Israeli Deputy Education Minister Michal Melchior paid a brief visit to Qatar to take part in a seminar on the Middle East peace road map, an organizer said yesterday. Melchior "was one of four main panelists, who included Palestinian minister Ghassan Khatib," said Alexandra Willis, who was in charge of the seminar. The seminar in Doha was jointly organized by a Qatari education institution headed by Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Misned, wife of Qatar's emir, and the BBC. Melchior's visit was "not secret. He took part in the debate in front of some 300 people, including academics, diplomats and students," Willis said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2005 00:00:00 ||
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The UK remains vulnerable to the "real and serious" threat of terrorism by al-Qaeda, according to research by leading academics on the country's preparedness for future attacks.
The finding comes after Charles Clarke, home secretary, warned members of parliament in a contentious debate about the government's new anti-terrorism measures, that Britain could face a Madrid-style bomb in the run-up to elections expected in May.
Downing Street yesterday rejected claims that Mr Clarke's warning was intended to stoke concern about the terrorist threat in order to speed passage of the legislation through parliament.
Mr Clarke's warning was echoed yesterday by Ian Blair, London's police chief. He said it was "obviously unwise" to reveal specific intelligence but added: "Terrorists have long memories. They understand what happened in Madrid, they know what the impact of that event was on the Spanish electorate."
Areas of concern identified in the study include potential gaps in security in the transport sector, underfunding of emergency services, and insufficient attention by the private sector to the threat of a major terrorist attack, with regions outside London falling behind the capital in developing contingency plans.
The report promises to fuel the debate surrounding the government's plans to rush in new "control orders" to deal with terrorist suspects who cannot be prosecuted because of lack of evidence.
The researchers said it would be highly undesirable if counter-terrorist policies were to become a "party political football". To be effective, such policies required the broadest possible support and cross-party backing in parliament.
Such is the sensitivity of some of the research, that the authors declined to identify specific weaknesses in areas such as strategic energy supplies, the financial sector, and the administration of government.
The report released yesterday does however state that Transec, the Department of Transport's security arm, has "insufficient personnel to carry out its task of frequent and thorough inspections of port and airport security", and that new regulations are needed to govern the security arrangements for chemical facilities.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/25/2005 2:53:30 AM ||
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#1
The Madrid syndrome - an electorate caving in to terrorism - will haunt us for a long time.
#2
The trouble with pulling such a stunt in the UK is that an attack which successfully hits the Blair government will more likely benefit the Tories rather than the Lib Dems (assuming switched voting goes proportionally according to the other parties' pre-existing popularity). That would be like removing Bush and finding Cheney taking his place, rather than Kerry. Not really a wise move, which is of course no reason to assume the jihadis wouldn't think it was a jolly good plan.
Deputy prime minister of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has promised to kill rebel warlord Shamil Basayev.
"I give you my word of honor, I will kill Basayev. He is my enemy, my natural enemy. I will not do it to make Russia feel happy, not to make myself feel happy. He is not a man, he is a beast. He must be buried three meters underground," Kadyrov said in an interview to the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper.
Kadyrov, a son of the slain Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov, said he will get his revenge whether he is "serving Russia" or not. "I will finish what my father started," he said.
He refuted reports that he was involved in the kidnapping of rebel gunmen's relatives. "I do not wage war on relatives, I wage war on those who run and kill our people."
He also criticized human rights activists over concerns connected with the kidnapping of relatives of separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov. "Why, don't they think that Basayev and Maskhadov kill thousands of people?" Kadyrov asked.
He added that it was the separatists themselves who kidnapped Maskhadov's relatives because the relatives had wanted to announce that Maskhadov was ready to surrender.
"We will continue our revenge and it will be a 100-percent revenge. While Maskhadov and Basayev are alive, this revenge will continue. And we will kill Basayev and Maskhadov, and this way, we will finish all this," Kadyrov said. He added that he will not reveal information about his father's murder while Basayev is alive.
"I follow orders. If the Kremlin tells me to hold negotiations, I will hold them with certain people. But never in my life will I talk to Basayev or Maskhadov. They are killers, they gave orders to kill civilians. They killed the heads of our villages, the directors of our schools, our policemen. Let the prosecutors talk to them."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/25/2005 3:14:07 AM ||
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Kavkaz Center reported from Chechnya, referring to Commander Basayev's assistant, Amir Abu-Muslim, that on February 14 Commander Shamil Basayev got married in one of the cities of Krasnodar Territory (Southern Russia) where he was undergoing treatment at a health resort. Commander's assistant explained that this is the reason why Mr. Basayev did not attend the Command meeting in Chechen capital Jokhar (former Grozny) in mid-January.
The rumors about absence of Commander Basayev (Abdullah Shamil Abu Idris) during the Command session in Jokhar served as the reasons for making statements about his alleged death. These statements were made by representatives of the invaders' command and by some local puppets.
It is Shamil Basayev's third marriage. His new wife is hereditary Cossack and a sister of one of the Chechen Fighters (Mujahideen). Several Commanders from Adygea, Cherkessk, as well as from Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories and Rostov Province (Southern Russia) attended the wedding ceremony. With them Shamil discussed the situation in the Caucasus and methods of expanding the Jihad.
Also, earlier he conducted a few meetings with the Fighters in Adygea and Krasnodar Territory, where he reworked some of the organizational issues. According to what Commander Abu-Muslim said, Shamil stated that he "combined what is pleasant with what is useful, and God Willing (Insha Allah), this year Jihad will spread all across the Caucasus."
The other day Commander Basayev successfully returned to Chechnya with his young wife.
This article starring:
ABDULLAH SHAMIL ABU IDRIS
Chechnya
ABU MUSLIM
Chechnya
SHAMIL BASAIEV
Chechnya
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/25/2005 3:21:58 AM ||
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#1
I thought the Cossacks were generally orthodox christian?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
02/25/2005 8:35 Comments ||
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#2
May be a translation error and meant to be Kazakh. The Cossacks and muslims have a lot of bad blood. In the 1300's-1800's, much of the Cossack's function was to fight the muslims on Russia's periphery. After the revolution, Stalin liqudated them (~4 million?) as class enemies.
Posted by: ed ||
02/25/2005 9:03 Comments ||
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#3
ed's educated guess is probably right. The root of the word "Cossack," according to Webster, is "kazak", Turkish for adventurer. Ivan the Terrible put a band of adventurers, called Cossacks, led by Yermak Timofayev and others, to explore Siberia and conquer it for the Czar. Ivan probably figured Columbus went west, he could send people east.
According to my friend who pastored in Khazakhstan for four years, the Christians in Khazakhstan don't use the word "baptize" because the Cossacks forced the Czar's religion on the native Khazaks, and forced mass baptisms.
#5
It varied a lot. Some of the Cossacks were enforcers for the Tsars. Others had a more benign role.
My father's grandfather was the last of generations of the family to raise and train cavalry horses and to form mounted patrols. They were responsible for guarding the borders of the vast grasslands in exchange for land and title.
And yes, Stalin hated them. Family members who came to the US and Canada survived. Those, like my great-grandfather, who stayed to protect the villages and do their sworn duty, did not.
And yes, the family was and is Orthodox christian.
Posted by: Robin Burk ||
02/25/2005 12:14 Comments ||
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Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, has suffered the biggest-ever fall in support in an Irish opinion poll following the revelations about the IRA's alleged involvement in a £26 million bank robbery. The poll said public approval for Mr Adams in the Republic of Ireland has dropped 20 points to 31 per cent since before the Northern Bank heist last December. The survey, published in the Irish Independent, suggests that public attitudes are hardening against Sinn Fein as the extent of the IRA's alleged illegal activities becomes clear. That's good to hear. Shame bank robbery seems to be proving less popular with some people than the IRA's previously best known speciality - murder - but you can't have it all.
It is estimated that the Provisionals launder an £30 million a year made from counterfeiting, robberies, extortion, racketeering and smuggling. The activity means that the authorities suspect that the IRA has become one of the biggest criminal gangs in Europe. I'd call terrorism criminal activity, myself, but then I carry all sorts of crazy 'universal standards' baggage round in my head. Killing random people is criminal whether you choose to drape yourself in a flag and a philosophy, or whether you don't. Organisations such as the IRA and its loyalist mirrors comrpise people who can, and do, reconcile their consciences to the act of murder. When you look at it that way, discovering that they're - shock, horror - engaged in all sorts of other unpleasant activity isn't really that surprising.
Mr Adams has tried to play down his links to the IRA, but he was identified earlier this week as one of its seven-man command council by the Irish justice minister, Michael McDowell.
Some amazement at the warm-up act for the President at his US airbase visit before he left Germany. Cheerleaders - scantily-dressed and provocatively choreographed - charged around the stage, shaking their assets at the assembled troops. The trouble was, the troops had brought their wives. The audience wore the fixed expressions of people who were aware they were witnessing a bad idea in action.
I've been to these, the wives are peeved about the cheerleaders and the husbands have their stone faces on cuz the little woman is right next to them just waiting to catch them drooling.
Admittedly, this was an all-American affair, and cheerleading is an all-American, wholesome sport. But these pictures were available to any TV station in the world - including the Muslim world.
And we don't want to upset them by showing a little flesh now, do we? Should have beheaded a infidel just to please them.
Also warming up for the president was Condoleezza Rice, wearing a skimpy... only kidding.
Ha hah, the WP beat you too it
But she was there, and in the very interesting new role of American superstar in her own right. Sure, she is already a well known figure. But national security advisers are not - I'm talking politically now - sexy. Secretaries of state, on the other hand, project real power. I noticed Condi afterwards posing for photos for soldiers. If she can do the touchy-feely stuff as well as she does the clever stuff, then she is surely a contender for the presidency in 2008. I noticed, incidentally, that many of the soldiers wanting to have their photos taken with her were black.
Many of them were white, too.
A Republican who gets the religious vote and the conservative vote, the wealthy vote AND the black vote, now that would be something...
Posted by: tipper ||
02/25/2005 10:56:50 AM ||
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The trouble was, the troops had brought their wives. The audience wore the fixed expressions of people who were aware they were witnessing a bad idea in action.
oh puhleese! This article is a riot. These people at the beeb have their ascots screwed on so tight that they have lost oxygen to their brain.
oh, yeah. I'm sure that the wives were shocked! shocked! and horrified by (gasp!) cheerleaders. No doubt they hit their husbands with frying pans as soon as the cameras stopped rolling. You looked at her boobies! Dagnabit!
And where a poor Muslim child could see them no less. Quick change the channel to a good beheading or exploding jew - or their minds will be ruined by such frivolity forever.
#2
I guess it comes as a shock to the reporter that the U. S. military has not adopted dhimmitude as has the BBC.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/25/2005 11:36 Comments ||
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Any bets that among those supposedly horrified wives were quite a few former cheerleaders? Or that they wouldn't beef that much if their own daughters were cheerleaders some day?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/25/2005 11:44 Comments ||
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RC - unless the cheerleaders were shipped in, I'm sure they were their daughters, showing daddy their new routines.
#5
Got that in one, 2b ;-D And the ones who aren't cheerleaders are on the competition dance team, and can really dance. That poor BBC reporter is so far out in left field he's on the next diamond!
#6
We may both speak English, but clearly this reporter isn't speaking the same language. There's just a little culture gap about the width of the Grand Canyon here.
Posted by: Dar ||
02/25/2005 13:40 Comments ||
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It has been a struggle. After months of effort the final commitment came only today. Nato has managed to show a united front on Iraq. Every Nato nation including France is now helping with the programme to train Iraqi army officers. Some of the contributions are very small. France will send one officer to help support the mission from here in Brussels. Luxembourg is making a financial contribution of around a hundred-ninety thousand dollars, but the Americans say it is the symbolism that counts.
Posted by: ed ||
02/25/2005 8:26:39 AM ||
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#2
Heh, one French officer. This sounds like the punch line of an old vaudville joke. First prize is the assistance of one French officer. Second prize is the assistance of a whole French company.
Tune in tomorrow as the entire EU drifts futher into self-parody.
I called his office. I said it was important enough for me to call all the way from California. The staffer on the other end said mine was the ONLY call they've received that was supportive, and it was MUCH appreciated. Apparently, there's been a storm of protest calls slamming him by hoards of flying monkeys from the Dark Side.
GUYS: IF YOU CAN...
PLEASE call his office. Or contact him in some other way."
#2
Yes lets all call Congressman Hichey and encourage other Democrats along these lines! I heard this guy on Sean Hannity and he really needs to get back on the meds before he hurts himself anymore. But then again I think that most liberals are in need of some sort of medication.
That's Mistress Condi to you, worm!Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived at the Wiesbaden Army Airfield on Wednesday dressed all in black. She was wearing a black skirt that hit just above the knee, and it was topped with a black coat that fell to mid-calf. The coat, with its seven gold buttons running down the front and its band collar, called to mind a Marine's dress uniform or the "save humanity" ensemble worn by Keanu Reeves in "The Matrix."
As Rice walked out to greet the troops, the coat blew open in a rather swashbuckling way to reveal the top of a pair of knee-high boots. The boots had a high, slender heel that is not particularly practical. But it is a popular silhouette because it tends to elongate and flatter the leg. In short, the boots are sexy.
Rice boldly eschewed the typical fare chosen by powerful American women on the world stage. She was not wearing a bland suit with a loose-fitting skirt and short boxy jacket with a pair of sensible pumps. She did not cloak her power in photogenic hues, a feminine brooch and a non-threatening aesthetic. Rice looked as though she was prepared to talk tough, knock heads and do a freeze-frame "Matrix" jump kick if necessary. Who wouldn't give her ensemble a double take -- all the while hoping not to rub her the wrong way?
Who wouldn't love to see her drop kick a few euros?
Rice's coat and boots speak of sex and power -- such a volatile combination, and one that in political circles rarely leads to anything but scandal. When looking at the image of Rice in Wiesbaden, the mind searches for ways to put it all into context. It turns to fiction, to caricature. To shadowy daydreams. Dominatrix! It is as though sex and power can only co-exist in a fantasy. When a woman combines them in the real world, stubborn stereotypes have her power devolving into a form that is purely sexual.
Rice challenges expectations and assumptions. There is undeniable authority in her long black jacket with its severe details and menacing silhouette. The darkness lends an air of mystery and foreboding. Black is the color of intellectualism, of abstinence, of penitence. If there is any symbolism to be gleaned from Rice's stark garments, it is that she is tough and focused enough for whatever task is at hand.
Darth Rice, Lady of the Sith...
Countless essays and books have been written about the erotic nature of high heels. There is no need to reiterate in detail the reasons why so many women swear by uncomfortable three-inch heels and why so many men are happy that they do. Heels change the way a woman walks, forcing her hips to sway. They alter her posture in myriad enticing ways, all of which are politically incorrect to discuss.
But the sexual frisson in Rice's look also comes from the tension of a woman dressed in vaguely masculine attire -- that is, the long, military-inspired jacket. When the designer Yves Saint Laurent first encouraged women to wear trousers more than 30 years ago, his reasons were not simply because pants are comfortable or practical. He knew that the sight of a woman draped in the accouterments of a man is sexually provocative. A woman was embracing something forbidden.
Rice's appearance at Wiesbaden -- a military base with all of its attendant images of machismo, strength and power -- was striking because she walked out draped in a banner of authority, power and toughness. She was not hiding behind matronliness, androgyny or the stereotype of the steel magnolia. Rice brought her full self to the world stage -- and that included her sexuality. It was not overt or inappropriate. If it was distracting, it is only because it is so rare.
Excuse me, I have to go take a cold shower
Posted by: Steve ||
02/25/2005 9:38:01 AM ||
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#6
So the Post is now in the business of fashion reporting. Whenever an American official makes an important visit to Auswitz or Wiesbaden all the Post can report on is their attire. WADDA waste of newsprint. BTW, I don't ever recall such a detailed description of Powell's clothes.
#14
from Nancy Sinatra (1966) - Seems appropriate here...
You keep playin' where you shouldn't be playin
and you keep thinkin' that you´ll never get burnt.
Ha!
I just found me a brand new box of matches yeah
and what he know you ain't HAD time to learn.
These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do
one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.
#17
Its ok, guys. Robin Givhan is the fashion editor at the WaPost. She is supposed to think this way -- even though it reads as no-penis envy. I just hope her editors didn't choose to print this on their front page.
#20
Givhan's story ran today on the front page of the WaPo Style section. The picture ran first on the front page of yesterday's WaPo. It's a very powerful picture...
#28
Get serious! Someone tell Condi to keep the Islamic Society of North America (an Ikhwan penetration group for Jamaat-i-Islami of Pakistan and Gamaa-Islami of Egypt) out of the White House. The ISNA has never admitted, and always denied, any act of Islamic terrorism that has ever taken place on US soil. They are not only opposed to counter-terrorism; they are at war with it. Foreign observers will take note of the Bush administration's near-sighted invitation to ISNA terrorists - they are rearguard, and not front line - to a White House function, and claim justification for their own dhimmism. Wrong is wrong, and Bush-Rice are dead wrong on this issue.
http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/459
The family of a 23-year-old Muslim scholar accused of plotting with al-Qaida to kill President Bush said yesterday they want to sue the Bush administration for allowing their son's detention and alleged torture in a Saudi prison. Ahmed Abu Ali "was tortured on orders of the USA; they are monsters," his mother, Faten, said outside a federal courtroom.
The young man's father, Omar, said, "The Saudi government are slaves of the Americans" and the U.S. government is lying when it says his son was under Saudi control for the 20 months before he was flown to the United States and charged.
An indictment filed Tuesday alleges that Abu Ali discussed assassinating Bush, conducting a terrorist attack in the United States and establishing an al-Qaida cell here. More than 100 of his supporters ridiculed the judge during the reading of the charges against Ali.
Born in Houston and raised in Virginia, he was valedictorian of the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, Va., then went to Saudi Arabia to study. The school is funded and controlled by the Saudi government, which propagates a rigidly anti-Western strain of Islam, a WorldNetDaily investigation has shown. The academy teaches Wahhabism through textbooks that condemn Jews and Christians as infidels and enemies of Islam. The Saudi government funds the school, which has a sister campus in Fairfax, Va. "It is a school that is under the auspices of the Saudi Embassy," said Ali al-Ahmed, executive director of the Washington-based Saudi Institute, a leading Saudi opposition group. "So the minister of education appoints the principal of the school, and the teachers are paid by the Saudi government."
He says many of the academy's textbooks he has reviewed contain passages promoting hatred of non-Muslims. For example, the 11th-grade text says one sign of the Day of Judgment will be when Muslims fight and kill Jews, who will hide behind trees that say: "Oh Muslim, oh servant of God, here is a Jew hiding behind me. Come here and kill him."
Al-Ahmed, a Shiite Muslim born in predominantly Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia, says the school's religious curriculum was written by Sheik Saleh al-Fawzan, a senior member of the Saudi religious council, who he said has "encouraged war against unbelievers." Al-Fawzan has authored textbooks used in Saudi schools.
The federal indictment said that in 2002 and 2003 Abu Ali and an unidentified co-conspirator discussed plans for Abu Ali to assassinate Bush. They discussed two scenarios, the indictment said, one in which Abu Ali "would get close enough to the president to shoot him on the street" and, alternatively, "an operation in which Abu Ali would detonate a car bomb."
Federal prosecutors say Abu Ali joined an al-Qaida cell in Saudi Arabia in 2001. The alleged Bush plot occurred while he was studying in that country. His family contends that U.S. officials were behind his detention by Saudi authorities and wanted him held in that country so he could be tortured for information. A lawsuit brought on their behalf in U.S. District Court in Washington seeks to compel the government to disclose what it knows about Abu Ali and his detention.
According to the indictment, Abu Ali obtained a religious blessing from another unidentified co-conspirator to assassinate the president. One of the unidentified co-conspirators in the plot is among 19 people the Saudi government said in 2003 were seeking to launch terror attacks in that country, according to the indictment.
More than 100 supporters of Abu Ali crowded the courtroom Tuesday and laughed when the charge was read aloud alleging that he conspired to assassinate Bush. When Abu Ali asked to speak, U.S. Magistrate Liam O''Grady suggested he consult with his attorney, Ashraf Nubani. "He was tortured," Nubani told the court. "He has the evidence on his back. He was whipped. He was handcuffed for days at a time."
When Nubani offered to show the judge his back, O'Grady said that Abu Ali might be able to enter that as evidence on Thursday at a detention hearing. "I can assure you you will not suffer any torture or humiliation while in the (U.S.) marshals' custody," O'Grady said.
Abu Ali is charged with six counts and would face a maximum of 80 years in prison if convicted. The charges include conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaida, providing material support to al-Qaida, conspiracy to provide support to terrorists, providing material support to terrorists and contributing service to al-Qaida.
In a brief court session, U.S. District Judge John Bates anticipated that the family would press the lawsuit that the government seeks to dismiss. The judge set up a schedule over the next two weeks for both sides to file more court papers. The judge wrote in December that there was "at least some circumstantial evidence that Abu Ali has been tortured during interrogations with the knowledge of the United States." In addition, Bates wrote that Abu Ali's family said a U.S. diplomat reported to them that Abu Ali said FBI agents who questioned him threatened to send him to the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
This article starring:
AHMED ABU ALI
al-Qaeda
Ali al-Ahmed
Ashraf Nubani
Islamic Saudi Academy
Liam O''Grady
Saudi Institute
SHEIK SALEH AL FAWZAN
Learned Elders of Islam
U.S. District Judge John Bates
Posted by: tipper ||
02/25/2005 9:18:41 AM ||
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#1
"Abu Aliâs family said a U.S. diplomat reported to them that Abu Ali said FBI agents who questioned him threatened to send him to the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba." Let me get this straight: He was being tortured by the Saudis (at the behest of the U.S.) and sending him to a U.S. controlled facility was a 'threat'. You can tell how out of touch (and NOT American) the parents are. No American would consider sending someone to Gitmo (FROM SAUDI) any kind of torture. In fact it would be used as INCENTIVE to get a suspect to cooperate. I hightly suspect that AT Gitmo suspects are told that they will be sent TO Saudi Arabia for questioning if they don't cooperate there.
#2
The family of a 23-year-old Muslim scholar accused of plotting with al-Qaida to kill President Bush said yesterday they want to sue the Bush administration for allowing their sonâs detention and alleged torture in a Saudi prison.
Haaahahaaahahahaaaa, Muslim Logic at its very best.
The U.S. government can't even retrieve kidnapped American children from that place, so how in the phuque are they supposed to stop someone from being tortured in a Saudi prison????
#3
Lemme see. How does the think this suit will proceed. If the case heard by a jury, fat chance he will get enough jurors with him.
If any federal judge is fool enough to side with him? I think the house will have the "judge" impeached so fast his head would spin faster then Linda Blair spewing green puke.
#5
John Q.
I don't think frivolous lawsuits should be prevented. However, I do think the lawyers who take such cases should be fined - a lot. Also the plaintiffs should be fined but typically, such plaintiffs either have no assets or can hide their assets or can protect the assets using other legal means.
Abu Ali's arrest and his alleged ties to terrorism have focused new attention on the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, Virginia, where he graduated valedictorian in 1999. In a letter sent to the Saudi ambassador in Washington on Wednesday, Sen. Charles Schumer (Democrat-New York) called for renewed checks into the school's finances and its possible ties to extremism. "I ask for your assistance in fully disclosing the nature of this academy — what does it teach, from where does it receive funding, and to what extent it may be serving as a breeding ground for anti-American sentiment — and, possibly, even terrorist activities," Schumer wrote.
School officials have declined to comment on Abu Ali or the case, and a note on its website yesterday said the school was closed for an emergency. Last year, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, CAIR, called on the Saudi Islamic Academy to stop using a textbook for first graders because it debased Christianity and Judaism. "A school should not be judged in one sentence in one book out of an entire curriculum, but if there's any kind of rhetoric that targets other faiths, that should be removed because it isn't something that child should be reading," Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director at CAIR, told Arab News yesterday.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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"...but if thereâs any kind of rhetoric that targets other faiths, that should be removed because it isnât something that child should be reading"
Translation: it shouldn't be in writing, where infidels can read it.
#2
You know you're in trouble when CAIR turns on your Islamic institution in public.
Although I think you might be right, Pappy; they probably said something much different in private.
Posted by: The Doctor ||
02/25/2005 10:51 Comments ||
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#3
There's gotta be some way of shutting this down. In California, there are required classes that even private schools have to teach or they lose their accreditation. I really don't think these clowns are teaching American Government and Health classes.
Palestinian sources revealed Thursday that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) had retired Commissioner General Peter Hansen after having reached the legal retirement age, despite that Hansen's term was widely expected to be extended. Although Hansen was reportedly surprised by Unrwa's sudden decision, he will abide by the agency's instructions and retire in March after nine years of service.
According to the sources, Hansen was paying the price for his criticism of Israeli attacks in the Palestinian territories. Hansen has repeatedly denounced Israeli policy and urged the international community to stop Israel's aggression and help the Palestinian people rebuild their country. In a meeting with a delegation from the Palestinian Popular Committees in Lebanon at the Unrwa offices in Beirut, Hansen indirectly attributed the ending of his term to international pressure by "some" donor and state members - hinting at the United States - about his stands in support of Palestinian rights. Hansen said that the U.S. Congress had finally tilted the scales of balance after he refused to comply with their advice to refrain from condemning Israeli policy at a time when representatives of European states wanted to extend his term.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Good bye you waste of human skin.
Perhaps the next comissioner will have more brains but I doubt it.
The al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) has stepped up its training of Philippine terrorists, giving instructions on the manufacture of bombs hidden in cars, vests and even helmets, security officials said yesterday. Top intelligence officials revealed this new threat as Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Edgar Aglipay presented three foreigners and their Filipino cohort who are suspected of training local extremists in the jungles of Central Mindanao. Aglipay identified the four alleged JI militants as Indonesians Mohammad Nasir Hamid and Mohammed Yusop Karin Faiz; Ted Yolanda, a Malaysian; and their Filipino cohort Muhajir de la Merced, tagged as an operative of the Abu Sayyaf's special operations group.
PNP Intelligence Group director Chief Superintendent Ismael Rafanan explained the four had been training Abu Sayyaf extremists and a small group of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas in bombing techniques and strategies. "They have reached a high level of sophistication in (the) use of car bombs but Filipinos are not yet ripe for suicide bombings," Rafanan said.
Rafanan said the three foreigners are members of JI, the Southeast Asia-based arm of al-Qaeda, said to be behind the October 2002 Bali bomb blasts in Indonesia that claimed over 200 lives. The three foreigners were arrested as they entered the port of Zamboanga last December, after foreign governments had tipped off Manila on the suspects' movements, Rafanan told reporters. He said the group was headed for a known JI training base on Mount Kararao in Central Mindanao. "They were preparing to go into (making) car bombs," Rafanan said. "They have reached that level of sophistication. They are ready to do it." Although Rafanan did not identify the supposed targets, he said the suspects had planned to "train people to do that."
Explaining the delay in presenting the suspects, Rafanan said this was due to follow-up operations by the military to determine local contacts and identify those sending terrorist funding from Indonesia. Security officials also stressed the arrest had been made before the spate of bomb attacks that rocked Makati City in Metro Manila and the cities of General Santos and Davao in Mindanao, killing 13 people and wounding 140 others last Feb. 14. "We cannot link them to the three bombings on Valentine's Day," he said. "They were supposed to launch five bomb attacks in Manila and on Mindanao island during the Yuletide season."
Police announced the arrest of two suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits involved in the Feb. 14 blasts last Tuesday. Authorities also bared plans for another bombing run by the Abu Sayyaf that would have targeted shopping malls in Metro Manila, Mindanao and central Visayas. Rafanan said the three JI militants and the Abu Sayyaf bandit have been in PNP custody since December. He stressed the arrest had purportedly averted their "plans" to sow terror during the holidays.
Western intelligence agencies had previously warned of terror training camps in Mindanao, some supposedly run by radical MILF guerrillas who provide sanctuary and training facilities for al-Qaeda-linked militants. Rafanan pointed out the operation also yielded training manuals, guns and explosives seized from the detained suspects during their arrest. A total of $7,000 in cash was also seized, police said. He said intelligence agents began shadowing the four from the time they were first monitored in Tawi-Tawi, the country's southernmost territory near Malaysia's eastern Sabah province.
The four suspects were proceeding to a JI training camp in central Mindanao when they were arrested. Police presented seized diagrams that showed methods of planting car bombs, which they said were to be used to train local extremists. In a later interview with The STAR, Rafanan outlined the level of expertise of the four and detailed the training they are supposed to provide local militants. He said the training included the manufacture of high-projectile materials fashioned out of metal fragments from cars to helmets, as well as utilizing photographer's vests in carrying out bomb attacks.
Steel helmets, Rafanan claimed, can be used as metal projectiles against helicopters and other low-flying aircraft. "It is known as a modified anti-aircraft (weapon) which is attached to a propelling device. It is packed with a large quantity of black powder, a primer fuse, sharp metal and a detonator," he said.
Rafanan said the low-tech device can be very destructive to low-flying aircraft since it could damage and derail flight. Rafanan also revealed the training would have included the use of car bombs, similar to those used by the JI in the Bali bombings in 2002, the Marriott Hotel attack in Jakarta in 2003 and the attack on the residence of Philippine ambassador to Indonesia Leonides Caday in August 2000. "This is most sophisticated in terms of use in attacks in our country. Ito ang mas kinatatakutan namin kasi mas maraming casualties ang maabot (We are afraid this would happen because of the number of casualties it would result in)," he said.
Although local terrorists are not yet "that dedicated" to perform suicide bombings, Rafanan stressed the JI has been conditioning local extremists to carry out suicide attacks. He said the JI had particularly emphasized the use of flak vests as human bombs. The suicide attacker is supposed to don the vest, containing massive amount of explosives packed into steel pipes and rigged for detonation.
Rafanan noted the Valentine's Day bombers used milk cans and backpacks to transport the explosives but these, too, were relatively sophisticated since all were triggered by cellular phones. The seizure of several copies of the Q'uran written in Arabic and CDs containing messages from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden found among the four suspects added further evidence of the JI's aims to establish a pan-Islamic state in Southeast Asia that would include the southern Philippines.
Reyes, for his part, declared the four to be members of the JI, the shadowy regional network of militants linked to al-Qaeda that is blamed for the Bali bombing in 2002 that killed 202 people and other deadly attacks in the Southeast Asian region. On the other hand, Reyes said the four suspects can only be charged with possession of explosives and weapons, as well as immigration laws violations. "We only charge them with violating our immigration laws because we still don't have an anti-terrorism law," Reyes said, making a strong pitch for passage of the controversial measure that was revived in Congress after last week's attacks.
The anti-terror bill is among several measures that have gathered dust since they were first proposed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Attempts to revive the bill have faced stiff opposition because of deep distrust of government power, a hangover from the country's painful experience under martial law during the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos' 20-year rule.
In a related matter, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said the United Nations will be sending a team of experts to assist the Philippine government in crafting a version of an anti-terrorism law that will conform to all existing treaties against terrorism. Romulo said the team will be provided by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime's Terrorism Prevention Branch based in Vienna, Austria in response to the ongoing efforts of the Arroyo administration to come up with an anti-terrorism law. Romulo pointed out that the Philippines should come up with an anti-terrorism law that will conform to the provisions of the 12 international treaties to which the country is also a signatory. These include the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages.
"We are grateful to the UNODC for sharing their expertise and advice through this timely activity in aid of our efforts to enact laws against terrorism," Romulo said. "Through this workshop, the Philippines not only affirms its resolve to address this threat but also underscores the commitment to embark on this critical endeavor in partnership with the UN and the international community," he added. President Arroyo had certified the bill as urgent last week but failed to get the desired response from Congress, which has been focused on the passage of fiscal reform measures.
This article starring:
Alberto Romulo
Chief Superintendent Ismael Rafanan
Director General Edgar Aglipay
Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes
MOHAMAD NASIR HAMID
Jemaah Islamiyah
MOHAMED YUSOP KARIN FAIZ
Jemaah Islamiyah
MUHAJIR DE LA MERCED
Abu Sayyaf
MUHAJIR DE LA MERCED
Jemaah Islamiyah
Philippine ambassador to Indonesia Leonides Caday
TED YOLANDA
Jemaah Islamiyah
Abu Sayyaf
Jemaah Islamiyah
Moro Islamic Liberation Front
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/25/2005 3:27:20 AM ||
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PRESIDENT Macapagal-Arroyo has commended the military and police for their "string of successes" against terrorism, but the four men whom the Philippine National Police yesterday paraded in Camp Crame have been in PNP custody since last December. "Definitely, they're not recycled," Chief Supt. Ismael Rafanan, director of the PNP Intelligence Group, said of the four men. "We purposely intended to withhold their presentation."
The four -- Indonesians Mohammad Nasir Hamid and Mohammed Yusop Karim Faiz and Malaysian Ted Yolanda, all alleged members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional terrorist network, and Filipino Muhajir de la Merced, allegedly of the Abu Sayyaf -- were presented to the media under heavy security. De la Merced, supposedly a convert to Islam, shouted "Allahu akbar (God is great)!" while being ushered into the conference room.
The four have been in police custody since last Dec. 14, when they were arrested at the Zamboanga City port. Shortly before the announced press conference, Rafanan told reporters that the four men "did the planning and brought the fund" for the Valentine's Day bombings. He said the PNP announced their arrest only yesterday "because we had a lot of follow-ups to do, like the identification of the local components of the JI and Abu Sayyaf cells."
Among the cells identified is one based in Metro Manila, Rafanan said. But he did not elaborate, saying intelligence operatives were still working on the case. When asked at the press conference about the four men's actual participation in the Feb. 14 bombings, Rafanan said police were still "in the process of checking or verifying their possible involvement." "For now, we cannot officially link them to the three bombings," he said.
Rafanan's admission meant that so far, only two men -- Gamal "Tapay" Baharan and Angelo Trinidad -- had been arrested in connection with the bombings that killed eight people and wounded at least 150 others in the cities of Makati, Davao and General Santos. In an interview with ABS-CBN television last night, Trinidad broke down as he admitted planting and triggering the bomb that exploded inside a passenger bus in Makati. "I cannot deny it in front of you, and in front of God I cannot deny it. It is clear that I was the one who did it," he said. The report said he also admitted belonging to the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group.
Trinidad said that Abu Solaiman, a senior Abu Sayyaf leader, told him on Feb. 12 to assemble a bomb, then ordered him to plant it inside a bus. Trinidad said another bus originally was targeted. "When I looked at the back (of the bus), I saw a child, a baby around 6 months old carried by its father. I told myself I could not go through with this," he recalled, tears welling in his eyes.
He said he got off that bus and approached another. "I then picked a bus that did not have many passengers," he added. "I placed the bomb at the back and when we reached Ayala (Avenue), we got off. Then we boarded another bus and he said 'detonate it."'
It was not clear whether "he" referred to Solaiman or Baharan. Trinidad said he got the bomb-making materials from a cohort he identified only as Maidan, and that assembly took five hours.
To the question of how the purported planners managed to pull off the near-simultaneous bomb attacks despite being behind bars, Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes said: "We cannot prevent everything. We cannot assure [the public] that we can catch everybody." The PNP intelligence chief, Director Robert Delfin, had his own explanation: "When you arrest one unit, there's still the possibility that another unit will do the same job."
Rafanan said the four men were in fact arrested for their alleged plot to bomb at least five targets in Metro Manila and Mindanao during the Christmas season. Among the targets were shopping malls and American soldiers participating in the RP-US Balikatan exercises, he said. "Before they could do their thing, they were picked up in our ports," said PNP Director General Edgar Aglipay. "So that means that compared with other countries in our region, we have a better way of monitoring [terrorists] and limiting their capability."
Reyes lamented that despite the evidence purportedly seized from the four men, police could charge them only with illegal possession of firearms and explosives and violating immigration laws. "Ideally, we should be able to charge them with conspiracy to commit terrorism, but because of the lack of an antiterrorism law, we have to charge them only with violation of the Revised Penal Code," Reyes said.
Rafanan said that as early as last Dec. 14, local authorities, in coordination with their foreign counterparts, had monitored the arrival of Hamid, Faiz and Yolanda from Sulawesi (Indonesia) and Sandakan (Malaysia). He said that two days later at around 3 p.m., intelligence operatives arrested the three along with De la Merced soon after they arrived at the Zamboanga City port. De la Merced was to serve as the "guide" of the others on their way to Camp Hudaibiya in Maguindanao, Rafanan claimed. The group was supposed to train local recruits in bomb-making.
Rafanan said two pistols, cellular phones, terrorist training books and substances and equipment used in bomb-making were seized from the group. He said the loot also included the amount of $7,000, allegedly to be used for five separate bombings, and a video supposed to be shown to the recruits in Camp Hudaibiya. The video, showing the Saudi-born Osama bin Laden inviting recruits to join the international terrorist effort, "clearly shows the connection between the JI and Bin Laden's al-Qaida network," Rafanan told reporters who were asked to view the footage.
Rafanan described Hamid, Faiz and Yolanda as "top-level" JI members involved in distributing funds and training recruits in the Philippines. Delfin said it was the JI that was coordinating terrorists' local efforts among the Abu Sayyaf, a group of Islamic converts, and renegade members of the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front. "The JI does not operate here alone," Delfin said. "It taps local terrorists for a job."
At the time of their arrest, Hamid and company were supposed to train local recruits in making powerful explosives such as "helmet" bombs, "body" bombs and car bombs, Rafanan said. "It's quite alarming because they have reached that level," he said.
In a hastily called press conference hours before the four men were presented to the media, Ms Arroyo lauded the military and police for the "consistent success in the antiterrorism campaign."
In a speech at the oath-taking of 47 generals immediately preceding the press conference, she ordered the launch of "preemptive strikes" to prevent "borderless" terror groups from inflicting harm and sowing mayhem. "It is time to bring the issue to a higher plane of preemptive security," the President told the generals, including Gen. Efren Abu, the Armed Forces chief of staff, who now has four stars.
The oath-taking was coupled with the presentation of Metrobank's The Outstanding Philippine Soldiers 2004 in Malacañang's Rizal Hall. According to the President, "the perimeters of vigilance must be strengthened by stronger laws to identify, pinpoint and expose terrorists and to enable authorities to neutralize terrorist conspiracies before they can strike." She said public safety was a component of economic progress as much as political stability. "Our efforts to ensure national security goes hand-in-hand with the efforts designed to grow the economy and mop up the recruiting grounds of terrorists and lawless elements," she added.
Malacañang wants an Internal Security Act to contain terrorism, including the establishment of a national identification system. The President congratulated the uniformed services "for their string of successes in the past few days and weeks." She particularly commended the Intelligence Service of the AFP for the information that led to the arrests.
At Camp Aguinaldo, Lt. Gen. Allan Cabalquinto, chief of the AFP's National Region Command (NCRCom), told reporters that some 10 more members of the Abu Sayyaf were "lying low" in Metro Manila and being tracked by security forces. "It's not a big force but we are closely watching, monitoring, their possible hiding places," he said. "We cannot discount suspicion that they are up [to something]."
Cabalquinto assured the public that there was no immediate threat of a terrorist attack in Metro Manila. "... But our chokepoints and checkpoints and walk-the-beat patrols are continuing, especially at night," he said.
This article starring:
ABU SOLAIMAN
Abu Sayyaf
ANGELO TRINIDAD
Abu Sayyaf
Camp Hudaibiya
Director Robert Delfin
GAMAL "TAPAI" BAHARAN
Abu Sayyaf
Gen. Efren Abu
GENERAL EDGAR AGLIPAI
Abu Sayyaf
Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes
Ismael Rafanan
Lt. Gen. Allan Cabalquinto
MOHAMAD NASIR HAMID
Jemaah Islamiyah
MOHAMED YUSOP KARIM FAIZ
Jemaah Islamiyah
MUHAJIR DE LA MERCED
Abu Sayyaf
TED YOLANDA
Jemaah Islamiyah
Abu Sayyaf
Jemaah Islamiyah
Moro Islamic Liberation Front
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/25/2005 3:30:22 AM ||
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#1
"Recycled"?
Soylent Green comes to the Philippines?
An Indonesian court is due next week to deliver its verdict in the terrorism trial of Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, charged with a series of attacks including the 2002 Bali bombings, a judge said on Friday.
The 66-year-old theoretically faces a possible death sentence if convicted, although prosecutors have demanded only an eight-year jail term.
The sentence will be delivered on March 3, chief judge Sudarto said.
The cleric faces terrorist charges through his alleged leadership of the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah group.
The prosecution has accused Bashir of failing to prevent Jemaah Islamiyah militants allegedly under his leadership from carrying out attacks, including the Bali bombings, in which more than 200 people were killed.
Bashir has rejected the charges, accusing US President George W. Bush of being behind the allegations to prevent him from campaigning for Islamic law, or Sharia.
Prosecutors dropped a primary charge that Bashir and his supporters actually planned the attacks or that Bashir incited his followers to engage in terrorism, citing a lack of evidence.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/25/2005 2:58:45 AM ||
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Iran's Supreme National Security Council chief Hasan Rohani said his country will stand by Syria if the Arab state is attacked. "We have always maintained excellent relations with Syria, and in case it is attacked, it can always depend on the solidarity of its friends, and Iran is a faithful friend," Rohani was quoted as saying Friday in French daily Le Monde. Asked to comment on the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, Rohani said: "I do not believe Israel will take such a decision, and if it did it will regret it a lot." "If they threaten us we will threaten them," he said, adding, "If Israeli planes can reach Iran, Iranian planes can also reach Israel."
Iranian pilots may have other ideas on that subject
Posted by: Steve ||
02/25/2005 1:03:36 PM ||
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#1
two birds with one stone...take out syria over lebannon and no need for un resolutions on iran.. our hands will be free to act against an iranian threat
Posted by: Dan ||
02/25/2005 13:16 Comments ||
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#3
"If Israeli planes can reach Iran, Iranian planes can also reach Israel."
There's a minor detail of navigating the airspace between Israel and Iran. I believe the Israelis would have far less trouble with that.
Posted by: I Ran ||
02/25/2005 13:32 Comments ||
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#5
Two-fer!
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
02/25/2005 13:36 Comments ||
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#6
I seem to recall a couple bombs "falling off" an FB-111. If I were the Iranians, I wouldn't rely on the competence of the US military. From time to time, it has shown flashes of incompetence. Sometimes orders don't get relayed in a timely manner. Sometimes things go wrong and bombs fall off. It's a problem with having a military that stresses individual initiative. Sometimes the individuals just doesn't care enough.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annanââ¬s spokesman has denied an Al-Arabiya television report that Annan had demanded Syria withdraw from Lebanon by April or face sanctions.
"The secretary-general never set an April deadline for a withdrawal nor did he support sanctions if the pullout didnââ¬t happen by then," spokesman Fred Eckhard said on Thursday, providing a partial transcript of the networkââ¬s Annan interview.
In the unofficial transcript of the interview, to be broadcast on Friday, Annan said he would report to the Security Council by April on Syriaââ¬s compliance with a council resolution demanding the Syrian withdrawal.
"If itââ¬s partial withdrawal, I will have to report. If itââ¬s total withdrawal, I will have to report," Annan said, adding that it would be up to the council to impose any sanctions.
Additional measures
"I would urge them to do everything possible to comply so that I can report to the council that they have satisfactorily performed and therefore we wouldnââ¬t need to go for additional measures," Annan said.
"But of course, if they do not perform, the council may wish to take additional measures," the UN chief said.
"If they sense that the resolution is not being implemented and they want to take additional measures, it would be up to them," Annan said, according to the transcript.
The Dubai-based network had earlier reported that Annan had called on Lebanon to pull its troops out by April or face sanctions from the 15-nation council.
Lebanese officials on Thursday said that Syria, under increasing international pressure over its military and political dominance in its smaller neighbour, was preparing to redeploy its forces in the country.
With about 14,000 troops on the ground, Syria is the main powerbroker in Lebanon and backs the Beirut government.
But Damascus has been in the spotlight since the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri, who stepped down last year in opposition to Syriaââ¬s continuing dominance of the country.
Posted by: tipper ||
02/25/2005 10:12:16 AM ||
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#1
Of course the Secretary General absolutely denies saying this. His main function is to offend no one and accomplish nothing. A pussy, if you will.
But now...prime rib!
Posted by: UN Spokesperson ||
02/25/2005 17:13 Comments ||
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A UN-appointed commission has arrived in Lebanon to join the investigation into the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri last week. The three-member team of Irish police officers led by deputy commissioner Peter Fitzgerald was met at Beirut airport on Thursday by foreign ministry officials and the UN spokesman in Lebanon, Nejib Friji. The team is due to "assist and cooperate" with Lebanese authorities and is expected to contact security and judicial officials in the country, according to sources close to the inquiry. After a weekly cabinet session on Thursday, Information Minister Elie Firzli reiterated a pledge that the "Lebanese judiciary authorities will not hesitate to assist, cooperate and coordinate" with the team. The UN team is made up of forensic, judicial and political experts.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#2
The three-member team of Irish police officers led by deputy commissioner Peter Fitzgerald was met at Beirut airport on Thursday by foreign ministry officials and the UN spokesman in Lebanon, Nejib Friji.
"Nice tarmac. Where's the pub?"
Posted by: Peter Fitzgerald ||
02/25/2005 12:42 Comments ||
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#3
Why's a "political expert" have to show up at a homicide investigation? Must be there to grease the maitre'd's. With 3 Irish cops there on the UN dime, this could be a long and costly investigation...
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has warned Syria it must withdraw all its forces from Lebanon by April in the latest escalation of tension between the international community and Damascus. The hardening of attitude comes as Syria said it will "redeploy" all of the 15,000 troops it has stationed in Lebanon to the country's eastern border with Syria in a last ditch attempt to defuse increasing international pressure against it. Foreign Minster Deputy Walid Moallem said Syria was willing to cooperate with the UN but insisted again that any withdrawal would be carried out in line with the 1989 Taif Accord and not through UN Resolution 1559 which calls for all foreign troops to leave Lebanon.
Moallem said: "The important withdrawals that have been implemented so far, and those that will follow will be carried out in agreement with Lebanon based on the 1989 Taif Accord and the mechanism it contains." But in an interview to be shown later Friday with Dubai-based Al-Arabiyya television, the UN chief warned that "the Security Council would take measures against Syria if it does not implement the resolution." Al-Arabiyya added that Annan called for "a full withdrawal of the troops deployed in Lebanon, not a redeployment to the east of the country."
But Annan's comments came as Lebanese Defense Minister Abdel-Rahim Mrad said there would be no complete or immediate withdrawal. Mrad said: "A decision has been made for Syrian troops to pull back from Lebanon's coast and mountains toward the Syrian border in Bekaa but we cannot give any timeline." He added: "We cannot create a security vacuum."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#5
Ima sure that the UN will set all to rights. Heh. What is needed is a big MOAB right in the middle of the Syrian intelligence bunker, like OS says. Just a little hello to wake them up. Syria needs a wack. Not an occupation. Just a wack.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/25/2005 2:59 Comments ||
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#6
Pulling back to the Bekaa Valley,hmmm,favored hang-out of Hezbulla and friends.
#7
Is the US doing the talking, than who cares what the UN says. They will sanction us, then most countries will deal with us behind the UN's back. After all Kofi and the son gotta make a living.
That would be my thoughts if I was in thier shoes.
#8
Uncle Sam could really humiliate the Syrians by cooperating with Lebanon's militias like he did with the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, to drive Syria out of Lebanon. The only question is the aftermath - whether we want to deploy a division in Lebanon afterwards. The logistics should be a lot easier, given the Lebanon has quite a few ports with access to the Mediterranean Sea.
#9
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has warned Syria it must withdraw all its forces from Lebanon by April in the latest escalation of tension between the international community and Damascus.
And if Assad and Co. fail to meet this deadline, the consequences will be....................another resolution!
#10
The Bekaa Valley is where Saddam's WMD are supposed to be buried. Remember the columns of trucks the satellites watched driving over the border in January, 2003?
#11
The only question is the aftermath - whether we want to deploy a division in Lebanon afterwards
short answer - NO. Long answer - no, of course not, are you insane? It would save on metaphors though - instead of worrying if Iraq would become a Lebanon, we only have to worry that Lebanon become a Lebanon.
Much better to do this via sanctions, UN resolutions, etc, and have the UN, and yes, dammit, the French, alongside to help pick up the pieces.
Iran's Council of Defense for Press Freedom in a statement expressed concern over a new wave of arrests of web writers, Iran's Shargh Newspaper reported. The Council called on the Judiciary Head to publicize the results of the body's investigation of the web writers case. The statement criticized the arrest of Mojtaba Samienezhad for a second time and Arash Sigarchi's 14-year imprisonment ruling. Editor-in-chief of Gilan-e Emrouz, Arash Sigarchi was previously a journalist at the daily Bahar, a reformist newspaper that was banned in 2000, and has translated a book entitled "Headline Writing", which remains unpublished. Sigarchi is a member of the Journalists Association of Iran and Reporters sans frontieres. Sigarchi's lawyer, Mohammad Seifzadeh, told ISNA that he has objected to the verdict. His charges range from espionage and insulting top Iranian officials, ISNA reported.
It's the "thinking for himself" charge that carries the steepest penalties.
"The Center for Defending Human Rights has taken charge of Sigarchi's case and I am a member of the center. Sigarchi's family agreed with that we take charge of Sigarchi's case," he said. The lawyer noted that according to a verdict of Gilan Islamic Revolutionary Court's Branch 3, Sigarchi has been sentenced to 14 years in jail. Paris-based Reporters Without Frontiers (RSF) said Sigarchi had been updating a weblog in which he has spoken about the detention of 20 online journalists.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
02/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Lebanese Defence Minister Abd al-Rahim Murad has told Aljazeera that Syria has started pulling back its troops in Lebanon into the eastern Bakaa Valley of the country. In an interview with Aljazeera on Thursday, Murad said "the sixth stage of the redeployment of Syrian troops in Lebanon has started on Thursday". He added that according to the 1989 al-Taif Accord, all Syrian troops should withdraw to the eastern Bakaa Valley. "The Lebanese and Syrian leadership have met and decided on the sixth redeployment of the Syrian forces in Lebanon," Murad said. "They took the decision to start the redeployment in the next few hours. After this redeployment, all the Syrian forces will be in the Bakaa," he said.
Further meetings would take place to "define the number of the troops which will remain in the Bakaa and to define the spots where they will be stationed in that area," he added. Earlier on Thursday the Syrian Foreign Ministry announced Syria would withdraw its troops from Lebanon. "The important withdrawals have already been carried out and what will be carried out later will be in agreement with Lebanon based on the Taif Accord," the ministry statement said.
The announcement by Syria, was the first government statement since the international uproar against Damascus over the 14 February assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri. Syria has about 14,000 troops in Lebanon and is the main power broker there. Damascus also said it was keen to cooperate with the United Nations to implement a resolution requiring the state to pull its troops out of Lebanon. "Syria expresses its keen interest in cooperating with the envoy of the secretary-general of the United Nations to accomplish his mission in the best formula possible," Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Walid al-Mualim said. Also on Thursday, Lebanese Prime Minister Umar Karami said a quick Syrian troop withdrawal would destabilise Lebanon. Asked about international and domestic calls for an immediate pullout of Syrian troops and security services, he said: "In our opinion, it would shake the stability of the country." Syrian troops are currently based on high mountains overlooking the coast to the west and the Bakaa to the east, with positions also in northern Lebanon. The bulk of the Syrian garrison - which once numbered 35,000 - has withdrawn from the coast and the lower ground in redeployments since 2000.
US President George Bush and French President Jacques Chirac have this week repeatedly demanded a full Syrian army withdrawal from Lebanon. The United Nations Security Council demanded the same in a resolution last September. Meanwhile, Israel welcomed the Syrian announcement. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said, "Israel supports implementation of UN Security Council 1559, which calls for the withdrawal of foreign forces and the disarming of all the militias, including Hizb Allah." An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israel would have to study the Syrian declaration to determine if it promised a real change. Israel withdrew its forces from Lebanon in 2000 after an 18-year war against Hizb Allah. The United Nations drew the border between Israel and Lebanon, but Hizb Allah disputes part of it. Regev said, "Israel has done its part to implement UN resolutions when we pulled out of Lebanon, and I think now the international community is waiting for Syria to do its part."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#3
"the withdrawing troops will be replaced by the same number of grim unsmiling mukhabbarat wearing cheap shitty polyester suits to hide their pistolas" said the syrian minister of taquiyya with a backslapping bonhommie
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
02/25/2005 2:16 Comments ||
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#4
they'll start creeping back in when they think nobody's watching.
#6
You know, the Bekaa Valley is still Lebanon. I know that the Syrians have been occupying it for the better part of a quarter century now, so it might easily have slipped their minds, but you know - sovereign territory, and not theirs.
I know it's going to be a hassle, having to abandon all of that prime poppy-growing acreage...
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/25/2005 16:12 Comments ||
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#7
has anybody considered the possibility that the
syriam move is not motivated by the international pressure and Kofi's threats but is a premeditated
step aiming to put the syrian occupying units closer to Damascus, where baby Assad's generals will need them, in case GWB decides to "closely Investigate" syrian territory ???????
Despite numerous exercises and an arms buildup, Iran's conventional military forces remain weak and unable to fight the United States. A leading U.S. analyst said Iran's military has not recovered from the 1980-88 war with Iraq and remains saddled with aging equipment and a poor command structure. The analyst said many of Iran's weapons were based on 1970s technology and that Teheran could not sustain an invasion of a foreign country.
"Whatever plans have been announced and whatever grandiose reports have sometimes surfaced, Iran has not been able to acquire significant numbers of modern aircraft," Anthony Cordesman, a senior researcher at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said. "It has not been able to reconfigure and rebuild its major surface ships. It has imported surface-to-air missiles, but some of those missiles are more than a quarter of a century old in terms of design and technology." Addressing a seminar on Iran's military power, Cordesman, a former senior Defense Department official, said Iran has been unable to develop sensors and command and control systems required to fight a war against the United States. Iran spends about $3 billion a year for defense, less than one-sixth of the expenditure of Saudi Arabia.
Iran and Iraq fought to a draw over eight years. We took 100 hours to throw Iraq out of Kuwait, two weeks to take the whole country. Iran is going to be harder?
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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As with many revolution-formed governments, quite a few of the Iranian senior officers (like Iranian Navy Commander Abbas Mohtaj) were chosen more for their political/religious standing than military prowness. So it's likely there's a materiel/ leadership disadvantage.
However, a war with Iran may be more difficult in that the populace would likely react from a nationalistic sense, even if they despise the mullahs.
#3
but they do have 25,000 splodeydope volunteers who will fight until the reappearance of the 12th imam--so imho they're number one in assymetrical warfare
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
02/25/2005 2:36 Comments ||
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Unless you let them dictate the form of fighting
#5
Iran would be harder to occupy unless we fought a real war and not a quickie "disperse the formations" war. If we go in there, we need to make the Atlantans feel happy they got Sherman instead of the guys we send to Tehran. Yeah, I'm talking about you, Gen. Mattis.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/25/2005 7:21 Comments ||
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I agree with Pappy. Remember in 1941, the Russians rushed to defend Stalin, for Pete's sake, and that was before they knew what Nazi rule meant.
Now, if we can be seen as aiding patriots in a civil war against the mullahs, that would be good. But a straight up invasion would be an effort. Not as much as oh, liberating Europe in 1944-45, but more than Iraq.
#8
Ditto with Jackal, I agree with Pappy. "Tactical manuever warfare" makes things easier, but there's no substitute for unconditional surrender and total victory, is there?
*grumble-grumbles about the good old days when the media didn't stir about "atrocities" done for TRUE military necessity -- World War II*
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
02/25/2005 9:09 Comments ||
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Many Russians, Ukrainians, Belorussians, etc welcomed the Germans until they experienced German brutality and realized the Germans came not to liberate them, but to occupy, colonize, and replace them.
Posted by: ed ||
02/25/2005 9:14 Comments ||
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The cry, "The Yankees are coming" is probably the only card the mad mullahs have left.
I'm learning something from ed and Jackal this morning. Thank you, gentlemen.
#12
In 1941 the Russians didn't rush to fight for Stalin. Some fought for Russia, some fought because the NKVD shot the guys who tried to flee and many welcomed the Germans. But they discovered what Germans had prepared for Russians: a combination of genocide (in order to gain space for the herrensvolk) and reduction to animal condition: as an example the Germans planned to forbid teaching how to read and write to Russians.
At this point Russians realized their mere survival was at stake. Thay also had plenty of people to avenge.
#13
JFM: Also Stalin and Beria at that point were smart enough to restore some of the Orthodox Church's old prestige and to use the NKVD's network of seksoti to start spreading rumors of "liberalization" after a successful conclusion of the war.
#17
Do not underestimate Iran. They may not be able to beat the US but they may be able to keep from losing - which is essentially the same thing.
An invasion at this point would be foolhardy. Massive airstrikes and a series of raids to ensure completion of the tasks at hand would be the wise course to take.
The Iranian Badr Brigades are composed of professional troops - closer to the Serb model than the Iraqi. We are not prepared to multi task Iraq and Iran and be prepared for other contingencies within the world.
Moments after the assassination of Rafik Hariri in Beirut last week, Al-Manar, the satellite television channel operated by Hizbullah, came out with its theory about who might have been responsible. "This was the work of Mossad," cried a newscaster in a shrill voice. "The Zionist enemy ordered this crime to divide Lebanon and weaken Arab resistance."
Hours later Muhammad-Hussein Fadlallah, a mullah who casts himself as the spiritual leader of Hizbullah, made a similar claim. Next it was the turn of Nabih Berri, leader of the Shi'ite Amal movement and speaker of the Lebanese National Assembly, to echo the accusations. Like the editors of Al-Manar, both Fadlallah and Berri had been prompted by their Pavlovian reflex to blame Israel for every evil in the world.
But then something unexpected happened. The message of the leadership failed to seep down to the grassroots and, within hours, thousands of Shi'ites were joining their compatriots from other faiths in a unified Lebanese expression of grief at Hariri's murder. More importantly, the Shi'ites shared the belief of other Lebanese communities that Syria was the likeliest suspect in the Hariri murder case. A poll conducted by Al-Jazeera, the hard-line anti-American satellite TV channel, last week highlighted this by showing that over 73 percent of Lebanese blamed Syria and wanted it to withdraw from Lebanon.
The Syrians started their occupation of Lebanon by relying on Sunni Muslims and part of the Maronite Christian community. Soon, however, they identified the Shi'ites, especially Hizbullah, as their principal allies in Lebanon. Hizbullah's support was even more precious because it came in the context of Syria's strategic alliance with the Khomeinist regime in Teheran that regards Lebanon and Syria as a glacis for the Islamic Republic. It was no surprise that, immediately after Hariri's murder, Syria should dispatch its prime minister to Teheran to beef up "the strategic alliance" and ask Teheran to order Hizbullah not to rock the boat. A week after Hariri's death, however, a growing number of Shi'ites, especially in Hizbullah, are beginning to wonder whether it is in the interests of their community to be isolated as the main pillar of support for Syria's unpopular presence.
In a series of conversations this week in Beirut with several leading Shi'ites, including some with ties to Hizbullah, I was persuaded of a possible need to revise the assumption that the Lebanese Shi'ites are determined to sink or swim with Syria. Shi'ites, including Hizbullah, may well be pondering what could amount to a strategic switch from a policy of supporting the status quo to one of democratic change. "Hizbullah is not what it was 20 years ago," says a Shi'ite publisher with ties to the movement. "Lebanon has changed, and the world has changed. There is no reason why Lebanese Shi'ites should not adapt." Another prominent Shi'ite, a businessman and contributor to Hizbullah, claims that the assumption that the party is nothing but a tool in the hands of Teheran "no longer reflects reality."
"There was a time when Hizbullah was nothing but a branch of the Iranian services in Lebanon," he says. "But things have changed. Over the past decade Hizbullah has developed into a Lebanese movement primarily concerned about the interests of its constituents rather than the mullahs of Teheran." To back the claim he cites three "facts" as evidence of change in Hizbullah's position. Hizbullah has publicly rejected Teheran's demand to recognize Ali Khamenei, the Iranian Supreme Guide, as the Marjaa al-Taqlid or "Source of Emulation," the highest rank in the Shi'ite clerical hierarchy. Instead, Hizbullah, along with Amal, a smaller Shi'ite party, acknowledge Grand Ayatollah Ali-Muhammad Sistani, who lives in Najaf, as Marjaa.
While Hizbullah continues to receive financial support, estimated at $100 million a year, from Teheran, it has been able to diversify its funding, especially from Lebanese Shi'ite business interests. A decade ago virtually all of Hizbullah's income came from Teheran. Today, the Iranian contribution, which includes the value of arms shipments, represents less than a quarter of what Hizbullah spends on social, educational, and health services in Beirut and southern Lebanon.
According to our interlocutor, Hizbullah has "noticed changes in the region." It has seen how Shi'ites have benefited from US-led military action in Afghanistan and Iraq. In Afghanistan, the Hazara Shi'ites, some 15 per cent of the population, have secured places in parliament and the council of ministers for the first time. In Iraq, the Shi'ites, some 60 per cent of the population, have won a leading position within a democratically elected parliament and government, ending eight decades of exclusion from power. In Lebanon itself, the Shi'ites, which with 40 per cent of the population represent the largest community, are allowed only a fifth of the seats in the parliament and are excluded from the positions of president of the republic and prime minister. A Syrian-sponsored electoral law, designed to gerrymander the constituencies, would, if approved, deprive the Shi'ites of four of their 27 seats in parliament.
"A fresh look at Hizbullah is overdue," says Judith Kipper, an American specialist in the Middle East. "The Hizbullah is the most nationalistic force in Lebanon, and thus inherently opposed to the Syrian occupation." In the crucial weeks leading up to the next Lebanese general election, to be held in April, every effort must be made to help Hizbullah make the strategic switch its friends in Beirut claim it is ready for.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Judith Kipper, an American specialist in the Middle East. "The Hizbullah is the most nationalistic force in Lebanon, and thus inherently opposed to the Syrian occupation."
An expert is someone who knows everything about a subject. This woman is not an expert but a specialist: she ignores everything who is not about the Middle East. That doesn't mean she knows much about it.
"Enough!" That's one of the simple slogans you see scrawled on the walls around Rafiq Hariri's grave site here. And it sums up the movement for political change that has suddenly coalesced in Lebanon and is slowly gathering force elsewhere in the Arab world.
"We want the truth." That's another of the Lebanese slogans, painted on a banner hanging from the Martyr's Monument near the mosque where Hariri is buried. It's a revolutionary idea for people who have had to live with lies spun by regimes that were brutally clinging to power. People want the truth about who killed Hariri last week, but on a deeper level they want the truth about why Arab regimes have failed to deliver on their promises of progress and prosperity.
A crowd was still gathered at Hariri's resting place well after midnight early yesterday. Thousands of candles -- many bearing Christian icons, others Muslim designs -- flickered in a semicircle around the grave and melted together into a multicolored patina of wax. Mourners have written angry messages in Arabic on a nearby wall denouncing Syria, whose troops occupy Lebanon and which many Lebanese blame for Hariri's murder. "The Ugly Syrian," says one. "Get Out of Here," says another. For people who have been frightened even to mention Syria's name, it must feel liberating just to write those words.
Over by the Martyr's Monument, Lebanese students have built a little tent city and are vowing to stay until Syria's 15,000 troops withdraw. They talk like characters in "Les Miserables," but their revolutionary bravado is the sort of force that can change history. "We have nothing to lose anymore. We want freedom or death," says Indra Hage, a young Lebanese Christian. "We're going to stay here, even if soldiers attack us," says Hadi Abi Almouna, a Druze Muslim. "Freedom needs sacrifices, and we are ready to give them."
Brave words, in a country where dissent has often meant death. "It is the beginning of a new Arab revolution," argues Samir Franjieh, one of the organizers of the opposition. "It's the first time a whole Arab society is seeking change -- Christians and Muslims, men and women, rich and poor."
The leader of this Lebanese intifada is Walid Jumblatt, the patriarch of the Druze Muslim community and, until recently, a man who accommodated Syria's occupation. But something snapped for Jumblatt last year, when the Syrians overruled the Lebanese constitution and forced the reelection of their front man in Lebanon, President Emile Lahoud. The old slogans about Arab nationalism turned to ashes in Jumblatt's mouth, and he and Hariri openly began to defy Damascus.
I dined Monday night with Jumblatt in his mountain fortress in Moukhtara, southeast of Beirut. He moved there for safety last weekend because of worries that he would be the next target of whoever killed Hariri. We sat under a portrait of Jumblatt's father, Kamal, who was assassinated in 1976 after he opposed the initial entry of Syrian troops into Lebanon. With me was Jamil Mroue, a Lebanese Shiite journalist whose own father was assassinated by Arab radicals in the 1960s. It was an evening when the ghosts of the past mingled with hopes for the future.
Jumblatt dresses like an ex-hippie, in jeans and loafers, but he maintains the exquisite manners of a Lebanese aristocrat. Over the years, I've often heard him denouncing the United States and Israel, but these days, in the aftermath of Hariri's death, he's sounding almost like a neoconservative. He says he's determined to defy the Syrians until their troops leave Lebanon and the Lahoud government is replaced.
"It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq," explains Jumblatt. "I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world." Jumblatt says this spark of democratic revolt is spreading. "The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it."
Where will this amazing Lebanese intifada go next? The answer may lie partly with the Shiite militia, Hezbollah, which is probably the most powerful political organization in the country. Hezbollah officials and leaders of the opposition have been trading signals this week about whether they can form a united front. What's clear is that the Lebanese are fed up with the status quo and that Hezbollah -- like all the other parties -- must adjust to change.
The circle of mourners around Hariri's grave was two and three deep when I visited yesterday afternoon. Many people were weeping, more than a week after his death. In every face you could see that same emotion: Enough!
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2005 9:13:15 PM ||
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In the last thirty years, I can't think of a country that has tarnished the reputation of more "experts" than Lebonon. Maybe the MSM in Byzantium would disagree.
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
02/25/2005 2:51 Comments ||
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Jumblatt dresses like an ex-hippie, in jeans and loafers,
I don't know many hippies who wear loafers. I'm not sure whether or not I should question the rest of this article just because of this error. Hippies in "loafers"???. But then, he said, "ex" hippies. I don't know, maybe East of Appalachia, ex-hippies actually do wear loafers. How sad is that?
Anyhoo...this article is unsettling in that it provides too much hope, optimism and common sense. What's the catch?
#4
hmmm...after a very stiff glass of sleep aide, I have to rethink this whole thing. No...not that Hezbollah might have actually gotten a clue that under a democratic system, as in Iraq, that they, being the popular guys, at one with large swaths of people, might actually get a bigger cut of the action if they dumped the spoiled brat and the little group of sexually repressed Mullahs and started their own enterprise. I mean...GET REAL! Why should they have to wait until the next life to get laid?
Look at Assad! He's a wimp! They can take him. And the Mullahs? These guys don't rock and roll, if you know what I mean.
No, no, no. I'm rethinking the penny loafer issue. A friend of mine once said that hippies were just geeks who came to the realization that they had a much greater chance of getting laid if they disguised themselves with long hair and peace symbols. So..in that sense, it's very logical that they would wear loafers in their old age.
#5
"It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq," explains Jumblatt. "I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world." Jumblatt says this spark of democratic revolt is spreading. "The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it."
And that, ladies and germs, is our meme. And in the Washington Post, no less. Any chance Bush will get the credit he deserves? (Sorry, extreme Pollyanna moment there. I'm ok now.)
The last paragraph sums it up. In his monthly press conference Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said that he is optimistic about the nuclear talks with Europe despite the slow progress of the talks. He added that Europe has to pay a high price if it takes a politically-motivated decision under US pressure.
On the make-up of the 7th Iranian Parliament, Khatami said that "we hope that what happened in the 7th Parliament will never occur. For the recent parliamentary elections were not fair and the final composition of the parliament is now very hard to challenge."
He added that the Parliament's views toward next year's budget bill are in contrast with those of the administration emphasizing that 'by the way the administration is obliged to carry out the Parliament's ratification.' In response to the question as how history will remember Khatami, the president said: "I don't know. But I expect it to be a fair judgment. I have always sought a popular rule and I could guess from the very beginning that certain elements would oppose this objective of mine. However during 8 years of office, I have realized the strength of the opposition I am facing."
Posted by: Seafarious ||
02/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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translation--"i'm going back to qum and reread the kkkoran for the 25th thousand time and never leave my house again--i'm a humiliated abject failure"
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
02/25/2005 2:55 Comments ||
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You guys have blown Billions on nuclear weapons and cannot even reinforce a mud hut against earthquakes. What a success story.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/25/2005 3:04 Comments ||
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#3
Judge me fairly
Done. You, and your regine have been judged.
Now it's time to execute the sentence.
#4
After the Israelis move the settlers out of the Gaza Strip and several West Bank spots... the targeting with some small WMD gets very attractive. These bozos should consider that before getting too carried away.
Guilt can only weigh on a person's mind for so long before they crave the act of purgation; to get the weighty feelings of shame and responsibility out of the mind - or at least the guilty parties attempt to find some kind of peace if they cannot rid themselves of a screaming conscience that implicates and indicts its possessor. I wanted to edit this, but it would have made me feel, well...guilty.
I'll manage somehow ...
That said, perhaps some readers will understand why my friends and I rip yellow ribbon "support the troops" magnets off of cars or wherever people have affixed them. By ripping off these ribbons, we find a way to deal with our guilt, as though with each ribbon swiped we take back a life that was taken by this senseless war started by our senseless president and those who support him.
Priceless example of self-pity and self-loathing. It's all about him.
I will never say, "support the troops." I don't believe in the validity of that statement.
Which puts you on the other side, right there.
People say, "I don't support the war, I support the troops" as though you can actually separate the two. I wondered how Kerry supported the troops but not the war.
He didn't really, he just said he did. All his pro-military talk was just that -- talk. John's never been much when it's come to actually using the power of his office to get something done, which explains why the Left endorsed him as their man.
You cannot; the troops are a part of the war, they have become the war and there is no valid dissection of the two. Other people shout with glaring eyes that we should give up our politics, give up our political affiliations in favor of "just supporting the troops." I wish everything were that easy.
No, it's not that easy at all; you'd have to think your way through a philosophy that has you supporting thugs, butchers and rapists like Saddam and his evil spawn. You'd have to explain how you came to loathe personal liberty, human rights and democracy when a Republican president happens to be the guy making it happen in an important part of the world. Most of all, you'd have to explain your own racism that causes you to believe that the 'little brown people' of Iraq and Afghanistan don't deserve to have what you have.
What they really mean is that we should just give up our will, give up our identities, give up our voices to those in power.
Seeing as you've already given up your common sense and your moral compass, the rest really isn't so much, is it?
Perhaps that's just the way people aligned with the right wing choose to get rid of their guilt: blindness and ignorance. I don't want you to "give up your will", just don't count me and anyone else who happens to disagree with you as stupid!
But he has to. He's in the classic "Trap of the Left" -- how can it be that we sheep don't listen and obey the likes of him? He's the smart one, remember, he and his leftie pals have it all figured out. We're supposed to listen to them because they know what's best (see also, European Union). So if we don't, there can only be a couple of explanations: either we sheep really are stupid, or we sheep have been twisted and perverted by wolves like Karl Rove. Very often both explanations are invoked. But you'll never hear this young man ask himself whether he might just be wrong. He's trapped.
I listen to talk radio very often. It's important to know who your enemies are. The pundits on the radio are the pinnacles of guiltless, shameless wonders, and I am jealous. It must feel good to believe without question, to benefit from the blind belief of young men ... (including my son)
... and women who chose to join the armed forces, to sit in a radio studio in New York and admonish the public to give in like the troops, to just follow orders, to live as just a number that will soon be etched into a gravestone that no one will ever see.
Most of the conservative talk show hosts generally do the opposite: they try to provoke people into thinking for themselves. Even Al Franken has figured that out.
I look into the cars of people with "support the troops" ribbons as I speed past, trying to find some trace of recognition on their face, recognition of their guilt and the fact that they have given up. I usually see nothing; just a mouth moving robotically, singing the pop hits of today or the contemporary country wine of fake cowboys who share a lot with George Bush: no shame. Right. No shame. Just pride. Read some of the good news, once.
Right, and this young fella hasn't figured out that we're not thinking about deep issues on a minute-by-minute basis. Life goes on. We reflect on issues when we have time to do so, and it's then that we remember why we have a yellow ribbon on our cars: to think those who have made enormous sacrifices on our behalf.
We say, "support the troops" so that we won't feel guilty about saying "no" to war.
We thank the troops because we support the war. Don't put words in my mouth, young man -- I support the liberation of 50 million people from the evil Taliban and Saddam's evil spawn sons.
We reason that if we say that we support the troops, somehow we aren't monsters for not saying a word when the death tolls of U.S. soldiers climbed above 1,000. Those ribbons are yellow for a reason, they are not the mark of armed forces support, they are the mark of cowards. This MUST be a college student.
We're not monsters even if the death toll would have been 10,000, which some people projected before the war began. We're people who've thought through what it means to extend the blessings and the challenges of liberty to other people halfway around the war whom we don't know. We're people who saw the pictures of the young woman in the soccer stadium in Kabul being executed by a mulllah, we're people who heard the testimony of grieving families in the marshes, we're people who saw pictures of the mass graves of women and children.
And we said, "somebody has to put a stop to that." That somebody was us, and we take pride in that.
Pundits on the radio advise their cowardly listeners to approach men and women in army uniforms and say "thank you." I cannot do that. Every time I pass a person in uniform I look long and hard at them and all I can think inside to say is "I'm so sorry." I want to apologize to them, to their families and to their friends. I feel sorry that we, the people, couldn't control our own government at the outset of this conflict when most of us knew deep inside that it was a mistake.
Only a college student can be this narcissistic. When you finish college and get into the real world, Skippy, you'll find that we do control our government, and it did what we wanted it to do.
Where are we now? Are we in a better place? Is the world safer for democracy? No, it is not safer and we are not in a better place.
Fifty million people freed from tyranny, Saddam drug out of a septic tank, the Taliban reduced to a pack of cowardly fools, al-Qaeda on the run, and all the ancillary benefits from the West Bank to Libya to the UAE. Those all look better to me than just a few years ago. It certainly looks better than I ever thought the world would look when I woke up on September 12th.
In this war that we are fighting to somehow avenge the deaths of the Sept. 11 tragedy, we have amassed a field of body bags, the number of which almost matches the number killed in the terrorist attacks four years ago.
First, it doesn't, and second, that's a moral equivocation that we won't let you get away with. These deaths, soldiers and civilians, are at the hands of the same people -- the thugs, the jihadis, the haters who think that their particular interpretation of the Qur'an and their lust for gold and bejeweled turbans permits them to kill you and me. The citizens who died on September 11th were among the first casualties in this new war, but they're not the last, and our soldiers may well continue to die when they're sent into harms way. But civilian or soldier, they're fighting for and part of what we are and what we have as a country and a way of life.
Now, we stare at yet another request for barrels of money for this war by President Bush, while people in our own country search fruitlessly for jobs to feed their starving families, while every public school gets left behind, while our elderly are ensured an uncertain future of unpaid medical bills.
And how will you feed your family -- I ask rhetorically because you're a callow college student who has yet to be responsible for anything -- when the country comes crashing down in the aftermath of a dozen more September 11th's? When Europe falls apart and becomes Eurabia? When decent people around the world are so terrorized that they either surrender or, even worse, lash out blindly? You strike me as one of those college wankers who'd walk around with a sign that says, "Down with Western Civilization", not realizing that you'd be dead on the final day.
I guess we shouldn't think about those things though, right? We should just buy a yellow magnet and slap it on the butt of our car so we can sleep at night and just let our government do whatever they want. That's supporting the troops, right? Maybe a high-school student.
Yellow ribbons are a start -- we adults have also realized that we have to pay our taxes so that our troops have what they need in the field and so that our good people in government can do their jobs. We have to be willing to let our kids join the military. We have to stand up against the wankers of the world who spout nonsense. We have to stand for something, and we do. Fortunately, a yellow ribbon is a conveniennt symbol to show that we've done all that.
Two years ago my friend Eric called me out of the blue after almost five years of silence between us. We were in a band together when we were teenagers and he had joined the army around the time I was graduating from high school. He had to join the army; he had a son to provide for in the grand tradition of many young members of the armed forces. He called me to tell me that he was going back to Iraq, against his will. He was so sad and angry and scared. He didn't say it, but I know he was calling to tell me that he might die. I didn't say it to him then, but I felt such overwhelming guilt that I couldn't do anything to keep him from going back.
I haven't heard from him since. Maybe since he understand your politics?
I don't know if he's dead, and my guilt is alive and well. I hope that all of our family members in harm's way return alive. Until then, I can really honor their sacrifice by demanding that it finally comes to an end. When it's over, but not to assuage your "guilt".
He'll be off on something else by then, saving whales or wearing a Che T-shirt to show how cool he is. Maybe he thinks college girls will find him interesting.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/25/2005 12:36:21 PM ||
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The UMASS Daily Collegian. Good to see not much has changed in the Land That Time Forgot.
I wonder what Rene Gonzalez is up to these days?
#2
The little bastard obviously has a problem with free speech, let alone property rights.
He is a good little robo-soldier of the totalitarian cultural empire.
If I catch him, he gets my boot up his ass, I promise.
#5
This little elitist has quite a bit of hate to spew. What a good little socialist workers party robot this is. It has memorized the leftist serpent's most venomous memes and is regurgitating them in full. Chomsky's poison has fully worked it's wonder on it's turgid mind. I pray for a accident between it and a refuse truck. That way the means of it's demise can remove it's fetid carcass to a landfill as well.
thats your first mistake lady. Listening to some right wing loonies till you become a leftwing loonie. Me, I listen to NPR, that keeps me from becoming to liberal :) Better you should read the Washington Post. Or even better, go have a beer, take a walk, whatever.
Course you can support the troops without supporting the war. Not a smart idea, IMHO, but definitely possible. (as for Kerry not supporting the war, I dont know about that - seems to me it depended what day it was - one day it he supported the troops and NOT the war - a possible, if wrong position, next day he DID support the war - me, I prefer Hillary, who always supported the war.)
#7
I look into the cars of people with "support the troops" ribbons as I speed past,
It'll be a cold day in hell when I see a liberal speeding past me. These twits in their Subarus, Volvos and Saabs, sporting the Kick Me Kerry-Edwards stickers, are the most obtrusive, conformist drivers on the planet. 66 in the left lane is not my idea of 'speeding past' people. Try 100+!
#8
Back in my Marine Corps days, we used to point and laugh at limpd*cks like this. There weren't as many of them during GWI, but the script was the same.
#9
Here in the home of Matt Maupin, I'd like to see one of these stupid tools try to take down a yellow ribbon. I'm not sure if the police would show up late or just fail to get the call at all.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/25/2005 17:58 Comments ||
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There weren't as many of them during GWI, but the script was the same.
I was in college during the Gulf War. The local "Progressive Student Union" had plastered the campus with flyers whining about the war, claiming that the whole purpose was to keep the yuppies "salad shooters" running. They were as brainless then as their ilk is today.
As a "who are these loons" investigation, a couple of my friends and I attended one of their meetings. In an earlier fit of First World Guilt, they had elected their one overseas member to be their president. Interestingly, this guy -- either from Pakistan or from a Gulf State -- took the position that the ONLY way Saddam would ever leave Kuwait would be by US force. The rest of them ignored him and his repeated statements that tyrants like Saddam only understood force.
That was one of the defining moments for me, in regards to the left. They had elected this guy as a pose -- they wanted a brown, foreign face at the head of their lily-white gang -- and when it came to ideas, he was nothing to them.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/25/2005 18:09 Comments ||
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NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - United Iraqi Alliance candidate Ibrahim al-Jaafari said Friday that Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric has endorsed his nomination for prime minister. The endorsement from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani came after members of the clergy-backed alliance openly questioned its decision Tuesday to nominate the 58-year-old leader of the conservative Islamic Dawa Party as its candidate for prime minister following Iraq's Jan. 30 elections.
"Ayatollah al-Sistani blessed the decision taken by the alliance about the prime minister post. He respects and supports what the alliance have decided," al-Jaafari told reporters after meeting with the Iranian-born cleric for more than two hours in the southern Shiite holy city of Najaf.
He also said Iraq's Sunni Arab minority should be brought into the political process and help draft the country's first constitution. Bringing the Sunnis into the political process could help deflate the insurgency. Sunni Arabs, who make up about 20 percent of the population, dominated Saddam Hussein's Baath Party and largely boycotted the elections. They are believed to make up the core of the insurgency.
"Ayatollah al-Sistani also advised to take into consideration the uniqueness of Iraqi issue making it impossible not to integrate other sects and to integrate the Sunni people who were not able to participate in the elections," al-Jaafari said.
But in a move that could rile Kurds, al-Jaafari said that a dispute over the northern city of Kirkuk should be postponed until after the new constitution is drafted. A constitution must be drafted no later than Aug. 15. "Such a sensitive issue should not be discussed under the interim government and should be discussed when we have stability, when there is a parliament and a permanent constitution," al-Jaafari said.
Kurdish leaders have demanded constitutional guarantees for their northern regions, including self-rule in the north and reversal of the "Arabization" of Kirkuk and other northern regions. Saddam had relocated Iraqi Arabs to the region in a bid to secure control of the oil fields there. They also want one of their leaders, Jalal Talabani, to be nominated for the post of president.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/25/2005 11:48:49 AM ||
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February 25, 2005: Now that Libya is free from decades of pariah status, and embargo, they have been looking to sell what they have to obtain new weapons. Libya approached France with an interesting offer; lots of useful information on terrorist groups operating in France, and other European countries, in return for a deep discount on some new warplanes. The French have other things to trade, like still pending criminal charges against some prominent Libyans. This makes these deals rather more personal for the Libyan leadership, and more likely that such deals are actually being made.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/25/2005 9:58:43 AM ||
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#1
"We weel geeve you two A320s and one A340 for teeps on ze whereabouts and ze organizational structure of Achmed ze Assasseen...."
A Marine charged with murder in the shooting deaths of two Iraqis twice ordered the men, in Arabic, to stop before opening fire, a witness testified. The testimony corroborates claims by Marine Corps 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano that he fired at the Iraqis after they walked toward him and refused to stop, the Washington Times said Friday.
His platoon had stopped the Iraqis as they left a house where insurgents were making bombs. "While I took my security post, I heard Lt. Pantano yell stop (in Arabic) directed toward the two Iraqi men searching the vehicle. He yelled stop. Lt. Pantano yelled stop, and then, I heard shots fired," a Navy corpsman in Pantano's platoon said in a sworn statement. The sworn statements provided the first inside look at a case that has drawn national attention because of Pantano's stellar record and the nature of the enemy he faced in Iraq. Pantano has made no public comment since Feb. 1, when the Marine Corps charged him with two counts of premeditated murder. If convicted at a court-martial, he faces the death penalty.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/25/2005 9:35:33 AM ||
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#1
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand the Corps in only in the Article 32 investigation phase, and thus, this is simply the taking of testimony and gathering of evidence to determine where to procede.
If it is the Article 32 proceedings, then upon completion, the investigating officer will forward the findings and recommendations [if any] to the officer holding General Courts Martial authority. Somewhere between or after the JAG will review it for legal sufficiency. Part of that is the determination if the evidence, if any, will stand up in any court proceedings. The Federal rules of evidence apply. The GCM authority then must decide the next step to drop it, set it aside, or prosecute [if there is sufficient evidence]. The GCM authority has other administrative powers short of courts martial to use if he feels the situation warrants it.
Understand that under the UCMJ, the GCM authority must act in some fashion, otherwise he too can be charged with provision of the code if he tries to coverup any act of wrong doing. This is all due process in action. It protects all the parties as well as prosecutes those who violate the law. Unlike 95% of the military in this world, ours does take the process seriously, if somewhat annoyingly buearucratic.
#2
Agreed,TT. On February 1st, 2005, the US Marine Corps formally charged Lt Pantano and opened an Article 32 investigation. Since the investigation began only three weeks ago, it is more than likely still ongoing. In MHO the LT will be absolved of any blame, but I wonder what will happen to Pvt Disgruntled who brought the murder charges.
BigEd : Mouthy private gets transfered to Alaska for caribou immigrant enforcement at the Yukon border. (The Canadians have been acting oddly lately, so you can't even trust the animals!)
A missile fired from a U.S. Navy ship off Kauai, Hawaii, intercepted and destroyed a mock warhead on Thursday, the fifth success in six such test of the fledgling U.S. anti-missile shield's sea-based leg, the Pentagon announced. "We had a successful hit-to-kill intercept," said Richard Lehner, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency.
The target was tracked from the cruiser Lake Erie using the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Weapon System developed by Lockheed Martin Corp. It was launched from the U.S. Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands, Kauai.
The ship fired a Standard Missile (SM)-3 at the target outside the earth's atmosphere during the descent phase of flight, Lockheed said. Raytheon Co. is developing the SM-3.
The Defense Department plans to field up to 30 SM-3 missiles on Aegis-equipped ships by 2007 to destroy short- and medium-range ballistic missiles in mid-flight. Other systems are being developed to defend at different stages.
For the ground-based mid-course leg of ballistic missile defense, managed for the Pentagon by Boeing Co., five of eight shoot down tests have been completed successfully. Interceptor missiles failed to launch from their silos in the last two ground-based tests because of hardware and software glitches.
The Pentagon plans to spend roughly $10 billion a year over the next five years on all aspects of missile defense. The initial "layered" shield is designed to thwart missiles that could be fired from North Korea, possibly tipped with nuclear, chemical or germ warheads.
Last fall, the Japan-based Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Curtis Wilbur became the first component of the anti-missile shield to be put on patrol in the Sea of Japan to guard against North Korean attack.
Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed, the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier, calls Aegis the world's premier naval defense system, capable of defending against air, surface and underwater threats.
Currently deployed on 68 U.S. Navy cruisers and destroyers, the Aegis system is also being supplied to Spain, Japan, South Korea, Norway and Australia.
Posted by: ed ||
02/25/2005 9:26:45 AM ||
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#1
Think this will get a lot of coverage in the MSM? Nah, me neither.
#3
I wonder why instead of using bullet they do not use the shotgun effect(aka:EB-Megafortress air mines).I would think the chances of a hit on a missle would be greatly enhanced by useing a cloud of titanium or steel BB's instead of a bullet.At the combined intercept speed it would not take much to kill a missle.
#4
Can someone explain why we are supplying Aegis to Spain and South Korea?
These folks are clearly no longer allies. Time to cut them off from the jewels if they don't want to play on the team.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/25/2005 10:53 Comments ||
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#5
I wonder why instead of using bullet they do not use the shotgun effect
They are not using a bullet, at least not for this test. The weapon in question, the Standard Missile, has it's own little radar for terminal guidance and can receive mid-course corrections from the Aegis system.
#6
Canada PM just said that the US would have to consult them prior to one of our missiles entering their airspace. His opposition derisively pointed out that when there were only seconds to respond, trying to get launch permission was a joke. Canada, when did they hit their head?
#8
I'm seriously thinking the US should start build another, late-phase system that uses nuclear warheads. That way any terminal interceptions will setting nukes off right over Canada.
What a bunch of jackasses.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
02/25/2005 23:39 Comments ||
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Posted by: badanov ||
02/25/2005 8:55:59 AM ||
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#1
Hmmm... since they explicitly state they're aware they're breaking the law, this should be an easy conviction. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we have here the signed admission of guilt from all of the accused..."
Not that it will ever go to trial. There isn't a prosecutor with the balls to actually go up against the antiwar mafia.
And you gotta love this:
You are being ordered to war by a President who was never elected...
They're simply insane. Every single one of them.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/25/2005 9:09 Comments ||
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#3
It's time for a conversation with a monsignor or two, and the Bishop. I really, truly don't think that the Catholic leadership wants a whole lot more bad press right now. And if these individuals are doing what they are doing under the auspices of the Church, they should rightfully be hauled up by their petards. If they refuse, the Church can file a restraining order against them over used of church property, i.e., its name.
"Liberation theology" -- Marxist revolution of the proletariat with a (very) thin veneer of Christianity.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/25/2005 9:54 Comments ||
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#8
Yeah, there was a lot of leftist priests and nun's involved in the South American communist movements in the 60's - 70's.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/25/2005 9:58 Comments ||
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#9
It is sad but true that there has grown-up a solidly Commie infrastructure in much of the Catholic Church in America. While the great man who fought so well to defeat the evil Communist tyrants is fighting for his life, these nit-wits are still active in local parishes and in control of the formerly Catholic colleges.
Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that 150,000 people have died in more than a decade of an Islamic holy war or "jihad".
"The number of victims has reached 150,000 and the destruction has reached $30 billion," Bouteflika said in a speech. He did not provide further details.
Until now authorities maintained that 100,000 people died in the violence since 1992, although human rights groups have long said the figure exceeded 150,000.
Militants unleashed a "jihad" after the powerful army cancelled legislative elections that the hardline Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) looked set to win in 1992. Authorities feared an Iranian-style revolution if they let the now-banned FIS take power.
Bouteflika is calling for an amnesty to end the long-running conflict, which almost destroyed the oil-rich North African country in the 1990s.
"Algerian people need to be able to accept a general amnesty. I need your support," he said.
The amnesty, which is expected to be put to a referendum later this year, is expected to include rebels and security forces but no details have yet been given.
The authorities say there are between 300 to 500 rebels still active, most belonging to the al Qaeda-aligned Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC). Security experts say the figure could be as high as 1,000.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/25/2005 3:32:59 AM ||
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President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said Thursday that Pakistani forces have destroyed Al Qaeda-linked militants' sanctuaries and communication systems along the Afghan border, but still have no clue as to Osama bin Laden's whereabouts. Musharraf told reporters that Pakistan had captured 700 terror suspects in cities, and "eliminated" hundreds of them in tribal regions on the border. "We have broken their communication system. We have destroyed their sanctuaries," Musharraf said of militants fighting in the lawless South Waziristan region. "Now some of them are hiding in mountains. They are not in a position to move in vehicles and go to Lahore or Karachi," he said, referring to two major cities. "They are unable to contact their people. ... They are on the run, we will keep chasing them and we have to eliminate them. I'm not saying we have achieved a 100 percent success, but this is definitely a success in the war against terrorism."
Musharraf said this month's launch of U.S. government-funded advertisements on Pakistani television and radio offering multimillion-dollar rewards for bin Laden and other top terror suspects did not mean they had information about the Al Qaeda leader's whereabouts. "Neither they (the Americans) nor we know they are here," he said of the Al Qaeda leaders.
Massive manhunts by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan's army on its side of the rugged frontier have failed to locate bin Laden or his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. However, Musharraf blamed Al Qaeda for masterminding terrorist attacks in Pakistan, with the help of domestic militant groups.
Musharraf, speaking to journalists at his official residence, also hailed recent progress in the Pakistan-India peace process. He said the agreement reached last week to start a bus service across the military line dividing the disputed Kashmir region was a "step toward normalization of relations," and demonstrated both sides' flexibility.
But he gave a sober assessment of the prospects of settling the nuclear-armed rival countries' competing claims to Kashmir, over which they've fought wars since independence from Britain in 1947. Asked if the dispute would be resolved by the end of his term in 2007, Musharraf said: "The desire is there, and definitely we would like to see the resolution of this issue. But there will be no sellout on Kashmir."
He suggested there was more international pressure on India than on Pakistan to strike a Kashmir deal, which he said would have to be acceptable to Kashmiris, Pakistan and India. "The entire world is putting pressure on India. There is no pressure on us, frankly speaking," he said.
Musharraf played down India's reported bid to buy U.S. Patriot missiles which Pakistani officials have warned would spark a regional arms race and voiced optimism that Washington would eventually agree to sell F-16 fighter planes to Pakistan. Pakistan fears the Patriot air defense system would enable India to repel its missiles, while India has objected to Pakistan's desire for the jets. The argument underlines the fragility of the yearlong peace process.
This article starring:
AIMAN AL ZAWAHIRI
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/25/2005 2:56:54 AM ||
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I'm not keen on this brown colour, Fred. It looks like diarrhea.
#2
I've become convinced that one of the major US tactics in the WoT could be called "concentrate and destroy." To do this, the US essentially sets up some sanctuary, and a "reason" for troublemakers to go there. It is easy to get in, but impossible to leave. Be it Tora Bora, Falluja, or any number of other places, their inability to remain decentralized has destroyed them.
The Palestinian Parliament approved a new Cabinet yesterday after Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei agreed to demands to include more reformers and fewer Yasser Arafat loyalists. Following is biographical information on who's in and who's out in the new government.
WHO'S IN:
Ahmed Qorei, Prime Minister
Qurie, also known as Abu Ala, became prime minister in 2003 when his predecessor and now-President Mahmoud Abbas resigned after losing a power struggle with Yasser Arafat. Appointed by Arafat, Qorei has faced criticism from lawmakers for too few concrete steps toward reforms.
Nabil Shaath, Deputy Prime Minister
A stalwart of the dominant Fatah movement and an Arafat loyalist, Shaath was involved in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks beginning in the early 1990s. He had served until now as foreign minister.
Nasser Al-Kidwa, Foreign Minister
A nephew of Arafat, Kidwa served as the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations. He was close to Arafat's bedside when the veteran Palestinian leader died in a Paris hospital in November.
Mohammed Dahlan, Civil Affairs Minister
A former security chief and Abbas ally, Dahlan has become important as a negotiator with Israel. A US favorite, he has a wide power base in Gaza but less clout in the West Bank. He led the Palestinian Authority's only significant crackdown on militants after a series of suicide bombings in 1996 and is expected to help in an overhaul of security forces.
Nasser Yousef, Interior Minister
Maj. Gen. Yousef is a former head of security forces. The most senior military man to leave exile after interim peace accords, Yousef later became critical of Arafat and was marginalized. Regarded as a tough commander, he played a big role in the 1996 crackdown on militants and is expected to lead security reforms demanded by the international community.
On one meeting, Yasser spit in Nasser's face. In another, he called him a coward and a traitor and flung the microphone at him, and Nasser threw the Pen of Death at his boss.
Salam Fayyad, Finance Minister
Fayyad is a former International Monetary Fund official who has won international praise for efforts to make Palestinian finances more transparent and curb corruption. He joined the Cabinet in 2003 following US pressure for financial reforms.
WHO'S OUT:
Saeb Erekat
Erekat, a close Arafat ally who was minister of negotiations affairs, has served as a prominent spokesman for the Palestinians on the world stage.
By this point, he has no lips.
Intisar Al-Wazir
A member of the Fatah Central Committee and previously minister of social welfare, Wazir was a strong Arafat loyalist. She is the widow of Khalil Al-Wazir, also known as Abu Jihad, Arafat's military deputy who was assassinated in Tunis in a 1988 attack by Israeli commandos.
Hakam Balaawi
Balaawi, who was interior minister, is a long-time Arafat loyalist who has represented the PLO in Libya and Tunis. A West Bank native, he returned from exile in 1994 after Palestinians won limited self-rule, and has voiced criticism of militants.
This article starring:
ABU ALA
Palestinian Authority
ABU JIHAD
Palestinian Authority
AHMED QOREI
Palestinian Authority
HAKAM BALAAWI
Palestinian Authority
INTISAR AL WAZIR
Palestinian Authority
KHALIL AL WAZIR
Palestinian Authority
MOHAMED DAHLAN
Palestinian Authority
NABIL SHAATH
Palestinian Authority
NASER AL KIDWA
Palestinian Authority
NASER YUSEF
Palestinian Authority
SAEB EREKAT
Palestinian Authority
SALAM FAIYAD
Palestinian Authority
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2005 9:33:14 PM ||
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Nato should increase security cooperation with Israel to fight global terrorism, Nato's secretary general said on Thursday. Speaking to reporters in Tel Aviv after meeting Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer hinted he would address the issue with ambassadors of the 26-member alliance upon his return to Brussels. "Who am I to explain to any representative of the Israeli government or any Israeli citizen what it means to be haunted by terrorism?" he said. "It's a global threat - we have to fight together."
Scheffer is the first Nato secretary-general to visit Israel officially and is touring the region to discuss global security. "This is one of those subjects on which I think Israel, and Nato and other Mediterranean Dialogue countries for that matter, can work together and should work together," he said, referring to the alliance's relationship with Israel and six Arab states.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Oh Joy. Oh rapture. EUropeans think we Juden can be useful.
#2
So long as Israel doesn't share any of her military secrets, plans, thoughts, abilities, or the location of her atomic weaponry, with such loving and supportive friends, sure! But it is a nice opportunity for the Mossad to scatter a few listening devices and attach the odd targeting thingy.
#4
France will try to block this in some fashion if it ever comes to a vote. If the vote is in a forum where they don't take part, their chocolate poodle (Belgium) will do it for them.
Till then, this is just smoke to blow at the US.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
02/25/2005 9:01 Comments ||
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#5
"But it is a nice opportunity for the Mossad to scatter a few listening devices and attach the odd targeting thingy."
Lol, tw! Indeed, Mossad is the World Champ of turning lemons into lemonade. Squeeze 'em, boyz, heh.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Abu Ali's arrest and his alleged ties to terrorism have focused new attention on the 
Iran's Supreme National Security Council chief 
A UN-appointed commission has arrived in Lebanon to join the investigation into the assassination of former prime minister 
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has warned Syria it must withdraw all its forces from Lebanon by April in the latest escalation of tension between the international community and Damascus. The hardening of attitude comes as Syria said it will "redeploy" all of the 15,000 troops it has stationed in Lebanon to the country's eastern border with Syria in a last ditch attempt to defuse increasing international pressure against it. Foreign Minster Deputy Walid Moallem said Syria was willing to cooperate with the UN but insisted again that any withdrawal would be carried out in line with the 1989 Taif Accord and not through UN Resolution 1559 which calls for all foreign troops to leave Lebanon.
Lebanese Defence Minister Abd al-Rahim Murad has told Aljazeera that Syria has started pulling back its troops in Lebanon into the eastern Bakaa Valley of the country. In an interview with Aljazeera on Thursday, Murad said "the sixth stage of the redeployment of Syrian troops in Lebanon has started on Thursday". He added that according to the 1989 al-Taif Accord, all Syrian troops should withdraw to the eastern Bakaa Valley. "The Lebanese and Syrian leadership have met and decided on the sixth redeployment of the Syrian forces in Lebanon," Murad said. "They took the decision to start the redeployment in the next few hours. After this redeployment, all the Syrian forces will be in the Bakaa," he said. 
Despite numerous exercises and an arms buildup, Iran's conventional military forces remain weak and unable to fight the United States. A leading U.S. analyst said Iran's military has not recovered from the 1980-88 war with Iraq and remains saddled with aging equipment and a poor command structure. The analyst said many of Iran's weapons were based on 1970s technology and that Teheran could not sustain an invasion of a foreign country.
Moments after the assassination of 
"Enough!" That's one of the simple slogans you see scrawled on the walls around 
In his monthly press conference Iranian President 
The Palestinian Parliament approved a new Cabinet yesterday after Prime Minister 
