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Algeria pounds Salafist HQ
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
I try not to be too crude when posting...

Really. I try.

But then I see something like this...

If you need this, you're just too damned lazy.

Courtesy of Corsair the Rational Pirate...


Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/08/2003 22:51 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Man, now that's Hall of Fame lazy!
I can only imagine the Chinglish directions that come with it.
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/08/2004 15:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Pretty large unit for a Japanese, eh? Also, does the hand have it's nails done? No wedding band? ;-)
Posted by: Brett_the_Quarkian || 10/08/2004 15:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Doesn't that beat all???
Posted by: John (Q. Citizen) || 10/08/2004 15:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Behold again the Japanese genius for micro-technology
Posted by: lex || 10/08/2004 15:55 Comments || Top||

#5  In case nobody noticed, this is from a year ago. I must've hit the "year ago link". Well worth the trip back in time though.
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/08/2004 16:03 Comments || Top||

#6  I am delighted that you have chosen to respond at last to one of the people posting comments on your blog. While the subject of the sex/slave trade is indeed horrendous, I am sure I am not alone in wishing that you would engage and debate with those of us posing hard and difficult questions about the impending EU Constitutioncrisis that is likely to result from a rejection by French and Dutch voters. Surely this is a paramount subject for you - Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communication - to be addressing. It wont go away, you know.
Posted by: Kyn Maon || 09/09/2005 21:35 Comments || Top||


Gunman’s Mom Wants Worker Compensation
America: 2003
The mother of a man who killed three co-workers before shooting himself in a workplace rampage has asked the company to compensate her for her son’s death because it occurred at work, the company said on Tuesday.
Some folks have amazingly big balls.
Modine Manufacturing Co. has turned down the request by Nina Tichelkamp-Russell, the mother of the 25-year-old gunman Jonathon Russell, company spokesman Mick Lucareli said. But the claim must still be reviewed by the state, he said.
My, how insensitive and mean spirited.
Russell’s mother filed a claim seeking death benefits under the workers’ compensation system, which provides financial payments to injured workers or the families of workers killed on the job, Lucareli said. Tichelkamp-Russell could not be reached for comment.
Probably sleeping it off.
The company quickly approved the claims filed by the families of Russell’s victims, but Modine has no intention of compensating the gunman’s family, Lucareli said. "This is probably an odd situation. It certainly caught us by surprise," he said.
Ya think?
Police said Russell brought a Glock semiautomatic handgun to work on the night shift at the plant near Jefferson City, Missouri on July 1. Police said Russell appeared to target certain colleagues as he walked from station to station spraying bullets.
Coming up next: Glock Sued By Crazy Woman.
A 44-year-old man and a 29-year-old man died on the plant floor, while a 42-year-old man died on the way to a hospital. Five others were taken to hospitals with injuries. Russell shot and killed himself after an exchange of gunfire with police.
Good riddance.
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/08/2003 1:08:14 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Most state comp laws exclude injuries caused by willful acts of the injured person. Maybe she intends to maintain the cops killed her son, giving her a claim.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 10/08/2003 13:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Coming up next: Glock Sued By Crazy Woman.

Don't give her or her lawyer any ideas...
Posted by: Raj || 10/08/2003 13:53 Comments || Top||

#3  The statutes in California might be liberal enough for a sucessful case. Don't think she'll have much luck in the Mid West.
Posted by: Superhose || 10/08/2003 14:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Just another case of a crazy lawyer abusing people in grief, as I'm sure this man's mother is, for a big payday. I doubt it'll get very far, but with the courts being the way they are, who knows.
Posted by: SunKing278 || 10/08/2003 17:21 Comments || Top||

#5  Goof-ball son kills co-workers; crazy mom tries to collect. Too bad he didn't start w/her. Hopefully a judge will just laugh this case out of court.
Posted by: Jarhead || 10/08/2003 20:24 Comments || Top||


Rantburg - Over 1 Million Served!
Just noticed the hit counter - 1,000,173 and counting.
Posted by: Raj || 10/08/2003 12:37:01 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Congratulations Fred, and thanks to all the contributors!
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/08/2003 12:39 Comments || Top||

#2  That's a lot of bandwidth--Be sure to hit the tip jar, folks!

Thanks for the great forum, Fred! It's great to catch up on the news, read the diverse opinions, and be able to spout off to the world!
Posted by: Dar || 10/08/2003 12:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Actually, it's considerably more than that. We were pushing toward 2 million when I moved us to our own server. I used an old counter file, rather than copying the current one, which reset us to 400,000+. So our current "million" reflects 500,000+ since the beginning of July, by this counter. Sitemeter actually reports a little higher than my counter, with 421,677 page hits since August, when I installed it, and 177,156 distinct visits.

NZ Bear uses Sitemeter for his stats, where Rantburg is the 38th most visited site. I think we were 34th last week.

BTW, hosting this month is courtesy of Nancy. Dar, Frank G, Not Mike Moore, and Philip have all kicked in for the server fund. Thank you all!
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2003 13:07 Comments || Top||

#4  I must have misread that. Did you say that Not Mike Moore has helped!?
Posted by: Atrus || 10/08/2003 13:10 Comments || Top||

#5  Absolutely.
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2003 13:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Approaching Madonna's number.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 10/08/2003 13:34 Comments || Top||

#7  Did you say that Not Mike Moore has helped!?

Yup, this is the universe blog where Spock has a beard!
Posted by: Raj || 10/08/2003 13:55 Comments || Top||

#8  Fred, you do a great job!
Posted by: Nancy || 10/08/2003 14:09 Comments || Top||

#9  "So the day of the conservative revolution Not Mike Moore you be the last liberal to be shot."


"Pause"


"NMM you know when I told you will be the last?"


"Yes, yes."


"I lied."



Sorry but after Schwarzenegger's election I
couldn't resist to quote that scene from "Commando".

Posted by: JFM || 10/08/2003 14:48 Comments || Top||

#10  My favorite's from Conan the Destroyer...

Horny young princess, feeling up a bicep: "Nothing hurts you, does it?"

Conan, sloshed: "Only pain..."
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2003 15:22 Comments || Top||

#11  Just trying to do my part to keep y'all riled up! :^)
Posted by: Not Mike Moore || 10/08/2003 15:39 Comments || Top||

#12  Fine with me if NMM donated. Just another sign of the apocalypse.
Posted by: Charles || 10/08/2003 16:10 Comments || Top||

#13  Cool! Congratulations, and thanks, Fred. Tip jar hit coming up. :-P
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 10/08/2003 17:01 Comments || Top||

#14  Hey! Thanks Fred! And Congratuations!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/08/2003 17:20 Comments || Top||


Bears - 2, Tigers - 1, People - 0
An advocate of grizzly bear protection and his camping companion were mauled to death by one or more bears in a remote part of Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve, officials said Tuesday. Killed were Timothy Treadwell, 46, and Amie Huguenard, 37, both of Malibu, California, said the National Park Service and the Alaska State Troopers. Treadwell was the founder of Grizzly People, an organization devoted to the protection of grizzly bears and their habitat. According to the group’s Web site, Treadwell’s practice was to travel to bear country without weapons. Treadwell, a former drug addict, was featured on the Web site of actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio. According to a biography on the site, Treadwell beat his addiction by spending time in the Alaskan wilderness, where he developed his fondness for bears.
Who says drug use doesn’t cause brain damage?
The deaths were discovered when an air-taxi pilot flew to the site Monday afternoon to pick up the campers. He found the campsite damaged and a brown bear atop what appeared to be a human body, eating the remains.
Humm, tastes like environmentalist!
When park rangers and state troopers flew to the remote site to recover the bodies, they had to kill two aggressive bears that were threatening them, officials said.
PETA will be upset.
The service had cautioned Treadwell for several years about his bear-safety practices, spokesman John Quinley said. Treadwell made a practice of getting within inches of the animals, but the Park Service recommends a 50-yard distance, he said.
And a heavy caliber weapon.
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 12:33:27 PM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Definatly Darwin Awards nominee....
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 10/08/2003 12:38 Comments || Top||

#2  The service had cautioned Treadwell...about his bear-safety practices...Treadwell made a practice of getting within inches of the animals
Um, yeah... I wouldn't call that "bear-safety practice". F'ing moron might as well have dowsed himself in Worcestershire sauce beforehand.

Another Darwin award nominee who thought he was so special the world would make an exception for him. Can you hear me now?
Posted by: Dar || 10/08/2003 12:41 Comments || Top||

#3  "Definatly Darwin Awards nominee...."

Just like Rachel Araflat and that idiot who fell of the bridge while protesting the liberation of Iraq.
Posted by: Atrus || 10/08/2003 12:41 Comments || Top||

#4  Guess the bears don't link to Leonardo's website. Boy, I'll bet they're embarrassed.
Cause of death: Misplaced self nobility.
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/08/2003 12:45 Comments || Top||

#5  According to the Associated Press, this fellow wrote a book insisting the bears were harmless. So he didn't just unthinkingly get close to the bears, he deliberately did it.
Posted by: Angie Schultz || 10/08/2003 13:13 Comments || Top||

#6  What sort of "fondness" requires you to get within inches of a wild animal? Perhaps bears oppose date rape?
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 10/08/2003 13:36 Comments || Top||

#7  ...Y'Know, this reminds me for all the world of that nutcase (from near here, BTW) who decided to go swimming with Shamu at Sea World Florida couple of years ago, and was apparenty rather surprised when Shamu whacked him hard enough to kill him. He was also a 'free spirit' (TRANSLATION: Late-20's homeless druggie wandering the country and enabled by his parents)who loved animals, and whose parents sued Sea World afterwards.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 10/08/2003 14:00 Comments || Top||

#8  ..both of Malibu, California,..

Now there's a place that cranks out bear experts by the score, no?? ;)
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/08/2003 14:05 Comments || Top||

#9  One news story described Treadwell as a "self-taught" bear expert. Rather a stinging indictment of the whole do-it-yourself philosophy, no?
Posted by: Mercutio || 10/08/2003 14:30 Comments || Top||

#10  My personal favorite was the seal expert who should have expanded her studies to shark behavior.
Posted by: Superhose || 10/08/2003 14:39 Comments || Top||

#11  Not only did Treadwell die, but his female companion was munched, too, because of Treadwell's stupidity. And because of his irresponsible behavior, two bears had to be killed. Bears are strong, complex creatures and are irratable before hibernation. They are probably eating spawned-out rotten salmon and fattening up before winter. The bears at the camp were probably agressive, in my opinion, because they were guarding their buried moonbat food supply that they had recently acquired.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/08/2003 15:13 Comments || Top||

#12  Could have been worse...

http://www.theonion.com/onion2920w/bearrape.html
Posted by: mjh || 10/08/2003 15:36 Comments || Top||

#13  Another couple of supporters of Gray Davis get what's coming to them! I agree, definitely Darwin Award material. Add to the list the parachutist that tried to parasail past the Royal Gorge bridge last weekend, but ended up hitting one of the support wires and crashing 1000 feet below. It's going to be really difficult to pick a winner at this year's awards banquet.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 10/08/2003 15:43 Comments || Top||

#14  Reminds me of that shark expert who said standing still in the middle of a group of sharks is perfectly safe, as long as you don't make any sudden movements. The show was called "Anatomy of a shark bite". Guess who was the star?
Posted by: Charles || 10/08/2003 16:14 Comments || Top||

#15  Malibu, California...

Aren't these the same type of people who got into an uproar about Alaska thinning the wolf populations a few years ago?

What does someone who lives in Malibu (or Hollywierd) know about wolves (or bears or reality itself for that matter)?

The way I understand it (heresay - never been there) you need at least a .357 Mag when wandering around the forests up there to even slow down a Grizzly or Kodiak...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/08/2003 17:32 Comments || Top||

#16  I've heard the .357 Mag advice as well...anybody with a better knowledge of firearms and/or bears want to comment?
Posted by: Flaming Sword || 10/08/2003 17:53 Comments || Top||

#17  My firearms training mostly includes the 5 inch 54 cal variety, but I would go for the hollow point ammo option and not ask PETA for their opinion.
Posted by: Super Hose || 10/08/2003 18:42 Comments || Top||

#18  I remember a night in the summer of 1982 when a lonely hoser was working some cigarette buttes and shards of vomit towards a drain by Shamu's tank at Sea World of Ohio. Old Shamu heard me rustling around his tank and came up to investigate.

He eyed me up as I ran my stream of water along the cement barrier of Shamu's abode. Being curious, friendly or hungary he slid himslef up on a shallow area in his tank were the trainers show him off to kids between the show and opened his mouth wide inviting me to pet his tongue like a volunteer does in the show.

It was four in the morning and nobody was around as far as I could see. I had always been curious about what a killer whales tongue felt like or whether killer whales had halitosis.

For a long moment I paused in my hosing and pondered the question that Robert Frost had described in his famous poem about paths in the woods. But being the Super Hose and not the Stupid Hose, I chose the path more travelled and hosed on by Shamu on my way to the Japanese Village.

That is the differernce between me and the self-taught bear enthusiast. Sometimes I think I should have hit Shamu in the eye with the straight stream for tempting me, but I was not a cruel teenager. Besides, I needed the cashflow.
Posted by: Super Hose || 10/08/2003 18:55 Comments || Top||

#19  I shot a black bear with a .44 Mag pistol round in a defensive situation. It rolled him over and severed his spinal cord just behind the shoulder. He ran almost as fast as normal on his front legs with his hind legs dragging till I finished him off with another round.

I also shot a big grizzley with a .270 remington mag rifle and 175 gr bullet. I shot the bear right through the heart when he was facing me. He flipped over, then ran into the woods and brush. After a few hours, I followed the blood trail and found him 150 yards later. The bullet had punctured the heart and he ran that far before he died.

So if you are hunting, you need some serious foot lb of energy to take down a grizzly or Kodiak bear. Close range is a drag. No margin. I like shotguns and slugs for self defense in closer quarters. Best policy is to avoid a confrontation. The paperwork is a bitch with Fish and Game. Also you have to skin the bear and you do not get to keep the hide or meat.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/08/2003 19:15 Comments || Top||

#20  I have a friend who actually met Treadwell. Had the task of escorting him around a convention of some kind. Treadwell had spent so much time around the bears that he had no people skills left. Either that or his brain was addled from drugs. Hard to know for sure.

I understand that he was aware of how dangerous it was, despite his claims to the contrary. If his claims of interactions with the bears are true, I'd say he probably died because the bear didn't think it he had the appropriate standing to have sex. It's one thing when the jealous male is twice your size. It's quite another when he's ten times your size.
Posted by: Dishman || 10/08/2003 20:19 Comments || Top||

#21  Just saw a short segment on NBC that featured some old footage of a previous interview with this Treadwell guy. His take: "I think the bears are misunderstood."

Unfortunately for Treadwell, it wasn't the general public's perception of grizzlies as potentially dangerous beasts that was a misunderstanding.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/08/2003 21:07 Comments || Top||

#22  They don't call 'em animals for nothing...
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2003 21:46 Comments || Top||

#23  I've seen Grizzlies in Montana and Wyoming(from the car, way off in the distance) I once saw a Black Bear jog across the road 20 meters ahead of my car in suburban Jersey less than 30 minutes drive from the Lincoln Tunnel - practically in view of Manhattan. That was a shock. I understand that Black Bears are not dangerous unless you accidentally find yourself in between a mother and her cub. They're a real nusance though. I wouldn't want to bump into one in the woods or walking down the street for that matter.

I read that Park Rangers are using pepper spray to the eyes to protect against bear attacks.
Posted by: Tokyo Taro || 10/09/2003 0:12 Comments || Top||

#24  The use of pepper spray with bears is a new one! Anybody else heard of this practice?
Posted by: Flaming Sword || 10/09/2003 12:16 Comments || Top||

#25  Was the guy irresponsible? Absolutely. Did he probably do more harm than good to the bears he cared about by getting him and his friend eaten? Probably. Did he and his friend deserve to die? No. A mauling probably would have helped enlighten him. Seems like the bears serve the purpose of reminding us that, stripped of our weaponry, alone in the forest, we are puny and out of place. Bravery and stupidity are close neighbors. Knowing nothing about this guy other than he died pursuing his passion he deserves admiration. His wrongheadedness notwithstanding.
Posted by: Raven911 || 02/21/2004 12:04 Comments || Top||

#26  I feel Treadwell had some void in his own personal life which drew him to the bears and he wanted people to believe and him himself that he had a special connection with these animals. It could have been Tom cruise out there getting away with not being attacked until that fateful day he ran across the wrong one.
Posted by: Anonymous5595 || 07/07/2004 13:31 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Abdul Dostum and Atta Mohammed Forces Clash, Again
Fighting erupted Wednesday between rival warlords who both claim allegiance to the government of President Hamid Karzai, and an official of one of the warring groups said as many as 60 people were killed and scores more wounded. The soldiers were massing around the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, said Gen. Abdul Sabur, a spokesman for Atta Mohammed’s Jamiat-e-Islami faction. Sabur said hundreds of fighters loyal to northern Uzbek commander Abdul Rashid Dostum began battling Atta’s supporters about midday, and the battle continued late into the night.
He said 60 people were killed in that fighting, which involved tanks, heavy artillery and other weapons.
It’s like the Sharks vs the Jets, with crew served weapons.
Shouldn't both of them be in Zabul or Uruzgan, committing atrocities?
"The fighting is very intense," Sabur said. "People are very scared. Shops and markets have all closed." It was impossible to immediately confirm Sabur’s account, and representatives of Dostum’s faction, known as Junbish, could not be reached. The two sides have clashed repeatedly in the past two years, though they are nominally both loyal to Karzai’s central government. Countless efforts by the United Nations and the Afghan government to mediate a peaceful resolution have failed.
It’ll end when either Dostum or Mohammed are killed and their boys have to go looking for work elsewhere.
It was not clear what sparked the latest fighting.
It don’t take much.
A second Jamiat spokesman, Ashraf Nadim, said fighters loyal to Dostum launched a separate attack in Maimana city, in the neighboring northern province of Faryab. He said it was not clear how many people had been killed there.
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 3:55:21 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is just the Afghans version of "Football". The goal is to score the most kills before the AP finds out.
Posted by: Charles || 10/08/2003 16:17 Comments || Top||

#2  It’s like the Sharks vs the Jets, with crew served weapons.

The Sharks and the Jets fought for bragging rights - these guys are fighting over who will get to own these particular chunks of turf, and the tax collections that flow from them. They're fighting over something real - it's not just out of boredom. The reason the fighting is sporadic is that they're trying not to attract Uncle Sam's attention - getting bombed and strafed by A-10's is in their interests, so they continue with this back-and-forth penny-ante stuff.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 10/08/2003 17:47 Comments || Top||

#3  The above should read: The reason the fighting is sporadic is that they're trying not to attract Uncle Sam's attention - getting bombed and strafed by A-10's is NOT in their interests, so they continue with this back-and-forth penny-ante stuff.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 10/08/2003 17:48 Comments || Top||

#4  I saw this article over the weekend in philly.com. It gives a pretty balanced view on what the result of the new Afghan army training might be.
Posted by: Super Hose || 10/08/2003 19:05 Comments || Top||


"Omar’s Angels" gear up to attack Afghanistan
A Taliban army is mobilising in Pakistan for a raid into Afghanistan before the end of the year. Up to 2500 fighters are in Baluchistan province preparing to cross the border on motorcycles and attack US and Afghan Government forces, Western and Afghan intelligence officials say.
2500 motorcycles, yeah, they’ll be able to sneak in.
They're gonna disguise themselves as a Shriners' parade...
The Taliban have virtually taken over several suburbs of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, and are being supported by Pakistani religious parties, the drugs mafia and al-Qaeda. There is also reportedly increasing support from the Pakistani authorities - a claim denied in Islamabad.
"Nope, not us."
Tuesday marked the second anniversary of the beginning of the US bombing campaign that destroyed the Taliban after the September 11 attacks. They now plan to harry US forces in Zabol and in Kandahar, where residents feel increasingly under siege.
Since August, Taliban attacks have killed almost 400 Afghan soldiers, aid workers and civilians.
Mostly aid workers and civilians, some Afghan soldiers whose trucks were ambushed while cruising around fat, dumb and happy, a few in combat.
Four US soldiers have died.
And around 150-200 taliban fighters, that we know of.
"We have the American forces and the puppet regime of [Hamid] Karzai on the run. They will collapse soon" said a Taliban mullah in Pushtunabad bazaar.
Just keep believing that, pal.
The Taliban have bought hotels, shops and houses, forcing many frightened local residents to leave. Vehicle dealers say the Taliban have bought 1150 motorcycles in the past three months. Motorcycle guerillas roam Afghanistan’s rural areas attacking aid agency vehicles and isolated police posts.
Motorcycle engines show up real nice on FLIR, lots of heat.
For communications, they import hundreds of satellite telephones from the Arab Gulf states, because those bought in Pakistan are closely monitored by the CIA.
(wink) That’s right, those sat phones from the Gulf States can’t be monitored or traced. Pass it on. (wink)
Arms and ammunition are dumped inside Afghanistan. Their funding comes from the drugs trade and al-Qaeda. Osama bin Laden is still thought to be buried in hiding along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Logistical support is available from the mullahs of the Jamiat-e-Ullema Islam - a partner in Baluchistan’s ruling coalition.
We noticed.
The White House is reluctant to speak up about the extent of Pakistani help to the Taliban because of the US’s desperate need to enlist Pakistani troops for Iraq.
Yeah, right, whatever.
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 10:35:53 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What are the GPS coordinates of those "several suburbs of Quetta" again?

Calling Diego Garcia, I have a mission brief for you ...
Posted by: Steve White || 10/08/2003 11:14 Comments || Top||

#2  They're gonna disguise themselves as a Shriners' parade...

Just swap your turban for a fez, and bingo! you're good to go.
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/08/2003 11:28 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm seeing the 7th Cav. remounted. Naw.... that's giving a sucker an even break. Perhaps we can send out a wood chopping party and lure 'em in, whilst we circle the Bradleys...
Posted by: Shipman || 10/08/2003 11:35 Comments || Top||

#4  Motocycles vs Apache Longbows -- film at 11.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/08/2003 11:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Will Mullah O be right out in front leading the charge on the Retreatacycle? Oh, that's right. It only works in reverse gears.
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/08/2003 11:59 Comments || Top||

#6  Put all your eggs in one basket.Smash that basket!
Posted by: Raptor || 10/08/2003 12:03 Comments || Top||

#7  Viewers;You better discuss on net and we better do our job in the field.
I went a few days ago into Afghanistan[Paktia]and saw number of Mujahideen.US Ground forces were not willing to move out of their base at Khost old Air port;rather local loyal people were sent who also tried not to face the Mujahideen;US air Force was present but it could not do much without ground support.Local population likes the Mujahideen who Were from different groups like Hizb-e Islami Hekmetyar;Taliban;and men of Jalal Ud Din Haqani.There morale seemed high as they walk freely in all of the country while Allied forces staying in Bases by fear of life.
Posted by: Chengis Kkan || 10/08/2003 12:05 Comments || Top||

#8  Motocycles vs Apache Longbows -- film at 11.

That's one photo op I'd pay to see! Better still, arrange the good guys so they funnel the Toejobs into a tight corridor, and then hit 'em with a couple of Spectres. One at the front, one at the back, with A-10s in the middle. Of course, overkill like that will make it hard to identify the corpses, but that's ok - mass graves are popular in the Middle East. Just look at how many we've found in Iraq, alone.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 10/08/2003 12:07 Comments || Top||

#9  Why Bradleys? Why not a first "trial by fire" for the Powerful Stryker? They were supposed to go to Iraq, but this might be more fun, nu?
Posted by: Hodadenon || 10/08/2003 12:08 Comments || Top||

#10  Hell's Angels, Quetta chapter?
Posted by: Raj || 10/08/2003 12:15 Comments || Top||

#11  Has anyone got about 100 yds of piano wire handy?
Posted by: Superhose || 10/08/2003 14:42 Comments || Top||

#12  nice commentary Chingas!
Posted by: Frank G || 10/08/2003 14:52 Comments || Top||

#13  Motorcycles? Just lay land-mines in the road's across the border. Oh, that's right, land mines are banned by the UN. Second option, Wait for the heat in the motorcycles to build up and napalm them.
Posted by: Charles || 10/08/2003 16:24 Comments || Top||

#14  Does anyone else think this smacks of the Childrens Crusade?

Except these toerags aren't innocent, and I would think the number coming back will be even less than for the CC.
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 10/08/2003 16:39 Comments || Top||

#15  Chengis on the Taliban: There morale seemed high as they walk freely in all of the country while Allied forces staying in Bases by fear of life.

US forces stayed in their bases instead of patrolling aggressively? Very unlikely. Even in Vietnam, when we were fighting the war with draftees, US forces patrolled aggressively and carried out search-and-destroy missions where on bad days, we'd lose 50 KIA per day.

With professionals in the field, I suspect the patrolling is even more aggressive. If we weren't aggressively going after the Taliban, we'd be sustaining many more casualties - this appears to be what the Russians are doing wrong in Chechnya - they're completely unaware of their surroundings and routinely fall victim to Chechen/al Qaeda ambushes.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 10/08/2003 17:54 Comments || Top||

#16  Sounds like these guys are getting ready to fight to the death again.
Posted by: Matt || 10/08/2003 20:07 Comments || Top||

#17  Vehicle dealers say the Taliban have bought 1150 motorcycles in the past three months.

-Darn good of them to help stimulate the Afghan economy before going off to die en masse like a bunch of lemmings off a cliff.
Posted by: Jarhead || 10/08/2003 20:34 Comments || Top||


Top ex-Taleban minister ’freed’
Former Taleban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil has arrived in the south-western Afghan town of Kandahar, after his release from the US military base in Bagram, reports say. A Pakistan-based aide to Mr Mutawakil said on condition of anonymity that the former minister was now staying with his relatives in the town after being freed about four days ago. Mr Mutawakil spent some 18 months in US custody, following his surrender shortly after American troops ousted the Taleban regime in late 2001. The charges against him were never specified. Mr Mutawakil has always been described as the more respectable face of the Taleban. Just before the US sent troops to Afghanistan, he reportedly had a major disagreement with Mullah Mohammad Omar, founder of the Taleban movement, on sheltering Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan. It was reported that Mr Mutawakil led a group of moderate Taleban who wanted Bin Laden to leave Afghanistan to avoid US reprisals against the Taleban regime.
The idea of moderate Taliban isn’t as stupid as it sounds, after the core Taliban began to take control of the country, various warlords, druglords, tribal leaders, ex-communists and member of other political factions joined up them, most of whom had very little loyalty to the Taliban’s ideology. As soon as America went to war, those factions all dumped them, which was one reason for the rapid disintergration of the Talibs.
News of Mr Mutawakil’s release came as Nato-led peacekeepers in Afghanistan and Afghan police said they had arrested a man suspected of planning terrorist attacks. An spokesman said the man, identified as Abu Bakr, was a senior commander in Kabul for the Hizb-e-Islami faction led by the renegade warlord, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Mr Hekmatyar - a former Afghan prime minister - has been labelled a wanted terrorist by Washington, and there have been reports that his faction may have formed a loose alliance with Taleban and al-Qaeda remnants.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 10/08/2003 12:09:20 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And there were also some Taliban who were nationalistic, who unlike Omar didn't enter in
ecstasy just because some rascal spoke to them
in classic Arabic and who were not eager in having Afghans take orders from others and specially of people who tend to lose their wars in Six days or of people who like Bin Laden who spent the war hiding in Pakistan.
Posted by: JFM || 10/08/2003 1:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Another of Hek's "senior commanders" jugged or dead. He'll have to do his own dirty work soon
Posted by: Frank G || 10/08/2003 9:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Afghan President Hamid Karzai is denying reports that the United States has freed former Taliban foreign minister Mullah Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil from custody in Afghanistan. "This is not true. This is absolutely not true. He has not been released," Mr Karzai said. Turning to the US special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, Mr Karzai asked: "Is this true?"
Mr Khalilzad, who did not speak, shook his head.

Humm, somebody talking out of turn?
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 10:55 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Wanted Saudi caught in Kuwait
EFL:
In another incident, the security authorities are still interrogating a Kuwaiti man, identified as Jassem Al-Hassan, who had been arrested two weeks ago for alleged links to a terrorist network, says Al-Qabas daily quoting a reliable source. The Kuwaiti security authorities have made contacts with their Filipinio counterparts to seek the release of Al-Hassan, however, the issue has not yet been settled, says a reliable source.
Story is a bit confused, I guess he was bagged in the Phillipines for helping JI.
Meanwhile, securitymen arrested an unidentified Saudi man who was wanted by the Iraqi security forces for having links with al-Qaeda organisation, reports Al-Anba. The man is alleged to have entered Kuwait a week ago. The suspect has been arrested and referred to the state security to confirm the allegations of the Iraqi security agencies, he added, says a reliable source. He said some al-Qaeda members are reported to have fled to Iraq earlier, taking advantage of its unstable security situation, adding "now that the coalition forces are tightening the noose around them - especially after the recent terrorist attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad - these al-Qaeda members are trying to flee Iraq."
Interesting, mostly we hear about them trying to sneak into Iraq. If more are caught fleeing Iraq, we’ll know we’ve won.
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 11:56:36 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Saudi police clash with suspected Islamists
Two Saudi policemen were injured in a clash with suspected Islamists in the early hours of Wednesday in the Qassim region north of Riyadh, witnesses said. An officer of the intelligence service was injured in the face in the clash on a farm in the village of Malida near Qassim airport, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of the capital, according to a witness.
Another raid on the farm boys.
Another witness said a member of the security forces was also injured in the clash which took place at about 2:00 am (2300 GMT Tuesday) and involved security forces backed up by a helicopter. This same witness said the forces were looking for at least three suspects who managed to escape the scene and that the area remained cordoned off on Wednesday afternoon. Saudi officials were not immediately available to confirm the incident.
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 11:34:33 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  More "details" : SAUDI security authorities today said they had discovered at least two terrorist cells and foiled plans for new attacks. A Saudi Interior Ministry official told the official Saudi Press Agency that four terrorists were arrested in two separate operations. Three others are still being pursued by police.
The official said agents, acting on a tip-off, arrested a member of a cell in al-Qassim, 350km northwest of the capital, Riyadh. The suspect said three of his colleagues were hiding in a nearby farm. Police raided the farm overnight and two security men were injured in firefight with fleeing suspects during a car chase. The suspects escaped, but agents uncovered large quantities of explosives on the farm, said the official, who was not identified. Al-Qassim has long been a hotbed of extremism.
Another tip-off identified a cell of three people in a desert area east of Riyadh, the official said. Security officials raided their hideout on Sunday and arrested all of them. The official would not identify the men in custody. He said the cells had been in the "early planning stages of terror operations". The targets of the plots were not identified.
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 14:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Even more: The interior ministry, in a statement carried by the official news agency SPA, said the raid followed three arrests on Monday in a desert region east of Riyadh. "Security forces also received information on another terrorist cell, made up of four people, planning terrorist operations. They were able to arrest the most important member," it said. "He told police that his comrades were hiding in a farm in the Malida region," the ministry said. "The three wanted men came out of the farm with guns blazing, to which the security forces responded." It said the "terrorists" seized the car of a passer-by after their own vehicle was damaged, and managed to escape after wounding the two members of the security forces. "A large amount of powder used to make explosives as well as light arms were found in their car and in the farm," the statement said.
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 15:18 Comments || Top||


Kuwaiti minister tells Kadhafi: ’’Go to hell’’
A Kuwaiti minister has said Libya’s President Moamer Kadhafi "will go to hell," after the Libyan leader strongly criticized the emirate, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. "From this moment, I say Kadhafi will go to hell," Deputy Premier and State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Mohammad Sharar was quoted as saying by Al-Rai Al-Aam.
I second the motion.
The Kuwaiti minister was responding to a question about a statement attributed to Kadhafi in which the Libyan ruler said his country and Kuwait would never meet until the Day of Judgement and that one would go to hell and the other to heaven.
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 11:19:33 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They're so cute at that age...
Posted by: Dar || 10/08/2003 12:42 Comments || Top||

#2  He'll be there.
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/08/2003 12:55 Comments || Top||

#3  ...Osama's saving him a seat on Level Nine...

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 10/08/2003 14:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Save yer breath, Mo, it's a done deal.
Posted by: BH || 10/08/2003 15:19 Comments || Top||

#5  Mo's still thinking he can cut a deal with God like he did over the Pan Am bombing
Posted by: Frank G || 10/08/2003 15:55 Comments || Top||

#6  Mo will have a eternity being hit by Jet-liners down in hell.
Posted by: Charles || 10/08/2003 16:26 Comments || Top||


Another Pak a foot shorter
A Pakistani found guilty of drug trafficking was beheaded by the sword on Tuesday in Jeddah, the interior ministry announced. Khan Waley Ben Sayed Mir Jan confessed to “smuggling heroin into the region,” said a ministry statement by the Saudi Press Agency. The beheading took to 47 the number of executions announced in Saudi Arabia this year, according to an AFP tally based on official statements.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/08/2003 00:25 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just as long as they didn't spank him first. Did they try non-verbal cues to let him know that suggling heroin is unacceptable. Sometimes the non-verbal stuff can hurt worse than beheading.
Posted by: Superhose || 10/08/2003 15:23 Comments || Top||


Yemen arrests 'anti-Western plotters'
Yemeni police have reportedly detained up to 22 people on suspicion of planning attacks on Western and local targets. A Yemeni man and three Saudis were arrested in mid-September for financing the purchase of weapons and explosives in eastern Marib region, a security source based in the region told Reuters on Tuesday. The region was the site of shootouts with Islamist armed groups and kidnappings of Westerners. A computer seized from the men contained detailed plans of attacks against Western and Yemeni individuals and institutions in Yemen, the source said without giving details.
Gosh, but computers are handy things...
Up to 18 other Yemeni suspects have subsequently been arrested after police interrogated the four, the source added. Yemeni officials were not immediately available to comment.
"We can say no more!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/08/2003 00:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Gosh, but computers are handy things... "

Where do you want to go today?
Posted by: liberalhawk || 10/08/2003 15:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Advice from the Hose to any Western interest in Yemen. Get the hell out. Find someplace tasteful to die.
Posted by: Super Hose || 10/08/2003 19:12 Comments || Top||


Europe
Female boomers celebrated
The Simon Wiesenthal Center expressed horror at the forthcoming inauguration of an exhibition entitled "Body Milk," glorifying female suicide bombers, to open at the Antonopoulou Gallery in Athens. According to the daily newspaper ’Ta Nea’, this pink lace embroidery montage displays an Arab woman and her bomb belt "heroically" obliterating an Israeli supermarket.
Brave Dame Robin killed the wicked infants and deadly civilians

In the ’Ta Nea’ interview, the organizer, Thessaly University Architecture Professor Alexandros Psychoulis is quoted: "I feel that the experiment of Israel has failed... but politics do not concern me in this work, only the relations between the woman and the supermarket - what is it that ultimately makes her feel pleasure in this place?... The title ’Body Milk’ brings together both female cosmetics and the human milk of an 18-year-old Palestinian girl bomber in an Israeli supermarket last March. A very beautiful girl, educated, in love... of an army of women in the women’s space of the supermarket... the supermarket is a super female provider. If she blows herself there, she is magnifying her existence and her act."
How does that "magnify" her existence?
Psychoulis acknowledges his wife’s inspiration for presenting the exhibit in pink, as "black would be tragic. With pink one can say the most tragic thing in the lightest way."
How is mass murder a light matter!?
In a letter to Greek Prime Minister, Kostas Simitis, the Center’s Director for International Liaison, Dr. Shimon Samuels, stated that "over 450 innocents, including women, children, elderly have been murdered and thousands maimed by suicide terrorists in the last three years in Israel - the most recent only four days ago in a jointly Jewish and Arab owned restaurant in Haifa."
"So get rid of that fucking abomination!" For an abomination that exhibit is.
Samuels continued: "This exhibit will continue to poison the Athenian climate, adding to the antisemitic campaign currently underway in the Greek media. This can only encourage eventual violence in Greece itself, for the scourge of global terrorism is indivisible."
Is eventual violence what the moonbat in question wants?
The Center demanded that Simitis "take immediate measures to abort this obscenity insensitive to atrocity and human life itself. Failure to act will show the world that Greece has lost its soul."
The loss of such a treasure as the soul is catastrophic.
"In consequence," the letter concluded, "the prospect for terrorism will have been enhanced in the context of the approaching Olympics. Indeed, the very ideals represented by the Olympic flame will have been impugned in the land of their birth."
How tragic a fall.
For further information, please contact Dr. Samuels at +33.609.77.01.58.
What’s Aris’ take on this?
Posted by: Atrus || 10/08/2003 12:59:44 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wouldn't say that it magnified her existence, rather that it spread her existence over a larger expanse of land.
Posted by: BH || 10/08/2003 15:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Wait a minute. In Iraq the BBC is crying that we have shirked our duty because not all the women are safe yet. The plight of Afghan women has improved little since the fall of the Taleban, according to the human rights organisation Amnesty International. Why would we need to proetect women that are blowing the place up? We have met my first goal for the post-Taliban age: no more executions in the soccer stadium. My next goal was to shut down the poppy trade. I figured that once the gunmen's money dried up it would be safer daily for men women and children throughout.

Maybe it would be safer for everone if we just issued everbody suicide belts. We would have detente again on a personal level. Islam puts a lot of restictions on women but it seems to be OK for them to strap explosives on under their burkas. Let's roll with it.
Posted by: Superhose || 10/08/2003 15:16 Comments || Top||

#3  I'd be in favor of distributing explosive belts with 4 ounces of explosives and shrapnel on the interior faces only.
Posted by: Dishman || 10/08/2003 15:49 Comments || Top||

#4  Why is Simon Wiesenthal writing to the Prime Minister?

Typical European mentality. As for the exhibit itself. F&%# it! Let the idiots have their little exhibit. Publicize it. Show the world what happens when you go compeletely insane.
Posted by: Tokyo Taro || 10/08/2003 20:01 Comments || Top||

#5  "I feel that the experiment of Israel has failed... but politics do not concern me in this work, only the relations between the woman and the supermarket - what is it that ultimately makes her feel pleasure in this place?

-Yeah, that's always the first thing I wonder when a suicide bomber murders women and children in a supermarket. This guy's a F*ck'n douche bag.

If she blows herself there, she is magnifying her existence and her act."

-Actually she's extinguishing her existence and the existence of the poor people she murdered but why split hairs. Bunch of rubbish.
Posted by: Jarhead || 10/08/2003 21:45 Comments || Top||


Spanish, French police hold 34 in anti-ETA swoop
Police in Spain and France arrested 34 people early on Wednesday in a swoop Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said was one of the most important operations against the Basque armed group ETA.
That’s a big bite out of their organization.
Twenty-nine were detained mostly in Spain’s northern Basque and Navarre regions on suspicion of belonging to ETA and recruiting for the organisation, which is listed as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union. French police sources said four men and one woman connected to the banned radical Basque youth group Segi were arrested in Bayonne in the south of the country.
Lock the jail this time, ok France?
Aznar said on state radio it was "one of the most important and extensive operations that has been carried out in the fight against terror". Interior Minister Angel Acebes told a news conference that ETA’s organisational capacity was reduced thanks to recent police operations that have put some of the group’s key members behind bars.
Well done!
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 12:03:42 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


England Players Vote To Strike
England Players Vote To Strike

10/08/2003. Despite an FA statement insisting that discussions with senior England players had been "amicable" in the wake of Rio Ferdinand’s omission from the squad to face Turkey in Saturday’s Euro 2004 qualifier, The Times newspaper is reporting that the England squad has taken "the unprecedented decision to go on strike" unless the FA reinstates their team-mate.

According to the report, the entire squad are furious at what they perceive as unfair treatment of the Manchester United defender. Apparently they gathered for a vote and the unanimous decision was to inform Sven-Göran Eriksson that they would not take to the field in Istanbul.

Other reports, and the FA themselves, have played down suggestions of any rebellion in the players’ camp.

A strike would presumably mean the game being called off and the points awarded to Turkey.

But The Times claims the strength of feeling among the squad is such that this is a real possibility. It also suggests that the FA cannot now back down after having taken a "principled stance" to drop Ferdinand for failing to take a drugs test.

The newspaper reports that at lunchtime on Tuesday, eight senior players held an emergency meeting with Mark Palios, the new FA chief executive who was conspicuous by his non-appearance in front of the media during the day, and argued that Ferdinand should be allowed to represent his country before any disciplinary action was taken.

Palios reportedly repeated the FA’s position that, although there is no rule stipulating that Ferdinand had to be dropped, the governing body believes it would be inappropriate to select a player who is almost certain to be charged with an offence at a hearing on Monday.

The players feel Ferdinand is being punished before he has been found guilty and that he should be allowed to play in this vital match.

According to The Times, four of Ferdinand’s Old Trafford team-mates — Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes and Gary and Phil Neville — led the delegation in the discussions with Palios and they were joined later by David James, Michael Owen, Sol Campbell and David Beckham.

They are probably unlikely to persuade Palios to reverse the decision, but the FA is apparently shaken by the strength of the players’revolt.

Hey Bulldog what’s going on in the English squad?
Posted by: Murat || 10/08/2003 5:39:13 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe they should go to Peshawar
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 10/08/2003 6:34 Comments || Top||

#2  I think they're just affraid to play Turkey. They don't want to admit that they're a level below the Turks, especially without Owen and Ferdinad.

Ilhan Mansiz is a huge star here in Japan. But the rest of the team is really good too. Basturk, Sas, Davila, Nihat, Sukur and company probably could've taken Germany if they had a chance. They're second only to Brazil.

Beckham is overrated, although that teenager Rooney looks like a budding superstar.

I want to see this game.
Posted by: Tokyo Taro || 10/08/2003 20:13 Comments || Top||

#3  I wasn't aware that Ferdinand was in trouble with the FA but as an American, I applaud the England players' principled stand for due process. If it were a US team, he'd certainly play until found 'guilty'.

That said, I don't think England would duck Turkey although my money would be on the Turks. They are an emerging power in European soccer and very classy at WC'02. I think England-Turkey could become one of the great rivalries. I'm sure the England players look forward to testing themselves against such a great side. The Turkish fans, on the other hand...

Posted by: JDB || 10/08/2003 21:23 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
Rutgers Heilfest off! Hallelujah!
Donks’ hold on the People’s Republic of California going, Arafish possibly dying, traditional doormats doing well in baseball, Saddam gone, Iraq freed, and Uday and Qusay in Hell, and now this! Somebody up there likes us... Hat tip LGF
DAFKA this morning was able to determine the Third National Palestine Solidarity rally at Rutgers University is definitely canceled and that websites put up by Charlotte Kates saying the event is still on are baloney.
It’s balderdash, I tell you! Beauzeau utterances!
At the website www.nonviolenceworks.com/snv/rutgers_palestine_conferenece.htm
That site is down
it says the event is still a go at Browers Commons on campus. We called President Mc Cormick’s office where they hit the roof saying the event was canceled and would not be held. We were referred to the campus Chief Of Police, J. Kohl who informed us no conference would take place at Browers Commons. He explained that the Commons does have facitlies for such a conference but that Ms. Kates had not filled out to date any of the necessary paperwork or required details to allow her to form or conduct such a conference. Referred to the website address above, Chief Kohl said, "It doesn’t matter what it says, there is no conference scheduled nor will it be allowed at this point without the proper paperwork". He did say there is a "free speech" area near Browers where anyone can gather to speak but that it required a reservation and other groups had the area reserved for the dates listed on the website. It should be noted uthe long list of "endorsers" is meaningless, as an "endorser" is not necessarily an attendee, hence Ms. Kates just listed every anti-Israel and anti-US whacko who "endorses" her imaginary event.
"We woke up and smelled the vitriol."
The Chief did say that NJ Solidarity still was planning a rally on October 11th but that it would mostlikely be held off campus. At the same time pro-Israel forces are marshalling a rally which is expected to draw as many as 8,000 people.
Good.
Ms. "even Israeli children are legitimate targets" Kates, who decided she was a communist at age 13 must be very frustrated and keeping her therapist busy.
"It all started when I fell on my head
"
On to Ohio where the real conference is scheduled in November. The cancellation proves one thing: "He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep".
True!
Happy New Year.
Posted by: Atrus || 10/08/2003 3:48:28 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm going to Rutgers for the hate fest on Saturday. Been looking forward to it for months. Israel Inspires (www.israelinspires.com) grabed their spot when the Gov. of New Jersey and Pres of Rutgers made it plain that it wouldn't tolerate such unabashed hatred under the guise of "peace". The psychotic thugs will show up anyway, so I'm gonna get my pissed off jewish ass down to Jersey.
Posted by: pill || 10/08/2003 21:32 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Over 100 sectarian terrorists still at large, indicates report
The News quoting an official report has indicated that over 100 sectarian terrorists wanted in hundreds of sectarian murders during the last one decade in Pakistan remained untraced by the security agencies thus far. Profiles of 133 terrorists from the proscribed sectarian outfits – the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Sipah-e-Mohammed (SMP) - wanted in sectarian killings were prepared by the security agencies. Official sources have indicated that thus far an estimated 33 have either been arrested or killed in encounters with the police. Further, many of these wanted sectarian terrorists were regrouping after a brief lull in sectarian violence since the fall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. These terrorists are allegedly responsible for the fresh wave of sectarian violence in Quetta, Karachi and now in Islamabad. An official report has reportedly revealed that majority of these wanted terrorists had been living in the President Palace in Kabul during the Taliban regime. A majority of these terrorists trained in Afghanistan returned to Pakistan after the US attacked Afghanistan.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 10/08/2003 8:55:48 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


ISI’s Friday surmons in Dubai
Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence holds special sermons twice a month in Dubai to indoctrinate Indian Muslims to the jehadi cause, Zaheed Patni, an accused in the July 28 Ghatkopar blast, is reported to have told Mumbai police during his interrogation. The sermons are delivered on Fridays by special ISI-appointed clerics and are attended by a large number of people, Patni is reported to have told his interrogators. Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Satyapal Singh confirmed that Patni mentioned the Friday sermons and the presence if ISI operatives at these meetings during his interrogation. Sources said Patni enlisted to the jehadi cause after one such sermon and became a regular at the Friday meetings.
"Wow! These sermons are better'n sex!"
"You ever had sex?"
"Uhhh... No."
"They ain't better'n sex."
It was also at a Friday meeting that he introduced co-accused Hanif to some ISI agents. Police believe that Hanif not only played a vital role in the July 28 Ghatkopar blast, he also masterminded the August 25 twin blasts in Mumbai that claimed over 50 lives. Zaheed reportedly has also divulged names of some of his colleagues who attended the sermons. Some of them are residents of Mumbai, while others hail from adjoining towns. Senior crime branch officials said Patni has also shed light on the operations of the Dawood Ibrahim gang in Dubai and the information provided by him will be used to interrogate Dawood’s younger brother, Iqbal Kaskar, who is in the custody of the Mumbai police.
Religion of Peace and tolerance having a careers fair
Posted by: rg117 || 10/08/2003 2:08:49 PM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Sardar Muhammed Anwar Khan: Appease us!
More of the same from the usual suspects...
Azad Jammu Kashmir President, Sardar Muhammad Anwar Khan has urged western powers to change their attitude towards Muslims and differentiate between terrorism and freedom movements.
"Terror movements are when they attack us; freedom movements are when we attack them."
Addressing a big gathering here the other day he said that terrorism emerged due to injustice and brutalities carried out in Palestine and Occupied Kashmir by Israeli and Indian troops. Sardar Anwar was of the view that if the United States and Britain talk about the economic process and stable economy then they should not forget that peace and stability is imperative to bringing economic stability in the region.
"Except that the West must never know peace in its own lands."
"Peace and stability is imperative for economic stability in South Asia in general and world at large," he added. He maintained that durable peace and stability in the region is not possible until and unless the Kashmir dispute is resolved.
They won’t give up until it is resolved in their favor.
Western powers should play their role to resolve contentions issue of Kashmir in order to protect their economic interests in the region, he said. AJK President observed that India was trying to win the support of western powers in order to resolve its internal problems. He urged western powers particularly the United States and Britain to differentiate between terrorism and indigenous independence struggle. India was involved in state terrorism in Occupied Kashmir against the innocent Kashmiri civilians who were struggling for their right to self-determination<, he said.
"Do as we say, not as we do."
India could not suppress Kashmiris freedom movement through its state terrorism and added that Kashmiris would continue their struggle until the liberation of Kashmir from Indian occupation.
And put it under the iron yoke of sharia
Pakistan played a front line state role in the fight against international terrorism but it seems that western powers were impressed by Indian propaganda launched against Pakistan, he added.
Can you say desperate?
Sardar Anwar emphasised western countries should change their attitude and perception towards Islamic countries as Muslims were peace loving people and they did not want any confrontation between civilisations. "Islam condemns terrorist in its all forms and manifestations, it would not allow any such activities that cause harm for peaceful citizens," he said. He said international community should make collective efforts to promote peace in the world.
"Kill the Jews and force sharia down your own throats"
Posted by: Atrus || 10/08/2003 12:33:21 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Muslims were peace loving people and they did not want any confrontation between civilisations

Odd that their Friday prayers don't reflect that, then.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 10/08/2003 13:40 Comments || Top||


Pakistan carries out new missile test
Pakistan has carried out its second test in a week of a missile capable of carrying nuclear weapons. The test took place in the early hours of Wednesday morning, but the military refused to say where it was fired. The Hatf-4, also known as the Shaheen 1, has a range of 700 kilometres (435 miles), meaning it could reach almost all targets in neighbouring India. On Friday, Pakistan tested a short-range Hatf-III Ghaznavi missile that rival India dismissed as nothing new. The tests are the first by Pakistan since peace moves began with rival India six months ago. "We have successfully test fired the Shaheen 1," said military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan. "It can carry all kinds of warheads." A military statement said Pakistan had notified neighbouring countries, including India, ahead of the test in what it called "a spirit of confidence building."
Must be saber rattling season, so when is India’s next launch?
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 9:52:22 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Hatf-4, also known as the Shaheen 1, ...

Also known as the LongDong-5. C'mon, this is a NKor missile. And with a range of 435 miles, it isn't going to reach "almost all targets in neighboring India", unless the Indians are polite enough to move all the targets close to the border.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/08/2003 11:24 Comments || Top||

#2  it isn't going to reach "almost all targets in neighboring India"

It can hit New Delhi, though, which is Pakistan's PRIMARY target in India. Of course, the Indians would have no trouble wiping out a half-dozen or so major Pakistani cities, virtually destroying the country. I can't quite decide whether to chalk this up to arrogance or stupidity.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 10/08/2003 12:18 Comments || Top||

#3  OP, it's just the age old value of having "big boys" toys. If we have them, we must be a big boy. Like the six year old shooting baskets in the school yard. He has a ball, and he shoots it, but it never comes close to the hoop.

The rational approach to conflict is to become richer, better educated, and defensively stronger. Everything else is a waste of capital better spent.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 10/08/2003 13:42 Comments || Top||

#4  ...Ah, to be in Pakiland in the Fall when the RVs come drifting down.
Frankly, I wish that somebody somewhere would hold up a sign everytime the Paks or the Indians do this duelling missiles crap says in just how many people they could have fed or educated for what it cost.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 10/08/2003 14:11 Comments || Top||


Kashmir: September bloodiest month for militants ever
Indian Army has said that the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir have killed 211 militants and apprehended 20 in September, the largest ever tally since militancy broke out in the northern state in 1989-90. On October 3 and 4 alone, 25 militants were killed at two places, 19 at Gurez alone. Briefing the media on the security scenario in the country, Major General D H Summanvar said that the successful elimination of several top militant leaders in the recent past like Gazi Baba had led to less experienced leadership stepping in and getting killed or being caught by the security forces. "Infiltration is still continuing from Pakistan. But deployment of sophisticated tracking and surveillance equipment along the border has helped the security forces in eliminating a lot of militants. In September alone we have killed 211, which is a record of sorts since the beginning of militancy in the state," said General Summanvar.
Looks like the technical assistance from the IDF is really starting to pay off.
Official sources said that on an average 3000 militants are operating in the Kashmir Valley, 80 per cent of being foreign mercenaries.
"Foreign" is primarily Pakistani, of course...
The infiltration of militants during the month of September and October is maximum as the ultras are under pressure from their masters from across the border to create havoc, before the winter sets in the valley. There are 32 militant organizations operating in the valley, the main being Lashkar-e-Taiaba (LeT), Al Badr and Hizbul Mujahideen. While the cadres of the earlier two outfits are mostly suicide squads of foreign origin, some 60 per cent of the Hizbul are local Kashmiris.
Sources within the defense establishment said they are on the look out for a high-ranking Pakistani military official, who is allegedly directing the operations of the militants in the valley. A self-styled LeT district commander who was caught during an operation in the Banihal region last month disclosed during interrogation that there are several camps in Pak-Occupied Kashmir, imparting training to new recruits. The terrorist Mohammad Shahzad, said retired Pakistani military officials and Pakistan’s ISI are actively involved in training and pushing militants from across the border. Army officials said in addition to the over 72 tons of highly explosive substances sized from the militants, recoveries of weapons were over 31,000 during the last 13 years. "Training was given by LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) for 21 days and later for three months by retired Pakistani army officials along with LeT cadres. Before crossing over to Indian territory, we stayed at a Pakistani post for 24 hours and were later conducted through difficult terrain by trained guides," said Shahzad.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 10/08/2003 3:52:02 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I am confident that India can shatter this record in October. If I was at a concert, I would have my arm extended high and swaying back and forth. My BIC lighter burning brightly as I saluted their incredible effort. And the crowd would be chanting, "Free Bird... Free Bird..."
Posted by: Superhose || 10/08/2003 10:23 Comments || Top||


Opp suspects conspiracy behind Tariq’s murder
Opposition parties in the National Assembly on Tuesday said Monday’s murder of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) chief Maulana Azam Tariq might have been part of a “conspiracy” to change the country’s political scenario.
Ahah! Deep laid plots, is it?
They said Maulana Tariq’s and four companions’ murders, in a “sensitive city” like Islamabad, was a failure of the law enforcement agencies. They demanded the officials responsible be identified and then resign to uphold moral and democratic traditions.
Just like Azam did...
“We seriously feel there is a conspiracy behind these tragic killings. We feel such incidents are being conducted because of constitutional problems as well as for changing the political scenario in the country,” Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) leader Liaqat Baloch told reporters at a press conference with other opposition leaders after the house was adjourned till Friday. When asked to elaborate, he said, “Time will explain everything.”
"Only time will tell..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/08/2003 00:29 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I heard that 4,000 taxi drivers didn't show up for work that day...
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/08/2003 0:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Most 7-11's were also closed...
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/08/2003 11:42 Comments || Top||

#3  I want my Slurpee, dammit!
Posted by: Raj || 10/08/2003 12:34 Comments || Top||

#4  "Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous..."
-- Richard II
Posted by: mojo || 10/08/2003 14:18 Comments || Top||

#5  obvious suspects are the Shia, seeking Dire Revenge for SSP attacks on Shia (that certainly seems to be what the funeral loonies thought, seeking their own dire revenge) But MMA, which is trying to keep Shia fundies in its coalition cant say that, so blame the govt. Of course if the govt WAS trying to take out Tariq, trying to implicate the Shia instead (I beleive thats called a black flag op?) would be the logical way to go. If they did take him out, my congratulations.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 10/08/2003 15:36 Comments || Top||

#6  But why would they take him out, when he had thrown his support and that of his party behind President Musharaf and Prime Minister Jamali?
Posted by: Anonymous || 10/08/2003 20:41 Comments || Top||

#7  The above comment was from me.
Azam Tariq was actually in prison and had been facing charges of dozens of counts of murder, when miraciously he threw his support behind Musharaf's government and he was released from prison, and had all cases against him dropped.
The Shias would be the obvious subject, but pretty much all of Paklands neighbours would be willing to take Tariq out for various reasons.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 10/08/2003 20:47 Comments || Top||


Tribals wanted for harbouring Qaeda militants not handed over
A tribe accused of sheltering Al Qaeda and Taliban suspects has expressed its inability to hand over tribesmen wanted for harbouring the militants.
"Nope. Sorry. Can't do it."
In an operation in South Waziristan Agency on Thursday, the army had claimed recovering a number of Al Qaeda and Taliban activists from four houses of Zalikhel tribesmen. The political administration had given the tribal chiefs till Monday to hand over the tribesmen accused of sheltering the activists.
"Or you're really gonna get it!"
A senior administration official in Wana, South Waziristan Agency headquarter, told Daily Times by telephone on Tuesday that the Zalikhel tribe cited “problems” in convincing the wanted men to surrender. “The (Zalikhel) tribal elders said they cannot induce the wanted men to surrender,” the official said. The tribe had signed an agreement with the political administration on May 11, 2002, guaranteeing that it would not provide shelter to Al Qaeda or Taliban militants.
"Agreement? Did we sign an agreement? You sure that's my signature? Izzat me in the picture?"
According to special laws for the tribal areas, collective punishment is used to penalise the tribe not observing the agreement.
"Mahmoud! Beat his grandmaw!"
The action might include the arrest of any person from that tribe, withholding of benefits to tribal chiefs and economic blockade of the tribe. “Action can come any time,” the official warned. A tribal elder in Wana told Daily Times that Utmankhel, a sub-tribe of Zalkihel, convinced a wanted man to surrender. But another sub-tribe, Yargulkhel, stopped the Utmankhel tribe from handing over the man, forcing Zalikhel elders to allow the administration to take whatever action it deemed necessary. But a tribal elder, Khanzada, requested the administration to wait till October 9 before taking any action. He sought an extension in the deadline in a bid to convince the wanted men to surrender.
"Yeah. Lemme talk to him. Grandmaw can't take many more sessions like that..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/08/2003 00:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I guess the Paks weren't kidding:
Pakistan Forces Swoop on Tribe Sheltering Al Qaeda
Pakistani forces launched a crackdown Wednesday on a tribe accused of sheltering Taliban and al Qaeda sympathizers, officials said. Authorities are looking for three men they suspect of helping the al Qaeda cell, and gave leaders of the small Zalikhel-Qarikhel tribe until Tuesday night to hand them over. When the deadline passed, paramilitary forces began arresting members of the tribe, sealing their shops and seizing their commercial transport.
"We gave the tribesmen three days to hand over the culprits. The deadline has passed," Syed Anwar Shah, deputy administrator of the town of Wana, told Reuters, hours before the crackdown started in several areas of the tribal rim bordering Afghanistan. "The tribe has failed to surrender the culprits. They say the accused have gone into hiding," Shah added. Provincial authorities say the tribal leaders have violated an agreement reached with the government in May that they would deny sanctuary to "aliens." The laws which govern Pakistan's tribal areas allow for tribes to be punished collectively if they fail to maintain law and order. The military has already demolished the houses of the three wanted men in a village a few miles from the border.
Local residents said last week's operation near Angor Adda had created resentment among the fiercely independent, conservative and heavily armed tribesmen of the area. "People here are not happy over the operation, the killing of Arab mujahideen (holy warriors) and the arrest of local people," a local journalist said. Shah dismissed the resentment as "quite natural," but said he did not expect any resistance to the crackdown. "They are on the defensive. We are going to make large-scale arrests of the Zalikhel-Qarikhel tribe. This is an arm-twisting tactic in order to force the tribe to produce the culprits."
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 10:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Some people need the fear of God instilled in them. I'm sure this tribe would have a totally different attitude after a couple of Buffs dumped a full load in their miserable little village, turning it into an instant pasture.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 10/08/2003 10:49 Comments || Top||

#3  its too early to cheer, but it sure sounds like the Pakis are actually trying to reassert their sovereignty over the NWFP (something the brits never managed to do, IIUC) Or at least theyre making a damned good show of it.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 10/08/2003 15:40 Comments || Top||


Man who last called Azam Tariq taken into custody
An investigation team of the federal capital police has taken into custody a man who called Maulana Azam Tariq on his mobile phone during his journey to Islamabad.
"Hello? Azam? Don't look behind you, buddy!"
The investigation team did not reveal the name of the person arrested. Maulana Tariq, the former head of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba, was gunned down in a car with four bodyguards at a toll plaza on Monday while on his way to the National Assembly (NA). Sources said a number of police raiding parties have been sent to various cities to arrest people who called Maulana Tariq on his journey from Jhang to Islamabad. Inspector General of Police Chaudhry Muhammad Akram refused to comment when contacted by Daily Times.
"Hullo, Muggsy? He's on Route 14 right now, just coming up on the rest stop. Getcher boyz ready..."
Officials were also inquiring about the policemen posted at a checkpoint some 300 yards from where Maulana Tariq was assassinated. According to eyewitnesses, the policemen were not at the checkpoint when the incident occurred. The officials presume the policemen were removed from their post intentionally, sources said.
"Spike! Go wave some doughnuts at the cops! Get 'em out of there!"
Investigation Officer Abdul Rasheed Niazi said police also have data on the car used by the killers. He said the car had a fake registration plate.
The initial report said they were government plates...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/08/2003 00:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sounds just like when they got Sonny on the Causeway...
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/08/2003 11:44 Comments || Top||

#2  "The initial report said they were government plates... "

Wouldnt that be too amateurish, even for the Pakis?
Posted by: liberalhawk || 10/08/2003 15:42 Comments || Top||

#3  I believe the initial report said the car that got shot up was a government car. Since Tariq was in the Pak Assembly, he'd have government plates. It's one of those worldwide political perks.
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 16:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Not really. Even if they were, they can deny it later. Anywhere else, that wouldn't work, but in Pakistan, where people are eager to believe five impossible things before breakfast...
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2003 16:03 Comments || Top||

#5  I find it highly questionable that a Paki would be using false plates/papers...
Posted by: Frank G || 10/08/2003 17:01 Comments || Top||


Iraq
US captures 112 'subversive elements' in Iraq raid
US forces have captured 112 Iraqis, including a general reported to have links to ousted president Saddam Hussein and financial backers of anti-coalition attacks. "The general officer they captured, Abed Hamed Mowhush al-Mahalowi was a Republican Guard air defence commander," a statement said. "He is reported to have links with Saddam Hussein and financiers of anti-coalition activities." The statement says the raid in Al-Qaim, near the Syrian border, "yielded 112 detainees, including a major general in the former Iraqi army air defence branch". Troops from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (3ACR), responsible for the western Al-Anbar province, "cordoned off sections of the city and searched more than 29 houses to find subversive elements including 12 out of 13 they targeted for capture." Coalition forces raided a terror camp in Al-Qaim in June, leaving dozens of foreign fighters killed in the ensuing battle.
Nice job! I had the feeling today was gonna be a good day.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/08/2003 17:28 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Republican Guard air defence commander? - didn't seem like they had one
Posted by: Frank G || 10/08/2003 17:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Wasn't very good at shooting down airplanes, but he had a really nifty hat...
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2003 17:58 Comments || Top||

#3  That would explain why he was close to Saddam. No tall poppies around that guy.
Posted by: Matt || 10/08/2003 19:12 Comments || Top||

#4  Hey, isn't Al Qaim where the Syrians dump the guys they occasionally cough up to us? Maybe this Sunday's air raid made Baby Assad want to be a little more friendly with us.
Posted by: JAB || 10/08/2003 22:05 Comments || Top||


Arab firms win Iraqi phone contracts
Shunning Western bidders, Iraq has awarded two-year GSM mobile phone contracts to three Arab firms: Orascom, Atheer Tel and Asia Cell. The licences are among the most potentially lucrative and high-profile contracts to be offered in post-war Iraq. The country did not have a public mobile phone network during Saddam Hussein's rule and much of the land-line network was destroyed in the war. “The companies that will bring Iraq world-class mobile communications are, in the northern region, Asia Cell consortium, in the central region, Orascom, and in the south, Atheer Tel,” said the interim telecommunications minister, Haidar al-Abbadi, in Baghdad. The three consortia will pay a total of $5 million as a fee for the two-year licence, with each consortium's share determined by its potential subscriber base. The licence is relatively cheap, partly because of the high investment costs now facing the winners.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/08/2003 00:20 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The oil, the oil, big bu s i n zzzzzzzz
Posted by: Superhose || 10/08/2003 12:50 Comments || Top||

#2  The really interesting thing about this was that each of the three firms has significant local, i.e. Iraqi, ownership. Palm crossing in the traditional Arab style, and, gee, who in Iraq is rich enough to have millions to invest? Baathists and Kurds.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 10/08/2003 13:47 Comments || Top||

#3  I think this is great, GSM is the better technology and more used around the world. There's no reason that we should try and saddle iraq with the substandard stuff that we use in the states. They can start from scratch rather than completely re-do existing infrastructrue like we would have to.

This was a smart move. Very smart.

-DS
Posted by: DeviantSaint || 10/08/2003 13:51 Comments || Top||

#4  No. GSM is crap. Steve Denbeste (an electronics engineer) at denbeste.nu
told why the American system is MUCH superior. To
begin with you can put far more users in a band of frequences.


But the other reason why this bad news is that Arabs have an interest in torpedoing Iraq so they
should be kept as far of its reconstruction as possible.

Posted by: JFM || 10/08/2003 15:22 Comments || Top||


Al-Jizzers deplores cameraman's arrest
Al-jazeera has denounced the arrest and continued incarceration of its cameramen arrested in the Baquba district in Iraq. Salah Nussaif was arrested on 3 October while covering a demonstration in the town of Shahbanyat al-Muqdadya. According to Iraqi police, they are under strict US orders not to release Nussaif. Nussaif has yet to be charged with any offence. Al-jazeera officials said at the weekend the detention of Nussaif, “is viewed as a flagrant attack on freedom of the press, and yet another undue attempt at influencing the media”. This incident comes on the heels of a decision taken by the Iraqi Governing Council to ban Al-jazeera temporarily from covering official activities in Iraq. In recent months, nine Aljazeera reporters and employees have been arrested, with eight of those individuals being subsequently released without charge.
Not enough evidence, I guess...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/08/2003 00:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Was he covering, or starting, a demonstration.

Al Jiz works with Miss Cleo to predict demonstrations and attacks.
Posted by: Tornado || 10/08/2003 8:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Wouldn't it be more effective to tail him and bug his phone? I mean he would still be free to follow his jounalistic rights. He could even get a few extra scoops as his contacts get removed from circulation.
Posted by: Superhose || 10/08/2003 12:52 Comments || Top||

#3  In recent months, nine Aljazeera reporters and employees have been arrested, with eight of those individuals being subsequently released without charge.

...and I'm sure the got a stern talking to and were placed on Double Secret Probation.
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/08/2003 12:53 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
I’m hit, bleeding badly... take care of my kids...
Followup on the Philippines Abu Sayyaf escape and police killings.
THE families of the two policemen killed in a failed jailbreak in Camp Crame recalled phone conversations with the victims after they were shot by an escaping Abu Sayyaf inmate. “Itay may tama ako at malakas ang pag-agas ng dugo ko, kayo na po ang bahala sa mag-iina ko
Tagalog, Translation:
[Father, I’m hit and bleeding badly. Please take care of my family].” These were the last words that Police Officer 2 Arvin Garces, 32, told his father, 68-year-old Rogelio Garces. Rogelio said he didn’t realize his son was in critical condition because he was speaking in a clear voice. The father, who was tending his store in Cabanatuan City, told his son over the phone to hang on and not give up. He then closed his store and followed the news on the radio. Rhodora Garces, Arvin’s wife, said she received a text message from her husband that morning and afterwards received a phone call from him. “He told me how much he really loves me and our kids and he said that he was dying,” Rhodora said, tearfully recounting her husband’s last words to her that Tuesday morning.
Not a nice thing to hear.
Albert Garcia, father of Police Officer 2 Alastaire Garcia, 32, said his son might have lived had he not tried to save Garces, who was already wounded at the time. Garcia was able to help other wounded police, but was shot by Buyungan Bungkak, a detained member of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group who was trying to escape, when he returned to save Garces.
Hero.
Both Garcia and Garces left three children. A third officer, Senior Police Officer 1 Frumencio Lafuente, was also killed in the escape attempt. The Philippine National Police has assured the victim’s families that they would receive financial benefits. Director Jose Lalisan of the PNP Directorate for Personnel Records and Management said that each family would receive P179,000
About $2,450 USD
in benefits, including P50,000
about $1,000 USD
from the PNP chief and 50 percent of their base pay for one year.
Hmm... some benefits.
Bungkak killed the three policemen during a three-hour hostage crisis in Camp Crame on Tuesday. He was killed after he was cornered in a comfort room (Bathroom) by Special Weapons and Tactics and Special Action Force troops.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/08/2003 6:57:35 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Burma emerging as strategic ally of N. Korea, China
And just when you think that you have Kimmie boxed in..... From Geostrategy-Direct. Subscription required....
The U.S. intelligence community has learned that North Korea’s government attempted to export missile technology and components to Burma’s ruling military junta.
Who the hell is Burma going to shoot missiles at?
Burma also may be purchasing other military equipment from North Korea, according to the Kyodo news service. Burma has been building up its military forces and has also developed close ties to China. Burma severed relations with Pyongyang in 1983 after a North Korean terrorist bombing killed top South Korean government leaders visiting the country at the time. Burma has since reestablished military relations with North Korea since the 1990s after sanctions were imposed on Burma for human rights violations.
Gave them something in common, y'know...

Somehow, I just can't see it. Either the report's inaccurate or the Burmese junta's dumber than dirt...

"Yes, General! We're going to launch these here missiles at Thailand."
"Uhuh."
"And then we're gonna... ummm..."
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/08/2003 3:25:05 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I could see them being a transit point for another destination. We're getting close to the point of interdicting or blockading all proliferation shipments, and Burma does have a lot of coastline
Posted by: Frank G || 10/08/2003 15:37 Comments || Top||

#2  *Gasp*

No Myanmar?? YES!
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/08/2003 15:58 Comments || Top||

#3  CHINA-BURMA-INDIA INTELLIGENCE

INTRO: INDIAN DEFENSE ANALYSTS SAY CHINA IS DEVELOPING A PRESENCE ON ISLANDS OFF BURMA FOR ACCESS TO THE INDIAN OCEAN AND WHAT WILL BE A VITAL TRADE ROUTE IN THE 21ST CENTURY. NEW DELHI CORRESPONDENT DOUGLAS BAKSHIAN TALKS WITH INDIAN DEFENSE EXPERTS ABOUT THE MATTER.

TEXT: EARLIER THIS MONTH, INDIAN DEFENSE MINISTER GEORGE FERNANDES SAID A MASSIVE ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE ESTABLISHMENT TO MONITOR INDIA HAS BEEN BUILT BY CHINA ON BURMA'S COCO ISLANDS. HE TOLD A PRIVATE INDIAN TELEVISION CHANNEL THERE ARE MOVES TO CONVERT THAT FACILITY INTO A MAJOR NAVAL BASE.

IN RESPONSE TO THE DEFENSE MINISTER'S STATEMENTS, CHINA DENIED INVOLVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES -- BUT IT DID NOT SPECIFICALLY NAME BURMA.

DESPITE THE CHINESE DENIAL, A SENIOR INDIAN DEFENSE ANALYST SAYS THERE IS SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE OF CHINESE ACTIVITY IN THE COCO ISLANDS. THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF NEW DELHI'S INSTITUTE FOR DEFENSE STUDIES AND ANALYSIS, COMMODORE UDAY BHASKAR, SAYS CHINESE INVOLVEMENT HAS BEEN UNDERWAY FOR SOME TIME.
Posted by: rg117 || 10/08/2003 15:59 Comments || Top||

#4  I read some of rg117's CBI intel in another source that I can't recall. Frank stole my thunder, as it could be a transfer point to ME destinations. The Chicoms want to lay low and watch our WoT play out. They are playing all ends against the middle. The only thing about the NORKS is that the game that they and the Chicoms are playing could literally or figuratively blow up in everyone's faces. The Chicoms have the vision for the long haul. While the turbans work us down, the ChiComs have key positions on both ends of the Panama Canal and have been cozying up to Cuba with Fidel.

Summarizing, we have 3 fronts going:
1. ME with the WoT
2. Differences with the EU which saps the strength of the west
3. East Asia, with the NORKS, Chicoms, and their proxies.

Lots on our plate. Better think it all through. It does not help with pygmies on the left hammering on our knees, either.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/08/2003 16:19 Comments || Top||

#5  Same story in Washington Times: North Korea tried to sell missile technology and related parts to Myanmar's military government, but the outcome is unknown, Kyodo news said Thursday.
Citing an unidentified U.S. government official, the agency said there was "grave concern" over the activation of military exchanges between the two countries that each maintain isolation from the rest of the world. The transaction is believed to have come about due to the matching of interests between Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, which wants to strengthen its military power without depending on so-called Western countries, and North Korea, which wants to explore new sources for acquiring foreign currency. The official did not disclose details such as the type of missile involved in the deal and said U.S. reconnaissance satellites have not picked up any indications the transaction has been completed. Washington suspects North Korea is exporting Scud missiles to Pakistan as well as to Syria and Iran, the report said.


Humm, Chinese getting North Korea to sell missiles to Burma, going to use them as the USSR used Cuba? Another front against India, in case they need one?
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 16:25 Comments || Top||

#6  Hears some more good news I missed, from VOA:
U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Burma is fast becoming a threat to security and stability in southeast Asia. Mr. Lugar heavily criticized Burma's military government for putting the country on what he calls a "dangerous course." In a commentary published Sunday in The Washington Post, the Republican senator from the state of Indiana warned the threat posed by Burma is largely being overlooked by the Western powers.
Senator Lugar said Burma is building a nuclear reactor with help from Russia, and he cites reports that Rangoon is buying missiles from North Korea. He contends that India and China are using Burma as a pawn in their regional rivalry, and that the smaller country has been "cynically" using its position in southeast Asia to foster potential friction.
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 16:29 Comments || Top||

#7  More of Sen. Lugar's statement, WP:
China is the regime's major arms supplier and has assumed significant economic power over the country, recently extending debt relief and a $200 million loan to Burma, which has been cut off from most other external funding. China, reports indicate, has built a port and shipyard south of Rangoon to help export products from China's landlocked western provinces.

Ah, another path to the sea,er, Indian Ocean.

India, concerned about China's rising dominance, has stepped up its relations with Burma. Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee met with the Burmese foreign minister earlier this year, the highest-level contact between the two countries in more than a decade, and India is also reportedly building a port on Burma's coast.
Improving ties with regional powers is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if they would push Burma toward more civilized behavior. But neither Beijing nor New Delhi has shown any such inclination. Instead the two huge neighbors are using Burma as a pawn in their rivalry, making it a potential source of friction, not a buffer. Japan is increasingly concerned about China's penetration of Burma, and it was to counter China's influence that the regional grouping of smaller countries, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), decided to admit Burma as a member several years ago. These countries see now that the junta was cynically using them to try to gain legitimacy. More troubling is the news that Burma, one of the poorest countries on earth, has contracted with Russia for a nuclear reactor. Both sides insist it is for medical research purposes, but even if that's true, it would add an unnecessary proliferation risk to a world where terrorists are on the prowl for nuclear material. Some 300 Burmese have been in Russia receiving training to operate the facility, and Burma has also bought 10 MiG-29 fighter jets from Russia. Most disturbing of all, Burma is renewing ties with North Korea that were cut off after North Korean agents in 1983 set off a bomb in Rangoon that killed 21 people, including four visiting South Korean cabinet members. Besides possibly reestablishing formal diplomatic relations, the two have held high-level discussions on military cooperation. The link-up of these two pariah states can only spell trouble. North Korea's main export is dangerous weapons technology, and there have been reports that Burma is getting missiles and other arms from Pyongyang.


Another thing Burma and North Korea have in common is the drug trade, maybe that's Kimme's White Slag connection.
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 16:38 Comments || Top||

#8  the ChiComs have key positions on both ends of the Panama Canal and have been cozying up to Cuba with Fidel.

I can believe that they're trying to get some intelligence facilities in the Western Hemisphere, but the truth is that the Chinese can't defend them from us - they're sitting ducks. Whatever they've got in the Americas are like the isolated islands that US forces took out one by one in the Western Pacific during WWII, except this time, we've got better sensors and smart bombs to take out their fortifications.

Burma is a different matter. I think this human rights kick is getting out of hand. We're severely underestimating the Chinese and letting human rights issues undermine our strategic position in Asia. Burma is sliding back into the Chinese orbit. This is after Burma slipped loose, as a component of British empire, from its role as a vassal state perennially under threat of Chinese invasion. Whatever we think about its government, Burma is in a strategic location that we cannot yield to the Chinese. But this is happening before our very eyes.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 10/08/2003 17:06 Comments || Top||

#9  But neither Beijing nor New Delhi has shown any such inclination. Instead the two huge neighbors are using Burma as a pawn in their rivalry, making it a potential source of friction, not a buffer.

The naivete of this statement is breathtaking. The Chinese are looking to reassume control over a former vassal state, possibly with a view to annexing the territory to China proper, and India is resisting. How complicated does it get? The Chinese are not looking at Burma as a buffer - to them, it's another stepping-stone to the recovery of Southeast Asian empire.

The Indians are trying to preserve Burma as a buffer, and this can occur only if Burma preserves its independence instead of being incorporated into China. If the Indians do not do business with the current Burmese regime, Burma's current leaders could end up handing the keys over to the Chinese government - making Burma another Chinese Autonomous Region.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 10/08/2003 17:13 Comments || Top||

#10  CIA operative with a laser sight, JDAM in the night, Myanmars gone without a fight, Burma is back again before first light.
Posted by: Lame Jingoist poet || 10/08/2003 17:20 Comments || Top||

#11  CIA operative with a laser sight, JDAM in the night, Myanmars gone without a fight, Burma is back again before first light.

That's a good thought, but I suspect the Chinese have gotten so used to running things in Burma, they think Burma already belongs to them. I just hope our alienation of the Burmese regime doesn't end up biting us on the rear end, when that Chinese naval base gets up and going.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 10/08/2003 18:00 Comments || Top||


Philippine Forces capture Muslim militant
EFL:
Philippine soldiers today captured a Muslim militant who escaped from police custody in July with Jemaah Islamiah (JI) bomb-maker Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi. Omar Lasal Opik, a member of the Abu Sayyaf Muslim kidnap gang, was caught in the town of Dumalinao, in the southern province of Zamboanga del Sur, by a special task force, along with another Muslim militant identified as Mukhtar Sali, Colonel Roland Rodriguez said. Two .45 caliber pistols were taken from the two men, said Rodriguez, who heads the task force that carried out the arrests.
"Drop them rods and nobody gits hurt"
And Rodriguez said al-Ghozi was believed to be near Dumalinao. "There is still an ongoing operation," he said, refusing to divulge further details of the manhunt.
"I can say no more!"
Opik was one of two militants who walked out of police headquarters in Manila with al-Ghozi, who was serving a 17-year jail term for possession of explosives, in a humiliating lapse of security for the Philippines, as Australian Prime Minister John Howard visited Manila to discuss anti-terrorist cooperation. The other Abu Sayyaf member who escaped with al-Ghozi, Abdulmukim Edris, was killed by troops in August. The escape set back regional efforts to combat terrorism, because al-Ghozi was one of the most senior JI militants in captivity.
Until we bagged Hambali.
Philippine military officials have previously said they believed al-Ghozi was being sheltered in the southern Philippines by local commanders of the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Yup, that’s what I’d guess.
The MILF leadership, which plans to reopen peace talks with the government, has denied protecting al-Ghozi.
They also say they’re not a terrorist group.
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 3:15:49 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


JI suspect arrested in southern Phillipines
An Indonesian man suspected of being a key operative of the regional Muslim militant group Jemaah Islamiah was arrested a week ago in the southern Philippines, a Philippine police intelligence official said yesterday.The official said Taupik Rifqi, also known as Amil Irza, was tracked down on October 2 at a budget hotel in Cotabato City and was "now undergoing tactical interrogation at a military intelligence facility in Manila".The arrest of Rifqi - who the official said was believed to be a senior Jemaah Islamiah operative - came shortly before a planned eight-hour visit to Manila by the United States President, George Bush, on October 18, ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Thailand.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 10/08/2003 12:03:55 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Terror Networks
Culture wars...
The Bush administration may not yet be aware that it is engaged in a cultural war, but its enemies do. Take Osama bin Laden's media outlet of choice, the Arabic TV news channel al-Jazeera, which is financially dependent on the impeccably pro-American emir of Qatar. The anti-Bush administration paranoia of the al-Jazeera staff, stoked when U.S. warplanes "accidentally" bombed al-Jazeera offices in both Kabul and Baghdad, is reaching new heights. In blizzards of e-mail messages around the world, Arab media staffers are claiming the Bush administration is threatening to withdraw U.S. forces and protection from Qatar unless the little Gulf state gets al-Jazeera under control. The evidence for this so-called pressure is thin — the satellite TV station has pulled two anti-American cartoons from its Web site, allegedly under political pressure. Now there are reports in the Saudi and Kuwaiti media (two countries that have also tried to bully Qatar to tone down al-Jazeera) of conspiratorial meetings on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to plot the closure of al-Jazeera. The reports say the meeting took place "at the HQ of the Security Intelligence Committee of the House of Representatives... with key members of the House of Representatives, Senate, Pentagon, the State Department, the CIA and the FBI." There is no such committee, but that sort of detail has never stopped the Arab media.

Then there are claims in the Egyptian media that U.S. Ambassador to Egypt David Welch leaned heavily on the Egyptian government and on Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, grand Imam of the authoritative al-Azhar university, to rein in his more-radical subordinates. One junior imam had issued a fatwa, or religious edict, calling on all Muslims and Islamic states to shun the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council. The grand imam, who caused a furor among Islamic clerics when he ruled that Palestinian suicide bombers who killed innocent civilians could not be considered "shahid" (Islamic martyrs), annulled the Iraq fatwa on Aug. 28. The London-based al-Hayat, perhaps the most-reliable and certainly the most-respected of Arab newspapers, is now reporting that U.S. diplomacy has provoked "an internal al-Azhar crisis."

It's worse than that, and a lot more complicated. Al-Azhar is the fulcrum of the Islamic theological and cultural debate. There has been a big reshuffle at the top ranks of the Egyptian clergy, with Sheikh Ali Guma appointed to the post of grand mufti, replacing Sheikh Ahmad al-Tayyeb who has been appointed president of al-Azhar, where he can keep a careful eye on that dangerously liberal Tantawi who has ruled that Palestinian suicide bombers who kill innocent civilians cannot be granted the status of shahid. Egypt's new grand mufti firmly disagrees, arguing: "The one who carries out fedaii (martyrdom) operations against the Zionists and blows himself up is, without a doubt, a shahid because he is defending his homeland against the occupying enemy who is supported by superpowers such as the U.S. and Britain." He has also ruled that Muslims in the U.S. armed forces should resign rather than fight fellow Muslims.
The hot war is in a lull at the moment — Afghanistan is actually a side issue, unless the Talibs change their tactics, and Iraq is coming under control. The battles right now are being fought by shirt-and-tie guys. The Battle of Cairo's just as important as taking Najaf. I sure hope the troops are up to the task...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/08/2003 22:03 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Middle East
Rantissi warns those trying to ignite civil war
Dr. Abdul Aziz Rantissi, political bureau member of the Hamas Movement, has said that the Palestinian Authority’s formation of an emergency government meant that the PA had bowed to American and Zionist pressures.
"Having a gummint is un-Paleostinian. We prefer our anarchy straight..."
He charged that the government’s first and foremost mission would be declaring war on the Palestinian people’s legitimate resistance while ignoring occupation and the Sharon terrorist government’s daily humiliation and destruction of Palestinian life. He urged all national and Islamic forces to unite ranks in support of resistance and to protect national unity in face of those trying to tamper with it. “We strongly reject any attempt to foil the Palestinian people’s legitimate resistance against occupation of the country and holy shrines and we warn of the seriousness of such a step,” the Hamas leader warned.
"You go tryin' to ignite civil war with us, buddy, and we'll... ummm... have a civil war."
Rantissi advised the PA not to bow to American and Zionist dictates, which only aimed at terminating Palestinian resistance in favor of Zionist occupation. “The current crisis is not a Palestinian-Palestinian one but rather that of a conflict between an occupation usurping our lands, dignity and freedom and a Mujahid people that are fighting for freedom, dignity and liberation of lands,” he explained. Rantissi affirmed that with the grace of Allah what happened in 1996 (PA arrested and tortured Hamas official and cadres) would not recur. He said that those trying to drag the Palestinian people into a civil war would be completely and wholly responsible for any repercussions of any decision in the wrong direction.
"We have a civil war, it's all your fault..."
The Hamas leader emphasized that martyrdom operations were the only option before the Palestinian people in the light of the Zionist obstinacy and constant aggression on the Palestinian people and in the light of the European and American total bias in favor of Zionist terrorism, occupation and aggression. Armed operations especially martyrdom operations would remain the sole option before the Palestinian people until regaining national, legitimate goals, God willing, Rantissi concluded.
"The only way things're ever gonna get different is if we keep doin' what we've been doin'..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/08/2003 22:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Riyati too nutty to stand trial?
The only defendant present for trial at Jordan's State Security Court in an alleged 15-member terror cell affiliated with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network could turn out to be too crazy to stand trial. Ahmad Riyati, captured in March by U.S. forces in northern Iraq and handed over to the Jordanian authorities, was referred to a government mental institute for a two-week evaluation at the request of his lawyer, who said his client had already been committed twice. Riyati, along with 12 other Jordanian and two Iraqi suspects, was charged with plotting attacks against U.S., Israeli and foreign interests and tourists, as well as against Jordanian security personnel. If the government-appointed psychiatrists find he is not fit to stand trial, all charges against him would be dropped and the remaining 14 suspects who are all still at large would all be tried in absentia. Independent legal sources say the credibility of the entire trial is now at stake, adding the whole affair appears concocted to appease the U.S. and demonstrate Jordan's loyalty to President Bush's global war on terrorism.
I guess he's nutty in a different manner than the other. They all seem to suffer from Tight Turban Syndrome...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/08/2003 21:55 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


East Asia
Clinton, Gore to visit Taiwan---Joy Unbounded...
From Geostrategy-Direct...requires subscription...
Former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore are set to visit Taiwan.
Now why do they want to do that?
Clinton and Gore are planning separate trips to the island during the next two months, the Taiwanese foreign ministry announced last week.
Maybe the Foreign Ministry wants to compare these guys with who they are dealing with now.
Clinton will speak in November to the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, a government program to promote democracy in Asia. He is expected to receive more than $100,000 for the speech. That’s why Bubba is there in Taiwan. Follow the money.
During his administration, Clinton tilted U.S. policy toward China and away from Taiwan. His administration also sought Chinese cash for its 1996 campaign and failed to take steps to crack down on Chinese espionage at U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories.
"He (Clinton) is interested," a high-ranking ministry official told the Taipei Times. The official said Clinton would exchange opinions with government officials on various issues.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the ministry is "delighted" that Clinton will be visiting.
Yeah, delighted to part with $100,000 worth of Taiwan taxpayer money for the interesting speech on how he sold them down the straits er river.
Gore will visit Taiwan Oct. 13 to deliver a keynote speech to 2003 International Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Carnahan Conference on Security Technology.
Wonder how much Al pockets as an honorarium.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/08/2003 8:39:42 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I assume Gore will explain to the Taiwanese engineers the details of his invention of the Internet.

For $100,000, Clinton ought to at least have the decency to give the Taiwanese some state secrets.
Posted by: Matt || 10/08/2003 21:03 Comments || Top||

#2  He is expected to receive more than $100,000 for the speech. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the ministry is "delighted" that Clinton will be visiting.

-So are the working girls in Taipei.






Posted by: Jarhead || 10/08/2003 21:31 Comments || Top||


Home Front
Schwarzenegger to Repeal Law Giving Illegals Licenses
A good start
By Melanie Hunter
CNSNews.com Deputy Managing Editor
October 08, 2003

(CNSNews.com) - In his first press conference after Tuesday’s recall in California, Governor-Elect Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday he plans to repeal the law that outgoing California Gov. Gray Davis approved allowing illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses.

Schwarzenegger said he plans to help undocumented immigrants, and he pointed to several proposals, specifically one introduced by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) that gives temporary work permits to immigrants.

The governor elect also pointed to another proposal that gives undocumented immigrants who arrived before August 2003 the chance to apply for visas as long as they don’t have a criminal background, but do have a job.
and shut the door to uncontrolled illegal immigration
"I want to push in that direction to help undocumented immigrants. But this has nothing to do with the driver’s license issue," Schwarzenegger said. He called the issue "a bogus issue, because it was done just quickly before the election, I think, in order to get votes."
noooooo...dya think? Davis opposed every similar bill due to security concerns. This year’s bill had even less security, but he signed it....asshole. Over 70% of Californians opposed it
Schwarzenegger said he plans to repeal the law, because he doesn’t believe in it. He also plans to rescind the car tax as soon as possible. Schwarzenegger said he is consulting with his advisers on the necessary steps, but he expressed optimism that he will be successful in repealing the tax.

The governor elect said he plans to call for an outside audit of the state’s financial state, and open the books for the public to see as well. He said he’s not yet clear on the exact amount of the deficit.

"We don’t really know exactly what the current operating deficit is. As you know, that when I began this campaign, they said it’s $5 billion. During the campaign, it went to $7-8 billion. Just recently, it went to $10 billion," Schwarzenegger said.

"Just this morning, I found out that if this court case with the bonds goes through and it goes in the negative direction, it could be that our operating deficit is over $20 billion," Schwarzenegger added.

No matter what though, Schwarzenegger promised he would not raise taxes.

"I campaigned that I will not raise taxes and I say this again ’I will not raise taxes,’" said Schwarzenegger.

U.S. Congressman David Drier (R-Calif.) will head Schwarzenegger’s transition team. Drier will announce the team on Thursday
Drier’s a good and smart man and will do a fine job
Posted by: Frank G || 10/08/2003 7:07:14 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ¡Bueño!
Posted by: Atrus || 10/08/2003 19:08 Comments || Top||

#2  AFR!!!!!! I was hoping that he would do that. Here we are trying to tighten up on foreign documentation fraud and Davis signs a law that drives a D-9 through federal efforts.

Swartznegger will have a rough time with the dem controlled legislature. He is going to get beat up and he will have to take the fight to the people for their support. If he pulls this off, he will be a hero and will inspire others in this country to do the same. I wish him well.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/08/2003 19:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Well begun is half done. I'm very glad to see The Arnold on top of the bond issue. I commented on that in an earlier post. Davis' budget was a lie....this is gonna be a shocker for many people. As the weeks go by, we're really gonna see how corrupt the Davis junta really was.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 10/08/2003 19:28 Comments || Top||

#4  I like the repeal of giving illegal aliens dirvers licenses. That was so stupid.

I dont agree about giving them Visas. Allowing illegal aliens to get a Visa (and cut in front of everyone who is patiently waiting for a visa legally) would only encourage MORE illegal immigration across our borders. Why wait 5 years for a legal visa when you could cross illegally and get one in a year? This was done before and did not stem the flood.

I think if we do allow this we should allow them to return to their country and file for a visa, just like everyone else and wait their turn, and dont allow their previous illegal presence here to trigger a 5, 10, or lifetime ban (as it typically would do).

I do think we need some sort of 'visa' classification for migrant workers and 'seasonal workers'. Perhaps a visa which is valid only during a certain number of months a year.

On the other hand I dont like in California....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/08/2003 19:47 Comments || Top||

#5  Typo.. I dont live in California...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/08/2003 19:49 Comments || Top||

#6  What is this "undocumented" Newspeak?
Posted by: someone || 10/08/2003 21:00 Comments || Top||

#7  Giving illegals driver's licenses was a horrible idea. A worker exchange program needs to be set up and tightly monitored. Deportation of illegals who are currently incarcerated in Cali prisons needs to happen. Putting the military on the border would also be a step in the right direction.
Posted by: Jarhead || 10/08/2003 21:57 Comments || Top||

#8  I'm not taking any chances, and I've gathering signatures specifically to repeal SB60.
Posted by: BigFire || 10/08/2003 23:17 Comments || Top||


Latin America
Colombia[n] car bomb kills 6
At least six people were killed and at least 15 were wounded in an apparent vehicle bomb detonated Wednesday in downtown Bogota, Colombia, the city’s mayor said. The dead were two police officers, a homeless person, a street vendor and two other civilians, police said. Authorities believe a jeep packed with explosives went off in a commercial area that has a reputation for being a haven for smuggled goods. They believe the explosives were a fertilizer and fuel oil mixture. There have been no claims of responsibility. The explosion went off when a patrol came by after someone put in a call to alert police that a car was abandoned there, police said.
Note to Colombian policemen: don’t take calls about abandoned cars.
Colombia has faced decades of civil warfare, involving the government, leftist rebels and a right-wing paramilitary group. The right-wing paramilitary forces have had a traditional presence in the commercial district for years, blackmailing traders in return for protection. One of the offices they operated from was raided last week. The incident [the car boom] took place on a day known by revolutionaries as the International Day of the Guerrilla, LOL! the day the world commemorates the death of revolutionary Che Guevara years ago during combat in Bolivia. Leftist rebels fighting in Colombia’s civil war have increasingly been bringing the war to the nation’s cities. An explosion last month in Florencia killed 10 people and wounded 54 others, police said. The right-wing paramilitary forces that control that city said the attack bore the hallmarks of FARC, their rival. In February, the bombing of a Bogota social club killed 32 people and wounded 200. And in August, 2002, a mortar attack on the presidential palace in Bogota killed at least 13.
Note to the Colombian president: stay away from the presidential palace.
Police said FARC likely was to blame in both incidents. Established in 1964 as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party, 16,000-member FARC is Colombia’s oldest, largest, most capable, and best-equipped Marxist rebel group, according to the U.S. Department of State. It is classified by the State Department as a terrorist group that conducts bombings, murder, kidnappings and hijackings.
If the US invaded Colombia, would it be about the cocaine??
Posted by: Rafael || 10/08/2003 5:42:14 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa: North
Algeria pounds Salafist HQ
Algerian helicopters and artillery continued to pound a stronghold said to contain the Islamic insurgency leadership.
Caught them, did they? I certainly hope they did...
Algerian security sources said a combined air and ground military operation fired missiles and rockets toward a stronghold of the Salafist Brigade for Combat and Call in the Babour mountains in eastern Algeria. The sources said the mountain stronghold contains the Salafist leadership. The Algerian military has been pounding Salafist positions since Sept. 12. So far, more than 180 Islamic insurgents have been reported killed in the Satif province in the largest Algerian counter-insurgency operation ever. On Tuesday, 12 Salafist insurgents were said to have been killed by the Algerian military. Most of those killed were hiding in a cave used by the Salafists to treat their wounded.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/08/2003 17:11 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  where's those flamethrowers they used on the other cave?
Posted by: Frank G || 10/08/2003 18:55 Comments || Top||

#2  I had not been following Algeria closely until the morons on holiday got taken hostage. This seems like a real uptick in the Algerian government action against the Salafist group.
Posted by: Super Hose || 10/08/2003 19:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Algeria's military is very tough, but they're primitively equipped. Most of their chase after the Salafists and GAI is by shoe leather express.
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2003 20:10 Comments || Top||


Home Front
My thoughts on the California Election
Dems can’t/won’t give up California!
You would think that after the butt-smacking (pun intended) the Dems received last night the 10-watt light bulb would come on. You would be wrong! First the Lt. ‘Race-Baiter’ Governor called the new administration racists and applauded the defeat of Prop 54. Because had it passed the minorities in the state would be sold back into slavery, harassed, or otherwise denied access to public assistance programs. He also said about the recall: “We’ll have something to say about that later.”
Cruz does not get it!

Some of the 2700 political appointees gathered in Sacramento to watch the elections returns. At 8:01 PM PST CNN called the recall a done deal and declared Arnold the winner. By 8:15 PM PST we all knew how they were going to spin this stunning defeat: “But Grey got more votes than Arnold.” That is to say that more people voted No on the recall than voted for Arnold. As of this writing the ‘official’ results are as follows:
No on the Recall: 3,514,348
Arnold Schwarzenegger: 3,639,302*
*And they haven’t even started the Absentee counting!
They don’t get it (and they can’t count)!
CNN, ABC, and CBS all called the election by 9:00 PM PST because they could not sit on the news any longer. The exit polls by 3:00 PM PST showed two things: Davis was gone and Arnold was in. At 4:00 PM PST CNN reiterated the LA Times party line that the race had ‘tightened up’ since the scandal. As of this writing the Yes votes lead by over 80k votes.
The News Networks and LA Times do not get it.

Bill Clinton, and assorted Presidential Wannabes were polluting my state over the past month, telling us that the recall was the worst thing ever. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and the NAACP all decried that ‘millions’ would be denied a vote because they didn’t have their own personal modern voting machine. The first words out of the NAACP last night was that they had a ‘few’ instances of voting irregularities. The CAL DNC (and RNC countered) had lawyers in ALL counties to immediately file a suit when voter fraud was detected. T
They don’t get it either!

Counter to what anyone in the DNC or RNC will admit the State of California exercised the right in our constitution to recall a Governor. No stipulation on why to recall him, just the right to recall ANY elected official that the voters thought was not doing the job. Grey Davis is a lot of things but a good Governor is NOT one of them. Jerry Brown said what I always thought about the office: ‘Anyone can sit in the chair when things are going good, it’s a crisis that tells you if you have the right person for the job.’ We have had several big crises’ during the Davis reign and he has not risen to the occasion. So We the people decided to fire the man WE hired to do a job.

No matter how much the DNC or anyone call this a Right Wing Conspiracy it was the people who signed the petition and voted. There was NO voter fraud, disenfranchisement, or black helicopters just people exercising the right to vote. So if the Dems want to regain some respectability they should quit whining and accept the election for what it truly is: A REVOLUTION. If they want to become a third-party, keep up the spin and accusations, WE the people can see through the smoke screen. Also can somebody escort Mr.’s Jackson and Sharpton to the border and tell them to ‘GET THE HELL OUT OF MY STATE AND DON’T COME BACK.’

Cyber Sarge, Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, California Chapter.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 10/08/2003 1:33:24 PM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and the NAACP all decried that ‘millions’ would be denied a vote because they didn’t have their own personal modern voting machine.

They didn't vote unanimously for the donks, so it was obviously rigged, right?
Posted by: Atrus || 10/08/2003 13:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Why is it always the Donkeys that are getting disenfranchised, can't find the polling places, have outdated machines, not enough polling places? What morons. If they're too stoopid to find their polling place fine...I don't want them foisting their ignorance on the rest of us. Dennis Miller's line about "Weapons Grade Stupidity" applies here very nicely.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 10/08/2003 14:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and the NAACP all decried that ‘millions’ would be denied a vote because they were not U.S. Citizens...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/08/2003 14:06 Comments || Top||

#4  Any Californians like to inform me if they think Arnold would have won in a Republican primary? He's not exactly a Tom DeLay Republican....and spends lotsa time in Hyannisport LOL
Posted by: Not Mike Moore || 10/08/2003 14:07 Comments || Top||

#5  Next thing you know the Donks will want absentee ballots (pre-filled-out so nobody is disenfrancised) to be delivered with the welfare checks....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/08/2003 14:35 Comments || Top||

#6  The voters of California have handed democrats a wooden stake. The democrats can do two things with this stake: They can use it to dig themselves out of the hole they have dug themselves in, or they can hold it to their chest, pointy side in, and wait for 2004. The choice is theirs.
Posted by: badanov || 10/08/2003 14:53 Comments || Top||

#7  Arnold would have had a hard time in the primary.
If he does a decent job, next primary will be easy.
Posted by: Dishman || 10/08/2003 16:03 Comments || Top||

#8  McClintock broke the 10% barrier - you'll be seeing him again, I guarantee.
Posted by: mojo || 10/08/2003 17:17 Comments || Top||

#9  McClintock impressed me. I would tap him for the Bush administration.
Posted by: Super Hose || 10/08/2003 19:14 Comments || Top||

#10  I particularly enjoyed watching Davis denounce Arnold for his indiscretions w/women while being flanked by both Clinton & Jesse Jackass. Better then comedy central. BTW - I thought McClintock was actually the best candidate out there.
Posted by: Jarhead || 10/08/2003 22:04 Comments || Top||


Middle East
More on the fatally wounded Israeli soldier from Pittsburgh
Full story and picture at link. Edited for brevity.
As news spread of a young Israeli soldier killed by a sniper Monday along the Lebanese border, mourning began at Community Day School in Squirrel Hill [PA]. David Solomonov’s ties to the school were strong. The 21-year-old had spoken to students just a year-and-a-half ago about what it was like to serve in the Israeli Army. His mother, Evelyn Solomonov, taught English at the school, and he had been a student there before his family moved to Israel in 1994. Solomonov died five days before he was scheduled to finish his three years of service in the Israeli Army. David Solomonov will be buried today at 7 a.m. Pittsburgh time [EDT] in the military cemetery in Kfar Saba, where he lived.
Posted by: Dar || 10/08/2003 1:32:39 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


International
UN lays down the law on Childrens rights ..... In Canada
EFL - National Post via Worldwire

UNITED NATIONS - The UN has told the Canadian government to ban all forms of corporal punishment of youngsters -- including even a light slap. Is belittlement still OK? I’m running out of leadership tools.

The ruling, handed down by a committee of the world body, comes as a poll yesterday showed Canadians are evenly split when it comes to spanking by Mom or Dad, but on the whole against allowing teachers to hit children. I would like to see the demographic breakdown on that poll.

Spanking is also before the Supreme Court of Canada, which is weighing a petition to repeal a federal law that lets parents, teachers or guardians apply "reasonable force" to discipline a minor. Before swatting my child, I recommend providing the child with a written notification of the intention to spank. This should be at least 48 hours in advance to provide the minor with ample opportunity to decide to comply or run away from home.

Traditional family rights groups in Canada yesterday expressed dismay at the UN ruling, but children’s rights groups are expected to use it to boost their calls for stricter laws.

Ottawa appeared to be for and against the ruling at the same time. They want to know if prohibition of spanking will hamper sexual freedom.

The UN ruling was issued after Ottawa sent a large delegation of experts and government officials to Geneva, where the 18 experts of the world body’s Committee on Rights of the Child questioned them on Canada’s child care record. In a report, the committee says Canada should "adopt legislation to remove the existing authorization of the use of ’reasonable force’ in disciplining children, and explicitly prohibit all forms of violence against children, however light, within the family, in schools and in other institutions where children might be placed." Bullying in schools should be dealt with first. I think playgrounds throughout the world should be manned by the blue-helmets.

As a signatory of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Canada is obliged to make periodic appearances before the committee. The rulings of such treaty committees cannot override national law, but Ottawa tries to accommodate their recommendations to give the UN an argument for encouraging the spread of international norms. I hope the US hasn’t signed this treaty. It looks like a scam to drive governemtn into the home of all citizens. We ought to unsign the treaty immediately if Clinton signed the travesty.

Liberal Senator Landon Pearson led the Canadian delegation as Jean Chrétien’s personal representative, but her spokeswoman said yesterday she would not be available for comment because the issue is also before the Supreme Court.

Yesterday, Toronto Public Health released results of a survey of more than 2,000 Canadians showing 51% believe parents should be prevented from using physical force against children. The figure rose to 60% if guidelines were in place to prevent prosecution for "mild spanking" and 69% said teachers should be banned from hitting children. The margin of error of the survey -- a few percentage points either way -- suggests Canadians are evenly split when it comes to spanking without guidelines.

Based on that, conservative groups say Ottawa is deferring too much to the world body.

"This ruling is another example of the UN infringing on our own national concerns," said John-Henry Westen, spokesman for LifeSiteNews.com, an online monitor of family values.

"When a child is young and cannot understand, a tap on the hand is essential for training. We have a wood-burning stove that gets very hot. It’s ridiculous that I can’t save my child from burning himself by tapping his hand away from it."

In an interview from Geneva yesterday, the committee member responsible for communicating with Canada said such a child would learn quickly enough not to touch a hot stove.

"If he puts his hand on a hot oven, he will be burnt and he will not do it again," said Moushira Khattab of Egypt. Ms. Khattab admitted to having lightly disciplined her own two children, with a hot poker now adults. But she added she now knows better. I don’t trust Egypt on this one. What does Saudi Arabia have to say about humane treatment?

"There are other means," she said. "Children are very smart, and even when they are as young as two or three months old, they will understand if you have a tough look, or change the tone of your voice, or turn away from them. Spanking is preemptive. It represents the cowboy policies of George Bush. We reject preemption.

"The body language is the first language that they know. This hurts much more than a spank." A couple of the X-men could hurt you fairly badly with body language. It’s true I saw it in a movie. Aqua,am never touched the bad guys either. He just balled up invisible snowballs of water or used telepathy. These are all options.

The committee routinely tells every country that appears before it to pass laws banning corporal punishment. Only the United States and Somalia are not members of the convention and so are not subject to the committee’s rulings.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule before the end of the year on the constitutionality of the "spanking law" after hearing arguments on June 6 by the Canadian Foundation for Children, Youth and the Law that it violates the right of all Canadians to be treated equally.

"If you hit an adult, it is an assault, but if you hit a child in the context of discipline, it is justified under our current law," said Cheryl Milne, the lawyer who argued the case. "The UN committee ... agrees with that very strongly -- that countries should be prohibiting all forms of corporal punishment of children." And how about those fights in the NHL. What’s the deal with that. 5 minute major penalty is too light. Let’s get serious.

The committee also said Canada should do more to help aboriginal children, who suffer far higher rates of suicide and drug abuse than the average Canadian child, and account for a disproportionately high percentage of children in state care. But what are their spanking statistics?

On child care for working families, the committee said Canada should provide affordable facilities across the country.

I think that the UN could better focus its assets on other human rights issues. Effective use of UN funds should be important to tax-payers in any donor nations. Maybe the UN could look in to the whole slavery thing going in Brazil. Being enslaved is probably worse for a kid than a swat on the rump.
Posted by: Superhose || 10/08/2003 12:41:05 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Let me get this right... the UN in condeming Canada for responsible spanking. Yet allows N. Korea to have its prisons and (as noted by hose) slavery in Brazil.

And lets not get into the treatment of women in Islamic countries....

Bunch of Busybodies!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/08/2003 13:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Real human rights issues don't matter to the UNuchs.
Posted by: Atrus || 10/08/2003 13:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Other offenses allowed to continue by the U.N.:
* China's treatment of Nkor refugees, which is in violation of international agreements
* China's use of prisoners of conscience as slave labor and selling of prisoners body parts on the organ market
* Lack of freedom to make religious choices in any number of countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, Vietnam, India (in some states), etc.

I'm sure we can expand on this list if we put our minds to it. But heaven forbid any children should receive any sort of spanking.
Posted by: lkl || 10/08/2003 14:46 Comments || Top||

#4  But the UN/Guardian is telling us that we have failed the women of Afgahnistan. We don't even seem to be able to protect the rights of Moslem women in the Jordan, Pakistan or UK yet alone Kabul. Let's ahve some consistency.
Posted by: Superhose || 10/08/2003 15:21 Comments || Top||

#5  ..a poll yesterday showed Canadians are evenly split when it comes to spanking by Mom or Dad, but on the whole against allowing teachers to hit children.

When I was in elementary school a lifetime ago, the principal whacked students with a paddle if they were reported three times. Not many people seemed to have a problem with it back then.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/08/2003 16:05 Comments || Top||

#6  Bomb, as a young lad in school, it was the FEAR of the paddle that kept me (mostly) straight. Also, when my Dad found out, I got ANOTHER spanking. We got rid of the paddle and now we have problems in school.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 10/08/2003 16:46 Comments || Top||

#7  "It looks like a scam to drive government into the home of all citizens."

Bullshit. Law has always been restricting the power and means of a parent to "discipline his children". Haven't you heard about parental abuse before? But hey, to stop government from entering the "home of the citizens" perhaps we should permit parents to hit, maim, rape or kill their children at will.

Some people, especially in the States, seem think that the children are the parents' property, and that hitting their children is as much a right as damaging their own property.

Outlawing all violence against children as a whole sounds like a good step to me. I've never needed it when I was growing up -- the FEAR (to use Cyber Sarge's emphasis) of a good shout by my parents was as much a deterrent as any slap or "spanking" could have been.

And if I ever have children, a teacher even contemplating hitting them will have signed his death warrant.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 10/08/2003 17:03 Comments || Top||

#8  Noce job conflating simple corporal punishment with rape and murder, Aris.
Posted by: mojo || 10/08/2003 17:20 Comments || Top||

#9  Aris, you may wish to argue against any notion that "children are the parents' property", but most of us would argue JUST AS ADAMENTLY against any notion that "children are the STATE's property". No matter how unfashionable it may be to say so, in 9 circumstances out of 10 I would be MUCH more willing to trust parental instincts rather than political ones.
Posted by: Flaming Sword || 10/08/2003 17:28 Comments || Top||

#10  Outlawing all violence against children as a whole sounds like a good step to me.

Who determines what is "violence" and what is rightful punishment?

..the FEAR (to use Cyber Sarge's emphasis) of a good shout by my parents was as much a deterrent as any slap or "spanking" could have been.

Sorry, but a "good shout" doesn't cut it here nowadays, as that isn't considered much of a consequence. A lot of kids will just shout back.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/08/2003 19:01 Comments || Top||

#11  Aris,

Unless one of my kids strikes my wife, they are unlikely to be hit by me. They will be sent to their room or sanctioned in other ways like maybe losing their TV privledges. It took me quite awhile to figure out what my leadership style and what motivates each of my children.

I don't want Kofi's or that Egyptian lady's opinion on the method I've worked out over time.

Point well taken about child and spousal abusers.
Posted by: Super Hose || 10/08/2003 19:48 Comments || Top||

#12  But hey, to stop government from entering the "home of the citizens" perhaps we should permit parents to hit, maim, rape or kill their children at will

Way to exclude the middle ground. There is a difference between abuse and punishment; that the "enlightened" refuse to recognize that difference is a sad form of willful blindness.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 10/08/2003 20:27 Comments || Top||

#13  What about honor killing of child brides? Is that ok, or do we make an exemption? Why is the UN picking on Canada and not on everyone else? What a bunch of lame-o's.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/08/2003 21:24 Comments || Top||

#14  A friend of mine is Foster Cline, one of the top child psychiatrists in the nation today. He has some pretty interesting things to say about disciplining children - what works, what doesn't, and why. He says that spanking, with the hand, on the glutimus maximum (butt) is an excellent way to convey to young children (under ten or twelve, where all the other psychobabble doesn't work anyway) that they have broken social taboos, done something that cannot be excused, and needs to be brought to their attention - NOW! He also believes that punishment delayed is useless, and that the punishment should fit the crime (pour milk on the carpet at 3 - one good swat and take the glass away. Do the same thing at 8, a good HARD swat or three on the bottom, a stern lecture, and sequestering the kid for a few hours is more appropriate).

When we tie parents' hands, we empower the kids. Kids don't have the intellectual capacity to make "good" decisions - they're still kids, and haven't learned yet. Most of them have never been really PUNISHED, either, and run wild.

In the 1950's, teachers had means to discipline problem kids in the early grades. By the time those kids reached high school, they knew that bad behavior was unacceptable, and a significant majority conformed. Everybody learned. Last week, a male student knocked one of my daughter's friends into a wall, sending her to the hospital with a concussion. No discipline as a child. Next thing, he'll probably murder someone, and get the chair or life imprisonment. That's not a personal failure, or a family failure, or a school failure, but society's failure. We've never said, seriously, "we won't put up with that behavior, and if you don't stop, you'll be punished", and mean it. Giving a kid like that a swat on the butt now and then in grade school would probably have gone a long way toward keeping him from physically damaging a young woman last week.

Even if you don't respect the Bible as religious theology, understand that it's the distillation of 6000 years or more of social and political history. "Spare the rod, and spoil the child" is just as true now as it was in the second century BC. That doesn't mean abuse, but discipline. The problem with too many social experimenters is that they can't make the distinction, and they don't have to live with the results of their stupidity.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 10/08/2003 22:14 Comments || Top||

#15  Aris,

You will notice I said 'responsible spanking' which, in my book, is application of the open hand to the butt in a not-too-hard-but-not-too-soft manner.

In my book 'spanking' is done not to inflict pain, but to convey a message that something is not approprate. "Your behaviour is inapprorate and I am serious enough about this to paddle your butt about it." There are other ways, and other means, and the parent should use whatever means is approprate.

To compare 'responsible spanking' with child abuse, such as slapping, pulling hair, shaking violently, etc.... or sexual abuse, or murder is a mistake which proponents of 'no spanking' make all the time -- often deliberately.

The children are not the parents (or the State's, or the U.N.'s) property. HOWEVER they are the parents responsibility to care for and protect (sometimes from the state, sometimes from a very-hot wood stove, sometimes from a bad person). It is also the parents responsibility that the child grows up into a responsible adult.

It is the responsiblty of the state to protect the child from the parent who takes 'spanking' to far.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/08/2003 22:57 Comments || Top||

#16  I was on the receiving end of more than a few ass whipings as a lad from both my folks. Did I rate everyone of them? I sure did. Did I get away w/things I should've got spanked for? Again, sure did. Did I grow up resentful of my parents? Hell no. I'm thankful everyday they did what they thought was best. They were not perfect but they cared and I'll be lucky to be half the father my old man is. Bottomline - I don't need the UN to tell me how to raise my son nor some pansie-assed psychiatrist like Dr.Phil or Dr.Spock.

There's a difference between violence and punishment. Some kids just need the "time out" routine or suspended priveledges like no watching T.V. to come around. In Aris' case he just needed the FEAR of a good shout or whatever - his parents were lucky. In my case I needed my bottom whacked and someone to get in my face to get me w/the program. All kids are different and respond to different methods but all kids need discipline.

In the last two years I've seen over 2,000 "kids" come through Marine Corps Recruit Training. Most have no discipline, no bearing, and no self-esteem when they get here. It is hard to undo 18 to 20 yrs of "national mothering" in 13 weeks but we do our best to make it happen. Although my use of boot camp may be an extreme example for some - I believe from what I've seen that a lot of parent's rights are being trampled on by this new "enlightened" pop culture crap going on today. I also think the courts have failed us by entertaining bogus lawsuits where allegations of abuse are fraudulently brought to trial. In other cases some parents are just "dish-rags" who are either too lazy, inept, or wrapped up in their own selfish world to put any time in their child. And there are many cases where a single mom is working her ass off to make ends meet and junior is at home left to his own devices.

Most clear thinking people know the difference between abuse and giving a strict punishment.
Posted by: Jarhead || 10/08/2003 22:57 Comments || Top||

#17  mojo> It's other people who first conflated all the ways a government intrudes in a person's home, without bothering to mention the ways it already intrudes or bothering to judge whether this is a matter it should intrude or not.

Flaming Sword> but most of us would argue JUST AS ADAMENTLY against any notion that "children are the STATE's property".

And that's why the State doesn't have any right to spank children either. :-)

Robert Crawford> And there's a difference between punishment and discipline -- and a difference between punishment and parentage for that matter.

---

An acquaintance of mine once described in a forum how he was being punished by his parent as a child -- the whole thing seemed to have an almost ritualistic context IMO with him being hit a certain specific number of times by his father's belt or something (my memory fails me, it's been couple years back).

He didn't feel there was any problem with it or that he came out any worse for it.

But said person is also one of the messed up people I've ever exchanged emails with -- for a long time he had been self-flagellating himself for sins he thought he had commited (perhaps even ones of impure thoughts of whatever) and had even contemplated *castrating* himself.

I urged him to get a visectomy instead, given the one legitimate reason he gave for his desire to do so, the fear of unwanted pregnancy in case of sex. Since he was religious I also told him that were I God I'd consider it a sin for people to destroy their own bodies. I believe he listened to me.

--

In short, I think that physical punishment is much more likely to mess a kid up than to "discipline" it.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 10/09/2003 23:22 Comments || Top||


Middle East
West Bank cities blockaded
Syntax is al-Bawaba's, not mine...
The Israeli occupation forces blockaded overnight Tuesday all Palestinian cities in the West Bank and tightened a full closure. The Gaza Strip was also cut into four sections, reports said. Meanwhile, the Israeli defense minister Shaul Mofaz approved the call-up of reservists to the West Bank and Gaza Strip to beef up security priority during the Jewish Sukkot holiday, which starts Friday night, Israeli sources said. Mofaz said on Wednesday that the extra troops were needed to help monitor the border crossings between Israel and the Palestinian areas following information showing that the suicide bomber behind Saturday's attack on a Haifa restaurant in which 19 people died crossed into Israel in a car with Israeli yellow license plates at one of the border crossings. Israeli sources were quoted in the local media as saying the army has information about five separate cells in the West Bank trying to dispatch suicide bombers into Israel. Three are in Nablus and two in Jenin.
"Step right up, folks! Getcher suicide vests right here! Y'can't be a real Paleostinian without a suicide vest! We got large, we got small, we got teeny-weeny vests for the kiddies...!"
Elsewhere, the Israeli forces arrested Tuesday overnight a Palestinian after incurring the city of Rammallah, Palestinian sources said. Eyewitnesses said that an Israeli undercover commando unit broke in abruptly Rukab Street and the area close to the chamber of commerce, in the heart of the city and detained Jameel Saleh Ankoush, 25 aged.
"Hi, Jameel! We're from the IDF. Stick 'em up!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/08/2003 11:29 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Israeli sources were quoted in the local media as saying the army has information about five separate cells in the West Bank trying to dispatch suicide bombers into Israel. Three are in Nablus and two in Jenin.

Finish that wall soon, guys. Then set up inspection checkpoints and appropriate procedures and stick to them rigidly, and voila - instant increased security.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/08/2003 11:48 Comments || Top||

#2  The Ramallah Chamber of Commerce? Does Ein- Hellhole have one too? Talk about your tough sell...
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/08/2003 14:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Coupla years ago NPR had an article on the deterioration of civil society in what might or might not be called Palestine. One of their gauges of how far things had started to improve and then gone down the tubes was the fact that there was once a thriving Gaza Chamber of Commerce. But when the intifada started, there was essentially no commerce to promote except stone throwing and bomb making. NPR did an interview with the COC's last president. Interesting. They had to go to California (I think) to interview him.
Posted by: MW || 10/08/2003 15:11 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon
Israel Explains "Cause - Effect" to Lebanon
Israel will refrain from harsh military steps towards Lebanon as long as attacks on Israeli troops from the Lebanese side of the border do not resume, the government has decided after, Haaretz reported on Wednesday.
Cause
If the attacks on its forces resume, Israel is likely to strike back at Lebanon and perhaps also at Syria, the report added.
Effect, see how easy that is?
Israeli security sources explained that Israel is not interested in heating up the northern front during next week’s Jewish holiday, when tens of thousands of tourists are expected to visit the region.
That’ll disappoint the adventure tourists
However, Israel was reported to reinforce forces on the border with Lebanon.
Tourists make really good targets
Political analysts in Lebanon and Israel believe that the tensions on the border will be eased. Those in Beirut were quoted in the local press that the Lebanese army has upgraded security precautions against potential attacks outside Hizbullah’s traditional Shabaa farms zone and those in Tel Aviv say the Israeli border reinforcements were largely theatrics.
They said hopefully
Both sides noted that the ongoing Israeli buildup was way short of a force needed to stage a large-scale cross border operation against Lebanon or against Syria via Lebanon. Israel has mainly redoubled its artillery power without fielding alarming tank columns, they said.
So they only plan to blow the shit out of them, no invasion.
The Israeli media on Wednesday played down such extremist calls like those made on Tuesday by Israel’s ultra-rightist Housing Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who urged the army and air force to "burn Beirut and Damascus altogether."
Now hasn’t Beirut suffered enough?
Authorities in Beirut are blaming the hostilities on ’unruly Palestinians’ who may have filtered out from South Lebanon’s refugee camps to shoot at Israeli army patrols from the vicinity of Kfar Kila to avenge the Israeli air attack on an alleged Islamic Jihad training camp near Damascus. Official sources said the Lebanese army had imposed a tight security dragnet around Sidon’s Ein El Hilweh refugee camp, the largest in Lebanon, to prevent potential infiltration out from the camp toward the border with Israel.
Lot’s of luck with that one.
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 11:14:59 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front
Yet Another Donk Candidate
From a satire blog
Deposed California Governor Gray Davis declared his candidacy for the Democrat nomination for President this morning. "I have the best name recognition," said Mr. Davis. "I’m better known than any of the other nine candidates. My track record is equal to any of them, and better than some. And now I have some time on my hands " Gov. Davis gives credit for his strong showing in the recall election to the help of former President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore and the former Rev. Jesse Jackson.
You can’t make Mr. Adams any funnier than he is.
Posted by: Atrus || 10/08/2003 10:38:08 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Middle East
3 Jerusalem Arabs arrested for assisting in #2 bus attack
Jpost - Reg req’d
Three Jerusalem Arabs with suspected Hamas ties are under arrest for assisting in the implementation of the two most recent Jerusalem bus bombings, and planning to help carry out three additional attacks, police announced Wednesday.
Fifth column arabs huh?
The three suspects, who were apprehended last month in a joint Shin Bet-police sting operation, were enlisted by Hamas operatives in the West Bank city of Hebron, and instructed to garner information about preferred sites of attacks in Jerusalem where large numbers of people congregated.
Infiltrated the groups hmmmm?
A court-imposed gag order on the case which had been in place since their arrests was lifted Wednesday afternoon. The three Jerusalem Arabs, residents of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi Joz, and A-Ram who carried blue Israeli ID cards, are suspected of assisting the bomber that blew up bus 2 on August 19, as well as the previous city bus bombing on bus 14, on June 11. Twenty-three people were killed in the bus 2 attack, the most lethal bombing in the city since the outbreak of violence three years ago, while seventeen people were killed in the bus 14 bombing. Their plans to help organize at least three additional attacks were thwarted with their arrest, and the IDF’s killing of their Hamas operatives in Hebron. The three men, who have confessed to the charges against them during their interrogations, will be indicted in the coming weeks, police said.
and jailed forever?
Posted by: Frank G || 10/08/2003 10:14:12 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front
Pentagon decides Chinese, Russian, Korea and Paki efforts to poliferate weapons are insufficient
hattip to Military.com
Using a fake company, congressional investigators were able to buy off the Internet excess Pentagon lab equipment and protective gear that terrorists could use to make chemical and biological weapons. Fellow shoppers on the Internet site also resold the items to buyers in the Philippines, Malaysia, Egypt, and other countries, the General Accounting Office said in a report to the House Government Reform Committee’s national security subcommittee.
I strongly protest this policy. This foriegn competition is unfairly increasing prices for domestic terrorists and meth lab owners.
"Public sales of these Department of Defense excess items increase the risk that terrorists could obtain and use them to produce and deliver biological agents within the United States," it said. Gregory Kutz, the GAO’s director for financial management and assurance, said that, using a fictitious company, his agents were able to buy $4,100 worth of items, including a biological safety cabinet, a bacteriological incubator, a centrifuge, an evaporator, and chemical and biological protective suits and related gear.
I could outfit my RV as a Winebego of Death a weather ballon inflation station.
He said the original acquisition value of the items purchased was $46,960.
That’s like 10 toilet seats.
"DOD should not be a discount outlet for bioterrorism equipment," said Rep. Christopher Shays (R., Conn.), chairman of the panel.
The state of Conneticut demands that terrorists pay full prices for their lab supplies.
The Customs Bureau under the Department of Homeland Security monitors sales and exports of certain biological equipment, including the items purchased by the GAO, and sales to the public are legal.
Technically, most of what the guys do in Jackass the Movie is legal also. Legal doesn’t equate to prudent.
The Pentagon in January stopped sales of protective gear, but the GAO found that 4,000 suits and 26,000 other items such as gloves and hoods were sold since then.
We forgot to tell QVC.
Kutz said that in the last 3 1/2 years the Pentagon had sold at least 18 safety cabinets, 199 incubators, 521 centrifuges, 65 evaporators, and 286,000 protective suits.
Please, tell me this was an FBI sting. Please.
"We were surprised at what we could buy," Keith Rhodes, the GAO’s chief technologist, said. Shays said that his panel heard GAO testimony last year that new protective gear was being sold cheaply on the Internet as surplus while military units were trying to purchase the same equipment at far higher prices, and that some military units and first responders were receiving defective equipment. The report acknowledged that some of the equipment was also available from other sources, such as medical-industry suppliers, but said that, coupled with lax inventory management of toxic materials at some federal labs, there was increased risk that a terrorist could use the equipment to produce a biological-warfare agent such as crude anthrax.
We have found the enemy in the mirror. Why is he drooling stupidly?
Posted by: Superhose || 10/08/2003 9:26:23 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  One problem is the inability of our government to sell its surplus at anything resembling a fair price. I would suspect that there may be a regulation that limits sales if the value of the item is greater than a given percent of retail. So, to sell, the item is valued too low. Voila! You can sell your surplus.

Another is that the Federal government is so huge that it is impossible for one unit to deal efficiently with another. The ability of the Department of the Interior to transfer assets to the Department of Defense is limited, at best, and in most cases impossible to do under both law and budget regulations.

It points out the dramatic necessity to reduce the size of government. With all our laws and regulations and policies, we still can't get common sense things done in government. It's just too big.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 10/08/2003 9:54 Comments || Top||

#2  "Please, tell me this was an FBI sting. Please."

Amen to that. I don't know if it's feasible but if some sort of tracking device could be attached to these items as they move around the world, it might point us n the direction of bad guys.

Did we do that? Nah, proly not.
Posted by: JDB || 10/08/2003 21:39 Comments || Top||


Wesley Clark’s campaign manager quits
Wesley Clark’s campaign manager quit Tuesday in a dispute over the direction of the Democratic presidential bid, exposing a rift between the former general’s Washington-based advisers and his 3-week-old Arkansas campaign team. Donnie Fowler told associates he was leaving over widespread concerns that supporters who used the Internet to draft Clark into the race are not being taken seriously by top campaign advisers. Fowler also complained that the campaign’s message and methods are focused too much on Washington, not key states and the burgeoning power of the Internet, said two associates who spoke on condition of anonymity. Spokesmen for the campaign declined comment.
"We can say no more!"
From the start, there has been tension between the campaign’s political professionals and the draft-Clark supporters. Fowler has complained that while the Internet-based supporters have been integrated into the campaign, their views are not taken seriously by Fabiani, Klain and other top advisers, many of them based in Washington. Fowler’s departure is the latest blow for a campaign that has gotten off to mixed reviews.
"Bad."
"Yeah. I'd say bad."
"Really bad."
National polls put Clark near the top of the nine-person field, and he raised more than $3 million in the first two weeks of his campaign, a sum that surpassed what several rivals raised in three weeks. However, he has been criticized for flip-flopping on whether he would have supported the Iraq resolution, and his commitment to the Democratic Party has been questioned. Clark voted for Presidents Reagan and Nixon, praised both Bush administrations and had not registered to vote as a Democrat in his home state of Arkansas before entering the race.
What was he registered as? If anything?
The high number of Clinton-Gore officials on his campaign has caused Clark’s rivals to question whether the former president is quietly pushing Clark’s campaign, a charge strongly disputed by the candidate and Clinton’s associates.
And the wonderful thing about Schwarznegger’s win yesterday, is that California could be up for grabs in 2004. Unless of course he screws up badly and gets recalled.
Posted by: Rafael || 10/08/2003 4:55:26 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Given the regularity and consistency of these reports, it appears that the DC beltway has no Internet service. In fact, there appears to be a massive conspiracy to deprive all locations which contain agencies of government, media outlets, and high-priced political consultants of access to the Internet.

Please do not notify them of what they're missing, nor ask anyone to investigate. Their blindness and ignorance has gotten us this far. If it lasts just a little while longer, there will be sufficient evidence to prove conclusively that the US has no need of them.

Collectively, we Internet citizen should offer to pitch in to find them gainful employment. I can kick it off with a sign I saw at a local hotel that needs a parking lot attendant.
Posted by: .com || 10/08/2003 8:59 Comments || Top||

#2  On Britt Hume's show two nights ago I saw AF Gen Thomas McInerny(Sp?) discuss what got Clark canned. People that the Gen had talked with said that Clark didn't like the plan to bomb Bosnia from above. He wanted to get down on the ground and mix it up some.
Disatisfied with the restriction not to use American ground forces, Clark made a fatal error. He performed an endrun around Cohen and Shelton and went right to Bill on the issue thus enraging his Chain of Command.
I think at that point Clark discovered that the decision not to risk American casualties after Somalia came either from Hilary or Bill.

Unfortunately for Clark, his entire chain-of-command watched him go behind their backs. Wouldn't have been som bad but (my feeling) is that Clark wanted ground ops to cement his legacy as a general. -- Most miltary members frown on the blood for legacy concept.

McInerny also said that Clark tried to micromanage the air war eventhough he had no airpower experience of understanding. The AF took real exception to his push for daylight use of C-130 gunships. While I am a reformed squid, I have seem enough history channel to understand the WWII results of daylight low level action by slowflying targets.
Posted by: Superhose || 10/08/2003 9:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Superhose has it right on target. Funny thing is, not only did Clark not have a handle on airwar manuever and tactics, according to some of my SOF colleagues who had the displeasure of meeting him in an official capacity, he is light in the tactics department period. A military mental midget who was socially promoted through the Pentagon ranks....read ticket-puncher and back-stabber....a perfect liberal.
Posted by: TerrorHunter4Ever || 10/08/2003 9:39 Comments || Top||

#4  Whenever I see him, I think of two characters in Doctor Strangelove: the guy who started the war who was concerned about maintaining purity of bodily essence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs who was worried about teh Russians seeing the Big Board.
Posted by: Superhose || 10/08/2003 10:10 Comments || Top||

#5  no internet access in DC? Maybe Al Gore took it with him when he left? After all.....
Posted by: Frank G || 10/08/2003 10:16 Comments || Top||

#6  I think Wes Clark is going to wish he'd avoided this "draft".
Posted by: Old Patriot || 10/08/2003 10:39 Comments || Top||

#7  Superhose,a more charitable intepretation of Clark insisting on ground troops(and Army attack helos)would be him trying to get political credit for the Army.Don't forget that was a time of a rapidly shrinking defense budget.The Air Force was claiming all the credit for Desert Storm and there were assorted USAF generals,think tankers and pundits stating that airpower alone would win future wars.The Army had recently taken a PR beating over Somalia.Clark may have been trying to prove Army was needed-and earning a reputation that Clark could be counted on to defend Army interests,thus should be next head of Army.
BTW,re-phrasing an old Southern expression I am a "yellow dog" anti-Clark voter.(In the Old South
a yellow dog Democrat would vote for a cowardly mutt before voting for a Republican.)I saw Clark during Iraq War.He ripped the war plan and administration,predicted heavy casualties and said US attack was about to be hopelesssly bogged down w/out major reinforcements.He then misidentified F-16s as F-15s.After that I changed channel whenever he was on.Except once I watched as he couldn't identify A-10 that was flying over Bagdad.I believe anybody that misinformed about their chosen profession can't be trusted with my tax dollars.
Posted by: Stephen || 10/08/2003 14:45 Comments || Top||

#8  Stephen,

Military action is just another form of policy determined by the Commander-in-Chief. Going around Shelton and Cohen to get to the President is a gross violation that evidently all of Clark's superior officers took exception to.

An air campaign was a perfectly acceptable way to achieve the goal as Clinton defined it - get the Serbs out without getting our servicemen killed.

It would have been perfectly fine for Clark to tell Shelton something to the effect of," hey, this air campaign looks good but doesn't solve the underlying issue." Shelton would have explained why taking casualties was not politically acceptable for the president and that should have been it.

The policy sucked; everyone in the military agreed. The military is paid to execute the policy.
Posted by: Superhose || 10/08/2003 16:38 Comments || Top||

#9  Clark was/is a micro manager and yes he wanted ground forces from the get go. If you want to know what a politician micro manager looks like, see Grey Davis D-Unemployed. Clark was on his way OUT of the service until Billy came to town. That is why he thought he could do an end-run on his superiors. Bypassing the chain-of-command as often as he did caused a ‘little’ friction with the higher ups. I can’t imagine what it would be like working for a retired general (shiver). Also being an Army General, leading an Air War didn’t mesh well with him. He wanted to insert Apaches Helo’s into the fray but one crashed in Albania while training in the mountains. That ended any Army involvement until the end of the campaign.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 10/08/2003 17:38 Comments || Top||

#10  Superhose,

My point was that there was another possible explanation for Clark demanding ground forces other than tring to "cement his legacy as a general."As for the sin of going outside of the chain of command and going directly to the Pres.,yes it's wrong,but every General in command of US troops overseas in 20th cent. communicated directly with his President.It hasn't been reason in past for getting fired.Clark's problem,seems to me,he wouldn't do it quietly and he seems incapable of understanding "no,now shut up and soldier."
Posted by: Stephen || 10/08/2003 17:44 Comments || Top||

#11  Stephen I agree that generals like Franks and others are given every opportunity to talk directly to the president.

As for a General trying to re-establish American martial superiority after Somalia by committing ground troops in a limited engagement - I can't say for sure as I never went farther than O-3 and didn't have access that high.

As an outsider looking in, most recent generals have seemed to publically adhere to Colin Powell's philosophy of focusing decisive power (read massive advantage over hostile forces) to maximize the chance of success and minimize casualties. That's not what Clark seems to have been asking for.

To contrast him with Franks, I would say that Franks feels personally repsonsible for every coalition or civilian non-combatant death to the extent that he would have personally attended every memrial ceremony and did every CACO notification himslef if it wouldn't have distracted him from his job.

Clark doesn't give me that same gut feeling. Neither did Clinton. That gives me the willies and would prevent me from voting for them out of hand. I would feel uncomforatble giving either of them a bee-bee gun yet alone the nuclear football.

There are Democrats that I would trust to control the military maturely. Lieberman or Gebhardt. One guy who I disagree with politically in most respects, that would satisfy me as commander in chief is Charlie Rangle.
Posted by: Super Hose || 10/08/2003 19:33 Comments || Top||

#12  Super Hose,

I agree with you.My problem w/Clark is just what journey lead him to Democratic Party?My personal take(never met him,haven't pesonally talked to anyone who has)rests on 2 assumptions.1 Clark is very ambitious.2,the collective US military didn't like Clinton.If Clinton fired Clark,why are Clinton advisors running Clark's campaign?If Clinton fired Clark,why didn't top brass make a fuss,if for no other reason than to embarrass Clinton?I believe after don't ask/don't tell fiasco Clinton and the"Pentagon" made a deal.Clinton wouldn't interfere w/Pentagon,the military wouldn't embarrass Clinton.I believe it was top brass at Pentagon who fired Clark and Clinton accepted it as internal Pentagon politics.Why did Clark visit Pentagon after 9/11 and praise Bush administration?And why on earth would a retired soldier be waiting for a phone call from White House political strategist?I believe he went looking for a job,discovered he was still disliked by Pentagon and his views on using masses of ground troops didn't fit Rumsfield's vision.He then went to Rove hoping to get administration support for a political run as Senator/Congressman.When Rove didn't bother calling back,Clark became a Democrat.
Posted by: Stephen || 10/08/2003 21:15 Comments || Top||

#13  Supposedly Clark ordered a British subordinate commander to attack Russian troops in Kosovo when the Ruskies went to secure an air port without the consent of NATO. I remember one of my buddies who was there say there was a lot tension between the Russians and us. I don't have all the details as of yet but will look it up. Not sure if anyone else knows something about that one.
Posted by: Jarhead || 10/08/2003 22:16 Comments || Top||


Korea
South Korea May Send Troops to Iraq, but at a price
EFL and Registration needed
With the Bush administration pressing South Korea to send up to 5,000 combat troops to Iraq, South Korea’s president is setting a price: progress by Washington in reducing tensions with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program. "I fear that if we decide to go ahead and send troops, it would not help achieve the second round of six-way talks over North Korea’s nuclear program, or an agreement to be reached," President Roh Moo-Hyun said last Friday, the latest of a series of statements linking a dispatch of troops to Iraq to defusing tensions with North Korea. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is to visit here on Oct. 24, and newspaper analysts see that visit as a move by the Americans to press Mr. Roh to make a public decision by that date.

"The U.S. wants us to replace the 101st Airborne Division based in Mosul," in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Cha Young-Koo, deputy defense minister, told reporters here last Thursday. "The division plans to leave the region between February and March." With other countries that have agreed to send troops to Iraq asking for foreign aid or free trade pacts, South Korea believes it can win a more pragmatic, results-oriented American approach to the one-year-old nuclear standoff with North Korea. "Before making any decision on the troop dispatch, it is extremely important to arrive at a positive outlook for and conviction in peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," Mr. Roh said here in a speech last Wednesday, Armed Forces Day in South Korea. "More than anything, a stable atmosphere of dialogue should be promoted so that it will lead to a conviction that the North’s nuclear issue can, indeed, be resolved peacefully." On Saturday, a 12-member South Korean fact-finding team reported to Mr. Roh about their tour of Iraq. Brig. Gen. Kang Dae-Young told reporters that Iraq seemed more stable than portrayed in the press, saying, "People roamed freely and economic activities were also brisk." But there have already been two demonstrations in Seoul in the last week against sending troops to Iraq.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 10/08/2003 3:34:43 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  With any luck, we'll tell SOKO to shove it up its ass. Pull the troops out and send them where they are wanted.

Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 10/08/2003 7:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Let's hope so,Mike.
Posted by: Raptor || 10/08/2003 9:15 Comments || Top||

#3  We should complement our hosts and say that 5,000 Sk troops aer so valuable to us that without them we will be forced to withdraw 20,000 of our inferior US troops to compensate.
Posted by: Superhose || 10/08/2003 10:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Exactly. The 2nd ID would fit nicely, and it would send a strong message to the ungrateful South Koreans that we could care less if they get nuked by their psycopathic brethren up North.

Really, it's not our problem anymore.
Posted by: Captain Holly || 10/08/2003 10:43 Comments || Top||

#5  "reduce tensions" at any price. We just want to be happy and sunshiney. Everyone bashed Bush's tactics but guess what, now it's Japan, China, Russia and SKor's problem. How's that feel fellas ? Where's Albright when you need her.
Posted by: eyeyeye || 10/08/2003 11:18 Comments || Top||

#6  We don't need to withdraw the entire 2ID. As the 101st pulls out, the situation in South Kurdistan™ will be such that a single American brigade can provide the security guarentees. The Kurds aren't stupid, and PADEK isn't much of a threat. So let's pull a brigade of 2ID out, and have the SKor's put their 5,000 troops in the empty space on the DMZ.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/08/2003 11:28 Comments || Top||

#7  Hmm. May be time to re-evaluate exactly how much effort ROK is worth. Back in the 50-90's it was to stop World Communism. OK, it's stopped. China doesn't seem too interested in exporting it's brand. So we leave ROK and Kimmie's Kiddie Korps move in. No more cheap ass KIAs and Hundais. No more shoddy Sanyo & Daewoo. And Kimmie's Krew will be so busy scarfing their first decent meal in 5 years they should stay out of trouble for a while.

Fantasy for the sake of humor, yes, but the basic question is still valid. Exactly how much value does ROK have to us these days?
Posted by: Mercutio || 10/08/2003 13:53 Comments || Top||

#8  I know where we can find 39,000 troops to serve in Iraq!
Posted by: Greg || 10/08/2003 14:41 Comments || Top||

#9  The American interest is now to close down Kim's ballistic export business. The Navy is a better tool for that job. Move the Army out and let the USN take care of business. We still have an ax to grind with Kim anyway. We want our @#$% ship back, pronto.
Posted by: Superhose || 10/08/2003 15:00 Comments || Top||

#10  I frankly dont understand all the flak Skor is getting here about this. Like d'oh people, theyve got the North Korean army sitting next to them, and there IS tension on the peninsula, like who knows when Kimmie will go completely loonie and start a war, or start a chain of events that will lead to war - kinda makes sense to keep the SKOR forces close to home, no? They need the 2nd ID AND all the SKOR forces. And then some. Its not like the SKORs are turning us down when we need help, and they have plenty to spare.

SKOR supported us diplomatically on Iraq, and still does. I fully expect them to help financially (as they did during GW1, BTW) and in reconstruction - and to do so regardless of what the UN says. I dont see how we can blame them for not sending ground troops with the situation in the peninsula what it is.


Posted by: liberalhawk || 10/08/2003 15:50 Comments || Top||

#11  I agree with Liberalhawk.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 10/08/2003 20:45 Comments || Top||


Home Front
"Look out Mexico, we’re invading at dawn"
Even before the first ballot was cast on election day, it was clear that Schwarzenegger was going to win the election. And win he did -- by a landslide. There is a euphoria in the air throughout the Great State of California. If he does well in the Governor's office, who knows, maybe Schwarzenegger will become President of the United States. One report during the day said that some people were actually more inclined to vote for Schwarzenegger because of the groping charges. Jimmy Kimmel's remark reflects the atmosphere well: "Look out Mexico, we're invading at dawn". Yes, and let's not forget about Texas.
Posted by: Alex || 10/08/2003 3:30:41 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Schwarzenegger can't run for President, you have to be born in America to be qualified. I believe, and I may be wrong, that even if your parents are both american and you happen to be born outside the U.S., you can't run.
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 8:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Schwarznegger can't be president because he was not born here.
Posted by: Sharon in NYC || 10/08/2003 8:36 Comments || Top||

#3  What's it take--2/3 of the states to ratify a Constitutional amendment?
Posted by: Dar || 10/08/2003 8:39 Comments || Top||

#4  What's it take--2/3 of the states to ratify a Constitutional amendment?

Actually, I think it's only 3/5 of the states. Do I think Arnold should be prez? Nope. Heck - he shouldn't even be governor - Tom McClintock definitely got the short end of the stick on this recall vote. Note that Arnold comes from Austria, home of the socialist welfare state, and is married to a member of the Kennedy clan. I expect him to be a Bloomberg clone - a complete RINO. I just hope I'm wrong.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 10/08/2003 9:38 Comments || Top||

#5  I expect him to be a Bloomberg clone - a complete RINO
What else can we expect in Cal. NYC and Mass. ?
My hope is that there election might open the door for real conservatives to make some gains,
Posted by: domingo || 10/08/2003 10:11 Comments || Top||

#6  I have heard many pundits speculate that the recall will hurt Bush in the election because Bush needs California to be an active disaster that he can blame on Democratic leadership. I disagree. California is a large enough economy to screw up the national recovery.
Posted by: Superhose || 10/08/2003 10:16 Comments || Top||

#7  ZF--I agree. I'll wait to see how he does, and I wish him well, but I'm not jumping on the Arnie-for-Prez bandwagon quite yet.

I just wanted to toss in a reminder that the rules can be rewritten. Women once couldn't vote. Slaves were held and counted as 3/5 of a white person. Presidents could serve more than two terms. Alcohol was banned nationwide. Yadayadayada.

I don't hold being Austrian against Arnie, nor being married to a Kennedy. I'll wait to see what he actually does now that he has the reins.

Finally, I'm just ecstatic to see Barbra Streisand's proboscus get tweaked--she was spouting off her support for "Grey" [sic] on her blog, and decrying "this attempted hijacking of the democratic process" -- I guess rule of law means nothing to her unless she likes the outcome.
Posted by: Dar || 10/08/2003 10:19 Comments || Top||

#8  What does it all mean? The pundits will have a field day, I'm certain.

A simple conclusion: politicians at the state and the Federal level need to be aware that there is a spirit of revolt in the electorate. The voters of Alabama overwhelmingly rejected an increase in their taxes to cover a deficit. The recall in California succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of its proponents. The simple message is: you cannot count on voters being passive all the time.

There are thirty or so states with budget problems. The message to their governors and legeslatures is that they cannot rely on their voters just accepting any old tax increase, or flim flam financial operation to close a budget gap. Sure, many will get away with it, but these two examples suggest a mood in the country that may unpleasantly surprise some elected officials.

It also suggests that the 2004 Federal election will not be a one issue election. Bush cannot run as just the "security" President. The deficit and the economy will be in play.

This is not a third party revolt, but a mainstream, average American, ordinary Republican or Democrat revolt. Howard Dean does not symbolize this revolt any more than Tom McClintock did in California.

So, powers that be entrenched in state capitals, think about it. Perhaps your jobs aren't quite so guaranteed after all. And, all you porkers in Congress, draw a correct conclusion, as well. Some elections you can't buy with special interests. Sometimes the people just want to stop being gouged by their elected governement, and if it means replacing that government, so be it!
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 10/08/2003 10:19 Comments || Top||

#9  Chuck - you got the message correct, but it appears that it won't be heard by the professional politicians - Terry McAuliffe was trying to spin it as a message to GWB that the California voters are angry at the President(?!)
and the Republicans - go figure
Posted by: Frank G || 10/08/2003 11:13 Comments || Top||

#10  Zhang: here's Article V of our Constitution:

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.

So whether Congress or a constitutional convention proposes an amendment, it takes 3/4 of the states to ratify.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/08/2003 11:22 Comments || Top||

#11  It takes 3/4 of the legislatures of the states to ratify a constitutional ammendment. 2/3 of a quorom in both houses of Congress is required to propose the ammendment.

This is coverd in Article Five of the Constitution.

Read it, Learn it, Know it, Live it!!!

Posted by: spiffo || 10/08/2003 11:44 Comments || Top||

#12  Instapundit has a link to this great map showing which counties Arnie carried and which Cruz carried (Bay Area only). Nicely done...
Posted by: Dar || 10/08/2003 12:29 Comments || Top||

#13  Why invade Mexico when California is turning into Mexico?

And I'm not talking about the Hispanicization of the state.

I'm talking about Democrats who can't see the overhang of entitlements will have to be trimmed back in an ORDERLY fashion. I'm also talking about Republicans who think they are disconnected from every part of society that just doesn't apply to them, who think that if social services get cut back those annoying little brown people will go away, and that means tax increases.

What has to be done in California to right the ship of state is so radical that the safe bet is to expect bankruptcy.

The politicians will get the blame, as is fair, but the general population has to be in denial out there too.

Arnie has done nothing to gird people for the worst.
Posted by: Hiryu || 10/08/2003 12:31 Comments || Top||

#14  The simple message is: you cannot count on voters being passive all the time.

A power fiasco, a financial situation that spiraled out of control in a short period, then a 300% tax increase. Bend over the public enough, and they'll get mad, to say the least.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/08/2003 14:23 Comments || Top||

#15  I'm also talking about Republicans who think they are disconnected from every part of society that just doesn't apply to them, who think that if social services get cut back those annoying little brown people will go away, and that means tax increases.

Republicans == racists? You sound just like a Democrat operative.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/08/2003 14:26 Comments || Top||

#16  Hiryu, if those "annoying little brown people" aren't in the country LEGALLY, then they SHOULD go away--or be escorted away by force. It is farsical to talk of "national security" while simultaneously ignoring the threat posed by an open border. Further, what social services do exist belong first and foremost to the CITIZENS of this country.

Posted by: Flaming Sword || 10/08/2003 15:33 Comments || Top||

#17  None's in denial here...that's why we threw the bastid out. Fact is...noone really knows how bad it is or going to get. Davis' budget was smoke and mirrors. Also, much of it unconstitutional. We've already had 2 billion of bonds sales (read borrowing) nulled by the courts. Another 10 bil is under review....and even that might not be the end of it. Nope....no denial here.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 10/08/2003 19:23 Comments || Top||

#18  Zhang: here's Article V of our Constitution:

Hell, just email the Rutherford Institute. They will happily mail you a "Pocket Contitution" that contains the entire unabridged US Constitution in a booklet about the size of your hand.

www.rutherford.org.

I don't care for their politics, but a free copy of the Constitution is never a bad thing. I keep mine next to my computer.

Ed.
Posted by: Ed Becerra || 10/08/2003 22:17 Comments || Top||

#19  Got my copy of the Constitution off the net,And it is within 2ft of my hand as we speak.
Posted by: Raptor || 10/09/2003 10:23 Comments || Top||


Korea
N. Korea Won’t Let Japan in Nuclear Talks
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea said Tuesday it will not allow Japan to participate in any future talks aimed at resolving a standoff over the North’s nuclear programs, saying Tokyo was not a trustworthy dialogue partner.
Guess we won’t be there, either. Oh well.
The North Korean statement complicates efforts by the United States and its allies to restart six-nation nuclear talks. Washington considers Japan’s participation in the talks crucial, saying North Korea’s nuclear programs threaten regional security.

In August, the United States, China, Russia, the two Koreas and Japan held talks in Beijing aimed at addressing the North’s nuclear ambitions. Tokyo used the talks to raise another issue it considers pivotal - abductions of its citizens decades ago by the communist state.
Upset the master plan, did they?
On Tuesday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said it ``would not allow Japan to participate in any form of negotiations for the settlement of the nuclear issue in the future.’’ It was unclear whether the statement, carried by the North’s official news agency KCNA, meant North Korea could agree to a future meeting if Japan is excluded. Since the August meeting ended without plans for a next round, North Korea has said it is no longer interested in further talks.
Hey Kim, watch what happens when I turn this dial -- see how the coordinates for your nuclear depot are updated?
``Japan is nothing but an obstacle to the peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue between the DPRK and the U.S.,’’ the North Korean statement said, using the acronym of the North’s official name, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. ``It has lost its qualification to be a trustworthy dialogue partner.’’

North Korea accused Japan of abusing the nuclear talks to raise the ``issue of abduction,’’ which the North says has already been settled.
Um, not quite.
In Tokyo, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement that if future talks are to occur, ``Japan’s participation is natural.’’ ``In accordance with the Pyongyang Declaration, the nuclear, missile and abduction issues must be resolved if Japan-North Korea normalization negotiations are to move forward,’’ it said.
Time for the Japanese to kick up the research on theater missile defense another notch.
Meanwhile on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, Japan, China and South Korea agreed to coordinate efforts to get North Korea to end its nuclear ambitions and reiterated that the dispute should be resolved peacefully. The agreement between Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao came on the sidelines of the annual summit of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
China, curb your dog.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/08/2003 1:38:21 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think it's about time Japan built and launched a truly intercontinental ballistic missile, complete with MIRVed dummy warheads. I'm sure that would get the attention of both China and Russia, and bring some really HEAVY pressure to bear on Pyongyang. Heck, little Kimmie might even stain his pants if Japan did that, combined with beginning their own nuclear weapons program "in response to Pyongyang's provocation". Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire, other times you have to fight abject stupidity with brute force.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 10/08/2003 11:01 Comments || Top||

#2  I don't think the Jap constitution will allow projective force weapons, unfortunately. Some defensive mid-range retaliatory strike weapons, now...
Posted by: mojo || 10/08/2003 11:35 Comments || Top||

#3  North Korea accused Japan of abusing the nuclear talks to raise the ``issue of abduction,’’ which the North says has already been settled.

How dare the Japanese bring up the issue of NKor intel mugging random Japanese citizens off the street. And keeping them for 20 years for spy training.
Posted by: OminousWhatever || 10/08/2003 11:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Can we let a random homeless person cover the meeting for the US. We need to do all we can to help get these folks off the streets.
Posted by: Superhose || 10/08/2003 12:53 Comments || Top||

#5  National defense is the primary mission of a national government. The leaders of Japan have an obligation to the citizens of Japan to develop balistic missile defense and nuclear strike capabilities. They are working on the former and I would be surprised if they do not have a well developed secret program for the latter. A quick look US 2004 election campaign coverage indicates that they would be derilict in their duty to assume that the US nuclear umbrella would always extend to them. Israel figured this out a long time ago.
Posted by: JAB || 10/08/2003 12:55 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon
Assad Says Air Strike Will Enhance Syria
That reads like the title to half the spam e-mail I get. EFL.
Terry McAuliff sez The Gray Davis getting tossed is gonna be bad for Bush, too...
The Israeli air strike in Syrian territory will enhance his country’s role in the Middle East, not diminish it as sought by Israel, Syrian President Bashar Assad said in remarks published Tuesday.
"Prince Abdullah! Israel's just bitch-slapped the Syrians!"
"Well! We should defer to the Syrians more often, then."
"Yes, effendi! And give them money, too!"
In his first comments to the media since Israeli fighter-bombers struck Syrian territory on Sunday for the first time in 20 years, Assad told the pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat that the attack was an attempt to provoke war because Israel is led by a ``government of war’’ that employs war to ``justify its existence.’’
"Alas, the Israelis failed in their mission to provoke this war because our vaunted air force wouldn’t climb into their cockpits did not take the bait!"
The Israeli attack came in response to a suicide bombing in Haifa that killed at least 19 people. The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack. ``There is no doubt that the role Syria plays in the various issues in our region is painful to this (Israeli) government. What happened was a failed Israeli attempt to undercut this role,’’ Assad told the London-based paper. ``We can, with full confidence, say that what happened will only make Syria’s role more effective and influential in events in the region - contrary to what this government wants,’’ Assad said.
He’s toast -- his father would never have said this.
Sunday’s air strike hit what Israel called an Islamic Jihad camp about 15 miles from Damascus. No one was killed in the Israeli strike. Villagers said the militants’ camp had been abandoned years ago.
I suspect Israeli intelligence is better than this.
Assad, 38, did not say how Syria would respond to the attack.
He didn’t have to!
Asked about pressure from the United States, which has accused Syria of supporting terrorists and allowing fighters to cross into Iraq, Assad said: ``We are not a superpower, but we are not a weak state either."
Oh no, certainly not!
"Of course, we're not rational, either. That might have something to do with it..."
"We’re not a country without cards ... We are not a state that can be ignored in the issues under discussion.’’
He wants cards, we can put him on one. How ’bout the six of clubs?
Assad defended the fact that his government has given sanctuary to Palestinian groups such as Islamic Jihad and Hamas, which the European Union and the United States list as terrorist. ``It is not important to call them terrorist or not terrorist. There are existing forces that you must deal with,’’ Assad said.
"Keep in mind that these people could kill me!"
Y'see, if we call them "terrorists," then we're kinda duty bound to eradicate them and the states that harbor them. Nothing personal. It's just business, Mike...
Turning to U.S. accusations on Iraq, Assad implied his government could not have total control over Syria’s long desert border with Iraq. ``There is big chaos’’ in Iraq, Assad said. ``There is arms smuggling and persons (crossing the border) and we don’t know who they are."
"We don't want to know who they are."
If you don’t know who they are, then you won’t mind if we take ’em out, will you?
Posted by: Steve White || 10/08/2003 1:06:59 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I know I'm out of sync with a lot of Rantburgers on this one.. but I like Bashar Assad. I hope he hasn't overplayed his hand against the hard-liners.
Posted by: Dishman || 10/08/2003 2:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Well if you think he's a good guy, then maybe he'll recognize that the thugs in his county could spark a war and he'll quietly kick them out after things have settled down (relatively speaking, nothing will 'settle down' for a long time in that area).
Posted by: Tokyo Taro || 10/08/2003 4:19 Comments || Top||

#3  I know the IDF rarely gives any specifics on military opps, but has anyone heard if there was any oppostion at all? A random SA6 or somesuch? Were the aircraft ever acquired?
Posted by: Shipman || 10/08/2003 7:46 Comments || Top||

#4  I read on an Israeli site that the IDF flew up over Lebanon and hit the camp with standoff weapons. Didn't cross into Syrian airspace at all, no resistance. Well, maybe random AAA from Hamas or Hizbullies. Nothing serious.
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 8:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Whether you like Assad or not, he has steadily been losing control over his own country, his own advisers, his armed services, his foreign service, etc. The airstrike may help him if he replaces a few generals with loyalists.
Posted by: mhw || 10/08/2003 9:18 Comments || Top||

#6  ``It is not important to call them terrorist or not terrorist. There are existing forces that you must deal with,’’ Asshatad said.

Isn't that what the IDF was doing?
Posted by: VAMark || 10/08/2003 9:54 Comments || Top||

#7  Seems that getting hit by Israel and not doing anything back might cause lil' Assad trouble. The hardliners will have an argument that he's not killin' enough joooos defending the country, and may be able to push him aside.

Of course, if Syria goes into frothing beserker mode, then Israel (and maybe the US) get an excuse to smack them...
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats || 10/08/2003 10:27 Comments || Top||

#8  The Israeli air strike in Syrian territory will enhance his country’s role in the Middle East, not diminish it as sought by Israel,..

Monty Python, anyone?
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/08/2003 10:40 Comments || Top||

#9  Why is Israel teasing the Arabs so much, with Khaddafi leaving the Arab league, a dissapointed Assad could leave as well. Boy, in these days I feel for the Arabs, poor bastards.
Posted by: Murat || 10/08/2003 10:51 Comments || Top||

#10  The Israeli air strike in Syrian territory will enhance his country’s role in the Middle East

No Duh, Sherlock . Whoever can claim to be the biggest victim of Zionist aggression is like totally the most popular in the whole club. Nuh uhh, the Jews are like totally hating us way more than you guys. Shut UP Brianna. Opps I mean Bashar.
Posted by: eyeyeye || 10/08/2003 11:27 Comments || Top||

#11  How enhanced would Syria's rep be if the IAF decided to nuke the place??? I'm thinking way, WAY up!
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/08/2003 11:57 Comments || Top||

#12  I wonder what kind of ordnamce they dropped on the "empty" "Terrorist" "Camp".

Cluster munitions always make a nice present...
Posted by: mojo || 10/08/2003 12:01 Comments || Top||

#13  I think he meant Syria will be enhanced because the IDF has broken the ground for a glorious, new Massoud-MartTM! Look for one coming near you!
Posted by: Dar || 10/08/2003 12:25 Comments || Top||

#14  He wants cards? Aces and eights, my man.
Posted by: Mercutio || 10/08/2003 14:04 Comments || Top||

#15  Asshat said what?
Posted by: Tornado || 10/08/2003 16:30 Comments || Top||


Middle East
Arafat suffered a heart attack
Follow-up to yesterday and EFL.
This is not a well man...Yasser Arafat has suffered a mild heart attack but the Palestinian leadership has sought to keep his health problems secret for fear it will "create panic".
Especially in certain neighborhoods around Baltimore, where people will be wondering, "just what in the sam-hell is that noise, anyway?"
The 74-year-old Palestinian president, who is suffering from syphilitic gummas Parkinson’s disease, disappeared from public view last week and re-emerged at the weekend looking extremely ill. His face was pale and pinched, he had lost weight and he was almost inaudible. He had trouble standing for more than a few minutes at a time.
"Infidels! Who took my red binder?"
The Palestinian press said he was suffering from swine flu. But Palestinian officials told the Guardian that Mr Arafat had suffered a heart attack last week. "Although he has had a slight heart attack, the doctors say he will make a full recovery. He is in full control curse his moustache. There is nothing to worry about," said a close aide to Mr Arafat, who did not wish to be named.
"You ain't hangin' it on me when he keels over!"
Asked why it had not been made public at the time, the official said that it would "have created panic at a critical time when the Israelis are threatening Arafat’s life".
Gotta be some misinformation the Mossad can plant somewhere.
Gotta watch those daggone death rays...
At the beginning of last week, the Palestinian president was visited by his personal physician from Jordan, Dr Ashraf al-Kurdi, and a heart specialist, Yousuf al-Qusous, after he abruptly cancelled all appointments and disappeared from view. The doctors said the Palestinian president had been hit by flu but was recovered. "The illness is over, thank God," Dr Kurdi said at the time.
Here at the university we always call a cardiologist when someone has the flu. Can’t be too careful.
Could be worse. Think of his poor proctologist. I'd call him a three-glover...
But a few days later, Mr Arafat was again isolated from all but a few close aides.
"Mahmoud! He's doing it again!"
Again, the official explanation was tertiary syphilis flu. Sources inside the Palestinian leader’s compound in Ramallah say he was too weak to eat for several days.
"C'mon, Yasser! Eat! Have a bite of cous-cous, that's a good lad... Ahmed! Bring more Depends!"
When he reappeared at the weekend, regular visitors to Mr Arafat’s compound commented on how incontinent ill he looked.
"Eeeew! You sure he's alive? What's that stuff?"
Yesterday, the Palestinian foreign minister, Nabil Shaath, said Mr Arafat was suffering from a stomach ailment which was believed to be an ulcer. He described him as "very demented frail".
"Wipe your chin, Yasser... Mahmoud, do it for him."
Israeli officials say the Palestinian president’s health is not a factor as the government considers whether or not to carry out its threat to exile, or even kill, Mr Arafat. "It would be very convenient if nature were to take its course," said an Israeli foreign ministry official, Jonathan Peled. "But Mr Arafat is a cat with nine lives and we do not believe he has used all of them yet."
I can think of a few ways he could spend all of them in one place.
If Mr Arafat require medical treatment that is not available in Ramallah, he would be likely to travel to Egypt or Jordan but only if Israel permits him to return to the West Bank. Mr Peled said the government would be happy to see Mr Arafat leave but was unlikely to allow him to return.
How 'bout if he comes in a box? Would that be okay?
The Egyptian press recently reported that Mr Arafat has sought the help of the government in Cairo to ensure that when he dies he is buried in a landfill next to the Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, Islam’s third holiest site. Israel would have to give its consent for Mr Arafat’s body to be moved from Ramallah to Jerusalem. Israeli officials say that would be unlikely ever in the present climate.
Like the Israelis would be so stupid as to create a new problem.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/08/2003 12:57:12 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You can't kill scum.
Posted by: Stickman || 10/08/2003 1:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Does anyone have Arafat's e-mail address. I would like to forward a link to a Chicago Sun Times article on health care that might make feel a little more rosey. It is entitled: Partisan doctors scare Uganda's leader

I know that this information would confort him.

Does anyone know whether there is an international version of hospice care that can visit Ramallah to change his bed pan and stuff?
Posted by: Superhose || 10/08/2003 8:50 Comments || Top||

#3  A senior member of the Palestinian cabinet has rejected media reports that Yasser Arafat recently suffered a mild heart attack. The 74-year-old Palestinian leader looked pale and tired during the ceremony to swear in an emergency cabinet on Tuesday and some reports say he needed prompting from his aides. But Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat told the Associated Press news agency that Mr Arafat had not suffered a heart attack, but was battling a stomach virus.

Denying he had a heart attack, right up to the point the first shovel of dirt lands on him.
Posted by: Steve || 10/08/2003 9:48 Comments || Top||

#4  I wonder whose heart attacked him? God knows that son-of-a-bitch has no heart of his own.
Posted by: Dar || 10/08/2003 10:23 Comments || Top||

#5  Where or Who is the guy who thinks he's taking Arafat's place after he kicks ? Where is all the jockeying for position and the grandstanding ?
Posted by: eyeyeye || 10/08/2003 11:22 Comments || Top||

#6  Thought the old bastard's lips were lookin rather cyanotic. Good. Hurry up and die, Yasser.
Posted by: mojo || 10/08/2003 11:37 Comments || Top||

#7  Arafat---

"Now where are my nitroglycerin pills? No Ahmed, not the dynamite sticks, you fool---My bloody pills!!!"
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/08/2003 11:54 Comments || Top||

#8  So what do you guys think...

Pal. civil war after he drops dead?

How will the israelis respond? (besides dancing in the street)
Posted by: ----------<<<<- || 10/08/2003 12:49 Comments || Top||

#9  The IDF should have some fun with him and turn The Death Ray off and on at various times of the day.
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/08/2003 12:51 Comments || Top||

#10  Eeesh. That picture isn't very flattering, to say the least.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/08/2003 14:14 Comments || Top||

#11  Anybody ever seen a picture of him without that dishrag on his head?
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/08/2003 14:25 Comments || Top||

#12  He should really go without it more. He has lovely corn rows...
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2003 15:00 Comments || Top||

#13  Actually, Fred and tu3031, Arafat has less hair that even I do. (And that ain't much.) Years ago a photographer for Life caught him changing from a fatigue hat to a kefiyah (or whatever it's called). No word on whether the photographer lived after the photos were published.
Posted by: MW || 10/08/2003 15:06 Comments || Top||

#14  You mean the corn rows are a wig? I am so-o-o-o disappointed!
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2003 15:56 Comments || Top||

#15  "Where or Who is the guy who thinks he's taking Arafat's place after he kicks ? Where is all the jockeying for position and the grandstanding ?"

AP Sept 30:

"Outgoing Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan told The Associated Press on Monday the Palestinians were better off before the uprising erupted. But in a conflicting statement, jailed uprising leader Marwan Barghouti said he was "proud" of the resistance, and would rather die than live under Israeli occupation"

That would be last 9 days ago - Guardian doesnt tell us when last week Arafat had his alleged heart attack. Dahlan and Bargouti would seem to be likely candidates for jockeying - guys like Abbas and Qureira are good figureheads for and or buffers against Arafat, but when Yasser is gone theyre no longer needed, the tough guys will come out on their own.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 10/08/2003 16:00 Comments || Top||

#16  LGF posts that guysen.com/news.php, a French-language Israel news source, has UNCONFIRMED report(s) that Arafat is dead.
Posted by: growler || 10/08/2003 16:17 Comments || Top||

#17  maybe he just smells that way, Growler?
Posted by: Frank G || 10/08/2003 16:44 Comments || Top||

#18  Night of the Living Dead, Paleo Style. That picture gives me the creeps. Zombies wandering around Ramallah at night, glazed look, dragging their feet toward IDF checkpoints.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/08/2003 16:51 Comments || Top||

#19  Nous n'avons plus d'information sur l'état de ''santé'' d'Arafat. La nouvelle de son décès n'est toujours pas confirmée.

I've been looking on every other site we have access to - nothin'. I sure hope they know something we don't know...
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2003 17:48 Comments || Top||

#20  BTW, Meryl's maintaining an Arafat Death Watch. Hopefully not for very long...
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2003 17:50 Comments || Top||

#21  Don't tease me like this!
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 10/08/2003 18:13 Comments || Top||

#22  That's a report I'd much like to see confirmed. But so was the initial (wrong) report of Idi Amin's death.
I'll just hope if this one is not true (and I suspect it's not) that he lasts no longer than Amin did from the time of that first report.
Posted by: Kathy K || 10/08/2003 18:57 Comments || Top||

#23  Anybody ever seen a picture of him without that dishrag on his head?

When he was playing musical chairs in exile offices, he used to switch back and forth between his washcloth and a hat reminiscent of a French Foreign Legion hat, or something like that (kinda shaped like the old Pittsburgh Pirates stovepipe hat).
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/08/2003 19:05 Comments || Top||

#24  My good friend D.J. Wu reminded me of when Comrade Stalin/Brezhnev/Andropov/Etceterov had a bout with the flu... a mild heart attack... died... no he didn't... yes, he did...
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2003 20:31 Comments || Top||

#25  When he was playing musical chairs in exile offices, he used to switch back and forth between his washcloth and a hat reminiscent of a French Foreign Legion hat, or something like that

That's known as a kepi, Bomb. I knew a few FFL'ers in my time. Disciplined buggers for the most part. Only decent troops that France has, really.

Ed.
Posted by: Ed Becerra || 10/08/2003 22:30 Comments || Top||



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