzie......got it.

Round up approximately 200 muzzie volunteers Ghaffar. We can find some folks to bleed them for you.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 10/07/2007 21:17 Comments || Top||

#16  How many terrorists does it take to paint the Lal Mosque?
Posted by: gorb || 10/07/2007 23:35 Comments || Top||


New Lal Masjid imam implies suicide bombing warning
The imam of Lal Masjid in Islamabad, reports the Washington Times, issued an implied warning of launching suicide bombers if “our demands” are not fulfilled. In his Friday sermon, according to the report filed from the capital, imam Abdul Ghaffar said, “There can be no compromise. If our demands are not fulfilled, we cannot guarantee that there will be law and order. There will be protests, unrest and we may have to use our last option.”
Perv's government went through this sort of nonsense for month after month before these loons finally got to be intolerable. At that point, they cleaned them out. Then they patched up all the bullet holes, applied a fresh coat of paint, and invited the same loons back in to start up fresh at the old stand. It seems like we're plumbing new depths of stupidity here, but I'm sure there's really a reasonable explanation. I just can't imagine what it is.
The correspondent filing the report saw that as “possibly a cryptic reference to threats to unleash ‘waves of suicide bombers’ made by the former chief imam, Abdul Rashid Ghazi,” who died in the raid launched by security forces to oust militants holed up inside the mosque in July.
Posted by: Fred || 10/07/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  If our demands are not fulfilled, we cannot guarantee that there will be law and order. There will be protests, unrest and we may have to use our last option.

This threat should be the last statement that individual ever makes.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 7:17 Comments || Top||


Musharraf warns India not to meddle in Pakistan
President General Pervez Musharraf on Saturday warned India not to fund anti-Pakistan elements otherwise both the countries could return to old confrontation, Business Plus television reported. He said there might be a possibility of India funding the insurgency in Balochistan. He said Pakistan needed to review its attitude towards Israel and should try to improve its relations with it.

Ruling out the possibility of martial law in the country, he said there was complete harmony between him and newly appointed Vice Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. He said the current political atmosphere didn’t suit martial law. He said the purpose of forming the National Security Council (NSC) was to avoid any confrontation between the army chief and the prime minister.

Musharraf said that 30,000 policemen were being commissioned in Balochistan to help counter terrorism and modernise the police force. He said the military operation in the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) was underway to eradicate militants’ hideouts in the area. He said Dr Ayesha Siddiqa had given wrong facts in her book “Military Inc”. “She wrote the book in India and has an anti-Pakistan agenda,” he added. He said the army was not usurping the country’s economics, adding that flour, oil and other eatables were cheaper in Pakistan than India.
Posted by: Fred || 10/07/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  'Cuz we all know that the goose's sauce can never be served with the gander.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 7:20 Comments || Top||


Maulana Fazlullah, TNSM demand Shariah in Malakand
The Tehrik-e-Nifaz Shariah Muhammadi (TNSM) and local cleric Maulana Fazlullah on Saturday demanded a grand peace jirga in Swat district adopt Shariah (Islamic Law) in Malakand Division, saying peace could not be restored in the region without an Islamic system in place. The jirga, however, ignored their demands and asked Swat’s political, religious and social welfare organisations’ leaders to submit the names of their representatives for another jirga to be held in three days. This jirga, it was decided, would make recommendations to the government for the restoration of peace in Swat Valley.

Swat District Coordination officer (DCO) Syed Mohammad Javed, Swat SSP Mohammad Iqbal Khan, district leaders from the Awami National Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, MNA Qari Abdul Bais, leaders of the banned TNSM organisation, local clerics and journalists attended the grand jirga. The TNSM activists also demanded the release of their leader, Sufi Mohammad, who was arrested and detained by the government of Pakistan while crossing the Pak-Afghan border after illegally entering Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban against US-led forces.

Addressing the jirga, Swat DCO Mohammad Javed said the jirga would continue its struggle for peace in the Swat Valley. He said the selected jirga would propose recommendations for bringing peace, which would be forwarded to the administration for further action. The jirga members also criticised the DCO and the local administration for presiding over the worst law and order situation in Swat. They said the administration had failed in maintaining law and order and made them accountable for the situation in the district.
Posted by: Fred || 10/07/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: TNSM

#1  One day—when this world regains its sanity—a demand by anyone for the installation of sharia law will represent an instant death sentence.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 7:23 Comments || Top||

#2  The mere mention of the accursed word should herald the arrival of thermonuclear fire...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 10/07/2007 9:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Every time "Sharia" is mentioned ask if we can reinstall "The Inquisition" If not, why not, set them on the muslims, peoblem solved.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 10/07/2007 13:31 Comments || Top||


70 Algerian detainees in Pakistan face unknown fate
A total of 70 Algerians were arrested by Pakistani security agencies between January 2002 and May 2006, according to a study by the Pak Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS). The 70 Algerians were among 1,000 Al-Qaeda suspects. Of them 86 came from Saudi Arabia , 20 from Morocco , 22 from the United Arab Emirates , 11 from Libya , 7 from Kuwait , 20 from Egypt , 28 from Indonesia , 18 from Malaysia , and 36 from the West Asian countries. They also included 18 citizens of Western countries: 5 from the United States, 2 from Australia and 11 from the United Kingdom, said the same study. They also included an unknown number of French and German citizens. More than 300 suspects were arrested in Kohat, Peshawar, Fasialabad, Lahore, Karachi, and Quetta in Pakistan.

On the other hand, the study said the Pakistani government has announced the arrests of only 660 Al-Qaeda operatives. According to a senior official at Pakistani interior ministry, the suspects were arrested by virtue of counter-terrorism law that allows police to detain them for a year without charging them.
Posted by: Fred || 10/07/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


Iraq
Analysis of Shi'ite on Shi'ite Violence
Iraq's most powerful Shiite militia planned and carried out a bloody attack on two of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines in the southern city of Karbala in late August, violence that exposed deep divisions within the Shiite community, according to documents, police and lawmakers involved in investigating the violence.

The fallout from the attack could further splinter Iraq's ruling political alliance and diminish U.S. prospects for bringing stability to Iraq. It also raises troubling questions about the complicity of Iraqi officials with violent militiamen.

The street fighting that broke out in Karbala on Aug. 28 demonstrated that while an escalation of U.S. troops has lessened violence in Baghdad and western Iraq, another conflict is brewing in the south. With British soldiers accelerating their departure from the region, the south is emerging as one of the most vulnerable regions of Iraq.
There is some new news here, really.

The battle that day was instigated by members of the Mahdi Army, the militia led by Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, when its gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades and rifles from neighboring rooftops down into a crowd of thousands of pilgrims who had gathered between the Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas shrines, according to Karbala police investigative documents and Iraqi officials. Government officials loyal to Sadr and Mahdi Army members denied they were responsible for the violence.

But the trauma transcended the death toll, exposing deep rivalries among police, militiamen, religious leaders and the politicians vying for supremacy. More than 580 suspects were rounded up. The killings sparked Sadr's public decision to freeze Mahdi Army operations -- a position welcomed by U.S. military commanders.
And yet, somehow, this is a bad thing?

The details of the violence that day were contested from the beginning. Witnesses described it as clashes between the Mahdi Army and shrine guards, believed to be loyal to the Badr Organization, the armed wing of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, a prominent Shiite political party. The Badr group also denied it was to blame.

On Saturday, in an apparent attempt to calm the Shiite south, the leaders of the two militias, Sadr and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, signed a peace agreement and pledged to work together to avoid bloodshed and confrontation. The document, shown on Iraqi television, stated the need for "protecting and respecting Iraqi blood regardless of the situation or sect," as well as maintaining "friendly feelings and to avoid hatred."

Liwa Smaysim, a top political aide to Sadr, said the pact involved creating joint committees to mediate disputes. The Muslim holy month of Ramadan, typically a time for forgiving grievances, played a role in the timing of the pact, he said.
Instead of splodydoping during Ramadan, they forgive grievances? Now that's news! Much more at link.
Posted by: Bobby || 10/07/2007 07:38 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Mahdi Army

#1  Not much interest, eh? I guess I should've titled it, "Why Mookie Froze Mahdi Army Operations".
Posted by: Bobby || 10/07/2007 16:27 Comments || Top||


Al Hakim and Al Sadr make deal
Shiite politician Abdul Aziz Hakim met with the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr on Saturday to come to an agreement on how to bring bloodshed to an end.

The resulting agreement consists of three points according to a statement made by Al Hakim: "First: the necessity to maintain and respect Iraqi blood [to stop bloodletting] under whatever circumstances or by any party. Bloodletting is contrary to all legislations and morals," it said.

The remaining two points talked about uniting their media and cultural efforts and setting up of a joint committee with provincial branches to keep order between their factions.
Posted by: Fred || 10/07/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Mahdi Army

#1  Bloodletting is contrary to all legislations and morals

And then their lips fell off.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 7:26 Comments || Top||

#2  this deal could, with luck, last two weeks
Posted by: mhw || 10/07/2007 8:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Tater is buying manouvering room, the lying double-crossing son of a polecat. He does not deal unless he is in deep doo doo. Sadr: the herpes sore of the body politic. Sorry for the imagery, but that is what he is. [spit]
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/07/2007 15:22 Comments || Top||

#4  "lying double-crossing son of a polecat"

Whatchoo got against polecats, AP, insulting them that way?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 10/07/2007 15:29 Comments || Top||


Top cleric asks Iraqis not to join anti-Qaeda fight
A top Iraqi Sunni cleric urged Iraqis on Friday not to join U.S.-led forces in fighting al Qaeda, saying they would be helping occupiers against compatriots. "We reject the actions of al Qaeda but they are still part of us ... Ninety percent of al Qaeda are Iraqis," Sheikh Harith al-Dari told Al Jazeera television. "It may be possible to hold a dialogue with them ... and God may help them return to reason."

"From a national, Islamic and rational point of view, it is not allowed to fight alongside occupation forces," said Dari, who heads Iraq's Muslim Clerics Association.

But Dari, whose association groups Iraq's Sunni religious leaders, said self-defence against any al Qaeda attacks was justified. Jordan-based Dari has praised Sunni Muslim insurgent groups but denied direct links with them.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
Some tribal and Sunni insurgent groups have joined the fight against al Qaeda, angered by its indiscriminate killings of civilians and harsh interpretation of Islam.
Posted by: Fred || 10/07/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq

#1  Just blow him up with a IED.
Posted by: 3dc || 10/07/2007 0:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Hiding out in Jordan, huh? attn: CIA, wetworx division...
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/07/2007 0:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Anonymoose, CIA? It is not what it used to be. Now it is a NGO-similic collection of pusillanimous gramscian libruls and neocomms. Not sure who handles nowadays the cruft.
Posted by: twobyfour || 10/07/2007 2:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Count out the CIA -- they'd botch the job then go screaming to the press they're being force to do mean things by the Bush Administration
Posted by: regular joe || 10/07/2007 9:32 Comments || Top||

#5  Who cares how Sheikh Harith al-Dari gets snuffed? Just do it!
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 11:23 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Terrorists Released Despite Chief of Staff's Objection
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/07/2007 10:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Fatah

#1  The only prisoner releases should be directly into a densely seeded minefield.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 11:25 Comments || Top||

#2  I hope they 'RFID'd' these guys.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 10/07/2007 16:27 Comments || Top||


IDF Confirms: Air Force Struck Target Deep in Syria
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/07/2007 10:55 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Assad also said the attack targeted an unused and empty military area: "[Israel] bombed buildings and constructions related to the military, but it's not used, it's under construction, so there are no people in it, there is no army, there is nothing in it."

So, the joke was on Israel. really quite silly. So you see why we wouldn't respond militarily. It's really quite comical, you know...

/baby Assad
Posted by: WTF || 10/07/2007 12:04 Comments || Top||

#2  PRAVDA > TESTING THE SKIES IN SYRIA. Syria claims does NOT desire nuclear weapons - only interested in regional stability.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/07/2007 20:28 Comments || Top||


Fatah Threatens "Catastrophe" if Summit "Fails"
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/07/2007 10:53 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Fatah

#1  What? They want yet another nakba?
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 11:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Israel should announce they recognize Gaza and west bank as a palestinian country. Then, the moment there's attack, tell the world that this unprovoked action is an act of war, declare war on 'Palestine' crush them, kick them all out and annex the land.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 10/07/2007 20:31 Comments || Top||


Don't accept two-state solution, refugees tell Abbas
Representatives of Palestinian refugees warned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas over the weekend against surrendering their "right of return" by accepting a two-state solution during next month's planned US-sponsored peace conference in Maryland. The warning came as former PA prime minister Ahmed Qurei, who is better known as Abu Ala, said the Palestinians would not accept a state that did not include Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

He said the Palestinians would boycott the conference unless an agreement was reached with Israel beforehand on all the "fundamental" issues: the status of Jerusalem, the borders of the future Palestinian state and the problem of the refugees.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, meanwhile, is likely to address the diplomatic process at Sunday's weekly cabinet session, where the ministers are expected to hear assessments on the recent talks between Olmert and Abbas.

Abbas said Saturday that Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams would hold their first meeting on Monday to draft a joint statement on principles for future peace talks ahead of the planned conference in Annapolis.

In a letter to Abbas, Salman Abu Sitta, a prominent spokesman for Palestinian refugees, wrote: "We are aware of the pressure you are facing to abandon the Palestinian position and endorse Israel's vision. But what has drawn our attention more than anything else is Israel's attempt to redefine the idea of the two-state solution. Israel now wants mutual recognition - Israel as the national homeland of the Jews and, on what's left of the land, Palestine as the national homeland of the Palestinians."

Abu Sitta described the Israeli formula as "extremely dangerous," saying it should be rejected by all Arabs. He said accepting this formula would be tantamount to abandoning the Arab right to Palestine and accepting the Jews' ostensible historical and biblical rights to the land.
Posted by: Fred || 10/07/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [25 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority

#1  Is it just me, or does it seem to you that this Mideast peace conference is actually threatening to "do something?" The islamists seem awfully keen for it not to happen.
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/07/2007 0:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Personally, I go for the three state solution: Israel, Jordan and Egypt. No Palestine.
Posted by: Rambler || 10/07/2007 0:37 Comments || Top||

#3  What all of them fail to realize and refuse to understand is that not only do the Jews have biblical rights to the land but their only claim is that it is GOD GIVEN LAND. Every other nation took land by conquest. This land was promised by the creator of the universe. Absolutely nothing shall change that no matter what they try.
Posted by: newc || 10/07/2007 1:26 Comments || Top||

#4  I wonder, what's going to happen to Condi, once Bush's presidency is over?
Posted by: gromgoru || 10/07/2007 7:54 Comments || Top||

#5  She'll return to academia and live well off her Saudi pension, just like everybody else at State and the CIA.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 10/07/2007 7:58 Comments || Top||

#6  The "Two State" solution is a communist inspired charade intended as a stopgap measure aimed at distracting world attention while Palestinian terrorists attempted to commit genocide. Their efforts failed and along with that failure Israel now has every right to discard any and all commitments to this hudna-disguised-as-roadmap. Long ago, the Palestinians—by breaking every promise ever made—forfeited any right to participate in the region. They should be so fortunate as to be ejected alive from their pestilential cesspits in Gaza and the West Bank. What they truly deserve is far, far worse.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 10:25 Comments || Top||


Referendum is only viable solution to Palestine issue: Mottaki
Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki said here on Friday that the “most democratic solution” to the Palestinian problem is to hold a “free referendum” in occupied territories.

“The most democratic way is to ask for the Palestinian nation’s opinion, including Muslims, Christians, and the Jews, so that they can participate in a referendum to determine their own government,” Mottaki told reporters at the World Qods Day rallies. “Such a regime will surely be recognized by all countries in the world,” he added. Now the Zionist regime is experiencing its most desperate situation, he stated.
Posted by: Fred || 10/07/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Breed until they are the majority, then have an election to 'legitimately' take power, then exterminate the minority. It actually makes sense in a way.
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/07/2007 6:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Never mind Palestine, Mottaki---do you think you're going to be alive this time next year?
Posted by: gromgoru || 10/07/2007 7:33 Comments || Top||


Olde Tyme Religion
Saudi Arabia Lectures the EU on Human Rights
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/07/2007 08:33 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Coming soon: Charles Manson opines on family values and community safety.
Posted by: Sigmund Freud || 10/07/2007 11:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Another frickin' snark goldmine of Islamic propaganda:

Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights Commission (HRC) will urge its dhimmified counterparts in the European Union to ask their governments not to link terrorism to Islam and its fanatical obsession with killing Infidels

"And hillbillies want to be called 'Sons of the Soil', but it ain't gonna happen."

and also to issue preferential regulations to undeservedly protect Muslims from completely understandable prejudice and discrimination because of their faith in themselves as this world's self-proclaimed Master Race™.

As opposed to how religious minorities are subjected to "prejudice and discrimination because of their faith" in every single Muslim majority nation on earth.

Among topics up for discussion are “Islamaphobia” and the fear of well-justified detestation that Europeans have of Muslims or Islam as a genocidal death cult masquerading as a religion. People’s general attitudes of appropriate hatred and loathing toward Muslims will also be on the agenda.

Conspicuously absent will be any condemnation of Islamic terrorism or the least mention of reforming shari'a law's religiously sanctioned policy of Abject Gender Apartheid and overwhelming abuse of human rights.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 11:17 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Fatfat slams Nassrallah's blame of Israel for political assassinations
One of Lebanon's anti-Syrian ministers slammed Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday for a speech the previous day in which he said that Israel was responsible for the political assassinations in Lebanon. "In the speech, Hassan Nasrallah, the opposition leader, turned into the failed defense attorney for the Syrians in Lebanon," Minister Ahmed Fatfat told Shark Radio .

Fatfat said that while Israel would "never be absolved of its crimes, the Syrian regime will never be absolved of its responsibility for crimes committed in Lebanon over the last 30 years. If Hassan Nasrallah has proofs of Israel's responsibility for political assassinations, as he claimed yesterday in his speech, he should present them."
Posted by: Fred || 10/07/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  No word from Oprah about Fatfat?
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 0:59 Comments || Top||


'Syria won't hesitate to start a war'
Syria will not hesitate to start a war with Israel in order to restore its control over the Golan Heights, A-Baath, the official newspaper of President Bashar Assad's government, warned Saturday. In an article to mark 34 years since the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War, A-Baath said: "Our people and our leadership are determined to liberate our conquered lands using all means, methods and ways."

Meanwhile, ABC News quoted American officials as saying that the IAF raid in Syria during September was planned for several months and was postponed a number of times due to heavy US pressure. According to the report, Israel presented US officials with satellite imagery which clearly showed North Korean nuclear technology in a Syrian facility. According to a US source, Washington officials were astonished by the imagery and by the fact US intelligence had not picked up on the facility previously. "Israel tends to be very thorough about its intelligence coverage, particularly when it takes a major military step, so they would not have acted without data from several sources," said ABC News military consultant Tony Cordesman.
Posted by: Fred || 10/07/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  "Kick me!"
Posted by: twobyfour || 10/07/2007 0:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Starting a war and losing a war are two separate things. Or not.
Posted by: SteveS || 10/07/2007 0:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Well unless they are fighting right now, they ARE hesitating...
Posted by: imoyaro || 10/07/2007 1:59 Comments || Top||

#4  The Paleos turned on both Jordan and Lebanon, in spite of the hospitality of their host countries. That will happen with Syria if they don't stop playing the Islamofascist card.
Posted by: McZoid || 10/07/2007 6:29 Comments || Top||

#5  And maybe, just maybe, we'll see an end to "asymmetric warfare".
Posted by: gromgoru || 10/07/2007 7:19 Comments || Top||

#6  Yeah, but what does the Archbishoip of Canterbury think about that statement? ..."potentially murderous folly" also?
Posted by: Bobby || 10/07/2007 7:24 Comments || Top||

#7  Washington officials were astonished by the imagery and by the fact US intelligence had not picked up on the facility previously.

I say there Lionel, that's a load of pure bullshit!
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/07/2007 7:24 Comments || Top||

#8  That would be a short war. Israel has really good weapons and troops and Syria has.... crap.
Posted by: DarthVader || 10/07/2007 8:28 Comments || Top||

#9  The Paleos turned on both Jordan and Lebanon, in spite because of the hospitality of their host countries.

Fixed that for ya, McZ. Like all good Muslims, the Palestinians know damn well how the hand that's most difficult to bite is the one that is smacking the ever-living shit out of you.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 10:49 Comments || Top||

#10  Syria will gladly fight a war to "regain" the Golan? Yes, and Florida Atlantic University will proudly walk onto LSU's home turf next week ...
Posted by: Sigmund Freud || 10/07/2007 11:00 Comments || Top||

#11  If the Iranian allied, terrorist promoting Assad clan desires full scale war with Israel - bring it on, and Damascus shall be reduced to a pile of radiating rubble.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 10/07/2007 15:35 Comments || Top||

#12  Off Topic but important. A news post included a link to a Canadian story about a neighborhood that is 100% Muslim. Does anyone doubt that Muslims are exclusivist and supremacist? If you do, then study this link:

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/canada/story.html?id=f8f53e5e-8755-4f50-983b-8d787426c495
Posted by: McZoid || 10/07/2007 18:06 Comments || Top||

#13  TURKEY > ISRAEL may not use Turkey's airspace to attack Syria - Israel must explain 9/6 attack; + WORLDTRIBUNE > TURKEY WARNS IRAQ IS DISINTEGRATING. Fears KURDS will delcare independence or local autonomy from IGA = Baghdad. WAPO > NOTH KOREAN SCIENTISTS HURT FROM ISRAEL ATTACK. Not clear iff any were actually killed albeit Britain's Sunday Times reported post-9/6 Norkies had died from the attack.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/07/2007 21:18 Comments || Top||


U.S. attack against Iran a 'murderous folly': UK archbishop
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has criticized the neoconservatives of the Bush administration and accused them of "potentially murderous folly" for suggesting military action against Syria and Iran. "We do hear talk from some quarters of action against Syria and Iran. I can't understand what planet such persons are living on, when you see the conditions that are already there," the archbishop told the BBC after returning from a visit to Syria and Lebanon. "When people talk about further destabilization of the region and you read some American political advisers speaking of action against Syria and Iran, I can only say that I regard that as criminal, ignorant and potentially murderous folly," he warned.

Williams, who opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, spoke of the human cost of the U.S.-led war, which he said was far worse than is commonly acknowledged. "The events of the last few years have done terrible damage in the whole of this region and many people, I know, do not see the cost in human terms of the war which was unleashed," he said after meeting some of the millions of refugees who had fled.

The spiritual leader of the Church of England described the plight of the Iraqi refugees as "heartbreaking and harrowing" and said the suffering shows Iraq conflict "has done much more damage."

"Every child deserves to grow up in a home that is safe; every child deserves to grow up in a home where there are people around who can be trusted; every child deserves to grow up in a place where they can see a future that is peaceful for them," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 10/07/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Idiot!
The means of war is to make Peace Preferable.
You can't make omelets without breaking egg shell.
Posted by: 3dc || 10/07/2007 0:31 Comments || Top||

#2  And this asshole definitely would know about folly....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 10/07/2007 0:32 Comments || Top||

#3  And who are YOU, again?

You are in charge of the spirit of war? Some apperation of law you believe?

You have the moral right to judge even before action?

Someone needs to get this church under control.
Posted by: newc || 10/07/2007 1:06 Comments || Top||

#4  "Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?!"
Posted by: twobyfour || 10/07/2007 1:23 Comments || Top||

#5  Most excellent, twobyfour!
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 3:43 Comments || Top||

#6  Perhaps the military ought to consult him before they do anything.

"Every child deserves to grow up in a home that is safe; every child deserves to grow up in a home where there are people around who can be trusted; every child deserves to grow up in a place where they can see a future that is peaceful for them," he said.

Except for mine?
Posted by: gorb || 10/07/2007 6:24 Comments || Top||

#7  That's funny, I don't recall the Archbishop ever speaking out against Iran as representing a threat. The explanation lies in civilizational blindness. Somehow these dupes continue to believe that Western intervention in the Middle East prevents that part of the world from being a font of peace and tranquility.
Posted by: Guillibaldo Spaitle1733 || 10/07/2007 6:57 Comments || Top||

#8  That's funny, I don't recall the Archbishop ever speaking out against Iran as representing a threat. The explanation lies in civilizational blindness. Somehow these dupes continue to believe that Western intervention in the Middle East prevents that part of the world from being a font of peace and tranquility.
Posted by: Guillibaldo Spaitle1733 || 10/07/2007 6:57 Comments || Top||

#9  The Anglican communion is on the verge of a breakup. The presenting issue is the US church's aggressive insistence on ordaining homosexuals but more broadly what is at stake is orthodox Christianity vs. those who wish to hold the name of Church while swinging with the cultural breezes.

It is an understatement to say that ++Rowan has been less than a prophetic leader in these events. There might be a prophetic voice to be heard from the church on future conflicts. But his isn't it.
Posted by: lotp || 10/07/2007 7:47 Comments || Top||

#10  #6 and the children of Shderot gorb.
Posted by: gromgoru || 10/07/2007 7:50 Comments || Top||

#11  Wonder if Williams ever met Terry Waite?
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/07/2007 7:51 Comments || Top||

#12  Archbishop Rowan Atkinson is caught between a rock and a hard place. The only allies in Anglicanism that the British church has are the Episcopalians in the US, and the two of them together are only a fraction of the Anglican communion.

And now, with the split in the US, between the Episcopalians and the Anglicans, the Episcopalians are going to be reduced to little more than squishy liberal atheists, who, with nothing more they can do to destroy the Episcopalians, will leave to destroy some other church.

This will leave the British Anglicans high and dry. Especially because their leaders are chosen by the British government, who will continue to appoint leftists and communists to Bishop.

Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/07/2007 10:47 Comments || Top||

#13  It is a measure of how thoroughly the world has changed to see American Episcopal churches in the deep South renouncing the US hierarchy and having their bishops consecrated by the archbishop of the Nigerian Episcopal Church. The effete snobs that sit atop the church hierarchy in both the US and UK are going to find themselves in charge of empty buildings as their former flock seeks a church that teaches Christianity instead of political correctness and liberal psychobabble.
Posted by: RWV || 10/07/2007 11:16 Comments || Top||

#14  Actually, in the US there is some really nasty maneuvering coming out of the Episcopal national headquarters to ensure they get all the property and endowment funds -- and that traditional priests and bishops lose their pensions.
Posted by: lotp || 10/07/2007 12:22 Comments || Top||

#15  #4: "Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest Druid?!"
Posted by: Free Radical || 10/07/2007 15:27 Comments || Top||

#16  #15 priest, Druid, wannabe Imam.
Posted by: gromgoru || 10/07/2007 17:58 Comments || Top||

#17  Moose, Atkinson? Mister Bean would do a better job, of course.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 10/07/2007 20:45 Comments || Top||


Nasrallah: I wish Arabs would invade Palestine
Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Friday that "the occupation of Palestine is one of the greatest tragedies that befell the Arab nation."
Yep. Right up there with the birth of Mohammad, I'd say.
Speaking in Beirut during a ceremony to mark Al-Quds Day, Nasrallah accused Israel of planning for war by launching airstrikes against targets in Syria. "Israel wants to impose its authority on the region. The flyover in Syria is aimed at harming Syria's position" ahead of the US-sponsored peace conference in November, Nasrallah said. "No one doubts that there Israel coordinated the strike with the Americans to draw Syria into war. This is Bush's plan for the region, not a peace plan but a plan for war as he did in Iraq and Lebanon."
Yes, we can all remember vividly how Bush started the war between Israel and Lebanon last year.
Addressing the Arab world he said: "I wish the Arab armies would head toward Palestine, that's a dream.
Seems to me that's how the West Bank and Gaza came to be involved in the equation, wasn't it? And the Golan Heights? And Shebaa Farms?
"'We are a people ready to sacrifice but you have to stand by us and support us,' that's what the Palestinian people said during the intifada."
Fine. Obviously the Arabs need better leadership. Perhaps even a leader with the obvious charisma, intelligence, and favor of Allah of a person such as yourself. Lead, and we'll follow. Right behind you, is where we'll be.
Nasrallah also called on Arab states to boycott the conference, which he said would only benefit Israel. "Had the Palestinian people been supported by the Arab world, it would have succeeded in liberating all the Palestinian lands occupied in 1967," Nasrallah added. "The Zionists established gangs through Britain's aid and occupied Palestinian land, killing, massacring, looting, destroying and establishing their state through occupation and theft," he said.
This article starring:
HASAN NASRALLAHHizbullah
Posted by: Fred || 10/07/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Those who do not learn the lessons of history....


That photo of Nasty cries out for nice concentric red rings. With the bullseye right where his yap-gap is.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 10/07/2007 0:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Well I wish Nasrallah had a coronary too!
A lot of good wishing does.
Posted by: 3dc || 10/07/2007 0:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Why doesn't he lead by example and do it himself? You first, Citizen...
Posted by: imoyaro || 10/07/2007 1:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Yep. Right up there with the birth of Mohammad, I'd say.

Now that's going to leave a mark!
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 7:30 Comments || Top||

#5  PS: Too right, Barbara. We cannot begin offing the big turbans fast enough.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/07/2007 7:32 Comments || Top||

#6  I wish the Arab armies would head toward Palestine, that's a dream.

A dream we share. Though I doubt our dreams end the same.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 10/07/2007 8:22 Comments || Top||

#7  Although I haven't researched it, I don't think Arab armies have been victorious against non-Arab opponents since their expulsion from Spain in 1492. The Turks (absolutely not Arabs) puttered around for another couple of centuries before their high-water mark at Vienna in 1683. In fact, the only battle I can recall Arabs winning is the massacre of the Anglo-Egyptian garrison at Khartoum in 1885. The British sent Field Marshall Kitchner to deal with the Mahdi's followers. Wiped them out. An IDF officer I worked with long ago said that the Israeli's must be God's chosen people because he made their enemies Arab.
Posted by: RWV || 10/07/2007 11:01 Comments || Top||

#8  I wish the Arab armies would head toward Palestine, that's a dream.

Didn't they already try that? Didn't work out too well...


Posted by: john frum || 10/07/2007 12:39 Comments || Top||

#9  Actually, John, they have tried it several times. And they got their butts handed to them each time. That is why Israel now includes Jerusalem.
Posted by: Rambler || 10/07/2007 17:45 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
36[untagged]
5Global Jihad
5al-Qaeda
4Taliban
2Govt of Syria
2Hezbollah
2al-Qaeda in North Africa
2Fatah
2Govt of Iran
2Iraqi Insurgency
2Lashkar e-Taiba
2Mahdi Army
2Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
1Jemaah Islamiyah
1al-Qaeda in Iraq
1Thai Insurgency
1TNSM
1Hamas
1Fatah al-Islam
1Palestinian Authority
1Jamaat-e-Ulema Islami

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2007-10-07
  Support network in Pakistan accused of helping Taliban, others sneak across border to attack U.S
Sat 2007-10-06
  Paleo arrestfest as Hamas, Fatah detain each other's cadres
Fri 2007-10-05
  Korean leaders agree to end war
Thu 2007-10-04
  US-led team to oversee N. Korea nuclear disablement
Wed 2007-10-03
  3 die in explosion at Hamas HQ
Tue 2007-10-02
  Bhutto may allow US military strike
Mon 2007-10-01
  Hamas renews call for cease-fire with Israel
Sun 2007-09-30
  Indian troops corner rebels in Kashmir mosque
Sat 2007-09-29
  Court Lets Perv Run for President
Fri 2007-09-28
  AQI #3 Abu Usama al Tunisi bites the dust
Thu 2007-09-27
  Over 100 Taliban killed in Afghanistan
Wed 2007-09-26
  NWFP govt calls for army's help
Tue 2007-09-25
  Hezbollah, Allies Scuttle Leb Presidential Vote
Mon 2007-09-24
  Pakistan police round up Musharraf opponents
Sun 2007-09-23
  'Commandos captured nuclear materials before air raid in Syria'


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.
3.144.161.116
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (20)    Non-WoT (16)    Opinion (6)    Local News (5)    (0)