February 17, 2005: Despite North Korea's self-proclaimed nuclear weapons, Iran is a bigger threat to the world, because Iran supports terrorism, even the Sunni terrorists who consider Iranian Shias to be heretics. The North Koreans are mainly a threat to South Korea, China, Russia and Japan. These four nations are trying to get North Korea to behave, and either fix it's crumbling communist era economy, or collapse quietly and let South Korea take over. However, the people running North Korea (and no one outside the country is entirely sure exactly who that is) do not operate according to any normal logic. The constant fear is that North Korea, with its large, but weakening, armed forces, will somehow lash out. The North Koreans have lashed out once before, in 1950. They got pounded big time in return and have not forgotten that defeat.
We remember the Korean War as a meat grinder that went on for three years. But McArthur rather neatly pushed the NKors back to the Yalu. The meat grinder part came when the Chinese joined the festivities.
Since then there have been many minilashes (the Pueblo incident, the low level commando war of the 1960s, kidnapping Japanese in the 70s and 80s, some terrorism, drug dealing, and so on.) They have potential to do much damage. The big problem in the north is that the police state is falling apart. Their biggest enemy right now is cell phones (which have caused the state to lose control of information), lack of food, and lack of fuel. Corruption is growing and discipline in the police and armed forces is falling apart. The most talked about threats, like missiles and nuclear weapons, are blown out of proportion. The North Koreans have basically taken the World War II German technology found in the SCUDs, and scaled it up to produce multi-stage missiles that can, possibly, reach halfway across the Pacific.
But that's the way technology's often developed: by taking something that works, then refining it until you reach a point of diminishing returns, then designing something new from the ground up with what you've learned from Mark I.
But it is potential, at the moment, more than actual capability. The guidance system technology the North Koreans have is not first rate, and even the use of GPS for guidance is doubtful because of meager North Korean engineering resources. Moreover, there is the engineering required to make a nuclear weapon (theirs has not even been tested yet) work in a missile warhead. Their Taepo Dong 2 intercontinental missile has not been test fired yet. The Taepo Dong 1 has been used, which gives you something to work with. The range for the Taepo Dong 2 is an extrapolation (from 2,000 kilometers for the 1 to three times that for the Taepo Dong 2). It's much ado about nothing, unless it can reach the Alaska, Hawaii, or maybe US West Coast. Maybe. The "No Dong" missiles have seen incremental improvements to assist their export program. The No Dong sales are a major source of hard currency. These missiles are basically improved SCUDs.
The question becomes: do we really care to risk Honolulu or Fairbanks? Risking San Francisco, I can live with, of course, and possibly Milpetas...
The North Korean fear of war with the United States is based on grim experience. When North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950, the response by the American armed forces caused enormous damage in the north. Another war would, North Korea fears, have the same result. And they believed they might be "Saddamized" with a preemptive American attack. The North Koreans know that the U.S. Navy had dozens of warships in the area, that could let loose with hundreds of precision guided Tomahawk cruise missiles. They know that the American navy and air force are not tied down in Iraq, and are able to rush forces to South Korea faster than the U.S. army in any circumstances. Moreover, only about 15 percent of the American army is tied down in Iraq, and many U.S. ground troops, now combat experienced, are available for movement to Korea. Worse yet, the North Korean leaders know that their own armed forces have been in decline for over a decade. In the past few years, discipline has been breaking down, and new recruits are smaller than a generation ago, because of a decade of famine.
Average height of the adult North Korean male should be dropping below three feet in about ten years or so. In the event of war, it'd be The Terror of Tinytown all over again...
More government officials are engaging in corrupt practices. The North Korean leadership has a lot to be afraid of, but the United States is only one of many objects of terror for them. It's gotten to the point where North Korean generals are not sure their troops would follow through if ordered to attack the south. So there you have it. Unreliable troops and missiles, untested nukes and a North Korean population that is starving to death. And none to happy with their present leaders. Perhaps it's no surprise that the North Korean leadership acts a bit mad. They have a lot to be mad about.
But since they're nutz, they're unpredictable, and since they're unpredictable we can probably expect them to do something nutty. Something like invading the south while we're busy dismantling Iran.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/17/2005
9:37:14 AM ||
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#1
" It's much ado about nothing, unless it can reach the Alaska, Hawaii, or maybe US West Coast"
The above is such and incredibly stupid and short-sighted sentence.
What happens to the US and world economy if Seoul and Tokyo get a daily high temperature of a few million degrees in their downtown distics, along with the plasma fireball, and the radiation?
Do you realize how little chip fabrication capacity the US has? That alone is enough to paralyze our military within months due to lack of spares after the current stocks are run through.
North Korea *IS* our problem, precisely because we get so much of our electronics, and components from Korea and Japan (and Taiwan).
We need to bascially have the hammer cocked and be ready to go if the NKORs try anythign - or if they begin to collapse we need to be able to move in quickly and secure the military stockpiles, in addition to the obvious relief missions that will be needed to help the starving populace.
#2
You have hit the heart of it, OldSpook. You also bring up the issue of the electronics and components. Didn't we used to have strategic industries and materials that we maintained so we could not get blackmailed or lose a war? We are vulnerable on oil, some strategic metals and elements, and it seems to be getting that way with chips. Seems to be ok with congress and the president....for decades now. I don't like it and it should be changed, or at least discussed.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/17/2005 16:32
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Don't worry AP, I've taken on the task of storing 7500 P1s. They are available at no charge in an emergency to the US government. Or you or Frank, Dave, PD, Gentle, Boris..... Stevy...
#4
" It's much ado about nothing, unless it can reach the Alaska, Hawaii, or maybe US West Coast"
The above is such and incredibly stupid and short-sighted sentence.
What happens to the US and world economy if Seoul and Tokyo get a daily high temperature of a few million degrees in their downtown distics, along with the plasma fireball, and the radiation?
Do you realize how little chip fabrication capacity the US has? That alone is enough to paralyze our military within months due to lack of spares after the current stocks are run through.
North Korea *IS* our problem, precisely because we get so much of our electronics, and components from Korea and Japan (and Taiwan).
We need to bascially have the hammer cocked and be ready to go if the NKORs try anythign - or if they begin to collapse we need to be able to move in quickly and secure the military stockpiles, in addition to the obvious relief missions that will be needed to help the starving populace.
#5
" It's much ado about nothing, unless it can reach the Alaska, Hawaii, or maybe US West Coast"
The above is such and incredibly stupid and short-sighted sentence.
What happens to the US and world economy if Seoul and Tokyo get a daily high temperature of a few million degrees in their downtown distics, along with the plasma fireball, and the radiation?
Do you realize how little chip fabrication capacity the US has? That alone is enough to paralyze our military within months due to lack of spares after the current stocks are run through.
North Korea *IS* our problem, precisely because we get so much of our electronics, and components from Korea and Japan (and Taiwan).
We need to bascially have the hammer cocked and be ready to go if the NKORs try anythign - or if they begin to collapse we need to be able to move in quickly and secure the military stockpiles, in addition to the obvious relief missions that will be needed to help the starving populace.
...Kerry's legislation would provide tax incentives to employers who keep deployed guardsmen and reservists on their payrolls, and create new loans and grants for self-employed troops to help get their businesses running again...
Several portions of Kerry's bill — the health care expansion and increases in the death benefit, for example — are already being considered in Congress. Kerry's proposal also calls for 30,000 new Army soldiers and 10,000 more Marines, whom he says are needed not for Iraq and Afghanistan but instead for the future demands of the war on terrorism.
He used Tuesday's forum to criticize President Bush's decision not to send more troops to secure Iraq, and reiterated complaints from his failed presidential campaign that Bush has not really reached out to other nations to assist in rebuilding that country.
And he blamed his election loss on the power of Bush's incumbency, saying that the administration has since used many of his proposals, such as increasing the military death benefit and improving national intelligence.
"They had a bully pulpit that we didn't have and they have an automatic trust factor we didn't have," he said. "Americans accepted that I could be the commander in chief. What they were unwilling to do was shift commanders in midstream."
WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- The Bush administration is seeking a $7.3 million funding boost for Voice of America newscasts into Iran and other Muslim countries. The requested increase follows a proposed 10 percent increase in the president's fiscal 2006 budget, which is one of the largest for any federal agency in percentage terms, the Washington Times said. It would push the broadcasting service's budget to $652 million -- a 45 percent increase since 2001.
"It's important to remember that in the decade following the end of the Cold War, U.S. spending for international broadcasting was slashed a very real 40 percent," said Kenneth Tomlinson, chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which operates all of the government's non-military international broadcasting. "Now, thanks to President Bush and key supporters in Congress, we are rebuilding from a depleted base and working to get back to where we should be." According to VOA plans, the supplemental-funding bill will allow its Persian-language satellite-TV programs to expand from daily half-hour broadcasts to one hour "News and Views" newscasts that will be repeated and updated throughout the day.
And so, it begins.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/17/2005
9:30:22 AM ||
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money well spent - let's get a 50,000 watt blaster like they have in Mexico across the border - reaches Canada
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 12:24
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#2
Put another one targetting France; you have no idea of the hate speech issued by the Parisian media;
#4
About time we started funding the VOA again. It really is a shame how our government dropped the ball on this outstanding broadcast medium when the cold war was over.
There are tons of shortwave radio receivers in the hands of of the regular folks in all of the countries that we want to target. Not everyone has a stellite dish or lives in the metropolitan areas with reliable access to TV, AM and FM broadcasts.
Posted by: Mac Suirtain ||
02/17/2005 15:41
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(2005-02-16) -- The U.S. Navy on Saturday will commission its newest nuclear-powered attack submarine, the Jimmy Carter, with many new features, including multiple-warhead Nerf missiles.
President Carter, who brought peace to the middle east, vigorously defended America's right to give away the Panama Canal and, in 1994, convinced North Korea to abandon talking about its nuclear weapons, said he's honored to have his name on "one of the most powerful peacemaking devices on earth."
Jimmy Carter is the first of the American Seahare-class subs, featuring a high-tech sonar system which alerts enemy forces to its presence and a safety device on the Nerf missiles which allows firing only after an enemy missile impact.
"This new generation of nuclear submarines is designed to use trust in our enemies as our first line of defense," said an unnamed Navy spokesman.
President Carter has invited leaders from North Korea and Iran to the commissioning ceremony, during which former First Lady Rosalyn Carter, in a time-honored Navy tradition, will give the first order to "man our ship, bring her to life then park her over there by the dock!"
"Run silent, run deep, run away!"
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
02/17/2005
9:25:01 AM ||
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Ok, so naming a Seawolf class sub after Jimmy Carter is pretty ScrappleFacey. But let's knock of the Jimmy Carter/attack sub jokes because this one is really an intelligence vessel....uhhh... nevermind.
#5
# 4 was me. I don't know where the Glereper came from. Also, I bet they have plenty of boiled peanuts on board.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/17/2005 11:46
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IMOA has found the Captain's log of the USS Jimmy Carter:
...being all that separates us from the sea.
I could never admit to the crew the fear I have, though. Sure, they all joke about how our submarine was hacked together by a group of volunteers on a weekend and how, with our nuclear power, we won't have to wait in gas lines, but most are too young to really remember the unending horror that was the Carter presidency. Still, the crew all seems vaguely at unease, as if they're in a... well... malaise.
It's not like being named after that man is the mark of death, but...
* * * *
...the wound stings, but it's only superficial. I have no idea how many rabbits are hiding aboard this vessel, how they got here, and why they are attacking everyone in site. The crew is spooked. They're all taking it as a bad omen, just like how Ensign Chavez nearly choked to death on a peanut. Still, we...
Posted by: Steve ||
02/17/2005 12:38
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A bomb in southern Thailand has killed four people and injured at least 35, as Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra visited the troubled region. The bomb exploded in the border town of Sungai Kolok in Narathiwat province at 1905pm (1205GMT), police said.
It came hours after Mr Thaksin said he would use military muscle and economic sanctions to punish those villages that were sympathetic to Islamic rebels. Local leaders in the largely Muslim region strongly criticised the plan.
"Why is everyone picking on us?"
The bomb was planted in a car parked near the Marina Hotel, said police spokesman Nawin Nilwanith. Sungai Kolok is a popular tourist town on the border with Malaysia. It is not the first time the town has been the target of a suspected militant attack.
The bombing came as Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was touring the country's Muslim-dominated south, the scene of sectarian violence which has claimed more than 550 lives since January last year. During Thursday's tour, Mr Thaksin outlined his latest plans to tackle the ongoing violence - plans which the BBC's correspondent in Bangkok, Kylie Morris, says are his most controversial yet.
The gloves just came off
Some 1,580 southern villages have been surveyed for their co-operation with the government, and categorised as red, yellow or green, depending on the degree of violence found there. Villages are designated as red if they are frequently violent, if they refuse to co-operate with the authorities, and if more than half the residents are judged to be sympathetic to the aims of the insurgents.
Three hundred and fifty-eight villages are cited as red zones, including 200 in the province of Narathiwat. Mr Thaksin has said he will give more than $500m to villages across the country within the next 10 weeks, and each community's quota will depend on its colour code. Red zone villages will not get any money.
"We don't give money to those red villages because we don't want them to spend the money on explosives, road spikes or assassins," Mr Thaksin told villagers in Narathiwat. "If the money sanctions do not work, I will send soldiers to lay siege to the red zone villages and put more pressure on them," he added. "I will never allow anyone to separate even one square inch from this country, even though this land will have to be soaked with blood. So I'd like everyone to be friends with me. Don't be friends with bad guys," he said.
"Don't make me angey. You won't like me when I'm angry"
But Abdulrohman Abdulsamad, chairman of the Islamic Council of Narathiwat, said Mr Thaksin's ideas would only succeed in pushing villagers into the arms of militants. "When [the Muslim world] find that we are being ignored or sanctioned... they will step in," he said.
They already have stepped in, that's one of the problems.
Mr Thaksin is meeting both Muslim and Buddhist leaders on his three-day tour. More than 500 people have been killed in the south in a wave of violence blamed on Muslim insurgents. In the past months, Buddhist monks, teachers, police and soldiers have been ambushed and murdered on an almost daily basis.
This article starring:
ABDULROHMAN ABDULSAMAD
Islamic Council of Narathiwat
Islamic Council of Narathiwat
Posted by: Steve ||
02/17/2005
9:06:58 AM ||
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#1
One of the biggest problems with dealing with Muslim extremists is that we continue to act in a "civilized" manner in waging this war. In places like Thailand, the gloves should indeed come off, and the extremists and their backers treated the same way they treat the Thais. Murdering Buddhist monks should be countered by destroying mosques. I think the violence will escalate for a bit, then die down to nothing - especially if the mosque destruction is always carried out on a Friday afternoon.
You can't fight barbarians with civilized methods. You either kill them or destroy them - nothing else works. If they don't want to die, they'll stop acting like barbarians.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/17/2005 22:21
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OP---it seems to me that the main problems that we are having with radical Islam has to do with places that the Wahabbists have funded with mosques and Madarassas. Gotta read the Freedom House paper on the Saudi hate literature in the US. We need to confront the Saudis publically on this. SoState Powell played too much footsie with the Saudis. They are the real enemy. How to do this is one thing, but their hate funding worldwide needs to be called.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/17/2005 22:29
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The prime minister, his senior ministers, the governor-general and top public servants will be whisked off to a top-secret location, possibly a purpose-built underground bunker, so government can continue to function after a terror strike or nuclear attack on federal parliament. Government and intelligence sources have told The Bulletin that Cabinet's National Security Subcommittee, headed by Prime Minister John Howard, approved broad elements of the government post-doomsday blueprint in mid-2004 after a formative American model was put into action following al Qaeda's September 11 strikes on Washington and New York.
Australia's final "continuity of government" plan, which deals with the practicalities of moving the executive, is now being prepared by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in limited consultation with the states and territories and their emergency service providers. Sources said Australia's plan would be triggered in the event of a nuclear strike or terrorist attack on Parliament House or any other area — for example, federal offices in Sydney or Melbourne — from which the government's executive was operating. It would also be enacted in the event of a strike which affected the availability of power, security and communications to the Cabinet.
One figure closely involved with the plan said that in the event of a major terrorist attack on Parliament House, uninjured senior ministers and advisers would be evacuated to their new, secret location from the parliamentary precinct, if possible by road, with the help of the Australian Capital Territory's emergency services providers. While the dead and injured would be taken to hospital, the formative plan did not provide for an evacuation of the backbench or opposition to an alternative, secure parliament, sources said. This implies the executive would effectively work, unimpeded, without opposition. "It is, effectively, a plan that takes into account the worst-case scenario of a terrorist or, less likely, a nuclear attack on parliament when the House and Senate are sitting," a source involved in the plan said. "What happens, for example, if there is a terrorist attack at the joint sitting at the opening of parliament and the governor-general and the prime minister and a host of senior ministers are incapacitated? Where does the country run from if the seat of the executive is badly damaged?"
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: phil_b ||
02/17/2005
5:20:35 AM ||
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I'm never reassured that the only plans are those for preserving governments. If any institutions in our world richly deserve to be tossed out so we can start over ....
Not all Marines take pride in the work of their brothers.
Take Scott Ritter, a former Marine and United Nations weapons inspector, who has turned into a critic of just about anything the U.S. does in Iraq. Now he's writing for Al-Jazeera's Web site, which seems like a perfect home for his defeatist rhetoric.
According to Mr. Ritter, "The highly vaunted U.S. military machine, laurelled and praised for its historic march on Baghdad in March and April of 2003, today finds itself a broken force, on the defensive in a land that it may occupy in part, but does not control."
Offering no proof whatsoever, Mr. Ritter accuses the U.S. of conspiring with Iraqi assassination squads, and that, not foreign terrorists or former Saddam officials, is what started the post-war violence in Iraq: "Having started the game of politically motivated assassination, the U.S. has once again found itself trumped by forces inside Iraq it does not understand, and as such will never be able to defeat."
As for the enemy, which he calls a "genuine grassroots national liberation movement," Ritter is generous: "History will eventually depict as legitimate the efforts of the Iraqi resistance to destabilise and defeat the American occupation forces and their imposed Iraqi collaborationist government."
The only way out, according to Ritter, is for us to fail: "It is hard as an American to support the failure of American military operations in Iraq. Such failure will bring with it the death and wounding of many American service members, and many more Iraqis."
It may be hard for Mr. Ritter to root for the enemy in Iraq, but that's exactly what he's doing. Why he's doing that is another question.
And that's the Asman Observer.
#1
How's the diddling thing going, Scott? You square that away yet?
Blixie and Clarkie and Joe Wilson are looking forward to your induction ceremony in the Irrelevant Hall of Fame. The got the plaque ready and everything.
#7
More like DeepThroat, (of the linda lovelace variety)
Posted by: Tom Dooley ||
02/17/2005 18:24
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#8
Scott Ritter has to deal with Burger King's security if he is going to want to "visit" anyone. The good thing about this security is that an occasional Angus Burger with Bacon and Cheese is all he wants...
So - Al-Jazzera seems a more appealing alternative...
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 19:47
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#12
Ahhh... "he is conducting himself in the manner which we have come to expect of him..."
To quote that classic bit of military performance-rating boiler plate when someone that you have to pass an opinion upon has really, really screwed the pooch, and tact prevents you from saying so, outright.
#13
What an incredible 180 he has done with his life. I would like to know if he changed religion, one that shall not be named and justifies diddling teenage girls. If not, the UN has openings where he can partake in his little predilection.
Posted by: ed ||
02/17/2005 20:54
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#14
"Mr. Ritter accuses the U.S. of conspiring with Iraqi assassination squads"
-And the problem w/that is? If only that we're true, now that would be cool.
Fuck you scott, fuck you very much. Even we have our 10% of douch bags.
Some good news on this subject for once...
Ana Ortega left here for the USA 14 years ago. She never thought she'd return, much less like this: in handcuffs and ankle shackles, on a U.S. government jet with 49 others whose criminal convictions got them deported from the USA. Ortega, 27, said that she was a legal permanent U.S. resident and that until recently she was an office manager for a chiropractor in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. Four years ago, she was convicted of conspiracy for being a bit player in a drug-smuggling ring. Her husband, a U.S. citizen and repeat offender, received 10 years in prison; she got probation. She was ordered to appear at a deportation hearing, but she skipped it. A little drug dealing, skip your hearing... no problem. You look like a great addition to American society, so don't worry about it.
In another time - before the Sept. 11 attacks focused attention on lax enforcement of immigration laws - she probably would have been free to continue living in the USA with her two young children. U.S. agents rarely pursued hundreds of thousands of fugitives like Ortega. That's what happened in her case for nearly three years - before agents showed up at her door seven months ago. Buenos dias, senorita!
On Monday, Ortega was sent back to the Dominican Republic on a flight from Boston that symbolized the U.S. government's increasingly aggressive push to expel immigrants who either are here illegally or violate the conditions of their stay by committing crimes. More than three years after John Ashcroft, then attorney general, cited the 9/11 attacks by foreign terrorists in announcing a broad crackdown on violators of immigration laws, the United States is deporting foreigners at an unprecedented pace. Damn! The Evil Ashkkkroft!
During the year that ended Sept. 30, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported a record 157,281 immigrants. Like Ortega and the others aboard the flight to Santo Domingo, more than half of those deported last year had criminal records, a reflection of ICE's emphasis on booting such people from the country. The jet that brought Ortega back here also included convicted drug dealers, sex offenders, robbers and wife beaters. Adios, muchachos!
As ICE agents have pursued criminals who are in the USA illegally, they also have swept up record numbers of illegal immigrants who have committed no crimes other than violations of visa limits and other immigration laws. That helped increase the total number of deportations by more than 45% from 2001 to 2004. Most of those deported - more than 70% in 2004 - have been returned to Mexico. Most of the rest have been sent back to Central or South America or to the Dominican Republic. ICE now has four jets that in 2003 alone made 317 flights to return more than 18,500 immigrants to their native countries. "We're busy all the time," says Jonathan Rust, chief of the Air Transportation Unit for ICE, which is a division of the Department of Homeland Security. "We have two (Boeing) 737s and two MD-83s, and I could probably use two more." Get them for him. Money well spent.
ICE expects the number of deportations to increase again this year. In his 2006 budget, President Bush has requested an additional $170 million above the $1.4 billion that ICE's Detention and Removal program will get in 2005. "We're going to make the community safer by removing aliens who come into the country and commit crimes," says Victor Cerda, acting director of Detention and Removal. Detention and Removal. I like that. I wonder if they got T shirts?
Those targeted for deportation represent a small fraction of the estimated 8 million illegal immigrants in the USA. Most illegal immigrants are unknown to U.S. immigration officials. Only those who are caught trying to enter the USA or who otherwise reveal themselves - such as by committing crimes, applying for asylum or seeking government benefits - become targets for deportation.
Despite the rising number of deportations, U.S. agents have struggled to reduce the number of illegal immigrants who have disobeyed orders to leave the country or who have failed to appear at deportation hearings. That number has remained at an estimated 400,000 because immigrants continue to flow into the USA - particularly along the Southwest border - and illegal immigrants continue to defy orders to appear at deportation hearings. Detention and Removal identifies non-citizens who have been ordered by a federal judge to leave the country but who have ignored the orders or failed to appeal in court.
Agents also track non-citizens who are serving time for serious crimes and bring their cases to an immigration judge. If the judge orders them deported, they can be sent to their home country as soon as they are released from prison."I think some aliens were willing to take the risk of not complying with the laws," Cerda says. "The message I want to get out is, 'We're not going to forget about you.' These people are being identified, and we're ... sending them home." Cerda sounds like a fun guy.
At an airfield near Boston, the deportees boarded a government 737 in handcuffs and ankle shackles after U.S. marshals searched them for weapons.
After the jet landed here, the marshals removed the handcuffs and shackles. The deportees walked off the jet and into the custody of Dominican immigration officials. Any of the deportees with outstanding warrants in the Dominican Republic were to be kept in custody; the rest were to be freed.
Ortega says she was sad to have left the USA. Her son, 8, and her daughter, 5, are U.S. citizens and will live with Ortega's mother in the USA. "It wouldn't be fair for them to have to live in a country they've never lived in," Ortega says. An immigration judge ruled that Ortega should be banned from the USA for life, but she plans to ask the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic whether there's a chance she could return to the USA. "People make mistakes," she says. "Now it's not only me, but my kids who will pay." Yeah, it's... for the children. Boo fuckin hoo hoo.
#3
"swept up record numbers of illegal immigrants who have committed no crimes other than violations of visa limits and other immigration laws. "
I seem to remember a bunch of people whose only violations of the law was to overstay thier visa. Last I saw of them, they had hijacked some airplanes and slammed them into various buildings...
#4
What I don't get is why she didn't get a "green card" - become a permanent resident. Even if she was illegal, being married to a citizen and having US-born children is an automatic in.
#5
probably had a criminal record and couldn't get the card. Since she and hubs were doing the drug ring around the kids, her concern for them is a little late, no?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 19:14
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#7
She did have a 'green card' or a permanent resident card. It appears they they rescended(sp?) it and shipped her drug-dealing ass back. Or perhaps they found that she had lied on her application.
I seem to recall there being a question on the application like 'Do you intend to deal drugs in the united states'....
And she won a LIFETIME BAN! WHOOPIE! There are procedure for appealing a ban of course but I dont think the Embassy can just set it aside.
#9
Beating on Moore and Soros is one thing, completely dismissing the needs of kids is cruel. The tone of this thing is interesting. The need to fight terror in as ruthless a manner as possible is clear. Dismissing the needs of kids is another matter.
#10
Send the kids back too. We don't need them here either.
Posted by: mac ||
02/17/2005 21:35
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#11
Most of those deported - more than 70% in 2004 - have been returned to Mexico.
Considering how many illegal aliens are estimated to be residing in the U.S. at this time, the actual number deported to Mexico can't be too big.
Dismissing the needs of kids is another matter.
Sorry, but the appeal-to-compassion approach no longer works for a lot of us. You see, one too many illegal immigrants have used their kids as "anchors" in the expectation that they'll be allowed to stay, and quite frankly, it's bullshit.
#12
"Dismissing the needs of kids is another matter."
-I think that was her fault, cause meet effect.
Overall I think the gov't did a fine job in looking after the needs of kids. They kicked this drug dealing bitch outta the country didn't they?
#13
A bit player in a drug-smuggling ring and failing to appear for a hearing. Husband got 10 years in prison. -- I think it's just as well the kids are separated from the parents. And if Mom is 27, Grandmom is probably not old enough to be on Social Security.
Oh, and if this "bit player in a drug-smuggling ring" was in Singapore she'd be executed.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/17/2005 21:50
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#14
If she cared about her kids, she wouldn't have been dealing drugs.
#15
Ditto someone! I dont want the dismiss the needs of the kids but I am basically sick and the whole 'for the children' bullshit. We cannot allow the illegals to stay basically 'for the children' otherwise all they would have to do is spawn a few kids and they have it made. If she really cared about her kids she whouldn't have been dealing drugs.
SHE is the one who was dealing. SHE is the one who violated her permanent residence. SHE is the one who is to blame. I feel sorry for the kids but perhaps they are better off.
#16
"swept up record numbers of illegal immigrants who have committed no crimes other than violations of visa limits and other immigration laws. "
I seem to remember a bunch of people whose only violations of the law was to overstay thier visa. Last I saw of them, they had hijacked some airplanes and slammed them into various buildings...
#17
"swept up record numbers of illegal immigrants who have committed no crimes other than violations of visa limits and other immigration laws. "
I seem to remember a bunch of people whose only violations of the law was to overstay thier visa. Last I saw of them, they had hijacked some airplanes and slammed them into various buildings...
This is pretty indispensible -- a New Yorker who was adopted from Lebanon moved there a while back. He has a whole bunch of diary entries about the country, the culture, the people, the history. And he's been doing a couple of great on-the-ground pieces about the assaination and funeral.
#1
cool. I fwd'd to a Lebanese (maronite christian) engineer I work with - one of the smartest, nicest guys I know - he was just back there for the holidays and is really down about what's been going on...thx growler
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 21:48
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If you are not thoroughly bored with Kyoto and climate change, this is a thoughtful view from a research scientist published in USA Today. I particularly liked the conclusion.
One small step for man, one giant leap backward for mankind. That's how Wednesday's official start of the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty that aims to limit global warming, should be greeted. In 2001, the United States refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol over concerns that it will limit economic growth and put an unfair burden on developed countries, while rapidly developing countries — such as India and China — get a pass. Democrats and Republicans in Washington have been strangely united in opposition. And they're right.
Kyoto is unusual in that it is, in effect, an agreement to restrain economic growth. By using regulatory fiat instead of market forces, it punishes the production of energy that drives modern life. Its emissions reduction targets are so modest that they will have little effect on future global warming, no matter what you believe that warming to be. Instead, the Kyoto Protocol is seen as a "first step" toward reductions in greenhouse-gas production. But even this first step will hurt the economies of most industrialized countries that participate.
What the U.S. is doing: This week, the United States reminded the world that it isn't sitting idly by as the Earth melts. "While the United States and countries with binding emissions restrictions under the Kyoto Protocol are taking different paths, our destination is the same," said Richard Boucher of the State Department. He said the U.S. will spend about $5.8 billion this year alone on research into climate change and potential technology to fight it. Former Energy secretary Spencer Abraham said last year that the United States is investing more in new or clean energy research over the next five years than any other country. Hydrogen, clean coal, nuclear, fusion and renewables such as solar and wind are among the areas being aggressively researched. Though the Department of Energy admits these efforts will take years to decades to bear fruit, research — not minor and economically damaging cutbacks in carbon-dioxide production — is what will solve the problem.
No doubt, some countries have signed on to the treaty for political reasons. Russia had strongly opposed the treaty. Then in May, the European Union told Russia that if it wanted to be part of the World Trade Organization, it would have to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Suddenly, late last year, Russia became a supporter. Also, the majority of the countries participating in Kyoto are undeveloped, and many of those stand to receive large payoffs by selling carbon credits (basically, a right to pollute) to industrialized countries. This is the economic shell game of the treaty.
What about the science? And what of the global warming science that the Kyoto treaty is built upon? The Earth has indeed warmed in the past 100 years by about 1 degree Fahrenheit, although it is unknown how much of that is because of man's activities. Though a majority of climate researchers believe we now have enough understanding of how the climate system will react to a small increase in the greenhouse-gas concentration, this is an example of the scientific overconfidence that has contributed to a public distrust in scientific predictions. A minority of scientists, myself included, believe that the climate has as yet poorly understood stabilizing mechanisms that limit the amount of warming that will occur.
After the self-congratulatory applause subsides, it will be interesting to see how many participating countries meet their Kyoto emissions targets. The United Kingdom has already asked for, and was denied, a reprieve from the EU. Action, not good intentions, will eventually solve the energy problem. In the coming years, the U.S. will continue to invest in research that will, once again, save the day.
Roy Spencer performs government-sponsored climate monitoring research at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Posted by: phil_b ||
02/17/2005
4:27:07 AM ||
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Welcome to the first ever Middle East Sex Survey. Please complete the survey as your experiences and opinions are valuable to us. Looks fake, but its real. Albawaba news agency is owned by the government of Jordan, and it is rumored that they are seeking to purchase al-Jazeera.
Eligible participants will qualify to enter into a draw for an Apple iPod courtesy of Durex - so please don't forget to provide your email.
Posted by: IToldYouSo ||
02/17/2005
3:27:01 AM ||
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#5
I think the survey needed more question's.
also, you needed to have the three groups
to get accurate stat's
1) Blind group
2) control group
3) experimental group .
Andrea
Posted by: Andrea ||
02/17/2005 18:32
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#6
A culture with no sex control, where sex with animals is not experimental but common, and if they see above a women's ankle they go blind (Allan sez so), and you want to group them? How cruel, Andrea!
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 18:36
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#7
Frank, you forgot that only the man on the receiving end is considered homosexual -- the other guy is only doing what guys do ;-?
THE Israeli diplomat at the centre of a spy scandal has claimed his friendship with Attorney-General Philip Ruddock's youngest daughter, Caitlin, was behind a decision to expel him from Australia. The claims have emerged in a debriefing that Amir Lati reportedly gave to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
Mr Lati, the second secretary at the Israeli embassy in Canberra, claimed he was invited to attend Christmas lunch at the Ruddocks' Pennant Hills home in Sydney's northwest last year, but was barred after the Government began moves to expel him.
It was on the recommendation of the Australian Secret Intelligence Organsiation - the domestic spy agency for which Mr Ruddock is responsible - that Mr Lati was given his marching orders in late December. Mr Lati's alleged relationship with a female Defence Department employee with high-level security access has been proffered as a reason for his explusion.
Mr Ruddock yesterday denied any connection between Mr Lati's links to his family and the reasons the Israeli diplomat was asked to leave the country. But he refused to divulge whether his daughter's links with Mr Lati, who is in his early 30s, was brought to the attention of ASIO.
The new twist in the spy saga follows the publication of the envoy's claims in the respected Hebrew-language Israeli newspaper Maar'iv. The report, reproduced in the Australian Jewish News yesterday, cited the Israeli Foreign Ministry as saying that Mr Lati believed his friendship with Caitlin, 26, who is an accountancy lecturer at the University of NSW, was connected to his expulsion.
The Australian has confirmed that Mr Lati first met Ms Ruddock six years earlier, when the two were studying together in Beijing, and that they renewed their friendship when Mr Lati was posted to Canberra in late 2003. But Mr Ruddock told the Australian Jewish News that "any acquaintance or contact Mr Lati had with members of (my) family is totally irrelevant to Mr Lati's departure from Australia".
A spokeswoman for the minister yesterday confirmed his comments to The Australian. When approached by The Australian at her office yesterday, Ms Ruddock declined to comment on the nature of her relationship with Mr Lati, or why he had been expelled from Australia. "You're only here because of who my father is. I have no comment to make," Ms Ruddock said. Directing all questions to the office of the Attorney-General, she refused to divulge why Mr Lati had been banned from attending Christmas lunch with the Ruddock family, or whether Mr Lati had also been in a relationship with a female Australian defence official.
"I will happily talk with you about accountancy courses, but nothing else," she said. More at the link. The government's hardline immigration policies are popular with the electorate while the Media hates them. Ruddock was the Immigration Minister so he is high on their hitlist. This may be just the MSM fishing for a scandal where none exists.
The Star, Malaysia
Thursday February 17, 2005
Brunei bans Reeves' new flick 'Constantine'
KUALA LUMPUR: Brunei has banned Keanu Reeves' new film "Constantine," an apocalyptic thriller that depicts demon possessions, visions of hell and a renegade angel, an official said yesterday.
The movie has been deemed unsuitable for public viewing, Ahmad Kadir, the secretary of the Brunei government's Censor Board, said by telephone from the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan.
However, he declined to reveal the reasons for the board's decision. Typical bureaucrat siege mentality.
Reeves: Plays an exorcist who dispatches demons back to the underworld. Brunei has some of South-East Asia's strictest censorship guidelines for movies and songs, especially involving material that might be considered offensive to Islam.
Constantine, which opens in the United States on Friday, is steeped in Roman Catholic mythology and features Reeves as a chain-smoking exorcist who dispatches demons back to the underworld in hopes of erasing a mortal sin he once committed. Are these censors submitting to the Demon lobby, or don't they like chain-smoking exorcists?
In one scene, Reeves' character lashes out at heaven, calling God "a kid with an ant farm.'' God: and you Reeves are a wooden actor, with as much emotional range as Chuck Norris.
Satan also shows up in the movie's climactic moments, dressed in crisp white apparel and licking his lips as Reeves' character battles to stop a supernatural evil from taking over the world. Only a bit part for the prince of darkness? Must have a bad agent.
The film opened last week in Malaysia.
Malaysian censors edited out several curse words and rated the movie as having "non-excessive violent and horrifying scenes,'' but did not object to the religious material. —AP
Posted by: IToldYouSo ||
02/17/2005
2:40:38 AM ||
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#4
my sons wanna see this at the matinee this weekend - I'll post a short review after. Today's SD paper said it was a dog, but the reviewer's a puss who likes Terms of Endearment-type movies over any Clint Eastwood movie, so I don't use his reviews as a guide. He didn't like Hellboy either
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 12:30
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#5
Don't be dissin' my boy Chuckie. You want range? Think Keanu-lint could jump kick in the head Kareem Abdul Jabar? Now that's range.
Posted by: ed ||
02/17/2005 12:34
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#6
I have to agree with the bureaucrat that the film may be unsuitable for public viewing. It does have Keanu Reeves, after all. Haven't liked him much in anything since Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
CIA director Porter Goss has warned that North Korean missiles are capable of reaching the United States with a nuclear weapon-sized payload. Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee a week after North Korea claimed it has nuclear weapons, Goss on Wednesday said the US intelligence community's assessment is that the North Korean missile, the TD-2, is capable of reaching the United States with a nuclear weapon-sized payload.
I think he means Anchorage as opposed to Baltimore.
He also noted that Iran is pursuing long-range ballistic missiles. Rejecting the Iranian claim that it is interested only in nuclear power, Goss said, "We are more concerned about the dual-use nature of the technology." Goss said, echoing what other officials had already said, that Iran was "supporting some anti-coalition activities in Iraq." He added that Iran could encourage attacks on Israel through Hezbollah in hopes of derailing peace between Israel and the Palestinians. He also warned the Committee that there is an emerging threat from experienced fighters now fighting US and other forces in Iraq.
Posted by: tipper ||
02/17/2005
2:06:50 AM ||
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#1
A long time ago, there was a brief hubbub about a dummy Nork missile found in AK. This story disappeared about 3 seconds after it appeared. However, to say that our boffins are killing themselves to make an effective shield is an understatement.
#7
Wait a minute, BH. If they hit in the winter, the fallout will reach Me in Arizona. If they attack in summer (when the winds shift for the monsoon), I have no objection.
Seriously, if they actually make a credible and immediate nuclear threat, our policy has been to obliterate them without waiting. Note that even Khruschev never actually said "If you don't agree to [some demand] I'm launching the missiles at the US."
#8
Good policy. It's still tempting, though, to say, "You loony little poof! Why, you couldn't hit the broad side of Berkeley! Go on, I double-dog dare you!" I suppose we could hold off until summer.
1918 - Red Sox win World Series 1919 - Hockey cancelled
2004 - Red Sox win World Series 2005 - Hockey cancelled
The NHL has inherited the Curse of the Bambino. The Stanley Cup was last not awarded in 1919, the season following Boston winning the World Series. On Jan. 3, 1920, the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees, and did not win another world title until ending the drought at 86 years in October. Now, after 86 uninterrupted seasons, hockey's holy grail again will go dormant. Unlike the labor strife that is keeping the Cup in mothballs this time, it was an outbreak of deadly Spanish Flu that prevented the hardware from being awarded in 1919.
A series between NHL champ Montreal and the Pacific Hockey Association's Seattle Metropolitans was tied 2-2 with the deciding game scheduled on April 1, 1919. All but one member of the Canadiens fell sick and the series was abandoned. "The great overtime games of the series have taxed the vitality of the players to such an extent that they are in poor shape indeed to fight off such a disease as influenza,'' the Montreal Gazette reported. One player, Montreal's Joe Hall, died of pneumonia as a result of being exposed to the disease caused by a virus doctors had yet learned to detect. The Spanish Flu was responsible for more than 21 million deaths in 1918- 19 and is the worst epidemic in recorded world history.
Not that I believe in this stuff, mind you, but does this mean another 86 freaking years before we win another Series?
Posted by: Steve ||
02/17/2005
2:03:06 PM ||
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#1
Anyone have the virtual season standings from G4TechTv?
#5
Diamondbacks mind their own snaky business, and only cause problems for humans when some big galumphing hiker stomps into the snake's territory before the snake can flee. Never step over a log without looking, never reach over a log or down into a hole, and be sure you wear heavy boots in snake country. The only creatures who have to fear rattlesnakes, as a rule, are rodents.
Soros, however, is noticeably more dangerous, and generally collaborates with rats.
#6
Given how Soros has been choosing to throw around his money in the last few years, I am forced to wonder if he's had a series of mini-strokes that affected his critical thinking abilities.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 21:14
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#8
From RUSH: "Howard Dean called on the head of New York's Republican Party to apologize or resign over remarks linking the Democrats to a civil rights lawyer convicted of aiding terrorists. Dean called Stephen Minarik's comments 'offensive' and said, 'The American people deserve better than this type of political character assassination.' On Monday, Minarik said that Dean's election 'shows that the Democrats simply have refused to learn the lessons of the past two election cycles and now they can be accurately called the party of Barbara Boxer, Lynn Stewart and Howard Dean.'"
#4
There are many reason's one could have a felony record.
1) in Connecticut if you miss your court appearance
you are charged with "failure to appear" a felony on your record.
2) a girlfriend of mine was forced to take a plea
bargain of assaulting an officer. She ACCIDENTLY hit his police cruiser in Tolland, CT. The officer padded the police report and put down that
Mary tried to assault him....I know Mary would NEVER EVER do that to anyone....a risky trial
meant she could have spent more time in jail, mary sat and waited 8 month's in prison to be bailed out...once bailed out-she did not want to return so she took a plea bargain and ended up with a felony record. I think Mary and other's like her should be able to vote***
(SHe took a plea bargain because her public defender NEVER put a trial on).
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea ||
02/17/2005 18:38
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#5
please... a failure to appear is cleared by appearing, and NOT a permanent felony. Your friend's anecdote sounds bogus, whatever your feelings, and anyone who pleads to a felony gets what they deserve. Why the f*&k would a smart person like *Mary* do that?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 18:43
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#6
All her base are belong in jail.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
02/17/2005 18:43
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#7
Take this as you will, but, out here in Blue Californy, the felons have had the vote since 1973...
#1
He [Putty's advisor] called the accord âan anti-human document restricting economic growth,â hoping âcommon sense will prevail, and our country, together with other nations, will abandon this crazy idea.â
#3
It was he that fought so long against it. He must have gotten the science right, because surely Russia could only benefit from global warming -- so much of their historical foreign policy has been based on the search for a warm water port.
MACDILL AFB, Tampa The Iraqi Interim Government recently announced warrants for the arrest of 29 individuals who are either members of the Former Regime or part of the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi terrorist network. These individuals are responsible for funding and coordinating terrorist operations inside Iraq in an attempt to disrupt the country's march toward democracy and an autonomous government. Rewards for information leading to the arrest of these individuals range from $25 million to $50,000. These individuals are believed to be located either inside Iraq or within neighboring countries. Anyone with information regarding the location of these individuals is encouraged to call United States Central Command Headquarters at (813) 827-4468 or (813) 827-4469.
Welcome to Iraq's Most Wanted! The envelope, please
⢠'Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri - As former Vice Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, 'Izzat Ibrahim Al-Duri was part of the inner circle and very close to Saddam. Al-Duri is believed to be the current leader of the New Regional Command and New Ba'ath Party. As such, Al-Duri provides guidance, financial support and coordination of the Former Regime insurgency. His financial support for the insurgency, derived from the expropriated wealth of Iraq, continues to facilitate attacks against coalition forces, the Interim Iraqi Government, Iraqi National Guard, the Iraqi Police and the Iraqi people. As a member of the former Saddam regime, 'Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri has been designated under United Nations Security Counsel Resolution 1483 for stealing assets from the Iraqi people. Under this United Nations Security Counsel resolution all member nations must freeze any funds, other financial assets or economic resources associated with 'Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri and immediately return them to the Iraqi people. Any of these assets recovered from al Duri will be immediately dedicated to the reconstruction of Iraq. Additionally, the Multi National Forces in Iraq are offering a reward of $10 million for information leading to the capture of Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri.
⢠Muhammad Yunis al-Ahmad - Muhammad Yunis is a financial facilitator and operational leader of the New Regional Command and New Ba'ath Party. Younis is allegedly the number two man in the New Regional Command under Izzat al-Duri. As such, he is instrumental in providing guidance, financial support and coordination of insurgent attacks throughout Iraq. Yunis is charged with providing funding, leadership and support to several insurgent groups conducting attacks against the Iraqi people, the Interim Iraqi Government, Iraqi National Guard, the Iraqi Police the and Coalition Forces. It is believe that Muhammad Yunis al-Ahmad is now hiding in Syria. Additionally, the Multi National Forces in Iraq are offering a reward of $1 million for information leading to the capture of Muhammad Yunis al-Ahmad.
⢠Rashid Taan Kazim - Rashid Ta'an Kazim was the former Central Ba'ath Party Regional Chairman in Al Anbar Province. Ta'an provides command, control, and finances for the ACF effort in Diyala Province. Ta'an is alleged to have offered one to three million Iraqi Dinar to anyone to carry out attacks against Coalition Forces. As a result of his close association with the Saddam regime, Rashid Ta'an Kazim has been designated under United Nations Security Counsel Resolution 1483 as having stolen assets from the Iraqi people. Under this United Nations Security Counsel resolution all member nations must freeze any funds, other financial assets or economic resources associated with Rashid Ta'an Kazim and immediately return them to the Iraqi people. Any of these stolen assets that are recovered will be immediately dedicated to the reconstruction of Iraq. Additionally, the Multi National Force in Iraq is offering a reward of $1 million for information leading to the capture of Rashid Ta'an Kazim.
⢠Abd-Al-Baqi Abd Al-Karim Al-Abdallah Al-Saadun - Al-Sadun was the former Ba'ath Party Regional Chairman of the Diyala Province and Regional Chairman of Southern Iraq. Al-Sa'adun recruits and finances ACF activity in eastern and central Iraq. He is suspected of the distribution of former regime assets and funds that belong to the people of Iraq in order to facilitate violence toward the Iraqi government. Al-Sa'adun is also wanted for crimes against humanity in the 1999 regime uprising during his command of the Ba'ath Party District of Basrah. 'Abd-Al-Baqi 'Abd Al-Karim Al-Abdallah Al-Sa'adun has been designated under United Nations Security Counsel Resolution 1483. As a member of the former Saddam regime 'Abd-Al-Baqi 'Abd Al-Karim Al-Abdallah Al-Sa'adun stole assets that belong to the Iraqi people. Under the United Nations Security Counsel resolution all member nations must freeze any funds, other financial assets or economic resources associated with 'Abd-Al-Baqi 'Abd Al-Karim Al-Abdallah Al-Sa'adun and immediately return them to the Iraqi people. Any assets recovered from Sa"adun will contribute to the reconstruction of Iraq. The Multi National Force in Iraq is offering a reward of $ 1 Million for information leading to the capture of 'Abd-Al-Baqi 'Abd Al-Karim Al-Abdallah Al-Sa'adun
⢠Fadhil Ibrahim Mahmud Mashadani (aka Abu Huda)- Fadhil Ibrahim Mahmud Mashadani is reportedly a top member of the New Ba'ath Party and main facilitator of insurgent attacks in Iraq. Mashadani is believed to be personally responsible for coordination and funding attacks against the Iraqi people, coalition forces, the Iraqi Government and the Iraqi Police. Fadhil Mashadani is suspected of being a critical link between the senior Ba'athist leaders hiding in Syria and the insurgents within Iraq. The Multi National Force in Iraq is offering a reward of $200,000 for information leading to the capture of Fadhil Ibrahim Mahmud Mashadani
⢠Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (aka AMZ)- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is a grave threat to the Iraqi people, and in September he announced the merger of his terrorists with al-Qaida. Al-Zarqawi's foreign terrorists and criminals are undermining Iraq's security and have brutally killed over 500 Iraqis in the last year. They continue to target Iraqi government and civilian targets with the intent of inciting a civil war. His terrorist network has attempted to destroy police stations, recruitment centers, oil and humanitarian workers and those laboring to build a new Iraq. Zarqawi's criminal activities are also slowing the flow of humanitarian aid into Iraq and undermining reconstruction efforts. He has fled Fallujah during OPERATION AL FAJR. Multi National Forces in Iraq are offering a reward of $ 25 million for information leading to the capture of Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi
⢠Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hasan al-Tikriti (aka Thafir Alsemak)- Sab'awi Ibrahim al-Hasan al-Tikriti is the half brother to Saddam Hussein and is now believed to be hiding in Syria. Sab'awi is financing on-going insurgent attacks that are killing Iraqi civilian and government workers. As a result of his close relationship with the Saddam regime, Sab'awi Ibrahim al-Hasan al-Tikriti has been designated under United Nations Security Counsel Resolution 1483 for stealing assets from the Iraqi people. Under this United Nations Security Counsel resolution all member nations must freeze any funds, other financial assets or economic resources associated with Sab'awi Ibrahim al-Hasan al-Tikriti and immediately return them to the Iraqi people. These assets will contribute to the reconstruction of Iraq. The Multi National Force in Iraq is also offering a reward of $ 1 Million for information leading to the capture of Sab'awi Ibrahim al-Hasan al-Tikriti
⢠Muhammad Rajab al-Hadushi- Muhammad Rajab al-Hadushi was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Saddam regime and worked as the director of the Presidential Guard Service and a member of the Special Security Organization. He is now believed to be the leader of an insurgent group, which is conducting attacks against the Iraqi people, coalition forces, and the Iraqi Police and Government. The Multi National Force in Iraq is also offering a reward of $50,000 for information leading to the capture of Muhammad Rajab al-Hadushi
⢠Najim Abdullah Zahwan Khalifah Ujayli- Najim 'Abdullah Zahwan Khalifah Ujayli is a former commander of the Hammurabi Armored Division, 1st Republican Guard. He is now reported to be the leader of an insurgent group attacking the Iraqi people and coalition forces. He is believed to have fled Fallujah, during OPERATION AL FAJR. The Multi National Force in Iraq is offering a reward of $50,000 for information leading to the capture of Najim 'Abdullah Zahwan Khalifah Ujayli.
⢠Muhammad Khalaf Shakara (aka Abu Talha)- Muhammad Khalaf Shakara is a former Battalion Commander for Ansar al-Islam, aligned with the Zarqawi Network. He is wanted for his participation in attacks against the Iraqi government and civilians. His terrorist group has conducted kidnappings and beheadings, and has attempted to destroy police stations, recruitment centers, oil and humanitarian workers and those laboring to build a new Iraq. The Multi National Force in Iraq is offering a reward of $50,000 for information leading to the capture of Muhammad Khalaf Shakara.
⢠Abu-Ayyub al-Masri - Abu-Ayyub al-Masri is an associate of Abu Musab Zarqawi, and his foreign terrorist and criminal network. This organization has killed over 500 Iraqis in the last year and continues to target Iraqi government and civilian targets with the hope of inciting a civil war. Abu-Ayyub al-Masri is believed to have fled Fallujah, during OPERATION AL FAJR. The Multi National Force in Iraq is also offering a reward of $50,000 for information leading to the capture of Abu-Ayyub al-Masri
⢠Abu Anas al-Iraqi - Abu Anas al-Iraqi is associated with Iraqi Hizb-e-Islami and is an expert in explosives. He is believed to be operating in the Sammara or Mosul areas. The Multi National Force in Iraq is offering a reward of $50,000 for information leading to the capture of Abu Anas al-Iraqi
⢠Abd-al-Hadi al-Iraqi - Abd-al-Hadi al-Iraqi is a foreign terrorist that is part of the foreign terrorist network that is conducting brutal attacks against the Iraqi people, the Interim Iraqi Government, Iraqi National Guard, the Iraqi Police and coalition forces. The Multi National Force in Iraq is considering offering a reward of $50,000 for information leading to his capture.
⢠Ahmad Hasan Kaka al-Ubaydi- Ahmad Hasan Kaka al-'Ubaydi is a former Iraqi Intelligence Service officer, and is now believed associated with Ansar Al Islam affiliate. He is believed to be a leader of an insurgent and criminal network that is conducting attacks against coalition forces, the Interim Iraqi Government, Iraqi National Guard, the Iraqi Police and the Iraqi people. The Multi National Force in Iraq is also offering a reward of $200,000 for information leading to his capture.
⢠Sayf al-Din al-Rawi- Sayf al-Din al-Rawi is an associate of Izzat Al-Duri's son Ahmed, as well as "Chemical Ali's son, Ali Hassan Al Majid. He is believed to be supporting the insurgency in Iraq that is conducting attacks against the Iraqi people and infrastructure. It is believed that he is now hiding in Syria. As a result of his close association with the former regime, Sayf al-Din al-Rawi has been designated under United Nations Security Counsel Resolution 1483 for stealing assets from the Iraqi people. Under the United Nations Security Counsel resolution all member nations must freeze any funds, other financial assets or economic resources associated with Sayf al-Din al-Rawi and immediately return them to the Iraqi people. These assets will contribute to the reconstruction of Iraq. The Multi National Force in Iraq is also offering a reward of $100,000 for information leading to the capture of Sayf al-Din al-Rawi
⢠Abu Abd-al-Aziz (aka Hamza)- Abu 'Abd-al-Aziz is believed to have provided leadership to a foreign terrorist cell operating in Fallujah. He is believed to have fled Fallujah, during OPERATION AL FAJR, but continues to conduct attacks against the Iraqi people. The Multi National Force in Iraq is considering offering a reward of $200,000 for information leading to the capture of Abu 'Abd-al-Aziz.
⢠Hamin Bani Shari- Hamin Bani Shari is a member of the AI Shura Council and an associate of the foreign terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He is believed to have fled Fallujah, during OPERATION AL FAJR. The Multi National Force in Iraq is considering offering a reward of $200,000 for information leading to his capture.
⢠Sheikh Abdalluh Abu Azzam (aka Amir of Anbar)- is considered to be a lieutenant of the foreign terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He has issued a statement that threatened the Jama'at Al Tawhid would hunt down Iraqi officials and symbols of the current government; he has also claimed the attacks of Izz Al Din Salim, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior and the killing of the Mosul Governor. Sheikh Abdalluh Abu 'Azzam is considered a grave threat to the Iraqi people and to the rebuilding of Iraq. The Multi National Force in Iraq is offering a reward of $50,000 for information leading to the capture of Abu Abdalluh 'Azzam.
⢠Mahir al-Shami (aka Milad al-Lubnani)- Mahir al-Shami is a senior associate of the foreign terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He is believed to have been involved in the planning of terrorist attacks against coalition forces, the Interim Iraqi Government, Iraqi National Guard, the Iraqi Police and the Iraqi people. The Multi National Force in Iraq is considering offering a reward of $200,000 for information leading to his capture.
⢠Muhammed Hardan Hashim (aka Abu Said)- is considered to be a lieutenant of the foreign terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. As a member of Zarqawi's terrorist organization Muhammed Hardan Hashim has been implicated in attacks on Iraqi government and civilian targets, the destruction of police stations, recruitment centers, and attacks on Iraqi oil and humanitarian workers and those laboring to build a new Iraq. He is believed to have fled Fallujah during OPERATION AL FAJR. The Multi National Force in Iraq is offering a reward of $50,000 for information leading to the capture of Muhammed Hardan Hashim.
⢠Malik al-Tunisi- Malik al-Tunisi is a facilitator for the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's foreign terrorist network. As a member of Zarqawi's terrorist organization al-Tunisi has been implicated in attacks on Iraqi government and civilian targets, the destruction of police stations, recruitment centers, and attacks on Iraqi oil and humanitarian workers and those laboring to build a new Iraq. He is believed to have fled Fallujah during OPERATION AL FAJR. The Multi National Force in Iraq is offering a reward of $50,000 for information leading to the capture of Malik al-Tunisi.
⢠'Abd al-Latif Humaym (aka Abu Tamuz)- 'Abd al-Latif Humaym is the former religious advisor and close associate of Saddam Hussein. Before the fall of the regime, he ran several branches of the Iraqi Islamic Bank and is now known to be financially supporting insurgent elements in their attacks on the Iraqi government and people. His support for terrorist attacks has undermined the rebuilding of Iraq and the lives of the Iraqi people. He is suspected of fleeing Iraq and is now hiding abroad. The Multi National Force in Iraq is offering a reward of $50,000 for information leading to the capture of 'Abd al-Latif Humaym.
⢠Luay Ben Mohammed Saka- Lu'ay Ben Mohammed Saka is believed to be a facilitator for the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi terrorist network. He is responsible for terrorist attacks against the Iraqi government and people. He is believed to have fled Fallujah during OPERATION AL FAJR. The Multi National Force in Iraq is offering a reward of $50,000 for information leading to the capture of Lu'ay Ben Mohammed Saka.
⢠Umar Husayn Hadid Salman al-Khalifawi AKA Abu Khattab, Abu Abdallah is an associate of the foreign terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi terrorist network. As a member of Zarqawi's terrorist organization Hadid has been implicated in attacks on Iraqi government and civilian targets, the destruction of police stations, recruitment centers, and attacks on Iraqi oil and humanitarian workers and those laboring to build a new Iraq. He is believed to have fled Fallujah during OPERATION AL FAJR. The Multi National Force in Iraq is offering a reward of $50,000 for information leading to his capture.
⢠Shaykh Mahmud Al-Hasani al-Sharqi- Shaykh Mahmud Al-Hasani al-Sharqi is a former Shia clerical student at the An-Najaf Hawza. He is responsible for attacks on coalition forces and undermining the reconstruction of Iraq. In October 03, he organized the ambush in Karbala that resulted in the death of two Iraqi policeman and four coalition soldiers. Hassani is also implicated in the 11 Feb 2004 attack on Spanish forces and Iraqi Police in Diwaniyah. He is believed to be hiding in the Karbala/Najaf areas and may be disguising himself by dressing as a woman. The Multi National Force in Iraq is offering a reward of $50,000 for information leading to the capture of Shaykh Mahmud Al-Hasani al-Sharqi.
⢠Shaykh Ahmad Husayn al-Dabash- Shaykh Ahmad Husayn al-Dabash has been identified as a insurgent leader in the Abu Ghraib area. He has ties to a foreign terrorist network that is conducting attacks against the Iraqi people, coalition forces, and the Iraqi Police and Government. The Multi National Forces in Iraq is offering a reward of $50,000 for information leading to the capture of Shaykh Ahmad Husayn al-Dabash.
⢠Nuhad Naji al-Adhari al-Dulaymi- Nuhad Naji al-Adhari al-Dulaymi was a prominent member of the Saddam regime and served Saddam as the Director General of the Iraqi Intelligence Service. He is believed to be providing financial support to the insurgents that are conducting attacks against the Iraqi people, coalition forces, and the Iraqi Police and Government. He is suspected of fleeing Iraq and is now hiding abroad. The Multi National Force in Iraq is offering a reward of $200,000 for information leading to his capture.
⢠Abdullah al-Janabi Abdullah al-Janabi is a self-proclaimed sheik and Sunni cleric. However he has provided financial, manpower, leadership, and spiritual support to the insurgents and foreign terrorist elements that were operating in Fallujah. He is believed to have fled Fallujah during the beginning of OPERATION AL FAJR. The Multi National Force in Iraq is offering a reward of $50,000 for information leading to his capture.
⢠Ibrahim Yusif Turki al-Jabburi- is a former senior Ba'ath Party member operating in Mosul. He is reportedly the leader of a terrorist cell and is responsible for conducting attacks against the Iraqi people, the Interim Iraqi Government, Iraqi National Guard, the Iraqi Police and coalition forces in Mosul area. We believe that he has fled Iraq and is now hiding in Syria. The Multi National Force in Iraq is considering offering a reward of $50,000 for information leading to his capture.
This article starring:
ABD AL BAQI ABD AL KARIM AL ABDALLAH AL SAADUN
Iraqi Insurgency
ABD AL HADI AL IRAQI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
ABD AL LATIF HUMAIM
Iraqi Insurgency
ABDULLAH AL JANABI
Iraqi Insurgency
ABU ABD AL AZIZ
al-Qaeda in Iraq
ABU AIYUB AL MASRI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
ABU ANAS AL IRAQI
Hizb-e-Islami
ABU HUDA
Iraqi Insurgency
ABU MUSAB AL ZARQAWI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
ABU SAID
al-Qaeda in Iraq
ABU TALHA
Ansar al-Islam
ABU TAMUZ
Iraqi Insurgency
AHMED HASAN KAKA AL UBAIDI
Ansar Al Islam
ALI HASAN AL MAJID
Iraqi Insurgency
AMIR OF ANBAR
al-Qaeda in Iraq
FADHIL IBRAHIM MAHMUD MASHADANI
Iraqi Insurgency
HAMIN BANI SHARI
Mujaheddin Shura Council
IBRAHIM YUSIF TURKI AL JABURI
Iraqi Insurgency
IZZAT IBRAHIM AL DURI
Iraqi Insurgency
LUAI BEN MOHAMED SAKA
al-Qaeda in Iraq
MAHIR AL SHAMI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
MALIK AL TUNISI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
MUHAMAD KHALAF SHAKARA
Ansar al-Islam
MUHAMAD RAJAB AL HADUSHI
Iraqi Insurgency
MUHAMAD YUNIS AL AHMED
Iraqi Insurgency
MUHAMED HARDAN HASHIM
al-Qaeda in Iraq
NAJIM ABDULLAH ZAHWAN KHALIFAH UJAILI
Iraqi Insurgency
NUHAD NAJI AL ADHARI AL DULAIMI
Iraqi Insurgency
OMAR HUSEIN HADID SALMAN AL KHALIFAWI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
RASHID TAAN KAZIM
Iraqi Insurgency
SABAWI IBRAHIM AL HASAN AL TIKRITI
Iraqi Insurgency
SAIF AL DIN AL RAWI
Iraqi Insurgency
SHEIKH ABDALLUH ABU AZZAM
al-Qaeda in Iraq
SHEIKH AHMED HUSEIN AL DABASH
al-Qaeda in Iraq
SHEIKH MAHMUD AL HASANI AL SHARQI
Mahdi Army
THAFIR ALSEMAK
Iraqi Insurgency
Ansar al-Islam
Ansar Al Islam
Hizb-e-Islami
Posted by: Steve ||
02/17/2005
12:53:36 PM ||
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#1
I think rantburgers, en masse, should do a shot if they catch one of these guys, two if they kill him.
Or, if you don't drink, have at least a ululatte, which is the same as a regular latte, except with goat milk.
Sen. Harry Reid (Nev.) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), the Democratic leaders of the Senate and House, plan to shake up the Democratic political consulting community and break the grip that a small number of consultants have had on strategy and contracts, party sources say.
The Democratic leaders want to bring in new people with track records of success and innovation and look beyond the Beltway for message smiths to help guide the party...
A review of DSCC independent expenditures in the two months before Election Day showed that three firms consumed nearly all independent expenditures spent on making ads.
Struble Eichenbaum Communications received nearly $80,000 for media production. Greer Margolis Mitchell Burns received $260,000 and Dixon Davis Media Group received $175,000 for media production, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission. All three firms are based inside the Beltway.
Washington Monthly magazine recently reported that one direct-mail firm, Ambrosino, Muir & Hansen, co-led by Joe Hansen, the DSCC's former field director, handled five of the most competitive Senate races in 2004. But firm partner Karl Struble said Senate Democratic media contracts were more diversified than those of House Democrats.
"The stuff on the House side has been in fewer hands even though they have many more races to do," he said...
#1
The Democratic leaders want to bring in new people with track records of success and innovation and look beyond the Beltway for message smiths to help guide the party...
The US share of worldwide high-tech exports has dropped from 31 percent to 18 percent over the past 20 years in what could foreshadow the loss of the country's leadership position in science and technology, a blue ribbon expert panel has warned.
The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation created by leading US companies and scientific and business associations sounded the alarm Wednesday as it presented a report indicating that the United States was gradually losing its position as the world leader in scientific and technological research, primarily to the fast-growing economies in Asia. "US employers are being forced to look overseas, as they face shortages of qualified technically trained talent in the US," said Craig Barrett, chief executive officer of Intel Corporation, a member of the task force. "If this trend continues, new technologies, and the constellation of support industries surrounding them, will increasingly develop overseas, not here."
The signs of trouble outlined in the report range from a decrease in the volume of academic research to stagnant funding for research and development offered by both the government and corporate America. As the US share in global high-tech exports was dropping, China, South Korea and other emerging Asian economies boosted theirs from seven percent in 1980 to 25 percent in 2001, according to the study. Moreover, the high-tech industries of many Asian countries grew faster in the 1990s than that of the United States. China's output in that sector, for example, shot up more than eight-fold -- from 30 billion dollars to 257 billion over the decade -- while in the United States, it just doubled from 423 billion dollars to 940 billion.
The root cause of that phenomenon may lie in the decreasing interest in science and engineering consistently displayed by young Americans. According to the report, enrollment in science and engineering classes at US universities dropped 10 percent for US citizens between 1994 and 2001 but increased by 25 percent for foreign-born students.
Posted by: phil_b ||
02/17/2005
12:44:17 AM ||
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#1
The root cause it that the titans of industry prefer to outsource overseas rather then retain or hire US citizens. I know that from personal experience. An H2B visa holder is even preferable to a citizen as they can kick them out of the country if they don't play good yes men.
#2
From a WashTimes article: "The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation was formed by scientific societies, universities, businesses like IBM, Hewlett Packard, Texas Instruments and Intel and trade associations like the National Association of Manufacturers."
There are many different axes being ground, some nationalistic, some altruistic, some mercenary, and some of the people behind this organization are the ones demanding work visas so they can import cheap labor - not supporting any US effort to increase the native development of qualified engineers and scientists.
There's a lot to this issue, certainly more than merely producing qualified people. It's cost of research, cost of production, corporate tax laws, and a hundred other issues.
#3
3dc to blame industry completly misses the point. If US companies don't source at the lowest cost their competitors will and drive out of business. Its how capitalism works.
.com, I agree there are many issues at work, but funding coparative ethnic studies or whatever, in preference to science and engineering is a big part of the problem and causes other problems like the woeful ignorance of basic science that leads to the global warming/kyoto lunacy amoungst other things.
#4
I doubt there's more than a hair's difference between us, phil_b.
I'm certainly not in favor of the PC-ized education system. We don't need ethnic studies. If doesn't have squat to do with anything whatsoever.
We do need mathematicians, physicists, every scientific discipline, every medical discipline, and engineers of every stripe.
Assuming we're talking about tech-intensive companies, per the article, I have an observation to offer...
King Stockholder runs the show in "new" corporations - hungry for development capital - that period before they prove their mettle and win market share. Then, unless the corp management is stupid and terminally greedy, they are subordinated to research, which rises to maintain the market share through innovation. The stockholders come because you're a Rolex in your industry, not because they're bribed and begged. Declining companies failed to continue putting research first - or failed to pay to get the talent for research to develop new and better products. Even the inertia of the giants can come to a grinding halt without continued emphasis on research. IBM is one of those which damned near fell on its face, thanks to its upper management's inability to accept the fact that no company is too big to fail.
#5
Article: According to the report, enrollment in science and engineering classes at US universities dropped 10 percent for US citizens between 1994 and 2001 but increased by 25 percent for foreign-born students.
It's weird how supposedly intelligent people can come up with the idea that Americans are less interested in science. The reason foreign enrolments are increasing and American enrolments are falling is because foreigners are becoming more prosperous - and more able to afford American college educations. Foreigners aren't stupid - they just have less money.
Note also that a rise in the number (and therefore the quality) of foreign applications will coincide with a fall in American enrolments - technical schools tend to accept applicants based on academic ability. If they want to ensure that more Americans enter technical schools, they need to start discriminating against foreign applicants instead of treating foreigners as if they were Americans. After all, it is not the taxpayers' responsibility to subsidize the educations of foreign students.
Bottom line - I think this is world citizen thinking on the part of both the corporations and the colleges. The colleges don't feel any allegiance to Americans, and - instead of doing the logical thing and accepting more Americans - just want a forum to keep themselves in the public eye. The corporations, staffed as they are by foreigners on US soil, don't feel any allegiance to Americans and just want to sound like they're doing something to divert the political heat they get by outsourcing.
#6
Article: Chinaâs output in that sector, for example, shot up more than eight-fold -- from 30 billion dollars to 257 billion over the decade -- while in the United States, it just doubled from 423 billion dollars to 940 billion.
Some of this is double-counting, with regard to China's numbers. If China were really manufacturing that level of product, it would be a First World country rather than one of the poorer Third World countries. Note that China's total industrial output was just over $1T. The idea that IT is 25% of China's economy while being under 10% of the US economy is so ludicrous, I think the guys who write this kind of stuff ought to be stripped of their college degrees and be sentenced to having to retake all of their college courses.
#7
Following on from Zhang's point. My brother is a US university prof in a scientific/technical discipline and at any time he has 6 to 8 grad students. They are overwhelmingly non-American (perhaps 80%). He says the quality of overseas applicants is so much better and he is only required to get the best candidates. There are two issues here. One is not enough good people go into scientific technical education. The other is the USA should stop subsidized education of foriegners. While it is admirable (and almost totally ignored) that almost all the worlds leading scientists and engineers get educated at US and to a lesser extent UK and Australian universities, you are training your future competition.
#8
phil_b: Following on from Zhang's point. My brother is a US university prof in a scientific/technical discipline and at any time he has 6 to 8 grad students. They are overwhelmingly non-American (perhaps 80%). He says the quality of overseas applicants is so much better and he is only required to get the best candidates. There are two issues here. One is not enough good people go into scientific technical education. The other is the USA should stop subsidized education of foriegners.
I think great people go into technical education. In head-to-head competition - based on academics alone - Uncle Sam is only 5% of the world's population, yet generates 20% of the best technical minds. The problem isn't a lack of good technical minds - it's a lack of political will - in the sense of imposing the requirement that Federally-funded colleges admit foreigners only to the extent that they pay the full price of their education.
#10
gromgorru, some stay, some leave. I couldn't give you numbers. My brother is one of the foreign grad students who stayed and now heads a Federal Drug Administration Committee amoungst other things. One clear benefit to the US is high quality immigrants.
#11
GG, lots of them stay, seduced by the freedom and affluence of the U.S. Many of those that go back were also so seduced, but couldn't come up with a legitimate visa allowing them to stay. (Daddy worked exclusively with post docs, so I grew up hearing about this dilemma). So, they take their taste for affluence and freedom back with them to their home countries. Truth to tell, while we are thusly creating our future competition, this is also an extremely effective missionary program.
#12
It's weird how supposedly intelligent people can come up with the idea that Americans are less interested in science.
There's probably a difference but "less interested" might not be quite the right way to describe it. "More fearful of" or "less educated about" would likely be closer to the truth. As a society our lack of scientific education / understanding begins with out failed public schools but that's another rant entirely.
#13
Right. We don't have to raise all the future techs to prosper, we just have to integrate them into our economy. And no other system is set up to reward innovation (without corruption and more visible gov't drags) like ours. Funny Rantburg article not too long ago about top European research scientists all coming over...
#14
US business leaders and government have created the problem. The US used to have the top R&D labs in the world. Companies have been shutting them down, filling them with H1B's or outsourcing them for years. Bell Labs is a shadow of it's former self. Same for Parc, TJ Watson, Sarnoff, etc. It's expensive and difficult to get an education for technology. Why would a smart student bust their butt getting a degree and then a graduate degree in math, engineering, or science when they are going to end up unemployed. Why not get a law degree and make a ton of money suing people.
#15
As the US share in global high-tech exports was dropping, China, South Korea and other emerging Asian economies boosted theirs from seven percent in 1980 to 25 percent in 2001, according to the study.
I'm curious - how are these guys defining "exports"? If a U.S. company does its R&D here but sets up shop in China for the sole purpose of manufacturing the end product to be sold worldwide (as is the case in many instances), are those products "exports" of China exclusively?
"US employers are being forced to look overseas, as they face shortages of qualified technically trained talent in the US," said Craig Barrett, chief executive officer of Intel Corporation, a member of the task force.
I've heard of quite a few instances where engineers have gone unemployed for a long time due to their qualification level - the pay they would command is more than a company is willing to shell out, not to mention the age angle. (young engineers == more energetic, less out-of-company obligations, etc etc....you know the drill)
Personally, I think Barrett is just shoveling warm meadow muffins.
#16
#15
I've heard of quite a few instances where engineers have gone unemployed for a long time due to their qualification level - the pay they would command is more than a company is willing to shell out, not to mention the age angle. (young engineers == more energetic, less out-of-company obligations, etc etc....you know the drill),
I am one of those people. Motorola told me when I was part of one of their massive layoffs that they intended to replace me with 5 Indian engineers. I had been doing R&D and D for them for 13 years. Now, my resume scares the heck out of other people and doesn't fit any of PeopleSoft's PeopleClick filters that all the Fortune 500 hire through.
I have two smart sons. I directed one toward journalism and the other art. I would not wish engineering on any American with the current corporate environment.
#17
sounds like the Chinese reps from Loral have spoken
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 12:26
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#18
Now, my resume scares the heck out of other people and doesn't fit any of PeopleSoft's PeopleClick filters that all the Fortune 500 hire through.
Similar story here. My own field of study is pretty obscure, but along the way I've developed some skills that would be useful to industry. I thought I'd found a good match a while back, with a huge company that makes the devices that I'd been using in my work. This was just a technician's job, but, hey, it was something I could do, and even a "mere" technician can pull down more than a PhD doing basic, arcane research. So I applied, as directed, through the web site.
I was rejected in minutes. By the web site. By software.
An industry that can afford to let software do its hiring is not an industry that is in dire need of trained people. When industry headhunters are hunting my pure scientist pals, then I'll believe that there's really a tech shortage.
#20
#8 The problem isn't a lack of good technical minds - it's a lack of political will - in the sense of imposing the requirement that Federally-funded colleges admit foreigners only to the extent that they pay the full price of their education.
ZF is correct. As a recent Ph.D. in Physics I can say that the lack of young americans interest in the sciences and engineering is purely financial and the goverments policies are exaserbating the problem. It takes to long and has to much oportunity-cost for americans to go into the sciences and engineering. Stop the subsidizing of forgein students education and the universities will have to start recruiting from US high schools. They will have to revamp their programs so it doesn't take 6 years to get an advanced degree which cost the students many years of lost income. And while I can't say anything good about the public school system, but it only takes a small numbers of the best students to decide to become scientist/engineers instead of laywers to change the system from what it is now.
#21
law students wouldn't become engineers and scientists just like that - they typically CAN'T do the math required, nor do they want to
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 15:34
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#22
The flaw in the "outsourcing helps America" nonsense is what is showing here.
To maintina the "top of the food chain" technology jobs, we have to have lots of college educated peopel taking on technology tegress, with hard math, hard science and solid engineering. And the best fo thos are generally proven through experience gained in the very jobs we are shipping overseas.
So people like my son, they see no tech jobs worth having at the entry level, only "senior" positions are open (and naturally a lot fewer of them). So he goes away from the science/engineering/math technology "feeder" degree, and is looking into management instead.
Outsorucein is decimating our entry level technology job market to the point where nobody wants to go in it. And when the current generation retires out, there will be no Americans to follow-on in thier footsteps outside of those who hold high Security Clearances and have worked for the government their whole career.
Outsourcing must be stopped - punitive taxes must be applied to reflect the true cost to society for outsourcing should be placed on the companies that do this. Outsource DOES cost the nation - and the companiues that do it have not saved the economy uch anything - they have just invisibly shifted the price to people down the pipe who will pay severely later.
We punish speeders because they endanger others. Why are these outsourcing companies given a free ride when they are endangering the very survivability of the republic?
#23
Old Spook
As one of the senior jobs outsourced. Tell me how the heck I can get a high Security Clearance and feast on those jobs when all those jobs require an existing high security clearance before they will hire you. Its a catch 22. I was in the commerical field but the overlap is extreme with current security type jobs.
#24
t's all about Money OldSpook. Greed is driving the outsourcing. We have a pretty large number of corporate leaders and management who have little loyalty to our country apparently and only care about their over generous pay and benefit packages. They do lots of things that damage our economy to make sure they can live like royalty. I don't begrudge anyone who earns a good living and a generous salary and benefit package but lots of this is just insane.
My daughter got her master in Physics last spring. She is working as a high school math teacher.( Same place Mom works and the school she graduated with honors from..) She is qualified to teach Calculus. She teaches Freshmen Algebra this year. She was told that 38% of the freshmen class this did not graduate from middle school they were passed through. How are we going to compete with raw material like that?
#26
The flaw in the "outsourcing helps America" nonsense is what is showing here.
To maintina the "top of the food chain" technology jobs, we have to have lots of college educated peopel taking on technology tegress, with hard math, hard science and solid engineering. And the best fo thos are generally proven through experience gained in the very jobs we are shipping overseas.
So people like my son, they see no tech jobs worth having at the entry level, only "senior" positions are open (and naturally a lot fewer of them). So he goes away from the science/engineering/math technology "feeder" degree, and is looking into management instead.
Outsorucein is decimating our entry level technology job market to the point where nobody wants to go in it. And when the current generation retires out, there will be no Americans to follow-on in thier footsteps outside of those who hold high Security Clearances and have worked for the government their whole career.
Outsourcing must be stopped - punitive taxes must be applied to reflect the true cost to society for outsourcing should be placed on the companies that do this. Outsource DOES cost the nation - and the companiues that do it have not saved the economy uch anything - they have just invisibly shifted the price to people down the pipe who will pay severely later.
We punish speeders because they endanger others. Why are these outsourcing companies given a free ride when they are endangering the very survivability of the republic?
#27
The flaw in the "outsourcing helps America" nonsense is what is showing here.
To maintina the "top of the food chain" technology jobs, we have to have lots of college educated peopel taking on technology tegress, with hard math, hard science and solid engineering. And the best fo thos are generally proven through experience gained in the very jobs we are shipping overseas.
So people like my son, they see no tech jobs worth having at the entry level, only "senior" positions are open (and naturally a lot fewer of them). So he goes away from the science/engineering/math technology "feeder" degree, and is looking into management instead.
Outsorucein is decimating our entry level technology job market to the point where nobody wants to go in it. And when the current generation retires out, there will be no Americans to follow-on in thier footsteps outside of those who hold high Security Clearances and have worked for the government their whole career.
Outsourcing must be stopped - punitive taxes must be applied to reflect the true cost to society for outsourcing should be placed on the companies that do this. Outsource DOES cost the nation - and the companiues that do it have not saved the economy uch anything - they have just invisibly shifted the price to people down the pipe who will pay severely later.
We punish speeders because they endanger others. Why are these outsourcing companies given a free ride when they are endangering the very survivability of the republic?
APART from attacking military detachments in Sulu, loyalists of jailed Muslim leader Nur Misuari and the Abu Sayyaf planned to kidnap top government officials and foreigners to force his release from jail, a military official said on Wednesday.
Following a series of meetings late last year, the two Muslim rebel groups agreed to take "extreme measures," like "kidnapping high-profile government officials or foreigners to be used as leverage for the release of Misuari," said the official who requested anonymity.
The former leader of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) is detained at a police camp in the municipality of Sta. Rosa in Laguna province while on trial for rebellion.
In another meeting last November 16, Jailani, Sali, and Sahiron met in barangay (village) Pandan, Kalingalan Kaluang town, Sulu province also allegedly planned a siege on three schools in Zamboanga City, the official said.
Military spokesmen were unavailable for comment.
Fighting between government troops and Misuari loyalists had raged in Sulu since early last week, killing at least 70 on both sides.
On Wednesday, the government seized the Misuari loyalists' Camp Ujod Jabal in barangay (village) Bitan-ag, Panamo town, which they renamed Camp Dennis Villanueva, in honor of an Army battalion commander, who died there last Thursday.
In a related the development, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) warned that the current military offensive in Mindanao was "doomed to fail" like the "all-out war" that the Estrada government launched in 2000. "It is more prudent for this government to agree to a ceasefire now than later when its military solution will prove to be futile and disastrous," MILF chief information officer Mohaguer Iqbal said in a statement. "That is more insulting and face-shattering."
This article starring:
BASHIRI JAILANI
Moro National Liberation Front
MOHAGUER IQBAL
Moro Islamic Liberation Front
NUR MISUARI
Moro National Liberation Front
RADULLAN SAHIRON
Abu Sayyaf
TAHIR SALI
Moro National Liberation Front
Abu Sayyaf
Moro Islamic Liberation Front
Moro National Liberation Front
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/17/2005
12:42:04 AM ||
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Police said they arrested seven people, including an official from the IRA-linked Sinn Fein party, and seized millions in cash Thursday suspected stolen two months ago from a Belfast bank, a crime that badly damaged Northern Ireland's peace process. Police raided a property near the southwest city of Cork, arrested three men and a woman, and recovered a reported £2 million ($3.8 million). They could not immediately confirm whether the money matched records of the notes stolen from the Northern Bank in Belfast.
Earlier, police said they raided another property in Dublin, where they arrested three men and seized at least £60,000. They also could not confirm whether this was money stolen from the bank, but confirmed that some of the money was in the Northern Ireland's own brand. The two connected raids, police said, were targeting suspected money-laundering operations of the outlawed Irish Republican Army. The seizures and arrests may represent the first major breakthrough in months of police work to identify the gang responsible for stealing £26.5 million robbery from the Northern Bank on December 20 -- the biggest cash theft in history.
Well, there went the IRA's IRA.
Police chiefs in both parts of Ireland have blamed the outlawed IRA, but until now have failed to recover any of the cash or charge anyone in connection with the robbery. Police, in keeping with usual practice, refused to identify any of the arrested people by name. Under powers of Ireland's Offenses Against the State Act, all seven can be interrogated without charge until Friday night or Saturday morning. Sinn Fein declined immediate comment. The party previously has stressed it believes IRA denials of involvement in the robbery.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/17/2005
12:40:43 PM ||
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#1
tu - think some of the perps are from Charlestown?
#3
Northern Ireland's own brand If this confused you, its because It should have read - Northern Bank's own brand. A pecularity of Northern Ireland is all the local banks (there used to be 5) issue their own currency.
Terrorism is expanding its reach in Russia, in part because of corruption and lawlessness in government, police and the military that make it impossible for impoverished people to improve their lot, a Kremlin aide said Wednesday.
Aslambek Aslakhanov, a former Soviet and Russian Interior Ministry official who serves as President Vladimir Putin's adviser on the North Caucasus region, said terrorists were increasingly finding recruits across Russia's south.
"Terrorist attacks aren't always politically motivated, sometimes they're carried out for revenge - against the corruption of authorities, the lawlessness of police and military structures, mass unemployment and the inability to feed one's family," Aslakhanov said in an interview with The Associated Press.
"They try to do something (to improve their lot) and are not allowed to, and it's the bureaucrats who are to blame," he added.
Aslakhanov, an ethnic Chechen, said Putin had given him the task of tackling poverty in the region by creating an international corporation that would attract investment to the North Caucasus, particularly war-battered Chechnya, where he said unemployment was as high as 90 percent.
He said government forces, which are supposed to ensure order, often helped fill terrorists' ranks with their methods.
"The excessive cruelty of certain police and military structures in the country, especially the abduction of people, their torture and execution and disappearance without a trace ... has an impact on the terrorist situation," he said.
Russian forces have been fighting rebels in Chechnya for the better part of a decade, but over the past few years police clashes with Islamic rebels in other regions of the North Caucasus have increased.
Aslakhanov said he believed the various groups had ties; for example, some get extremist literature from a single source. But "organization, strict discipline, subordination one to the other - these things still don't exist, thank God," he said.
"They all use violence to achieve their goals, whether it's creation of an independent state or liberation of people who have been arrested, or revenge," he said.
Aslakhanov, 62, a former member of the Russian parliament from Chechnya, rose through the ranks of the Soviet Interior Ministry and taught criminal policy and law at the Russian Interior Ministry Academy from 1993 to 2000. He withdrew from the race for Chechnya's presidency in October 2003 to take the Kremlin position.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/17/2005
12:37:05 AM ||
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A car bomb killed three people near Russia's restive Chechnya region on Wednesday, but Dagestan's deputy prime minister and a security chief escaped the apparent bid to assassinate them, officials said. The bomb went off in the town of Kizlyar in Dagestan as the region's deputy prime minister and security council chief drove away from the government building in an armoured Mercedes. Neither was hurt. The dead were two passers-by, including a woman, and the driver of a car accompanying the officials, said Ibragim Aliyev, head doctor at Kizlyar's hospital. A further five people were injured, he said.
Dagestan has been infected by a spillover of violence from Chechnya, where rebels have fought Russian rule for a decade. It is also prone to criminal clashes. Amuchi Amutinov, the Dagestani deputy prime minister who escaped injury in Wednesday's attack, survived a previous assassination attempt that analysts blamed on a criminal gang. Amutinov also heads Dagestan's pension fund.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/17/2005
12:36:14 AM ||
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An influential tri-national panel has considered a raft of bold proposals for an integrated North America, including a continental customs union, single passport and contiguous security perimeter.
According to a confidential internal summary from the first of three meetings of the Task Force on the Future of North America, discussions also broached the possibility of lifting trade exemptions on cultural goods and Canadian water exports.
Those last two suggestions were dismissed in subsequent deliberations, say members of the task force, an advisory group of academics, trade experts, former politicians and diplomats from Canada, the United States and Mexico sponsored by the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations.
Members said the task force's final report this spring will focus on "achievable" rather than simply academic questions like that of a single North American currency.
Nevertheless, the initial debates prompted a sharp reaction from trade skeptics and nationalist groups like the Council of Canadians, who fear business leaders and the politically connected are concocting plans to cede important areas of sovereignty at the behest of American business interests.
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow said the summary, a copy of which was obtained by the Toronto Star, was "disturbing" and "shocking."
"What they envisage is a new North American reality with one passport, one immigration and refugee policy, one security regime, one foreign policy, one common set of environmental, health and safety standards ... a brand name that will be sold to school kids, all based on the interests and the needs of the U.S.," she said.
She said the discussions have added weight because the panel includes such political heavyweights as former federal finance minister John Manley.
Thomas d'Aquino, head of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and one of the task force's vice-chairs, said the summary reflected only preliminary discussions and scoffed at Barlow's concerns, saying insinuations of a secret agenda are "totally wrong."
"There is an acute awareness that we have three independent countries who have no intention of compromising their sovereignty," he said, adding the discussions on water and culture particularly "had no legs whatsoever."
Federal officials stressed the panel is independent of government policy, and that while efforts will continue to work with the United States to address common security and trade concerns, there are no discussions regarding more formal continental integration.
D'Aquino brushed aside the concerns stemming from the summary document, saying "every member of the task force is an independent, the first meeting was basically a scattering of ideas ... a great deal of ground has been covered since then."
And where Barlow and others see a sinister plot to serve the interests of corporate America, d'Aquino sees an effort to co-operate in the face of emerging economic powerhouses in Asia.
The document talks about the need to develop a North American brand, and muses about the possibility of common immigration and customs policies, closer consultation on monetary policy and integrated security policies. Points of discussion included:
"Trilateralizing customs and immigration at airports, ports and land borders."
"Applying the principle of inspection, one test, one certification throughout North America" for agriculture.
"Treating all North American citizens as domestic investors in each country."
Posted by: anonymous2u ||
02/17/2005
12:36:01 AM ||
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#1
Treating all North American citizens as domestic investors in each country.
There are certainly enough bad/frightening ideas in there to go 'round but this sentence sends a chill down my spine.
#2
LOL! Wotta load. This is multiculti think-tank tea-time wank-chatter. Not happening. Probably not even make it to serious discussion until Mexico stops being a third world country with first world resources and Kanada stops being insane - on a wide range of issues. So what, 30-40 years, maybe? Lol!
#3
Just a ivory tower private thinktank doing out of the box thinking. A high quality continental customs standard and a contiguous security perimeter are not bad ideas, but I agree Mexico is the weak link. No political union or single passport needed or wanted.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/17/2005 8:43
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Canada really is the other weak link, Steve. Look at the kind of people they encourage to immigrate. As for the security perimeter thingie, I wouldn't trust either of our neighbors to do anything more than require us to handle the entire load.
#5
What's your beef, AzCat? I don't see anything wrong with that. That means we could actually own beachfront property in Mexico, or own stock in their companies. (I'm not saying the latter is a good idea, just that it shouldn't be restricted.) Currently, what are the restrictions on foreigners investing in the US? Are there any? Daimler Benz bought Chrysler (and darn near ruined it, "merger of equals," My assets) after all.
Similarly, I don't have a problem with freer transport of goods. In spite of NAFTA, I sometimes have problems with stuff going to or from Canada.
The only sticking point I see would be the unlimited immigration possible.
#6
Oh goody, just what we need, a North American version of the EU. I know already what would derail it. Just say that Bush loves the idea. That will kill it faster than you can blink.
Besides, I thought we already had a de facto single currency on this continent called the dollar. The US Dollar, not the Canadian....
The head of the International Committee for the Red Cross has met US President George W Bush to discuss concerns about detainees at Guantanamo Bay. ICRC officials regularly visit the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where suspected al-Qaeda and Taleban members are being held.
The committee said Mr Kellenberger had met President Bush in Washington on Monday. Their discussion "focused on ICRC concerns regarding US detention" as well as the main challenges facing the organisation in armed conflicts around the world. He also met US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and is due to meet Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday.
The Geneva-based agency said it welcomed the opportunity to "raise these issues at the highest level and looks forward to strengthening its confidential dialogue with US authorities."
The Bush administration insists the 540 or so inmates of Guantanamo - many of whom have been held without charge since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan - have been treated humanely. Human rights organisations claim say prisoners have been mistreated, and released detainees have followed the playbook and have spoken of beatings and coerced confessions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/17/2005
12:34:30 AM ||
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#1
Because obviously, there aren't enough human beings dying in various horrible ways anywhere else on the globe to warrant the attention of the ICRC. Sheesh.
#2
Here's the deal with the United States military and 'humanitarian' organizations like the Red Reticle.
The NGOs know the US military/US Government will cooperate so therefore they made absurd demands to ensure their supporters that 'soemthing is being done,' inasmuch as something would have been done regardless of their input.
The NGOs also know they will never get this type of cooperation fron 90 percent of the world's other nations: Not Sudan, not Cuba, not North Korea.
So, NGOs are bravely making those who are not only willing to cooperate but who are staying ahead of any problems, while even more bravely acting as though such 'examples' will make the other truley crappy mobocracies/tyrannies in the world do the right thing.
#3
Put me in charge. I will execute on inmate everytime the ICRC opens it's mouth. Tell me the last time the ICRC protected a US soilder from his captors? WW2?
They can all FOAD.
#5
Badanov has it pretty much right. But I think it may even be worse than he says. The anti-US impulse in the comfortable, protected parts of the industrialized world is so strong that it seems to have infected an organization that wasn't previously that way.
Last I checked, the ICRC was even joining those who argued that the Conventions had no actual content, and no inter-locking system of obligations and privileges -- they had a laughable "legal" argument on their website that very unconvincingly tried to argue that global terrorists merit Convention POW status.
I hope Dubya had a list of his own -- at the top of mine would be to administer a tongue-lashing to the ICRC for abandoning its confidentiality doctrine several times in the last few years to the special detriment of the US. They did this both in Iraq and WRT Guantanamo.
#10
CrazyFool: The ICRC is only doing what it feels is in it's best interest to validate itself. We're one of the few countries that will meet with them to discuss their "concerns" as you pointed out with North Korea. Otherwise, they'd be gettin' around the world (and in the news) alot more often. Just smile and show 'em the door.
He was sure he saw a suspected Sydney terrorist meet the Frenchman Willy Brigitte at a Lakemba house, a court heard yesterday. But Rashid Ahmad, a Crown witness in Faheem Khalid Lodhi's committal hearing, had given police a different version - that did not include Brigitte.
Mr Ahmad admitted his recollection of events at the house shared by Brigitte, Ahmad's friend Ashid Altaf and others in mid-2003 was hazy and conflicting. He also wrongly identified Brigitte, who has allegedly named Lodhi as the Australian contact for an al-Qaeda-linked group, in Australian Federal Police photographs.
Mr Ahmad told the court the man was "the Pakistani", then he said it was "the Bangladeshi". Later, under cross-examination by Phillip Boulten, SC, Mr Ahmad agreed it was Brigitte.
"I'm sorry, maybe I made a mistake. This one ... is the French man," he said.
Lodhi faces nine terrorism-related charges for allegedly planning terrorist attacks on three Sydney military sites and the national electricity grid.
Mr Ahmad told the Central Local Court hearing he saw Lodhi meet Brigitte at the house in Boorea Avenue, Lakemba.
"They shake hands with that French man and I ask them, 'Is your friend?' and they said 'Yes'."
He said he was referring to a Pakistani man called Faheem and a Bangladeshi he knew from a butchery in Lakemba. He then admitted he wrongly told police that Lodhi had chastised him for not attending the mosque when it may have been the Bangladeshi.
Then he said he could not remember which it was. Mr Boulten said: "It seems that your memory is not very good about these issues. Do you accept that?"
He replied: "Yes".
You've got some hazy recollection about these people being at the unit, don't you? ... It could well be that you got things mixed up in your mind. Do you accept that? - Yes.
He said he met Lodhi at the house twice, although he had told police it was once.
The hearing was adjourned until May.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/17/2005
12:33:16 AM ||
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Sadly, however, the core recommendations of the panel's report, concerning the use of armed force, rest upon wishful thinking rather than empirical evidence. The report evinces a view of a world governed by objective, universal morality rather than by competition for power and shifting national interests. It treats substantive problems as language problems, suggesting that a new vocabulary will eliminate underlying differences. Historical context is either missing or incorrect. The report, in short, exhibits all the familiar shortcomings of old-style Platonic idealism, ignoring the real-world incentives and disincentives to which states actually respond.
Much more at the link.
Posted by: 3dc ||
02/17/2005
12:20:20 AM ||
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#1
Wow. It beats me why these folks are so goddam useless...
New intelligence information strongly suggests that Al Qaeda has considered infiltrating the United States through the Mexican border, top government officials told Congress on Wednesday. In a wide-ranging assessment of threats to American security, including those posed by Iran and North Korea, the officials also said intelligence indicated that terrorist organizations remained intent on obtaining and using devastating weapons against the United States. "It may only be a matter of time before Al Qaeda or another group attempts to use chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons," Porter J. Goss, the new director of central intelligence, told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The warnings from Mr. Goss and other top officials came as part of a stark presentation that described terrorism as the top threat to the United States despite what they described as successes in the last year. Mr. Goss said that the war in Iraq had served as a useful recruiting tool for Islamic extremists, and that both the low Sunni Muslim turnout in elections there and the violence that followed demonstrated that the insurgency remained a serious threat. He warned that anti-American extremists who survive the war were likely to emerge with a high level of skills and experience, and could move on to build new terrorist cells in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other countries.
Intelligence that "strongly suggests" that Al Qaeda operatives have considered using the Mexican border as an entry point was cited in written testimony by Adm. James M. Loy, the deputy secretary of homeland security. But he wrote that there was "currently no conclusive evidence" that this had succeeded.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/17/2005
12:19:29 AM ||
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#1
Intelligence that "strongly suggests" that Al Qaeda operatives have considered using the Mexican border as an entry point was cited in written testimony by Adm. James M. Loy, the deputy secretary of homeland security. But he wrote that there was "currently no conclusive evidence" that this had succeeded.
So what in the hell do we do? Wait for conclusive evidence after a boom? What is wrong with the President and Homeland Security? We send people halfway around the world and put them in harm's way, and then we leave the back door open.
When people do these kind of things, there must be a reason:
1. They are all stupid
2. They have a hidden agenda
3. They don't have the cojones to stand up to all the wailers and potential squealers and do what is right and necessary.
This is disgusting.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/17/2005 10:49
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The reasons to Do Nothing always outweigh the reasons to Do Something.
Posted by: john ||
02/17/2005 11:22
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AP-We've been pointing that out, but is anyone listening and if so, did they start listening too late?
#5
CrazyFool---That is what drives me absolutely crazy. President Bush can be so decisive and forthright on the other side of the world, yet we neglect the gate to our south 40. It does not make rational sense, so something else is driving our South 40 decision of inaction.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/17/2005 17:40
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Give me 20 men, the necessary equipment, weapons, and the authority to use them, and I'll shut down 50 miles of the US/Mexican border to everything but a bird. There are a few thousand Marines, Army, and even a few other flyboys that can do the same thing on the retirement rolls. Call us up, give us the mission, and let us do it. I guarantee, I will have no qualms about shooting a coyote or six, and as many skunks as necessary, to close the border. The only thing missing is the guts to give the orders.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/17/2005 20:27
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This is a growing criticism of not only the President but the Republican party as a whole. Rush referred to it recently in a speech and he said that Washington is NOT listening are doing so at their peril.
#10
true 3dc and as a Republican I am withholding any contributions to other than my local Rep. Duncan Hunter, who's on the mark with this, and making it clear to the fundraisers who solicit me. I'm but a small giver, but this is my singular issue of concern right now
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 21:13
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OP-
Count me in. M16(expert), M1911, .38, and 9mm qualified, and I know how to work a whole lot of other neat stuff.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/17/2005 21:26
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#12
I've been advocating putting mil/reservists/militas on the border for years. Only a matter of time before the islamonazis started preparations to go wetback on us. Surprised it took them this long to figure it out. Time to put a big fucking wall across that thing, & both political parties are absolutely culpable for this problem. The dems are looking for votes and the repubs for cheap labor. This has been one of my biggest gripes w/GWB. Get some nuts and let the mil execute one of it's main mandates - integrity of our border & the sovereignty of our nation.
Does anyone want to venture a guess on how Mexico treats illegal's coming across it's own southern border? Yeah, you all know the deal.
...
The doctrine of jihad articulates the duty of Muslims to expand the Muslim umma, "to bring as many people under its rule as possible. The ultimate aim is to bring the whole earth under the sway of Islam" (3). "The most important function of the doctrine of jihad is that it mobilizes and motivates Muslims to take part in wars against unbelievers, as it is considered to be the fulfillment of a religious duty. This motivation is strongly fed by the idea that those who are killed on the battlefield, called martyrs . . . , will go directly to Paradise" (5).
Much more at the link.
Posted by: 3dc ||
02/17/2005
12:17:23 AM ||
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#1
Dollars for dimes says that I am the only poster here who has ever read the entire Bukhari Hadith, and much of al-Tabari. Note the following link:
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/
There is resistance to learning the true nature of the Muslim enemy, because there is a fear that knowledge might break the pathological deference to the "Islam is peace" Pollyannas. Ask spin-gulpers like the sk8r boys .com or 2b to state their wretched, wasted life-mottos and you will get: ignorance is bliss.
I love fools like you, walking into a blog-in-process - several years old - actually believing everyone here was just sitting on their hands waiting for Your Highness to arrive.
Obviously, you don't know anything about me, but don't let me interrupt you. You're making yourself the biggest laughingstock to come along in quite awhile. Go for it.
I'm sure the laughter among the regulars is fairly robust, characterizing me as a Pollyanna regards the Islamists, so I don't want you to leave too quickly - end of day banning would be fine.
#3
Most posters here haven't read Main Kampf either.
The question about Islam is not "what it is?": we know what it is through observing Moslems in action for 1400 years. It isn't even "what to do about it?". The question is "how".
#4
Ummm .... ITYS, you might want to go through the archives to find out what .com's actual, live, experience in the heart of the Muslim world is, before you try dissing him with an academic link.
Posted by: too true ||
02/17/2005 5:21
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IToldYouSo, you are officially a pretention f&&kwit. Most people at RB are here to learn something and share insights. To my continous surprise, f**kwits don't last here. Too many smart informed people who like to ridicule morons. In anticipation, goodbye, it wasn't a blast.
Saudi Arabia's less-than-full cooperation has hindered U.S. efforts to choke off terrorist financing, a lawmaker said Wednesday, and a Bush administration official indicated the Saudis were being prodded.
Juan Zarate, the Treasury Department's assistant secretary for terrorist financing, also said Treasury investigators have not found a direct link between al Qaeda and the illicit diamond trade in Africa but did not rule one out.
"We have not seen direct links," Zarate said in testimony before the oversight panel of the House Financial Services Committee.
Even without a direct tie, U.S. authorities are concerned that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden could be involved indirectly in trade in diamonds, gold and tanzanite or could become a direct participant, Zarate later told reporters.
Rep. Sue Kelly, who heads the subcommittee, asked Zarate at the hearing whether the Saudis have followed through on promises to take up such measures as setting up a financial intelligence unit and seizing assets of individuals believed to help fund terrorism.
Despite Saudi Arabia's announcement in 2002 that it had established such an intelligence unit, there still appears to be no unit operating, Kelly said. She said the absence of one probably "slowed or entirely prevented action against terrorist activity" in several cases.
A spokesman at the Saudi Embassy in Washington disputed that, saying that a financial intelligence unit was established in the country in July 2003.
"It's been set up, it's been functioning," the spokesman, Nail Al-Jubeir, said by telephone after the hearing. "We are working with the United States government to develop it."
Zarate said the Saudis had shown improved cooperation in freezing assets of suspect charities and other measures and "are taking this issue very seriously." He added, "We are constantly working with the Saudis to ensure" that they follow through.
Al-Jubeir said his government was cooperating in the effort. "Both sides could do better, but the cooperation is working very well," he said. "If there are areas that we can improve, we will look into it."
Earlier this month, the kingdom played host to an international anti-terrorism conference, where Saudi leaders expressed their commitment to fighting terrorism.
Some experts say there is evidence of al Qaeda's ties to the illicit African diamond trade. But U.S. intelligence officials and the independent September 11 commission have maintained there is no conclusive proof that the terror network laundered millions of dollars through diamonds before staging the U.S. attacks.
Al Qaeda and its affiliates have been linked to the heroin trade in Afghanistan, credit card fraud in Europe and the lucrative trade in counterfeit goods as means of financing their terrorist activities.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/17/2005
12:16:43 AM ||
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#2
Wait a minute -- this report comes from CNN! And yesterday the J'salem Post reported that the NY Times reporter was kind to Ariel Sharon. Is the world coming to an end?
#3
investigators have not found a direct link between al Qaeda and the illicit diamond trade
Isn't that the purpose of using diamonds? Drugs generate cash and thus must be laundered. Gold too, since it's value is easily determined by weight. But the money trail for diamonds is like "art" or "antiques"... it doesn't leave a money trail when you pay $3,000,000 for a diamond that's only worth $300.00.
JERUSALEM, Feb. 16 -- Israel's parliament on Wednesday approved a nearly $1 billion financial package for the withdrawal of Israeli troops and Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, delivering a major victory to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his plan to vacate settlements for the first time in 23 years.
The 59-to-40 vote in the Knesset followed hours of emotional debate, weeks of street demonstrations by settlers who oppose the plan and a growing number of death threats and barbs aimed at Sharon and other leaders who support the pullout.
Some opponents of the pullout, which would encompass Gaza and four small settlements in the most northern part of the West Bank, have distributed posters labeling Sharon "Hitler's partner." The prime minister, who was a chief architect of Israel's program to establish Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, has had to post security guards at his wife's grave; extremists have threatened to dig up her remains to protest the exhumation of other Jews' remains that would become necessary if the Gaza withdrawal takes place.
That's going too far -- who do you folks think you are, Paleostinians?
"If this battle ends here today, it will continue, on the streets, in the hearts of the people, on the sand dunes of Gush Katif [a group of settlements in southern Gaza], at the gates of the settlements, in the schools, in the houses you want to demolish and in the synagogues and the cemeteries you want to desecrate," Effi Eitam, a member of parliament from the pro-settler National Religious Party, told lawmakers before they voted. Eitam was Sharon's housing minister until last June, when he quit over the Gaza plan.
Wednesday's parliamentary vote was one of several that Sharon must win if he is to begin the Gaza pullout in July, as he has proposed. The withdrawal of about 8,200 settlers from 21 Gaza settlements and about 500 from the West Bank settlements of Ganim, Kadim, Sa Nur and Homesh is expected to take about three months. Thousands of Israeli troops who protect the settlers would also be evacuated. Israel has not decided what would happen to the houses and infrastructure left behind.
The Gaza pullout would be Israel's first withdrawal from territory seized during the 1967 Middle East war since Israel left the Sinai Peninsula in 1982 under the Camp David peace agreement. Many of the relocated Sinai settlers moved to Gaza and now are faced with having to move again. Some settler families have raised children and grandchildren in Gaza. , surrounded by about 1.2 million Palestinians, and are bitterly opposed to giving up their homes and businesses despite frequent rocket and mortar attacks by militant Palestinian groups.
Sharon has said Israel does not want to continue its rule over Palestinian-populated areas and, for strategic reasons, should quit the Gaza settlements because of the drain on the budget and the cost in Israeli lives. His aides have said that, while giving up settlements in Gaza, Sharon also aims to strengthen Israel's hold on settlements in the West Bank. About 243,000 settlers live in 140 settlements in the West Bank, which is home to about 2.2 million Palestinians.
Gaza folks won't trust moving to the West Bank, having been moved already.
Sharon still has to win additional votes in the Knesset and his cabinet to implement the Gaza withdrawal, including passage of Israel's 2005 budget. If the budget is not approved by March 31, his government will automatically fall.
The approved compensation package sets aside just under $1 billion to pay settlers for their homes, land, businesses and resettlement. Each family will be paid according to a formula that weighs the size of its household, the square footage of their home, the length of time they lived in Gaza, their salaries and the area where they are moving, among other factors. For instance, a family of four living in the Gush Katif settlement bloc for nine years in a house on a 1,500 square-foot plot could receive about $230,000, officials said. When the operational costs of the withdrawal are included, the total cost of withdrawal is expected to be about $1.6 billion; when presented to parliament in November, the compensation bill was estimated at between $450 million and $650 million.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/17/2005
12:16:37 AM ||
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The more land Israel gives up, the more the Palestinians will want. And we're springing for the check.
#2
WHat is amazing is the Israelis haven't hit up the diaspora for money specifically geared for relocation. I think if they did they would get beaucoup bucks.
They should hit up George Soros. And the Hollywood elite.
#3
I think they have wisely tried to minimalize politicizing overseas fundraising, in either direction. Theres enough social needs in Israel. Besides if the peacenik types really want to give for dovish stuff only, theres plenty of places to give. Back when I used to volunteer to make calls for federation, and some jerk said he wouldnt give cause of the "poor palestinians" i sometimes said, thats ok, are you giving to American Friends of Peace Now? Hang-up was the usual response.
Al Qaeda has opened recruiting and training bases in Nigeria, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda, the United Nations said Tuesday in a report that warned the terror group's attacks should be expected to increase.
The report was written by terrorism experts appointed by the Security Council to monitor sanctions against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, the regime of radical Muslim clerics that had run Afghanistan until a U.S.-led coalition ousted them in 2001.
UN sanctions require all 191 UN member nations to impose a travel ban and arms embargo against a list of those linked to Osama bin Laden's terror network and the former Afghan rulers. Members are also required to freeze the financial assets of those on the list, which includes more than 430 individuals and groups.
Terrorism involving Al Qaeda and weapons of mass destruction remains among the paramount global threats, the report said. Al Qaeda wants chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons, and it is only "a matter of time" before a successful attack occurs using such weapons, the report said.
"The biggest fear we all have is terrorists getting hold of the means to cause a mass attack," said Richard Barrett, a British intelligence expert who is the team's coordinator. "Al Qaeda is a phenomenon that observes no borders. It is even harder to track now than it was a year or two ago when it had a more coherent structure."
The report said Al Qaeda is looking for "new areas to expand" and has established bases in "poorly policed" areas of sub-Saharan Africa. They are present there. The security forces of those countries agree with that," Barrett said of Nigeria, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/17/2005
12:14:58 AM ||
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AL-QAEDA remains capable of mounting "devastating attacks" and sanctions are only having a limited effect on the group, a United Nations report says.
A team of UN investigators also found the organisation is still trying to acquire chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons and it is only "a matter of time" before a successful attack occurred, the report says.
The investigation reviewed sanctions against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and predicted brutal attacks by Osama bin Laden's followers would escalate because they still have easy access to bombmaking materials and money.
Terror attacks sponsored by al-Qaeda and weapons of mass destruction are among the chief threats confronting the world, says the report to a UN Security Council committee.
UN sanctions require all 191 member states to impose a travel ban and arms embargo against a list of those linked to Osama bin Laden's terror network and the former Afghan rulers and to freeze their financial assets. The list includes more than 430 individuals and groups.
"The biggest fear we all have is terrorists getting hold of the means to cause a mass attack," said Richard Barrett, who co-ordinated the investigation.
"Al-Qaeda is a phenomenon that observes no borders. It is even harder to track now than it was a year or two ago when it had a more coherent structure and leadership."
Mr Barrett said he did not think al-Qaeda was likely to obtain an entire bomb, but rather components of weapons of mass destruction, for example, toxic or radioactive material.
Despite steps taken by UN member states to impose military-style weapon embargoes, attacks with small arms and explosives have continued, it says.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/17/2005
12:12:55 AM ||
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#1
Woohoo!! another UN investigative "report", how fascinating, what have we learned this time? Where AQ keeps the booze and the 10 year olds?
Pack of idiots, at least we don't ever have to worry about NY getting nuked, no rogue state or scumbag terrorist would want to destroy its primary ally on American soil.
UN sanctions and resolutions accomplish nothing & prevent nothing.
Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib and terror suspect David Hicks met at an al-Qaeda propaganda training camp in Kabul before September 11, 2001, it was reported.
Quoting "a high-level source", the Daily Telegraph said both Australians were in the Afghan capital receiving training from senior members of Osama bin Laden's terrorist group when their paths crossed.
The training ran for several days and included a tour by Habib of key sites around the city, the report said.
The 2001 trip was Habib's second visit to terrorist training facilities in Afghanistan and his fifth overseas trip since 1998, it said.
Habib's first two-month visit to the country was in 2000.
It followed extensive training in mortar and firearms handling at a camp run by an al-Qaeda affiliate in neighbouring Pakistan, where Habib was detained by authorities in October 5, 2001.
According to the sources, Mr Habib professed his support for bin Laden well before September 11, 2001, with ASIO intercepting telephone conversations in which Habib said he wanted to be a jihad fighter.
In a paid interview with the Nine network's 60 Minutes program on Sunday, Mr Habib detailed allegations that he was tortured and abused while in US custody, on suspicion of training with terrorists.
However, he refused to say whether he was in Afghanistan before his arrest or what he was doing there.
Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Mick Keelty told a senate estimates committee hearing Mr Habib had trained with a Pakistan-based terrorist group and had planned to work as an al-Qaeda mercenary in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Mr Habib's Australian lawyer Stephen Hopper said his client paid for his Pakistan trip by selling his coffee shop and added the AFP's 2001 investigation had shown his Mr Habib's finances had "stacked up", the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
He said Mr Habib went overseas in 2001 to explore business opportunities and the possibility of moving his family back to Pakistan.
"If it had come off he would have made a lot of money. It would have set him up for life," the Herald quoted Mr Hopper as saying.
Mr Hopper also said Mr Habib's claims of being tortured were backed up by a psychiatrist who is said to have examined him shortly before his return to Australia.
The details have emerged following concerns Mr Habib did not initially explain why he went to Pakistan, and allegedly Afghanistan, nor how he paid for his trip.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/17/2005
12:11:54 AM ||
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"Mr. Chairman, defeating terrorism must remain one of our intelligence community's core objectives, as widely dispersed terrorist networks will present one of the most serious challenges to US national security interests at home and abroad in the coming year. In the past year, aggressive measures by our intelligence, law enforcement, defense and homeland security communities, along with our key international partners have dealt serious blows to al-Qa'ida and others. Despite these successes, however, the terrorist threat to the US in the Homeland and abroad endures."
#2
To hear it on NPR he only talked about how Al-Qaeda is going to nuke us and how it is inevitable. But then they played their sound clip and he clearly said that it [i]may[/i] happen. Sounds like he believe that we can catch them at it . . .
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
02/17/2005 7:59
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Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld yesterday defended plans to resume studying the feasibility of an earth-penetrating nuclear warhead, saying many countries are burying targets underground and "we have no capability, conventional or nuclear" to go after them.
Last year, Congress, by a single vote, refused to continue funding what was begun in 2002 as a three-year technical study. The goal is to see whether the nation's nuclear weapons laboratories could come up with a concept for a warhead casing that could carry a nuclear device down through rock or hardened earth, keeping it intact to explode and destroy an underground facility. Opposition to the study came from House and Senate members who saw it as the United States working to create a new nuclear weapon when Washington is attempting to stop other countries, such as Iran and North Korea, from having atomic weapons.
At the House Armed Services Committee meeting yesterday, Rumsfeld said what was involved was a feasibility study and not development of a weapon. Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified that Gen. James E. Cartwright, the new chief of Strategic Command who has to deal with countering underground targets, "certainly thinks there's a need for this study," and that the other Joint Chiefs agreed. "It's not a commitment to go forward with a system," Myers said.
Though once you've stated the need and done the research ...
On Tuesday, Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman, whose laboratories had halted work on the project when the budget was eliminated, said Rumsfeld had asked that he support resumption of the study and funds had been included to complete it in fiscal 2007. The Defense Department is "a very important customer and one that we try to work with effectively and so we have done so at their request," Bodman told a Senate panel.
He described the project as "design work" that does not involve nuclear materials. Instead, he said, "it involves understanding the physics of having a projectile hit the earth, and to determine just how deep the device goes and what happens to the internal structure." Bodman said questions include whether the warhead can "retain sufficient structure that a nuclear device that might be inside . . . or a non-nuclear device, be protected until it reaches some depth in the ground."
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/17/2005
12:10:04 AM ||
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In Popular Science's issue last June in an article outlining weapons of the future, space-based kinetic-energy weapons were mentioned. Someone from globalsecurity.org suggested that a 20' tungsten rod placed on top of an ICBM might give the desired effect of destroying a buried target.
#5
"a 20' tungsten rod placed on top of an ICBM might give the desired effect of destroying a buried target"
Allow me to kill that idea at least for now. One of the big problems with the "rods from god" idea (ala Jerry Pournelle) was that the re-entry velocities described and their temperatures obtained resulted in even metals like tungsten becoming plasma and fluidic in nature (going close to mach 30 and hitting temperatures that turn even tungsten into fluid). This basically resulted in lost of aerodynamic properties and instabilities in order to control any projectile accurately. What a couple of studies are looking at currently is whether its feasible to have some kind of tip coated with ceramics along with a superdense core for the penetration.
#12
Why would we need burrowing nukes? Just keep spanking the opening in the ground until the guys inside are nothing but radioactive jelly. Think Heinlein with his rocks in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress only with real, dirty nuke instead of big rocks.
But that would be bad for the environment. Maybe we should talk Greenpiece's into having a protest around here, so I can work out my aggressions.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
02/17/2005 7:24
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#13
BrerRabbit, then you'd have the PETA heads on your ass.
#14
It depends, Jame. If the hole could be presented as preparing a wetland wildlife sanctuary, I imagine Greenpeace would conduct a fundraiser for it. Sierra Club would want to be involved, too ;-)
#16
One of the big problems with the "rods from god" idea (ala Jerry Pournelle) was that the re-entry velocities described and their temperatures obtained resulted in even metals like tungsten becoming plasma and fluidic in nature (going close to mach 30 and hitting temperatures that turn even tungsten into fluid).
As I understand it, that's where the ICBM angle came in; a satellite-released rod would be going too fast and might result in the weapon's destruction instead of the target. An ICBM's highest trajectory isn't that far up, which supposedly would make the rod's speed when it came back down a little slower, hopefully enough to do the job. An interesting concept if it can be made to work, as it doesn't involve the nuke bugaboo.
Hundreds of troops yesterday occupied a fortified rebel garrison in the heartland of Jolo in the southern Philippines, as security forces continued their offensive against the former separatist group Moro National Liberation Front, blamed for the death of dozens of soldiers in a string of attacks on the island. Battle-hardened soldiers raised their weapons and flashed the victory sign inside the sprawling six-hectare garrison called Camp Ujod Jabal in the hinterland village of Bitanag in Panamao town. The military now call this Camp Dennis Villanueva, named after an army commander who was killed last week in a bloody gun battle to capture the base, used by rebels as springboard to launch terror attacks in Jolo, about 950 kilometers south of Manila.
Soldiers said the place was littered with explosives and booby traps and they also discovered dozens of bunkers and tunnels the rebels used in their escape. Officials said the rebels, estimated at around 800, have fled, but troops were pursuing them and sporadic fighting continue in the town. "We will pursue them and we will neutralize them and there is no escape," said Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza, commander of military forces in the southern Philippines. Braganza led about 500 troops in a simple flag ceremony inside the former rebel camp. It was the first time in 30 years that a Philippine flag was raised inside an MNLF camp, one soldier said. "This day is very special to us and we dedicate this victory to our fallen comrades," the soldier said. Braganza also awarded 11 soldiers, including a former MNLF rebel, with the Gold Cross medals for their bravery after they fought hundreds of rebels who tried, but failed to capture several government detachments in Jolo.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2005
11:51:58 PM ||
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Via Powerline/Dailypundit: Didn't Chrissy Matthews also say that O'Neill or minions went over to the USSR and told them ignore Ronnie??? Remember the old conservative charge that many of the Democrats here in America were playing footsie with the Soviets? Some Republicans even said the Russians viewed the Democrats as their favorite party. Now bombshell revelations prove these accusations beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Peter Schweizer, a Hoover Institution research fellow, has just written a new book, "Reagan's War: The Epic Story of His Forty-Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism." This book may well force historians to revise the history of the Cold War. Schweizer, after scouring once-classified KGB, East German Stasi and Soviet Communist Party files, discovered incontrovertible evidence that the Soviets not only played footsie with high-ranking Democrats, they also worked behind the scenes to influence American elections. In "Reagan's War," Schweizer shows how the Democrats worked with Moscow to try to undermine Reagan before and after he became president....
Posted by: anonymous2u ||
02/17/2005
11:25:32 AM ||
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#1
Jimmuh -the most useful idiot of them all.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
02/17/2005 12:04
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Key word, Rex....idiot. Can't stand the putz myself but would still have a hard time believing that he was an actual commie spy without the evidence. They probably thought he was too incompetent to be one.
#3
Bombshell? The article seems to be 2-1/2 years old. Where's the New York Times when you need them? Better to give coverage to Scheuer!
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/17/2005 12:56
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#4
Carter was a f***ing traitor more interested in his own power than the good of his country. When he dies (none too soon as far as I'm concerned) the non-response from the American people will be telling. Oh, and you know the MSM will avoid all coverage of this book. I'd like to throw it in Jimmy's and his schill Mathew's face.
#7
If this is true Jimmuh should be ostracized and exiled. It makes Nixon's shenanigans with the burgulars look like a halloween prank. R.N. was stupid to cover up for his friends whan he found out, not treasonous.
#8
The main Democrat undermining sitting American presidents was Ted Kennedy who met with and propagandized for the Soviet Union's Pres. Leonid Breznev and the KGB as has been documented in Soviet Archives. Kennedy also undermined Pres. Jimmy Carter in the Iran hostage crisis. Kennedy's subversion goes back to when he colluded with John Kerry during Kerry's VVAW (which he helped found) anti-Vietnam War, pro-Communist activities after he left Vietnam and while still a naval officer. There are several sourced postings on pelicanpost.blogspot about Kennedy's and Kerry's subversion along with a picture of the two back then with John Kerry in uniform. So, the story of Democrats' collusion with Communists is not a myth. -Jacqueline
As critics of Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers step up pressure for him to resign or radically alter the way he leads the university, a few professors have begun rallying to his defense.
Late yesterday, one of Harvard's most famous faculty members, law professor Alan Dershowitz, issued a statement backing Summers's presidency, in which he said the storm of opposition "sounds like the trial of Galileo."
"This is truly a time of crisis for Harvard," he wrote. "The crisis is over whether a politically correct straightjacket will be placed over the thinking of everybody in this institution by one segment of the faculty."
In an interview yesterday, Dershowitz noted that the recent condemnation has come from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which includes the undergraduate college and the traditional doctoral programs, but is only one of Harvard's 10 schools.
"They are only one constituency and they must stop pretending they are the university," he said yesterday, adding that he does not believe faculty members fear Summers. "There is a hard-left ideological group who are opposed to him; there is a group of faculty who will never forgive him for the statements he made about Israel."
Steven Pinker, who has been one of Summers's most outspoken defenders, said some professors are afraid to stand up for the president because they could be punished by colleagues who sit on committees that control the fate of a student or a research project.
Posted by: Biff Wellington ||
02/17/2005
11:24:53 AM ||
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#1
Marcella Bombardieri
Great name, almost as cool as Biff's.
#2
I'm sure if he said women were being held back by "Little Eichmanns" he'd have gotten a prize and speaking engagement offers.
Look, more men than women are clustered at the top of the bell curve for math. There are also more men than women clustered at the bottom. BFD.
The idea that maybe, just maybe, an intelligent woman might decide on a career that some mopes at Harvard believe is "beneath her", for whatever reason, apparently is too offensive to be said.
The BBC world service website recently released the results of their 2004 presidential poll. Of the sixteen linguistic ethnical groups surveyed, Persians were overwhelmingly the most supportive of President Bush. In fact, over fifty two percent of Iranians preferred Republican George W. Bush to challenger John Kerry who'd received a minuscule forty two percent of the vote. Thus, surprisingly, unlike in the United States where the presidential race was relegated to a couple of percentage points, in Iran - President Bush won by a landslide.
Numerous other sources of plausible acclaim have confirmed these results. Renowned intellectuals, as well as award-winning journalists have written pieces on this critical issue. For instance, Pulitzer Prize winner Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times who spent an entire week in the country recently wrote, "Finally, I've found a pro-American country.
Everywhere I've gone in Iran, with one exception, people have been exceptionally friendly and fulsome in their praise for the United States, and often for President George W. Bush as well." Thomas Friedman another Pulitzer Prize winner and ardent critic of the war in Iraq wrote "young Iranians are loving anything their government hates, such as Mr. Bush, and hating anything their government loves. Iran . . . is the ultimate red state."...
Posted by: anonymous2u ||
02/17/2005
11:20:57 AM ||
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#6
Just as intersting, but below the radar screen of the mainstream press is that Hayden, Director of NSA, is in the #2 slot. Wonder who will move to NSA with Hayden's departure
#7
Nancy Pelosi just was on Fox dissing him. Why? She can't even vote one him. She is isn't a senator. This is good our internal foes will show thay are just that. Keep flaping your lips you shriveled old gas bags.
When she took over PBS five years ago, Pat Mitchell seemed expertly qualified. She had been a college professor, a local TV producer, reporter and anchor as well as a correspondent on NBC's "Today" show and a CNN producer — the first producer to become the public broadcaster's president.
But three years into the job, Mitchell was saying, "I had no idea how hard it was going to be." The Public Broadcasting Service's ratings, which began to fall as cable TV spread in the '90s, continued to sag, prompting Mitchell to warn public TV programmers in 2002: "We are dangerously close in our overall prime-time numbers to falling below the relevance quotient..." This stems from three problems: crumby programming, leftist politics, and crumby programming.
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
02/17/2005
11:06:09 AM ||
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#1
PBS's big problem is that there is now a universe of cable channels carrying the quality programming PBS used to have a monopoly on. National Geographic Channel, Arts & Entertainment, Discovery Channel, BBC America, Hallmark Channel, etc. Plus you can pick up DVD's of them at your local store or order them on line. There is no longer any reason for PBS to receive any public funding, period! Pull the plug.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/17/2005 11:44
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#2
But if the public trough is closed, who will employ Bill Moyers et al?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 12:02
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#3
I hate the politics of the people who run PBS. Having said that I'm the first to admit that from time to time they do get some things right. For example: The other evening NOVA had a program detailing the efforts (past, present, and future) to preserve our original founding documents (Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights etc). I'm not ashamed to admit the program brought tears to my eyes.
We are truly the greatest country on Earth. Or, if you like, we're the greatest country in the history of mankind.
Posted by: Mark Z. ||
02/17/2005 12:26
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#4
Mark, there are quality programs on PBS, interspersed with teh drivel. We shouldn't be paying for it, though. A private channel would pick up Nova in a second. BBC-type support makes them flabby, lazy, and isolated, like Academia's ivory towers
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 12:31
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#5
Bill Moyers recently announced his retirement, so that's one problem taken care of.
#6
Both PBS and CPB (the radio side) should lose their subsidies, and their tax exemptions. They long ago ceased to be "non-commercial" and follow their donation money as slavishly as any other commercial broadcasters follow their advertising dollars. In an age of cable and the web, they've outlived their purpose.
And that's before you look at their political slant.
#7
So what is the Federal budget numbers on PBS this year? If they cannot be taken off the trough, they should have their funding decreased (wean effect).
I saw some videos of Bill Moyers interviewing Joseph Campbell (Joseph Campbell and the power of Myth) some years ago. Campbell was on a roll, explaining things with such eloquence, and Moyers was asking semi dumb questions. Moyers did not have a clue.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/17/2005 16:28
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#8
When I see Juan Williams and Mar Eliason (sp?) on Brit Hume's show I want to hurl. I know we pay them some level of salary from tax $. Whatever it is, it's too much. The absurdity of taxpayer-subsidized "journalists" always occupying the Far Lefty position on a panel discussion show - regularly - is insane. If anything they should be the centrist member. They're not. Not even close.
MICHAEL SCHEUER has uncovered "the most successful covert action program in the history of man." Or, at least that's what he told an audience at Council on Foreign Relations in New York City on February 3. The CIA's former bin Laden-hunter-turned-public-persona is the widely cited author of a scathing critique of the Bush administration's war on terror, Imperial Hubris. Since his resignation from "the Agency" in November 2004, he has become best known for his view that the West is really losing the war on terror. Perhaps he should also be known for his work uncovering conspiracies.
According to Scheuer, the tiny nation of Israel is not a valuable ally in the Middle East, but instead the author of a vast conspiracy to hijack the direction of American foreign policy. Scheuer explained to the CFR crowd that Israel dictates the course of its relationship with the United States. He explained, "we can no longer afford to be seen as the dog that's led by the tail." Scheuer further warned, "I don't think we can afford to be led around, or at least appear to be led around by them."
How does a nation of roughly 6 million people control the foreign policy of the world's lone superpower? According to Scheuer, Israel accomplishes this feat through a variety of clandestine activities. When asked by a member of the CFR audience to clarify what he meant, Scheuer explained:
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/17/2005
1:06:17 AM ||
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#1
No wonder the wondrous Sheurer, our bin Laden hunter, never caught dick - he loves the guy and buys into the AlQ dogma. Everything I read about him, every quote from him and his execrable, Excreable, and excretal book are breathtaking.
#2
Mt reaction was the guy has a variation on the Stockholm Syndrome.
Otherwise, Israel is disproportionately important in US foriegn policy and the Holocuast is used to justify Israels existence, but far and away the most important reason for US support is Israel is both a democracy and reliable ally. Republican support of Israel is particularly noteworthy becuase US Jews as a demographic overwhelmingly vote Democratic.
His basic arguement is the US could curry favor with the Arabs by selling out Israel. I doubt this is true for reasons we have discussed at length and the Bush doctrine of act from principle and back it up with force where necessary is in MVHO the one most likely to achieve results.
#5
Sheurer's speech will look good on his resume when he applies for a job working for the Saudis.
Posted by: Mark Z. ||
02/17/2005 5:54
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In Imperial Hubris, Scheuer previously warned of the "dangers" of questioning the U.S.-Israeli relationship,
So dangerous that instead of being mysteriously dead, leaving only empty bank accounts and an ugly odor behind, the gentleman -- if I may use the term -- has a successful and lucrative career lecturing the terminally stupid.
Obligatory Rant: A part of me is sorry to see this posted at rantburg. By posting his lies, it helps give wings to his poisonous ideas. Once again, repeat after me: There is no such thing as negative publicity. Unwanted publicity - yes. Negative publicity, no.
For each sane one of us who reads this and just rolls our eyes, there will be someone who will think to themselves, for the very first time, "Yeeeeah...there are a lot of Jews in Congress and in Hollywood and they control Wall Street too!" "Things in my world aren't perfect, maybe THAT is the reason why".
Because the ideas are already so prevalent throughout the Moon bat world, I know they need to be addressed. But it's double edge sword, like addressing a troll. They have less credibility when ignored than they do even if successfully ridiculed.
I know we can't just ignore Scheuer. But when we address him, we are basically hitting his "tip jar" with free publicity and increased book sales....but worse, we are helping to spread his lies. And I'm sure he is very grateful for whatever attention we are willing to throw his way. /rant over/
#11
"it has also made it exceedingly "dangerous" for Scheuer to discuss this grand scheme."
Dangerous? How? If, by "dangerous," he means he will be blacklisted and will "never work in this town again," well, just the opposite has happened. He's attained celebrity status. And he's making a fortune by simply repeating his rehearsed Jew conspiracy crap. It never ceases to be a crowd pleaser.
If, by "dangerous," he believes the Mossad will be after him, he's in terrible need of psychotropic drugs.
#12
On the one hand, I'm not happy to see Scheuer get more publicity; on the other hand, I didn't know in the first place that he was a muttering-under-his-breath-about-the-zionists sort of moonbat.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
02/17/2005 9:19
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#13
I'd be looking at his colleagues, underlings and especially his supervisors who year after year (22 total) signed off on this asshat
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 9:35
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#14
good point Phil. What's more effective than posting his lies would be posting what that WE want to be known about him -that he's a money grubbing anti-semetic nut who failed to find binLaden.
Articles that discredit him personally, with just the slightest mention that he wrote a book about X, so that we know who we are talking about (but don't give the actual title) is useful. But it should be 24/7 that he's a nut with absolutely no promotion of his poisonious ideas.
Never ever put him on the talk shows to debate his ideas, but instead give the limelight to others, whom you want to give publicity, to talk about what a nut he is and how he failed to find bin Laden.
Propaganda is like poison oak - people have to come in contact with it to get infected. It's irrelevant how they come in contact with it - only that they do.
#15
and this is my beef with Fox News. All they ever do is say, "Scheuer says this...do you think he's right or wrong". They never show the pictures of our soldiers with smiling children, or have positive pieces that talk about the schools built, reconstruction, and the overall improvement in Iraq. Why is that? But don't get me started.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 10:45
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#18
I think that there is a silver lining here. I really doubt that he'll be on too many talk shows and CFR panels after this outburst. Look at how marginalized Buchanan has become.
The bad news is that this will become grist to feed the neo-Nazi and Islamist propaganda mills: "Respected CIA analyst confirms our position."
Very good point Frank G. You really gotta wonder how prevalent his views are inside the analyst bureaucracy.
#19
It really is an indictment of the CIA that they had such an idiot in charge of Binny hunting. Do they really believe that all the problems of the Arab and muslim world would cease if Israel were to disappear? We've discussed on RB before that the Arab world's problems run much deeper than that. Israel is just a convenient excuse for not addressing root-level problems. Why deal with your problems when you can blame everything on the jooos?
#20
Sounds like he's basically selling out his country to make some quick bucks peddling books, lectures, etc. to those who want to see the Joooooooooos behind everything, and giving both antisemitism and antiamericanism more momentum (as if either needed any) in the process.
If there's a lower form of scum than that, I can't think of it offhand.
#21
I cannot divulge details, but NOW - finally, you here at Rantburg can see first-hand why I said the senior positions in the CIA needed to be cleaned out with a flamethrower - and why a "cleanout" would not damage our intelligence system any worse than it is already.
After seeing this guy (and realizing that he was very senior): Do you now have any wonder left as to how we got sucker punched on 9/11, and how we got Iraq so wrong in terms of resistance and WMD?
On the whole, the agencies were looking the wrong way - and those people who were looking the right way got stifled by this type of senior staff for rocking the boat and violating consensus & conventional wisdom.
And to those who said I was too extreme in my views about cleaning house at CIA - take a close look at this guy now that he is out of the shadows. *HE* is the type of senior intel official the "old boys" club produces and promotes into leaderhip positions.
Porter Goss needs to fire even more people - and to check this guy's stuff and jail him if he spilled anything. Just like Rathergate & the Bush docuemnts, if they guy has any facts and evidence, its time for him to reoport ti to the congress and press - or else be relegated to the black-helicoter/tin-foil-beanie brigade where he can join Boris and all the other nutjob anti-Jew conspiracy whackos.
#22
So, how many of you have ever worked with Mike? How many of you agree with Pat Buchanan and his look at US overseas policies?
The true culprit on why UBL wasn't rolled up wasn't because of the intel, it was the policy makers. Ask Mansur Hijazi, who offered UBL up to the USG in the mid 90s. Go back and look at who in the IC was trying to tell policy makers that UBL was a threat. Let's take a look at who was sounding the alarm and who was sitting on their thumbs -- Mike wasn't one of the thumb sitters.
Binni declared war on the US in August 1996, published in al Quds al Arabi. Only a handful of folks besides Mike Sheuer believed we were at war and was working to prevent a disaster. The first disaster was in East Africa -- two years after the fact.
Most of the comments, IMHO, are out of line and inconsistent with what I experienced in the mid to late 90s.
Submitted FYI -- one man's honest opinion on what was going on behind the green door.
#23
H8 UBL: You make a valid point that intel alone wasn't responsible. Many people share the blame. 9/11 was like the Donner Party - a series of bad decisions, with lots of blame to go around. But your point about Mike is drowned by his drivel written above. Did you read it? Do you still defend him!? Then all you are doing is adding credence to Frank G's point above.
#24
2b - I read the original article over the weekend and I don't agree with the conspiracy thread. The point some folks might miss, however, is that this isn'n OpEd Mike wrote. It's an article where the author took a small portion of his comments and did a pretty darn good job of making Mike look like an anti-Semite worthy of having Simon Weasenthal hunt him down. I first read the article in a Wall Street Journal Post, earlier in the week.
In that light, I did think, the article was biased and really did a great disservice for all the great, unpublicized work Mike did in a system that largely dismissed his warning and thought his predicitions were "Nuts".
I think we may have missed the opportunity to comment on the central theme, which is that US-Israeli cooperation plays into the hands of the Salafists and Takfiri in the world -- count UBL, AMZ, EIJ, IG, etc -- with dry kindling. Do I think there is a conspiracy by the state of Israei -- no; Does US support of Israel have political consequences -- especially vis-a-vis the terrorist threat -- definitely yes. Regardless of how we justify our overseas policies, especially in the ME, those policies are still viewed largely as pro-Israeli by a great number Arabs, which is then translated as being anti-Palestenian, Arab, Islam, etc... Do we shuck Israel to avoid the threat of terrorists like Binni, no, but we can probably can do more to expedite an Israeli-Palestenian solution, which would eventually remove an anti-US catalyst from a volatile region.
With that said, highly recommend ALCON try and listen to the debate discussion between Pat Buchanan and Schranasky (sic) from this weeknd's Sunday talk show to drive the discussion into a good thought provoking examination on US foreign policy at large, and US-Israeli-Arab relations in particular.
#25
fine, H8_UBL, but we support the only democracy in the ME (prior to Iraq's transformation) and our current policies (along with the Fish's timely demise) are bringing bigger progress to peace than ever. I'm still of the opinion the Paleos can't go much further without a civil war to sort out a national consensus, but I could very well be wrong
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 18:39
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#26
The problem is that as an analyst, you job is not only to analyze the data, but to get inside the head of yor opponent, in order to accurately predict what he will do.
But then comes the second part: you have to substantiate your position, and sell it (yes, SELL it) to the powers that be.
If you are right, but for the wrong reasons, and come across as a howling moonbat, then you will lose credibility and no matter how accurate your analysis product, it will be discounted because you didnt support it and sell it.
Were you to have that fellow come to you with his case for Bin Laden, and then back it up by saying the Congress was Co-Opted and the whole thing was an Israeli intelligence operation to control the world, then of course you'd question EVERTHING the guy said.
So, just like a stopped clock, Scheuer was right a couple times, but for all the wrong reasons, and that caused us to waste resoruces dealing with the wrong things if his work was in fact acted upon. For his work to be acted upon, the larger threat to the US was Israel and its influence operations aimed at our congress - far more damage would be done to the US if that was true.
And if he was considered to be wrong, then we would have ignored the "Israeli intellig3ence is running congress" - as well as the things that went with it and depended upon it: the Bin Laden gang.
Scheuer is typical of the mindset that some top level people have. ANd thats why we fail and continue to fail the nation in the intelligence community. And intelligcence failures are costly in terms of lives, as Pearl Harbor and 9/11 and so vividly illustrate.
#27
hmmm...once again, nice start. But...ya see, the thing is, I'm super sensitive. I don't even need to touch poison oak to break out in a rash.
I don't know if you have been around rantburg long, but the other regular posters will be very surprised that the only thing I have to say to you is FUCK YOU LOSER ASSHOLE. As Mike's co-worker, it's clear that you too have the blood of the 3,000 WTC dead on your hands because you chose to ignore the obvious and sit quietly as you excused sign after sign after sign - in order be in with the crowd.
Do you see their faces when you go to sleep at night?
Instead of trying to justify it by blaming someone, anyone else but yourself, why don't you just ask for forgiveness? It's really not your fault. It's no ones fault.
But it becomes your sin as you try to justify it away. Maybe Mike is taken out of context. I don't claim to know. But unless he AND YOU are willing to look to seek to blame others, you can continue your descent into hell and fuck off.
I think we may have missed the opportunity to comment on the central theme, which is that US-Israeli cooperation plays into the hands of the Salafists and Takfiri in the world -- count UBL, AMZ, EIJ, IG, etc -- with dry kindling. Do I think there is a conspiracy by the state of Israei -- no; Does US support of Israel have political consequences -- especially vis-a-vis the terrorist threat -- definitely yes. Regardless of how we justify our overseas policies, especially in the ME, those policies are still viewed largely as pro-Israeli by a great number Arabs, which is then translated as being anti-Palestenian, Arab, Islam, etc... Do we shuck Israel to avoid the threat of terrorists like Binni, no, but we can probably can do more to expedite an Israeli-Palestenian solution, which would eventually remove an anti-US catalyst from a volatile region.
What Americans view as bin Laden's megalomania -- the conviction that he and a relatively small band of followers can defeat a superpower -- has its origins in the humbling of the Soviet superpower in the mountains of Afghanistan. In a CNN interview in 1997, he said that "the myth of the superpower was destroyed not only in my mind but also in the minds of all Muslims" as a result of the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan at the hands of mujaheddin.
Bin Laden's contempt for America seems even greater than his contempt for the Soviet Union. "The Russian soldier is more courageous and patient than the U.S. soldier," he told the London-based Arab newspaper, al-Quds al-Arabi, in 1996. "Our battle with the United States is easy compared with the battles in which we engaged in Afghanistan."
As examples of alleged American cowardice, bin Laden frequently cites the case of the withdrawal from Lebanon after the 1983 truck bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut and the withdrawal from Somalia after the 1993 killings of U.S. servicemen in Mogadishu. Bin Laden also has paid a great deal of attention to the symbolism of his targets. In a video that circulated widely in the Arab world earlier this year, he bragged of the attack on the USS Cole by a boat filled with explosives in Aden harbor in October 2000. The destroyer had the "illusion she could destroy anything," but was itself destroyed by a tiny boat, bin Laden said.
"The destroyer represented the West, and the small boat represented Muhammad," he boasted, according to a transcript of the videotape supplied by Peter Bergen, author of "Holy War Inc.," a forthcoming book about bin Laden.
While I actually have sympathy for the Palestinians, and want to see them eventually throw off the shackles of all those in the Arab world who would fight the Israelis to the last drop of Palestinian blood... trying to gain favor with the extremists in the middle east by selling out the Israelis is only likely to feed this perception of weakness.
BTW, I also suggest reading Bin Laden's fatwa, conveniently available here. He mentions Zionists, but he also mentions US armies of occupation in Saudi Arabia, and the millions of civilians he alleges the US killed in Iraq... now he blames US invasions and occupations on Israel, but if peace, love, and kumbaya broke out tomorrow in Israel and Palestine, we'd still have to support the Iraqi government against the Shi'ites, and still have to deal with Iran, and they'd come up with another conspiracy theory to justify what they really want to do.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
02/17/2005 19:34
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#31
Please folks, let me clarify a few pointss. There were disagreements, within the IC in the pre East Africa (Aug 98) days -- 96 and 97, on the threat UBL posed to US interests. Mike correctly pointed out well before East Africa that UBL was a threat to US interests. His shop and mine, while heard, where not nescessarily taken seriously by folks within and outside of the IC. In the post-Khobar Tower enviornment, getting more than a handful of folks interested in Sunni extremists was difficult. After East Africa, but before the USS COLE, the Binni threat was taken more seriously, but certain policy makers still thought in limited scope terms in dealing with the terrorist menace; overall policy was one more of limiting/mitigating the threat, rather than eliminating the threat. Now, we have adopted a position in which the USG's goal is to eliminate, not mitigate, the threat. We've broken the post investigative mentality and are now far more proactive in delaing with threats.
In light of these comments, and the posts of my fellow Ranters ...
Frank G, I agree with your commnents and I think you're probably right that there are probably more years of violence ahead in the ME before exhaustion causes all parties to sit down and solve their problems.
Old Spook ... I would agree with your premise, but Mike wasn't addressing US-Israeli policy in 96-97, those issues were talked up by the folks in Foggy Bottom. Pre East Africa he was telling people, whether they chose to believe it or not, that we were going to be attacked, that we needed to address the problem now (96-97), not later (2001); and we had to go after the threat in such a way it would make Machiavelli cringe (my words, not his). In that context, once the policy makers demur, we all had to rehuddle and repitch the case, which was done often. Perhaps we didn't make a convincing enough case, but one would think East Africa and USS Cole would have changed some of the calculus in the Clinton White house decision circle.
For 2b, I really hope you didn't mean those comments. I've lost friends from Beirut to the Pentagon over the course of many years, spent too much time from home and family trying to prevent Binni, AMZ and his drones from doing real evil in the world, to have your words pierce too deep. Do I see faces, sure, especially the folks I knew who died on 9-11; it's quite haunting to replay why warnings and suggested actions to remove this cancer weren't acted upon. Regardless, they weren't and here we are. Fortunately, and incrimentally, we are winning, but now it will take us much longer to accomplish something more achievable in 97-99, than it maybe in 2005.
IMHO, we're lucky we had GW to execute OEF, too bad he wasn't in his current postion in 96-99
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 20:17
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#33
well...h8, you talk a good game and I would be happy to give you the benefit of the doubt. I'm still leary since you defended the vile crap that is posted above.
Perhaps it is taken out of context. If so, you have my apologies.
#34
You can always follow the links 2b and read it. I just did.
H8_UBL: I just read Sheuer's speach and most of the Q&A and frankly my opinion of him remains the same. I think that he is just plain wrong on a lot of things:
* OBL is a "rational actor."
* Pakistan is our best ally in this war.
* Afghanistan is going to blow up on us any minute.
* We let ourselves be led by Israel rather than the other way around.
On the other hand, I agree with him on a couple of things:
* We need to fight this war ferociously. Stop the "proportionate response" carp. That was supposed to die with McNamara.
* The transnational threat (called the Learned Elders of Islam or Council of Boskone here) is much greater than the national threat.
Also, reading between the lines, I don't think that he appreciates the Iran-Syria-Hezbollah threat sufficiently.
Overall, I'd rate him as probably a good tactical analyst. I don't think that he should be talking to the CFR about strategic issues. I'm very disturbed that he's bought into the "Israel controlling Congress" crap. God knows how many 3rd World "intellectuals" have handed me that line over the years. I believe that the Weekly Standard was correct to give prominence to his anti-Israel statements. Scheuer should not be an important part of the public debate.
#35
And one last thought. You said, "How many of you agree with Pat Buchanan and his look at US overseas policies?" There are two ways that I can interpret your meaning for that comment. If your intent was to support Pat's POV, then I can only say that Old Spook's comments should cut you far deeper than my own.
#37
I was an Air Force Imagery Analyst for 20+ years, including tours at NPIC, Germany, England, and Offutt. I worked with a lot of CIA folks on a daily basis, and know some 40 people that work for the Agency in Washington, DC. I haven't had any dealings with them since I retired in 1991, even though I still get a notice from a very senior CIA member every year to join him in Washington. Thanks, but no thanks.
Mike Scheur's attitude is quite prevelant among the analysts I knew in DC, and even moreso among the analysts in the State Department's Intelligence Department. It wasn't there among the imagery analysts, and it's certainly not there among the folks at NSA, but it's highly prevelant among the people at Langley. The change took place during the 1975-1985 time period, when the Agency switched from hiring senior military intel folks to hiring college graduates for analysis. The housecleaning needs to be fast, effective, and deep, and a lot of "whiz kids" with idiotic looney ideas need to have to search for real jobs - soon.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/17/2005 22:11
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#38
We are at war. As much so with ideas as we are with guns. The Elders of Zion myth is a lie that we were "fooled once" with in Hitler's time resulting in millions dead. It is the lie that destroys most progress in the Islamic world today.
Shame on anyone who allows it or it's ugly step child, the idea that US is led by Israel, to go unchallenged in polite circles.
#39
Old Patriot - you nailed it. CIA has their own analysts, and IMHO, they are not nearly as sharp anymore as the wizards in the more technical agencies, especially the "all source" guys I worked with at no such agency and DIA and the SCE's.
And thats why "we" (the entire IC) missed the stuff that was there in front of us.
I say "We" although I've been gone for almost a decade now, except reserve duty (and that ended prior to 9/11).
I'm getting back in, once my SSBI and PRP investigations are done and adjudicated (big backlog on those). As a part-time "contractor". Looking forward to it.
#40
I cannot divulge details, but NOW - finally, you here at Rantburg can see first-hand why I said the senior positions in the CIA needed to be cleaned out with a flamethrower - and why a "cleanout" would not damage our intelligence system any worse than it is already.
After seeing this guy (and realizing that he was very senior): Do you now have any wonder left as to how we got sucker punched on 9/11, and how we got Iraq so wrong in terms of resistance and WMD?
On the whole, the agencies were looking the wrong way - and those people who were looking the right way got stifled by this type of senior staff for rocking the boat and violating consensus & conventional wisdom.
And to those who said I was too extreme in my views about cleaning house at CIA - take a close look at this guy now that he is out of the shadows. *HE* is the type of senior intel official the "old boys" club produces and promotes into leaderhip positions.
Porter Goss needs to fire even more people - and to check this guy's stuff and jail him if he spilled anything. Just like Rathergate & the Bush docuemnts, if they guy has any facts and evidence, its time for him to reoport ti to the congress and press - or else be relegated to the black-helicoter/tin-foil-beanie brigade where he can join Boris and all the other nutjob anti-Jew conspiracy whackos.
#41
The problem is that as an analyst, you job is not only to analyze the data, but to get inside the head of yor opponent, in order to accurately predict what he will do.
But then comes the second part: you have to substantiate your position, and sell it (yes, SELL it) to the powers that be.
If you are right, but for the wrong reasons, and come across as a howling moonbat, then you will lose credibility and no matter how accurate your analysis product, it will be discounted because you didnt support it and sell it.
Were you to have that fellow come to you with his case for Bin Laden, and then back it up by saying the Congress was Co-Opted and the whole thing was an Israeli intelligence operation to control the world, then of course you'd question EVERTHING the guy said.
So, just like a stopped clock, Scheuer was right a couple times, but for all the wrong reasons, and that caused us to waste resoruces dealing with the wrong things if his work was in fact acted upon. For his work to be acted upon, the larger threat to the US was Israel and its influence operations aimed at our congress - far more damage would be done to the US if that was true.
And if he was considered to be wrong, then we would have ignored the "Israeli intellig3ence is running congress" - as well as the things that went with it and depended upon it: the Bin Laden gang.
Scheuer is typical of the mindset that some top level people have. ANd thats why we fail and continue to fail the nation in the intelligence community. And intelligcence failures are costly in terms of lives, as Pearl Harbor and 9/11 and so vividly illustrate.
#42
Old Patriot - you nailed it. CIA has their own analysts, and IMHO, they are not nearly as sharp anymore as the wizards in the more technical agencies, especially the "all source" guys I worked with at no such agency and DIA and the SCE's.
And thats why "we" (the entire IC) missed the stuff that was there in front of us.
I say "We" although I've been gone for almost a decade now, except reserve duty (and that ended prior to 9/11).
I'm getting back in, once my SSBI and PRP investigations are done and adjudicated (big backlog on those). As a part-time "contractor". Looking forward to it.
#43
I cannot divulge details, but NOW - finally, you here at Rantburg can see first-hand why I said the senior positions in the CIA needed to be cleaned out with a flamethrower - and why a "cleanout" would not damage our intelligence system any worse than it is already.
After seeing this guy (and realizing that he was very senior): Do you now have any wonder left as to how we got sucker punched on 9/11, and how we got Iraq so wrong in terms of resistance and WMD?
On the whole, the agencies were looking the wrong way - and those people who were looking the right way got stifled by this type of senior staff for rocking the boat and violating consensus & conventional wisdom.
And to those who said I was too extreme in my views about cleaning house at CIA - take a close look at this guy now that he is out of the shadows. *HE* is the type of senior intel official the "old boys" club produces and promotes into leaderhip positions.
Porter Goss needs to fire even more people - and to check this guy's stuff and jail him if he spilled anything. Just like Rathergate & the Bush docuemnts, if they guy has any facts and evidence, its time for him to reoport ti to the congress and press - or else be relegated to the black-helicoter/tin-foil-beanie brigade where he can join Boris and all the other nutjob anti-Jew conspiracy whackos.
#44
The problem is that as an analyst, you job is not only to analyze the data, but to get inside the head of yor opponent, in order to accurately predict what he will do.
But then comes the second part: you have to substantiate your position, and sell it (yes, SELL it) to the powers that be.
If you are right, but for the wrong reasons, and come across as a howling moonbat, then you will lose credibility and no matter how accurate your analysis product, it will be discounted because you didnt support it and sell it.
Were you to have that fellow come to you with his case for Bin Laden, and then back it up by saying the Congress was Co-Opted and the whole thing was an Israeli intelligence operation to control the world, then of course you'd question EVERTHING the guy said.
So, just like a stopped clock, Scheuer was right a couple times, but for all the wrong reasons, and that caused us to waste resoruces dealing with the wrong things if his work was in fact acted upon. For his work to be acted upon, the larger threat to the US was Israel and its influence operations aimed at our congress - far more damage would be done to the US if that was true.
And if he was considered to be wrong, then we would have ignored the "Israeli intellig3ence is running congress" - as well as the things that went with it and depended upon it: the Bin Laden gang.
Scheuer is typical of the mindset that some top level people have. ANd thats why we fail and continue to fail the nation in the intelligence community. And intelligcence failures are costly in terms of lives, as Pearl Harbor and 9/11 and so vividly illustrate.
#45
Old Patriot - you nailed it. CIA has their own analysts, and IMHO, they are not nearly as sharp anymore as the wizards in the more technical agencies, especially the "all source" guys I worked with at no such agency and DIA and the SCE's.
And thats why "we" (the entire IC) missed the stuff that was there in front of us.
I say "We" although I've been gone for almost a decade now, except reserve duty (and that ended prior to 9/11).
I'm getting back in, once my SSBI and PRP investigations are done and adjudicated (big backlog on those). As a part-time "contractor". Looking forward to it.
A team of experts expects to announce in March whether the latest test results on the mummified body of Tutankhamun will provide evidence for the theory that the boy pharaoh was murdered.
Zahi Hawass, head of the Egyptian government's Supreme Council for Antiquities, told Reuters that results from a high tech x-ray scan of the mummy would help explain a bone chip in the skull that has sparked the murder theory... The butler did it.
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
02/17/2005
10:49:30 AM ||
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Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
02/17/2005 11:22
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#2
Steve, that would be Karnak, Egypt. Karnak was a central temple area within Thebes, teeming with plotting Amun priests. Although Tut was a convert to Amun cult from his father's Aton heresy, he was still seen as an affront to the Amun hierarchy, a spawn of the "devil".
#3
Thanks to both of you for the enlightenment. I thought it had something to with Johnny Carson's character, the Great Karnak, who provided questions to predetermined answers. For example:
A: A, B, C, D, E, F, G.
Q: What were some of the earlier forms of Preparation H?
#5
The butler probably did do it. Servants could be bribed to let assassins in or to poison the food or the massage oil or the perfume.
Ahkenaton threw out the Amon and other priesthoods in order to establish worship of one god, the sun disk, the Aton. The Amon priesthood was just as crooked in its own way as the Renaissance Papacy, and was as omnipresent and powerful too; and it did not take kindly to reformation. When Akhenaton died without an adult heir, his reforms died with him. It was very easy for the politicians and the Amon priesthood to cow a nine year old kid, and any signs of independent thinking from a young monarch on the verge of manhood would be a most serious threat.
#6
Sgt.D.T., it has been a veeeery long time since my TV was on (playing DVDs does not count). In fact, 3 years +. CSI or CIS does not matter to me either way.
#7
Whoops. My boo. CIS is "Criminal Investigative Service", the Army's investigative police; CSI is the "Crime Scenes Investigation", which is the name of the series, though I don't know if it is an official civilian police designation.
Tens of thousands of protesters gathered near Quito's presidential palace Wednesday to demand President Lucio Gutierrez's resignation, accusing him of authoritarian rule and with packing the supreme court with his own judges.
Gutierrez responded with a rally of his own, addressing thousands of supporters from his palace balcony. He decried his opponents as "arrogant" and portrayed himself as a crusader against corrupt oligarchs. "Over there is the march of the arrogant," he said, referring to the protest a few blocks away.
Officials didn't provide estimate of the size of the crowds. But government protesters filled several streets near the palace and reporters on the scene estimated they numbered about 70,000. They said about half that many gathered for Gutierrez's speech in front of the palace.
About 6,000 riot police provided a buffer between the two rallies and arrests or violence were reported.
Many of the protesters carried placards declaring "Down with the Dictatorship," and chanted, "Lucio, out!"
Paco Moncayo — Quito's popular mayor and a possible presidential candidate in next year's elections — called Gutierrez a "dictator."
Gutierrez, whose term runs until January 2007, has faced a political backlash since early December after a pro-government congressional bloc replaced 27 of Ecuador's 31 Supreme Court judges.
Gutierrez justified the purge by saying the judges were in the pocket of the rightist Social Christian Party, which has long been associated with the country's financial and banking sector.
Last month, Gutierrez proposed a national referendum to reduce congressional powers, restructure the Supreme Court and increase his executive authority — moves that have fueled accusations that he is becoming increasingly authoritarian.
Still, Gutierrez has seen his approval rating increase, with polls earlier this month showing support by nearly 35 percent of the country compared to just 16 percent over much of 2004.
Gutierrez joined with Indian leaders in January 2000 to drive then-President Jamil Mahuad from power. He was elected president in November 2002. The more things change,...
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
02/17/2005
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#1
Demonstrators Fill Ecuador Capital
Oh geez, I though they were complaining about the lack of Christina Aguilera (Ecuadoran Ancestry) CDs...
#2
Lucio has learned well the lessons given to him by the master of how-to-turn-a-democracy-into-a- dictatorship-without-anybody-realizing-it-until- is-too-late Hugo Chavez!
#5
Chavez has been holding power for over 4 (he has been in office for 6) years now with 35% support. After Castro's clones get a hold of a country's institutions, the support (or lack of) of the people does not matter anymore.
ISTANBUL, TURKEY — The year is 2007. After a clash with Turkish forces in northern Iraq, US troops stage a surprise attack. Reeling, Turkey turns to Russia and the European Union, who turn back the American onslaught.
This is the plot of "Metal Storm," one of the fastest- selling books in Turkish history. The book is clearly sold as fiction, but its premise has entered Turkey's public discourse in a way that sometimes seems to blur the line between fantasy and reality.
"The Foreign Ministry and General Staff are reading it keenly," Murat Yetkin, a columnist for the Turkish daily newspaper Radikal, recently wrote. "All cabinet members also have it."
Jeebus. There's more, none of it encouraging. What scares me is that just yesterday I was saying Russia and France are trying to woo Turkey away from the US, and that all three would see that as a "win" for their own interests. Seems like that idea's in the air over there, as well.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/17/2005
10:28:43 AM ||
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#1
Yes, Turkey, we frogs will die for you but you can't become a member of the EU.
#3
Article: After a clash with Turkish forces in northern Iraq, US troops stage a surprise attack.
This doesn't even make any sense. Uncle Sam hasn't been in the business of taking enemy territory for keeps for a while now. The Russians are more likely to make a play for Turkey than the US, but they'd push the Turks out - perhaps into the sea. Target? Constantinople, the holiest enemy-occupied site in Eastern Orthodox Christendom, now known as Istanbul. (Smyrna, Galatia and a few other cities of the New Testament are also in Turkish Muslim hands).
#4
We should encourage them. Nothing scares the Europeans more than having the Turks within Europe. Russians still have the desire to take Istanbul. This time, the US shouldn't sell the Turks any advanced weapons like Remington did in the late 1800's. Let their rediscovered religious ferver protect them.
Posted by: ed ||
02/17/2005 11:57
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#5
..and the European Union, who turn back the American onslaught.
#9
After a clash with Turkish forces in northern Iraq, US troops stage a surprise attack
What were Turkish troops doing in Northern Iraq anyway? Russia and Europe going to war with the hyperpower to defend Turkeys honor after Turkish mischief in Iraq seems very, very, unlikely. Guess fantasy is an Islamic thing and not an Arab thing.
Anyway Turkey would have to wait in line because we have proof of Iranian and Syrian mischief in Iraq and haven't done anything yet and both of them are much nicer targets (supporting terror and all) than Turkey.
A more likely response would be an end to US support of Turkey joining the EU and the sealing of the Turkey/Iraq border.
#15
"From our point of view, it's a philosophical and scientific calculation," he says. "It's more than a novel."
-From my point of view sounds more like a comic book; The Turks, EU, & Ruskies get their collective asses kicked either way. I think it would take too long for the EU (i.e. France) to figure out what the color scheme of their battle/surrender utilities should be. Heck, prolly couldn't even get them to agree as to what type of hair gel they should use. Gotta have a good looking salad when throwing down your weapons & haulin' ass away from the enemy - old French army motto.
Should've thrown in the chicoms to make it more interesting. Result would be the same, but at least more interesting.
Ali Hassan al-Majid, Saddam Hussein's feared cousin and expected to be one of the first of his henchmen to face trial for war crimes in Iraq, massacred Shi'ites as well as Kurds, a report issued Thursday said. Human Rights Watch said Majid, known as 'Chemical Ali' for gassing the Kurds in 1988, ordered the execution of hundreds of Shi'ites in Basra during a 1999 uprising sparked by the assassination of Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr. Saddam was blamed for killing the revered Shi'ite cleric and two of his sons. Sadr's third son is Moqtada al-Sadr, the rebellious young Shi'ite cleric who has led two uprisings against U.S. forces in the past year.
Human Rights Watch said it had a document and witnesses implicating Majid in the execution of at least 120 men and boys from the uprising, in which 40 Baath Party officials died. "Research ... strongly suggests that Iraqi security forces and Baath Party members, under the direct command and supervision of Ali Hassan al-Majid, engaged in systematic extrajudicial executions, widespread arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and collective punishment," the report said.
Iraqi officials expect Majid to be among the first of 11 Saddam lieutenants to go on trial for a range of crimes, including crimes against humanity and genocide, for his role in the poison gas attacks that killed thousands of Iraqi Kurds. Lawyers warn guilt may be hard to prove for attacks that happened so many years ago. But the evidence gathered by Human Rights Watch is recent and may be more convincing in court.
DOCUMENTED EVIDENCE
Its investigators visited Basra in April and May 2003 and obtained a four-page hand-written document from Shi'ite clerics. It had been found in the offices of Saddam's secret police when government buildings were looted after British troops entered the city in April 2003. The list is anonymous, carrying no official letterhead to link it to Saddam's security forces, a precaution that Human Rights Watch has noted with other potentially incriminating documents of the former regime. But its authenticity is strengthened by the fact that relatives have matched 29 of the names on the list with bodies exhumed from a mass grave near Basra. Neat columns list 120 men and boys aged between 16 and 36, give their home addresses in Basra, the dates on which they were executed and which teams carried out the killing.
Each page has an identical heading: "List of the names of the criminals who confessed to taking part in the event of March 17-18, 1999." The captives died in four batches, between March 25 and May 8, 1999, and the document says the order was given by "the Commander of the Southern Sector." This was Majid.
Totalitarian regimes always keep such nice records, makes it handy when they fall.
"He referred to himself by this title in official Iraqi government communiques at the time. Every person interviewed by Human Rights Watch in Basra in 2003 identified the 'Commander of the Southern Sector' in 1999 as Majid," the report said.
Human Rights Watch also found witnesses to the executions. One, a 27-year old cattle herder named Sattar, said he had stumbled on bulldozers digging three deep trenches near the Nassiriya to Basra road one day in spring 1999. "The next morning about 9 a.m., while at the same place again with my herd, four buses and six Baath Party-like cars arrived on the scene," Sattar said. He hid himself, and saw the passengers leave the buses, guarded by armed men wearing the olive green uniform of the Baath Party.
"Between 80 and 100 persons might have been on the buses. The prisoners were led in a line to the trenches where they were placed one by one ... Seconds later, the men in uniforms began shooting randomly at the prisoners with AK47s and BKC machineguns. The shooting lasted several minutes," he said.
Story never changes, does it? That same line could have been written about the Nazis, NKVD, KGB, Kamer Rouge, Bath Party or Serbian "ethnic cleansing" death squads.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/17/2005
10:26:20 AM ||
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But the US wasn't supposed to go into Iraq because it was a move of sheer US aggression-isn't that what all the lefties from Dean to Kucinich to heads of state in the "International Community" have been telling us? Guess that means we have an humanitarian obligation to put al-Majid back in place to continue his work?
Chafing over a "wardrobe malfunction" and racy radio shock-jock programs, the House overwhelmingly passed a bill Wednesday authorizing unprecedented fines for indecency. Lawmakers sought to hit broadcasters where it hurts — the pocketbook — in approving the measure 389-38, rejecting criticism that the penalties would stifle free speech and expression and further homogenize programming. The bill would increase the maximum fine from $32,500 to $500,000 for a company and from $11,000 to $500,000 for an individual entertainer. "With passage of this legislation, I am confident that broadcasters will think twice about pushing the envelope," said Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House telecommunications panel and author of the bill. "Our kids will be better off for it."
The White House said in a statement that it strongly supports the legislation that "will make broadcast television and radio more suitable for family viewing." A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate, where it has broad bipartisan support. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, chairman of the Commerce Committee, has said he wants to act on the bill quickly, but he hasn't given a timetable. Any differences in the two bills would have to be resolved before it can go to President Bush for his signature. Last year the two chambers were unable to reach a compromise. Opponents said they were concerned that stiffer fines by the Federal Communications Commission would lead to more self-censorship by broadcasters and entertainers unclear about the definition of "indecent." They cited the example of several ABC affiliates that did not air the World War II drama "Saving Private Ryan" last years because of worries that violence and profanity would lead to fines, even though the movie already had aired on network TV.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said changing the channel is the best way for families to avoid racy programming. "But the prurient Puritans of this House are not satisfied with free choice and the free market," Nadler said. "Instead, they want the government to decide what is or is not appropriate for the public to watch or listen to..." 389-38? Pathetic. I look forward to new congressional hearings about how the Cartoon Network is turning the next generation into serial killers. Those darn Powerpuff girls.
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
02/17/2005
10:17:21 AM ||
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#1
That headline is just wrong, in so many ways...
#4
The electro-magnetic spectrum, as far as it falls within the American area, is public domain, just as 'public' lands are. If you don't mind clear cutting forests or strip mining land, then well, yes, go ahead and do anything you want. However, if you accept that the government is responible for stewardship of the property on behalf of the people, then it will set up standards and regulations. This is open broadcast, not cable, not satellite, that is being addressed. If you want your kicks they're readily available now in accessible venues. Otherwise, just vote the bums out, if you can.
WHEN 35 Greenpeace protesters stormed the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) yesterday they had planned the operation in great detail. What they were not prepared for was the post-prandial aggression of oil traders who kicked and punched them back on to the pavement. "We bit off more than we could chew. They were just Cockney barrow boy spivs. Total thugs," one protester said, rubbing his bruised skull. "I've never seen anyone less amenable to listening to our point of view."
Come to Rantburg.
Another said: "I took on a Texan Swat team at Esso last year and they were angels compared with this lot." Behind him, on the balcony of the pub opposite the IPE, a bleary-eyed trader, pint in hand, yelled: "Sod off, Swampy."
Now there's an insult!
Greenpeace had hoped to paralyse oil trading at the exchange in the City near Tower Bridge on the day that the Kyoto Protocol came into force. "The Kyoto Protocol has modest aims to improve the climate and we need huge aims," a spokesman said. Protesters conceded that mounting the operation after lunch may not have been the best plan. "The violence was instant," Jon Beresford, 39, an electrical engineer from Nottingham, said. "They grabbed us and started kicking and punching. Then when we were on the floor they tried to push huge filing cabinets on top of us to crush us."
Oh please let there be a video, oh please, oh please ...
When a trader left the building shortly before 2pm, using a security swipe card, a protester dropped some coins on the floor and, as he bent down to pick them up, put his boot in the door to keep it open. Two minutes later, three Greenpeace vans pulled up and another 30 protesters leapt out and were let in by the others. They made their way to the trading floor, blowing whistles and sounding fog horns, encountering little resistance from security guards. Rape alarms were tied to helium balloons to float to the ceiling and create noise out of reach. The IPE conducts "open outcry" trading where deals are shouted across the pit. By making so much noise, the protesters hoped to paralyse trading. But they were set upon by traders, most of whom were under the age of 25. "They were kicking and punching men and women indiscriminately," a photographer said. "It was really ugly, but Greenpeace could not did not fight back."
Mr Beresford said: "They followed the guys into the lobby and kept kicking and punching them there. They literally kicked them on to the pavement." Last night Greenpeace said two protesters were in hospital, one with a suspected broken jaw, the other with concussion. A spokeswoman from IPE said the trading floor reopened at 3.10pm. "The floor was invaded by a small group of protesters," she said. "Open outcry trading was suspended but electronic trading carried on."
And a good time was had by all!
Eighteen police vans and six police cars surrounded the exchange and at least 27 protesters were arrested. A small band blocked the entrance to the building for the rest of the evening. Richard Ward, IPE's chief executive, said that the exchange would review security but denied that protesters had reached the trading floor. However, traders, protesters and press photographers confirmed to The Times that the trading floor had been breached. Mr Ward would not discuss whether he would press charges, and said he would not know until this morning if there had been any financial loss. Greenpeace later started a second protest at the annual dinner of the Institute of Petroleum at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane, in Central London. Greenpeace claimed that five campaigners had got into the Great Hall. About 30 protesters were outside the hotel nursing brusied jaws, some blocking the front entrance by sitting down and locking themselves together, while others sounded klaxons and alarms. Climbers scaled scaffolding to unfurl a banner reading, "Climate change kills, oil industry parties".
Posted by: tipper ||
02/17/2005
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ROFLMAO!!!
The ultimate wankers got zapped by real people living in the real world doing real jobs and who had no time for their kiddie tantrums. Who'da thunk it, eh?
#3
This crap needs to happen more often. When these ignorant fools come on to private property then need to be met with resistance. These fools could have cost these traders plenty. I am glad they beat the piss out of them and tossed them out onto the curb.
#6
a spokesman said. Protesters conceded that mounting the operation after lunch may not have been the best plan. âThe violence was instant,â This means they had a liquid lunch at the pub and were up for some 'excitement'
#7
They shold have mounted the operation as the traders were breaking for lunch, so they could deal with an empty floor. Just their style . . . protest nothing . . .
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
02/17/2005 7:07
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âIâve never seen anyone less amenable to listening to our point of view.â
Perhaps if you had tried speaking to them instead of whistles, foghorns, and rape alarms? Last time I checked, all three of those items are not really intended to communicate, but do a rather good job of stopping communication.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/17/2005 7:57
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#9
First they get their asses kicked, then they get arrested - beautiful.
#11
Well this was only about 20 years overdue. Worth the wait though.
What I want to see next is some Hummer dealer with a shotgun waiting on some ELF clowns pulling a raid in the middle of the night.
#12
I find it a bit disappointing that all those nominally-25-year-old traders only put two of the invaders into the hospital. I'll write it off to the surprise attack, but I expect better next time.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/17/2005 8:44
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#13
It would be great if someone got some of this on the security cameras. I want to see it.
#15
These noisies are more than willing to die for the cause, but they aren't so hot for taking a royal thumping for it. After a few instances like this, I would expect the number of Greenpeace incidents to sharply drop off.
#16
Anonymoose, I wouldn't bet on it. I know a couple of them around here and their attitude is that they know more than anyone else what's best for the environment. There is no rational, logical dialogue with these people.
#17
Am I the only one who saw the ironyhypocrisy in the following statements?
âThe violence was instant,â Jon Beresford, 39, an electrical engineer from Nottingham, said. âThey grabbed us and started kicking and punching. Then when we were on the floor they tried to push huge filing cabinets on top of us to crush us.â
What's Greenpeace doing w/ an electrical engineer (assume he's out of work/unhirable)? Don't they know electricity is EVIL (/sarcasm off/)? I mean, it comes from power plants and such, who use either coal, oil products or nuclear material to produce power!
Two minutes later, three Greenpeace vans pulled up and another 30 protesters leapt out and were let in by the others.
WTF? They used a van? You mean they didn't show up in environmentally friendly eco-vehicles! Why, vans are the evil cousin of SUVs aren't they? Why didn't they take mass transit to the "event"????
Posted by: BA ||
02/17/2005 11:05
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Bulldog---Don't know about British law in this area, but can't the exchange sue Greenpeace for the disruption? There is a lot of money moving around and that was denied during the brew-haha. It seems that Greenpeace needs to be hit in its pocketbook to learn a lesson, or to have the lessons of the last battle reinforced.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/17/2005 11:10
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#19
I'll write it off to the surprise attack, but I expect better next time.
If "next time" happens in a locale where I'm at, it will be better.
As George Zimmer of the Men's Wearhouse says, "I guarantee it."
#20
I love it. And I'm looking forward to the dueling charges. On the "Swampy" side we have assault and battery, and on the IPE side we have breaking and entering, assault, attempted sabotage, mopery and dopery on the high seas, conspiracy to lurk with intent to gawk, and just plain old "too stupid to live"...
#21
If English law has a lick of common sense, there won't be any assault charges against the oil traders. *THEY* weren't the ones committing breaking and entering.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/17/2005 12:15
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#22
I hope so, RC, but until recently it was "defend yourself, go to jail."
In the US, this would be great as this was a conspiracy by Greenpeace, so they could be hit with RICO and sued for treble damages.
Even in the UK, criminal conspiracy should be applicable. I don't know if they have something like RICO.
#27
BH
"Barrow boy spiv" An unskilled day-laborer ("barrow-boy") who hires out as underworld muscle to supplement his income ("spiv"). With this, the GreenPisser betrays some pretty heavy class-prejudice, altogether in keeping with their fantastically deep elaboration of hypocrisy and status-seeking.
Incidentally, the traders have now outdone the French Navy in a confrontation with a common enemy.
The Frogs managed to sink their ship temporarily, drowning a media fellow-traveller, but they took some major political heat and lost some prisoners to the collaborationist Kiwi police. The traders on the other hand seem to have achieved an exchange rate of infinity on wounded and captured.
INDIA and Pakistan yesterday agreed to open a historic bus link between the capitals of divided Kashmir in the first tangible sign that more than a year of peace talks over the disputed region are beginning to bear fruit.
Good luck. You're going to need it.
The bus service along a rutted mountain road in the folds of the Himalayas will reconnect families separated for decades by the True Believers on both sides Pakistani and Indian armies. The agreement raises hopes that the nuclear-armed neighbours, who have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947, including two over Kashmir, might one day find a permanent peace.
Kashmiris on both sides of the ceasefire line were delighted by the news. "It is a dream come true," said Deen Mohammad, a university student in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir. "The bus will reunite thousands of families. Something great is happening to blood-soaked Kashmir after a pretty long time."
The service, between Muzzafarabad on the Pakistani side and Srinagar on the Indian side, will start on 7 April, according to a joint statement read out during a visit by Natwar Singh, the Indian external affairs minister. Khursheed Kasuri, the Pakistani foreign minister, said travel would be granted through an "entry permit system", rather than a passport, once the identities of travellers are verified. Shyam Saran, India's foreign secretary, said it would be open to all Indians and Pakistanis, not just Kashmiris. "We have come a long way over the past year or so. I'm convinced that co-operation between our two countries is not just a desire and an objective, it is in today's context an imperative," Mr Singh said. "The people of both countries clearly desire it."
Mr Singh's visit is the first bilateral trip by an Indian foreign minister to Pakistan since 1989 and is part of a dialogue aimed at burying 57 years of hatred between the South Asian rivals. The deal has been in the works for months, but its consummation was still dramatic and the most tangible success of more than 14 months of peace talks that have at times seemed stalled. It is a welcome change from the rhetoric of the past few weeks, which has seen New Delhi and Islamabad squabble over a dam India is building on its side of Kashmir. More than 66,000 people have died since an Islamic insurgency began about 15 years ago, many at the hands of Indian troops. New Delhi accuses Pakistan of funding and training the rebels, but Islamabad insists it gives only moral and political support.
Which amounts to the same thing.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
02/17/2005
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Think the drivers on this route demanded additional compensation? Lol!
Open a Bus Route to Peace! Why didn't someone try this before? Oh, they did? It was just another "bear" in the shooting gallery? Ah, I get it. And this time it will be different because...
#3
One of the most beautiful places in the world ruined by Islamic bullshit . Time I spent there was fantastic and the people warm and welcoming , then a year later things started going booom regularly . I just feel for the indigenous friendly locals who just wanna live well and prosper .
The IRA has said it was not involved in the murder of a man in a Belfast pub brawl. Robert McCartney, 33, was battered and stabbed to death after a bar fight which was witnessed by more than 100 people. His family claim the IRA have intimidated witnesses to prevent police identifying the killers. A man has been arrested tonight in connection with the murder.
The Provisionals moved to distance the organisation from the gang behind the slaying. In a statement, it said it was not involved in what it described as a brutal killing. But significantly, they added: "Those who were involved must take responsibility for their own actions which run contrary to republican ideals." A top IRA man is one of the chief suspects linked to the murder of Mr McCartney. He was was one of seven people questioned by police soon after the murder and later released.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
02/17/2005
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Meaniwhile, more tragic failings of the IRA's "republican ideals" come to the surface:
"The Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams hinted at a dramatic shift of position yesterday over his claim that the IRA was not involved in the £26.5 million Northern Bank robbery. Sinn Fein's refusal to acknowledge the IRA's role in the theft has led to a crisis in the political process, with allegations that some of its leadership knew that the heist was being planned while they held key political negotiations. But yesterday it appeared that the first steps towards a climb-down were being taken after Mr Adams admitted that he could be "wrong" to believe the IRA's claim that they did not carry out last December's robbery in Belfast."
If you take away all the bar brawlers, bank robbers, punishment beaters and drug dealers, it seems the only IRA members left pursuing lofty ideals must be the ones itching to get back to planting bombs and shooting people in uniform...
#2
Interesting to see that this murder has caused unprecedented public protest amongst the Catholic community in Northern Ireland. Maybe they've had enough of being pushed around by these thugs. Interesting to see Adams flip-flopping regarding the heist - considering he or McGuinness must have officially sanctioned it in the first place. Excellent point Bulldog - the ideologues must be McKevitt-Sands and their ilk!
Posted by: Howard UK ||
02/17/2005 5:08
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Just goes to show how out of control the IRA / splinter factions are .. The 'leadership' carry no weight when push comes to shove .. total farce .
#4
From reading the story I get the impression that the guy who did the killing is a IRA member, but that he did the killing on his own time for personal reasons having nothing to do with the IRA. So they are cutting him loose. Not that the IRA today is anything but a criminal gang, mind you.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/17/2005 8:34
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NYT so prepare for handwringing:
As rising instability in Lebanon increases tensions in the Middle East, the Bush administration is arguing with European governments over whether they should designate the Lebanon-based Shiite group Hezbollah a terrorist organization, American and European officials say. The United States is already stepping up pressure on Iran and Syria, Hezbollah's main sponsors. The American rift with Syria deepened this week, with suspicions that Syria might have been behind the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister in Beirut on Monday.
The disagreement over Hezbollah presents another challenge for President Bush, who will go to Europe on Sunday on a mission to fix ruptures with Europe over the Iraq war. In the past two weeks, the officials said, France has rebuffed appeals by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Israeli foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, to list Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, which would prevent it from raising money in Europe through charity groups. The United States has long called Hezbollah a terrorist organization, but the French, American and European officials said, have opposed doing so, and argue that making such a designation now would be unwise, given the new turbulence in Lebanon...
I think it would be an ideal time, given the turbulence in Lebanon, but what do I know?
"This is a difficult issue because Hezbollah has military operations that we deplore, but Hezbollah is also a political party in Lebanon," said a European official. "Can a political party elected by the Lebanese people be put on a terrorist list? Would that really help deal with terrorism? Now with Lebanon in a fragile state, is this the proper moment to take such a step?" A European diplomat said the issue of calling Hezbollah a terrorist organization was discussed in Brussels on Wednesday at a meeting of the Clearing House, a unit of the European Union that meets in confidential sessions to review terrorist activities in Europe. The group could reach no consensus, the diplomat said."Nothing is going to change on Hezbollah because we don't have an agreement among the member states," the diplomat said. "That doesn't mean we won't get a consensus. I know the Americans are impatient, but the European Union has 25 states, and these things take time."
"Yasss...these things take time."
I know all about time. In June of 2001 I was in Weehawken NJ, looking across at the lower Manhattan skyline. The Twin Towers were magnificently framed by sunrise and looming storm clouds. I briefly thought about taking a picture, but shrugged and said, "I'll take a picture...some other time." Hope these unnamed diplos and empty suits all have their pix of the Eiffel Tower...
Posted by: Seafarious ||
02/17/2005
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Paul Celucci, former US Ambassador to Canada and potential Republican Presidential candidate, pressured his host country to move on Hizbollah. It worked. Celucci is a straight-shooter.
I don't know, France is being relatively reasonable this week, due to Syria having blown up one of Chirac's personal buddies. Good time to see where we could move the French on the whole Syrian/Lebanese front, even if they won't budge on Hezbollah.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/17/2005 7:23
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#4
LOL was late I ment Belgium. I don't know Hezbollah is pretty well linked to Syria and Iraq. If they (France) want to help out Lebanon Hezbollah is part of that deal just getting Syria out is only part of the problem. Hezbollah is Iran by proxy and tolerated by Syria.
#5
A camera in the sky would record the following sequence of events:
A suicide bombing carried out by Hezbollah-many people die. A little kid's arm is over here, a grandma's eyeball is over there.
The US calls Hezbollah a terrorist organization. It pressures France to call Hezbollah a terrorist orgaization, too.
France won't, because Hezbollah also has a political wing.
Hezbollah officials meet with French officials. They have a nice chat.
A suicide bombing happens again. This time a man's 3rd finger is found here, a pelvis of a middle aged woman is found there.
Dosey-do, swing your partner round, better diplomacy can't be found. And it starts all over again.
France sees Islamic murderers as nothing worse than senators, meeting with them, giving them shelter and public voice, smiling and shaking the hands that blew up many people. Sickening what our "ally" France is willing and happy to do.
Al Hayat cited diplomatic sources in Paris for its 'last chance' report. It quoted the sources as also saying the international community had sent a clear message to the Assad regime to refrain from 'any bloodletting in Lebanon."
The message warned that assassinating ex-Premier Hariri or Druze leader Walid Jumblat would initiate a "total, final and irrevocable divorce with the international community," according to Al Hayat.
Rea-hee-hee-EALLY! So France needs a divorce lawyer, then?
#8
IIRC ETA has a political party, and we know the IRA has one, has this stopped the designation of their military arms as "terrorist"? Pure crap and wordgames
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 10:53
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WASHINGTON - China's military buildup could tilt the strategic balance with Taiwan and also threaten US forces in Asia, CIA director Porter Goss warned on Wednesday. Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Goss also highlighted threats to the United States from North Korea, which he warned could resume missile tests anytime after boasting of its nuclear weapons' might last week. "Beijing's military modernisation and military buildup could tilt the balance of power in the Taiwan Strait," said Goss, who took over as CIA director in September. "Improved Chinese capabilities threaten US forces in the region," he told the committee assessing the main security threats to the United States.
Goss said that China was stepping up efforts to "develop robust, survivable nuclear armed missiles as well as conventional capability for use in regional conflicts." He added: "If Beijing decides that Taiwan is taking steps toward permanent separation that excedes Beijing's tolerance, we assess China is prepared to respond with varying levels of force." With already 600 missiles pointed at the island, China has stepped up warnings to Taiwan in recent months about moves toward what it fears could be a declaration of independence. The Beijing leadership has warned many times that it would use force to stop Taiwan making a formal breakaway. "China is increasingly confident and active on the international stage," said Goss, "trying to ensure that it has a voice on international issues and secures access to natural resources and to counter what it sees as United States' efforts to contain or encircle it."
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/17/2005
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What are robust, survivable nuclear armed missiles? I thought the whole point is that neither missile nor target survive their meeting.
#2
I think it means that they can survive an encounter with an ABM system. Multiple warheads, electronic countermeasures, dummy heads, warhead hardening, und so weiter. After all, we've been making all that noise with those defensive missile tests in the international media...
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/17/2005 7:19
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TW -
He might have been trying to describe hardened missiles that could survive a US first strike - not freakin' likely, but if he doesn't sound the alarm about something, there goes his budget.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/17/2005 7:23
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#4
Bingo, Mike.
But we need to pay attention to something.
If China is actually developing missiles with the idea of surviving either first strike or coutermissile fire then they are planning for a war. Not anticipating possible need, but actually getting ready those items they feel will be useful.
Traditionally our intelligence agencies have estimated that China possesses only a small number of nuclear devices and those are not mated to delivery systems. What that says is that they are not serious about the possibility of them being used in the near future.
Just as Iran only needs to develope ICBM-type weapons if they are going to have nukes to deliver, China only has the motivation to develope better missiles if they intend to mate them to warheads for use against . . . well, the US and Taiwan.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
02/17/2005 7:37
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#5
Just let China have Taiwan! Who wants to go to war with China for pissant Taiwan, a tiny piece of land with people that eat brains and dead babies (no lie...human rights coalitions have tried to circulate the photos). Clinton's policy on One China was the only thing I liked about his politics...it's simply not worth it. Don't let the war chiefs convince you China is some looming danger, some just think it sounds sexy...World War III: starring the United States vs. China. Just ask yourself, "How many Taiwanese buddies do I have?". Probably none...I wish people would stop assuming shitholes like this are worth American lives (not implying anything about Iraq...the Middle East has been long overdue). China's politics are jacked up but they do not seek our destruction. They seek to preserve their union...sound familiar? Imagine if Asia told the North to leave the South alone in our Civil War, or else. Yes, I know they don't believe in our freedoms, but if they want Taiwan, so be it.
#6
Shellback, you clearly didn't get the memo. WWIII was the Cold War; we won. WWIV is the War on Terror, really the Islamofascism animating the terrorists, among others; we have won the first major battles and, so long as our nerve holds, will win the war. A war initiated by China would be WWV; if, as is sounds to my untutored ear, they are going for a conventional war goosed with nukes, we will win, and quickly. We have an excess of missiles to dispose of, and the kind of technology our troops have to play with will not be stymied by the raw numbers of wifeless men that are China's main threat.
As for that little rant about Taiwan. You sound like some of the rabid antisemites who chance upon Rantburg from time to time -- all noisy ignorance and unthinking cant. I do have very dear friends from there, very gentle, cultured, erudite people, devoted to their children and their students, but with the tough core that goes with growing up under a permanent siege -- much like the Israelis I know, in fact. If you want to meet some, go to your nearby university or corporate research department. That's where Taiwanese tend to congregate outside of their country.
But regardless, keep that kind of shit to yourself. It is wrong, rude, and uncivilized.
#7
oops shellback, you went too far and let the fever show
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 12:01
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China is significantly expanding their strategic nuclear arsenal. Witness their construction of long range mobile ICBMs such as DF-31, long range SLBMs like DF-23, and ballistic missile submarines. They are still in the early stages of ramping production and the next 10 years will be interesting.
Posted by: ed ||
02/17/2005 12:09
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#9
Just ask yourself, "How many Taiwanese buddies do I have?"
#12
trailing wife: wrong, rude, and uncivilized is to imply we should attack and bomb China in defense of Taiwan because we have an "excess of missiles to dispose of". I don't particularly care for the Chinese but who I really love are my American people. I wouldn't trade their lives for Taiwanese lives. We all have to live in fear one way or another. If you live in the city, you worry if someone's going to break in your house, if you live in Taiwan, you worry about Chinese aggression.
#13
trailing wife: wrong, rude, and uncivilized is to imply we should attack and bomb China in defense of Taiwan because we have an "excess of missiles to dispose of". I don't particularly care for the Chinese but who I really love are my American people. I wouldn't trade their lives for Taiwanese lives. We all have to live in fear one way or another. If you live in the city, you worry if someone's going to break in your house, if you live in Taiwan, you worry about Chinese aggression.
#14
I didn't think it was an honest apology. My Taiwanese friends became American citizens last year. Who are your "American people?" As for China, we don't need to invade them, just administer a stern spanking when they attack. An excess of missiles delivered from a distance, will do nicely for the purpose, and provide amusement for some otherwise bored American troops.
#15
SB:
What you are saying sounds a lot like:
"How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas masks here because of a quarrel in a far away country between people of whom we know nothing."
--Neville Chamberlain
And we know the results of backing down then, don't we?
#16
Well, it honestly wasn't. And what world are you living in that you think China would take a "spanking" and that'd be it? Oh, and that would just be to alleviate some boredom, huh? My American people are the ones you're casually willing to sacrifice for the benefit of Taiwan. Taiwan wouldn't survive a war between us and China anyways, it would be destroyed while it was supposed to be defended. And congratulations to your new Taiwan-American friends...I still wouldn't trade them for your sons and daughters.
#18
jackal: Our government's very public demand China not hinder Taiwan independence, and if so face military action, negates the possibility we'll back down.
#19
Shipman: Nice analogy however the Battle of Leyte Gulf was after the attack at Pearl Harbor. And Japan was invading sovereign nations, not break-away regions. How about Chechnya? Their fighting for their independence, against a country we've had what you could call "serious problems" with in the past. Why no support for them? Because they're just as bad as who they're fighting against. Same as Taiwan. They're no angels. And not worth our blood.
#20
" I wouldn't trade their lives for Taiwanese lives."
Shellback, are you really a shellback? Someone posted it the other day, I'll do so again. The verse below is from the Battle Hymn of the Republic, and all the encouragment I would need to fight for Taiwan or any other freedom loving peoples.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
Posted by: Analog Roam ||
02/17/2005 14:41
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#21
Analog Roam: Started to write a nasty response, then stopped and composed myself. Yes, what a wonderful little ditty the Battle Hymn of the Republic is. Here's a newsflash for ya'... that song (and others like it) only inspire people who are on the sidelines, safe and far away from actual combat. When the time comes, which it will, we'll see where you are Mr.Analog. I already have a reserved seat.
#22
interesting "shellback". So are you going to disobey orders that direct you to aide and assist the Taiwanese allies if you believe "Your American People" are not at risk? Sounds like you either aren't really in or you need to resign. I know which I believe about you
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 15:51
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#23
And what world are you living in that you think China would take a "spanking" and that'd be it?
Because the U.S. has more than enough armament to administer a spanking that China would be hard-pressed to recover from. The only number they have over us is in people; where it matters is in destructive power, and we've got them beat several times over.
#24
Frank G: The more people that insist that China is an supposed impending threat, the more the threat will become a reality. Yeah, you can believe I'm "in" or "out" or "whatever"... when the time comes, I'll be there. I believe you'll be with Analog Roam playing armchair quarterback. We need to focus on our first priorities, Afghanistan and Iraq. Then somewhere towards the bottom of the list is Taiwan and China.
#25
Started to write a nasty response, then stopped and composed myself.
Shellback: "Composed" is that the new slang for wanking off these days? I became a shellback in the US Navy in 1976, and I somehow suspect you weren't even born then.
I've already done my time, and would do so again if called. Yes, I find the BHotR very inspiring, to say the least. Next time get nasty, let's see what you got, boy!
-AR
Posted by: Analog Roam ||
02/17/2005 16:40
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#27
its quite possible to question the inevitability of a future US-China confrontation. I do so myself. But when you call Taiwanese "babyeaters" you only mark yourself a troll, and exclude yourself from rational conversation. Just like people who call Jews babyeaters, and for that matter people who call Muslims babyeaters.
#28
Shellback-> Calling people chickenhawks is not an effective argument. There are undoubtedly people here with more military experience than you who disagree with you. If you want to convince them, you have to do better than insulting people's future bravery or military service.
Notwithstanding this, tell us why we should go back to the days of not supporting our friends and bribing our enemies with selling out our friends? It didn't work before, and won't work now.
Moreover, deterrence works only when resolve is firm and communicated to the other party. Any expressed uncertainty of intentions is regarded by the other side as weakness of purpose (by definition), which increases the raw probability of conflict, whether intentional or through error or misunderstanding.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
02/17/2005 16:46
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#29
Liberalhawk: No, I'm serious. I've seen the pictures. They eat babies, man. I know it sounds like I'm only trying to smut them out, but I'm dead serious. I didn't have much of an opinion of Taiwan until I saw the photos. I wish I still had them. I would post them. And what "rational conversation"? You say you don't think we should go to war with China and see how irrational everybody gets. Probably the same way if I'd said we need to stop supporting Israel.(relax everyone...I support Israel.) No, but seriously, not every single person from Taiwan eats babies but they serve them, when they're stillborn, in certain places. I got this stuff from an Human Right's activist. And Jews/Muslim's have eaten babies, check Old Testament and Josephus' "The Jewish War".
#30
The point not addressed is will China implode before any confrontation explodes? The death of too many dynasties has been the rot corruption that sets in the bureaucracy. Haven't seen the present rulers are any more effective at suppressing it, then their forefathers. Oh, and just wait till the economy hits a real nasty recession.
#31
Shellback-> I believe I know what photos you are talking about. Those photos were from a performace art exhibit and they were proven false long, long ago. (You will probably not find any friends of performance art here on RB) You might find the debunking on snopes or something like that. There is no canibalism in Taiwan. There are no places where they serve stillborn babies. Preposterous. Unbelieveable.
Actually, I just found this on Snopes:
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/cannibal/fetus.htm
Posted by: Mark E. ||
02/17/2005 17:02
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#32
Oh, and by the way, that was the first hit when I googled "cannibalism taiwan". Google is a pretty effective tool. You should try it.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
02/17/2005 17:06
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#33
It took me 5 sec to google the Taiwan baby eating BS. Some performance artist claimed to eat fetuses he stole from a hospital. Folks took his pictures and wrote some nasty emails around them.
#34
Mark E.: I don't know what a chickenhawk is. I also have not insulted any senior military servicemen here on purpose. I know that we're not going to back down if China invades Taiwan because our President has publicly said we're not going to. Porter Goss can tell you whatever he wants, it doesn't make it neccessarily so. And how are the Taiwanese our "friends"? Our friends are not even our friends these days. There are no "friends" in this game. We've got each other. That's it. And that's why we've got to go slow (not United Nations slow, a little faster than that) and deal with our problems, one at a time.
#35
Mark E: Yes, thank you. Those were the pictures. Now, I didn't see all the ones I originally saw about two months ago, but o.k... I appreciate you putting it out there so people will at least know I'm not calling Taiwan babyeaters just to be mean.
#37
A chickenhawk, my dear shellback, is a civilian entirely too eager to send the troops off to war. Something like your armchair quarterback. The opposite concept is the general who is so careful of his troops that they never see battle -- Lincoln's early generals come to mind. Rumsfeld strikes the right balance, "You go to war with the Army you've got," is what I believe he said, incidentally causing the armor brouhaha.
As for China, attacking Taiwan would only be a first step in militarily establishing hegemony throughout the entire region. Just as Hitler could have been stopped when he first absorbed the industrial region on the border with France; and Saddam Hussein was pushed back from Kuwait in 1991, preventing him from achieving his goal of taking over the oil-rich country of Saudi Arabia as well, thus cornering oil production and controlling the world; so, too, for the Middle Kingdom Taiwan is merely the first step in regional conquest. Stop China there, and we can avoid the nastiness of a prolonged world war.
This is much my preference, the more so since Trailing Daughter has recently spoken of the Marines, and of Sniper training. I don't think she has the physical equipment to be a Marine (although I think she'd be a wonderful sniper), but my opinion won't have any weight in a few more years. And, as it looks like China is about 10 years out from feeling ready to attack its goals, this is a personal as well as philosophical concern for me.
#38
Nice analogy thanks
however the Battle of Leyte Gulf was after the attack at Pearl Harbor. LOL!
And Japan was invading sovereign nations, The Phillipes were a US possesion.
not break-away regions. How about Chechnya? What about'em? They're thugs, have been for neigh on to 1200 years.
Their fighting for their independence, against a country we've had what you could call "serious problems" with in the past. Why no support for them? Because they smell funny and slaughter children
Because they're just as bad as who they're fighting against. LOL!
Same as Taiwan. They're no angels. And not worth our blood. LOL.
Listen SmellBack the Taiwaneese require Chinnee chidlres blood for certain ceremonies... it's a cultural thing, don't get your plang ina plor.
Resign.
#39
IMHO, the current admin policy wrt to Taiwan is about right. We dont recognize Taiwan, for good reasons having to do with international law. And we would NOT object to the peaceful integration of Taiwan and China. Which may well happen, ONCE China democratizes. Or may happen anyway for economic reasons. BUT, if China, unprovoked by a UDI, is SO impatient as to use FORCE to take Taiwan, THAT would be an indication of a level of aggressiveness on the part of China that WOULD threaten regional and US security, and would STRATEGICALLY justify war. If, OTOH, Taiwan is so rash as to provoke China, by a UDI, I dont think we want to stand with them. also letting them know we wouldnt will deter them from such rash action. as for inbetween steps, some of which Taiwan is taking, those raise difficult questions about which we may disagree.
#40
B-a-R, thank you for expanding on my point. My hero!
ed, I so thoroughly absorbed what you wrote that I didn't reference your post in mine. See how good you are?
Thraing Whaimp1866, so true! Wouldn't it be wonderful if all we need do is keep the terrorists from settling somewhere in an imploded Red China. Its a good thing Rumsfeld is working to increase the various Special Forces -- 10 years just might be time enough for that, and the guys in charge of the missiles could just go on being bored.
Sidenote -- this little civilian housewife would love to know what "shellback" means to our sailors. My neighbor's son is at Annapolis hoping to become a Seal, and I'd like to understand him when he comes home.
Finally, for shellback: some of our lurkers may well be your own superior officers. Rantburgers (not me, of course) know some very interesting and influential people. True German Ally was just at that conference in Germany, heard Senator Clinton speak, but by choice missed Kofi Annan. And he's mentioned this site to SecDef Rumsfeld and SecState Rice. But, I believe, not to Herr Schroeder. Just so that you understand the size of the field you just charged on to.
General question: How many of these do you have....
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq92-3.htm
heh...order of the caterpillar. Hope I never get one of those!
Posted by: Mark E. ||
02/17/2005 18:49
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#42
What you are all overlooking is that Taiwan, pretty much is no longer Chinese, but Formosan, in character. And that Taiwan is also the major source for much of the memory ship business these days, as well as being a leader in chip fabrication. These are things that the US (and the economies of Korea and Japan and a lot of the rest of the workd) depend on for consumer and defense electronics.
This doesnt mention the basic "wrongness" of abandoning an essentially "free" people to communist totalitarianism by giving in to Chinese military threats. Not to mention the damage to US political power in the very important pacific rium region. Think back: how long did it take us to recover from the abandonment of Vietnam? How free is Iran these days after we abandoned it under Carter?
#43
Taiwan is an unsinkable aircraft carrier. It was the staging area for the invasion of Southeast Asia during WWII. As long as Taiwan stays out of Chinese hands, China will have considerable difficulty extending its tentacles into Southeast Asia.
shellback: Imagine if Asia told the North to leave the South alone in our Civil War, or else.
This is the classic Chinese argument. But China isn't Asia, even though they like to make the argument (much like the Japanese during WWII) that the yellow-skinned peoples ought to unite against white interlopers. Asia is just a geographical entity that the Greeks defined as being outside of Europe and Africa. In reality, it is not even close to being a coherent entity, housing as it does Aryans, Semites, Mongoloids and Afroid ethnic groups, and an even bigger variety of distinct cultures and languages.
The Chinese like using the Civil War analogy because they think it strikes a chord - it is part of the official Chinese propaganda effort. My preferred analogy is if the French had refrained from supporting the 13 colonies in their effort to separate from Great Britain.
Note also that a basic strategic principle is that we should try to prevent existing great powers from adding to their holdings. China is already the third largest country in the world. We don't need the Chinese adding to their empire.
Britain acted in the role of offshore balancer through most of the preceding three centuries. The point was to prevent any single continental power from consolidating its hold on the continent. They fought, in turn, the Spanish, the French, the Russians and the Germans. It makes perfect sense for Uncle Sam to prevent the Chinese from making any headway with their expansive territorial claims.
Anyone who thinks that China isn't an emerging threat needs to talk to ordinary Chinese, preferably after establishing their bona fides as non-American sinophiles. They are full of resentment at what they consider humiliations by the West and by Uncle Sam in particular. Their notions of what they consider Chinese territory are pretty expansive. In the views of many, Hawaii and Guam really ought to be Chinese territory, because of Chinese settlements in Hawaii and the fact that the majority of Americans are demonstrably non-Asian.
China is also a much bigger threat than the Muslim world because it is a unitary state. The Muslim states cannot act cohesively because each has its own interests at heart, the primary interest being continued national sovereignty.
#45
All Taiwan has to do to stall mainland China is declare it has 30 nukes and the means to deliver them. Follow that by making the 3-Gorges dam the first target, Shanghai second, Canton third, and so forth. Nobody in either China is willing to initiate mutual suicide.
As for the United States, it can totally criple China by knocking out all the bridges on the Yangtsee and Huang Ho rivers. That would effectively divide the nation into thirds and end any chance of moving goods from one section to another without a HUGE detour. The economy would effectively pancake, there wouldn't be any money to wage war with, and no real way to move troops and equipment except by air - a capability China is sorely lacking in. It would take about 370 tac nukes to take out ALL the bridges on both rivers, and it could be done in one attack. China knows this as well as the United States does. That's one reason they're trying to build up their supplies in each of their military areas where they can act independently for more than three weeks - the maximum length of time China can currently survive a pounding by the United States and its allies.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/17/2005 21:49
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#46
"That would effectively divide the nation into thirds and end any chance of moving goods from one section to another without a HUGE detour."
-Bingo for OP, as usual. SB, trust me, I know where your coming from in general wrt feeling like the world's policeman. However, I think ZF puts the china/taiwan situation in pragmatic terms that you should consider. Losing Taiwan would be an incremental thing, in the long run a bad deal to put it very un-eloquently.
I met some Taiwanese Marines about 5 yrs ago whom I did some school with. Good guys, a Lt Chen gave me a Taiwan MC tie clasp I still have.
#47
What you are all overlooking is that Taiwan, pretty much is no longer Chinese, but Formosan, in character. And that Taiwan is also the major source for much of the memory ship business these days, as well as being a leader in chip fabrication. These are things that the US (and the economies of Korea and Japan and a lot of the rest of the workd) depend on for consumer and defense electronics.
This doesnt mention the basic "wrongness" of abandoning an essentially "free" people to communist totalitarianism by giving in to Chinese military threats. Not to mention the damage to US political power in the very important pacific rium region. Think back: how long did it take us to recover from the abandonment of Vietnam? How free is Iran these days after we abandoned it under Carter?
#48
What you are all overlooking is that Taiwan, pretty much is no longer Chinese, but Formosan, in character. And that Taiwan is also the major source for much of the memory ship business these days, as well as being a leader in chip fabrication. These are things that the US (and the economies of Korea and Japan and a lot of the rest of the workd) depend on for consumer and defense electronics.
This doesnt mention the basic "wrongness" of abandoning an essentially "free" people to communist totalitarianism by giving in to Chinese military threats. Not to mention the damage to US political power in the very important pacific rium region. Think back: how long did it take us to recover from the abandonment of Vietnam? How free is Iran these days after we abandoned it under Carter?
Since the 'burg is always interested in immigration politix ...
PHOENIX (AP) -- Some lawmakers want to explore the possibility of the state contracting to have a private prison built in Mexico to house illegal immigrants now incarcerated in Arizona.
The idea was promoted as a way to reduce the state's heavy costs in imprisoning the 3,600 to 4,000 illegal immigrants in Arizona prisons who have been convicted of crimes. Opponents questioned whether the state has the legal authority to move the foreign prisoners to Mexico. In any event, a proposal (HB2709) to have the state seek proposals for such prison cleared its first hurdle Wednesday at the Arizona Legislature in a 4-2 vote by a House committee.
The bill is one of many moving through the Legislature that tries to confront the problems caused by illegal immigration. More than any other state in recent years, Arizona has been dogged by a heavy flow of illegal immigrants after the government tightened enforcement in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego during the mid-1990s.
Several Arizona lawmakers have said the federal government hasn't done enough to confront illegal immigration and therefore has dumped massive costs on the state. Gov. Janet Napolitano has recently billed the federal government for nearly $118 million in unreimbursed costs for imprisoning illegal immigrants.
The Mexico prison idea was proposed in the 1990s but shelved, partly due to legal concerns. It was revived in 2003 to help cover budget shortfalls but was rejected by a key legislative committee. "We really lose nothing but we set the table with what is a reasonable proposal," said Republican Rep. Russ Jones of San Luis, sponsor of the bill.
Democratic Rep. Ted Downing of Tucson, an opponent of the proposal, said the bill raises questions about jurisdiction, such as which government would have the ability to seek prisoners if they escape from such a prison.
Which is likely.
Republican Rep. John McCommish of Phoenix, who also voted against the bill, questioned whether the state could fulfill its responsibility to oversee a prison if it was located in anther country.
"This is a creative idea and worthy of exploration," said Republican Rep. Bill Konopnicki of Safford. Still, Konopnicki said he's not sure the idea would prevail if it were considered by the full House.
I think Mr. McCommish is right -- just how do you run a state prison located in another country?
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/17/2005
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#1
Adminster ten lashes to illegal border-crossers when they are caught, and ten more to illegals that end up committing an additional crime while here, then deport them. They won't come back.
#3
Didn't the Aussies own that obscure island, or is my always-poor memory failing me yet again?
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/17/2005 1:26
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#4
That was Nauru, an independent nation, and a failed state through financial mismanagement. (Nauru had plenty of money thru phosphate royalties, and blew it on bad real estate deals, and the like.) But from Australia's POV, the plan- illegals in boats are intercepted at sea and never allowed to reach our hallowed soil- works just fine. They can go home with a bit of cash incentive or stare out to sea forever. Autralia is not an option.
I should add that they are checked out very thoroughly, and genuine refugees do get in. Most are not.
#6
Well, the next big NAFTA opportunity is obvious: the illegal catch / release graft game. My guess is that if its ever built the actual population in that prison will approach zero and Mexican authorities will be bussing "escapees" back to the US border.
#7
If they escape into Mexico, our objective will be met. Pass a law that escapees who cross back into the U.S. automatically receive the death penalty, without opportunity for appeal, and the problem should keep itself away.
#9
Nice thought, AZCat, but it wouldn't do any good. Too few illegals are actually caught for it ot do more than deter those who have had bad luck or would be crossing close to where the prison is located.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
02/17/2005 7:31
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#10
Let's do it. I nominate Lyndie England as head warden! AzCat's right though, this would only let the Mexican gov't get a hold of some State cash. I don't think this would work. Now, sending 'em to Gitmo, I'm open to that suggestion.
Posted by: BA ||
02/17/2005 11:13
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#11
How do you prevent escapes?
1. Payment delivered only after prisoner has served his term.
2. Three time daily retina scans so no one takes an extended vacation and shows back up on the release day.
3. Give revocable green cards to certain members of Mexican staff.
#12
Assuming this could be done, which I doubt, you have one big logistical problem.
How far can you build it from the American border so that:
a) we can oversee that it is being run to a certain acceptable standard (more or less American standard, not Mexican...as much as you might want that, keep in mind they're our prisoners and the last thing we really need is another excuse for the ACLU/Middle Ground crowd to have even a ghost of a chance to bring suit, claiming it's another Abu Ghraib and crap like that), and
b) far enough away from the American border that it would be a pain in the ass to try to come back in should the prisoners escape or are released.
Authorities in Yemen have foiled a militant plot to attack foreign embassies and security installations in the capital Sanaa after a suspect involved turned himself over to police last week, according to media reports yesterday. Security forces have arrested five members of the group at the center of the alleged plot, raided houses and apartments and seized weapons and explosives, the Ray News website said citing security sources. The suspects included a woman.
According to the report, the alleged attacker told the police of a "terror cell planning to carry out suicide attacks against foreign embassies and interests". The 22-year-old man was reportedly on his way to carry out a suicide attack, but he changed his mind and decided to surrender to the police. He revealed names of key members of the alleged group that "has been receiving funds from foreign parties". A police official told Arab News that the compound of the United Nations mission in Sanaa was supposed to be the first target of the militants.
A source from the security services said they had received last week threats from an unknown group which warned of attacks against Western embassies and interests in Sanaa if the authorities would execute those accused in the cases of the French tanker Limburg and the USS Cole destroyer. A source close to the investigation said the members of the group had enjoyed the backing of foreign parties to carry out what they described as "martyrdom" operations against installations belonging to Western countries. Members of the group were also accused of other illegal activities, including the forging currency and documents, as well as arms trafficking and smuggling, the source said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2005
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BEIRUT — US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns called yesterday for an "immediate and complete" withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon. Speaking in Beirut as slain former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Al Hariri was laid to rest, Burns said: "Mr Hariri's death should give renewed impetus to achieving a free, independent and sovereign Lebanon. "What this means is the immediate and complete implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1559, and what that means is the complete and immediate withdrawal by Syria," Burns said after talks with Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud.
Very interesting how the US has used events, quiet diplomacy, and clear thinking from the top to put Syria in the cross-hairs. And how avidly the Syrians have cooperated.
Meanwhile, Syrians said the Lebanese, who chanted anti-Syrian protests at the funeral of Hariri, would tear each other apart if Syrian troops left. "If they feel this way, then I say we should withdraw and let them break each other like falling water melons," said a student in Damascus who gave his name as Amjad.
Who's your daddy, Amjad, and what's his rank in the Syrian intelligence services?
Burns said Washington and the world would monitor Lebanon closely as it prepares to hold parliamentary elections in spring. "The Lebanese must be allowed to make their own political choices and to conduct elections free of foreign interference," Burns said.
"Today Americans join the international community in stressing the urgent importance of conduct a serious and credible investigation to bring those responsible for this act of terrorism to justice," Burns said adding that his country was ready to help.
Hammoud told Burns that Interior Minister Suleiman Franjiyeh had insisted on Beirut's opposition to an international probe of the Hariri bombing. "An international inquiry is unacceptable. If necessary, we will ask for experts from neutral countries," Franjiyeh had said on Tuesday.
"Like Iran," he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/17/2005
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Fascinating. Not that I think a Lebanon free of Syrian forces and their puppet government would yield a utopia - far from it - but Syria has no legitimate business there. It just saw an opportunity against a weak neighbor and took it.
Sure, go home Syrians. FOAD. Oh, and take this Hezbollah shit with you, too. No more proxy crap against Israel.
Then the Leb factions can kill each other in peace.
#2
I think that several world powers would spend considerable time, effort and energy to insure that Lebanon does not run wild like it used to. That is, after Hizbullah has been utterly purged from the country, and with the blessing of the Lebanese. The Iranians would be apoplectic, too.
Former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri was laid to rest in central Beirut on Wednesday amid scenes of anger as thousands of mourners poured into the streets chanting anti-Syrian slogans. Draped in a Lebanese flag, al-Hariri's casket arrived with some difficulty to the unfinished Muhammad al-Amin Mosque, which is located in downtown Beirut, the district he helped to rebuild and transform from a forgotten ghost area during the Lebanese civil war into a major tourist attraction. Tens of thousands of people lined up the streets along the 3.2km route taken by the funeral procession. Thousands of others thronged the roads, effectively blocking the ambulance that was carrying al-Hariri's body from reaching the burial site, located just outside the mosque.
"Syria get out, Syria get out," yelled the crowds. A woman in black shouted hysterically, "Syria messed up Lebanon. Let them get out of here. I don't want to see a Syrian face." Others called on the government to resign. "We don't recognise the current government. They are ruling us by force," Radwan Itani, 45, said. People who are opposed to Syria consider the government headed by Prime Minister Umar Karami a product of the controversial Syrian-inspired amendment of the Lebanese constitution that allowed President Emile Lahoud to extend his term for another three years last September.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2005
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Islamic militants under investigation for allegedly planning an attack on the Russian Embassy in Paris had other targets on their list, including the Eiffel Tower, police and judicial officials said Wednesday. Three men, all Algerians, were detained Jan. 11 in connection with an investigation into a network of Islamic radicals supporting Chechen rebels, the officials said on condition of anonymity. More than 20 people have been jailed in a series of arrests since December 2002 as part of an investigation into the network. The investigation revealed an alleged plot against the Russian Embassy and a planned chemical attack.
On Wednesday, judicial officials confirmed the three arrests, which were first reported by the daily Le Parisien. The newspaper said attacks in Britain were also allegedly planned and that those arrested in France had links to a group of Islamic radicals in Spain. According to judicial officials, the three men said among the targets was the veritable symbol of France, the Eiffel Tower. Also targeted were a clothing store in the central Paris district of Les Halles, which is a commuter link packed with people, Israeli interests and police stations, officials said. Money from a French network making false papers was allegedly taken to Spain to finance sending Islamic combatants to Chechnya, the paper reported without citing sources.
Separately, the trial of six men accused of targeting the U.S. Embassy in Paris ended Wednesday. The men denied plans for a suicide attack on the embassy and insisted they were simply friends, not a terror group. "I sleep well and I'm tranquil because I have done nothing wrong," the alleged ringleader, Djamel Beghal, told the court. "I have no network. I have friends."
"I have an MCI calling circle."
The verdict in that case not connected to the Chechnya investigation was deferred until March 15. More than 20 people have been arrested in France in the two-year investigation into the alleged network supporting Chechen rebels. Officials have claimed some of the arrests stopped a chemical attack in France. Investigators believe the heart of the network was dismantled in December 2002 with the arrests of nine suspects in two Paris suburbs. Three of those suspects trained with rebels and met "high-level al-Qaida operatives" in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge, near its border with Russia, the Interior Ministry said at the time.
But the Georgians assured us that the Pankisi Gorge had been cleaned out.
Among the top suspects is Menad Benchellali whose brother, Mourad, was held by the United States in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but was among four prisoners returned in July to France, where he remains jailed the French being venal but not stupid. His father, an imam, or Muslim prayer leader, his mother and another brother were placed under investigation in January 2004. The raids leading to the initial arrests turned up chemical formulas for explosives and a substance that, when subjected to heat or put in contact with water, would let off a highly toxic gas, judicial officials have said. Lists of chemicals and their price and a suit to protect against chemical attacks were among other items found.
This article starring:
DJAMEL BEGHAL
al-Qaeda in Europe
MENAD BENCHELLALI
al-Qaeda in Europe
MURAD BENCHELLALI
al-Qaeda in Europe
Posted by: tipper ||
02/17/2005
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OK OK You guys win. We Surrender. No more fashion shows, chess or kites. Women all in burkas, and shot if not escorted.
North Korea marked the birthday of leader Kim Jong Il amid heightened nuclear tensions on Wednesday, comparing Kim to a daring porcupine routing an arrogant United States that swaggers like a tiger. But South Korea dampened the Pyongyang's festive mood, saying there will be no large-scale economic cooperation until the dispute over the communist North's nuclear weapons programs is resolved.
North Korea flouted the international community last Thursday by announcing it had nuclear weapons and was staying away from international nuclear talks where the United States, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea have urged it to abandon its nuclear ambitions. The announcement was a key theme in North Korea's celebration of Kim's birthday this year, with its state-controlled media claiming that last week's "bombshell" declaration demonstrated Kim's "incomparable courage." Kim turned 63 Wednesday. "The Americans swagger like a tiger around the world, but they whimper before our Republic as the tiger does before the porcupine," Pyongyang Radio said. "That's because we have our Great Leader Kim Jong Il, who is undefeatable."
To the outside world, the North's latest maneuver further isolated the impoverished country. "North Korea must return to six-party talks as soon as possible," South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun told a meeting of his top security ministers Wednesday. "If North Korea has anything to allege, it should make the allegations at the negotiating table."
North Korea has refused to rejoin the six-nation negotiations until Washington abandons what the North says is its "hostile" policy. Earlier Wednesday, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said he told U.S. officials during a weeklong trip to Washington that his country has no plans to begin large-scale economic cooperation with the North before the North Korea agrees to end the nuclear dispute. Still, Ban said South Korea would continue to provide "humanitarian" aid to the poverty-stricken state.
In the run-up to Wednesday's birthday, North Korea has escalated anti-American rhetoric and urged its people to rally around Kim at a time of heightened tensions with the United Sates. "No matter how wild the U.S. imperialists may run, our country remains unfazed and the spirit of our army and people is sky-high," the North's main Rodong Shinmun daily wrote in a Wednesday editorial for the birthday, celebrated in the country as a national holiday.
In the capital Pyongyang, state-run TV on Wednesday displayed the usually quiet streets lined with banners wishing "good health and long life for the general," as Kim is commonly referred to as commander of the country's armed forces. Large crowds of North Koreans in colorful clothes and soldiers in uniform were shown dancing in Pyongyang squares. Kim's Stalinist regime gave its elite feasts of pheasant and venison. Media reported the unseasonable blossoms of wild flowers, citing them as divine evidence that the nature was also celebrating the birthday, the "common holiday of the humankind." Around the country, exhibitions were held featuring Kimjongilia — a red flower cultivated to blossom around Kim's birthday.
The country relies on outside aid to feed its people after suffering natural disasters. The disasters, along with inefficient communist management, began devastating the economy in the mid 1990s. Yet Kim keeps a tight control on his population with the help of a personality cult. "As long as we are led by Kim Jong Il ... endowed with outstanding commandership art and matchless courage and pluck, any anti-(North) plot of the U.S. imperialists will prove futile," Rodong Shinmun wrote.
Posted by: tipper ||
02/17/2005
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#1
The "daring porcupine"? They're talking about the hair, right?
#4
That's the sad thing about North Korea. You just onlw Kimmie-boy-the-baby-killer is eating well and gettin fat on the finest food and drink offered while his people starve and try to exist on bark, grasses, and edible clay.
Meanwhile we (the US, South Korea, and the like) are feeding his people so he can free up finds to buy arms and ammo to kill us.
Iran and Syria, who both are facing pressure from the United States, said Wednesday they will form a "united front" to confront possible threats against them, state-run television reported. With the US killing their mortal Wahabi enemies, why wouldn't Assyrian and Persians feel in a position of strength? They are well aware that the recent Iraq election was nothing but a pre-determination circus, the outcome of which was dictated by the Persian terrorists. Teheran now owns a corridor of friendlies, that stretches to Jerusalem, and is legitimated by State Department largesse.
Syrians, not Assyrians. Assyrians today are mostly Christian, and live in Iraq. Syrians are majority Allawite, and live in Syria.
"In view of the special conditions faced by Syria, Iran will transfer its experience, especially concerning sanctions, to Syria," Mohammad Reza Aref, Iran's first vice president, was quoted as saying after meeting Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Otari. "At this sensitive point, the two countries require a united front due to numerous challenges." Otari concurred, saying, "The challenges we face in Syria and Iran require us to be in one front to confront all the challenges imposed (on us) by others." This scum should be on their wretched knees, begging for their filthy lives.
But they're not, so it's a problem to be dealt with, without going into hysterics. It's a formalization of a relationship that's existed for awhile: Syria is to Iran as Lebanon is to Syria.
The report did not specifically mention the challenges, but both countries are under U.S. economic sanctions and the targets of intense American pressure. While the Persian-Assyrian Axis spends profusely to support terror and terror preparations in Iraq and Israel, Condi is tossing rhetoric-bombs, while opposition starves in those tyrannies.
She's using diplomatic tools, which is her job as Secretary of State. Opposition has been starving in those tyrannies for some time. Internal opposition in both countries are tools that can be used, and neither you nor I have a handle on exactly what's being done with them. It's just that the handle you don't have is bigger than the one I don't have.
Iran, which President Bush had labeled an "axis of evil" with North Korea and prewar Iraq, was named an "outpost of tyranny" last month by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. But, only sticks and stones break bones.
That's a truism. Another truism is that you can't do everything at once, even if you'd like to...
The United States has accused Iran of seeking to produce nuclear weapons, while relations with Syria have deteriorated, especially since Monday's assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Many Lebanese blamed Monday's car bombing in Beirut on Syria, but the Syrian government has denied responsibility. Washington is recalling its ambassador from Syria in apparent response to Hariri's killing. Finger-pointing is so scary.
Fingerprinting can be even scarier...
Washington also accuses Syria of aiding anti-Israeli militants and supporting insurgents in Iraq. Tehran and Damascus have been strategic allies for years. Syria was the only Arab country that continued its warm relations with Iran during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. Assyrians are not "Arabs." Language does not determine ethnicity. And Aramic use is on the rise there, with the widespread local belief that Jesus Christ was an Assyrian.
Fred:
Respectfully, what would be your proposed Plan B. A Pak-Sunni had this to say in the Daily Times, last weekend, "The Bush administration is under the false impression that the elections in Iraq have heralded the era of democracy in Iraq and thus justify the Bush pre-emption doctrine. What, it seems, they cannot see is that the US has just facilitated a major transfer of power in the Arab World from Sunnis to Shiites. Thanks to the US the Arab Shiites will now control Baghdad the jewel in the Islamic crown after a millennium. They did not rule over Baghdad even under the glorious Fatimid dynasty (909-1171) that governed Egypt, North Africa and Syria but had only a tenuous hold over Baghdad, briefly under the Buwayhid tribal confederation, before the Turkic Seljuks invaded and captured the city with help from the Abbasids." Semitic culture is rooted in the Tigris-Euphrates territories. Persian terrorists feel they been delivered an enormous strategic salient. When that sinks in with all Sunnis, they won't be thinking about State Department chiliastic "democracy" but obedience to some self-proclaimed ghazi (warrior-priest) will become an imperative. Inherent-slavery denial (re the Muslimutt ethos) is superceding Holocaust denial, as a force of intellectual depravity. Show me how the Middle East Democratic Intiative can possibly work, and I will get online.
This is the third time you've posted this particular piece. The first one I responded to, the second one I dumped. I'm getting tired of arguing the same point.
Sunnis, both in Iraq and in Pakistan, are rivals to the Shiites. Iranians both Persians and other ethnic groups within Iran have also historically been rivals to the Arabs. Today's Semitic culture is not rooted in the Tigris-Euphrates, but in Arabia, specifically the sandy part of Arabia. The Gulf Arabs have historically been more civilized, along with being richer. You'll find there are differences between the Najaf and Qom schools of Shiite thought, just as there are differences within the Sunni schools. The Najaf school has been held down for many years by the Sunni rulers of Iraq, while the Qom school isn't (or historically wasn't) as respected as the Najaf school. Persian dominance of Mesopotamia traditionally hasn't worked well, mainly because of the cultural differences between the Semites and the Medes and Persians. All those are handles for political and diplomatic exploitation.
Relying on military force exclusively is a dumb idea. All jobs aren't hammer jobs; some take screwdrivers, some pliers or wrenches and some take chain saws. Just like diplomacy, military force is a tool of national policy. Diplomacy is a lot cheaper than using military means. The corpse count is usually lower, too.
As I've pointed out before, we use the term "democracy" as shorthand for "liberty" or "personal freedom." There's an entire area of the world where "democracy" is occasionally given some sort of form, but liberty is still viewed as something frightening. That's ingrained in Islam, which attempts to control every aspect of life. We know here all about the illiberal aspects of Islam. We've seen it for three and a half years. The problem is defined, really. Now we're much more concerned with a solution. But solutions are dependent on constraints: we're not going to convert everyone in the area to agnosticism or Buddhism or Cao Dai. There's no tradition of participatory democracy to build on. The neighbors virtually all of them are hostile. We, as a civilized people, don't want to simply nuke the entire area, making a desolation and calling it peace. There are also limits to the amount of strain we want to put on our economy as we fight a worldwide war on terror.
The inhabitants of the Middle East are real, actual people. I don't know if you've ever lived in another country, but even weird places like South Waziristan are inhabited by human beings. They're often goofy, their customs aren't the same as ours, they're frightened by the idea of their societies being changed by the great wide world. Killing and maiming real, live people isn't something you want to do lightly. Before it comes to that it is to everyone's advantage to explore all the other avenues that are available. That means we're probably not going to end up with results that are perfectly to our liking. But killing everyone in the area and sowing it with salt isn't a result to our liking, either. Therefore, I'd like to see the diplomatic moves continue, the international political moves continue, the covert operations continue, before we see a major military operation against Iran. Do I think it'll eventually come? Yes. Do I think dismantling Iran militarily will be much harder than taking Iraq apart was? No. But I'd be happy to see it done without a shot being (officially) fired, if that's actually possible.
Posted by: IToldYouSo ||
02/17/2005
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Minor correction Fred, while Alawites control Syria, they are only 10% or less of the population. 75% of Syrians are Sunni Arabs.
#4
I have been on the Jazeera (Arab Peninsula) and in Turkey and Malaysia. I have also corresponded with Waziris, Balochis and Sindhis who would like foreign support for their opposition to Punjabi occupation. Democracy that supports Punjabi power won't help them. Knowledge and experience makes me an unashamed imperialist, and a mortal enemy of any murder cult that imposes slavery (abd) to a fictious deity (allah), in the name of elite status defense. We have to impose Secularism on Islamania, whether they like it or not. GWB needs to be pressured into one-button solutions to the problem of jihadism. The current Them v Us imbalance, needs to be reversed. It is time to make total war on Muslim aggressors, starting with repatriation of the Anglo-American oil fields to remove their principal strategic resource. Anyone who is prepared to accept a bloody 20 year slog of shot-gun war while Muslimutts prepare WMD, is a either a masochist or a Pollyanna. Americans cannot afford this type of war but, most importantly, won't put up with it, especially after Iraqi voters elected a slate of Shiite extremists.
Why is the rather obvious cultural unification among Iraqi and Persian Shiites - manifest in joint blood-letting during Ashoura - not impacting here? The supposed Arab v Persian conflict among Shiites, is pure spin. Al-Sistani is a Persian. Al-Sadr took personal counsel from Rafsanjani, before launching his terror campaign.
#6
Um, upwards of 70% of the Persians actually hate the Iranians, right?
Moreover, the UIA is a coalition of over 100+ parties covering just about every ideological orientation known to the region, including some Sunni candidates. They aren't likely to last as a viable electoral force when they get into the nitty-gritty details of running gobermint, so the idea of them imposing a theocracy in Iraq is nothing short of absurd, especially when you consider that such an attempt would trigger civil war with the Sunni Arabs and the Kurds - thereby negating any advantages the Shi'ites won at the ballot box!
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/17/2005 2:38
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methinks the US trying to impose secularism on Pakistan would be the fastest way to get Waziris, baluchis and sindis on the same side as the Punjabis. Ditto trying to impose secularism on Iraq would unite Sunni Arabs, Shia arabs, and Persian Shias. Quaint to see unashamed imperialists, but there are reasons we aint, and that the Brits gave up. Imperialism works when youre NOT trying to change local culture much - otherwise its way too costly.
Undoable strategies, from kill em all, to convert em all, to give em everything they want and make em all happy, are all just distractions from REAL strategic debates, which we need to have.
#8
We have Fred, Dan, and LH leading the choir and making good sense. ITYS, you might want to start paying attention. Else, as .com says, you might want to go start your own blog and expound away. You'll be lonely in a Popular Front for the Liberation of Judaea kind of way but I don't think that particularly bothers you.
You have a choice, ITYS, you can learn from the people you encounter or you can be another Quiet American.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/17/2005 12:10
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#9
man, I love a good spanking
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2005 12:15
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Sir Mark Thatcher may set up a new life in Switzerland if he fails to obtain a US visa because of his involvement in a coup plot in Africa. The disgraced son of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher could be joined in his dreams in Switzerland by his wife Diana, who is at her home in the US. Sir Mark has applied to enter the US but officials will closely look at the evidence against him before any decision is made. When If it goes against him Sir Mark is looking at alternatives. Sir Mark is living with his mother in Britain while he waits to hear the outcome of his visa application to the US. He also faces investigations by Scotland Yard into his role in the plot. But he is due back in South Africa to answer questions from Equatorial Guinea's prosecutors before they decide whether to ask for his extradition. Sir Mark lived in Switzerland in the 1990s and has friends and business contacts in the country.
He always said it was a nice place to visit but he wouldn't want to...oopsie!
That's a bad wedding photo. It's even a bad passport photo.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
02/17/2005
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I don't know who's ghosting Mark "Thickie Mork" Thatcher's biography, but if they've got a sense of humour it's going to be a best-seller.
Gunmen fired on three vehicles in Balochistan on Wednesday, killing a town nazim, his deputy and six other people in a family feud, The Associated Press reported.
"Take that, yew varmints!"
The vehicles were ambushed near Bhaag, a town about 200 kilometres southeast of Quetta, local police chief Gul Khan Sasoli said. The attack on Mohammed was the result of an old family feud, he said without elaborating. Bhaag Nazim Wali Mohammed, his deputy Allah Rakhiya, five bodyguards and one of the mayor's friends were killed instantly, Sasoli said. Two other friends of the mayor's were injured but survived. The gunmen attacked the vehicles from inside a security checkpoint before overpowering four policemen posted there and stealing their weapons, Sasoli said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2005
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Aha! I thought it was the Hatfield Clan, lol! Much better than what I could google up on the McCoys...
UNITED Nations officials would not be allowed to testify before US Congress hearings on the oil-for-food program in Iraq, the UN said in a letter released today.
"Nope. Nope. Can't do it."
The letter from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's chief of staff, Mark Malloch Brown, said officials could brief privately but that diplomatic immunity kept them off-limits for public hearings. "As a matter of policy, the (UN) organisation does not waive such immunity in relation to testimony under oath before national legislative bodies," he said in a letter to Republican Senator Norm Coleman.
Mr Malloch Brown said UN officials would otherwise have to make themselves available to the legislatures of the UN's more than 190 member nations. Coleman is heading a US Senate panel looking into the scandal-plagued oil-for-food program and had wanted Dileep Nair, the head of the UN's internal watchdog, to testify. The letter, dated Monday, said Mr Nair could not testify at a hearing yesterday that saw complaints from senators about access to UN officials.
Posted by: tipper ||
02/17/2005
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Might not be a good idea to tick off the guys who can cut off 30 or 40 percent of your budget, Koaf...
#3
So far the MSM has ignored the fact the UN is exempt from US laws and has no laws of its own (unlike regular foreign embassies where the laws of the forieg country apply). The UN is literally the most lawless place in the world.
#4
Zero surprise. As it became apparent that the evidence was there to indict UN officials, you knew the UN's High Priest Vulture Elite would scramble to cover their corrupt asses.
#5
We don't need to be blatant about punishing the U.N. Kofi is ruining his reputation far better than Karl Rove could ever mastermind (hmmm, wait a minute ...). More and more mainstream, moderate, middle-of-the-road Americans are coming to see that those UNICEF dimes they gave over the years are ending up in the hands of some rather odious people. There's a tipping point, and it's on the horizon.
We don't need to escort the UN out of New York or cut off our contributions to the General Assembly. We can deliver the message and at the same time keep the yammering yaps at the MSM from, well, yammering. Sorry Kofi, we'd generally put our tsunami relief money in your hands, but this time we're working with the Aussies. Sorry, Kofi, but if there's going to be a new multi-national force put into Insanistan, but it has to be American-led and be guided by a mission statement that we just happen to have right here.
And so on. The UN is a big, big, ship so it won't turn on a UNICEF dime, but we could start moving it in a better direction. Keeping a marginally-useful UN around might be handy.
Then again, oh hell, fuck 'em.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/17/2005 2:06
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I haven't changed my opinion. The US out of the UN and the UN out of the US. We are not going to heal this. The cancer at the UN can't be cured.
#7
If they won't testify, make them persona non grata and revoke their visas, just like we do to Russian spies and other riffraff. If enough of them get themselves kicked out of the country, either the U.N. will have to restaff itself with people less to our disliking, or the whole thing will huffily move itself to somewhere more welcoming. Either way, we win.
#8
Actually, PBMcL, the official percentage of the UN budget contributed by the United States is 22%. Admittedly not as important as if it were 40%, but by far greater than anyone else, and wouldn't we freaking get better results out of them if it were?
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
02/17/2005 7:11
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SPoD-
What we need is some therapy. Just like they do for cancer, in fact. Radiation therapy. We do need to test those burrowing nukes, right? Let's dig all those 3rd world hellhole diplomats a hole in a desert somewhere and test the burrowing warhead.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
02/17/2005 7:28
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Have the hearings in Monte Carlo or someplace like that. Throw in free airfare and tell them they can expense their food, booze, and barely legal hooker bills. They'll be lined up out the door to testify.
#11
Steve in #5-I like what you said about the UN being a big, big ship that we could move in a better direction. I immediately got a picture in my head of the Monty Python Crimson Assurance skit--a combination skyscraper/Winnebago lumbering through lower Manhattan, eventually to fall off a cliff.
Posted by: T. Jefferson ||
02/17/2005 11:20
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The US contributes 22% of the UN general budget. The US often contributes more to specific activities, such as 33% to US peacekeeping (no including things we don't bill for such as logistics and US personnel). I remember reading that the US provided 40% of the funding to Jan (US is stingy) Eglund's Humanitarian Affairs group.
Instead I think the US sould reduce it's contribution to no more than 5% of any UN funding and opt out of any organization that is corrupt, misusing funds, or at cross purposes with US goals.
Posted by: ed ||
02/17/2005 12:30
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Just because they are U.N. officials and have diplomatic immunity doesn't mean we have to allow them all over the place. I'd restrict them to Manhattan and a corridor to the airport -- and jail anyone who is out of bounds.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/17/2005 12:49
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First, lets have a banquet at the UN Building and fete all the wonderful folks there for their contributions to The Oil for Food Program. That should get most in not all in the building. Next, lock and guard the doors to prevent escape. Lastly, invite any all Iraqi poeple to stop by, hand each there own silver monogrammed UN commorative fillet knife and let them each have their choice of 1 lb of flesh. Gotta give everyone a chance. I feel justice would be served.
#16
"According to Jed Babbin, in his book "Inside the Asylum" "accountability is unknown at the U.N. and he referred to the U.N. as the "U.N. crime family." He said "the biggest difference between the Mafia and the U.N. is that the Mafia holds its employees accountable for their performance." Babbin believes the U.N. rogues have gone beyond their entitlement immunities and that, under international law, those immunities could be stripped away. An alternative would be for the U.S. to change its laws to take away those immunities. Babbin also said the secretive Annan refuses to release the results of 55 audits of the Oil-for-Food money, is not cooperating in any of the investigations, and refuses to allow U.N. employees to be interviewed or questioned."
The above was posted on pelicanpost.blogspot on Feb. 2, 2005 "United Nations Whitewash:...."
The "news" that Kofi Annan would now not allow U.N. personnel to testify on the record under oath is not news. We've known that since before the impotent Paul Volcker Commission got off and creeping. The U.S. Dept of Justice should now rev up their criminal investigations; Congress should revoke diplomatic immunity; and Turtle Bay (U.N.) should go the way of the League of Nations---into oblivion. -Jacqueline
A department to look into cases of terrorism is to be established soon with the view to speed up adjudication of such cases following investigation by the public prosecutor's office, Minister of Justice Ahmad Baqer said Monday. The establishment of the new department will not jeopardize rights of the accused in terrorist cases to a fair hearing and just trial, he said at a meeting of a charitable organization here. Baqer, while commending the Kuwaiti public's full support of the fight against terrorists, indicated that currently "about 30-35 people accused of terrorism, among them 15 Kuwaiti nationals, are in custody." He behooved all residents in the country to report to authorities any pertinent information about terrorists or suspicious activities.
As for laws presently on the books against terrorism, the minister revealed that there are Kuwaiti laws against unlawful possession of weapons or ammunition and others regarding safe air and sea travel. He affirmed that enormous efforts must be consecrated to propagating the notion that Islam is a religion of moderation and tolerance, and that all acts of terror perpetrated in the name of Islam are abhorrent and a detestable affront to the gracious tenets of Islam.
Posted by: Fred ||
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I offer this alternative SWAT image - for those times when there is a tongue in cheek requirement.
Police arrested a man suspected of was planning a suicide attack on Shias, officials said on Wednesday. Faisal Rafiq, 24, was arrested on Tuesday night at a telephone booth in Quetta, said Balochistan IG Chaudhry Mohammed Yaqoob. Rafiq was allegedly a member of the outlawed Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and "we suspect he was preparing to carry out a suicide attack against Shias" in Quetta, Yaqoob said. A senior police official said on condition of anonymity that Rafiq had strapped about half a kilogram of explosives to his body with a strip of cloth, but it was not primed to go off, along with a hand grenade and a pistol.
This article starring:
FAISAL RAFIQ
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2005
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Nine civil society organizations on Monday formed a committee which will work on combating extremist ideas that lead to violence. The organizations are namely the Kuwait Teachers Society, Kuwait Journalists Association, Kuwait Lawyers Society, the Heritage Revival Society, the Writers Association, the Women Cultural Society, Kuwait Union of Women Societies, the Graduates Society and the National Union of Kuwait Students. The Kuwait Teachers Society Board Member Muteb Al-Otaibi in statements to KUNA, stressed the need for participation of all civil society organizations and other popular bodies in the fight against extremism and terrorism.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
February 17, 2005: Despite North Korea's self-proclaimed nuclear weapons, Iran is a bigger threat to the world, because Iran supports terrorism, even the Sunni terrorists who consider Iranian Shias to be heretics. The North Koreans are mainly a threat to South Korea, China, Russia and Japan. These four nations are trying to get North Korea to behave, and either fix it's crumbling communist era economy, or collapse quietly and let South Korea take over. However, the people running North Korea (and no one outside the country is entirely sure exactly who that is) do not operate according to any normal logic. The constant fear is that North Korea, with its large, but weakening, armed forces, will somehow lash out. The North Koreans have lashed out once before, in 1950. They got pounded big time in return and have not forgotten that defeat. 
The prime minister, his senior ministers, the governor-general and top public servants will be whisked off to a top-secret location, possibly a purpose-built underground bunker, so government can continue to function after a terror strike or nuclear attack on federal parliament. Government and intelligence sources have told The Bulletin that Cabinet's National Security Subcommittee, headed by Prime Minister John Howard, approved broad elements of the government post-doomsday blueprint in mid-2004 after a formative American model was put into action following al Qaeda's September 11 strikes on Washington and New York.
Welcome to the first ever Middle East Sex Survey. Please complete the survey as your experiences and opinions are valuable to us.
CIA director Porter Goss has warned that North Korean missiles are capable of reaching the United States with a nuclear weapon-sized payload. Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee a week after North Korea claimed it has nuclear weapons, Goss on Wednesday said the US intelligence community's assessment is that the North Korean missile, the TD-2, is capable of reaching the United States with a nuclear weapon-sized payload. 
Police said they arrested seven people, including an official from the IRA-linked 
A car bomb killed three people near Russia's restive Chechnya region on Wednesday, but Dagestan's deputy prime minister and a security chief escaped the apparent bid to assassinate them, officials said. The bomb went off in the town of Kizlyar in Dagestan as the region's deputy prime minister and security council chief drove away from the government building in an armoured Mercedes. Neither was hurt. The dead were two passers-by, including a woman, and the driver of a car accompanying the officials, said Ibragim Aliyev, head doctor at Kizlyar's hospital. A further five people were injured, he said.
Hundreds of troops yesterday occupied a fortified rebel garrison in the heartland of Jolo in the southern Philippines, as security forces continued their offensive against the former separatist group Moro National Liberation Front, blamed for the death of dozens of soldiers in a string of attacks on the island. Battle-hardened soldiers raised their weapons and flashed the victory sign inside the sprawling six-hectare garrison called Camp Ujod Jabal in the hinterland village of Bitanag in Panamao town. The military now call this Camp Dennis Villanueva, named after an army commander who was killed last week in a bloody gun battle to capture the base, used by rebels as springboard to launch terror attacks in Jolo, about 950 kilometers south of Manila.
Remember the old conservative charge that many of the Democrats here in America were playing footsie with the Soviets? Some Republicans even said the Russians viewed the Democrats as their favorite party. Now bombshell revelations prove these accusations beyond a shadow of a doubt. 
Chafing over a "wardrobe malfunction" and racy radio shock-jock programs, the House overwhelmingly passed a bill Wednesday authorizing unprecedented fines for indecency. Lawmakers sought to hit broadcasters where it hurts — the pocketbook — in approving the measure 389-38, rejecting criticism that the penalties would stifle free speech and expression and further homogenize programming. The bill would increase the maximum fine from $32,500 to $500,000 for a company and from $11,000 to $500,000 for an individual entertainer. "With passage of this legislation, I am confident that broadcasters will think twice about pushing the envelope," said Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House telecommunications panel and author of the bill. "Our kids will be better off for it." 
WHEN 35 Greenpeace protesters stormed the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) yesterday they had planned the operation in great detail. What they were not prepared for was the post-prandial aggression of oil traders who kicked and punched them back on to the pavement. "We bit off more than we could chew. They were just Cockney barrow boy spivs. Total thugs," one protester said, rubbing his bruised skull. "I've never seen anyone less amenable to listening to our point of view."
INDIA and Pakistan yesterday agreed to open a historic bus link between the capitals of divided Kashmir in the first tangible sign that more than a year of peace talks over the disputed region are beginning to bear fruit. 
The IRA has said it was not involved in the murder of a man in a Belfast pub brawl. Robert McCartney, 33, was battered and stabbed to death after a bar fight which was witnessed by more than 100 people. His family claim the IRA have intimidated witnesses to prevent police identifying the killers. A man has been arrested tonight in connection with the murder.
WASHINGTON - China's military buildup could tilt the strategic balance with Taiwan and also threaten US forces in Asia, CIA director Porter Goss warned on Wednesday. Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Goss also highlighted threats to the United States from North Korea, which he warned could resume missile tests anytime after boasting of its nuclear weapons' might last week. "Beijing's military modernisation and military buildup could tilt the balance of power in the Taiwan Strait," said Goss, who took over as CIA director in September. "Improved Chinese capabilities threaten US forces in the region," he told the committee assessing the main security threats to the United States.
Authorities in Yemen have foiled a militant plot to attack foreign embassies and security installations in the capital Sanaa after a suspect involved turned himself over to police last week, according to media reports yesterday. Security forces have arrested five members of the group at the center of the alleged plot, raided houses and apartments and seized weapons and explosives, the Ray News website said citing security sources. The suspects included a woman. 
Former prime minister 
Islamic militants under investigation for allegedly planning an attack on the Russian Embassy in Paris had other targets on their list, including the Eiffel Tower, police and judicial officials said Wednesday. Three men, all Algerians, were detained Jan. 11 in connection with an investigation into a network of Islamic radicals supporting Chechen rebels, the officials said on condition of anonymity. More than 20 people have been jailed in a series of arrests since December 2002 as part of an investigation into the network. The investigation revealed an alleged plot against the Russian Embassy and a planned chemical attack.
North Korea marked the birthday of leader Kim Jong Il amid heightened nuclear tensions on Wednesday, comparing Kim to a daring porcupine routing an arrogant United States that swaggers like a tiger. But South Korea dampened the Pyongyang's festive mood, saying there will be no large-scale economic cooperation until the dispute over the communist North's nuclear weapons programs is resolved.
Iran and Syria, who both are facing pressure from the United States, said Wednesday they will form a "united front" to confront possible threats against them, state-run television reported.
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Gunmen fired on three vehicles in Balochistan on Wednesday, killing a town nazim, his deputy and six other people in a family feud, The Associated Press reported.
UNITED Nations officials would not be allowed to testify before US Congress hearings on the oil-for-food program in Iraq, the UN said in a letter released today.
A department to look into cases of terrorism is to be established soon with the view to speed up adjudication of such cases following investigation by the public prosecutor's office, Minister of Justice 
Police arrested a man suspected of was planning a suicide attack on Shias, officials said on Wednesday. 
