DEH ZABZ, Afghanistan -Millions of mines and unexploded pieces of ordnance still kill or maim around 100 people a month in war-ravaged Afghanistan, a demining group said on Monday.
Afghanistan remains one of the worlds most mined countries despite the internationally backed efforts involving 10,000 people employed to destroy the devices, a representative of the Halo Trust told reporters. Millions of landmines were laid by the Russian military during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation and during the subsequent civil wars between resistance commanders.
The devices still threaten the lives of more than 4.2 million Afghans, or about a quarter of the population, said Farid Homayoun, country director of the British-founded Halo Trust. There are at least 100 mine accidents per month, which is an unacceptably high figure, Homayoun said at a ceremony to mark the United Nations Mine Action Awareness Day to be observed on Tuesday.
Since the 2001 toppling of the Taleban in a US-led invasion, the number of mine accidents had dropped by 50 percent due to extensive demining, he said, predicting the country would be free of mines by 2013. Homayoun said most of the mines were laid along highways, around former military bases and other government installations, as well as in villages and on farmland.
Afghanistan, which has endured decades of ruinous conflict, has signed the Ottawa Convention banning the use, trade and production of landmines. Based on the document, it must destroy its mine stockpiles before March 2007. Serious action would be needed to meet this deadline because Afghanistan had so many stockpiles, said Shohab Hakimi, head of the countrys anti-mine campaign.
Despite the toppling of the Islamist Taleban government more than four years ago, Afghanistan is still plagued by violence with a Taleban-led insurgency killing scores of people every month. Ten deminers have been killed or wounded by improvised explosives laid by the Taleban in their attacks on US and Afghan targets, Homayoun said.
The Taliban are helpful on so many fronts, aren't they.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/04/2006 00:00 ||
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Nato chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer ruled out Monday sending Nato forces to the Sudanese province of Darfur if the UN sends a peacekeeping mission to the troubled region. Addressing a joint news conference with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, de Hoop Scheffer said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) was considering all options to helping the UN mission in Darfur. But these options, he added, excluded sending personnel to Darfur.
De Hoop Scheffer, answering a KUNA question, said the military alliance would not hesitate to offering assistance to UN, but this help would be within a certain limit. He added that the UN and the African Union (AU) would determine the kind of assistance. He said Nato agreed to offer logistic support and training for the AU forces but in accordance with request of the Sudanese government.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2006 00:00 ||
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"We'll be delighted to help in any way, short of actually, you know, doing anything." My translation of Jaap. The only way anything will be done is if the US does it, and I am leary of sending in troops to keep muslims of one skin color from killing mulsims of another skin color. It most certainly will not affect, in any positive way, how we are viewed in the muslim world. That said, I wouldn't mind killing a bunch of those sadistic, barbaric bastards.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
04/04/2006 9:31 Comments ||
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#2
I'm with mike: I'd go as an independent agent and just kill evil-doers.
#4
I am leary of sending in troops to keep muslims of one skin color from killing mulsims of another skin color
I am think it could be a golden opportunity for making Blacks see Islam as a tool of enslavement. Ie sendiong troops is not enough: an effort of propaganda/PR is needed.
#5
'Twould be the same bedtime story on the Nightly News with Katie Couric:
"Today a neevil NATO gaoler let his shadow fall across the pages of the Holy Koran being used by a simple Janjaweed shepherd, brutally and unfairly sold into captivity by duplicitous African tribesmen who are probably in the pay of the Zionists."
#6
And along with those charming human interest stories Seafarious mentioned, let's not forget: Quagmire! Exit Strategy! Death Toll! Bush Hitler! Illegal War! Peace Now! No Blood for, um, whatever Sudan produces when they aren't hosting civil wars!
#7
No Blood for, um, whatever Sudan produces when they aren't hosting civil wars!
Sudan is supposed to have large oil and gas reserves, most of which is in the Darfur region. China is 'aiding' them in developing these resources, which probably includes 'aiding' them in eliminatig the tribal locals, so they don't have to share with them.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/04/2006 15:47 Comments ||
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Must See TV taken to whole new level.
A few clips:
Clip No. 1096: Iraqi Cleric Ahmad Al-Kubeisi: Democracy, Human Rights... It's All Nonsense Truth is clear, and falsehood is clear. From now on, no one can lie to people - human rights, democracies, and whatever... It's all nonsense... The truth lies with us, and so do human rights, mercy, and justice.
Clip No. 1091: Egyptian Cleric Zaghloul Al-Naggar: Israel Must Be Destroyed. America Will Be Dissipated to Nothing The 20th century crime is the creation of this false state amidst the Arab world and amidst the Muslim world, with no justification whatsoever - historical, ethnic, religious, you name it. They have no justification to be in that region at all. And that's why Muslims have to struggle hard to destroy this state, regardless of the blind support of the Americans and of many European nations to it, stemming from wrong misconceptions and wrong beliefs that have been mainly infiltrated by the Jewish hand.
...
And I declare here, that this false state has to be demolished, sooner or later. America will not remain the sole world power forever. Time will come when this superpower will be dissipated to nothing. And the signs for this dissipation is quite obvious, I can see it quite clearly. And at that time the oppressors in Palestine would not find these tens of presidents of the United States to stand at their back, supporting them illegally, supporting them unethically, supporting them immorally, to do more killing, more raping, more destruction in the land of peace.
Clip No. 1090: Egyptian Experts on Islamic Religious Law Debate Female Circumcision Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: I will tell you which girls. A girl phoned me once - A woman called me - there is no shame in asking questions about religion... A girl called me and said: When I take the Metro, wearing tight jeans... The Metro in Egypt jolts about like this... She said: I get really aroused. What should I do?
Dr. Malika Zarrar: God help her....
Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: I asked a doctor, I'm telling you what happened... I asked a doctor, who told me this girl's clitoris was very high, and that a small part of it must be cut off. Up next, drilling holes into skulls to let out lascivious thoughts.
Much more at the link.
Posted by: ed ||
04/04/2006 00:00 ||
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Dr. Malika Zarrar, you go burka girl!
.............
Iraqi nurse throws her shoe at the bundled remains of a suicide bomber outside a Baghdad hospital. The killer rammed a police convoy in the city's Yarmouk neighborhood and detonated his charges, killing a police commando and wounding three other officers. Two civilians also were hurt.
#2
She said: I get really aroused. What should I do?
Send her to the infidels! Metra here in Chicago really rolls around, too. I'll take care of that naughty bit;)
#3
No possibility of getting a new pair of pants, I suppose. Actually, it sounds like one of those Penthouse letters, all wishful thinking and creative writing.
The newly elected president of the Moslem Judicial Council of South Africa (MJC) says that "Palestine and the world in general, will be a better place without Zionism". In an exclusive interview with IRNA on Tuesday, Ml.Ihsaan Hendricks said that the MJC as the leading Moslem organization in South Africa, recognize that "the Zionists are the occupiers of the and of Palestine".
"We, who within the South African context, have rejected apartheid, similarly express ourselves vise vies the Zionist occupation," he said.
Wonder how the feel about their fellow non-muslim South Africans?
Denouncing the policies of the Zionists in ignoring the realities of the Palestinian politics, especially following the victory of Hamas in the late Palestinian elections, Ml. Hendricks underlined that "it is not the Zionist's right to dictate the terms to their victims". The president of MJC also criticized the Western powers for not crediting Hamas for its victory in the elections inside Palestine, saying that, by doing so "they have fallen short in appreciating the very democratic principles that they celebrate so mush [sic] in the West".
Unrepetentant terrorists elected to office are still terrorists.
"Now that Hamas has come up with the victory through the democratic process, it is irrelevant how the West view Hamas in this particular moment and time", He said.
As long as the West is giving money, it's relevant.
"The west has been very unfair with Hamas and now, they are using their financial muscles to squeeze them into silence and inevitably the Palestinian people will suffer the most" he said. "The Moslem community has now more than ever before a financial obligation to help the Palestinian people and to support Hamas and the new government of Palestine". If the west does not want to give the Palestinians the contributions that belongs to them, therefore it is the obligation of the Moslem world to contribute, he further said.
"the contributions that belongs to them" - they got the 'victim' routine down pat...
He warned that Palestine should not be treated as a "charitable case" and that Moslems must support the "aspirations" of the Palestinian people.
They're a charitable case, and a basket-case.
Commending the South African parliamentarians for calling for the non-proliferation of the Middle East, the president of MJC said that such a regime will not be established unless Israel is pressed by the international community to accept equal responsibilities.
"That is something that unfortunately we don't see", he said.
Not until you guys give up trying to wipe them off the map.
"The idea that Israel has never signed the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) does not mean that the world does not have a moral responsibility in addressing the nuclear developments in the state of Israel", he added. "We need hard core debate in the international community about the nuclear capabilities of Israel".
Hendricks Praised the Islamic Republic of Iran for setting up an international conference to discuss the Palestinian issues in continuation of its efforts in promoting the Palestinian cause.
"It will be important for us to listen attentively to the Palestinian people and the newly formed government and the Hamas and it is important that we respond to the objectives that they are clearly setting up for their people", he said. "Freedom loving people have a moral obligation to remain firm and committed in our support for the struggle of the Palestinian people for the liberation and the freedom of Palestine".
Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it was not worried about Iran's Persian Gulf military exercise, saying Tehran does not pose any threat to its neighbors.
Slightly misleading title in the IRNA article...
"It is not the first time they have launched military exercises," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told a news conference. "We do not believe that they are a threat to any of their neighbors."
He's referring to the execise, not the concept of Iran getting nukes.
I thought he was engaged in some wishful thinking ...
The Saudi foreign minister called for a Middle East free from weapons of mass destruction. "We don't see a danger in Iran acquiring nuclear energy science for peaceful purposes," he said. "The best policy is not to expand the number of states that own weapons of mass destruction and to end the acquisition of such weapons in the region."
John Reid demanded sweeping changes to international law yesterday to free British soldiers from the restraints of the Geneva conventions and make it easier for the west to mount military actions against other states.
In his speech, the defence secretary addressed three key issues: the treatment of prisoners, when to mount a pre-emptive strikes, and when to intervene to stop a humanitarian crisis. In all these areas, he indicated that the UK and west was being hamstrung by existing inadequate law.
Mr Reid indicated he believed existing rules, including some of the conventions - a bedrock of international law - were out of date and inadequate to deal with the threat of international terrorists.
"We are finding an enemy which obeys no rules whatsoever", he said, referring to what he called "barbaric terrorism".
The conventions, he said, were created more than half century ago "when the world was almost unrecognisable". They dealt with how the sick and injured and how prisoners of war were treated, "and the obligations on states during their military occupation of another state", he said.
Given the big changes undertaken by the military over the past 50 years, he added, "serious questions" must be asked about whether "further changes in international law in this area are necessary".
Mr Reid declined to say whether he had come round to the US view that detainees at Guantánamo bay should not be allowed the protection of the conventions or the courts. Similarly, he would not say if he thought Britain should support the US practice of extraordinary rendition, the transferring of prisoners to secret camps where they risk being tortured. However, he said, it was not "sufficient just to say [Guantánamo] is wrong".
Mr Reid said yesterday that while domestic laws had been introduced to deal with new threats - he referred to the new offence of "glorifying terrorism" - international law had not changed.
He also spoke of the "concept of imminence" - the circumstances when a state could strike without waiting for an attack.
It was a principal issue during the debate over the invasion of Iraq and has clear implications for any possible future action against Iran.
Mr Reid noted that last year Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general, advised that force could be used only against imminent attack, that it must only be used as a last resort, and that it must be proportionate.
"But what if another threat develops?", Mr Reid asked. "Not al-Qaida. Not Muslim extremism. Something none of us are thinking about at the moment." Terrorist groups were trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction, he said.
The Liberal Democrat defence spokesman, Nick Harvey, said: "After the disaster of Iraq, the idea that the doctrine of pre-emptive strike should be expanded will be met with incredulity in the west and alarm in the ministries of Tehran."
Sir Adam Roberts, professor of international relations at Oxford University, said: "Some of the biggest coalition problems in both Afghanistan and Iraq have come from failures of the coalition to observe basic norms on certain matters, especially with regard to treatment of prisoners.
"Dr Reid is certainly right to raise the question of whether we need new rules in face of imminent attack. This problem above all requires confidence in government and coalition decision-making processes - confidence that has sadly been undermined by Iraq."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/04/2006 01:22 ||
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How about applying the Golden Rule.
Posted by: ed ||
04/04/2006 1:59 Comments ||
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#2
Nix that. Couldn't sleep. Must have known I mistook the Golden Rule.
Golden Rule: Do unto others what you want to be done unto you.
Better: Do unto others as they do unto you. (Works for me.)
Best: The Real Golden Rule: Do unto others before they do unto you.
Posted by: ed ||
04/04/2006 2:43 Comments ||
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#3
Do unto others befo they do funky unto you. »:-)
#4
The Golden Rule works both ways, it also applies when the other person is a Murderous Asshole, then by the Golden rule that must be the way HE wants to be treated.
So follow the Golden Rule and kill him.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/04/2006 8:45 Comments ||
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#5
I think the problem is not in the Geneva Conventions, but in the asshats who THINK they know what's in the Geneva Conventions, or who SAY that their interpretations of the Geneva conventions ARE the Geneva conventions. The GC is inadequate in that it does not explicilty state what constitutes a violation that would free a signatory, making it a suicide pact in the hands of the left and the international glitterati and perveratti. I hear that the most recent addition proposed to the GC explicility FORBIDS retaliation for FAILURE to meet the GC requirments. We didn't sign it, and should propose an explicit "Going Roman" escape clause. It will be opposed, of course, but only by those without integrity who wish to bind those with integrity BY their integrity.
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair launched on Monday a national crime-fighting unit modelled on the United States' FBI, with the aim of tackling the major gangs behind crimes such as people trafficking and drug smuggling. The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), which will have a staff of around 5,000, will tackle drug traffickers, people-smugglers, global paedophile networks and sophisticated fraudsters.
Launching the unit at Downing Street, the prime minister said that the time had come to end the "tyranny" brought by organised crime. "We know this organised criminal activity takes place. The level of sophistication, the level, frankly, of brutality, with which many of these gangs operate today, means that we have to (operate) differently. There is absolutely nothing in my view that should come before the basic liberties of people in this country to be freed from the tyranny . . . of this type of organised crime. We will do everything we possibly can to achieve that."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2006 00:00 ||
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Should have no trouble finding resources to fight organized crime now that Britain's decriminalized burglary, assault, etc.
Offers advanced recoilless RPGs, special ops equipment, helicopters. To be co-produced in Jordan, i.e. transferring manufacturing know-how as well as the end products.
#1
Nothing new here. Russia has been the primary and major arms supplier to the Arabs since the 50s. How well did those work against Israel in the wars against them, BTW? As well as the Russian made equipment the Iraqis had during the gulf wars? Really?
Australia needs to cautiously rebuild communications with Indonesia without rushing, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says. Mr Downer said he was not surprised by comments on Monday from Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who said the relationship was full of challenges.
Australia's decision to grant protection visas to 42 Papuan asylum seekers was obviously going to cause sensitivity in Indonesia and had clearly done so, Mr Downer said. "We just let things plod along for a little while and gradually rebuild our communications," he told ABC radio. "It is just best to take things cautiously and calmly and not rush into anything too much at this stage."
Translation: we're bigger, smarter, with a better economy and better prospects, so we'll take our time. Y'all let us know when you want to talk, 'k?
President Yudhoyono did, on the other hand, renew his commitment to the bilateral relationship with Australia, Mr Downer said. "So we have to work through this period and from our point of view here in Australia we just have to be cautious and sensitive about this," he said. "We can understand why they are upset but of course what we are trying to explain to them is that this has no implication for our recognition of Papua as a full part of the republic of Indonesia."
"We'll do that next week."
Mr Downer said he was not surprised Indonesia had declined to attend the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) exercise to be held around Darwin this week as Indonesia had never supported PSI. PSI aims to limit the spread of weapons of mass destruction and materials through developing procedures for intercepting illicit shipments. Mr Downer said unless there was a sudden change of policy in Indonesia, they wouldn't be expected to attend. "I am not sure about a specific invitation. They may or may not have. But they certainly have not supported the Proliferation Security Initiative so if we gave them an invitation we would not have expected a very positive reply unless they changed their policy. We have lobbied them on PSI but they have felt up until now a bit uncomfortable."
Mr Downer said it would be helpful if Indonesia participated in PSI and Australia had urged them to join the 40-50 nations currently involved.
#1
Australia has never accepted Indonesia's military conquest of West Papua (formerly Dutch New Guinea), nor its attempt to forcefully convert the local peoples to Islam - which isn't going very well. The locals have many ties to tribes in Papua New Guinea, under the protection of Australia, and have, until the late 1970's, freely migrated back and forth between the two parts of the island of New Guinea. The locals are beginning to fight back, and Indonesia is blaming Australia for arming and helping them. If they are, it's very, very clandestine - I would suspect more aid is coming from the Philippines, who don't want another border with majority-muslim groups. It's a "low-intensity conflict", but it's been going on since 1960, and shows no sign of changing.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/04/2006 16:06 Comments ||
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For Ramazan, an elderly Kurdish businessman, the recent battles between masked Kurdish youths and Turkish police have rekindled a dream _ the creation of an autonomous zone for his people in Turkey, much like the one carved out of Iraq. But that dream is Turkey's worst nightmare. While Kurds look to northern Iraq for inspiration, Turks see it as an example of what the future could bring: a collapsed central state and a brewing ethnic civil war.
Iran and Syria also are concerned that Kurds in Iraq's oil-rich north could set up an independent state if the Iraqi central government collapses _ serving as a rallying call for their own restless Kurdish minorities and destabilize the entire region. Iran's ambassador to Turkey, Firouz Dowlatabadi, warned in an interview published Tuesday that Turkey, Iran and Syria need a joint policy on the Kurdish issue or "the U.S. will carve pieces from us for a Kurdish state."
Sounds like a plan to me.
But international politics was of little concern to Ramazan when he headed out into the streets as soon as he heard Kurdish protesters were confronting Turkish police. The protests started late last month in Diyarbakir, the largest city in southeastern Turkey, the predominantly Kurdish region devastated by more than a decade of warfare between autonomy seeking Kurdish guerrillas and the army. At least 15 people were killed and hundreds were injured and detained as the rioting spread, with mass demonstrations throughout the southeast and smaller protests in Istanbul.
"I did not throw any stone, I did not enter the clashes. I am old, you know," said Ramazan, who refused to give his last name or details about his life for fear the police could track him down. "But I went out to support the Kurdish revolution. I had to be there since I am a Kurd." "I am a Kurd, we want our language, our rights," Ramazan said.
Turkey refuses to recognize Kurds as a minority, and speaking Kurdish was illegal until 1991. At the prodding of the European Union, Turkey recently has granted some cultural rights to Kurds such as limited broadcasts on television, but many say it is too little, too late. Turks fear that increasing cultural rights could lead to the breakup of the country along ethnic lines. Stoking that fear is a U.S.- supported Kurdish region in northern Iraq, complete with its own government and militia.
Kurds _ brutally repressed under Saddam Hussein before the autonomous zone was created after the Gulf War in 1991 _ have played a key role in the new Iraqi government and are prepared to stay in a federal Iraq. But many Kurds say their real aspiration is independence. Turkish businessmen already are flocking to the area as the Kurdish economy in northern Iraq grows. Some Turkish Kurds living on the border regions are sending their children to universities in the area. That is coming as Turkey's economic program to build up the southeast is faltering. The government has done little to improve ruined roads or the dilapidated health care system, and blackouts are common.
Fighting between government and rebel forces _ which has left 37,000 dead since 1984 _ largely ended after the 1999 capture of guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan but began to flare up again after the guerrillas declared an end to their unilateral cease-fire in 2004.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged not to give in to the rioters. "No one should dare to test the power of the state or the nation," Erdogan said Tuesday in an address to his party. "The government will not step back from expanding democracy, laws and freedom of expression."
Many Kurds have pinned their hopes on Turkey's push to join the EU, which repeatedly has said Ankara's treatment of the Kurds will be a key determining factor in its decision on whether to accept the country. But that process could take at least a decade and frustrations among Kurds are growing. Unemployment is extremely high in the region, which helps increase support for Kurdish guerrillas based in northern Iraq. Ankara says the guerrillas also have been able to acquire sophisticated plastic explosives in Iraq for bombings in Turkey. "No doubt, the region is affected by winds of change from northern Iraq," former Kurdish lawmaker Hasim Hasimi said.
For Ramazan, the fate of the Kurdish dream lies with Washington and the EU. "Give us a federal status like in Iraq, that's enough," he said. "I hope, it will happen this time."
Posted by: Steve ||
04/04/2006 15:32 ||
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This is Spain, I'm waiting for Zappie to pardon him.
MADRID - A Spanish court Monday jailed an Algerian man for 10 years for creating a website where he published messages from Al Qaeda inciting jihad and justifying terrorist attacks.
Madrids National Court found Ahmed Ibrahim guilty of belonging to a terrorist organisation, in this case Al Qaeda. He was arrested in Spain in April 2002 while creating a website to publish radical and extremist Islamic principles, notably fatwas from Al Qaeda calling for jihad, or holy war, the judgement said.
The court said Ibrahim had several times met senior members of Al Qaeda in Palma de Majorca in Spains Balearic islands where he lived, and that he had proven contact with Islamist extremists.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/04/2006 00:00 ||
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Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Monday that the European Union needs to take the Muslim world more seriously following the uproar over the Prophet Muhammad cartoons, which he called one of the worst crises the bloc has faced.
"The cartoon crisis has shown that we have to pay more attention to that part of the world," Moratinos told reporters during a visit to Denmark, where the cartoons were first published.
The 12 drawings, which were reprinted in several European countries, triggered an international crisis earlier this year, with angry mobs attacking Western embassies in Muslim countries, including Lebanon, Iran and Indonesia.
#2
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Monday that the European Union needs to take the Muslim world more seriously following the uproar over the Prophet Muhammad cartoons, which he called one of the worst crises the bloc has faced.
Nah, that's going to be when the Umyyad Caliphate [which is much of contemporary Spain] is given back to the Moor. You don't want to 'upset' the poor darlings now do you?
#3
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Monday that the European Union needs to take the Muslim world more seriously following the uproar over the Prophet Muhammad cartoons, which he called one of the worst crises the bloc has faced.
More serious than Bosnia?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/04/2006 15:40 Comments ||
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#4
But we DO take Islam seriously. Goodness, is it time for lunch already?
Immigration rights organizers today will call for a nationwide boycott of work, school and shopping on May 1 to protest congressional efforts to clamp down on illegal aliens as part of pending immigration-reform legislation.
May 1st. May Day. International Workers' Day. The primary holiday of socialists and communists. Any questions?
The "Great American Boycott of 2006" is only one in a series of large-scale events the protesters hope will sway lawmakers to put millions of illegal aliens on track toward permanent residency and U.S. citizenship.
"The massive March 25 march and rally in Los Angeles of well over one million immigrant workers and their supporters -- along with protests and student walkouts throughout the United States -- is irrefutable evidence that a new civil rights and workers' rights movement is on the rise," said Raul Murillo, one of the key organizers and president of the Hermandad Mexicana Nacional.
"In order to realize the goal of legalization for the millions of undocumented workers, we have the obligation to keep pressing the Congress of the United States to legislate immigration reform that grants full legalization for all immigrants." Sarah Sloan, a spokeswoman for boycott organizers, said the boycott, additional marches and rallies in at least 30 cities nationwide beginning next week are designed to highlight opposition to House legislation that would crack down on illegal aliens.
The Act Now to Stop War & End Racism (ANSWER) coalition, which organized the Los Angeles march to win "full rights for undocumented workers," is confident its new "national action" will prove successful.
ANSWER is the anti-American, anti-war, anti-capitalism, pro-Saddam, pro-North Korea organization. No wonder they use a Communist holidy to make a statement.
ANSWER's steering committee includes the Free Palestine Alliance, the Partnership for Civil Justice, the Nicaragua Network, the Korea Truth Commission, the Muslim Student Association, the Mexico Solidarity Network and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. It denounces as racism attempts to criminalize illegal aliens.
"Workers of the world, er, illegal aliens, er, undocumented migrants, unite!"
Posted by: Steve ||
04/04/2006 11:44 ||
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#1
That would make me sympathetic to their cause, it would. And make lots of friends for International ANSWER, too.
/end sarcasm. Is everybody jumping the gun these days? Are they subconsciously so afraid their cause will be successful?
#3
I hope the INS makes several LARGE raids on these "demonstrations", take tens of thousands into custody (especially ANSWER goons), hold them for the maximum amount of time allowed under the law, and see how many of the workers are "undocumented". Follow up with a long line of "Bluebird" school-type busses (no padded seats, no springs, uncomfortable as $^%%^#$&) to return these "undocumented" workers to their home nation. It's a long ride from LA to Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and El Salvador. One might even get "saddle sores".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/04/2006 16:24 Comments ||
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#4
Why don't they really show us how much we need them by going home for a few months?
A nice gesture of support in a state that rates low in opportunity for returning troops. The Cook County sheriff's office has begun taking applications for 350 corrections officer jobs, but only veterans and reservists who have recently been released from active duty can apply.
Concerned after reading a Sun-Times News Group series that detailed how young Illinois veterans are having difficulty finding work, Sheriff Mike Sheahan ordered his staff to open hiring to new veterans and reservists returning from active duty. The sheriff's office usually offers applications only once a year, in November. But Sheahan consulted with his merit board and decided to open applications last week for those who were on active duty between November 2004 and November 2005 and unavailable to apply for jail jobs at the time. "The military people make good law enforcement people," explained Sheahan. "We're a semi-military organization. Military people know how to take an order and a command. They know the structure. They're used to structure. They have the same rankings as we do, and they turn out to be good employees." Also, "When you're looking to hire someone in law enforcement, you want someone who has weapons training," said Bill Cunningham, department spokesman. more details at link
#1
The Illinois LLL, ACLU and PC crowd will go absolutely ape-sh*t. The Sun-Times relegated the story to a "suburban" paper and the Tribune doesn't seem to have carried this story yet.
Pass the popcorn, please.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/04/2006 14:59 Comments ||
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#2
Civil service usually has a provision for veterans preference, at least I know Mass. does.
That's assuming these are civil service jobs.
#3
Mullah Richard, I think their legal department already went over it. It's not a blanket "don't apply if you aren't a veteran" statement. There's the little catch in there of being on active duty between those dates and therefore not being able to apply during the regular time period.
As long as they open it up to everyone the next time, they should be just fine.
#4
Back in the late 70s ran among other things the separation transfer point at Fort Leavenworth. Most of the military guards were stationed at Fort Leavenworth. Had the wall of the processing office covered in job opportunities from law enforcement and prison operations. 'Please contact us'. The regular active duty received all the mandatory training dictated by various federal courts for prisons and prisoner handling. Besides the veteran discipline achieved by years of duty, that training was $$$ to the agencies that had to comply.
#5
Nice move by the Sheriff, he's to be thanked for doing the right thing. The ones who will question it are not my idea of patriots
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2006 16:13 Comments ||
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#6
Thank you for the insight DB. And yes Fred, he is absolutely doing the right thing. I still think that the leftists will scream about this in some fashion. I don't believe they care anymore if they look 'patriotic' or not. Maybe I just live too close to Madison, Wisconsin and think that the socialists are just as vocal elsewhere, too.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/04/2006 16:29 Comments ||
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#7
Did I call Frank "Fred"?? Silly me.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/04/2006 16:31 Comments ||
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#8
Most Civil Servant jobs allow for Veteran preference. Even if the LLL moonbats want to whine about it they won't get too much support. FYI the unions usually support these preferences.
#9
This is a great gesture and I hope it works out. I tend to agree with the Mullah that some ACLU moonbat will protest. Public opinion will shut the ACLU down on this one and the Cook County Sheriff will have done a small but important thing for the Vets in his county.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
04/04/2006 19:21 Comments ||
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Later ships in the class will include USS Arlington, the location of the Pentagon, also struck by a hijacked jetliner on Sept. 11, and USS Somerset, named for the Pennsylvania county where United Flight 93 crashed after its passengers fought off hijackers apparently planning to attack another Washington target.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/04/2006 8:39 Comments ||
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#2
Fantastic story. People moved back after katrina, and one guy postponed retirement, so they could finish it.
What a country. Lincoln was right: we will either endure for all ages, or die by suicide.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/04/2006 10:49 Comments ||
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Finish them all and get them into commission in time for the landings at Dahran and Jiddah.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/04/2006 13:14 Comments ||
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Lincoln was right: we will either endure for all ages, or die by suicide.
Ptah, no better place for the complete quote by President Lincoln.
From his Lyceum Address on January 27, 1838 - Lincoln was 28 years old.
This task of gratitude to our fathers, justice to ourselves, duty to posterity, and love for our species in general, all imperatively require us faithfully to perform.
How then shall we perform it? At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.
The prophetic vision of Lincoln, as America was almost torn apart by civil strife, now resonates with almost supreme irony as our nation faces yet another struggle against those within it who would sooner dissolve or disarm the Union than see our democratic superpower survive intact.
Bush hopes the experiment will produce scores of young Michiganders who are fluent in Arabic, and he wants the program to be copied nationwide, said Robert Slater, director of the U.S. Department of Defense's national security education program...Michigan State University will begin planning Michigan's Arabic program this summer with a small federal grant...Slater and his colleagues at the Department of Defense said that the language programs will have the greatest chance of success in cities where the language they're trying to teach is already spoken by a large number of people...Language educators in Michigan and across the country said they are thrilled with the new interest from the government. Not since the height of the Cold War has so much attention been paid to foreign language study, they said.
Better late than never.
Imad Hamad, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee [said] "This initiative is gate-opening. It's going to open a lot of people's minds and eyes."
#1
Actually, I am in favor of this: the more natives we have knowing arabic, the less they can hide behind the language.
Yassir Arafat was an expert at saying one thing in English, and another in Arabic.
Also, the soddies DON'T WANT an ambassador that speaks Arabic, so anything that remotely pisses them off, like understading arabic, is a winner with me.
An Ethiopian prisoner is scheduled to appear before a US military tribunal at the Guantanamo naval base this week on charges that include conspiring with US citizen Jose Padilla to build a radioactive "dirty bomb."
US officials said when Padilla was arrested in May 2002 that he plotted with al-Qaeda to set off a radioactive explosives in the United States. Padilla was never charged in connection with such a plot, but is mentioned as a co-conspirator in the charges against Guantanamo prisoner Binyam Muhammad, one of four detainees set to appear before a military tribunal this week for pretrial hearings on charges of conspiring to commit war crimes.
The charges say Muhammad, an electrical engineer, joined al-Qaeda in 2001 and got weapons and explosives training at the group's camps and guest houses in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
An al-Q guest house: stay the night and get explosives training for free.
The charges say Muhammad and Padilla viewed bomb-making instructions on a computer in Pakistan, and met with al-Qaeda operations director Abu Zubaydah to discuss the feasibility of carrying out dirty bomb attacks in the United States.
Muhammad later told officials at Guantanamo that the accusations were based on false confessions he gave to interrogators who tortured him in a Moroccan prison where he was sent after he was arrested trying to leave Pakistan in April 2002. At the prison, Muhammad was beaten and slashed on the chest and penis with scalpels, he said in court documents. "They had him confess to being part of the Padilla dirty bomb plot," said Muhammad's civilian attorney, Clive Stafford Smith.
And you have photos of his wounds, counselor?
"This whole dirty bomb plot came from the tip of a razor blade from Binyam Muhammad in Morocco. It's all absolute fantasy."
Stafford Smith said Muhammad "may have bumped into Padilla," but does not know him.
Muhammad is one of 10 Guantanamo detainees facing life in prison if convicted on the charges. The court is expected to rule in June or July. Military officials running the tribunals, formally called commissions, have been conducting pretrial hearings in hopes they can start the actual trials as soon as the Supreme Court rules.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/04/2006 01:01 ||
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Anguish. Anger. Resignation. More than 2,700 pages of documents released by the Pentagon because of an Associated Press lawsuit are saturated with emotion from detainees held in this US military base.
About 715 prisoners have passed through the cells of Guantanamo Bay on Cubas southeastern coast since the US base began receiving men captured in Washingtons war on terror more than four years ago.
Some have divulged information that has helped Washington battle Al Qaeda, which launched the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said in Washington. But, in transcripts of hearings held at Guantanamo Bay, many detainees steadfastly proclaim their innocence, saying they were wrongly swept up in Afghanistan and other locales.
Im a poor guy, one Afghan detainee tells his US military tribunal, according to the newly declassified documents. I dont know why you brought me here and make me sit here.
You are here because Americans thought you shot at them when they were looking for very dangerous things, the unidentified presiding US officer responded. That is why you are here.
Nobody believes me so my words are nothing, the unidentified detainee shot back, adding: Why have I been sitting here for three years?
At the yellow cinderblock tribunal building overlooking the deep blue waters of the Caribbean, other detainees have pleaded for freedom as US military officers painstakingly tried to find holes in their stories.
My conscience is clear, said Algerian detainee Mohamed Nechla, who was accused of plotting to attack the US Embassy in Bosnia. If I left this place my only concern would be bread on the table for my wife and children.
The hearings - called Administrative Review Boards - were held to determine whether detainees still posed threats to the United States.
Human rights group Amnesty International, a frequent critic of US policies in its war on terror, said the transcripts would most likely reveal little. But Eric Olson, the groups acting director of government relations, said it welcomes todays actions, as even the seemingly minor details in these documents may help shed light on the secrecy surrounding the detainees cases.Each of the detainees who faced such a review hearing was previously determined by other Guantanamo Bay panels - Combatant Status Review Tribunals - to be an enemy combatant, meaning they fought against the United States or its allies or provided support to Afghanistans former Taliban regime, Al Qaeda or associated forces.
As in a previous release of transcripts to the AP, the names were scattered throughout the documents and many detainees werent identified. There was no indication whether any had been released.
One unidentified Yemeni claimed he had hazy a memory, saying he did not recall when he was captured in Pakistan more than four years ago.
Was it cold? asked the presiding officer, trying to determine if not the date, then the season.
The weather was medium. It was not hot but it was not cold, responded the detainee.
Some detainees were accused of being low-level members of the Taliban, who imposed strict Islamic rule from 1996 to 2001.
I dont know bin Laden and I dont know anyone else, said an Afghan detainee named Gano Nasorllah Hussain. I am a butcher and I have a shop in my village.
The transcripts released Monday were the second batch of Guantanamo Bay detainee hearings released by the Pentagon in response to a lawsuit by the AP. In response to a Freedom of Information lawsuit filed by the AP, the Defense Department released some 5,000 pages of transcripts March 3.
Most of those pages were from the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. If a detainee is determined by the panel to be an enemy combatant, they fall under a classification that human rights groups complain is vague and confers fewer legal protections than prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/04/2006 00:43 ||
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#1
Bah. Parole boards hear the same thing all the time.
A sharply split Supreme Court today rejected an appeal from the terrorism suspect Jose Padilla, leaving undecided for now deeper questions about the Bush administration's handling of detainees since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Six justices were apparently persuaded, at least for the time being, that Mr. Padilla's appeal is moot, since he was transferred from military custody to a civilian jail several months ago and is to go on trial. The federal government indicted him last fall on terrorism charges that could bring him a sentence of life in prison if he is convicted.
The administration had argued that since Mr. Padilla was going to get a trial, there was no need for the Supreme Court to rule on his appeal of a lower court order upholding the administration's authority to keep him in open-ended military detention as an enemy combatant.
The six justices who agreed today to defer consideration of the finding of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit were Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices John Paul Stevens, Anthony M. Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.
But there were hints of an internal struggle among the justices. For one thing, several justices took the somewhat unusual step of issuing opinions related to the court's order not to take a case. More commonly, when refusing to take a case, the court simply issues an order without comment.
The three justices who said the Supreme Court should have taken the case were Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David H. Souter and Stephen G. Breyer.
Justice Ginsburg said the underlying issues are "of profound importance to the nation," and that it was high time the court ruled on the executive branch's power to hold a United States citizen after declaring him an "enemy combatant."
"Although the government has recently lodged charges against Padilla in a civilian court, nothing prevents the executive from returning to the road it earlier constructed and defended," Justice Ginsburg wrote.
The case the court declined to hear is titled Padilla v. Hanft, No. 05-533. (C.T. Hanft is listed as the commander of the Navy brig at Charleston, S.C.)
Even in voting not to hear the case, at least for now, Justice Kennedy wrote, for himself, the chief justice and Justice Stevens, "In light of the previous changes in his custody status and the fact that nearly four years have passed since he was first detained, Padilla, it must be acknowledged, has a continuing concern that his status might be altered again."
"In the court of its supervision over Padilla's custody and trial, the district court will be obliged to afford him the protection, including the right to a speedy trial, guaranteed to all federal criminal defendants," Justice Kennedy wrote on behalf of himself and his two colleagues.
And even though Justice Stevens found today that the Padilla case need not be considered now, he declared at an earlier stage in the case that "at stake in this case is nothing less than the essence of a free society."
An American citizen and a former Chicago gang member, Mr. Padilla was arrested in May 2002 when he arrived at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. He was soon declared an "enemy combatant," and then-Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that he had planned to detonate a radioactive bomb in the United States.
The administration long resisted charging Mr. Padilla in a civilian court, preferring to hold him without charges in the Navy brig. Finally, last fall, the administration did bring charges, accusing him of being part of a terrorist cell. But those charges contained no mention of a radioactive-bomb plot.
The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, a Richmond-based tribunal widely regarded as the most conservative of the circuits, ruled last September that President Bush had the authority to detain as an enemy combatant an American citizen who fought the United States on foreign soil. (The Pentagon has asserted that Mr. Padilla fought alongside Al Qaeda members in Afghanistan.)
But the Fourth Circuit was still critical of the administration, voicing its suspicion that it had decided to move Mr. Padilla to civilian custody to evade a Supreme Court ruling on the president's authority in incarcerating "enemy combatants."
The Supreme Court sidestepped a comprehensive ruling on government authority in January, when it granted the administration's request to transfer Mr. Padilla to civilian custody. Today's refusal by the justices to take Mr. Padilla's case means that the questions about government authority will have to wait for still another day.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/04/2006 00:41 ||
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#1
John Paul Stevens - Mysterious stranger in this case. Welcome to sanity, Mr Justice.
#2
No surprise here - as an alleged memeber of an organized minor group, as opposed to being a regular soldier in the armed forces of a trad or diplomatically recognized sovereign nation, the core issue is whether Mr. Padilla as a US citizen had permanently relinquished his citizenship when he fought agz US milfors in Afghanistan, and how long the Army can keep him in jail before transference to American civilian authorities. As an Amer citizen, and in the absence of a formal declaration of war against a sovereign power by the Congress, he must inevitably be transferred to US civilian authority. In any case, Padilla's is most likely jailmeat anyways becuz the Army is usually very thorough about sny investigation into the MILITARY/MIL-RELATED aspect of Padilla's conduct, i.e. will NOT release Padilla until Padilla gives up the ghost/full monty on his role and actions. Ironically, Padilla is lucky becuz iff he weren't a US citizen, the Army can poten hold him forever, until such time the Army is satisfied of his role and that he is no longer of any threat to the Amer people after his release - until then, only an act of Congress can release/waiver his butt.
#6
Wishfull thinking. GWB and the Pubs are wringing their hands cause they fear the pain of staged outrage over executing the traitor. Just announce the time and place of the dude's release and let the public [sort of] vote.
The Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court on Monday stopped the confiscation of the assets of Asif Ali Zardari, husband of former premier Benazir Bhutto, and directed the accountability courts not to issue any further orders regarding the forfeiture process.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2006 00:00 ||
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The two bloodied, wincing Iraqi soldiers - bandages wrapped around their legs - hobbled onto the waiting ambulance, wounded during a house-to-house search near this farming town. The culprit was a common one: Not insurgents, but gunfire from fellow soldiers. U.S. trainers who mentor Iraqi troops say a lack of gun safety, or what they call ''muzzle discipline,'' has led to many injuries and deaths across the country. And while the Americans say it is slowly getting better, it remains a major problem for a U.S. military trying to train more than 200,000 Iraqis to defeat the insurgency.
''When we first got here, it was a little scary,'' said Army Capt. Steven Fischer, a trainer from Washington, Pa. ''We have to correct it.'' In the Bidimnah case in late January, insurgents first fired on Iraqi and U.S. troops patrolling the rural area about 50 miles west of Baghdad. That prompted more than a minute of wild, continuous gunfire from the Iraqi troops. The two Iraqi soldiers were wounded while the militants escaped unharmed.
Other examples are rife and often startling to the Associated Press:
*In December in the town of Adhaim north of Baghdad, an Iraqi soldier stepped out of a vehicle with his safety lever turned off and accidentally shot himself point-blank in the chest. Minutes later, as a U.S. helicopter carried the dying man away, an Associated Press reporter saw a frustrated American soldier storm up and lecture another Iraqi soldier, who also did not have his safety on.
*During a large-scale operation last summer in Baghdad, an antsy Iraqi soldier took aim at what he thought was an insurgent, prompting several other Iraqi soldiers to drill hundreds of rounds into an empty home. No one was hurt.
*Iraq had a million-man army under Saddam Hussein, but soldiers who served in the old army said they were given only a few bullets a year - apparently a way to prevent coups. That practice left Iraqi troops untrained in the most basic of soldiering skills.
*Iraq now has tens of thousands of rookie soldiers who only recently learned how to use a weapon. And misfires have led to dozens of military deaths.
This reporter is tiptoeing along the slippery edge of Quagmire Ravine. YES, training gun safety to Arabs is hard. And YES, people are getting hurt and killed by arrogance, superstition, and ignorance. But YES, the work must be done, and our citizen soldiers are making it happen.
#1
This one's not in the ravine though, since less accusatory sources have noted this problem as well; it's pretty dangnabit ugly, although hopefully they've fixed the "bullet goes where Allah wills it" problem. I've heard about the 'few bullets' issuance before, hence extreme differences in marksmanship.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
04/04/2006 13:14 Comments ||
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One of the great benefits HOllywood has done for the war effort was decades of movies showing hipshots and other unsafe gun practices. These action movies were huge hits overseas and I've seen lots of pictures of militia hardboys doing Rambo poses (usually in West Africa but I'm sure its semi-universal).
Now the good folks in Hollywood would quake to know they have helped along the death of America's enemies(1) but facts are facts.
(1) Along a similar line Jimmy Carter helped end the cold war by being so pathetic that in 1979 the Soviet Union expanded their influence far beyond their abilities (Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Mozambique, Angola, Vietnam, etc) just in time for Reagan to bash them. I'm sure Jimmy would wake up in a cold sweat were he to hear that.
Theres nothing like roaring into Baghdad aboard a Rhino. A Rhino is a giant, heavily-armored bus that can withstand IEDs (small ones), and it is now the favored means of keeping Western visitors from getting blown to bits by these homemade bombs on the dangerous road between Baghdad International Airport and the secure Green Zone at the citys center. Rhino is an appropriately Disney-ish name for these wheeled monstrosities, adding to the surreal feeling one gets in moving from the howling chaos outside the Green Zone into the theme park-like confines within. You drive through several checkpoints, leaving behind tracts of litter and rubble and the desperate, dark faces of ordinary Iraqis trying to earn a few dinars. There, behind high concrete blast walls and razor wire, you find quiet streets and the heart of the American occupation: a double-sized Olympic pool with a palm-fretted patio restaurant, food courts and a giant coffee lounge where lessons in belly dancing and martial arts are offered. All these are huge improvements from the last time I was in Baghdad, two years ago. And all are intended for the Westerners who dwell in increasing comfort here.
The Green Zone, a vast secure, American area plunked down in the heart of the Baghdad (imagine foreign occupiers taking over the Mall in Washington, D. C.), was supposed to have been temporary. Like the occupation itself, it was an interim phase, a set of training wheels for the New Iraq. But as those of us who accompanied Condoleezza Rice on her surprise visit to Iraq learned this week, the lines between the real and surreal in Iraqbetween whats happening outside the Green Zone and withinare only hardening. They are getting bolder and clearer, rather than more blurred. Outside the Green Zone the sectarian violence is worseningensuring future dysfunction, if perhaps not outright civil war or breakup of the country. Inside the Green Zone a few Iraqi politicians live in splendor and permanent American structures are going upincluding a new U.S. embassy that did not await the OK of the new government-to-comeand its hard to find an ordinary Iraqi anywhere. In fact, several people remarked that speaking Spanish is more useful than Arabic when making ones way through the palatial embassy grounds.
Secretary of State Rice came here to bring the surreal and the real closer into contact. Acting on the orders of an increasingly anxious George W. Bush (so she admitted under questioning), she and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw spent a day reading the riot act to the bickering Iraqi politicians and telling them to get governing, as Bush put it. She and Straw, sensing like everyone that their historical reputations are on the line (as are those of Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair), are hoping to break the stalemate that has kept the leading Iraqi political parties from forming a unity government for nearly four months. But again, reflecting the Green Zone prism, Rice and Straw seemed not to understand that a genteel coalition government, as designed by U.S. authorities, may not be what Iraq needs right now. What Iraq needs is strong leadership.
For Washington, the biggest problem is that despite increasing American desperation to pull out, the U.S. presence is gradually getting woven into the very fabric of the new Iraq, much as the Green Zone (now euphemistically called the international zone) is getting a permanent look. Picture NATO troops in Bosniathere more than a decade and countingand then multiply that pathological dependence several times over. So terrified are most Shia leaders of Sunni insurgents that they regularly blanch when faced with the prospect of U.S. withdrawal. So terrified are the Sunnis of Shiite militias that they insist on having Americans accompany any Iraqi military units that move into their towns. Absent U.S. guidance and advisors, the Iraqi army will become a Shiite Army, and the Sunni community will become a sea for the insurgency to swim in once again. When the war started, some observers worried that Iraq might become Americas 51st state, a virtual protectorate of Washingtons. Today the worry is that America has become Iraqs 19th provinceand the most important one in the country.
Again, the Americans don't seem to fully understand this. A Western intelligence expert who recently sat in on briefings by U.S. and Iraqi military officers in Baghdad described a disconnect between U.S. occupation authorities and Iraqi officials that was just as wide as what lies between the Green Zone and the rest of Iraq. The American officers, he said, spent an hour triumphantly describing how they had finally gotten the better of the insurgency while the Iraqis present doodled on their pads, their eyes glazing over. Then the Iraqis got up and described their nation's growing sectarian conflict in urgent terms while the Americans barely paid attention. The two teams, nominally allies, were simply talking past each other, he said.
Let us not forget that the great planner of this war, Donald Rumsfeld, once warned us about all this. (It was one of the few things he managed to anticipate.) In February of 2003a month before the Iraq invasionthe Defense secretary outlined his theory of occupation. When foreigners come in with international solutions to local problems, it can create a dependency, he said in a speech called Beyond Nation Building. His remarks were scornful of previous United Nations efforts in Bosnia, Kosovo and East Timor. A long-term foreign presence in a country can be unnatural. It is much like a broken bone. If it is not set properly at the outset, eventually, the muscles and tendons will grow around the break, and the body will adjust to the abnormal condition. This is what has happened in a number of places with a large foreign presence. Economies remain unreformed, distorted and dependent. Educated young people make more money as drivers for foreign workers, than as doctors or civil servants.
This describes Iraq today. Rumsfeld, through fecklessness and arrogance, created the very problem that he criticized. Perhaps he doesnt really mind. One idea behind the war, it is clear, was to give America a big say in the future of this oil-flush nation. And, after all, weve never completely pulled our troops out of Germany or Japan either. Sixty years after occupation, that has worked fairly well for international peace. Rice, in a speech in Britain last week, laid out an eloquent vision of how she and Bush see their legacy. Someday, people in Baghdad and Beirut and Cairo and, yes, in Tehran will wonder how anyone could ever have doubted the future of liberal democracy in their countries. But most of all, they will remember fondly those fellow democracies, like Britain and the United States who stood with them in their time of need. Whether fondly or not, the Iraqis wont have too much trouble remembering that the Americans were there. Why? Probably because the Americans wont have left yet.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/04/2006 01:08 ||
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#1
This Newsweek article is full of empty metaphors. They serve as a substitute for the raw numbers - which inconveniently contradict its whole thesis. We know that enemy propagandists are coming out with false reports of sectarian massacres - which are taken at face value by enemy-sympathizing reporters and Democrats. If Iraq is howling chaos, what would he call Chechnya, where up to a million Chechnyans have been displaced, and entire towns lie in rubble? What would he call Kashmir, where six decades after partition, Muslim terrorists have attacked Indian cities again and again, including government buildings? Newsweek's hysteria and tendency towards purple prose in place of numbers is worth of the Nation and Mother Jones. This isn't too surprising, I suppose, given that more and more writers from these two far-left publications are branching out into the mainstream media.
#2
What is real is Newsweek's inability to avoid rehashing drug-addled Vietnam war movies as a template for their Iraq commentaries. What is surreal is that Newsweek expects its audience to accept its demented hysterics as news.
#4
Picture NATO troops in Bosniathere more than a decade and counting...
Funny how that's never trotted out as a "quagmire", isn't it.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/04/2006 9:44 Comments ||
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#5
Dump on Newsweak all you want, and I like to also, but I suspect there will be Americans based in Iraq in 50 years. And nobody will be bitching about it any more than they will be about the troops still in Japan, Germany, Italy, or the Grand Duchy of Fenwick.
A Hamas spokesman said on Monday Hamas members held talks two months ago with French officials and more recently with an Indian diplomat despite U.S. and Israeli efforts to isolate the Islamic militant group. "Meetings were held here (in Gaza) two months ago with French officials," said Hamas spokesman Abu Zuhri, without identifying them or providing any details about the talks.
France's ambassador to Israel, Gerard Araud, denied French officials have any contact with Hamas, which won elections in January and formally took control of the Palestinian Authority last week. Araud said France, like the European Union, expected Hamas to first renounce violence, recognize Israel and abide by interim peace deals. "We don't have any contact with the Hamas ... We won't have any contact with the Hamas whatsoever, as long as they don't satisfy the three well-known conditions," the ambassador, speaking in English, told Army Radio.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2006 00:00 ||
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that would not be helpful. I call Bullshit
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2006 0:15 Comments ||
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Iranian Armed Forces test-fired successfully high precision anti-aircraft the fastest surface-to-sea destructive missiles against warships in the ongoing 'Great Prophet (PBUH)' military exercise on Tuesday.
"The speed of the missile is to the extent that no radar can detect it and its high speed protects it completely from being targeted in case of being detected by other warning systems," Commodore Mohammad Ibrahim Dehqani said. He said that Misaq missile can be fired from man's shoulder and is capable of hitting air targets. Its smart warhead protects it from being hit by any other weapon ahead of accomplishing its mission. The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) naval gunboats and vessels of the regular Army are equipped with Misaq high precision anti-aircraft missiles.
In the meantime, Kowsar, the second missile which was test-fired on Tuesday is a surface-to-sea missile with high veracity and capable of being fired from coasts or aboard vessels to destroy warships. Dehqani said that Kowsar has extraordinary advanced fire control system (FCS) which overcomes any electronic jamming.
"Its smart warhead leads it to the target and helps the missile to avoid any electronic jam in the air and it also manages to escape from being hit."
The Great Prophet (PBUH) military exercise in the southern territorial waters of the Persian Gulf will continue until Thursday.
TEHRAN, Iran - A top Iranian military official said Tuesday the country can now defend itself against any invasion originating from outside the region a clear reference to the United States as it tested a second new radar-avoiding missile. That and $5 can get you a box of chocolates.
The new surface-to-sea missile is equipped with remote-control and searching systems, state-run television reported. I doubt it does frequency hopping so can most likely be jammed.
It said the new missile, called Kowsar after the name of a river in paradise, was a medium-range weapon that Iran had the capability to mass-produce. It also asserted that the Kowsar's guidance system could not be scrambled You wanna bet on that?, and it had been designed to sink ships.
Shortly after the test, the chief of the elite Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, warned that Iran was now able to "confront any extra-regional invasion," referring to the United States without mentioning it by name. "The missile command of the Guards' naval force ... via positioning various types of surface-to-sea missiles, is able, while defending the coastlines and islands, to confront any extra-territorial invasion," the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Safavi as saying. Just as the airborne laser comes online too.
Safavi also called for foreign forces to leave the region. The U.S. 5th Fleet is based in Bahrain, from where it patrols the Gulf. "Iran wants durable peace in the Persian Gulf and it can't be achieved without foreign forces and those which invaded Iraq leaving (the region)," IRNA quoted Safavi as saying.
On Friday, the country tested the Fajr-3, a missile that it said can avoid radars and hit several targets simultaneously after it breaks up in flight using multiple warheads. Iran also has tested what it calls two new torpedoes. The second torpedo, unveiled Monday, was tested in the Straits of Hormuz, the narrow entrance to the Gulf that is a vital corridor for oil supplies. That seemed to be a clear warning to the United States that Iran believes it has the capability to disable oil tankers moving through the Gulf.
The Revolutionary Guards, the elite branch of Iran's military, have been holding their maneuvers code-named the "Great Prophet" since Friday, touting what they call domestically built technological advances in their armed forces. You are gonna need 'em.
But some military analysts in Moscow said it appears the high-speed torpedoes likely were Russian-built weapons that may have been acquired from China or the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan.
Others have questioned just how radar-evading the missiles are. Iran's radars are not as advanced as those of Israel, for example meaning that perhaps the new weapons can avoid Iran's radar but not more advanced types. They avoid radar by burrowing. Ya, that's it!
The United States said Monday after the second torpedo test that while Iran may have made "some strides" in its military, it likely is exaggerating its capabilities. "We know that the Iranians are always trying to improve their weapons system by both foreign and indigenous measures," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said in Washington. "It's possible that they are increasing their capability and making strides in radar-absorbing materials and technology."
But "the Iranians have also been known to boast and exaggerate their statements about greater technical and tactical capabilities," he said. Gee ... ya think?
It has not been possible to verify Iran's claims for the new armaments. But the country has made clear it aims to send a message of strength to the United States amid heightened tensions over its nuclear program. More stupidity at link.
#1
I saw a video on Special Report that was this new flying boat. It was very small and had an external engine that looked like a flat-six propeller job. It appeared to have neither offensive not defensive armaments nor the space or power to carry any.
Kamikaze aircraft without the ability to do any damage. Wudda joke.
#3
Sadly enough, I believe that they *think* they are invulnerable.
Years ago, I talked with a Lebanese who was studying to be an electronics engineer in the US. He said to me that "It was ridiculous that the US used most of its defense budget to buy arms for Israel."
I pointed out that the entire Isreali arms budget is spare change by Pentagon standards.
He refused to believe me, though I offered to prove it to him.
The point was, he couldn't believe me. He had seen the Israeli military at work, and couldn't, he refused to, believe that there was any army mightier than them.
In retrospect, I'm afraid that this truth is also not-known and not-believed throughout the Islamic world. They just cannot, will not grasp the reality.
#4
I'm OK with that - a permanent case of shock and awe
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2006 20:16 Comments ||
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#5
Brett, you obviously have not seen the damage a flying IRG can cause when he splatters on a windshield. Think skunk
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/04/2006 20:52 Comments ||
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#6
So they kick our ass. We slap a bandage on the donkey and then go in and slap them all silly. I can only guess that Iran's propaganda writers must have gone to school with Baghdad Bob.
#7
Baghdad Bob indeed. These lunatics have bought a bunch of Russian junk and now think they're invincible. I almost feel sorry for them... but not quite. Glass 'em.
#8
It should be amusing seeing the Iranian boats blow themselves outta' the water trying to fire those Shkvals. If the Russkies couldn't fire a test torp properly aboard the Kursk (may her crew rest in peace) then I'm fairly certain that the Iranians will have a certain amount of problems torching theirs off as well.
A little rust in the wrong spot can apparently do wonders.
#9
So are these Iran's equivalent of Saddam's dual-use, nuke-capable, Russian-controlled, modern FROG rockets, the ones Saddam loyalists were trying to disguise as either outmoded SCUDS or other simple rockets??? "Tis a shame Saddam's boyz had to destroy such brand-new, glossy techy weapons.
April 4, 2006: Iran recently announced the successful test of a new, high-speed torpedo, one that could move through the water at speeds of up to 100 meters a second. This is four times as fast as conventional torpedoes, and is thus nearly "unavoidable" by its intended target.
The new Iranian weapon is apparently based upon Russia's VA-111 Shkval (Squall) torpedo. The Shkval is a high-speed supercavitating rocket-propelled torpedo originally designed to be a rapid-reaction defense against US submarines. Basically an underwater missile, the solid-rocket propelled torpedo achieves its speed by producing an envelope of supercavitating bubbles from its nose and skin, which coat the entire weapon surface in a thin layer of gas. This drastically reduces metal-to-water friction. The torpedo leaves the tube at nearly a hundred kilometers an hour, then lights its rocket motor. In tests in the 1990s the Shkval reportedly had an 80 percent kill probability at a range about seven kilometers, although steerability was reportedly limited.
The reliability of such rocket-propelled torpedoes remains uncertain. The much publicized loss of the Russian submarine "Kursk" was, according to some sources, likely due to an accidental rocket motor start of such a torpedo while still aboard the boat. News of this new Iranian weapon was accompanied by the announcement that Iran had also tested a new ballistic missile, the Fajr-3, which employs some stealth technology and carries several warheads.
Iran's possession and successful testing of this weapon is troublesome for several reasons. One is Iran's increasing belligerence, especially towards nuclear-armed Israel (which is estimated to have at least 200 nuclear weapons and the missiles and submarines to deliver them) as well as an almost equal antipathy towards the US. Another reason to worry is Russia's apparent intent to continue close economic ties with Iran and the resulting transfer of its technology to this Islamic state run by fanatics and others who are apparently just plain nuts.
Iran is believed to have three late-model Kilo class SSKs bought from Russia, eight mini-subs purchased from North Korea, and several older boats of unknown type. The navy has several dozen fast attack boats that might carry the new torpedo but whose capabilities are in other ways modest. Its small fleet of P-3K "Orion" aircraft could conceivably also carry such a torpedo although it is unknown if Iran plans to arm its Orions with the new torpedo. Iran's navy is the smallest of its armed forces.
However, there is also the matter of credibility and capability. For decades, Iran has continually boasted of new, Iranian designed and manufactured weapons, only to have the rather more somber truth leak out later. Iran's weapons design capabilities are primitive, but the government has some excellent publicists, who always manage to grab some headlines initially, before anyone can question the basic facts behind these amazing new weapons. Take, for example, the new wonder torpedo. The Russians have not had any success convincing the world's navy that their rocket propelled torpedo is a real threat. For one thing, the attacking sub has to get relatively close (within seven kilometers) to use it. Modern anti-submarine tactics focus on preventing subs from getting that close. For that reason, the Russians themselves tout the VA-111 Shkval torpedo as a specialized anti-submarine weapon for Russian subs being stalked by other subs. This is also questionable, because Shkval is essentially unguided. You have to turn the firing sub and line it up so that the Shkval, on leaving the torpedo tube and lighting off its rocket motor, will be aimed directly at the distant target. Do the math, and you will see that there is little margin for error, or chance of success, with such a weapon. If the Iranians bought the Shkval technology from Russia, they got the bad end of the deal.Defense Tech has a lot more on this torpedo
Posted by: Steve ||
04/04/2006 08:58 ||
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#1
Its small fleet of P-3K "Orion" aircraft could conceivably also carry such a torpedo...
While the Orion is an excellent ASW plane, and not bad at taking out light/undefended surface targets, it's a prop plane. It simply couldn't get close enough to a defended target to deliver a torpedo with a 7nm range.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/04/2006 9:41 Comments ||
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#2
The only problem here is that these torpedoes would likely be used against tankers, not naval vessels.
Go read up on the "Tanker war" when the US reflagged vessels to protect them from Iranians (and Iraqis too - Saddam was flying French fighter-bombers and using French Exocet missles. Bet you forgot that!)
Iran refrained from attacking the United States naval forces directly, but it used various forms of harassment, including mines, hit-and-run attacks by small patrol boats, and periodic stop-and-search operations. On several occasions, Tehran fired its Chinese-made Silkworm missiles on Kuwait from Al Faw Peninsula. When Iranian forces hit the reflagged tanker Sea Isle City in October 1987, the US retaliated by destroying an oil platform in the Rostam field and by using US Navy SEALs to blow up a second one nearby.
#3
this is too what im begining too see this as, a tanker threat more then anything,a card to use in a any new tanker wars and a powerful card it is to when used against unprotoected supertankers. US navy or DARPA has developed a weapons system apparently that firs bullets into the water to defeat wake homing torpeados, i think it uses a LADAR system to search for and aquire the target then fires a type of super cavitating bullets - much like a close in defense system like goal keeper i think but the bullets have no bother with water and its rigged to fire into the water anyway if you get me. Perhaps systems like these will become standard issue much in the same way the certain countrys airline aircraft are now being fitted with advanced counter measure systems. The whole web seems to have gone wild with excitment over this though - find me a military forum or newsforum that dosnt say about it so the Iranians certaily got thier propaganda value out of this. Anyway back to counter measures which brings about another thought - Decoys? do warships have sonar spoofing decoys that are towed out behind like the is it 'ALE-50' system on fighter and bomber jets do, something like that would be handy i'd guess and then theres that Acoustic defensive system i said about the other day that again i think DARPA said they invented which uses pulses of sound i think to make a torpedo think its hit and detonate - like a big fck off shockwave slamming into it i think - something like that could also end up standard fit on Tankers and warships operating in that region. Slat armour like a Stryker? lol joking on that last one but don't US carriers have alot of armour on them or is all of that above the water line? and could even a super carrier bear to take the huge force of pressure detonated by one or think maybe 3 or 4 at once of these detonating against and even worse under it hull? Hell a Super carrier is big i know but the blast of a torpedo detonating directly underneath would surly still have a hell of a chance of snapping her back in two pieces. I think the plan is gonna be to use these to shut down the straights of Hormuz (spelling) by swamping the area with launchers fitted and in various types of differant platforms. Yes alot of them would be taken out but you get 5 or 6 of these coming at you in a coordinated fight then your in trouble. Perhaps engaging the US navy with suicide boats and what not for hours and days to wear them down (ok debatable) using every tool in the book then a suprise attack with a mass Shkval attack - at night too so the wakes less visable. Ok might sound like some kind of doom mongering but you don't win wars by under estimating the potential of the enemy.
#4
I am not a Naval expert but how effective would this weapon be in the (somewhat) shallow waters around Iran? Also if push come to shove wouldn't it be difficult for a sub to evade an ASW screen in those waters? But maybe the only correct move would be to destroy everything now and not wait and see if they can employ them.
I'ts hard to believe that the Navy would ever let the Air Force get all the robot money [Preditor, Global Hawk etc]. I'm sure we've wired the whole Gulf way back and keep updating the sensors. And I wouldn't be surprised if we've mined it with the latest smart mines and or smart varities of robots.
#9
The only problem here is that these torpedoes would likely be used against tankers, not naval vessels.
Against a target as slow and unmanaeuverable as a tanker ypou don't need this torpedo. This torpedo is supposed to go after war ships not tankers, now that it will be effetive its to be demonstrated.
#10
I'm no naval expert either but it's pretty clear from articles that the Shkval was developed as a defensive weapon for a sub to fire off against US sub which would have to evade, letting the Russian sub gain the initiative in a sub to sub battle. I guess it could hit a carrier too if the sub got in that close, but then so could the other Russian torpedo models.
Correct me if I'm wrong but don't we also hunt subs effectively from P3s (which Iran also has but I assume we can shoot them down or we have other problems) and Helos. If so, aren't we really worried about Shkval-armed torpedo boats . I am curious if we have a problem tracking them.
Seems to me we're worried more about Exocet and Sunburn for our carriers.
As noted here before, blocking the Strait is not a necessarily a good idea for Iran which imports a lot of its own gasoline with tankers. I would assume such a provocative act would lead to a total blockade of Iran and we would destroy their electrical generation and distribution and petroleum refining capacity as well as their IRBMs and shore batteries. This would take a lot longer to restore than clearing the Strait.
#13
Trying a harassment campaign against the US is fruitless, as our Navy Seals live for the opportunity to scuttle everything that floats in Iran larger than most bathtub toys.
So using this as an axiom, their first attack almost has to be against one or two of our carriers. Their entire campaign is rooted in whether this attack works or not.
Ideally, for the Iranians, it would happen in the area of Port Said, Egypt, at the entrance or in the Suez Canal; South to the Bab el Mandeb passage opposite Aden, Yemen. In the North, if it was a nuclear detonation, it might also rain fallout on Israel, as well as close the canal.
They would make it an al-Qaeda operation, and diplomatically deny involvement around the world.
The US has already warned them that any such attack would be interpreted as an Iranian act of war. So continuing, any response by the US would immediately be met with a massive conventional missile barrage against US airbases in Iraq and Afghanistan.
They would calculate that with the US Atlantic fleet blocked from entering the region, the Pacific fleet a week or two away, and the complete shut-off of Persian Gulf oil causing massive disruption in the world oil markets and economies, along with major diplomatic efforts, might limit US retaliation to "acceptable" levels.
#15
So what they have basically invented is an underwater unguided balistic missile that would have to be lit off close to the target? With the shallow depth around Iran, good luck with that.
#16
thing what is often forgotten though is Iran has no problem finding suicidal manpower to do these jobs - they think very very differantly to how we do when it comes to how they use thier forces. They have no worry for casualties regardless of number - these fckers would sacrifice 200000 just to kill 4000 of us, im not doom mongering again but this factor has to be bought into account when dealing with the Iranians. They have no shortage of brain washed idiots either willing to sacrifice themselves for Allan and the mad mullahs, also no media crying quigmire every 30 seconds either. These guys ain't stupid - they've been tooling up for this for decades and are willing to take heavy losses.
#17
The Persian Gulf is a noisy place. There are questions about how effective our anti-submarine efforts would be there. I assume that doctrine is being developed to deal with this but, the US Navy is primarilily a blue water Navy. The Gulf is not the environment that they have been designed for.
Posted by: Formerly Dan ||
04/04/2006 12:53 Comments ||
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#18
My understanding was that the carriers would stay off in quieter, deeper waters or the Arabian Sea and that P3s (based in Quatar or some friendly country), our attack subs and ship based helos would hunt Iranian subs. Doesn't that make the Iranian theater ballistic missile threat more of an issue than the Shkval since it can be used to attack our air bases in the region from which P3s and refueling aircraft must launch?
#21
I'd love to hear the explaination of how displacing water could be as easy as displacing air. Water to metal friction is only a fraction of the problem. I just don't see how this torpedo could work and I think the inherent design problem probably caused the Kursk accident.
#22
#13 They would make it an al-Qaeda operation, and diplomatically deny involvement around the world.
One more reason to tell Iran, North Korea and all other rogue nuclear states that a single terrorist nuclear explosion gets all of them glassed over. We need to have enough other nations so petrified over Iran's potential usage that they all put pressure on the mullahs to sit down and STFU.
#24
I don't care how noisy the Gulf is you can use active sonar to detect subs. I forget my basic sonar primer but I think it works better at shallow depths. Since we alreaady know where thse subs are based and I assume we are keeping an eye on them, so at the onset of hostilities they would be a first strike target. The other platforms (P-3, etc) are less of a threat.
#25
I forget my basic sonar primer but I think it works better at shallow depths.
Nah. All those echoes from rocks, the bottom, the SURFACE even. Active sonar is a two edged threat. It can detect but again only under certain conditions but then you've just announced to the listening world that you are out there.
The thing is meant to shoot down the throat of another attacking submarine and hopefully make it turn away, thus, breaking the control wire of it's own torpedo.
REMEMBER: There are only two types of ships at sea. (1) Submarines and (2) Targets!
#26
I'm pretty confident with our Navy that the gulf is the most-mapped/seeded with sensors body of water in the world....
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2006 18:50 Comments ||
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#27
We should be careful of this new weapon because in it's only deployment, it was 100% successful and sunk a submarine. Course, the problem is, it sunk it's mothership. I think it is more dangerous for them than us.
#28
Dipping sonar and sonobouys - thats the biggie that most forget. Active sonar, but no giving away a big naval target (sub, surface ship) to do that. If we had ann FFG's with SURTASS left, they'd probably do OK on picket duty just off the brown water in the Persian Gulf.
#29
#21 I'd love to hear the explaination of how displacing water could be as easy as displacing air. Water to metal friction is only a fraction of the problem. I just don't see how this torpedo could work and I think the inherent design problem probably caused the Kursk accident.
Okay, lemme' try at least.
First, the damned thing has a sort of "burbler" which disperses a constant bubble of gas from the nose. Think of a fountain, only this fountain uses gas underwater instead of water above the surface.
The gas flows down all sides of the missile, coating it in a constant stream for the few short seconds it's going to be active and moving.
Now, what happens is that the gas forms a sort of "bubble" or "cavity" (opening in the surroudning water) around the entire missile. This cavity pushes on the water ahead of the missile, constantly forming ahead of the missile and allowing it to travel through a less dense medium than the water surrounding the cavity. The result is that the missile is pushing against a gaseous bubble which is pushing against a watery bubble. This lets the missile attain much faster speeds than a normal torpedo can.
Of course, it's noisier than hell and any launch will be instantly detected by anything using sonar even in the passive role within miles.
The USN had 2 submarines watching the Kursk the day she went down according to most reports (Memphis & Toledo) and I'm sure we've seen the Shkval test fired (or acquired a few of our own and test fired them ourseves) and acquired its acoustic signature. This thing will be instantly detected, identified, located, and very quickly destroyed along with its firing platform.
The danger is that it carries a fairly heavy warhead and will likely be used against tankers rather than in a faceoff with the USN. It can do a lot of damage even to newer double-hulled tankers, but it's unlikely to be able to sink a carrier unless it cracks her keel (also unlikely in my estimation). The warhead is only about 500 lbs high explosive. I believe the Sunburn carries a substantially larger warhead.
The Exocets (2 of them) that hit our OHP (Stark; a tiny little aluminum hulled frigate) in the Gulf had a warhead of about 250 lbs HE each, as an example.
Go here,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exocet
or Google "Exocet missile warhead" and go to the Wiki site for a picture of the Stark after she was hit.
Ahmad Jibril, the head of the pro-Syrian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command said Saturday that he "will have another round of meetings with Lebanese officials in 15 days so that we can implement several pending issues."
Jibril, who resides in Syria, paid a surprising visit to Beirut and met with top Lebanese leaders including the head of the Future Movement MP Saad Hariri late Friday, Speaker Nabih Berri, Premier Fouad Siniora and Hizbullah's chief, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, on Saturday. Jibril said after his meetings that what "is most important at the moment is that the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are given guarantees that they will be equal to their Lebanese brothers ... and given their basic human rights as the Palestinian refugees in Syria and outside it are given."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2006 00:00 ||
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Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun and Progressive Socialist Party Leader Walid Jumblatt have seemingly decided to forget the brawls of the past and turn a new page. Ever since the former army general's return to Lebanon from exile in Paris, and since the parliamentary elections, Aoun and Jumblatt have had a relationship haunted by tension and bickering.
Now, however, the relationship between them is starting to thaw as both sides decided to start a new phase of cooperation. A Source close to the FPM confirmed that relations between the FPM and the PSP are improving, saying: "A mutual friend between Aoun and Jumblatt is bridging the gap between the two parties, where delegations from the FPM parliamentary bloc and the Democratic Gathering are exchanging visits to Aoun and Jumblatt."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
"We don't want to turn Lebanon into another Iraq."
#3
they can agree that the festering sores of Hezbollah and the Paleo camps are no. 1 problems, then fight for power between themselves later. Lebanon's civil war was too bloody, still too fresh perhaps
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2006 18:17 Comments ||
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United Nations Under Secretary General Ibrahim Gambari said it will be hard to fully implement Security Council Resolution 1559 as long as Hizbullah considers itself a "resistance." "The UN is trying to fully implement Resolution 1559 which calls for the disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias but the problem is that Hizbullah considers itself a resistance," Gambari told the Egypt-based Middle East News Agency over the weekend.
Resolution 1559 is among the topics Lebanon's top political leaders have been discussing during their ongoing national dialogue. "The United Nations praised Lebanon's national dialogue and all participants in these talks welcomed the organization's support," Gambari told the agency.
During the dialogue, the March 14 Forces have been aggressively lobbying for the ousting of President Emile Lahoud and the decommissioning of Hizbullah's weapons, while pro-Syrian parties relentlessly reject such demands. But leaders will not start discussing Hizbullah's arms before the presidential issue, so far deadlocked, has been solved. However, top politicians have succeeded in reaching a decision to establish diplomatic relations with Damascus, which Gambari deemed as crucial to solve all pending issues between the two neighboring countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Great slap on the head for Gambi. Now, what to do about it?
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/04/2006 11:07 Comments ||
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The March 14 Forces "have not backed down from their call to oust President Emile Lahoud ... and (Lebanon) should hold a diplomatic and media campaign to pressure Syria to comply with Lebanese demands," former MP Fares Soueid said Monday.
"We have asked Premier Fouad Siniora to rush the demand of asking Syria to demarcate the borders, starting with the disputed Shebaa Farms," he told Lebanese satellite television station LBCI. "If the Syrians refuse our demands, then I call upon March 14 members and their supporters and the Lebanese government to start an international campaign to say that the side which is hindering the building of the Lebanese state is Syria."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2006 00:00 ||
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A Syrian court has issued subpoenas for Druze leader MP Walid Jumblatt, Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamade and journalist Fares Khashan, Hamade said Monday. "There were warrants for questioning ordered by a Syrian penal tribunal ... against Walid Jumblatt, myself and journalist Fares Khashan," Hamade said, adding that he considered the warrants "a threat against our security, after everything that has happened."
"We will present these warrants to the international probe [investigating the murder of former Premier Rafik Hariri] as new threats against Lebanese personalities are already being made," Hamade said. Syria's military judiciary had filed a lawsuit against Jumblatt and "others revealed by the investigation" accusing the defendants of "inciting the U.S. administration to occupy Syria" and of "defaming" Damascus by blaming it for the series of bombings and assassinations in Lebanon last year.
Hamade also linked the subpoenas to the international probe into the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri, hinting they came shortly before an expected meeting between Syrian president Bashar Assad and the head of the probe team Serge Brammertz. "It is worth noting that we received this a few days maybe before the international probe questions top Syrian officials in Damascus," Hamade said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2006 00:00 ||
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The head of the Democratic Gathering, MP Walid Jumblatt, said Friday the "Syrians entered the country with the blood of [Druze leader] Kamal Jumblatt, and left the country with the blood of [former Prime Minister] Rafik Hariri." In an interview with LBC late Thursday, Jumblatt strongly attacked the Syrian regime and its allies in Lebanon and described Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as a "tool in the hands of the Syrian regime
................
Syria subpoenas Jumblatt, Hamade and Khashan 2006-04-04
Guaranteed, If I were Walid, that's one subpoena I'd shine on fo sure.
Irans announcement that it had tested a new torpedo in war-games in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday pushed international oil prices to their highest levels since Hurricane Katrina. The news from Tehran, prompting concerns of a possible disruption to supplies, propelled benchmark Brent crude oil futures nearly $2 higher to trade at $67.79 a barrel.
Irans armed forces frequently carry out extensive military manoeuvres that are given wide coverage on domestic television, but the sensitivity of current naval exercises comes from the 30-day deadline issued last week by the United Nations Security Council for Iran to suspend its atomic programme.
Blocking the straits of Hormuz would be one military option for Iran if the dispute over its nuclear programme were to escalate. But the use of the oil weapon is double-edged, as Iran is heavily dependent on its own exports, which account for around 60 per cent of government revenue and 80 per cent of export earnings.
Mohammad Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian, Irans deputy oil minister, on Monday foreshadowed Irans ability to influence the oil price, when he said: Owing to the current situation, any fall in oil prices this year is unlikely...A sum of factors show that prices will not fall in the next two or three years unless there is a conspiracy against oil.
In the US, oil futures prices rose more than $1 to $67.80 a barrel, inching towards the $70.85 record they reached in early September when Hurricane Katrina devastated the US Gulf Coast, the heart of the countrys oil and natural gas production and its oil refining centre.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/04/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Iff America and the world does NOT give the Mullahs the recognition or concessions they want, e.g. Radical-controlled Iran is a "great nation/power" and entitled to nukes, the Mullahs will opt for war. THE MULLAHS WILL GO ON "PUSHING IT" UNTIL THE WORLD GIVES IN OR AMERICA INVADES, which in the latter's case will be countered by the usual anti-US aymmetric war, aka "People's/
Guerilla War", vv "the BASIJ" People's Militias; and of course international "brinkmanship" btwn the US-West vs Russia-China. Becuz of the location of both Iran's major oil fields + ENERGY = WMD complexes, Iran will prob try to initially limit any US-Allied milaction to the beaches or littorals, wid a main defense line alongst Iran's natural mountain ranges - with the USA in Afghanistan, Iran's MLR/Logisitics will likely run thru Central Asia and Russia-China. Iff the Iranians continue to "go for broke", i.e. push and antagonize Dubya, the Euros, and the UNO, WAR WID IRAN MAY TAKE PLACE THIS SUMMER OR YEAR. Dubya has an ace in that Russia-China both know Iran's regional and geopol ambitions work against their interests, not just America's. STAY ARMED.
OSLO, Norway (AP) Former U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix said Monday that Iran is a least five years away from developing a nuclear bomb, leaving time to peacefully negotiate a settlement. Blix, attending an energy conference in western Norway, said he doubted the U.S. would resort to invading Iran. "But there is a chance that the U.S. will use bombs or missiles against several sites in Iran," he was quoted by Norwegian news agency NTB as saying. "Then, the reactions would be strong, and would contribute to increased terrorism."
Everything leads to increased terrorism according to Blixie, except surrender.
Blix said there is still time for dialogue over Iran's nuclear enrichment program, which Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes but the West fears is part of a secret nuclear weapons program. "We have time on our side in this case. Iran can't have a bomb ready in the next five years," Blix was quoted as saying.
And he knows this how?
Blix, also a former ineffectual head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, urged the United States to take its time, as it is doing in a similar nuclear standoff with North Korea. "The U.S. has given itself time and is negotiating with North Korea, while Iran got a very short deadline," he was quoted as saying.
He said, not understanding the difference between Iran and North Korea.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/04/2006 00:00 ||
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#3
"Former U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix said Monday that Iran is a least five years away from developing a nuclear bomb..."
...and he wants us to bet our lives on it.
Stick it, Blixie; all of your negotiating the last couple of years has accomplished precisely nothing. And that's all it will ever accomplish.
Showtime's a-comin'. Soon.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/04/2006 6:33 Comments ||
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#4
The real question is whether they've bought working nuclear weapons and whether they also have the engineering ability to fit them onto delivery mechanisms.
Whether they are 5 years away from MAKING one isn't the real question - it's their intent to have and to use one however they get their hands on it that is the problem.
#6
Blix is a hoot and in these troubled times wonderful comic relief. In Blix's alternate reality a muslim would be in charge of the IAEA. Oh...wait...
Posted by: Mark Z ||
04/04/2006 9:25 Comments ||
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Thank you Blix for confirming it will be ready in weeks.
Leaders of Lebanon's rival factions have postponed a national dialogue conference until the end of the month and even hinted that a decision might not be reached. Nabih Berri, parliament speaker, said the leaders agreed in four hours of closed talks on Monday to postpone the next session until April 28 "in order to decide the presidency issue". He said: "Either (we reach) agreement on this (presidency) issue or we don't."
That kinda covers all the bases, I'd guess...
If not, he said, the leaders would move on to the last remaining - but tougher - issue of the Shia Muslim group Hezbollah's weapons. A UN resolution calls for Hezbollah to disarm but the group, backed by Iran and Syria, has refused to do so. Lebanon's 14 leaders - pro- and anti-Syrian, Christian and Muslim - have been trying through their unprecedented dialogue to resolve some of the most contentious issues since the end of the 1975-90 civil war. Monday's meeting was the fifth round of talks since the national dialogue began March 2. The talks have focused on Emile Lahoud, the Lebanese president's, fate and on a 2004 UN Security Council resolution that calls on Hezbollah and Palestinian fighters in Lebanon to disarm.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2006 00:00 ||
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They are forced to acknowledge it exists by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. How traumatic for the poor dears.
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, responding to allegations that an anti-Israel bias is rampant on college campuses, approved recommendations Monday aimed at ensuring that Jewish college students are protected from anti-Semitic harassment.
The recommendations grew out of a November hearing at which speakers cited examples of anti-Semitic incidents. One frequently cited involved a 2004 documentary that said Middle East Studies faculty at Columbia University were intimidating Jewish students who defended Israel. (A faculty committee investigated and found no evidence of anti-Semitism.) Last September, a non-profit group called "StandWithUs" showed a 45-minute documentary depicting examples of anti-Israel speakers on campuses.
The commission, an independent, bipartisan federal agency that does not have enforcement powers, also urged university leaders to "set a moral example by denouncing anti-Semitic and other hate speech," and to ensure that Middle East studies departments protect the rights of all students. It recommended Monday that the Department of Education "vigorously" enforce the federal law that bars discrimination based on "race, color or national origin," and that Congress clarify that "national origin" can refer to Jewish heritage.
"We should inform students of their right" to file a complaint if they believe they have been harassed, commissioner Jennifer Braceras said.
Students at the University of California at Irvine, including two who said they were assaulted because they were Jewish, filed a complaint in 2004 with the Education Department's Office of Civil Rights. That case is still open. Now, "you'll see a number of suits filed," says Gary Tobin of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research in San Francisco.
#2
This is the best way to get the madness on campuses to stop (or at least lessen): use the ridiculous well-meaning laws against the people advocating them. I.e. hoist them by their own petards.
#4
Despite their anger about incidents like this, the two rappers reject violence as a solution for conflicts.
Yea, thats the really swell thing about RAP, it's total respect for law enforcement, it's peace loving format, zero tollerence of drugs, law abiding nature have really become RAP hallmarks.
#5
Hey, if Vanilla Ice could rap about the mean streets of his suburb (snicker), why can't some goof from Tennessee rap about the indignity of a Gaza checkpoint he's never been to?
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.
DEH ZABZ, Afghanistan -Millions of mines and unexploded pieces of ordnance still kill or maim around 100 people a month in war-ravaged Afghanistan, a demining group said on Monday.
Nato chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer ruled out Monday sending Nato forces to the Sudanese province of Darfur if the UN sends a peacekeeping mission to the troubled region. Addressing a joint news conference with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, de Hoop Scheffer said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) was considering all options to helping the UN mission in Darfur. But these options, he added, excluded sending personnel to Darfur.
Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it was not worried about Iran's Persian Gulf military exercise, saying Tehran does not pose any threat to its neighbors.
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair launched on Monday a national crime-fighting unit modelled on the United States' FBI, with the aim of tackling the major gangs behind crimes such as people trafficking and drug smuggling. The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), which will have a staff of around 5,000, will tackle drug traffickers, people-smugglers, global paedophile networks and sophisticated fraudsters. 
An Ethiopian prisoner is scheduled to appear before a US military tribunal at the Guantanamo naval base this week on charges that include conspiring with US citizen 
The two bloodied, wincing Iraqi soldiers - bandages wrapped around their legs - hobbled onto the waiting ambulance, wounded during a house-to-house search near this farming town. The culprit was a common one: Not insurgents, but gunfire from fellow soldiers. U.S. trainers who mentor Iraqi troops say a lack of gun safety, or what they call ''muzzle discipline,'' has led to many injuries and deaths across the country. And while the Americans say it is slowly getting better, it remains a major problem for a U.S. military trying to train more than 200,000 Iraqis to defeat the insurgency. 
Theres nothing like roaring into Baghdad aboard a Rhino. A Rhino is a giant, heavily-armored bus that can withstand IEDs (small ones), and it is now the favored means of keeping Western visitors from getting blown to bits by these homemade bombs on the dangerous road between Baghdad International Airport and the secure Green Zone at the citys center. Rhino is an appropriately Disney-ish name for these wheeled monstrosities, adding to the surreal feeling one gets in moving from the howling chaos outside the Green Zone into the theme park-like confines within. You drive through several checkpoints, leaving behind tracts of litter and rubble and the desperate, dark faces of ordinary Iraqis trying to earn a few dinars. There, behind high concrete blast walls and razor wire, you find quiet streets and the heart of the American occupation: a double-sized Olympic pool with a palm-fretted patio restaurant, food courts and a giant coffee lounge where lessons in belly dancing and martial arts are offered. All these are huge improvements from the last time I was in Baghdad, two years ago. And all are intended for the Westerners who dwell in increasing comfort here.
A Hamas spokesman said on Monday Hamas members held talks two months ago with French officials and more recently with an Indian diplomat despite U.S. and Israeli efforts to isolate the Islamic militant group. "Meetings were held here (in Gaza) two months ago with French officials," said Hamas spokesman Abu Zuhri, without identifying them or providing any details about the talks.
Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun and Progressive Socialist Party Leader Walid Jumblatt have seemingly decided to forget the brawls of the past and turn a new page. Ever since the former army general's return to Lebanon from exile in Paris, and since the parliamentary elections, Aoun and Jumblatt have had a relationship haunted by tension and bickering.
United Nations Under Secretary General 
The March 14 Forces "have not backed down from their call to oust President 
A Syrian court has issued subpoenas for Druze leader MP 
Irans announcement that it had tested a new torpedo in war-games in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday pushed international oil prices to their highest levels since Hurricane Katrina. The news from Tehran, prompting concerns of a possible disruption to supplies, propelled benchmark Brent crude oil futures nearly $2 higher to trade at $67.79 a barrel. 
OSLO, Norway (AP) Former U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix said Monday that Iran is a least five years away from developing a nuclear bomb, leaving time to peacefully negotiate a settlement. Blix, attending an energy conference in western Norway, said he doubted the U.S. would resort to invading Iran. "But there is a chance that the U.S. will use bombs or missiles against several sites in Iran," he was quoted by Norwegian news agency NTB as saying. "Then, the reactions would be strong, and would contribute to increased terrorism."
Leaders of Lebanon's rival factions have postponed a national dialogue conference until the end of the month and even hinted that a decision might not be reached. 
