Sorry about this - just ...
I was within feet of Howard Dean. Admittedly I was walking past his rally at City Hall, New York to pick up a game for my little sister and had to head back to work, but yeah, the stereotypical protesters were outside there with their posters, Dean 2004 stickers were ALL over the City Hall area, he was working the crowd with his "white shirt/rolled-up sleeves/non-stop handshaking" routine ... and heâs amazingly short in real life. (In comparison to what youâd think he was -- I canât see this man taller than 6â at most, and I think he was 5â10" myself; Iâm 5â4".)
Now if only the cops hadnât made me move along ... *evil look*
Posted by: Lu Baihu ||
09/25/2003 6:01:16 PM ||
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You couldn't have touched him. He's just a hologram. That's why he does so well on the web.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 19:29 Comments ||
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By Zafir Jamaal, JUS
In the border town of Gardez in the province of Paktika, American troops have arrested 12 individuals on the suspicion of being part of the Taliban resurgence and aligned with Mullah Omar. The detainees were transferred to the airbase in Gardez, the main hub for all American prisoners in the area. One key lieutenant of Osama bin Laden is believed to be among them. Of those arrested, most are Arabs who worked for Madina and Jeddah International charities, which have shut down operations as the result of the arrests.
Oh, no! No more ammunition for the widows and orphans?
Sounds like they hit the mother lode of charitable agents...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2003 00:00 ||
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Gee...no more bingo night for the old folks, no moon bounce for the cute li'l kidlets, no bandannas for the puppies or sailor hats for the baby ducks...
A bit stale, from the 20th, but I don't think it's been posted before...
The ruling Peoples General Congress party in Yemen said on its website that the Yemeni authorities expelled in recent days more than 1,000 persons belonging to Arab and foreign states most of them expelled for security reasons. The same source added quoting the police that 1055 foreigners including 558 Somalis, 110 Ethiopians; 94 Sudanese, 14 Syrians, 10 Libyans, 24 Indians were expelled from the country. Pressured by the US, the Yemeni authorities expelled in the context of fighting what is called terrorism more than 1800 persons in 2002.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2003 21:01 ||
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Police have arrested one of 10 suspected al-Qaida militants who escaped from imprisonment in Yemen for the terrorist bombing of the USS Cole, an officer said Thursday. The officer said the fugitive was taken into custody Tuesday in Aden, the port city where he had been detained in connection with the 2000 suicide bombing of the warship, which killed 17 U.S. sailors. The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, refused to identify the man or say how he was re-captured. But worshippers at an Aden mosque told The Associated Press the suspect surrendered to police after negotiations between his family and local officials. The man is the only one of the 10 fugitives returned to custody.
Nine to go, unless he skips again...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2003 20:57 ||
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He won't skip, but he will never stand trial either. He'll know the jog is upwhen he realizes his matress is stuffed with oily rags.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 22:27 Comments ||
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Al-Qaeda organization branch in Yemen stipulated some major conditions to end up its military operations against foreign interests in Yemen, including the withdrawal of Yemen from the international coalition of the war on terrorism, stop hunting down for suspected al-Qaeda militants as well releasing their fellow colleagues in jails. It also puts the condition that Yemen should not permit any foreign military forces to come to Yemen and that it should also terminate its military cooperation with the US. Another condition is that the Yemeni government should not in any way extradite any Muslim citizen of any nationality to another country and that Quranic and other religious schools as well as charitable societies should not be put into trouble by the state. It also dictates there must be a control on the institutions of moral and ethical perversion and that foreigners coming into the country should be informed to abide by the laws, morality and traditions of the community.
In other words, Yemen gets to replace Afghanistan as Qaeda heaven...
In a press statement of which Yemen Times got a copy, al-Qaeda said âin a response to the call of Presidentâs Ali Abdullah Saleh to repent and cease all acts against foreign interests, we are ready to accept the offer honestly and fairly.â
In other words, that's their opening position in negotiations. Yemen must have really hurt them lately...
According to the statement, al-Qaeda stipulates for dialogue and negotiation with the government that one hundred persons of clerics, tribal Sheikhs, political and social dignitaries should be witness on such a move and agreement between the two sides. The statement strongly denied information on agreement between some of al-Qaeda militants in jail and the clerics committee set by president to convince prisoners to give up their extremist and fanatic attitudes and views. It described such information circulated by state media as âlies and nonsense talk that aim to tarnish the image of al-Qaeda in Yemen,â pointing out in a cynical manner that political regime in Yemen as trying to shrug off its shoulders, showing itself as victorious in the war on and being able to extend its experience in this regard to foreign countries, resisted the influence and interventions of the Americans in the internal and mainly more sensitive affairs posted by their embassy and ambassador in Sanaa. It clearly said that al-Qaeda has never conducted contacts or dialogues with the committee.
"Nope. Nope. Wudn't us. We ain't bleedin'. Never laid a glove on us..."
The statement said these conditions are directed to the president in person and if the government abides by them and to avoid embroiling the country into the turmoil of turbulence and accordingly more losses and insecurity and instability, there will be an end to targeting foreign interests in the country. It warned against fallback on the part of the government to fulfill the minutes of the agreement or even falsity. In addition, the statement stressed that this move is not at all a signal of setback or fallback to go on the right path but al-Qeada has taken âthis strategic decision after deep study and to achieve legal goals represented by the conditions.â
"Nope. Ain't bleedin'... Can I use that tourniquet for a minute?"
At the same time, it praised the stands of the president, describing him as the only Arab and Muslim leader who is not an agent for the West or the East but it reminds him that he should not be misled by his âbad cronies and coward clerics.â The statement has recalled the attacks on the US, highly praising Osama Bin Laden and his fellow guys from many countries including Yemen who faced âthe enemyâ and were able to put down the US which, according to the statement was planning to do what it is doing now.
"Yeah. Killing 3000 people just gave 'em an excuse..."
In his comment on the statement and conditions, Judge Hamoud al-Hitar, head of the committee conducting dialogues with extremists, said that some of these conditions can not be negotiated at all, mainly those calling for the withdrawal of Yemen from international coalition fighting terrorism and extradition of citizens in accordance with international treaties. He said that nothing has been done with regards to these conditions some of which, according to al-Hitar, are negotiable.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2003 20:50 ||
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And in return what does Yemen get? How about the chance for JDAM hell to rain down on their heads. Sounds like a good deal to me.
#2
Let's offer AQ a deal: You surrender. Totally, unequivocally, and immediately. You cease all hostile actions anywhere in the world. You disarm, totally, and turn your arms over to those selected by the United States. In return, you will all be removed to a remote island somewhere in the Pacific, and you can live your little shiite dreams and practice your little islamic shar'ia, all you want.
Only, you can never leave. Once you get there, no one else can join you that wasn't with you before. You can take with you whatever you can carry, except you cannot have any modern weapons. Spears, blowguns, and bows will be supplied to you. Enjoy, now, ya'heah?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/25/2003 21:54 Comments ||
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#3
you will all be removed to a remote island somewhere in the Pacific
Hopefully one that's fully submerged at high tide.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/25/2003 22:05 Comments ||
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#4
Dumb. Never take refuge in a place that has a harbor, long unprotected shoreline and a civil service class open to bribery.Us "infidels" have evil creatures called 'Navy Seals' who can come and go and strike when and where they please.
Have these guys noticed the big build up we've been making in djibouti? its right across the way there from Yemen. Isnt Yemen the place we announced to the world that predators dont just watch terrorists, but they shoot at them too?
The only safe place left in the world for these guys is Newark New Jersey.
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
09/25/2003 22:08 Comments ||
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#5
Flush them all into Saudi Arabia. That would be most incovenient for our close frinds the house of Saud.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 22:32 Comments ||
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#6
This boys must be hurting badly...see we're learning from the terrorists. They want to negotiate? That means they are weak and dying. Excellent.
Posted by: R. McLeod ||
09/26/2003 2:17 Comments ||
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Customs inspectors at Shuaiba Port Wednesday seized 1,500 kilograms (1.5 tons) of hashish in the largest-ever drug bust in Kuwait. "The huge quantity of hashish arrived last month at the port from Pakistan in large containers. It was hidden in 300 paint barrels.
Naturally, from Pakland...
The containers stayed in the port and no one came to claim them," sources at the General Department of Customs told the Arab Times.
Originally there were 301 barrels of hash...
"Mahmoud! When're we gonna pick up the other barrels?"
"Don't worry, Ahmed! We still got lots left!"
They said the inspectors became suspicious of the contents of the containers because they were out in the sun for a long time. "After searching the barrels, port inspectors found five kilograms of hashish in every barrel," the source added. The hashish has been sent to the Prosecution and authorities have launched an extensive investigation to identify the owner of the containers. Kuwait has been hosting a meeting of senior GCC officials in charge of fighting drugs over the last three days. It said it was planning to redraw its strategies and upgrade measures in the fight against drug smuggling which has increased at an alarming rate since the 1991 liberation.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2003 20:06 ||
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Does Paki hash have a cool knickname. I remember Lebanese Blond being the hip shit in the 70's. Paki-Paint perhaps.
Al-Qaeda is accusing Kuwait of "conspiring against the Mujahideen (holy fighters) in Iraq by recruiting persons to infiltrate the Mujahideen groups and hurt them from within."
Are they really? I think that's wonderful...
"The United States has formed a joint intelligence committee with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to strike against Mujahideen in Iraq by spying on them or by implanting electronic chips at Mujahideen locations to facilitate accurate hits against them," claimed a communique by al-Qaeda's Islamic Research Center, as quoted by Al-Rai Al-Aam Wednesday. The communique warned the Mujahideen in Iraq against some Iraqis and other volunteers and urged them to be vigilant "to purify their lines of these traitors because the above mentioned three countries are eager to buy the dignity and honor of persons who previously went to Jihad to hit the Mujahideen from within."
Oh, gosh. I hope Mahmoud and Ahmed are okay. We haven't heard from them for awhile...
"Mujahideen in Iraq are urged to execute traitors as an example for other weak souls who try to infiltrate the Mujahideen," said the communique.
Snicker!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2003 19:50 ||
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"The United States has formed a joint intelligence committee with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to strike against Mujahideen in Iraq by spying on them"
With the Saudis involved, it sounds like al Qaeda may be doing some infiltrating of their own...
#2
wouldn't it be wonderful to hint that we were implanting chips in spies? I can see the fun of attempting to dig the suspected ones out with bent butter knifes woo hoo! we got fun
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2003 20:35 Comments ||
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#3
Excellent. Sow the seeds of distrust and watch the organization rot from the inside.
#6
No chips at the back of the neck. They are implanted in the chin. The only way you can be sure whether someone is 'clean' is to shave off the beard (and risk Allah's wrath).
Posted by: Kathy K ||
09/25/2003 21:36 Comments ||
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#7
Who says there's only one chip per person?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/25/2003 22:08 Comments ||
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#8
Last I heard the operational chip was RFID with GPS.
#9
Alright, I warned Abdul. And Mohammed. And Mahmut. And Osman. And the bearded operative whose name I forgot.
Posted by: CIA Man ||
09/25/2003 22:32 Comments ||
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#10
Our operatives will soon be distributing the exploding pencils to our unsuspecting enemies. Comical Ali must be writing this stuff. You don't think those 50 gallon drums of hash were the Comic Man's supply of personal inspiration?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 22:37 Comments ||
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#11
The Nazis wrecked havoc on the Soviets in the mid and late '30s by planting evidence that various Soviet military leaders were actually Nazi spies. Combined with Stalin's natural paranoia and bloodthirstiness, this led to him slaughtering a huge proportion of his own office corps just before the war.
#12
That's dirty pool! I think Al Qaeda should file a grievance with the ACLU.
Posted by: Jeremy ||
09/26/2003 5:06 Comments ||
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#13
Could this be a sign of a crack in the wahhabi influence in the magic kingdom. I've heard reports on talk radio of groups protesting the wahhabi's there. Saying they are "ruining islam" (ya think?).
#14
To all al-qaeda operatives:
The only way to disable the chip is decapitation. Also, the chip can't be detected in any way. Be sure to check everyone!
Posted by: Clark ||
09/26/2003 18:34 Comments ||
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Followup to yesterdayâs post
Embattled European Commission President Romano Prodi says he will not fire senior members of his team over a fraud scandal that has shaken a key EU Agency. After all, if TotalFinaElfâs actions are OK, whatâs wrong with a little graft?
Mr. Prodi told senior members of the European Parliament that that there was no reason to ask any commissioner to take political responsibility and resign over the allegations.
"Nothing to see here. Move along. These aren't the pols you want..."
There have been open calls by some parliament members for EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Pedro Solbes to step down. The economics chief oversees the EU statistics agency, Eurostat, which is accused of gross financial negligence. Mr. Prodi appeared before the closed door inquiry in Strasbourg after an internal report, issued Wednesday, accused top Eurostat executives of creating fictitious contracts and funneling millions of euros into secret bank accounts. Mr. Prodi says the most serious instances of malpractice happened in the 1990s before he took office four years ago. He says he stands by his pledge of "zero tolerance for fraud". uh huh
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2003 3:01:47 PM ||
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Hey, folks! The EU is changing it's name. It's now: Scam Artistes Sans Frontieres.
Coming soon to a continental wallet near you. Good luck, my Euro friends.
#2
Good to see those hard earned tax Euros put to good use!
I'm sure all of those lavish dinners they held were in honor of all of those of the "worker class".
I can just hear the first toast of every dinner. "God Bless the unwashed Euro masses. May they never stop providing these lovely dinners."
Posted by: Paul ||
09/25/2003 15:47 Comments ||
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#3
zero tolerance for fraud
Then why are the French in the EU?
Posted by: Charles ||
09/25/2003 16:16 Comments ||
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#4
Embattled European Commission President Romano Prodi says he will not fire senior members of his team over a fraud scandal that has shaken a key EU Agency.
[...]
He says he stands by his pledge of "zero tolerance for fraud".
Fair enough. Now the questions are: what happens if the allegations can be proven? Will he fire them then?
Ze Phronch, zay are ze fonny race....
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is the Ace of Spades and al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden a Joker in a provocative pack of French playing cards depicting "the 52 most dangerous American officials." Read on. It gets better.
A riposte to the "most-wanted" cards of Iraqi leaders issued to U.S. soldiers, the deck is the latest commercial offering by a radical thinktank whose conspiracy theory account of the September 11 attacks stormed French bestseller charts last year. "Weâve already sold some 2,500 decks. Thatâs not bad considering we couldnât find anyone who was willing to print them at first," said Thierry Meyssan, president of the Paris-based Reseau Voltaire group. I think "Reseau Voltaire" translates as "Whack Job" in English .
"We were shocked by the indecency of the cards distributed by the U.S. military. It was as if arresting people was some kind of game," Meyssan told Reuters on Thursday. Two hundred packs of the original Pentagon devised U.S. cards were sent to U.S. soldiers in Iraq. The American public has since snapped up hundreds of thousands of the decks, which portray Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as the Ace of Spades. The French cards bestow that honor not on President Bush but Rumsfeld. Under his mugshot, he is accused of using the September 11 attacks "to increase military budgets and plan an army in space that could completely dominate Earth." The plan continues... "Get me the Space Army on the hot line!"
As King of Diamonds -- the suit chosen to represent economic power in the U.S. administration -- Bush is described merely as "head of a baseball club... designated president of the United States by friends of his father at the Supreme Court."
In the 2000 election, the Court stopped a potentially decisive recount in Florida, a move that handed the presidency to Bush. Thanks, Dad! Wish my father had friends on the Supreme Court so they could pick me to be president, too.
Osama bin Laden, whose al Qaeda network Washington blames for the September 11 attacks on U.S. landmarks, is a Joker described as "a CIA agent charged...with provoking a clash between the âArab-Muslimâ and âJudaeo-Christianâ worlds." This is probably a picture of The Evil Karl Rove dressed up for the White House Halloween party.
Meyssan won notoriety for his book "LâEffroyable Imposture" ("The Appalling Fraud"), which suggested U.S. military insiders were probably behind the September 11 attacks. I thought it was the great Mossad- Skull and Bones- Halliburton- CIA- Walt Disney conspiracy? Wish these people would get their stories straight.
#2
"L'effroyable imposture" sold 250 000 ex., which is very good for a book around here. The reseau voltaire is a left-leaning ngo specializing in fascism watch and threats to secularism, which used to be very positive in my eyes.
Meyssan is also known for his pro-gay rights stance, for his insider critiscism of free masonry (he was the main "unnamed" source for a contreversial book about Fm & corruption) and his denonciation of the militia-type order service of the Front national (his work was used for a parlementary inquiry), so he used to have credibility. According to a book countering his thesis (which sold about 20 000 ex....), "The appalling lie", he has alleged ties with the larouchians. Methink he is linked to french intelligence, and used as an useful idiot for propaganda value. Yup, that's a conspiracy theory.
#4
We need to investigate Jerry Lewis. He's at the root of this whole anti-American thing that's rolling through France. They finally realized that the Nutty Professor sucks and now they're holding it against us.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 13:31 Comments ||
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#5
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is the Ace of Spades and al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden a Joker in a provocative pack of French playing cards depicting "the 52 most dangerous American officials."
So the French are parroting an American idea. Behind the ball, as always.
#7
Good, now we have a deck of cards to solidify the complete insanity of the French.
Posted by: g wiz ||
09/25/2003 14:11 Comments ||
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#8
For the note Meyssan is the head of Reseau Voltaire: a strongly anti--religion
organization who organized a demonstration against the coming of the Pope to Paris. Eighty
persons showed up to that demonstration. Despite
the laughable numbers one of them got interviewed
in the radio.
I have been told that before Reseau Voltaire, Thierry Meyssan had become rich in the porn industry.
#9
I have been told that before Reseau Voltaire, Thierry Meyssan had become rich in the porn industry.
Fluffer or jizz-mopper?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/25/2003 16:18 Comments ||
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#10
RC? LOL ;-0
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2003 16:28 Comments ||
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#11
Meyssan won notoriety for his book "LâEffroyable Imposture" ("The Appalling Fraud"), which suggested U.S. military insiders were probably behind the September 11 attacks.
Didn't the GIA plan to fly a plane into the Eiffel Tower in the mid 90s? Were France's spooks behind this attempt?
Posted by: Dave ||
09/25/2003 17:18 Comments ||
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#12
US military involvement?
I think Gen Shelton put the lie to that one yesterday.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 18:45 Comments ||
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#13
This will be tough to counter - there aren't 52 Phrench worthy of note... and those that are, well, they're all Jokers.
I have heard, .com, that the only way you can get a deck of these cards is to redeem ten French wine snap-caps for them.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/25/2003 21:20 Comments ||
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#14
Old Patriot, don't forget Jonny Depp and Woody Allen. Count their enablers and slide in liely suspects that reside in Quebec.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 22:40 Comments ||
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#15
This is gonna end up being like that STERN cover showing Bush as Rambo, Condi as Xena, ect.: something that the Euros think is a great insult, but that most Americans think is funny and cool, in a kitschy kinda way... I'm a huge Bush supporter ( I could say that I was a big fan of Bush, but people might get confused, hehe...) and I'd LOVE one of these.
Posted by: Dave Paglia ||
09/25/2003 23:08 Comments ||
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SWEDISH police today arrested a new suspect for the murder of foreign minister Anna Lindh, and cleared a man they had been holding, chief prosecutor Agneta Blidberg said. Per Olof Svensson, who had been arrested on September 16, was "no longer suspected of the murder", Blidberg said. "Another man has been arrested." The man arrested today, whose name has not been disclosed, had been detained on a higher degree of suspicion than had Svensson, Blidberg said. She said the reasons for his arrest could not be disclosed at present.
"I can say no more!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2003 00:03 ||
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Whether he is innocent or not, I expect the media to continue to investigate the other guy. That bi-sexual neo-nazi action is what made the Springer Show a ratings leader.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 11:05 Comments ||
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#3
A 24-year-old man of Yugoslavian origin who has a history of knife attacks is being held by Swedish police probing the murder of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh. The man, apparently of Yugoslav origin, has prior convictions of stabbing his father repeatedly in the back with a knife, illegal gun possession and making threatening phone calls to two women, court documents show.
"Mr. Springer, your call to Sweden is on line one."
Posted by: Steve ||
09/25/2003 13:38 Comments ||
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A journalist working for the Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV network who has been detained in Spain since early September had a key role in Al Qaeda, a Spanish newspaper said Tuesday quoting FBI and Spanish police sources. According to Barcelona-based La Vanaguardia daily, the FBI and Spanish police concluded that Taysir Alouni, 56, was "in charge of Al Qaeda propaganda for Europe and the United States." Alouni, who is of Syrian origin but has a Spanish passport, is one of 35 persons indicted last week by Spanish anti-terror judge Baltasar Garzon with links to or membership of Al Qaeda. During the US-led war in Afghanistan, Alluni has become a celebrity in the Arab world with his exclusive reports from Taliban-held territory. Al Jazeera has rejected all charges against Alouni and stated "he is being hunted for reporting the truth."
Al Qaeda owns part of their staff, Sammy owned another part... Yep. That's independent journalism.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2003 00:00 ||
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I would sure like to see Al Jazz blown wide open. But you know, that the "Arab Street" (haven't seen the term around lately) would say,
"Lies, all lies!â¢"
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/25/2003 0:44 Comments ||
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#2
that the "Arab Street" (haven't seen the term around lately) would say, "Lies, all lies!â¢"
I think the 'angry' Arab street has been 'blown away' somewhere in the Sunni Triangle.
Posted by: Charles ||
09/25/2003 2:45 Comments ||
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#3
Guess we'll have to call this guy "Scoop" Alouni. Has all the inside dope.
Al-Jiz must be where all the Al Qaeda PR guys intern...
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat receives a framed portrait of American peace activist Rachel Corrie from her parents Cindy and Craig Corrie at Arafatâs office in the West Bank town of Ramallah Thursday Sept. 25, 2003. Corrie was run over and crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer on March 16, 2003, while she was trying to stop it from tearing down a smuggling tunnel building in the Rafah refugee camp, witnesses said. What the FUCK is WRONG with these people!?
Hat tip LGF
UK supporters of non racist website Little Green Footballs to meet at London venue. It may be significant that the venue of choice for high-minded political discussion among the supporters of the racist website litte green footballs is an Oxford Street comic book store, but that shouldnât put people off going along. LGF, for those who donât know it, is a website for rabidly anti-Arab, anti-Muslim right-wingers who stir up hate and spread distortions at every opportunity. Self-deception there.
Highly versed in coordinating their attacks on media outlets that dare to question, say, the legitimacy of the war in Iraq, LGF supporters have also proven themselves a major pest on Indymedia websites all over the world. Good!
By posting racist comments, hurling abuse and generally clogging up servers with rubbish these people have blackened the atmosphere of free discussion and grassroots information exchange. All those who can should try to attend some of these meetings and talk to the people who support such a rabidly racist website in order to find out more about them, what drives them and who they are supported by. These now-lipless beauzeaux are just so schtoopid. Whatâs in their water!?
#1
Anyone adventuring hypothesis about why the "antiracists" of Indymedia care so little about
the South-Sudanese? Because it is not fashionable? Because unlike the Palis they don't have friends with oil? Because they don't care about a bunch of niggers blacks? No, it can't be that.
#3
Great! Looks like LGF's flypaper strategy will pay off!
Posted by: Dar ||
09/25/2003 16:43 Comments ||
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#4
I rebutted the LGF article at IndyMedia in their "comments" section. Not being familiar with their site, could anyone tell me what the odds are that my post there will end up being deleted and/or cause me to receive tons of hate mail?
#8
"blackened the atmosphere of free discussion and grassroots information exchange"
yeah that's indymedia... all supportive of free speech.. as long as its in support of communism!
grr... it really cheese me off that the commissar wannabes cry free speech all the time, yet deny it at all opportunities...
i believe in the golden rule... if you advocate for m-l/maoism/... you should get treated according to the rules you advocate... so libertarians don't get taxed or held to drug laws, while the authorities can rape, torture, kill, whatev to communists and such, since that's what they advocate... do unto others and all
Edward W. Said, a Columbia University professor and leading spokesman in the United States for the Palestinian cause, has died, his editor at Knopf publishers said Thursday. He was 67. Said died at a New York hospital, said editor Shelly Wanger. He had suffered from leukemia at least since the early 1990s. Donât remember the leukemia being mentioned in the press before now.
Born in 1935 in Jerusalem — then part of British-ruled Palestine — Said spent almost all his adult life in the United States. He wrote passionately about the Palestinian cause [and threw rocks at Israel]
but also on a variety of other subjects — from English literature, his academic specialty, to music and culture.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/25/2003 11:47:55 AM ||
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Good riddance, and no, I don't feel the least bit bad for saying so.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2003 11:50 Comments ||
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#2
Ditto, Frank. One of the original self-haters, he lived in a TFBS* romanticized Arabian phantasy of his own design and provided the current crop of phools and apologists with much of the raw material for their screed. Glad to hear the bubble finally burst.
Brace yourselves--the hagiography is about to start on the left: St. Edward of Said, the tireless freedom fighter, champion of his people, friend to children, brilliant avante garde jazz composer, inventor of the automatic dishwasher, who never met a man he didn't like (except for Jews, of course), . . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
09/25/2003 12:29 Comments ||
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#4
From the longer wire-service version of this report:
Turki al-Hamad, a prominent Saudi intellectual and writer, called [Said's] death a great loss.
"We need intellectuals like Edward Said, especially at this stage we are going through," al-Hamad said. "We Arabs are not rich in such kind of intellectual thinking. He leaves a huge gap in our intellectual life."
Emphasis added. No comment necessary.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/25/2003 12:50 Comments ||
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#5
What the obits haven't mentioned is that Said was the President of the Modern Language Association during a period when they adopted a mind bogglingly complicated and absurd system delineating exactly how and why footnotes, endnotes, references, etc should be cited. Even if he wasn't an apologist for terrorism, I would hate him.
#6
He had suffered from leukemia at least since the early 1990s.
That's the official story anyway.....
Posted by: Charles ||
09/25/2003 15:52 Comments ||
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#7
Re: Turki's comments, they've still got Fouad Ajami & Makiya haven't they? Or are they both persona non grata now, Ajami for supporting the invasion of Iraq & Makiya for the heinous crime of contrasting Arab outrage over Israeli behaviour in the OTs with Arab silence over Saddam's persecution of the Kurds? Arik may not be the most pleasant human being around, but I don't recall him using nerve agents on civilians, but maybe I'm just being forgetful?
Posted by: Dave ||
09/25/2003 16:50 Comments ||
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#13
Somebiody pull my finger so that I can honor his passing with some passing of my own.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 22:44 Comments ||
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#14
Said discussed his cancer on Charlie Rose about a year ago, and I recall Rose mentioning that Said had been afflicted with cancer for some years, so Rose clearly had known about it for some time prior.
#15
This guy will be revered, short-term, by the left. But give it a few years. His writing and his philosophy is bankrupt and based on a fantasy world that he himself has acknowledged does not exist.
He'll be forgotten in a year.
Posted by: R. McLeod ||
09/26/2003 2:30 Comments ||
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U.S. anti-war activists launched a national advertising campaign on Wednesday urging Congress to withhold new funds for Iraq unless the White House agrees to transfer authority to the United Nations. Sure, in a related story hell is going to freeze over Tom Andrews, a former Socialists Democratic representative from Maine and director of the Win Without War coalition group, said the television and print advertisements were designed to force lawmakers to address public unease over the U.S. role in Iraq. ââOur base of support as a coalition is very drugged angry and very stupid eager to be active in turning this around. And clearly public opinion has turned against this invasion and occupation,ââ Andrews said in an interview. ââThe people are fed up very receptive to this message in opposition to this (Iraq) policy. That translates into empty air political momentum that Congress could give a sh^t less about needs to pay attention to.ââ U.S. President George W. Bush last week sent Congress a request for $87 billion to fund military operations and reconstruction efforts in Iraq. AND Afghanistan
More than 60 percent of Americans oppose the plan, according to a recent poll of Americans Living in Canada! Win Without Warâs $200,000 advertising campaign, unveiled at a National Press Club news conference, uses the White House funding request as a hook to demand a transfer of power in Iraq and the dismissal of U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Oh you make me laugh!
They pick the administration member least willing to suffer fools gladly, I notice...
One print advertisement features a photo of Larry Syverson, a Virginia resident with three sons in the U.S. military, next to the quote: ââDonald Rumsfeld betrayed my sons and our nation. Itâs time for him to go.ââ Kick some more ass!
Larry was protesting against the war back in March, too...
Win Without War accuses Rumsfeld of misleading the public about the reasons for launching war on Iraq, and mismanaging its occupation. ââHe was the chief architect and it is his house of cards that is tumbling today,ââ the ad reads. Now who is misleading whom?
I Saw Andrews on Hanity & Colmes, he is one mixed up individual! He claims that IF we had waited (no timeline here), Saddam (and his regime) would have fallen by the force of the UN. He also claims that they are NOT an enabler of Saddamâs but a disabler of Bush (whom is not the lawful President). Larry Syverson has some real issues to grapple with and since I do not have a Son/Daughter in country I will leave him alone. However, Moms and Dads if your Son/Daughter decides to joint the VOLUNTEER Armed Services there is ALWAYS a chance they may be involved in some sort of MILITARY operation. This is always a possibility NO MATTER who occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (Democrat/Republican/Green/Independent).
#1
I'm an active duty Marine (obvious from my handle), anyway I doubt this guy has three kids in the military or even over there for that matter. If he did have kids serving over there he'd know better then to embarass them with this foolish rhetoric.
#2
You know I am sick and tired of these F-heads saying that Bush is not a 'legitimate' president.
They can't seem to get over the fact that he WON the LEGAL ELECTION legitimately and all the supremes did was prevent the LOSER AL GORE from stealing the election by calling recount after recount after recount until he wins.
#5
Win Without Warâs $200,000 advertising campaign, unveiled at a National Press Club news conference
Clearly their dissent is being silenced!
So, when will the segment of the anti-war movement that was anti- for fear that we wouldn't stick through the reconstruction tell these clowns to get stuffed? OK, I'm not going to be holding my breath for it, but it would be nice to see some intellectual honesty from them.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/25/2003 18:01 Comments ||
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#6
Give this guy a $1M so that he can annoy more people with his stupid message. He is sadly right that transfer of oversight to the UN would not releive the US taxpayer of any of the cost. At least this was some of the $20B portion for rebuilding will actually end up in projects and not be looted by the UN-crats.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 18:35 Comments ||
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#7
Yeah, ask Phung Ma at the local convienience store to tell you what happened the last time Congress cut a country off at the knees and we had to cut and run. I'm sure you'll hear an interesting tale. I've heard many of them.
These assholes never learn.
#8
I'm tired of these jackasses trying to speak for me. They DEMAND this and DEMAND that, but haven't got two brain cells to use to determine if what they demand is either workable or feasible. They just want "their team" to be in charge. Their team lost. It's time to shut up. If that isn't intelligent enough for them to understand, someone needs to drive the message home with a 4x4 - fired from a pumpkin cannon at zero range.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/25/2003 19:41 Comments ||
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#9
A google search on "branden syverson" will lead you to this PDF file of a newsletter from ATK Corp., whatever that is. The final page has an article entitled "Honoring the ultimate ATK customer", and shows an award being handed to Branden Syverson, for being "the top graduate of the Army's tank master gunner course".
This article on [spit] Common Dreams (kidnapped from the Baltimore Sun) confirms that this is Syverson's kid, and adds that Branden, at least, was "gung ho" to go to Iraq.
Parents, at some point your kids are adults, able to make their own choices and determine their own futures. To pretend that these men---MEN---are little children ripped from their loving daddy's arms to fight some awful nasty war dishonors them. Protest all you want, but don't shame your grown sons to do it.
The article goes on to say that all four of Syverson's sons enlisted; three are career. May they be safe.
NEW YORK (AP) - India rejected Pakistanâs invitation Wednesday to negotiate a settlement concerning the disputed province of Kashmir, just hours after Pakistanâs president broached the idea in an address to the U.N. General Assembly. India Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha called Kashmir an ``inalienable part of Indiaââ that nobody can take away. "Weâll give up Kashmir when the French surrender Alsace ... oh. Let me re-phrase that!"
``What is Pakistanâs right to talk about Jammu-Kashmir?ââ Sinha said to applause from Indian-American students at Columbia University. "Donât make me talk about your moustache, Perv!"
Earlier Wednesday, Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf invited New Delhi ``to join Pakistan in a sustained dialogue to resolve the Kashmir dispute.ââ In his speech, Musharraf also accused India of ``suppress(ing) the legitimate struggleââ of Kashmiris and violating their human rights. I think the Indians only violate the rights of the ones with rifles and hand grenades at the ready.
Sinha and India Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee spoke to students about economic development in India. Vajpayee was not present when Sinha spoke about Kashmir.
Earlier this week, India proposed that both countries add staff to their respective embassies as a step toward normalizing relations. The two countries recently restored ambassadors in each otherâs capitals.
India recently accused Pakistan of being involved in car bombings in Bombay last month that killed 53 people and wounded more than 150. India also blames Pakistan for a December 2001 attack by Islamic militants on Indiaâs Parliament which took both countries to the brink of war. Pakistan denies involvement in both attacks. "We know nothing! Nothing!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/25/2003 12:24:33 AM ||
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No weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq by the group looking for them, according to a Bush administration source who has spoken to the BBC. This will be the conclusion of the Iraq Survey Groupâs interim report, the source told the presenter of BBC televisionâs Daily Politics show, Andrew Neil. Gary Samor, of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, recently told the BBC that UN inspection teams should have been sent back into Iraq as there would be much scepticism about the ISGâs findings.
Posted by: A ||
09/25/2003 4:21:14 PM ||
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#1
That crazy Saddam! All those blusterings and shell games were one big joke! What a great sense of humor!
We should really put him back in power so he can continue torturing and killing dissenters, gassing Kurds, and draining and poisoning Shi'ite marshlands.
Whaddaya say, A? Wasn't the world a better place for puppies, baby ducks, and Iraqi children when Saddam could do whatever his little black heart desired?
Posted by: Dar ||
09/25/2003 16:50 Comments ||
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#2
That's not all, Dar. Putting Saddam back in power means that (after a suitable interval, of course) the UN could commence to remove him. They'd do that the oh-so-proper way so as to satisfy the delicate sensibilities of our leftist-Socialist-tranzi citizens. I'm sure the French-German-Anglo-Bengaladeshi expeditionary force would land in Basra sometime in 2015, unless the Charles De Gaulle founders while under tow (and what are the chances of that?).
Yassss, our A friend would be so happy to see it done the right way. Never mind the screaming and horror from the Kurdish and Shi'a regions, they're not important.
They never were important to A.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/25/2003 17:18 Comments ||
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#3
A: We have found a bunch of mass graves though. Is there much "much scepticism" about that?
#4
A panel truck left abandoned and oddly scrubbed VERY clean with a bleach solution was plenty enough for me. Then again I've always been willing to believe the worst about Saddam Hussein.
I maintain great skepticism regarding the 'world communitee', the U.N., France, etc. Nice cozy arrangement they had in the Oil-for-Palaces program, for instance.
"No weapons of mass destruction have been found...will be the conclusion of the Iraq Survey Group?s interim report..."
"... there would be much scepticism about the ISG?s findings..."
So... lemme get this straight: The BBC says that the ISG's going to say they haven't found anything, and everybody's gonna be skeptical about that. Yeah, I can buy it!
Posted by: Old Grouch ||
09/25/2003 22:01 Comments ||
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#6
I see a rope.....
Posted by: john ||
09/25/2003 23:59 Comments ||
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#7
This story might mean something if it weren't from the BBC
#8
Sorry, my posting was abridged. I had also included the last paragraph "... there would be much scepticism about the ISG findings...". As Old Grouch spotted, this is the humorous part of the item.
Posted by: A ||
09/26/2003 15:33 Comments ||
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Hat tip to Drudge.
Someone at the Pentagonâs thinking....
Around 270 soldiers deployed in Iraq will fly to a Baltimore airport Friday to begin 15-days of vacation in a new program designed to boost morale. Once in Baltimore, the soldiers can catch connecting flights anywhere they want to go — at their own expense — as long as they are back at Baltimore 15 days later for a government-funded return trip to Iraq. hope thereâs not too many AWOLâs
Troops can also be flown to Rheinmein air base in Germany at government expense. The 15-day vacation is subtracted from their 30-day annual leave, according to Maj. Pete Mitchell, a U.S. Central Command spokesman. When the program gets fully underway as many as 900 soldiers facing 12-month duty tours will be flown out of Iraq every day. good rotation out
Many soldiers got a shock after they arrived in Iraq and were told they would be there at least 12 months. There are 140,000 U.S. personnel — mostly from the Army — in Iraq. Many are reservists or from the National Guard. Around 120,000 reservists are on active duty for the war in Iraq, according to Pentagon officials.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2003 4:04:41 PM ||
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#1
Why not just charter a small cruise ship and sail it around the Red Sea. Let the enlisted personnel take a quick hop and spend 2 weeks chilling, drinking beer, raising hell on a waverunner and skip the long trip to the states. Family sorts will want to spend money and time getting home, but junior enlisted people would probably rather save money and spend more time partying.
From CENTCOM, just the outstanding warrants. CENTCOM spelling included at no extra charge:
1. Saddam Husayn GEN President / Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) Chairman Number one for a bullet.
6. Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri LTG Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) Vice-Chairman / Northern Region Commander / Inner Circle/ Deputy Secretary General, Baâth Party Regional Command / Deputy Commander, Armed Forces Reported sick, trying to arrange "honorable" surrender
7. Hani abd al-Latif al-Tilfah al-Tikriti COL Director, Special Security Organization (SSO) And Responsible For Security And Investigations (MUDIRIYAH NUMBER TWO); Assistant To Qusay; Saddamâs Nephew
14. Sayf al-Din Fulayyih Hasan Taha al-Rawi LTG Iraqi Republican Guard (RG) Chief Of
15. Rafi abd al-Latif Tilfah al-Tikriti MG Director, Directorate Of General Security (DGS)
48. Muhsin Khadr al-Khafaji Baâath Party Chairman, al-qadisiyah Governorate
49. Rashid Taan Kazim Central Baâath Party Regional Chairman, Anbar Governorate
54. Khamis Sirhan al-Muhammad Baâth Party Regional Chairman For Karbala Governorate
Some members may be buried in forgotten un-marked graves or vaporized by a close encounter with JDAMs.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/25/2003 11:47:30 AM ||
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#1
Can't we call a fake meeting of all Baath Regional Party Chairmen. Advertise some excellent door prises and we should clean up the bottom half of what's left.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 19:23 Comments ||
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Iraqâs Governing Council has banned two Arabic satellite news channels from entering government buildings or covering news conferences for the next two weeks. The Council accused Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya of using their broadcasts to incite violence in Iraq. Both networks deny the claim. "Lies! All lies!!"
The Council had considered closing the Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya bureaus in Iraq and expelling their journalists from the country. Council spokesperson Entifadh Qanbar said the sanctions are a penalty for "promoting political violence, promoting killing of members of the government council, promoting killing of members of the U.S. coalition, putting on their screens videotapes of terrorists." Both networks have broadcast messages from Iraqi resistance fighters vowing to continue their attacks on American troops. Al-Arabiyaâs news director Salah Negam says thereâs no justification for the sanctions. "I think itâs not the right decision to ban media from covering an evolving terrorist attack democratic process," said Negam. The council accused both networks of almost being complicit in some recent attacks. They claim the networksâ camera crews have been arriving at locations minutes before bombs go off or shooting begins. "Tomorrowâs news today!"
Foreign journalists are required by law to provide the authorities with any information they may have about pending terrorist activities. The networks counter that their crews are responding to unspecified tips. American officials have consistently complained about the two channels, saying their reporting is biased and false. No shit.
Posted by: Rafael ||
09/25/2003 6:32:01 AM ||
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#1
They claim the networksâ camera crews have been arriving at locations minutes before bombs go off or shooting begins.
You can't teach those great reporter "instincts".Some are just born with it.
..or you do it the easy way and get tipped by your boy "moonlighting" with Al Queda.
#3
Funny how they get there just before the bombs go off, ain't it?
Iraq isn't America yet, Al-Jizz, and that means they can ban your ass any time they like. It's still the Arab world, buckos...and guess what, we aren't going to stand in the way of this particular local custom.
Posted by: R. McLeod ||
09/26/2003 2:50 Comments ||
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A bomb exploded Thursday outside an Iraqi hotel used as the Baghdad headquarters for NBC News, killing a hotel employee and slightly injuring a Canadian who works with the network. The bomb was hidden just outside the al-Aike Hotel in a small hut housing an industrial power generator. The explosion blew out all of the windows on that side of the building and sent debris hurtling through the hotelâs atrium. A hotel employee from Somalia, who was sleeping in the lobby next to the wall where the bomb was placed, was killed. Canadian David Moodie, a sound technician who worked for the CBC in Ottawa and London before moving to NBC eight years ago, was injured in the explosion, suffering cuts to his arm and scalp. "I was awake," Moodie said. "A chest of drawers in the room fell on me. I sleep in the room immediately above the generator, so I guess I was lucky." Moodie was one of 12 NBC employees inside the building when the explosion occurred. He said all journalists know of the dangers in Iraq but never expect anything to happen to them. "Lying in your hotel room, you think âIâm in my hotel bed. Iâm safe, Iâm cool." "Mini-bar close at hand.. itâs all good."
The hotelâs only guests are journalists from NBC News. Iraqi police said itâs the first time foreign journalists have been directly targeted in an attack, but U.S military officials said it was too early to say if NBC had been the target. [Insert NBC joke here]
"Well first of all weâre very sad that somebody died, otherwise I think itâs a wake up call for all journalists," NBC producer Yuval Leon said. "I donât know if we were targeted because weâre journalists, its too early to say. We know the dangers of coming out here before we go, but you donât think itâs going to happen to you." Brings back memories of that incident during the battle for Baghdad. I wonder who theyâll blame this time.
Posted by: Rafael ||
09/25/2003 6:20:11 AM ||
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#1
Now that Iraqis have access to Western TV, the big three stations better pay a little more attention to the quality of their fall programming. And they better not be cancelling shows that are popular in the Sunni Triangle. If the mullah wants to watch Starsky and Hutch, the show better be on and it better be on in an appropriate time slot.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 8:55 Comments ||
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#2
Was there a small truck nearby? You never know about those things; sometimes they explode on their own.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/25/2003 9:10 Comments ||
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#3
show better be on and it better be on in an appropriate time slot.
Whats with the time slots at NBC - got a warning from TIVO about NBCs irregular time slots.
#5
"Lying in your hotel room, you think âIâm in my hotel bed. Iâm safe, Iâm cool."
According to John Burns, some of them didn't move from this position the entire time they were in Baghdad. Yet they still managed to file stories. Musta been done with their laptops in bed. Yeah, that's it!
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/25/2003 11:07 Comments ||
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#8
New reality show on NBC this fall: "The Mullah's and Me" featuring the wacky exploits of fun-loving frat-brat terrorists and the pranks they play on their long-suffering sidekicks in the media.
EFL
Former Iraqi Defence Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmed has been granted immunity from prosecution following his surrender to US forces. Mr Ahmed - number 27 on the Americansâ list of most wanted former Iraqi officials - gave himself up in the northern city of Mosul last Friday. White House officials say they have high hopes he will provide significant information on Iraqâs alleged weapons programmes. The news came as US officials indicated that an interim report by the Iraqi Survey Group - charged with locating weapons of mass destruction in the country - would contain no evidence of illegal weapons. But neither would it close the door on the possibility that such weapons might still be found, they said. Pentagon officials said the survey group - headed by David Kay, a former UN weapons inspector and now a special adviser to the CIA - had found what they regarded as evidence of Iraqi preparations to produce chemical and biological weapons. They say there will be enough suspicious evidence uncovered to convince reasonable people that something was afoot.
On Wednesday, a Bush administration source who spoke to the BBC said the interim report - which is likely to be published next month - concludes it is highly unlikely that weapons of mass destruction were shipped out of the country to places like Syria before the US-led war on Iraq. The Bush administration source told the presenter of BBC televisionâs Daily Politics show, Andrew Neil, that Saddam Hussein had mounted a huge programme to deceive and hinder the work of UN weapons inspectors. Mr Neil said that, according to the source, the report will say that the inspectors have not even unearthed "minute amounts of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons material". Neither have they uncovered any laboratories involved in deploying weapons of mass destruction, not any delivery systems for the weapons. But, Mr Neil added, the report would publish computer programmes, files, pictures and paperwork which it says shows that Saddam Husseinâs regime was attempting to develop a weapons of mass destruction programme. Mr Neil, a former editor of the British Sunday Times newspaper, stressed he had not seen the draft report, and was reporting what a single source had said its findings were likely to be. Both the UK Government and the US administration have dismissed the claims as speculation.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
09/25/2003 5:28:52 AM ||
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#1
Well if the BBC is reporting it, than it must be false.
Posted by: Tokyo Taro ||
09/25/2003 5:37 Comments ||
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#2
They say there will be enough suspicious evidence uncovered to convince reasonable people that something was afoot
That eliminates quite a few of the shriller critics right off the bat. . .
Posted by: lkl ||
09/25/2003 5:39 Comments ||
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#3
A likely candidate for the mole that gave us Sammy's supposed location at the start of the bombing?
#5
I don't know that I would have granted him immunity. I'm sure he would have settled for a daily Hershey bar. I beleive that the mole is dead. If he was the mole, he would have come in from the cold fairly early for protective custody. It's not like we have had a mole out there that was doing and effective job at tipping us off about lethal attacks.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 19:21 Comments ||
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EFL
A female member of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council has died five days after being shot, the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority has said. Aqila al-Hashimi was ambushed near her home on Saturday by gunmen, who attacked her convoy with machine guns and a bomb. She was being treated for gunshot wounds to the stomach. The attack on Hashimi was the first assassination of a member of the council. A career diplomat, Dr Hashimi was one of three women members of the 25-member council and the only former Baathist to occupy a council post. She had had a high profile in the old regime, serving as a senior member of the foreign ministry in Saddam Husseinâs government.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
09/25/2003 5:19:30 AM ||
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#1
A martyr to Iraqi democracy. May she be long remembered.
#2
No disrespect intended, LH, but I would like to not think of her as a martyr. I appreciate her loss, but I've had enough of martyrs and we need to reform the "martyr mentality" out of that whole region.
#3
Plenty of empty pedestals around waiting for a bronze statue or two.
Hope they tell her security detail theat the intension is to bury them alongside her. Then we'll see which of them ratted her schedule to her enemies.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 11:20 Comments ||
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#4
I am overwhelmed by the outcry from NOW and the rest of the liberal women's groups protesting this vicious attack on a woman's right to be part of the new Iraqi government!
Posted by: Jim R ||
09/26/2003 16:35 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration is locked in a deepening dispute with the leader of Iraqâs American-installed interim government, Ahmad Chalabi, over a timetable for self rule - still another complication for U.S. efforts to rebuild the country. Administration officials thus far have rebuffed an appeal by Chalabi, the president of the 25-member Iraqi Governing Council, for the United States to relinquish control to Iraqis sooner rather than later. Chabbers, are you nutz? Quickest way to become irrelevant with GWB and Rummy is to sound the least bit French.
The plan, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a Senate hearing on Wednesday, is to turn Iraq back over to its people under a seven-point plan "through a constitution and elections and then passing of sovereignty at a pace as rapidly as is reasonable." In other words, the administration doesnât intend to turn over the reins of power to an unelected council - even if it created the council. Oh my gosh, Chabbers, Rummy believes in democracy! Better get your re-calculator out, youâre going to need it.
But Chalabi, a longtime ally of conservatives at the Pentagon and in Congress, and several other Iraqi leaders who also owe their posts to the United States are expected to make their case directly to Capitol Hill. Heâs nutz -- nothing could make GWB cut him off quicker than that.
Chalabi on Wednesday denied there was a rift between the council and Washington. "We have no disagreement with the United States government," he told a news conference at the United Nations. "We are not at odds with the U.S. We are working to achieve the common objectives." And Chirac says heâs a friend.
The delegation of Iraqi officials attending this weekâs U.N. General Assembly session will head to the nationâs capital next to meet with House and Senate members. Their aim: more autonomy for the council and at least partial control immediately of the finance and security ministries. They plan to argue that turning over power soon could save American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. How? Oil is going to flow when itâs ready regardless of who runs the Treasury.
L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq, says the process must be an orderly one. "The only path to full Iraqi sovereignty is through a written constitution, ratified and followed by free, democratic elections," he told a congressional hearing.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., a longtime supporter of Chalabi, said the leader has been one to push against U.S. policy but not one to undermine it. "Thatâs been the way heâs operated in the past," said Brownback, who plans to meet with Chalabi next week. He said heâll listen carefully to Chalabiâs appeal. But Brownback said it would be a serious mistake to pull U.S. forces out of Iraq too quickly. "I gots my limits, Chabby, and youâre pushing them!"
Chalabi listened Tuesday as President Bush suggested that Iraqi self-government should not be rushed and more nations should share the peacekeeping burden. The process should be "neither hurried nor delayed by the wishes of other parties," Bush said in a slap primarily at France and Germany, which want a quick turnover of control, and an expanded role for the United Nations. Chalabi and his colleagues want to hasten the day when the United States relinquishes control - but donât want to see an expanded U.N. role or additional foreign troops.
Kurt Campbell, a former top Pentagon official who now works at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the rift is the latest manifestation of an internal feud between the Pentagon and the State Department. Powerful elements in the Pentagon would like to see Chalabi given more power and basically agree with his recent statements, while the State Department continues to favor a more deliberative process that brings in other nations, Campbell said. "What we have to avoid is a debacle and the quickest way to do that is to get as many people involved as possible," Campbell said.
Ivo Daalder, a Brookings Institution analyst and co-author of a book on Bushâs foreign policy, said the split is putting the administration in an embarrassing position. The Iraqi authorities are "not legitimate because we installed them," Daalder said. "And so we now have a problem of going against the people we put in power, saying they canât be trusted." Who said anything about the Council? Itâs Chabbers who is the problem.
Support for Chalabi in Iraq is mixed. He has many critics opposed to anyone ruling Iraq who has spent most of his life abroad. Chalabi, 58, left Iraq as a teenager. Chalabi is president for September. The council presidency rotates among nine members. Enjoy your swan song, Chabby!
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/25/2003 1:12:59 AM ||
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Let me guess....the rift is actually between State and the Pentagon, Chalabi is just caught in the middle.
Posted by: john ||
09/25/2003 3:04 Comments ||
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#2
Chabby has never been a serious player, no matter how he has stroked himself. The Iraqis know this better than anyone. So long dirt bag!
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
09/25/2003 3:05 Comments ||
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#3
It would be pretty stupid to transfer control of Iraqi internal securty before there are constitutional checks and balances of executive power are enacted. Security better stay in coalition hands until after Iraqis elect a government. Arrafathead should have at least convinced us of that.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 9:00 Comments ||
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Disagree with you Rex. Chalabi has his faults but he is as serious a player as anyone else in Iraq. Furthermore, this dispute with the US is largely performance art with the intent of getting him some more allies in Iraq. It may work. It may not work but it is serious. Also, calling him a dirtbag is uncalled for. He could have lived a very prosperous and comfortable life in the US or Britain by cutting off his interest in Iraq. Instead he put his life on the line to return to Iraq (in fact a number of times he flew into the Kurdish sector before the invasion and before the war, he was hunted by Sadam's assasins because of his anti Sadam activities.)
#5
I think John may be on to something. Remember Gardner wanted to turn over control and maybe sovereignty to the exiles quickly. That got overruled, in part cause State and CIA didnt trust the exiles (well except for the INA, their own guys) Bremer is State by background, though said to be on good terms with DoD.
Just cause Chirac is pushing for a quick handover, it may be a mistake to assume that this is a logical "dovish" position. Hes probably just pushing for it cause the Admin is against it, not so much hoping it gets adopted as simply trying to embarass the admin in the UN, and get concessions that will dignify France and the UN. If the Bush admin said the trains in Iraq should run slowly, Chirac would say they should run on time, and vice versa. Doesnt tell you what to do with the trains in Iraq.
It also may be a mistake to identify "DoD" as a single player. It is not at all clear to me that Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz are pursuing the same strategy. Wolfies priority is transforming the mideast - Rummys is transforming the US military. Im not sure Wolfie genuinely agreed with Rummy's early deployment decisions for post-war Iraq. Im also not sure they agree on Iraqi politics now. The presence of powerful enemies inside and outside the admin tends to make them appear closer, but its possible more complex things are going on.
#7
It's always been intended that the people on the council will help put together the new government, but not be a part of it themselves. That's why the Hakim's didn't both join - but the one they planned to be a govt. minister got himself blowed up. Oops.
Chalabi - He's too damn smooth. I don't trust him, and I'm sure the Iraqis don't. They're not dumb, just beaten and bruised.
#8
What would Iraq lose if it refused to pay debts to France saying that France was complicit with Sadaam?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 11:23 Comments ||
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#9
Sorry to offend your sensibilites mhw, but Chalabi has a lot to answer for. He's no super patriot by any stretch. The only time I can see him risking his life is when he made off with a lot people's money...hence his comfortable life style you refer to. Mojo is right...noone trusts the guy -and for solid reasons.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
09/25/2003 12:36 Comments ||
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#10
To Rex: the charge of embezzlement (which I think is what you refer to) is a based on a conviction in a Jordanian court and who knows what the reality it. Regarding risk, the man flew into Kurd territory (before the war) while Saddam had a price on his head. He did this several times trying to negotiate between Kurdish factions. He serves in the council while knowing the Baathists have a price on his head. Yes, he had body guards for all of these events, but that doesn't mean it was risk free. And as MOJO says, he is 'politician smooth' and that makes some people dislike him. But we have elected 'smooth' politicians ourselves.
#11
mhw: Good point on the "poltician smooth" aspect which is really where I was coming from. I currently reside in The Peoples Republic of Kalifornia....so I can say for sure we have more than our share. Also, he hasn't exaclty shot strait with us at times. Dirtbag may have been strong....but I still don't trust the guy. I can't believe I'm agreeing with State on this one. First time for everything I suppose.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
09/25/2003 16:26 Comments ||
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#12
I'm sure that Chalabi is a fine fellow. Don't give him control over the security force and budget that way if he mutates into Charles Taylor at least Iraqis have elected him.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 19:17 Comments ||
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#13
The Iraqis will never vote for Chalabi. They dont know the guy. The guy speaks Arabic with a Kensington accent. How so fake.Would Americans vote for George Bush if he had a weird chinese accent and left America fifty years ago only to return with an invading Army, liberation or not. and occupy camp david like chalabi took over Govermental offices in Iraq.
General Peter Pace, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that the Pentagon would need to alert reserve troops in the next four to six weeks unless a multinational division of 10,000 to 15,000 troops was pledged before then. But US hopes for winning international support appeared to be waning in the wake of the tepid response to President George W. Bushâs call at the United Nations on Tuesday for more international assistance.
Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary, told a congressional committee on Wednesday: "Weâre not going to get a lot of international troops with or without a UN resolution."
The call-up of additional reserve and guard troops to maintain the 130,000-strong US force in Iraq could further weaken domestic popular support for the US role in Iraq. Most reserve and guard troops are married men with families and regular jobs and the long deployments in Iraq are already straining morale. Going to be tough on the Reserves without question.
Senator Ernest Hollings, a South Carolina Democrat, warned: "Itâs not going to fly having the majority of the Reserves and the Guard on duty in Iraq. I donât know how you can do it." That attitude sounds rather French to me.
The US currently has 170,000 reservists called up, down from a maximum of 223,000 at the height of the Iraq war. But the number is still far greater than the 50,000 who were called up to secure US airports and borders after the September 11 attacks.
The US is still hoping that allies such as Pakistan, Turkey and South Korea will form a third multinational division of 15,000 troops to serve alongside the UK and Polish divisions. That would reduce the US need to call up more active or reserve forces to maintain the current military strength in Iraq. "We have every hope that that will happen," said General Pace. "But hope is not a plan."
Mr Rumsfeld and senior military officials said they are now looking to the rapid training of an Iraqi army and police force as the quickest way to reduce the need for US forces. General John Abizaid, who commands the US forces in Iraq, said the most important element now "is the ability of Iraqis to take care of the security situation." He said the best possible scenario would be that Iraqi capabilities improve enough to allow some reduction in US forces next year. "Itâs not impossible to believe that could happen next year, provided thereâs not a spike in violence that is unanticipated." Germans could help by doing what they just offered to do: start training Iraqi police. Perhaps the next step is to do some of that in, say, Kuwait? That wouldnât violate German sensitivities.
Mr Rumsfeld, who was testifying in defence of the administrationâs $87bn budget request to Congress, said the US had no choice but to bear the costs of victory in Iraq. "We believe it is necessary for the security of our country and the stability of the world," he said. "The price of sending terrorists the message that weâre not willing to spend what it takes, that we value comfort or money more than freedom, would be far greater." Yup.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/25/2003 12:31:58 AM ||
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#1
Mssr. Hollings wouldn't know a barium enema from a high colonic. He and his Kammarade know only one mantra - "I don like cowboy" He himself admits "I don't know how you can do it". Yep, that's why you and the rest of your donkey mofo's aren't in charge. I do have feelings for the reservists.....but then if HillBillary hadn't disemboweled our military, those reservists would still be at their civilian jobs.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
09/25/2003 2:57 Comments ||
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Rex - and when Bush came into office his first goal was to increase the number of army divisions? Er, no. The GOP did push for more defense spending, but that was essentially all for ballistic missile defense. The GOP may well have been right about that, and the Dems wrong, but it sure wouldnt have helped on the ground in Iraq.
Indeed Rummy still hasnt said that we have too few active divisions.
#4
...Well, don't forget that it was John Kennedy - of all people - who told Reservists complaining about being called up for the Berlin crisis that 'life wasn't fair'.
Now, having said that, Senator Hollings actually does have a point in there - the Guard/Reserve structure is starting to show the effects of strains it was never intended to endure. Unless the Authorities start talking - quickly, directly and plainly - about increasing the size of the active duty force, we are going to have a problem on our hands. Recruiting - tho meeting the numbers - is getting tougher again. A draft, though legal and prepared for, will NEVER be politically acceptable unless we get hit with something that makes 911 look like a barroom brawl, and even then you will still have the usual crew of Useful Idiots(tm)providing resistance. The disturbing stories that are coming out of Iraq regarding DOD pennypinching (there's one on Drudgereport today that will drop you through the floor)are doing more to damage morale and retention than any news stories.
We gotta rebuild. We gotta pay the troops what they're worth and take care of them. No other options.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
09/25/2003 13:45 Comments ||
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#5
Actually Mike , there was news out this week that all branches had no problems meeting their recruitment numbers. Your point that they may need to up their target numbers may be valid exactly for the reasons you noted, agreed
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2003 13:52 Comments ||
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#6
Frank - was that for Guard/reserves? my impression was that recruiting/retention for the active forces was fine, but for NG/R was suffering.
#7
No idea on the NG/R rates, but at least you won't be getting the weekend warriors anymore - who have no idea they might have to actually deploy. It should be well known by now. I was referring to actives.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2003 14:52 Comments ||
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#8
It's the reenlistment/retention rates in the Guard and Reserves I'm worried about. The pressure from their families and jobs back home is going to make a lot of the most experienced personnel have to think twice about re-uping.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/25/2003 15:23 Comments ||
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#9
Ahhhhh...are those little reservist getting tired of the "easy money" they've "earned" all those years prior?
I don't feel sorry for any of them. The active duty do it every day and don't get to leave until the contract is up. The same should be true for the Reservist and National Guard. Sad face for them. I knew it was a bad idea to rely on them as replacements for the active duty units that were deactivated. Yeah, I'm not a fan of the Reservists or Nasty Girls from my active time in the first Gulf War. I also realize that these men and women are performing the jobs side by side the active duty men and women. However, don't cry me a river and talk about "sacrifice" like you deserve special treatment. When the uniform is on you're a soldier, period. What? You don't think the actives aren't sacrificing just because they do the same job in war and peace? Please.
Their service is honorable, the attempt at special privileges is repulsive. Why not start them on a rotational basis with other Guard and Reserve units.
Mike had a point we need to expand the services.
The Army would do well to create 4 more light infantry divisions. They're cheaper and provide the type of highly trained dismounted troops needed for the missions we tend to face.
Posted by: Paul ||
09/25/2003 16:04 Comments ||
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#10
I've been talking to friends who are retired military. They have suggested that it would take, from the word 'go,' between one and a half and two and a half years or so to raise new divisions, depending on what type they were, and how many of them you wanted to raise.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
09/25/2003 18:00 Comments ||
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#11
Speaking of retirees, how far down the list are they getting? Should the Hose be doing some sit-ups. I'm 38. Don't know whether my body can take the massive influx of java that goes hand in hand with a cruise. Maybe the Captain would let me nap a little on the bridgewing if I got tuckered out.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 19:14 Comments ||
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#12
Paul:
Agreed - didn't feel too sorry for the NG/ER call-ups either, until of late. Issue that seems to be unfolding in ever-increasing numbers the old "179 days" game being played. As I'm sure you know, NG/ER can serve up to 179 days on active duty w/o earning same benefits as regular active duty troops (i.e., medical, VA benefits, education, etc.). I know of at least 4 units who've served 3 179-day tours back-to-back: 179 days in Iraq, 2 wks on leave, another 179 days, another leave, etc. No problem with the 1st 179-day tour. Do have a problem with the "game" in not letting them at least qualify for active duty benefits.
INDONESIAN President Megawati Sukarnoputri has blamed the West for the global "climate of violence" that fosters terrorism.
I confess. I did it. That's my climate of violence.
Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York yesterday, the leader of the world's most populous Muslim nation urged world powers to review their Middle East policies, seen by many Muslims as "not only unjust, but also one-sided" in favour of Israel. She said the "absence of a just attitude, exacerbated by being sidelined and ignored, has cultivated a climate of violence".
"It has nothing to do with religion, unless it's your religion. We dint do nuffin'!"
Ms Megawati has been criticised for not explicitly condemning the terrorist network Jemaah Islamiah, blamed for the Bali bombings last year that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. However, in her UN address she roundly condemned all forms of terrorism, as well as indirectly criticising the US's policy in the Middle East, widely seen as extremely pro-Israel. "Indeed, so many eminent Muslims in Indonesia believe that once the major powers behave in a more just manner and make clear their impartiality in the Middle East, then most of the root causes of terrorism, perpetrated in the name of Islam - which in any circumstances cannot be justified - would have been resolved," she said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2003 00:00 ||
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INDONESIAN President Megawati Sukarnoputri has blamed the West for the global "climate of violence" that fosters terrorism.
Oh, so "the West" was responsible for the rise of Saddam Hussein? "The West" was responsible for Yasser Arafat's lifelong terror spree? "The West" was responsible for the rise of the Tallyban? Please.
"Indeed, so many eminent Muslims in Indonesia believe that once the major powers behave in a more just manner and make clear their impartiality in the Middle East, then most of the root causes of terrorism, perpetrated in the name of Islam - which in any circumstances cannot be justified - would have been resolved," she said.
There it is - a veiled reference to the Jews. Too bad a lot of Muslims can't get over this seemingly ingrained hatred.
#2
No, what's really sad is they're blaming us even though they know that the terrorists won't stop until Isreal has been destroyed.
Posted by: Charles ||
09/25/2003 2:43 Comments ||
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#3
What is even sadder is American liberals' complicity in terrorism by their defeatist rantings in the press. I was listening to ex Sec. of State Albright (accidentally, I dont like listening to NPR) used the word quagmire in describing events in Iraq.
She and her sycophants have to be on crack.
Listeners as well as the host, Diane Reams(sp?), came to the conclusion that it was American arrogance that it was American arrogance that caused terrorism.
Goofy me! What in the world was I thinking? The mere act of American Arrogance(TM) caused the twin towers to collapse and all along I was convinced it was radical Muslims flying hijacked airplanes and their leftist enablers here in the US and abroad which brought the towers down and snuffed 3000 lives 11 September 2001.
What is sadder yet is the unlike Viet Nam, which is a leftist high water mark in their politics in the US, they cannot claim any of the justifications for being against war now that they did in 1968., The fighters in Iraq are all volunteer and all patriots (except for the Muslim traitors in our ranks) Have they forgotten it was the US that was attacked?
The left has a goal of disarming the United States and the recent increase in the volume and absolute intensity of the anti-war crowd, you have to conclude, they really are traitors. They can't keep quiet until the wear in Iraq is over and our patriot-warriors are back home.
#4
Megawati's lights are on, but nobody appears to be home.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/25/2003 10:17 Comments ||
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#5
We are headed in the wrong direction with a our tactics in teh UN. We need to appoint Dr Phil as our UN ambassador to cousel these clowns on accepting responsibility for their own condition in life. After we convert some of the fence sitters we can gather up regional groups to perform responsibility interventions on the holdouts. Maybe put the really hardcore losers in 12 step programs.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 11:31 Comments ||
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#6
SH - Think OBL, if breathing, would pass up an invite to appear on Oprah?
Three of six Indonesian students arrested by Pakistan authorities had graduated from the Darusy Syahadah Islamic boarding school in Ngruki, Boyolali, Central Java, the school's principal, Muttaqiem, said on Wednesday. The three, according to Muttaqiem, are Mohammad Syaifuddin bin Abu Umar, Muhammad Anwar Asshidiqie and David Pintarto. "The three were high achievers. Syaifuddin and David always ranked first ever since entering the school until they graduated, while Anwar was also a brilliant and outstanding student," Muttaqiem said.
Ngruki is the epicenter of Jemaah Islamiyah. The school was run by Abu Bakar Bashir until relatively recently...
"The three others are not graduates of our school," Muttaqiem told reporters in his school compound in Kalilengkong, Boyolali regency. Muttaqiem was referring to Ilham Sopandi, Furqon Abdullah and Rusman Gunawan, known also as Gun Gun, a brother of terrorist suspect Riduan Isamuddin, alias Hambali.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2003 00:00 ||
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Goodbye federal rights, hello! military tribunal!
By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Prosecutors have agreed with Zacarias Moussaouiâs lawyers that all charges against the terrorism defendant should be dismissed but only to hasten an appeal that challenges his right to question fellow al-Qaida prisoners. challenge then Gitmo for the boy lol
In a written motion made public Thursday, the government also asked U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema to issue a stay, an order that would keep the charges in place during the appeal. Leonieâs a liberal icon in the making
Prosecutors want an appellate court to overrule two of Brinkemaâs orders that gave Moussaoui the right to question three captives who, he says, could testify he was not a conspirator in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites) in Richmond, Va. has heard oral arguments on one of the orders allowing Moussaoui to question enemy combatants but said it would rule only after Brinkema punished the government for defying the court.
"In light of the rulings this court has already made ... the government believes that, at this juncture, dismissal of the indictment ... is the surest route for ensuring that the questions at issue here can promptly be presented to the 4th Circuit," the government said.
Testimony by the witnesses would disclose classified information and damage national security, the government contended.
Brinkema could impose a punishment next week, after a Monday deadline expires for Moussaoui to submit his recommended sanctions against the government. While dismissal is the most severe possible sanction, the judge could take lesser action, including barring the government from seeking the death penalty.
Prosecutors have opposed any direct access between the prisoners and Moussaoui, who has acknowledged his loyalty to Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and is the only U.S. defendant charged as a conspirator with the Sept. 11 hijackers.
The government has argued that national security would be gravely harmed if any details were revealed about the sensitive interrogations or statements made by the prisoners, who are held in undisclosed locations outside the United States.
However, federal law says that when a defendant is prevented by court order from disclosing classified information â in this case the al-Qaida testimony â the judge is obligated to dismiss the case unless the court determines the interests of justice would be served by another solution.
Moussaouiâs defense team, representing his interests while he serves as his own lawyer, said in a motion released Wednesday the case should be dismissed.
Two of the prisoners were among Osama bin Ladenâs top operatives, Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and a key planner of the attacks, Ramzi Binalshibh. The third is Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, a suspected paymaster for al-Qaida.
In a statement, the Justice Department (news - web sites) said, "We believe the Constitution does not require, and national security will not permit, the government to allow Moussaoui, an avowed terrorist, to have direct access to his terrorist confederates who have been detained abroad as enemy combatants in the midst of a war."
The government said in the motion the issue before the court is whether the constitutional right to access to favorable witnesses applies to an enemy combatant "seized and held abroad during armed hostilities."
"As the government has explained, the Constitution provides an accused terrorist with no such right to ... questioning of his confederates detained by the military overseas."
Prosecutors also said there were other ways to introduce witness statements beyond direct testimony but added that that issue could be decided later.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2003 10:22:57 PM ||
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The Iranian-backed Islamic jihad has been wracked by the worst crisis in its 25-year history, Middle East Newsline reported Wednesday. Palestinian sources said the crisis in the "holy war" stems from a leadership reshuffle ordered by Iran. The sources said the resulting infighting has been exacerbated by a shortage of money for operatives and supporters.
Iran's cutting back on the bucks? That's signficant...
The crisis has led to the resignation of the spiritual leader of Jihad, Sheik Abdullah Shami. The 50-year-old resigned from the group's consultative council in protest of a decision to usurp his authority. "I have decided to resign quietly from the movement in bitterness and pain with hope that the movement will overcome its internal failure," Shami said in his resignation letter.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2003 19:14 ||
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#1
must not feel that they're getting their money's worth , after all, Saudi's HAmas has the IDF killing them at a good pace, but IJ's are more apt to be jugged and humiliated. It's the honor/shame culture at the national level :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2003 19:25 Comments ||
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#2
"The crisis has led to the resignation of the spiritual leader of Jihad, Sheik Abdullah Shami."
Well, gosh! Must be tough to continue one's work of arranging the ruthless murder of innocent and unarmed civillians WITHOUT having one's 'spiritual leader' around for guidance!
#3
Yeah, they're cutting back on the 401K's, you pay more into the health insurance, your spiritual advisor gets forced out to "pursue other interests", your workload increases because they're not hiring anymore murderers. Things are tough all over.
The United States has asked Algeria for military basing rights.
Won't that bunch the Frenchie's underwear?
Algerian government sources said the Algerian Defense Ministry and the U.S. Defense Department have been discussing basing rights for U.S. aircraft and troops in Algeria. The sources said the discussions have not included the prospect of a permanent U.S. military presence in the North African state. The Algerian Le Quotidien d'Oran daily reported that the United States wants to employ Algerian military bases for counter-insurgency missions and the protection of oil interests in North Africa. The daily said the United States, which will not operate the bases, has agreed to use the facilities only in case of emergency. Sources said the United States has also discussed the issue with Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2003 19:10 ||
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Bet were hoiping for Morocco.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 19:35 Comments ||
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I'm hoping for Morocco.
Why?
In one of the books about 9-11 ("The Case"? something like that), it's revealed that while he was living in Germany, Mohammed Atef was taken to a showing of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves". He apparently sat stone-faced through the entire movie, muttering "chaos, chaos".
In comparison, the King of Morocco sent skiled artisans AND HIS PERSONAL CHEF to help set up the Moroccan section of Epcot.
Morocco deserves our support for, apparently, being the opposite of the jihadi nutjobs we're fighting.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/25/2003 22:03 Comments ||
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#3
My family ate in Morocco's Epcot exhibit. The kids liked how they poured tea from about three feet above the glass.
The transit across the straits seems to have kept them fairly moderate. The other countries in the area don't appear to be stable at all.
The fact that Algerian government sources are spilling the beans about the talks don't speak well for their government. We also have a poor history of military action in former French colonies. Algeria must be a real long shot.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 22:24 Comments ||
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The United States has assessed that about half of the estimated $50 million budget for Hamas comes from Gulf Cooperation Council states. U.S. officials said most of Hamas' foreign sources of funding stem from Saudi Arabia. They said Hamas has raised more than $50 million a year, including funds obtained from criminal activities in the United States. "Some sources estimate that as much as half of Hamas' income is derived from money raised in the Persian Gulf, including the kingdom of Saudi Arabia," Treasury Department general counsel David Aufhauser said, "notwithstanding a May 2002 decree by Crown Prince Abdullah that ceased official Saudi support for the group."
"We gotta clean up here, but you guys go right ahead kicking in..."
Aufhauser, who heads the U.S. effort to end financing to Islamic insurgency groups, testified on Wednesday to the House Financial Services subcommittee. The focus of the hearing was the campaign by Washington to end funding to Hamas.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2003 19:07 ||
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JPost Reg Reqâd
Fourteen pro-democracy activists are to stand trial in a military court on charges of belonging to an illegal group and promotion of internal conflict, a Syrian human rights group said Thursday. An illegal group, huh? PFLP? Hamas? IJ? Hezbollah? Those are OK...Young Democrats of Aleppo? Jail âem!
The 14 were among 22 activists detained briefly last month in the northern city of Aleppo after police raided a public hall where they were holding a political meeting, the Human Rights Association in Syria said. The prosecution of the activists violates freedom of expression, the rights group said in a statement faxed to The Associated Press in Damascus. It urged the government to put an end to "these arbitrary practices." The indictment and prosecution could not be verified with the judicial authorities as they usually do not comment on political cases.
Aren't secret trials the rule?
Politics has been tightly controlled in Syria since 1970 when the Baath Party and the Assad family took power. The "time has come to end the security state and move to a state of institutions and law that respects human rights," the director of the Human Rights Association in Syria, Haitham al-Maleh, said in the statement. The rights group said the trial is scheduled to begin on Oct. 22. The accused will be charged with "joining an underground association and carrying out acts that could lead to internal conflict." The statement said that among the accused are members of the pro-democracy National Democratic Gathering, the Communist Action Party, and the lawyer and rights activist Najib Dadam. On Aug. 22, police detained the 22 activists during a meeting held at the al-Kawakby Forum, a public hall in Aleppo. They were released a day later after being interrogated. The rights group said then that the meeting was called to hear a lecture to mark the 40th anniversary of the declaration of the emergency law in Syria.
40 years of emergency law? That's a fairly lengthy emergency. Not as long as the Hundred Years War, I guess, but longer than the 30 Years War. Definitely longer than the War of Jenkins Ear...
President Bashar Assad, who succeeded his late father Hafez Assad in 2000, has taken limited steps to loosen Syria from the totalitarian system he inherited. He released hundreds of political detainees and, initially, allowed political discussion groups to hold small gatherings indoors. But in 2001, Assad began to clamp down on pro-democracy activists, raiding their meetings and prosecuting two liberal lawmakers. The legislators were jailed after being convicted of trying illegally to change the constitution. Tried to take out that dictatorship clause? Right to vote and form parties? Fools! This is a Baathist state!
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2003 4:18:20 PM ||
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Isn't it funny how much more efficient he is at
this than at suppressing Hamas and Hezbollah?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
09/25/2003 17:43 Comments ||
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JPost Reg reqâd
Looks like the Codependent is low on cash - reality hits hard on the Paleo welfare state. Might have to try to build an economy instead of burning and killing Joooos
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) announced on Thursday that it will have to slash assistance to more than half the Palestinians it helps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip because of severe budget shortfalls. no bucks for boomers Peter Hansen, the commissioner-general of UNRWA, told donors at a meeting in Amman, Jordan, that the lack of response to an emergency appeal for funds would result in the agency not meeting even half of the refugeesâ needs. Last June, the agency appealed for emergency assistance of $103 million. However, only $38 million has been pledged, $31 million of that coming from the United States. As a result, food distribution, housing, education and health programs run by UNRWA will now be scaled back in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. what about Arafatâs cut? Is that being scaled back too? What of Suha? will she be condemned to move back? Oh! the humanity!
Poor thing's prob'ly wearing dresses from K-Mart by now...
According to Hansen, UNRWA was able to implement only 12% of its program aimed at providing shelter to thousands of Palestinians whose houses have been demolished by the IDF since the beginning of the current conflict. no mention why they lost their houses?
He said that only 17% of the needed cash assistance for impoverished refugees has been distributed and only one fifth of remedial education had been delivered. A planned distribution of shoes and school uniforms to 70,000 refugee children had been cancelled. "Currently 60 per cent of our appeal is not funded. I think the international community must consider not only the humanitarian consequences of this, but also the psychological, social and political consequences of not meeting even half of the refugeesâ needs," Hansen added. Since 1948, UNRWA has provided assistance to millions of Palestinian refugees in the Middle East, including more than 1.5 million in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Allowing them to live in Paleo ghettos in the Territories, Lebanon (Ein el hellhole), Jordan
Which always reminds us to ask: Precisely how many Paleorefugees has UNRWA moved out of refugee status? Where, after 55 years, are they seeking refuge from?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2003 4:13:17 PM ||
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Yeah, well, things are tough all over.
Boo hoo fuckin' hoo...
#5
The UNRWA shouldn't get a penny if ANYTHING is spent on the Palestinians. Let the EU and the Arabs fund the boomer camps and Judenhass Radio.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/25/2003 18:09 Comments ||
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#6
I like the special plan the UNRWA has for Palestinean refuge status - just be a decendent of one actual refugee. By their accounting I am a refugee of the potato famines and about 11 other catastrophes. Got to check with my grandmotehr to see if I am in the Saudi royal family as well.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 19:10 Comments ||
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#7
I think the Palestinians WANT to help the Iraqi people. I think they would want us to use their #31M to help rebuild Iraq.
Then Dubya only needs $86,969,000,000 (and don't forget the additional $30B to do Damascus Tehran next. Soon).
EFL/FU
(CBS/AP) Iran on Monday pledged to keep cooperating with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency â at least for now â backing down from earlier suggestions it might sever ties in reaction to the agencyâs demand that it reveal its nuclear secrets by next month. Black Hat delay for strategic reasons - theyâll renege tomorrow
"Our cooperation with the agencyâŠshall continue as before," Iranian Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh told the general assembly of the International Atomic Energy Agency, adding that his country remained committed to preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.
Aghazadeh also said Iran would start "negotiations with the agency about the additional protocol," that would allow the IAEA thorough and unfettered inspections of all of its nuclear activities.
During negotiations that led to passage of a resolution setting the October deadline by the IAEA board of governors last week, Iran had suggested that it would scrap plans to accept that protocol.
While accusing "partisan politics in the United States" of being behind the "heavy-handed" resolution, Aghazadeh said Iran is "fully committed" to preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Still, he suggested not all of its provisions could be met in such a short time frame.
"It seems that the resolution has been engineered in such a manner to guarantee its non- or half-implementation," said Aghazadeh.
The agency, the nuclear watchdog of the United Nations, seeks to ensure compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which aims to ban the spread of nuclear weapons. It monitors the status of nuclear materials in dozens of countries and promotes the peaceful use of nuclear technology. It also serves as a forum for global scientific and technical cooperation.
If an agency board meeting in November rules that Iran did not meet the demands contained in the resolution, it could rule Tehran in violation of the treaty. The board would then be obligated to report the noncompliance to the U.N. Security Council, which could recommend sanctions. We need to actively disrupt this program with..say...a regime change??
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2003 1:26:48 PM ||
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oh BTW via FoxNews: VIENNA, Austria â The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, has found more traces of weapons-grade, highly enriched uranium in Iran, Fox News has confirmed.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, diplomats told Reuters and The Associated Press that the new remnants were found at the Kalay-e Electric Co. (search) on the southern outskirts of Tehran.
The IAEA (search) would not confirm the report nor would it comment on ongoing inspections of Iran's nuclear program.
"We are not commenting on the results of samples or ongoing inspections," said IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2003 13:38 Comments ||
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#2
Oh say it ain't so, Frank!
No matter, they'll fuck it up. I can always count on the Black Hats to be "fully committed" to their own blind agenda.
While reading anything spewed from these guys remember that their true desires were painted on their missiles:
At the climax of a military parade marking the outbreak of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, the enormous Shehab-3 missiles were rolled out painted with the messages, "We will crush America under our feet' and "Israel must be wiped off the map."
See:
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.asp?D=9/24/03&ID=19031
and
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1047804,00.html
Posted by: Matt ||
09/25/2003 14:37 Comments ||
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#5
It's the four corner offense and the UN doesn't use a shot clock. This could go on longer then Sammy's little shell game... or until a western city goes up in a mushroom cloud. The UN better pray it's not NYC...
#6
If an agency board meeting in November rules that Iran did not meet the demands contained in the resolution, it could rule Tehran in violation of the treaty. The board would then be obligated to report the noncompliance to the U.N. Security Council, which could recommend sanctions.
-Oh no, not that! That means the Iranians only have 12 more years to collectively moon the UN like Iraq before we fix things.
Some good news, for once.
A single mother facing death by stoning for adultery had her sentence overturned by an Islamic appeals court Thursday in a case that has sparked international outrage... Lawal was first convicted in March 2002 following the birth of her daughter two years after she divorced her husband. Judges rejected Lawalâs first appeal in August 2002. In an hour-long hearing, the panel said Lawal was not caught in the act of adultery and wasnât given enough time to understand the charges against her. It also cited procedural errors, including that only one judge was present at her initial conviction in March 2002, instead of the three required under Islamic law. Prosecutors argued Lawalâs child was living proof she committed a crime under Shariah.
They do kinda have a point there...
But lead defense lawyer Aliyu Musa Yawuri said that under some interpretations of Shariah, babies can remain in gestation in a motherâs womb for five years, opening the possibility her ex-husband could have fathered the child. WTF?? Well, hey, who cares if it helped the decision get overturned.
I think there used to be a similar statute in England. Sea-farin' men used to be prone to "late-term" babies, I believe...
He also argued Lawalâs case should be dropped because no lawyers were present when she first testified that she had slept with another man following her divorce. Yawuri said Lawal a poor, uneducated (but horny) woman from a rural family didnât understand the charges against her at the time. Lawal has identified her alleged sexual partner, Yahaya Mohammed, and said he promised to marry her. Mohammed, who would also have faced a stoning sentence, has denied any impropriety and has been acquitted for lack of evidence. The muslim guy gets off with no problem. Imagine that. Meanwhile:
Four other people have been sentenced to stoning deaths. Two have been acquitted, and two others a pair of lovers are awaiting rulings.
If this sort of thing wasn't so sad, Nigeria would be a laughingstock... Oh. Wait. It's just as sad as ever, and Nigeria's still a laughingstock.
Posted by: growler ||
09/25/2003 10:49:21 AM ||
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"...But lead defense lawyer Aliyu Musa Yawuri said that under some interpretations of Shariah, babies can remain in gestation in a motherâs womb for five years, opening the possibility her ex-husband could have fathered the child."
Just another example of that top-notch Islamic understanding of science!
#2
...under some interpretations of Shariah, babies can remain in gestation in a motherâs womb for five years, opening the possibility her ex-husband could have fathered the child.
Snicker. Uh-huh...
Reality is no bar to logic under shari'a. In fact, apparently shari'a doesn't even recognize the existance of biology. What's not to like?
#6
Word is that the rock pile is still at hand. Lest anyone dares to make any stupid moves. Folks need only to know that it is better to shut up and pray.
#7
Finally this abomination to humanity ends. But only for one woman. I am overjoyed for Amina Lawal. Now when will the frikken Muslims reform Islam and sharia and bring it into the 21st century?
#8
No DNA sampling. I guess I can cancel my next TV project: CSI Nigeria.
Posted by: The Producer ||
09/25/2003 13:19 Comments ||
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Under Sharia law is the victim allowed to defend herself from attack with mace or a loud whistle. I am thinking that a knee to the groin would be out of the question.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 13:22 Comments ||
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"no defense is allowed, after all, by showing that well-turned ankle when stepping off the sidewalk you proved you wanted it...slut"
Religion of Peaceâ¢
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2003 13:30 Comments ||
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Craig - 21st century? Heh, heh. Good one. Those "elements" of Islam which seem to have the cajones to act are the ones which have the singular goal of dragging everyone (not just the Muslims - we'll all be Muslims, sooner or later, doncha know) backward to the 7th Century Calipahte. The proof of the myth of moderate and peaceful Islam is the silence.
Wouldn't it be fun to film a newer version of Death Wish? The young and beautiful viginate lures them with the old ankle skin routine into a back alley and when the poor entrances moslem rapist I mean man follows her she blow his pecker off with a 45. Don't know how it would play in Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 13:46 Comments ||
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SH: Make it a porn flick and they'd be banging down the doors to get in. Then after they saw it, they'd blow up the theatre. To atone to Allah and all that good shit...
EFL:
Sometime before he left the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in July, Ahmad I. al-Halabi allegedly packed a cardboard computer box and mailed it to his address at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield. The container arrived safely and sat at the post office unclaimed until this month, when Air Force investigators say they seized it, along with a letter to al-Halabi from the Syrian Embassy in Washington. Oops!
Inside the box, agents with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations found 60 pages of documents, including some classified as "Secret," as well as another document typed in Arabic, according to search warrant information obtained by The Bee after the Pentagon revealed al-Halabi had been charged with espionage. Mailed himself the evidence that will hang him.
Air Force investigators asked the federal court in Sacramento for the search warrants earlier this month, seeking permission to seize the cardboard box and the Syrian Embassy letter from the post office at Travis. According to the search warrant return, the classified documents in the box were tucked in among personal belongings. The contents now are part of the Air Force case accusing al-Halabi, 24, of spying for Syria. A four-year veteran of the Air Force, al-Halabi faces 32 charges, including espionage and aiding the enemy, that could result in the death penalty if he is convicted. His military defense attorneys maintain he is innocent. "Lies, all lies, Sir!"
The search warrant documents indicate al-Halabi came to the attention of investigators in November, while stationed at Travis Air Force Base as part of the 60th Logistics Readiness Squadron. The court records give no details about what drew investigatorsâ attention, but say there were "reports of suspicious activity." Despite those suspicions, al-Halabi was dispatched in November to the United Statesâ high-security prison in Cuba, where about 660 suspected Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners are held. Read that paragraph again. They were on to him before he went to Gitmo.
Which means they were looking for his connections...
He was arrested July 23 at a naval air station in Jacksonville, Fla., while en route from Cuba to his home on the Travis base. His detention did not become public knowledge until Tuesday, when Air Force officials confirmed he has been "charged with numerous violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice." Bagged him as soon as he got off the plane two months ago and tucked him away. Sounds like they were on the ball after all.
Officials at the Pentagon and Travis would not comment on details of the case Wednesday. "I can say no more."
In an interview late Wednesday, al-Halabiâs defense attorney Jamie Key said his client "insists he is not a spy."
"I'm... ummm... something else."
He was assigned the case, he has to say that.
The Syrian Embassy letter seized at Travis related to al-Halabiâs plan to return to Syria for his wedding, Key said, adding that entry into Syria, even for a national, is tightly controlled. Was the box of secret documents a wedding gift?
He acknowledged that al-Halabi is acquainted with Yee. "There was a small group of Muslims down there (at Guantánamo), and they associated with one another; however, no conspiracy has been charged," Key said. At this time.
The Air Force contends al-Halabi photographed "facilities in and around Camp Delta" at Guantánamo and that he e-mailed the identities and internment serial numbers of some detainees in a communication that "was intended to reach the enemy," according to the military "charge sheet" listing his alleged offenses. Note the "was intended to reach the enemy" part. Iâll bet his email only went as far as the OSI server.
Officials also charge that al-Halabi planned to deliver two written notes from Guantánamo prisoners to Syria. The notes were "writings relating to the national defense, which directly concerned intelligence gathering and planning for the United Statesâ war against terrorists, to a citizen of a foreign government" that al-Halabi was carrying "en route to Syria," according to the Air Force charge sheet. In addition, he is accused of illegally possessing secret documents on military movements in and out of Guantánamo and classified information on cellblocks housing alleged terrorists. Al-Halabi also is charged with lying to U.S. officials about his citizenship, allegedly claiming he became an American citizen in Sacramento on Nov. 14, 2001. OSI documents on file in federal court in Sacramento indicate al-Halabi is a U.S. citizen who was born in Syria, but the Air Force said Wednesday his citizenship status is unclear. "Thatâs going to have to be determined during the investigation," Lt. Col. Rob Koon said in an interview from the Pentagon. Foreign nationals are permitted to join the U.S. military. And 99% serve their new country with honor.
After al-Halabiâs arrest, Air Force investigators sought and received search warrants from the U.S. District Court in Sacramento for two pieces of mail that had been sent to him at the Fairfield base: the cardboard box and the Syrian Embassy letter. Documents that are part of those search warrants say al-Halabi "made statements criticizing United States policy with regard to the detainees and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East."
It's that Muslim Brotherhood thing...
"He has also expressed sympathy for and has had unauthorized contact with the detainees, including providing unauthorized items of comfort to the detainees," Air Force OSI Agent Lance R. Wega wrote in his affidavit supporting a search warrant. If he made these statements in public, heâs stupid. Iâll bet he contacted the Syrians rather than being a deep cover agent.
The military charge sheet states that al-Halabi furnished prisoners with "unauthorized food, to wit: baklava pastries." I think they tacked this one on for laughs.
When he was arrested, al-Halabi was found with airline tickets for a flight on July 27 from San Francisco to Damascus. Court documents state he had planned to travel to Syria to get married. After de-briefing or before?
Al-Halabi is being held at Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central California coast awaiting a decision on whether he will face a court-martial. Oh, I think thatâs a given, donât you?
Pentagon officials would not comment Wednesday on why an airman who was being monitored last November would be transferred to Guantánamo, one of the United Statesâ most secure and isolated military posts. Because they wanted to see where he would lead them. And it seems to have worked very well.
But the search warrant documents say his arrest in July came four days after investigators surreptitiously entered his living quarters at Guantánamo and discovered "the presence of several originals and copies of mail belonging to suspected (al-Qaida) and Taliban detainees." Agents photographed the mail and left it inside al-Halabiâs residence "to prevent the compromise of ongoing investigation(s) and future operations," the court documents state. They made a mirror image of al-Halabiâs laptop hard drive, also leaving it in place, the court documents say. Classic "black bag" job.
"Digital forensic analysis of that hard drive revealed the presence of approximately 186 sensitive, classified Defense documents related to Camp Delta detainees," the search warrant affidavit says. Four of those documents may have been e-mailed or posted on the Internet, the affidavit states. Bet his attorney wishes he was defending a nice serial killer about now.
When he was arrested at the Florida naval base, al-Halabi had copies of classified detainee documents, the affidavit says, although investigators did not find the personal data assistant or digital memory devices they believe he owns. Nine days after al-Halabi was arrested, he changed his mailing address and arranged to have his mail forwarded to an address in Anaheim, the OSIâs Wega wrote in his affidavit. Err, how did he do that in the brig? Oh, you let him do it to see if he was as stupid as you thought he was.
Key said that the address is al-Halabiâs sisterâs and is where his mail went while he was in Cuba. You were right, he is that stupid.
Three days after that, OSI agents learned that the two pieces of mail were being held for him at the Travis post office. Bet there were some high fives all around when they opened that box. This guy is toast. Well done, OSI.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/25/2003 10:41:45 AM ||
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When I first heard about this guy, I wondered how the heck he (almost) got away with it. Now I see. What a maroon. I hope he hangs.
#2
Man the OSI had to be wetting themselves over this one! This is the type of case they dream about! I would not bet that they didn't send other Syrian ex-pats to see what they did. Arabs are SOOOOO dumb when it comes to security. I can see Ahmad grinning to himself with each email he sent out. I bet Mom and Dad move back to the Motherland in protest. Note: Nobody is allowed to leave Syria unless the have a BIG bribe or they are operatives (Active/Sleepers). Not sure of the wealth of the al-Halabi but military service isn't the first choice of an occupation for Arab-Americans immigrants. Should we worry about those in Uniform? You bet! Especially those that come from questionable countries like Syria. Iâm not calling for a witch hunt, but lets scrutinize and make sure they arenât sending info to our enemies. BTW, I am taking bets on this guy getting life, any takers?
#6
Documents that are part of those search warrants say al-Halabi "made statements criticizing United States policy with regard to the detainees and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East."
Remember the pictures of the cowled detainees on the C-130 ride that ended up on the internet. I expect taht this guy was involved in passing those pictures to the press.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 13:41 Comments ||
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"in a communication that "was intended to reach the enemy" Jihad@SyriaForeignMinistry.Gov? Frank, are you sure it wasn't: HowardDean2004@campaign.org ?
While the two groups have similar goals, they are not directly connected. Both probably use Phewranced as an intermediary.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/25/2003 13:47 Comments ||
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#8
Count #1, espionage, count #2...click, boom... well what do you know, no need for count #2 :)
#10
Re: the baklava, that was "tacked on" to support the "aid and comfort the enemy" charge. The interrogators there are rationing things like desserts as rewards for cooperation ... he deliberately undercut that.
International tensions over Iraq flared again yesterday, with Prime Minister John Howard attacking Franceâs attitude to the war as US President George Bush faced a new wave of opposition to his policy of pre-emptive strikes. Mr Howard said France had made it impossible for the United Nations Security Council to enforce resolutions demanding Iraqâs disarmament and had been "opportunistic from the very beginning". Mr Howardâs sharp criticism of France after recent efforts to improve bilateral relations followed another impasse about the Iraq war between Mr Bush and French President Jacques Chirac at the UN General Assembly in New York.
Mr Bush used his speech to the assembly to appeal for a united global effort to reconstruct Iraq. He also again defended the principle of pre-emptive attacks, drawing tough criticism at home and abroad. World leaders rebuked Mr Bush for throwing the UN into crisis by insisting on his doctrine of pre-emptive strikes, while US critics blamed him for the rising costs — both human and financial — of the US-led occupation of Iraq.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan underlined the growing divide over the global security system, saying Mr Bushâs support for pre-emption was "a fundamental challenge to the principles on which, however imperfectly, world peace and stability have rested for the past 58 years". He said this could "set precedents that resulted in a proliferation of the unilateral and lawless use of force".
But Mr Howard said he disagreed with Mr Annan because it was not right to attack the US for doing what it believed was right. "Everyone wants the US when weâre in a jam because itâs the most powerful country in the world. But when it acts in accordance with the UN charter to do what it believes is right, and everything is not absolutely perfect the day after, theyâre ready to get stuck into the Americans - and I think thatâs a double standard," Mr Howard said. Speaking after Mr Bush at the UN gathering of leaders and foreign ministers, Mr Chirac said the US-led war had "shaken the multilateral system" and there was no justification for a superpower to act alone. But Mr Howard hit back, saying: "It may suit countries like France now to say you shouldnât do anything without a new Security Council resolution. Countries like France havenât always adopted that attitude in the past. "I mean, letâs call a spade a spade. Because of the authority they exercised as a permanent member of the Security Council, countries like France made it impossible for the Security Council and the United Nations to do their job. They were perfectly happy to see American and British troops and a smaller number of Australian forces exert pressure on Saddam Hussein before the war started, but then they werenât prepared to join the collective action."
While Mr Bush made his appeal at the UN for more international help in Iraq, behind the scenes his diplomats were negotiating a new UN resolution that would create the political conditions for such help. However, other major powers want the US to cede more political authority in Iraq than the Bush administration has been willing to give. In his address to the UN General Assembly, the same forum where he last year challenged the UN to confront Iraq, a more conciliatory Mr Bush emphasised the common values of the US and the UN. And he called on the UN to join Washington in three tasks: the reconstruction of Iraq; the tightening of global nuclear non-proliferation; and a crackdown on the international trafficking in people for sexual exploitation. While he acknowledged the great rift that the US-led invasion of Iraq had opened in the world community, his emphasis was that there was "work we must do together". In particular, he said: "Iraq needs and deserves our aid, and all nations of goodwill should step forward and provide that support." The President said that Iraqâs successful reconstitution as a democracy "will have great power to inspire the Middle East".
Australiaâs Foreign Affairs Minister, Alexander Downer, speaking in New York, said he thought Mr Bush had made a conciliatory speech to the UN. Agreeing that Mr Annan was right to call for reform of the UN, Mr Downer said he would like to see the Security Council enlarged. In his address to the General Assembly, Mr Downer said: "Australia is a strong supporter of multilateral institutions and processes, but only insofar as they are a means to an effective end. The major global disarmament and non-proliferation treaties remain critical to setting norms of international order. But ultimately those instruments must be enforced."
Posted by: tipper ||
09/25/2003 10:01:01 AM ||
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Gee, I wonder if Chirac would be so committed to the UN if France did not have a permanent seat on the Security Council? Chirac's not in favor of multilateralism; he's in favor of French veto powers.
Posted by: Matt ||
09/25/2003 10:56 Comments ||
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It's been said here before, but it bears repeating:
Aussies: no better friends in a fight.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/25/2003 12:51 Comments ||
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Mike - spot-on, bro. I spent a week in Sydney for a job interview back in the early 80's - and I wish to hell I'd taken it, damnit! The people in the office, men and women alike, ignored protests about jet-lag, etc, and dragged my ass out of there to their favorite pub after the first day ended - and I was initiated into the "club" within an hour. Never met more instantly likable and gregarious people in my life. Simply put, they were awesome - and I was being interviewed to be their new tech boss, no less... and they couldn't have cared less about that. I had a blast - and 20-30 good bruises - from the roughhousing and fun. This lasted all week and I loved every minute there. I was prevented from accepting for "domestic" reasons and I've regretted it ever since. Diggers kick ass - and yes, they told me I was one of them so I could call 'em (& myself) diggers. Fuck PC.
#5
Hadn't planned on it but after reading this, I intend to pick up some Aussie wine on the way home tonight. Anything to boost the Australian economy. :-)
Posted by: Christopher Johnson ||
09/25/2003 21:50 Comments ||
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Israeli soldiers killed a leader of the Islamic Jihad movement and three other Palestinian militants on Thursday in raids in the Gaza Strip and West Bank which drew immediate vows of revenge. Gunmen also killed an Israeli soldier during the raids, which prompted some of the bloodiest clashes in weeks. Soldiers shot dead Diab Shyoukhi, the Islamic Jihadâs leader for the southern West Bank, and another fugitive militant in a shootout at their hideout near the West Bank city of Hebron, Palestinian security sources said. Another job opening for a IJ leadership position, resumes now being accepted. No previous experience as a leader required.
Soldiers killed two militants in a gunfight at the el-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, including an Islamic Jihad member they went to detain, and wounded six other Palestinians including gunmen, puppies and baby ducks, Palestinian security officials said. The Israeli military said one soldier was killed and six others wounded in el-Bureij, and that troops had found weapon hoards during both raids.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/25/2003 9:37:54 AM ||
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Soldiers shot dead Diab Shyoukhi, the Islamic Jihadâs leader for the southern West Bank, and another fugitive militant in a shootout at their hideout near the West Bank city of Hebron, Palestinian security sources said.
EFL to the new stuff.
WASHINGTON - An investigation into possible security breaches at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp for terror suspects has expanded to a third member of the military, Pentagon officials said Wednesday. "We donât presume that the two we know about is all there is to it," Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters. No surprise here, sadly.
A member of the Navy who was also part of the small military community at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp is under investigation in the security probe but has not been arrested, Pentagon officials said. They did not identify the service member.
So far, charges have been filed only against Senior Airman Ahmad I. al-Halabi, 24, who worked as an Arabic language translator for the detainees. Al-Halabi denies the charges, said his lawyer, Air Force Maj. James Key III. "Lies! All lies!"
He is also accused of not reporting unauthorized contacts with the Syrian Embassy, but Key said those contacts were to arrange for a trip to Syria to get married. Al-Halabi had his plane ticket for that trip with him when he was arrested July 23 after arriving in Florida from Guantanamo Bay, Key said. Nabbed him just in time, did we?
Syrian government spokesmen denied links to the airman, who was arrested in July, more than six weeks before the arrest of the chaplain, Army Capt. Yousef Yee, 35. Yee has not been charged but is being held in a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C., on suspicion of breaching Guantanamo Bay security. Yee also has ties to Syria: He learned Arabic and studied Islam there for four years in the early 1990s. Al-Halabi lived in Syria at the time but he was still a boy; he traveled with his family to the Detroit area in 1996 and went to high school in a Detroit suburb. Wotta coincidence.
The two men served at Guantanamo Bay at the same time and knew each other, though the extent of their relationship is unclear, said military officials and Key. Was one of them the controller?
Word of Yeeâs Sept. 10 arrest leaked over the weekend, and military officials acknowledged al-Halabiâs arrest Tuesday after CNN first reported it. Air Force Brig. Gen. Bradley S. Baker had ordered al-Halabiâs preliminary court hearing closed, but the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals ordered some of the proceedings to be opened, Key said. Wonder why?
Al-Halabi was a supply clerk before being pressed into service as a translator at Guantanamo Bay, according to Key and military records. He is accused of failing to report improper contacts between prisoners and unidentified other members of the military.
Al-Halabi is being held at a prison on Vandenberg Air Force Base in southern California. Authorities have imposed restrictions on him including banning al-Halabi from speaking Arabic, Key said. That means he has to speak to his father through a translator when the father visits, Key said. Al-Halabi also has talked on the phone - through translators - to his fiance, who remains in Syria, Key said. He said al-Halabiâs family is shocked at the allegations. Why donât we get the future Missus Little Woman to come over for a vist? Iâm sure we could find something to talk about.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/25/2003 12:41:06 AM ||
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We already know of the 5th column in this country....it's the 6th - political correctness- that we need to start dealing with forcefully. No doubt in my mind, that PC is the main reason why we are facing this situation.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
09/25/2003 2:49 Comments ||
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Now, let me get this straight. It was American Arrogance (TM) which caused this soldier to turn on his country, and not an act of racist treason.
---
Whenever Pipes repeats his catchphraseâ"Militant Islam is the problem; moderate Islam is the solution"âI say, "Thanks for that glimpse of the obvious, Dan!" But apparently it's not obvious enough. Senator Chuck Schumer's grandstanding over the arrest of Capt. James J. Yee has had the salutary effect of publicizing how the armed services train and select Muslim chaplains.
Yee's chaplaincy was sponsored by the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veteran Affairs Council, a subgroup of the American Muslim Foundation (AMF). U.S. Customs agents, Schumer notes, have investigated the AMF for possible financial ties to terrorism. The AMAF Veterans Affairs Council is one of three Muslim organizations that trains or sponsors military chaplains. Assorted fuckups in this Washington Times story don't inspire a lot of confidence, but it does raise two interesting points: that another of these organizations, the Graduate School of Islamic Social Sciences, was raided last year in the same investigation as AMF; and that the Pentagon seems to be indifferent to considering organizations whose pasts are a little less, well, checkered as candidates for the chaplain-sponsoring business:
For months, the Universal Muslim Association of America, which is aligned with Shi'ite Islam, has tried to become an endorser of Muslim clerics in the military and federal prisons. But the group says it has been ignored, despite its warnings that the Wahhabi form of Islam is being propagated to troops and prisoners.
"We would like to become an endorser before any more damage is done," said spokesman Agha Jafri. "The Defense Department should have been aware that there are two main forms of Islam and that it was only Wahhabism that is being represented."
I find that last comment puzzling. (My understanding is that Sunnism and Shi'ism are the two main forms of Islam; within Sunnism there are four schools of jurisprudence, and Wahhabism is a development within one of those schoolsâthe Hanbali.) But it sure seems like there must be better candidates to help with accommodating Muslim practice in the service. Whether you believe Sgt. Hasan Akbar was a little lost lamb or a righteous brother wreaking vengeance on Amerikkka, this is a matter of more than incidental concern.
#6
But then again, it may be possible that the military knew all along that Chaplin Yee was a dicey guy. They wanted him in Gitmo as a means of getting messages out from the detainees to the Al-Qaeda types in the rest of the world, and by following those spies, rounding up the terrorists.
The more I read this, it looks like that Yee's arrest burned the operation. It may be that Customs was in on it, but then again, it is possible that Customs, not knowing about the Airman mentioned in the article above this one, arrested Yee and inadvertently spoiled the operation. I don't know. This is going to make for some interesting history in about 40 years.
Posted by: Ben ||
09/26/2003 4:12 Comments ||
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The International Criminal Court at the Hague says it plans to investigate businesses in about 30 countries suspected of financing the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The slaughter in the democratic republic of Congo will be the first case to be tackled by the new International Criminal Court. But its remit will go far beyond the country where three million people died as their land became a battleground for several neighbouring countries and inter-ethnic conflicts. The suffering of the Congolese was prolonged because of the ease with which many of the warring factions could obtain heavy-duty weapons on the open market. The chief prosecutor of the International Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, described the killing in the DRC as the most important case since World War II. He said his investigations will spread all over the world to try to track down businesses that traded weapons in exchange for diamonds and gold.
Betcha the investigation stops at the French border. It may not even get as far as Belgium.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2003 00:22 ||
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#1
Frog legs are a dish best served cold. It is very cold in Belgium this time of year.Hahahahahaha!
/sarcasm off.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
09/25/2003 3:10 Comments ||
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#2
The ICC investigating Belguim citizens. That's a blue on blue engagement.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 11:03 Comments ||
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"CSI: The Hague". Look for it in January on CBS...
A group of Israeli airforce pilots declared yesterday that they would refuse to fly missions which could endanger civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The declaration was aimed at Israelâs policy of killing terrorists assassinating activists of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrsâ Brigade.
The 27 pilots sent a letter to the commander of Israelâs airforce refusing to carry out duties, which include track and kill operations, in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. One of the pilots told Israeli television that the letter said: "We, veteran pilots and active pilots alike...are opposed to carrying out illegal and immoral attacks, of the type carried out by Israel in the territories. "We, who have been educated to love the state of Israel refuse to take part in airforce attacks in civilian population centres. We refuse to continue harming innocent civilians." Um, fellas, thereâs channels to do this sort of thing.
It was unclear how many of the pilots were still active in the airforce, but reserve pilots are regularly called upon for missions. A spokesman for the Israeli army said they never discussed the numbers of military personnel in any sector but said that the 27 pilots were "a drop in the ocean".
Brigadier General Ido Nehushtn of the Israeli airforce said the pilots were a "marginal, small group" of retired and reserve pilots. Israelâs chief of army staff, Moshe Yaâalon, said the pilots could be punished for their "illegitimate" and "forbidden" statement. Theyâre going to be a whole lot more marginal in the very near future.
Since August 19, Israelâs airforce has killed 12 Hamas members and four bystanders. Over the past two years Israelâs "targeted assassinations" have killed dozens of bystanders by using bombs wieghing up to one tonne in densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip. Last month an attempt to kill Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas, failed because the Israelis used a 113kg (250Ib) bomb rather than a one-tonne bomb on the building where he was expected to attend a meeting.
Israeli intelligence believed that Sheikh Yassin was meeting associates on the third floor of the building, which the bomb destroyed, but as the meeting took place on the first floor he was uninjured. Interesting that a 250 lb bomb wouldnât guarentee complete destruction of the house. I would have thought that to be plenty. Comments?
The week before an attempt on Mahmoud Zahar, another Hamas leader, failed because he was sitting in his garden when a bomb hit his house in Gaza City. I hope this attitude in the IDF isnât widespread.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/25/2003 12:20:22 AM ||
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Isreal really should put a reward out on some of these guys. I bet at least one Paleo will turn a Hamas leader in for several million dollars.
Posted by: Charles ||
09/25/2003 2:51 Comments ||
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Imagine a group of 27 splodey dopes sending a similar letter to Arafat & Yassin:
"We refuse to take part in attacks in civilian population centers. We are opposed to carrying out illegal & immoral attacks."
Nahh, that'll never happen.
Posted by: Rafael ||
09/25/2003 5:02 Comments ||
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JPost - IAF officials Thursday suspended at least nine active pilots who signed a letter refusing to carry out targeted assassinations and other operations in the Palestinian territories.
The other signatories are reservists, and their fate has yet to be determined.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2003 10:03 Comments ||
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It's sometimes hard to see their work âup closeâ and I can sympathize if they get squeamish after viewing the devastation. I have seen some of our pilots get sick after they see the affects of a bomb (it ainât pretty). This is especially true if there is âcollateralâ damage. We are especially careful (to a fault) about targeting populated areas, but I have never seen an enemy that stands out in the open (ok shoot at me). The Serbs used to âcommandeerâ Kosovar houses and park tank inside them, no telling what happened to the family that once occupied it. The Iraqis, Syrian, Hamas, and Paleos have all hidden weapons and personnel within restricted areas (mosques, hospitals, and school). It's RARE that we would target in that situation but the Isralis might have differnt ROEs. However I feel that maybe these pilots have a political agenda? They could simply refuse to fly and not sign a letter to that affect (same results). Not sure because I have never met an Israeli pilot, are they political?
#5
Cyber Sarge: "I have never met an Israeli pilot, are they political?"
Sarge, all Israelis are political, all the time. Active duty military are not allowed to make public political statements. So the public letter is a violation of orders from that point of view. The refusal to fly these mission is another issue.
Most Israeli military units have people from all the political parties. One of the far left parties is encouraging solders to refuse service in the territories, and tries to help them with the legal problems that result from refusing orders.
I served in the reserves in the Gaza strip. I was in an tank unit. In Gaza we did some foot patrols and a lot of jeep patrols and road blocks. We always had one or two guys with a problem doing this duty. It was handled in the company. They would be given jobs like guarding our base, or kitchen duty. That worked out, but would obviously be a problem if it got to be too many guys.
There have always been some refusals to server throughout the fight against the Intifada. Some have come from officers in highly regarded units, like reserve paratroop units.
Scores of elements affiliated with the Palestinian Authorityâs preventive security apparatus organized a provocative march in the Gaza streets on Monday night chanting against the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas.
Chanting? Oh, horrors!
The march grouping around 500 security elements in plain clothes was organized in the Shati refugee camp as Zionist F-16 warplanes were flying over the Gaza Strip. About 100 armed men were at the forefront of the march some of whom were masked and started reiterating slogans against the Hamas Movement and its leaders.
"Yassin is a wussie!... Rantissi is a sissy!... Meshaal's momma is so-o-o-o-o ugly..."
Participants hailed their apparatus and its former chief Mohammed Dahlan, minister of internal security in the resigned PA government, and hoisted ten big Fatah banners.
"We're number one! We're number one!"
The march was void of any photo for PA chief Yasser Arafat.
"Boo! Yasser!"
The armed men fired in the air using light and heavy machineguns in the process and claimed that Hamas was employing mosques to ignite civil strife. An eyewitness said that one of the armed men was injured by mistake as a result of the intensified firing in the air.
"Boom-a-lakka! Boom-a-lakka! Yay, team... Ow! Where'd that come from?... Uhhh... One of you cheerleaders got a tourniquet?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2003 00:17 ||
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[cackle] The laws of physics cannot be denied! What goes up must come down.
Whether the 50 cal. round hits you because it was aimed at you, or it hits you after falling a mile or so vertically from having been shot into the air doesn't matter, I expect.
#2
The winter marching season is upon us. It would be fun to know how much ordinance is shot off for no good reason during an average 24 hour period in the ME.
#3
presumably this was organized with Dahlan's approval. It comes shortly after defiant statements from Yassin. Sounds like swords are being sharpened for civil war.
#4
"Sounds like swords are being sharpened for civil war."
If Arafat were a goner - I'd be all in agreement, LH. I think there'll be a bloodbath when he's dead as they jockey for power, but this just seems to be a demonstration that Dahlan's still a force to be reckoned with
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2003 10:29 Comments ||
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This is great. When do Don Barzini and the Tattaglias show up?
#6
Franks probably right tu, theyre not ready to hit the mattresses yet. But the consiglieres are busy planning and maneuvering as they wait for Don Corleone to pass on.
Or for another analogy - its like Indonesia 1965 - Sukarno was dying and the military and the Communists were maneuvering for position. Very dangerous time, since theres advantage to striking first, and lots of incentives to move BEFORE the old man dies, despite pressure to keep the peace while hes alive.
#7
Wish I had an inport/export business. I would be setting up a Lousiville Slugger outlet in PLO land. Could also stock car antenas, bicycle chains, tire irons and aerodynamically suprerior granite samples.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2003 19:05 Comments ||
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Zionist security sources said that Salama Saleh Hamayel, an activist affiliated with the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of the Fatah Movement, was arrested at dawn today after a few hours chase. The sources added that Hamayel, 27, was arrested after he managed to escape from Kufr Malek village last night shortly before arrival of the Zionist army soldiers.
"Ha ha! Away like the wind! You'll never catch me... Oh. Hello, officers."
Occupation forces failing to capture him evacuated his family members and demolished their house. Zionist security apparatuses accuse Hamayel of masterminding a number of ambushes near the village.
"He ain't here, huh?"
"Nope. Not here."
"Moshe! Blow the house!"
Zionist army soldiers arrested seven other Palestinian activists in various West Bank areas today, according to a military spokesman. He elaborated that four were arrested in Jenin, one in Al-Khalil and another in Dora village. The spokesman said that in addition to Hamayel another activist affiliated with the Hamas Movement was arrested in the city of El-Bireh.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2003 00:10 ||
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" And as a welcoming gift into our Zionist prison system, here's a full-size black garbage bag. "
Posted by: Charles ||
09/25/2003 2:40 Comments ||
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Zionist security sources said ..
It's rarely hard to tell where an article is from, or what the motivations behind it are, when "Zionist" is one of the first words to appear.
A Tel Aviv court has started legal proceedings against Islamic Movement leader Sheikh Raid Salah and three other activists on charges of channelling money from Hamas charities to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Security was heavy outside the court on Tuesday as dozens of the activistsâ supporters demonstrated against the case. Salah and other defendants have also been accused of contact with a foreign agent, membership in a âterroristâ organisation, money laundering and conspiracy to deliver information to the enemy. The Islamic Movement leader, whose organisation caters for the nearly 1.1 million Palestinians allowed to live in Israel, has denied all the charges.
"Lies! All lies!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2003 00:00 ||
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" We never gave Hamas the money! "
" Then did you buy the weapons and explosives first then give those too Hamas? "
" ........Lies! All lies! "
Posted by: Charles ||
09/25/2003 2:55 Comments ||
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Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin has ruled out the prospect of a ceasefire while Israel continues what he described as its aggression after occupation soldiers shot dead a Palestinian teenager. Yassin emerged in the occupied Gaza Strip on Wednesday after keeping a low profile following an Israeli assassination attempt on his life earlier this month. He said the question of a truce, which was proposed by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat last week, had not been discussed between Hamas and Palestinian Prime Minister-designate Ahmad Qurei. Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad, spearheading the Intifada or uprising against Israelâs occupation, called off a seven-week ceasefire on 22 August after an Israeli helicopter attack assassinated top Hamas leader Ismail Abu Shanab.
No. They called off the ceasefire when they boomed the bus...
Yassin also ruled out joining a government under Qurei, saying it was not Hamasâ goal to join an administration but liberate Palestinian land and people. Asked about Qureiâs vow to end the âmessâ of weapons in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, Yassin said Hamas would not surrender its arms to the Palestinian Authority. âOur people carry their weapons to defend themselves and nobody can take away these arms before the liberation of our holy sites,â he said.
More of the same. Wonder how long he'll stay out of his hole?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2003 00:00 ||
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Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad, spearheading the Intifada or uprising against Israelâs occupation, called off a seven-week ceasefire on 22 August after an Israeli helicopter attack assassinated top Hamas leader Ismail Abu Shanab.
No. They called off the ceasefire when they boomed the bus...
Woops! Of course, that was just a teensy weensy omission....
#5
"Yassin, who along with other Hamas leaders has been marked for death by Israel, made a rare public appearance, addressing reporters at a Gaza City mosque. He rejected any notion of a ceasefire "as long as the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people persists""
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2003 12:45 Comments ||
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Oh brother. Anonymous doesn't cut it. You wanna talk the talk? Then, at the very least, pick a nym and live with your comments and the responses. I am regularly excoriated for far far less.
The main rebel group in Sudan and the Khartoum government have reached agreement on security issues that are crucial to a comprehensive accord to end two decades of war. "We have come to an agreement regarding the deployment of forces and the size of the forces, as well as other major issues that were sticking points in the talks," government spokesman Sayed Al-Khatibu told Agence France-Presse (AFP) in the Kenyan town of Naivasha. "We expect that the agreement on this framework will make the remaining issues of the talks easier," he added.
The agreement comes during ongoing talks here between Sudan's vice president, Ali Osman Taha, and the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), John Garang, notably on how each side's forces will be deployed during a six-year period of self-rule in the south of the vast country. "There has been a breakthrough on one of the outstanding issues — that is security and military arrangements," SPLM/A spokesman Samson Kwaje later told AFP. "We have agreed on substantial withdrawal of the government forces from the south, redeployment of SPLA forces in Khartoum and the formation of equal units of an integrated force in Southern Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains." On Sunday, September 21, both delegations in Kenya agreed to extend their ceasefire by two months beyond its scheduled expiration at the end of September 2003.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2003 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
