THE Australian newspaper has published a cartoon depicting Indonesia's president as a copulating dog, after a Jakarta paper portrayed the Australian leader in a similar manner this week.
The cartoon in The Australian newspaper is likely to place further pressure on Jakarta-Canberra relations already strained over Australia's decision to grant refugee visas to 42 asylum-seekers from Indonesia's independence-minded Papua province.
The image, penned by award-winning cartoonist Bill Leak, shows President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as a tail-wagging dog mounting a startled-looking Papua dog and saying "don't take this the wrong way".
The caption under the cartoon reads "no offence intended".
It follows a front-page cartoon in Monday's edition of the Rakyat Merdeka newspaper portraying Prime Minister John Howard and his Foreign Minister Alexander Downer as copulating dingoes.
In that image, a shaking Howard is mounted on Downer with the Prime Minister saying: "I want Papua!! Alex! Try to make it happen."
Mr Howard dismissed the Indonesian cartoon, although Mr Downer described it as grotesque and "way below standards of public taste".
Indonesia has been stung by the decision of Australia's immigration department to issue three-year visas to the group of Papuans, including prominent separatists and their families, who arrived by boat in northern Australia in January.
In response, Indonesia has recalled its ambassador to Canberra, postponed an agreement on jointly fighting bird flu, and angry Indonesians have protested outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta.
Since the decision, Howard has repeatedly stated his support for Indonesian sovereignty over Papua, a former Dutch colony taken over by Jakarta in the 1960s.
#1
The air force academy is still male-dominated, and it is not clear what the real feelings of the male cadets have been to the induction of women into the fighter pilot programme. Officially, most have welcomed the move.
Even so, the fact that four women are now officially fighter pilots is a clear indication that the new policy of opening up the combat units of the Pakistani armed forces for women is here to stay.
Unofficially, they are the tea girls. The guys won't let them anywhere near a jet - haram you know.
#3
Get used to it guys. Women are better suited physically to fly high performance aircraft. US fighter pilots just resisted because they didn't like the idea that the girls could not only fly better, but also looked prettier with the white silk scarves than they did.
#3
You mean there's actually TWO sane, responsible adults in the Democratic Party????? Well, I'll be dipped in shit! That's amazing!!!
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/31/2006 21:22
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#4
Up until now, Joe Lieberman was treated in reagrd to his support of the war in Iraq by the democrat party in a manner not unlike the Afghan who converted to Christianity was treated by the Sharia court.
But now, I get it - 'There is only one party but the democrats and Obama is its prophet.'
An illegal immigrant anywhere in Arizona would be guilty of a felony under a bill approved by the state House of Representatives. The bill, approved 32-26 yesterday, had been approved previously by the Senate but now returns to that chamber to consider changes made by the House. The bill would permit a first-time violator to be turned over to federal authorities, but also states the legislative intent that a repeat offender should be criminally prosecuted.
#1
Less likely to be applied to regular illegals unless the authorities need an excuse to hold the individual. More likely to be used for coyotes, as an accessory to a felony with a count for each person they are caught smuggling. Start making the enablers pay dearly for modern 'slaving'.
EFL - read it all - very funny (in a sad way)
Operation Steel Gazelle: A Smart, Multi-Slide Plan For Toughening American Security with Smartness
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV)
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
HARRY: Hello, I'm Harry Reid, leader of the Democrats in the United States Senate.
NANCY: And me Nancy Pelosi.
HARRY: Like millions of patriotic Americans, Nancy and I, along with our Democratic colleagues in Congress, are concerned about our rapidly deteriorating national security situation. Nearly five years after the tragic events of 9/11, not only is our country wracked by record economic misery, low teacher salaries, expensive senior prescriptions, and widespread leprosy, it also remains at risk for illegal attacks from the terrorist Osama bin Laden. Meanwhile, the Bush administration has us mired in a disastrous unrelated civil war in Iraq, consuming billions of your taxpayer dollars that could be spent on preserving Social Security and community health care block grants for America's starving teachers.
NANCY: We can better do!
HARRY: You bet we can, Nancy. That's why we've purchase space on America's abandoned and neglected websites to present the Democratic vision for a smart, yet tough new national security concept that makes a clean break with the discredited and dangerous policies of this administration. As you can see by the American flags behind us, this is a smart and tough new approach, embodied in a comprehensive plan that was developed by some of America's foremost military minds: Madeleine Albright, Sandy Berger, Markos Zuniga, and former General Wesley Clarke -- the celebrated "Falcon of the Balkans." We call our plan "Operation Steel Gazelle" -- strong and tough like steel, but smart and agile like the gazelle, as it nimbly eludes its hungry predators.
NANCY: Tell, us more Harry.
HARRY: Well Nancy, the first phase of our multi-faceted plan focuses on the number one key to restoring national security: getting Osama bin Laden. Even as we speak, this dangerous fugitive is still on the loose. As the leader of a Democratic majority in Congress, I will make sure that the head Army and Navy generals get a clear and unambiguous message: "Get Osama" is "Job One."
NANCY: But it is important to do smart too!
HARRY: That's right, Nancy. That's why our tough, no-nonsense emails to the generals will include pictures of Osama bin Laden, so they will know who to get.
NANCY: But whats about disguises?
HARRY: Way ahead of you Nancy! Using state-of-the-art PhotoShop smart computers, we will create simulated pictures of Osama bin Laden wearing a mustache, soul patch, trucker hat, and so on, and these will also be included in our emails. Then, the generals will distribute the pictures to the soldiers, and they can then make a surprise attack at Pakistan and get Osama bin Laden, no matter his latest look. Imagine the looks on the terrorists' faces!
NANCY: Me too! What is next, in the plan?
HARRY: Well Nancy, after invading Pakistan and getting Osama bin Laden, our plan will next focus on rapid American redeployment from Iraq. With terrorism finally a thing of the past, we will need our American soldiers back here in the "good ol' USA" to guard Osama bin Laden while he serves out a tough sentence in jail or an innovative work-release program.
NANCY: Sounds, smart! But what about toughness?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/31/2006
19:22 ||
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#1
wasn't much more - should've posted it all:
HARRY: Don't worry Nancy - before we redeploy the soldiers out of Iraq, we will pass a tough new assault weapons ban in Iraq to keep these dangerous weapons out of the hands of civil war gangs. We will back it up with a roadside bomb amnesty program, and after-madrassa programs for at-risk insurgent youths.
NANCY: Sounds almost too, good to be, true. But there be must a catch!
HARRY: No Nancy, it's all there in black and white, on slide 2 of our plan. The third phase our plan is to double the number of American Special Forces. It will be important that we have enough of these elite tough fighting units in case Osama bin Laden escapes through a secret tunnel and starts his terrorism again, or if his case dismissed on appeal.
NANCY: That's what I call future thinking tough! But is it smart also?
HARRY: We've got that covered too, Nancy. We will work to ensure that these expanded super soldier teams look like America, with plenty of elite security opportunities for all -- regardless of race, gender, age, or GLBT orientation. And, in keeping with the Americans with Disabilities Act, all Special Forces training facilities under our plan will have accessibility ramps by 2008. We have already begun to recruit candidates from the ranks of TSA's elite airport security teams!
NANCY: Sure Harry but, whats about the other dangerous of the futures?
HARRY: I'm glad you asked, Nancy. As you know, we need to remain vigilant to ensure Osama bin Laden never obtains rocket-powered wheelchair technology, possibly enabling him to outrun our elite Special Forces pursuit to teams. This is why our plan calls for more spies - like Jack Bauer of the popular TV action program "24".
NANCY: I like TV!
HARRY: And who doesn't, Nancy? Every Monday night at 9 on Fox, we see how a strong spy force is vital for protecting America from suprise biological attacks by conniving White House insiders. That's why I have directed former ambassador Joseph Wilson to form a new super top secret spy agency, to monitor communications between terrorist groups and Dick Cheney.
NANCY: I feel, safer already. But is thats legal?
HARRY: Yes! Unlike the adminstration's illegal domestic wiretap program, all of our secret agent pursuit teams will include international human rights monitors from the United Nations and ACLU, and an elite three judge FISA panels. Plus, they will have a really cool headquarters with metal and glass furniture and blue lighting... and accessible ramps for our elite Special Forces.
NANCY: Okay okay Harry ha ha I am convinced but how, we can we help pass this exciting security, plan.
HARRY: Well Nancy, let's get the word out to everyone - Democrats have a plan. It is smart, and it is tough, and also, unlike the Bush system, it is planned. So remember, vote Democrat because national security is our number one priority, totally up there with living wage legislation, and opposing so-called "tort reform."
NANCY: Awesome!
HARRY: That's right Nancy. So the next time someone says the Democrats don't have a plan, what do we say?
NANCY: Smart!
HARRY: And if they're still not convinced?
NANCY: Tough!
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/31/2006 19:38
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Iran successfully test-fired a missile that can avoid radar and hit several targets simultaneously using multiple warheads, the military said Friday. Gen. Hossein Salami, the air force chief of the elite Revolutionary Guards, did not specify the missile's range, saying it depends on the weight of its warheads.
But state-run television described the weapon as "ballistic" suggesting it's of comparable range to Iran's existing ballistic rocket, which can travel 1,250 miles and reach arch-foe Israel and U.S. bases in the Middle East. "Today, a remarkable goal of the Islamic Republic of Iran's defense forces was realized with the successful test-firing of a new missile with greater technical and tactical capabilities than those previously produced," Salami said on state-run television. It showed a clip of the launch of what it called the Fajr-3, with "fajr" meaning "victory" in Farsi. "It can avoid anti-missile missiles and strike the target," Salami said. [Sigh]. Stealth is not an on/off switch (in spite of a certain really bad movie). I'm willing to believe that they have lowered the radar observability of the booster and maybe the warheads. But, it's not going to be invisible. It just means that the detection range for a given emitter power has gone down. And true low-observable capability requires first-class precision manufacturing. On the Have Blue prototype, one screw being 1/8" above the panel resulted in several orders of magnitude increased cross-section. Think Iran can do better than Lockheed?
Plus, any IR-based missile will find the massive head signature one this thing. The Pentagon has spent tens of millions of dollars on working out countermeasures to low-observable missile and aircraft. Does any rational (i.e. not on DU) think that they don't have anything to show for it.
This isn't My speciality, but I am a rocket scientists and do work on similar items.
He said the missile would carry a multiple warhead, and each warhead would be capable of hitting its target precisely as a Scud.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the development demonstrates Iran's "very active and aggressive military program" that is worrisome to the world. "I think Iran's military posture, military development effort, is of concern to the international community," Ereli said.
"And that concern is shared by many countries in the international community, about Iran's aggressive nuclear weapons program and her parallel efforts to develop delivery systems, both in the field of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles," said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev. "The combination of extremist jihadist ideology, together with nuclear weapons and delivery systems, is a combination that no one in the international community can be complacent about," he said.
Yossi Alpher, an Israeli consultant on the peace process, said the news "escalates the arms race between Iran and all those who are concerned about Iran's aggressive intentions and nuclear potential. Clearly it's escalation, and also an attempt by Iran to flex its muscles as it goes into a new phase of the diplomatic struggle with the U.N. Security Council," Alpher said.
Andy Oppenheimer, a weapons expert at Jane's Information Group, said the missile test could be an indication that Iran has MIRV capability. MIRV refers to multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles, which are intercontinental ballistic missiles with several warheads, each of which could be directed to a different target. "From the description, it could be a MIRV. If you are saying that from a single missile, separate warheads can be independently targeted then yes, this is significant," he said. "But we don't know how accurate the Iranians are able to make their missiles yet, and this is a crucial point," Oppenheimer said. MIRV = Multiple Inaccurate Reentry Vehicle
"If the missile is adaptable for nuclear warheads, then they are well on the way," he added. "But they have not made a nuclear warhead yet. The current estimates are it could take five years." And the CIA said it would take until the mid-50s for the USSR to develop The Bomb. The existing rocket is the Shahab-3, which means "shooting star," and also is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
Israel and the United States have jointly developed the Arrow anti-ballistic missile system in response to the Shahab-3.
Last year, former Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani said Tehran had successfully tested a solid fuel motor for the Shahab-3, a technological breakthrough in Iran's military. About where we were 45 years ago.
Salami said Friday the Iranian-made missile was test-fired as large military maneuvers began in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. The maneuvers are scheduled to last a week and will involve 17,000 Revolutionary Guards as well as boats, fighter jets and helicopter gunships.
#1
Yep, Iran once more proves, undeniably + unconditionally, by this test that its desire for a nuclear program is peaceful ergo devs a missle that can carry MIRVS/MRVS. The MSM/Left > Its only Uranium, not Plutonium, ergo NO WMDS IN IRAN, ergo GOP-led, Clintonian FASCIST = HALF-A-COMMUNIST LE FEMME NIKITA AMERIKKA MADE YET ANOTHER SIMPLE MISTAKE = WARLIKE IMPERIALISM!?
First of all, the Founding Fathers knew from experience that Congress could not keep secrets. In 1776, Benjamin Franklin and his four colleagues on the Committee of Secret Correspondence unanimously concluded that they could not tell the Continental Congress about covert assistance being provided by France to the American Revolution, because "we find by fatal experience that Congress consists of too many members to keep secrets."
When the Constitution was being ratified, John Jay--America's most experienced diplomat and George Washington's first choice to be secretary of state--wrote in Federalist No. 64 that there would be cases in which "the most useful intelligence" may be obtained if foreign sources could be "relieved from apprehensions of discovery," and noted there were many "who would rely on the secrecy of the president, but who would not confide in that of the Senate." He then praised the new Constitution for so distributing foreign-affairs powers that the president would be able "to manage the business of intelligence in such manner as prudence may suggest."
In 1790, when the first session of the First Congress appropriated money for foreign intercourse, the statute expressly required that the president "account specifically for all such expenditures of the said money as in his judgment may be made public, and also for the amount of such expenditures as he may think it advisable not to specify." They made no demand that President Washington share intelligence secrets with them. And in 1818, when a dispute arose over a reported diplomatic mission to South America, the legendary Henry Clay told his House colleagues that if the mission had been provided for from the president's contingent fund, it would not be "a proper subject for inquiry" by Congress.
More
Posted by: Captain America ||
03/31/2006
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Chad's senior army commander has been killed in fighting with rebels on its border with Sudan, army officials say.
Gen Abakar Itno - the nephew of Chad's President Idriss Deby - died of injuries in clashes in the Moudeina area, south of the border town of Adre.
Chad alleges Rally for Democracy and Liberty rebels receive support from the Janjaweed militia operating in the neighbouring Sudanese region of Darfur.
Aid officials say the fighting involved about 1,000 men on each side.
Gen Itno was commanding the military operation launched 10 days ago against the rebels.
"Gen Abakar Youssouf Mahamat Itno has died of his injuries," an unnamed military source told Reuters news agency.
"Caught without communications, the general was surprised by the rebels who seriously wounded him," the source added.
Tensions
The start of the operation came a week after the Chadian government said it had foiled a coup attempt against President Deby.
Chad: Ripe for a coup?
In December, Chad declared a state of war with Sudan following a deadly attack launched from Darfur by Chadian rebels.
Sudan repeatedly denied allegations made by Chad that it was backing the rebels and sending Arab militias in support.
In February, Chad and Sudan signed an accord to resolve their differences over fighting along the border.
Mr Deby seized power in 1990 after launching a rebellion from bases in Darfur.
Nebraska: Several cases of mumps have been confirmed in Adams County in south-central Nebraska, the Nebraska Health and Human Services System said Thursday. Potential cases in Jefferson and Hamilton counties were also being investigated.
The Iowa Department of Public Health has confirmed 219 cases of mumps so far this year, and Nebraska officials said the people with mumps in Adams County have connections to Iowa.
Nebraska's state epidemiologist, Dr. Tom Safranek, said people 30 to 65 years old who haven't had the disease or been vaccinated are most at risk.
Mumps is a highly contagious viral infection of the salivary glands. It's spread through coughing or sneezing or through direct contact with saliva or mucus. Health experts say mumps can lead to deafness, meningitis, a swelling of the testicles or ovaries and, rarely, death. Symptoms include fever, headache and swollen glands under the jaw.
Iowa:It first showed up in January and by the end of February. Iowa had 26 cases of the mumps. Three weeks later, that number more than doubled. Today, health officials believe there are more than 200 Iowans with the disease. Iowa hasn't seen an outbreak like this in nearly 20 years. About one-third of Iowa counties are reporting cases of mumps. Dubuque county alone has already had 85 cases this year. College aged students are most at risk, accounting for about a third of all cases in Iowa. Health officials say the virus is spread by coughing or sneezing and campuses act much like a breeding ground for diseases like the mumps.
But, health officials say it's not kids that should worry as much as the Baby Boomer generation. That's the age group health officials say might not have had a second dose of the M.M.R., or measles, mumps, rubella vaccine.
The Centers for Disease Control says the mumps virus in Iowa has shown up in other parts of the world. It's similar to a strain seen in an outbreak in the United Kingdom in 2004 and 2005.
LONGMONT, Colo. -- More than two dozen students walked out of Skyline High School Friday morning to protest what they say is a ban that doesn't allow the American flag to be flown on school grounds.
The principal said that the ban isn't just on American flags -- it's on all flags.
Several students who walked out of class Friday said that they were upset that Mexican flags can be waved around but that American flags couldn't. They said that school officials confiscated their American flags because they have become inflammatory because of recent immigration issues.
"When the immigration laws came out we noticed that a lot of Hispanics were waving Mexican flags and what we were thinking to ourselves is like, isn't the immigration law to stay in the country? You want to stay in America, correct? So I said, for every Mexican flag, you should have an American flag right next to it. So a few people went out and started waving American flags, and that's where everything bridged out," said Skyline student R.J. Fogal. "That's when they started telling us that we can't wave American flags, there's going to be no flags today, or everyone is going to be suspended -- whoever carries a flag."
"What we want to know is since when was it against the rules to have an American flag on a car, in a car, in your hands in a school?" said student William Cassity.
Skyline Principal Tom Stumpf said that the school enacted a ban this week that prohibits students to display, wear or fly any flag -- American or Mexican.
"The (policy) evolved because the flags were being used, not as a symbol of cultural heritage, but the flags were being used as symbols of bigotry, a symbol of hostility. They were being used to inflame different groups and we're simply not going to tolerate that at Skyline High School," Stumpf said.
"My paramount obligation, my solemn obligation at Skyline High School, is to provide a safe and secure environment and with the flags being used as a catalyst to stir up the students, to stir up the environment, I cannot condone that ... One flag was thrown into the face of another group and another flag was being brandished in front of another group and it was done to raise emotions, and we don't want that. We want respect -- that's our main goal at Skyline High School," he said.
The school has a diverse population and some students say there have been tensions between different ethnic groups because of the national immigration debate.
"I think our whole society is on different sides of the immigration issue and I can't control that. All I'm asking from our students is respect -- respect for one another, treating each other as they themselves want to be treated, treating each other decently, civilly," Stumpf said.
He said the students have a right to rally and those who walked out of class on Friday would not be punished. A ban on students having flags is only acceptable if each and every classroom has an American flag, displayed properly.
Posted by: Your New Feudal Overlords ||
03/31/2006 18:11
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#5
I live in east San Diego County - rural Santee, and teh Conquistas have no sway here - there were no marches at my kids' high school, nor at the other high school. This is driven in the cities by activists and Latino DJs on FM Radio
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/31/2006 18:27
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#6
Fire this stupid turd. The US Flag should be on display in every classroom and flown above the school. The Mexican flags should have to go. They are the problem.
Posted by: SPoD ||
03/31/2006 19:00
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#7
Is Mexico in on this? No really. Is this a related column, promised temporary rule of the continent. Swarm and conquer - very muslim-like.
I'm Canadian and haven't followed until the last few days. We've had our murdered couple and complete crap out of Fox and local officials.
Could this be, given all timing and approach, related?
#8
No matter the issue, it still comes down to certain Illegals fighting to stay perm illegal, and perm publicly supported, and Americans taking perm care of non/Anti-Americans at Americans' time and tax dollar costs, where the ultimate benefit Americans can look forward to for all their appeasin' and concedin' is to lose their country, lose their freedoms and sovereignty, lose control of their own nation's economy, govt., and domestic affairs, and finally to be happily exterminated for the good of themselves, their own, and the world.
#10
Always happy to discover more sensible Canadians, Thinemp Whimble2412. I don't imagine this behaviour is directed from across the border, not even the suggestion to come out for the marches. The La Raza types think they can accomplish their Reconquista simply by immigration and high birth rates. Despite all the rhetoric, though, the US-born generation isn't at all interested in living under Mexican governance, since they hear how bad it is from their elders and the poor cousins back home. They just want to be catered to here, is all.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Jill Carroll's kidnappers reportedly warned her before her release that she might be killed if she cooperated with the Americans or went to the Green Zone, saying it was infiltrated by insurgents.
The freelance writer for The Christian Science Monitor, who was freed by her captors Thursday and dropped off at a branch office of the Iraqi Islamic Party, was later escorted to the Green Zone by the U.S. military, the newspaper said Friday.
At first, she was reluctant to go, but a Monitor writer in Baghdad,
Scott Peterson, convinced her it was safe, the newspaper said.
The Monitor quoted her family as saying that her kidnappers had warned her against talking to the Americans or going to the Green Zone. They told her it was "infiltrated by the mujahedeen," the newspaper said.
Her captors, calling themselves the Revenge Brigades, had demanded the release of all female detainees in
Iraq by Feb. 26 and said Carroll would be killed otherwise.
In a video purportedly from her kidnappers that was posted on the Internet, her abductors said Carroll was released because "the American government met some of our demands by releasing some of our women from prison." The video was found on an Islamic Web site where such material has appeared before.
But U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said Thursday there was no connection between the recent release of several female Iraqi detainees and Carroll's freedom.
"No U.S. person entered into any arrangements with anyone. By U.S. person I mean the United States mission," he said.
"What we did before had no connection with Jill Carroll," Khalilzad said. "We still have a few female detainees â four â and that's all I can say on that."
The Monitor's editor, Richard Bergenheim, also said no money had been exchanged for Carroll's release. "We simply know she was dropped off at the Iraqi Islamic Party headquarters," he said.
Carroll, who was kidnapped Jan. 7 in Baghdad, said Thursday she was not harmed by her captors and added that she did not know why she was released.
Also on the Internet video, Carroll is shown answering questions, presumably from her captors, and saying that Iraqi insurgents were "only trying to defend their country ... to stop an illegal and dangerous and deadly occupation."
"So I think people need to understand in America how difficult life is here for the normal, average Iraqis ... how terrifying it is for most people to live here every day because of the occupation," she said on the video.
Bergenheim said Friday that Carroll's parents, who spoke to her about the video, told him it was "conducted under duress."
"What emerged was that they actually started filming this tape the night before and then there was a power outage. Jill had been told the questions, asked to translate them from Arabic into English," he told ABC's "Good Morning America."
"When you're making a video and having to recite certain things with three men with machine guns standing over you, you're probably going to say exactly what you're told to say," Bergenheim added.
The U.S. Embassy spokeswoman in Baghdad declined to comment on the video, saying all queries regarding Carroll were being handled by her family and the Monitor.
Iraq's Interior Ministry said it had no information regarding Carroll's departure plans, which an Iraqi official said were being handled by the Americans.
Bergenheim said the 28-year-old Carroll is "emotionally fragile" after 82 days in captivity and will begin her journey home as soon as possible.
"Yesterday was way too soon. I think they're investigating whether she could leave today," he told NBC's "Today" show. "But her family wants to make sure that she's strong enough, emotionally and otherwise, to take this step."
#1
She's much more than "emotionally fragile", she seems in very serious psychological trouble. This is going to take a few years of psychotherapy. I fear she may have been raped as well. The terror of her captors and what they might do to her (again?) is most evident.
#2
her first statements are to not be taken at face value - give her a break. She's obviously been abused, if not physically, then emotionally and mentally, by her detention
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/31/2006 19:22
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I am giving her a break - most didn't mean any of that snide. She has been badly hurt (emotionallly, mentally, spiritually) and this is going to take some healing.
First words can actually tell a lot - but mostly only hint a the reality she went through. I not concerned about the content of her video, circumstances for heaven's sake, but the tone and demeanor reveal a lot of how hard this captivity was for her.
It's her very first insistence statements to the effect the they didn't hit her, they never even hit her - so urgent was she to communicate this. So insistent probably obeying a command. Or worse, the too-quick denial and then insistence of "nothing happened".
Jill has been badly hurt. I hope she will recover.
Follow the money: In 2005, Mexicans in the United States remitted some $20 billion home. That's 3% of Mexico's entire national income.
Remittances have surpassed tourism, oil, and the maquiladora assembly industry to emerge as the country's top single source of foreign exchange. For the 6% of Mexican households that receive remittances, these funds can mean the difference between extreme poverty and an income roughly in line with the Mexican average.
And as Mexico's economy has malperformed since 2000, remittances have become more essential than ever - not only economically, but politically.
This trend explains why Vicente Fox pressed President Bush so hard for amnesty and guestworker programs in Cancun this week. It explains too why George Bush has acceded: After all, Mexico's problems are inevitably America's problems too. The stability and prosperity of Mexico are vital American national interests.
So President Bush is right to sympathize with his Mexican counterpart. He is entirely wrong, though, to give in. Remittances have cushioned Mexico's failure, but they cannot achieve Mexico's success. Only internal change in Mexico can do that. Mexico desperately needs foreign investment in its energy industry, a rationalization of its tax system, and free-market reform of its labor laws. Vicente Fox has done none of these things, and has in fact barely tried. He has instead pinned all his country's hopes on the export of its population to the United States.
Today, almost one-fifth of all living Mexican-born people now make their homes in the United States. You have to go back to the Irish potato famine to find a parallel. But Mexico is not suffering famine: It is suffering from a comprehensive failure of political and economic leadership.
Mexico's problems are also America's problems, no getting around that. But an American president cannot agree that Mexico's problems should be made only America's problems.
In the context of an immigration reform in the American interest - meaning a restrictive immigration reform - the US should of course help Mexico find substitutes for any reductions in remittance income. One good place to start would be the energy industry, which could contribute much more to Mexican wealth if Mexico abandoned its 75-year-old protectionist policies. Of course, Mexicans will say that such changes are politically impossible for them. Then they turn around and ask George Bush to lay waste to Republican political prospects to save them from a fate from which they will not save themselves.
#1
Maybe instead of building a wall, the US should just annex Mexico. Then instead of being immigrants, they will all be citizens with all the responsibilities of being Americans. Mexicos's southern border is much easier to defend. These yahoos running about with Mexican flags should be careful what they wish far.
From behind the subscription wall, so presented here complete. I've never been quite sure what the rules are in such cases, so I hope it's ok.
After substantial prodding -- including from this paper -- the U.S. government has finally begun to release its captured Iraqi documents and is posting them at the Web site of the Army's Foreign Military Studies Office. This material will take considerable time to absorb and analyze, but it may yet contribute significantly to our understanding of the nature of the threat Saddam Hussein posed.
Most dramatically, an Iraqi intelligence report, apparently written in early 1997, describes Iraqi efforts to establish ties with various elements in the Saudi opposition, including Osama bin Ladin. Until 1996, the Saudi renegade was based in Sudan, then ruled by Hassan Turabi's National Islamic Front. One of Iraq's few allies, Sudan served as an intermediary between Baghdad and bin Ladin, as well as other Islamic radicals. On Feb. 19, 1995, an Iraqi intelligence agent met with bin Ladin in Khartoum. Bin Ladin asked to carry out joint operations against foreign forces in Saudi Arabia and to broadcast the speeches of a radical Saudi cleric. Iraq agreed to the latter, but apparently not the former, at least as far as the author of this report knew. The report also states, "we are working at the present time to activate this relationship through new channels."
This one report hints at the extensive international presence that the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) maintained. Iraq's ambassadors to Sudan and Yemen were intelligence agents, suggesting that those two countries were major centers of IIS activity. The report also mentions IIS stations in Islamabad, New Delhi and New York.
Another newly released document bears the name of Abu Musab al Zarqawi. It is a flyer from the "Committee for Arab Liaison with the Islamic Emirate" (i.e., Afghanistan) for recruiting volunteers in Iraq to fight in Afghanistan. It explains that the "Arab brothers" who wish to go there should send a written proposal "so that we can know him and his needs." Zarqawi is among six people listed as individuals to contact.
How close were relations between Iraq and the Taliban, a regime officially recognized by only three countries? The answer is necessary for understanding the nature of any ties Iraq may have had with al Qaeda or other Afghan-based Islamic groups. Hopefully, other documents will emerge to shed light on this question.
The formal cease-fire to the 1991 Gulf War required Iraq to recognize Kuwait and release the Kuwaiti hostages it had seized. Iraq did neither. On March 4, 2003, with war looming, Saddam's son, Qusay, ordered 448 Kuwaiti prisoners taken to sites the U.S. would likely attack. Nothing of their fate has been reported, and they may well have died. Iraq formally recognized Kuwait in 1994, but the official stationery of the Fedayeen Saddam in 2001 shows a map of Iraq that includes the state.
Other documents from this database were leaked some time ago. Perhaps because their provenance was not understood, these 30 pages did not receive the attention they merited. Particularly notable is an order issued by Saddam on Jan. 18, 1993: "hunt Americans on Arab territory, particularly in Somalia."
Most of these documents deal with terrorism and date from January to May 1993. They suggest that in early 1993, Saddam began to move actively to revive terrorist programs that had been established three years before, following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Responding to a request from Saddam, Iraqi intelligence produced a six-page report, listing the names and nationalities of 100 Arab "martyrs" whom it had trained in the fall of 1990.
Another report explains that the IIS had reached an agreement with the deputy head of Sudan's ruling National Islamic Front "to use the Islamic Arab elements that had been fighting in Afghanistan and now have no place to go and who are physically present in Sudan, Somalia and Egypt." The IIS also agreed with Khartoum to renew its relationship with Egyptian Islamic Jihad -- headed by Ayman al Zawahiri, familiar as al Qaeda's most prominent contemporary spokesman.
Still another report describes Iraq's earlier agreement with Islamic Jihad, concluded on Dec. 24, 1990, as the start of the Gulf war loomed. Iraq was to provide training, financing and supplies to the organization "to execute martyr operations" against the members of the U.S.-led coalition, of which Egypt was a key Arab member. However, as this document explains, those operations stopped immediately after the cease-fire.
In 1993, Iraq was cautious about backing Egyptian terrorists, more so than the Sudanese. When Khartoum informed Baghdad that it was sending an Islamic Jihad leader, who had been based in Afghanistan and then lived in Sudan, to Iraq on a Sudanese plane carrying meat, the IIS asked that the visit be postponed. Sudan insisted, and the IIS approved on condition the visit be kept secret. Subsequently, the IIS recommended that assistance to the Egyptian group be limited to financial support.
Two documents relate to Iraq's proscribed WMD programs. One is a table, providing details of a Sept. 6, 2000, contract for the production of "the malignant pustule" -- the Pentagon official who leaked these documents believed it referred to anthrax -- along with earlier contracts for sterilization and decontamination equipment. Another table describes an Aug. 21, 2000, contract for the production of mustard gas and earlier contracts for protective equipment. Small amounts of material are mentioned: three ampules of "the malignant pustule" (an ampule is a small, sealed glass vial) and five kilograms of mustard gas. These contracts could have represented test runs, or, as a former U.N. weapons inspector suggested to me, the material could have been intended for terrorism.
Many more documents are to be released in coming months. Quite possibly, they will vindicate the decision to undertake the Iraq war; help maintain public support for fighting it; and radically change our understanding of Saddam's role in international terrorism.
Opinion writer Ms. Laurie Mylroie is an adjunct fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of "Study of Revenge: The First World Trade Center Attack and Saddam Hussein's War Against America" (AEI, 2001).
SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN SPEAKS TO BASIJ GESTAPO
March 26, 2006
...Refering (to) the emphesis the Holy Qoran has made on the prophet's and his followers' persistance , Ayatollah Khamenei noted Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) led the first generation of Muslims to resist against both inside asperations and outside enemies. "Today we need such resistance", the Leader added. No US nuclear-extortion against Soviet occupiers in 1946 = No Iran today. Most typos left in to stress the primitivism of these savages.
Ayatollah Khamenei called standing against the enemies' bullying, threats and promises as the way for reaching progress and dignity, saying the Iranian nation from the start of the Islamic Revolution have demonstrated its resistance and vigilance against the enemies and now has enjoy a respected place in the eyes of both freinds and foes. Respect? Anyone who matters knows that Ayatoilet Iran is an open sewer.
The Supreme Leader said enemies may act to some of their threats but the only way for a nation to preserve its identity, intrests and dignity is resistance.
Ayatollah Khamenei described the US and the Zionists as Iran's chief enemies and also refered to concpiracies hatched by Britain and said": They have been lining up aganist the Iranian nation's intersts and are calling it global consensus against Iran but all people know the global consensus is against the US arrogance and its interferences and war-mongeraing". Who cares what some third world warts from countries with tin-pot leaders think?
Ayatollah Khamenei pointed to the important role the leaders can play in their nation's resistance and efforts by officials and said:" In the past 27 years the enemies have used any pretexts to confront with Iran. Today they through massive propaganda and dissimination of gossips on Iran's nuclear program are after the same goal". "Gossip"? What part of "Death to America" do you not think we understand? And it isn't ladies hanging laundry who are saying it.
Before the Supreme Leader's comments the commander of Basij forces, brigadier-general Hejazi briefed the audience of the various aspects of the volutray forces. It is easy to fill "voluntary forces," when you have 20% unemployment.
Posted by: Listen to Dogs ||
03/31/2006
16:58 ||
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Counterintelligence posts remain unfilled. EFL, rearranged for sense.
Former CIA spy hunter Paul Redmond, who helped catch notorious Moscow mole Aldrich Ames, has withdrawn from consideration to become the Bush administration's top counterspy, U.S. intelligence officials say. Mr. Redmond had been selected to be national counterintelligence executive, but backed out after the FBI held up his formal appointment by conducting a lengthy background investigation. Why? Are they unsure who he is? Honestly! In addition to uncovering Ames in 1993, Mr. Redmond conducted the damage assessment into the case of FBI counterintelligence agent Robert Hanssen, who spied for Moscow for 16 years before his 2001 arrest.
The national counterintelligence post and the deputy position in what is called NCIX remain vacant following the resignations of Michelle Van Cleave in January and Ken deGraffenreid a month earlier. Counterspy posts at the CIA and FBI also remain vacant or held by acting officials at a time when foreign spying continues to plague the administration.I would call that unwise, but I'm just a little Midwestern housewife.
The office was recently placed under DNI John D. Negroponte as part of intelligence reform efforts, setting off a dispute over the role of counterintelligence. However, intelligence officials under Mr. Negroponte, including DNI Mission Manager for Collection Mary Margaret Graham, are opposing the new policy and instead favor making counterintelligence a passive support function for U.S. spying.
In related news, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III told a congressional committee earlier this week that Chinese spying is a "major threat" to the United States. A Pentagon report on the Iraq war made public March 24 highlighted Russian spying against the U.S. military and its military facility in Doha, Qatar. The report said documents obtained in Iraq showed that Russian intelligence passed U.S. war plans and other operational military data to Saddam Hussein's forces before the war.
#1
This is one of many stories which make me think US intelligence has one or more moles working within it to screw up our efforts to gather intelligence and protect ourselves from the terrorists. This pattern of punishing the innocent and rewarding the guilty has to stop.
EFL
Iran's military said Friday it successfully test-fired a missile not detectable by radar that can use multiple warheads to hit several targets simultaneously, a development that raised concerns in the United States and Israel...
But state-run television described the weapon as "ballistic" suggesting it is of comparable range to Iran's existing ballistic rocket, which can travel about 1,200 miles and reach arch-foe Israel and U.S. bases in Iraq and the Persian Gulf region. The Great Satan had better attack soon. Very soon.
#1
LOOK OUT! IT'S THE MIRV GRYPHON! http://plans.rocketshoppe.com/srw/srwMG/srwMG.htm
You know if it landsharks to its target it won't be picked up on radar.
Posted by: bruce ||
03/31/2006 19:25
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#2
showed a 4-tube MLRS on the Fox video - looked like less-than-smart missiles
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/31/2006 19:25
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#3
Yeah right...
Where'd they get the tech base for building radar invisible stuff?
Where'd they get the MIRV tech?
Where'd they get LRCM tech that's at least as good as or better than what the US has today on the Tomahawk?
Develop all that stuff in-house did they?
I doubt it. I doubt the missile exists or does even half of what they claim - and even if it does half, I doubt it evades US AEGIS style systems.
#7
It was almost a month ago they said they had received a Chinese missile able to evade the Arrow system. However, no missile can run fast enough to miss electronic jamming, lasers and other airborne countermeasures.
#8
No way, the timeline of normal indigens missle dev is too soon - Iran is either bluffing or has gotten "advisory" andor tech support from foreign nations, which PC means it is expecting some kind of mil-action this year, against the US or Israelis or both. Israel has already stated publicly iff the West or UNO does nuthin' this year to stop Iran's dev of nuke weapons it will.
#9
But, but, the mullahs said to call it Mohammed's Anti-infidel Sword and it would be invincible like the DEL>profit prophet himself!
Muslims have very advanced technology. Just think of all of the cool high-tech products built in the muslim world, like, ummm, oh yes, the camel saddle! And really small coffee cups.
Silly infidels, we will own you!
Posted by: Achmed of ACME of Gaza ||
03/31/2006 22:03
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#10
Don't forget the prayer rug compass (New with an arrow pointing to Mecca)!
Posted by: Thom as-Edison, Djinn of Mecca Park ||
03/31/2006 22:21
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#11
or the islamic camera obscura which is invisible to my favorite porn.
From yesterday's Opinionjournal.com's Political Diary.
"While Congress was engaged in the hysterical debate over foreign ownership of U.S. ports, something much more dangerous was taking place in America's vulnerable ports of entry. As disclosed yesterday at a congressional hearing, federal investigators were able to smuggle enough radioactive material into the United States last year to make two dirty bombs.... The Government Accountability Office is the investigative arm of Congress. In a test in December, undercover GAO teams managed to sneak small amounts of cesium-137 across U.S. border crossing points in Washington State and Texas. Radiation alarms went off, but security inspectors were fooled by phony documents and allowed the material through" -- editorial in yesterday's Miami Herald.
#1
I'm not impressed by this. That is, it is virtually impossible to interdict smuggling of something so relatively small across international borders.
That being said, radiological bombs are inherently flawed as a terrorist weapon. You have three choices of isotopes to use: light, medium and heavy.
Light isotopes have very short half-lifes, so cannot be transported and distance and must be used immediately. Heavy isotopes do not disperse readily, the fall to the ground (think lead dust).
This leaves about one common isotope to use, Cesium, which has a half-life of 30 years, and which is readily available. It is also very dangerous to people as it is uptaken by the bone marrow.
It is very dangerous to handle, has to be heavily shielded, and about the most a man can carry with its container is 30 grams. It is still a fairly heavy element, and would need to be ground to an ultrafine powder before being used in such a bomb.
Such a bomb would have to be designed to disperse the powder up into the air, and the bomb would have to be detonated on top of a tall building. Even so, it would be problematic to get enough isotopes into a particular person enough to make them sick.
So the purpose of such a bomb is to contaminate an important place, and for propaganda effect--hoping to create a public panic. Both of these are reliant on the government and media reporting the event instead of being discreet.
Writing in monthly Naya Zamana (January 2006) Dr Parwez Parwazi narrated that Justice Muhammad Munir in his memoir talked about a spiritual leader staying next to his rest house in Murree whose disciples used stones to dry their genitals after urination. The process was called watwani. The custom was to take a stone and keeping rubbing it on the genitals while walking around. When Justice Munir protested to the pir he replied that his disciples were observing a sunnat.
Despite pious observance, the practice of watwani has declined in our times. One sees fewer and fewer men walking around with their hands obscenely thrust into the shalwar. Yet if you read the big book of Dawat-e-Islami (green turbans) the ritual of watwani is alive and well as a tradition. Some of the instructions, especially to women, are unprintable. But can anyone legally stop a man from doing this in public? How will the Federal Shariat Court rule?
Posted by: john ||
03/31/2006
15:49 ||
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#1
The process was called watwani
he replied that his disciples were observing a sunnat.
Isn't sunnat the deeds of the profit?
So old profit Mo' used to rub his penis with a stone for hours on end?
Posted by: john ||
03/31/2006 18:20
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#2
That sounds more like a local Pakistani (Pushtun?) custom to me. The kind of thing that can be done because the women are all locked up in Purdah. Can you imagine the outcry in a Beduin camp if one of the womenfolk came across such carryings on while out fetching a bucket of water from the well?
#3
I wasn't aware of the popularity of the Anahuac Movement. That group is named after the old capitol of the Aztec cannibals. Prior to the brief Republic of Texas period, Hispano-Indians set up Fort Anahuac in what is now the Lone Star State, and began racist agitation notwithstanding their own Mestizo breeding. Every year, Mexico celebrates the "Day of the Race," to foster a racial supremacist mentality. Given that agitation, and Azatlani and Anahuaqi subversives within, it is essential that these invaders never become a majority. Even if they have advanced from people-munching to bean-eating, I say: keep the guacomole in Jalisco.
#6
I keep saying if the US just builds that damn fence, 90% of this nonsense will just evaporate in a decade on its own, without any other action. Of course, if there *is* other action, it may improve things faster, but *only* if that fence is built first.
Regular social policy has long hence and will continue to deal with the illegals already here. If they are hard working, get their children educated, and otherwise act like good citizens, we should make them citizens. The bad ones we put in prison and/or deport.
This system seems pretty effective when not overwhelmed by sheer numbers. And it has to be done in the US: NOBODY is stupid enough to go back to Mexico and wait in line for 15 years for an application to emigrate here legally. Especially when their children are Americanized, and they have a good job, etc.
It's even more important to build that wall, because when it is erected, Mexico most likely will erupt in a damn bloody civil war like it did in the first part of the 20th Century, maybe before or after a military coup.
The US will have to put two Corps on the border anyway. But with the wall to help, we probably won't have to machinegun tens of thousands of refugees.
#7
Once again, just make it ILLEGAL to wire money to Mexico. Allegedly these people come here to make money to support their families in Mexico. If they have no way of easily getting the money back to Mexico, they are not going to come here and let their families starve in Mexico.
Further, we need a National ID card linked to a biometric data base for everyone over the age of 16. No card, no work, no welfare, no school, no hospital, no anything but a quick trip to the nearest border.
Let me also take this opportunity to invite other Christian ministries and leaders to join us in this venture, to ensure that The Jerusalem Post Christian Edition - its content tailored specifically to Christian readers who care passionately about the well-being of Israel and the Jewish people - reaches the widest possible Christian readership.
We at The Jerusalem Post hope and believe that the establishment of the Christian Edition will bring Jews and Christians closer together to the benefit of all.
You're appreciated! I haven't looked into it, so I don't know how well it's being done. Nonetheless, a lovely gesture, and I'm going to have to think seriously about getting my darling mother-in-law a subscription for Christmas. :-)
First, as a Christian I feel I have a lot more in common with a lot of Jews than I do with a lot of Christians. So, please don't treat Christians as a segment to be addressed.
Second, why is the information Christians get any different than what Jews get? What would your reaction be if the Christian Science Monitor came out with a special Jewish oriented edition?
#3
I'm sorry, Nimble Spemble. I certainly didn't intend to offend. I assumed there would be special photojournalism pieces of places in Israel of religious significance to Christians, and stories about Christian efforts in Israel that don't make the cut for a Jewish audience, while ignoring, say, stories about comparative Purim celebrations in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
#4
I enjoy reading the JPost original recipe (as a Catholic). The internecine political battles among jewish subgroups/parties is amazing. If they didn't have a seething mass of Arabs on their periphery who want to kill them and drive them into the sea, I wonder how well they'd function. Survival is a strong instinct ...
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/31/2006 17:35
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#5
You didn't offend me, TW, never. I was speaking hypothetically wrt your idea of giving it to the mominlaw, unless you kjnow her religious leanings really well.
#6
We've had lovely discussions over the decades since I first met her treasured son, Nimble Spemble. I'm the first Jew (not counting the two who are members of her church) that she's known to talk to, and she's taken full advantage of the situation. :-) From originally thinking that all those not Christian would end up in Hell, her view has evolved to believing that Christ came to allow non-Jews to be included in the Jewish contract with God. I've learned a lot about evangelical Christianity from our talks, too, and have very much enjoyed them. I will, of course, take a very close look at what the JPost is putting out before deciding, as well as consulting Mr. Wife on the matter (being as she's his mother and all).
Frank G., I'm glad you (and liberalhawk) are keeping an eye on Israeli politics -- it makes my head ache simply trying to read articles on the subject.
An international wire fraud scheme targeting Islamic institutions with a phony stranded-traveler plea, netting only small sums but hitting multiple victims over many years, has been disrupted by the arrest of its mastermind, the FBI said on Thursday.
Islamic advocates say Nazareth resident Mohammed Mustafa Agbareia, who was arrested in Canada and pleaded guilty March 1 in Alabama to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, may have scammed more than $1 million from mosques and Islamic groups over nearly two decades. It's a living, I s'pose, and clearly the man isn't greedy.
He will be sentenced July 10 by US District Judge Charles Butler in Mobile, where he is in the custody of federal marshals.
It's been a while since I looked in on the Jerusalem Post website. Silly of me, because they really are a good news source... and an honest one, unlike, say, Ha'aretz, "The New York Times of Israel." Registration required, but free.
US Defense Department specialists made an unannounced visit to Libya in January to see what it would take to help Moammar Gadhafi's government destroy its tons of chemical weapons, a process that could cost $100 million, department officials said Thursday.
James A. Tegnelia, director of a Pentagon unit known as the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, said Thursday the officials who were in Libya are now writing a proposal for the State and Defense departments, spelling out options for helping Libya comply with an international agreement to get rid of the banned weapons.
"It would be a difficult thing," Tegnelia said, in part because of the location, which he did not describe in detail.
What a lovely idea. Not to mention reminding the good Colonel that he is not Islam Triumphant, but merely the man who surrendered his nuclear program rather than face Saddam Hussein's fate.
Pics of a (dead) "frogboy" baby in Nepal straight out of a fantasy novel, really eerie and somewhat disturbing. Mods, please kill it if inappropriate, this is a family blog after all.
#5
Agree wid the blade wound. The poor kid - goes to show that the WOT for Islam is indeed about Civilization, and Modernity, and the Radicals and Anarchists, i.e. God/Faith-based Lefties, are in reality for thier fight to stay poor, regressed, primitice, and lawfully repressed, etc, NOT the PC Improvement or Progressivity of Islam or Mankind.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Capitol Hill police plan to issue an arrest warrant today for Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.). The warrant is related to the incident Wednesday when McKinney allegedly slapped a Capitol Hill police officer. well, it's a start
Charges could range from assault on a police officer, which is a felony carrying a possible five year prison term, to simple assault, which is a misdemeanor. McKinney has canceled a news conference that she had scheduled for this morning to discuss the incident.
"N-O C-O-M-M-E-N-T"
McKinney issued a statement yesterday saying she "deeply regrets" the confrontation with the police officer. she's normally so much more "high class" of course
The six-term congresswoman apparently struck a Capitol Police officer when he tried to stop her from entering a House office building without going through a metal detector. Members of Congress wear identifying lapel pins and routinely are waved into buildings without undergoing security checks. The officer apparently did not recognize McKinney, she said in a statement. Asked on-camera Thursday by Channel 2 Action News whether she intended to apologize, McKinney refused to comment. a real class act
"I know that Capitol Hill Police are securing our safety, and I appreciate the work that they do. I have demonstrated my support for them in the past and I continue to support them now," she said in the statement on her Web site.
Democrats and Republicans, meanwhile, engaged in a rhetorical scuffle over the incident. Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday labeled it "a mistake, an unfortunate lack of recognition of a member of Congress." She added that the police officer was not at fault. "I would not make a big deal of this," said Pelosi, D-Calif. nancy...you missed a good opportunity to be quiet.
Ron Bonjean, spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., responded: "How many officers would have to be punched before it becomes a big deal?"
Merle Black, a professor of politics at Emory University, says that while the scuffle was rare for an elected politician, it's unlikely to cost McKinney more than a few votes. Black says McKinney is in damage control -- cutting her losses by not insisting on right or wrong. and she knows she can get those votes back easily by more 9/11 conspiracy mongering. she is the last thing the black community needs as their representative.
#3
takes a lot to combine that psycho-bitch 'tude with invented racial outrage, anti-semitism, anti-americanism, and low intelligence, and package it all in one person - two, counting Dad Billy
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/31/2006 18:48
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#4
Cynthia's innocent becuz she's a girl like Hillary or Mother Cindy, as well as an African-American, an African-Amer woman, plus a politician, ergo she like ZSA ZSA?/EVA GABOR? can slap cops around for not knowing who she was. In Clintonian Amerika, Cops/Judges/Law = Crooks and Mafiosi anyways so she can claim she nuthin' to anybody -like POTUS Bill CLinton, she told the truth = did she ???
#5
I'd pay $1,000 to see the Capitol Hill cops ruff and cuff that jerk with a few stick licks to the pumpkin thrown in for good measure. I'd really like to see her ass beat like a drum.
Well you knew it was coming... Plans to Detonate 700 Tons of Explosives in the Nevada Desert Draw Criticism
LAS VEGAS Mar 31, 2006 (AP) Plans for a Pentagon-led experiment that involves detonating 700 tons of explosives in the desert drew criticism from state leaders and a disarmament activist.
The explosion scheduled for June 2 at the Nevada Test Site is part of an effort to design a weapon that can penetrate solid rock formations in which a country might store nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction.
"I am concerned that tests of this magnitude have been planned without providing Nevadans with any information about the possible impact on their health or safety," said Democratic Sen. Minority Leader Harry Reid in a statement Thursday. You mean, Harry "Us Democrats are big on defense" Reid? That Harry Reid?
Nevada Test Site spokesman Darwin Morgan said the test will be conducted about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, near the center of the former nuclear testing site. The test, named "Divine Strake," will involve nearly 40 times the amount of commercial ammonium nitrate and fuel oil explosive set off in the largest open-air, non-nuclear blast at the site to date. In 2002, 18 tons of explosives were set off at the Nevada Test Site.
"This is nothing that's out of the bounds for us. That's what our expertise is in," he said. BWAAAAAAHAAAAAAHAAAAAAAHAAAAAAA!!!!
Morgan said the site obtained the required state approvals and air quality permits in January. Officials from the National Nuclear Security Administration, which operates the site, alerted the state's congressional delegation and state government in December. The Nevada Department of Administration responded with a letter stating: "Your proposal is not in conflict with state plans, goals or objectives." No elected officials responded to the notice until Thursday, Morgan said. The test site is not required to seek public comment, he said. But...but...that was before it became really big news and we could score political brownie points on it.
"Given the level of contamination in areas where nuclear tests were conducted, I have real concerns about the dust and other pollutants that will be released into the air as a result of this explosion," said U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley. ...and how that will effect...prarie dogs and...gila monsters and rattlesnakes, since that's about all that's out there.
Disarmament activist Pete Litster said tests at the site violate international law. Litster, executive director of the Shundahai Network, said the site belongs to the Western Shoshone Indian tribe. Wonder how many rocks the AP had to flip over before they found this guy?
#2
"I am concerned that tests of this magnitude have been planned without providing Nevadans with any information about the possible impact on their health or safety," said Democratic Sen. Minority Leader Harry Reid...
"Impact"? WHAT impact???????? The damn test site is out in the freakin' middle of nowhere, you idiot!
Harry, this isn't part of your new "Democrats are tough and smart" initiative, is it?
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/31/2006 12:49
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#4
Reid is an idiot.
I downloaded the Nevada EPA impact statement for the test. IT IS HUGE!
It tells everything about the test including the history which shows this test to be minor compared to some past ones.
The only reason they what to test at the Nevada site is that the limestone at the Nevada site is quite similar to the target. (heh!) They just want to get their computer models right. Nothing else.
#9
Reid comes off as so politically deaf by his comments its pathetic. I mean they tested nukes at this site in the past and he's going to go to bat over conventional munitions might have some side effect? The week after the Dems big strong on Security platform came out?
They really dropped the ball when they picked this guy to lead the Senate Democrats.
#13
Sen. Reid as a senior member of the Appropriations Committee secured $100 million for Nevada in the 2006 military construction bill, compared with $17.5 million last year. As the Senate Democratic leader he appointed the position to the BRAC commission and now his state of Nevada will get a net increase of a 1,059 military jobs. To further criticize the Bush Administration, last week Reid introduced his "Real Security" plan, which calls for staged town hall events at military bases and veterans posts. Reid made no attempt to hide the Anti-Bush agenda. However, in order to get around the prohibition of campaigning at military installations he portrayed the events as troop support. Or as Jim Manley, Reid's spokesman, puts it "These are events to highlight the need for increased funding for the troops." Now that hes secured his dough and political backdrops, Senator Reid appears to find it more politically advantageous to condemn actual military R&D in his state. Dont be surprised if it turns out that the Western Shoshone are one of the tribes hired by Abramoff to give campaign contributions to Reid.
#14
A HREF='http://budget.state.nv.us/clearinghouse/Notice/2006/E2006-222.pdf'>This document on the Divine Strake detonation is very interesting (.pdf, 14 MB).
Looks to me like someone's validating some mathematical models predicting the effects of sub-kiloton nuclear bunker-busters, with 700 tons of heavy ANFO as the stand-in for the nuke.
The ANFO will be loaded into a 32 ft. diameter hole 36 ft. deep, with a hemispherical bottom (see diagrams in the .pdf file), and detonated by a "blasting cap" consisting of about 300 lbs. of C4 explosive.
There's a tunnel 30 meters below the bottom of the blast pit, and this tunnel will be instrumented to evaluate blast effects (spalling, tunnel collapse, etc.)
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/31/2006 16:09
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#15
Shit. Sorry for garfing up the link.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/31/2006 16:10
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#16
Of course, there never was any dust in Nevada prior to the military testing. It was verdant, and the children frolicked in the meadows happily....
#17
Note the potential for 2 speices of jack rabbits to suffer eardrum puncture if they are out of their holes when it blows up and within a quarter mile of the bang... so some bunnies could go deaf!
#23
Fertilizer bombs have the singular distinction of being able to replicate nuclear level blasts without the fallout. I recall them as being the only ones capable of such a feat.
Australians are not ready for a disaster such as a terrorist attack or spread of bird flu to humans and should undergo their own emergency training so as not to be reliant on authorities, experts say.
Victoria's emergency services commissioner Bruce Esplin says the community should not rely solely on emergency services in a disaster.
Authorities had so capably handled emergencies in recent decades that the public had a false impression the work was best left to "the professionals", he said in a statement.
"Communities today should not be passive recipients of services, but should be active participants in determining their own safety outcomes," Mr Esplin said. So Mates make sure your guns are locked and loaded. Oh thats right sorry about that.
"Being aware and alert by having personal plans in place can be the difference between experiencing a scare and being part of a tragedy."
Meanwhile, Western Australia's Fire and Emergency Services Authority director Kevin Cuneo said many emergency services had a lack of understanding of what they were dealing with when they were called out to emergencies.
In a statement, Mr Cuneo said the "fear of the unknown" was hampering emergency services personnel from doing the job properly when they were called out to incidents involving explosives, chemicals or biological agents.
"During responses to ... incidents, some emergency service personnel are unwilling to commit in times of uncertainty due to the lack of understanding of what they are dealing with and the recognition of acceptable risk.
"This has also been demonstrated a number of times during the national counter-terrorism exercise program.
"It is a major issue facing all of those involved in emergency response."
RMIT University science, engineering and technology lecturer Neville Betts said the government and private sectors were ill-prepared for a disaster such as a terror attack or bird flu, which could cost lives.
"Many of the areas where the public routinely assembles, such as trains, shipping and high-rise buildings, have not yet addressed the need to ensure that their organisational arrangements do not fall short of what is required by the Victorian DISPLAN (disaster plan) arrangements," he said.
"Most tend to rely on the emergency services to pick up the slack.
"The emergency services are generally well-prepared but local staff (private and government non-emergency services workers) are not always properly trained. Just ask Ray Nagin On second thought dont.
"That could lead to tragedy because the first few minutes before the emergency services arrive are vital."
Remember Brownies words as he testified before congress with a furrowed brow and perspiration on his upper-lip area. Senator after a disaster, if you think the government is going to be there with a sandwich and a bottle of water your wrong. (Dead Wrong)
Just a note that "Info Wars" is one of those crackpot lefty sites. Also a 9/11 conspiracy site (not infowars, I believe) has been buying tons of goooogleads lately. This article is posted to Opinion 'cos it's a bunch of very dangerous fairytales.
Billionaire philanthropist Jimmy Walter and WTC survivor William Rodriguez this week embarked on a groundbreaking trip to Caracas Venezuela in which they met with with the President of the Assembly and will soon meet with Venezuelan President himself Hugo Chavez in anticipation of an official Venezuelan government investigation into 9/11.
Rodriguez was the last survivor pulled from the rubble of the north tower of the WTC, and was responsible for all stairwells within the tower. Rodriguez represented family members of 9/11 victims and testified to the 9/11 Commission that bombs were in the north tower but his statements were completely omitted from the official record.
Jimmy Walter has been at the forefront of a world tour to raise awareness about 9/11 and has still yet to receive any response to his million dollar challenge in which he offers a $1 million reward for proof that the trade towers' steel structure was broken apart without explosives. Well, Jimmy, I guess you owe PBS that check, 'cuz I remember NOVA did an episode on just that question...
Rodriguez said that he was told an FBI agent had asked the hotel him and Walter were staying in turn over a list of names of residents. Upon hearing this, the National Assembly provided armed military protection for the entirety of the trip. In addition, Walters said that CIA agents were seen surveilling the beach on which he and Rodriguez had handed out free DVD's a day earlier. Must have been advance scouts for the invasion...
The US government attempted to sabotage the trip by putting Rodriguez, who has been decorated at the White House itself, and Walter on a no fly list.
Rodriguez and Walter are educating top Venezuelan officials on the evidence that 9/11 was a self-inflicted wound carried out by the military-industrial complex. They have also appeared on every Venezuelan television and radio station both private and state owned and have given huge presentations to major universities.
Upon visiting, Rodriguez said that the President of the Assembly, Nicolas Maduro's home was brimming with books, videos and documents about the 9/11 cover-up. Maduro, Venezuela's top legislator, intoned that he was ready to create an international investigative committee, looking into the "international crime scene" that is 9/11 and that this would be structured via Hugo Chavez's government. 'cause we all know Venezuela really has jurisdiction over Manhattan.
Rodriguez and Walter are also set to appear on Hugo Chavez's weekly broadcast 'Alo Presidente' - which is often subsequently the source of major international headlines. If there is no coverage of this event then we know for sure that it's just the same sh@t, different day a blackout order is in place.
Rodriguez and Walter offered their full support for Charlie Sheen's recent public stance on 9/11 and were heartened by his efforts. The potential of a government level inquiry endorsed by Hugo Chavez dovetails with Sheen's call for an independent investigation to be carried out by political foreign nationals. No wonder Denise Richards left him.
Though the establishment media will no doubt seek to demonize Chavez as a militant with an axe to grind, this is an exciting development and the next step on the road to a genuine investigation that will seek to uncover the truth rather than hide skeletons and whitewash as was witnessed with the staged Kean committee.
#1
Please feel free to invite every kook and lunatic we have up here to Venezuela, Hugo, and let them stay as long as they want. We have a surplus, and it does wonders for your credibility.
I have been commenting and posting under the name ryuge for a while but, since yesterday, whenever I hit the comment button, I am immediately directed to the following website:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/
I'm not sure if this redirect comes from your end or a problem on mine (I recently had to have my computer put back to previous default settings to get rid of the effect of some deleted spyware or virus). If this is something that happens to trolls or other unwanted guests, I would like to have the problem fixed, if possible.
That's my fault. I left the editors' page open, trying to track down a cookie bug, and somebody got in. I've un-pooplisted ryuge, .com, Shipman, and six or seven others. My apologies for the inconvenience. And if I find out who did it, they'll be permanently banned from Rantburg.
#9
Remember all that Rantburg has not only Haxors who hate it, but some serious playas, too. Lots of things are said here that several countries would much prefer not be said.
#11
Thanks for the prompt fix! I felt bad to think that the world might be deprived of my comments for any long period of time - plus I might have drowned in my own snarkiness.
As for your question wxjames, I didn't spend much time at the roadside site despite the lure of reading articles about such attractions as "Big Ice Cream Buckets" and a "Self-Kicking Machine". If I had wanted to see a self-kicking machine, I could just re-join the Democratic Party.
Redacted by moderator. Comments may be redacted for trolling, violation of standards of good manners, or plain stupidity. Please correct the condition that applies and try again. Contents may be viewed in the sinktrap. Further violations may result in
banning.
Redacted by moderator. Comments may be redacted for trolling, violation of standards of good manners, or plain stupidity. Please correct the condition that applies and try again. Contents may be viewed in the sinktrap. Further violations may result in
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#16
Note: the previous two comments are hereby consigned to the sink trap on grounds of being off topic and contrary to good order and discipline here at the 'Burg. Both commenters are encouraged to continue civil and well-reasoned discourse in other threads, as long as they stay germane to the topics at hand. Thank you.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/31/2006 17:23
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I wouldn't mind learning if Zenstar' Glaze-Mecca types are in the majority.
OFF TOPIC: LtD, I challenge you to produce any of the very few posts where I actually mention a nuclear attack upon Mecca. Once you have located them, be so kind as to post them in context, along with your retraction. Your lame attempt to lump me into the "kill 'em all" category is just that, lame.
If you have any brains, you'll note that I consistently decry any first use of nuclear weapons against the Islamic countries. If you don't, well, let's just say that we've already gotten a good demonstration of that supposition.
A notorious robber was killed in crossfire during a "shootout" between Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and his accomplices in Beanibazar upazila in Sylhet early yesterday.
And we begin...
The elite force arrested the robbery gang leader Chunnu Miah, 40, along with three others earlier after a robbery at a house in Kakordia of Beanibazar upazila.
"Stick 'em up, Chunnu!"
"Curses! It's the RAB!"
A Rab team along with Chunnu went to Sodakhal to recover the loot and weapons where Chunnu's accomplices opened fire on the team forcing Rab to retaliate.
"It's the RAB! They've got Chunnu! Open fire!"
Chunnu died on the spot as he was bullet-hit while trying to escape.
"Aaaaiiiieeee! Rosebud!"
Earlier on Wednesday a gang attacked the house of expatriate Helaluddin. They took gold and money in local and foreign currencies from the house. The robbers also beat up family members injuring six of them. A Rab contingent arrested the four including Chunnu on Sylhet-Jakiganj highway on the same day and recovered some of the booty from them. The four admitted their complicity with the robbery to Rab. Beanibazar police also arrested five others in connection with the same incident.
Beany Bazaar? If Bangla wasn't crawling with Islamists and crooks and Purbo commies, I'd move there just for the placenames.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2006
10:45 ||
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No crossfire, but he was trying to escape. No shutter gun, or rounds of bullet.
2 1/2 stars.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/31/2006 10:57
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No O dark thirty time factor either. This must be new ace reporter that doesn't know that there's a template...
The outlawed Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) yesterday threatened to kill a district court judge in Dinajpur with his family and blow up the court if he failed to release JMB activists arrested in the last two days. The threat was given in a letter sent to Additional District Judge Md Zahedur Rahman, reports received in Dhaka said.
In Mymensingh, a court yesterday placed JMB operations commander Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai on a 10-day fresh remand while a Dhaka court remanded two Majlish-e-Shura members Abdul Awal Sunny, also military commander of JMB, and Abdul Awal for another seven days.
The law enforcers in Rangpur have arrested a Jamaat-e-Islami activist on charge of his involvement with the banned Islamist militant outfit JMB.
MYMENSINGH Bangla Bhai was produced before the cognisance court of Magistrate Atiqur Rahman at about 11:30 am yesterday amid tight security with police seeking a 10-day remand for further interrogation in an explosives case. The court granted the remand.
"The court hereby cognises Mr. Bhai to be a miscreant of the worst order and hereby remands him to the tender mercies of Mahmoud the Lord High Inquisitor and Keeper of the Number Seven Truncheon. Bailiff, make it so."
The second-in- command of JMB was later taken to Dhaka for interrogation, reports our Mymensingh correspondent. Earlier, three cases were filed against him with Muktagachha Police Station. Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) lodged the cases after he and his bodyguard Masud were arrested on March 6. On March 21, the same court placed him on a 10-day remand.
RANGPUR Rab-5 arrested Jamaat activist Haider Ali from a house in Takerhat of Bishnapur union under Badrganj upazila on Wednesday night, according to a report from our Rangpur correspondent. The elite anti-crime force also picked up a retired army man, Shamsul Islam, 50, from a house at Botpara in Ramnathpur union of the same upazila, suspecting his links to JMB, but released him after several hours. Rab said Haider is a JMB activist. Locals however said he is a Jamaat worker but his recent activities were mysterious. He was missing for several months and returned to the village recently. District Jamaat Ameer Bellal Hossain admitted that Haider is a Jamaat member but denied his involvement with JMB.
DHAKA A Dhaka court yesterday again ordered the investigation officer (IO) of an August 17 bomb blast case to submit immediately the probe report against Ataur Rahman Sunny and nine others, reports our court correspondent. Metropolitan Magistrate Shamsul Alam passed the order saying that since the IO did not submit the probe report of the case under Section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code, he is being asked to do so immediately. Earlier, the same court on March 9 gave the same directive to the IO. The case was filed under the Explosive Substances Act with Tejgoan Police Station on August 17 last year.
CHARGE-SHEETS OF THREE CASES
Rab yesterday pressed charges against five JMB members in three cases filed with Uttara Police Station on January 5. The accused in the cases are Wahidul Islam, 20, Shafiqul Islam, 30, Hafez Ibrahim, 30, Abdullah Al Faruq, 21, and Hanif, 22.
THREE LAWYERS TO DEFEND A JMB MAN Three lawyers of Dhaka Bar Association --Mozammel Haq, Golam Kibria and Lutfor Rahman-- on Wednesday moved a bail petition on behalf of JMB member Shamsul Haq alias Shamsu in connection with an August 17 bomb blast case. Metropolitan Magistrate Mamun Al Rashid rejected the bail petition. Shamsu was arrested from his house at Lake Circus Road in the city's Dhanmondi area on March 15.
Earlier, two other lawyers --Shahadat Hossain Bachchu and Abdul Alim Fakir of the same Bar association -- were assaulted by lawyers of Gazipur and Chittagong bar associations as they went there for defending JMB members.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2006
10:32 ||
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All right, you win. We'll release all the JMB members.
#2
Earlier, two other lawyers --Shahadat Hossain Bachchu and Abdul Alim Fakir of the same Bar association -- were assaulted by lawyers of Gazipur and Chittagong bar associations as they went there for defending JMB members.
#3
The solution to this problem is..."The Massachusetts Bar Association" In the words of the immortal T.Kennedy, "Where there is a will there is Scotch to be drank. What ever happened to little Billy?" If the Bush administration hadn't gone to chasing after Buhbamba Min Laudin without a plan for surrender this would have never happened.
#7
Survival Spec just got listed - attaboy LOL! I love it!
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/31/2006 17:31
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--Mozammel Haq, Golam Kibria and Lutfor Rahman-- on Wednesday moved a bail petition on behalf of JMB member Shamsul Haq alias Shamsu ...
I wouldn't hire a Haq lawyer, but this looks like a family deal involving a couple of Haq's.
...and Bangla Bhai is pressing the Bangla remand record. Hang (in there) BB!
The chief prosecutor at the United Nations-backed War Crimes Tribunal in Sierra Leone says the trial of the former Liberian leader Charles Taylor is unlikely to begin for many months.
Comes as a surprise, doesn't it? Usually they do things so quickly. Why, just look at Slobo's trial...
Mr Taylor is facing trial for alleged war crimes. He has been handed over to the tribunal two days after going on the run in southern Nigeria, where he had been living in exile.
Caught him before he actually made it back to the bush. I really was surprised at that one.
The United Nations secretary-general, Kofi Annan, says the the trial of Taylor could be a watershed not just for Liberia, but for the whole of Africa. "I think this is a warning to all would be warlords that they will be held to account and that impunity will not be allowed to stand," he said. "Those days are gone and they should really think before they engage in any such adventure."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2006
10:29 ||
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"trial of the former Liberian leader Charles Taylor is unlikely to begin for many months"
"United Nations-backed War Crimes Tribunal"
Yep, those two sure go together.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/31/2006 19:18
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A report by more than 50 charity groups says the rate of violent deaths in northern Uganda is three times higher than in Iraq. The report has been prepared by Civil Society Organisations for Peace in Northern Uganda (CSOPNU). It says nearly 150 northern Ugandans die every week due to the rebellion waged by the group the Lords Resistance Army (LRA).
CSOPNU demands the UN Security Council add its voice to their call for peace talks to end the violence. "It should express its conviction the crisis ... can only be ended via a process of political engagement, diplomacy, and peaceful negotiation," the coalition said in a statement.
The United Nations coordinator for humanitarian affairs, Jan Egeland, says the Ugandan Government must act to stop further bloodshed. "We now need to see them realise the very encouraging statements that have been there from the Foreign Minister and also very positive signals from President Museveni that a different, renewed more systematic effort of the Ugandan Government to provide security for their own citizens will now take place," he said.
I'd guess it's kind of hard to negotiate when your enemy consists of krazed killers led by a psychopathic nutbag. But maybe Jan knows something we don't.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2006
10:19 ||
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Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/31/2006 11:21
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Somehow I think if a conflict is serious the neighbors should all get together and come up with a plan and then go to the UN with that plan so the US can provide a blessing, or sanctions, or something.
Didn't Kenya remove Idi Amin? certainly they could move in and crush this nonsense if they wanted to.
A Japanese burglar who thought he was lucky to find an unlocked door was shocked to be arrested by 20 massive sumo wrestlers who were staying at the building.
Betcha that flat ruined his day...
Konoshin Kawabata, 48, was rummaging inside a room in Osaka in the early hours when he was suddenly confronted by wrestler Dewanosato, who stands 180 centimetres and weighs 131 kilograms. "Without thinking, my body moved," Dewanosato, whose real name is Hideyuki Kawahara, said. "I caught the guy and bear-hugged him."
It was a citizen's arrest, said a police spokesman. "Mr Dewanosato immediately shouted out 'Hey!' and 'Burglar!' as he arrested the man. Then the other wrestlers woke up and came out to check things out," the spokesman said.
The burglar, who was unemployed, admitted he was baffled to find himself among sumo wrestlers. "First I was caught by a massive man. When the lights turned on, I was surrounded by more than a dozen sumo wrestlers. I was surprised," Kawabata told police, as quoted by Jiji Press. The sumo stable were staying and training at the building, which lies on the premises of the Shounji temple in the western metropolis.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2006
10:14 ||
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LOL! Now this clown is an unemployed burglar.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/31/2006 11:20
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The building lies on the premisses of the Shounji temple. So basically this guy is robbing a temple compound? Do the Shinto have golden candelobras and priceless artifacts? Sacremental wine? Or was he going for some candle and sake stores?
#8
Sounds a bit like the guy who holds up a favored police bar during happy hour. With a knife.
More like the guy who tried to hold up a Barrons restaurant in Denver - on the night the police were having their annual awards dinner. 267 cops, one burglar. They almost had a fight over who got to arrest him.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/31/2006 17:23
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Hint: If you are in a building in a Shounji temple and you see massively strong tables and chairs and wide passages and doorways....
... it might be a good idea to leave. Quicky and quiety...
A New Zealand hostage released from captivity in Iraq believes a ransom was paid for his freedom. Harmeet Sooden, a 32-year-old Auckland University student, has spoken publicly for the first time about his kidnapping and four-month detention. Harmeet Sooden was one of three members of the Christian Peacemaker Team rescued a week ago by British special forces in Iraq. A fourth American colleague was murdered by the kidnappers.
Any ransom didn't do him any good, did it?
Mr Sooden thanked all those who had worked and prayed over four months for his release. On the day he was rescued his captors were nowhere to be seen, which he thought was highly unusual. "This is strange, I mean I wasn't jumping for joy or didn't have tears of emotion, I sort of felt: this is contrived," he said. And when asked, he said he believed it was "highly likely" that a ransom had been paid.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2006
10:10 ||
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No more ransom's paid. Put the word out. You go over there, and you don't have a good reason for being there, you're on your own.
#2
The arrogance of their humility is breathtaking.
Anything they can do to denigrate the efforts of those who rescued them. And the reality is they know exactly who would do them evil. Turns out the Canadian Looney was gay; upon his kidnapping his "partner" went into hiding for fear that if the sexual orientation was publicised, Looney life might be in danger. Danger from who?
Hipocrites to the core.
Posted by: john ||
03/31/2006 20:57
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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice shrugged off protests over the US-led war in Iraq at the start of a tour today of north-west England hosted by her British counterpart Jack Straw. "I would say to those who wish to protest, 'By all means, I have no problem with people exercising their democratic rights'," Dr Rice told reporters at a BAE Systems factory in Samlesbury, on the outskirts of Blackburn.
"That doesn't mean I have to pay any attention to their senseless nattering."
Her reciprocal visit to Mr Straw's hometown of Blackburn, after his trip last year to her native Alabama, met with a chilly reception from both anti-war protesters and press reports of a US-British dispute over defence technology. As soon as she arrived at a school in Blackburn, Dr Rice was greeted by 200 protesters, some waving placards stamped with "stop the war," and many shouting "Hey, hey Condi Rice, how many kids have you killed today?"
Ummm... That doesn't rhyme...
The refrain echoed the one shouted at "LBJ, how many kids have you killed today?" when US President Lyndon Baines Johnson was leading the United States in its war in Vietnam in the 1960s.
I see. It used to rhyme in 1968, so it should also rhyme today. Gotcha.
The protesters, who included women wearing Muslim headscarves, also chanted: "Condoleezza Rice go home". Some carried placards saying: "Stop the war" and "How many lives per gallon?"
Good question, since our Islamist adversaries seem to be the ones inflicting the majority of the casualties...
Jabbar Khan, 16, a student at the school, was among those on the other side who supported Dr Rice. "We should be proud to have such a high-profile visitor to our school," he told AFP. He said about 50 children took the day off at Pleckgate High School to join the protest. "They skived off," said Khan.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2006
10:05 ||
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Strange..., but not so. Like most of the rest, their memories are as short as their members. Feckless Pommies didn't "shrug off" our air logisitics, refueling, and intelligence support a few years back in the Falklands.
#4
The last protest I've read about that didn't turn me against the protestors was the Civil Rights protests. Pretty much everyone since then has been about the protestors themselves and not about the cause.
After these latest pro-illegal protests I'm willing to vote for Nader if he'd build a freaking wall.
FBI Director Robert Mueller said this week that his agency busted a smuggling ring organized by the terrorist group Hezbollah that had operatives cross the Mexican border to carry out possible terrorist attacks inside the U.S.
"This was an occasion in which Hezbollah operatives were assisting others with some association with Hezbollah in coming to the United States, Mueller told a House Appropriations subcommittee during a Tuesday hearing on the FBI's budget.
In a stunning revelation, Mueller admitted that Hezbollah had succeeded in smuggling some of its operatives across the border, telling the House committee: "That was an organization that we dismantled and identified those persons who had been smuggled in. And they have been addressed as well.
Hezbollah was responsible for the single most deadly terrorist attack against the U.S. before 9/11 - the Oct. 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 243 U.S. troops.
In November, an al-Qaida operative who was on the FBI's terrorist watch list was captured near the Mexican border, housed in a Texas jail and turned over to federal agents, according to Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas.
"A confirmed al-Qaida terrorist, an Iraqi national, was held in the Brewster County jail," Rep. Culberson told ABC Radio host Sean Hannity. "He was captured in Mexico. This was within the last six weeks. He was turned over to the FBI."
Posted by: Captain America ||
03/31/2006
09:59 ||
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Border security has nothing to do with national security. Right?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/31/2006 10:13
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Vicente Fox should be COMING HERE for a visit explanation! Having grannies and retirees in lawn chairs conducting "border watch" operations while we stew and fret over the fate of New Orleans or some meathead mullah in Iran is disgusting and shameful. Come on Washington, wake the **** up!
#3
Thats right its just the US racism against "brown people".
When or better yet will we ever get a Politician with a sack that will stand up and proclaim to these pansies that we have no "African American not Mexican American no Latin-American no Asian American just simply Americans or NOT-Americans period no ifs ands or buts".
Your family tree is irrelevant my family tree like most Americans who have spent generations in America is wide and touches many nations of the world. Do I get 3,4 ax tricks in front of American?
No one is racist against Irish because for generations they have just been called and called themselves AMERICANS. As long as every ethnic group continues to separate themselves from the rest of US they will be recognized by every next generation as separate.
The LLL's have absolutely destroyed Patriotism and concentration on what made US strong "many but one" its on the f*cking money and crest ect.. That one is AMERICAN you are or are not there is no mid way or add on. Patriotism and AMERICANISM should be taught in schools and we will finally again have many races but one AMERICA.
What happened to our fore fathers nation. Scratch that I know its called the peace-love-&-happiness movement AKA Liberalism/Socialism.
#4
Just PUT UP A WALL AND MOAT NOW!
The moat should be a SaltWater canal from the Pacific to the Gulf. Deep enough to support sharks and saltwater crocs.
Better yet, how about making some of those areas new explosives testing sites? Ya know, since the yahoos (not all Nevadans, just the yahoos) up in Nevada are upset over a lil' 700 ton planned test to be conducted next week. Test along the border in my mind. The craters would go a long way to building that saltwater canal that 3dc talked of.
Posted by: BA ||
03/31/2006 13:57
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Also, if this is true (I assume it is), it needs to be shouted from the rooftops and ASAP as Congress is considering Immigration "reform" now. What part of ILLEGAL don't those in power get? We are a nation of laws, and if you don't follow them, tough...go home and fix your own rickety country.
Posted by: BA ||
03/31/2006 13:58
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This has got TV movie plot written all over it. No, seriously. And hey, Hezbollah, right, launch an attack over here. It worked out so great for the Taliban and all.
#11
Well done, FBI! There've been a lot of complaints about the Fibbies here, and legitimately so. But they got it right on this one, and we can hope there's more of the same in the pipeline. Between FBI efforts, military interdiction in key areas (the 2000 wannabes stopped at the border by that Army unit based in Texas(?) in the past two months), and the Minutemen on watch both north and south, it seems we are regaining control of our borders without waiting for the Federal government to officially step in. And let's not forget all those lovely marches asserting the right of illegals to be here, that are turning the citizenry against them across the country.
And the weather outside my window is absolutely gorgeous, too. :-)
#13
Isn't this the reason why we invented UAV technology? Better yet use ERAST birds like the Centurion for long duration aerial monitoring.
Unfortunately, our politicians simply do not want a solution to their own solution. Namely, all the illegal earnings that flow into Social Security from undocumented illegals using false SS numbers that help mask the way our pols are raping that milch cow.
#15
FBI's Mueller: Hezbollah Busted in Mexican Smuggling Operation
FBI Director Robert Mueller said this week that his agency busted a smuggling ring organized by the terrorist group Hezbollah that had operatives cross the Mexican border to carry out possible terrorist attacks inside the U.S.
TORONTO - An alleged terrorist -- with links to al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden -- has been arrested in the GTA while trying to flee the country, Sun Media immigration sources say.
In one of the most significant terrorism arrests in Canada since 9/11, a man believed to be a captain of the Pakistani extremist organization Mujahedin-E-Lashkar-E-Tayyba, or LET, which is funded by Osama bin Laden and has direct ties to al-Qaida, was arrested March 16 by Canadian border service officers in Newmarket.
Intelligence sources say members of LET have been trained in Afghan terrorist camps.
Ontario immigration sources say 40-year-old Raja Ghulam Mustafa, a Pakistani national who went by the last name Murtaza, was arrested outside his home with a packed suitcase and a significant amount of cash on him.
Partake the bounty of illegal immigration and savor the most expensive products and services in the history of mankind. Please take the time and savor the "cheap" fruits of illegal immigration and behold the La Raza folks and the Greedy fuckwits who dazzle us with the most powerful tricknology ever, the appeal of something for nothing.
Be grateful and take the time and thank them for their generosity when your taxes go up or benifits/protections are cut for City, State, and Federal services.
and thank them for the Illegal Immigration Corporation and their overpriced race pimps for the..
>fake ID rackets,
>mature multi national drug smuggling rings,
>voter fraud,
>"free" school education rackets,
>over crowded jails and prisons costs,
>local, State, Fedederal "police" costs,
>extremely expensive over crowded court systems,
>the health insurance preminums and co-pays go up because each State presses the insurance companys to share their costs of the uninsured in order do biz in said State,
>and the the loss of family farms and ranches who raised the the most important crop ever, resolute patriotic CITIZENS.
Israeli doctors are preparing long-term care plans for comatose Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as his stand-in Ehud Olmert prepares to begin talks on forming a new government in his own right. A spokesman for Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital where Mr Sharon has been cared for since suffering a massive brain haemorrhage in January told AFP no final decision had been taken. But he said discussions were continuing while the 78-year-old premier's condition remained "serious but stable".
The top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily said it had been decided that Mr Sharon would be moved to the Tel Hashomer hospital in the commercial capital of Tel Aviv in the next two weeks to be cared for in the longer term. But the English-language Jerusalem Post said no decision had yet been taken by doctors and Sharon's sons Omri and Gilad on when and where he would be moved. Both papers said the premier was likely to undergo fresh surgery to reset a section of his skull that had been removed in January. The Post said that the bone tissue - amounting to a quarter of his skull - was being put back for "aesthetic purposes".
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2006
09:58 ||
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Three Melbourne men have been charged with terrorist offences in relation to an ongoing counter-terrorism operation in the city. The Australian Federal Police (AFP), ASIO and Victorian police have all been involved in the arrests. A 21-year-old, a 25-year-old and a 26-year-old from the city's northern suburbs were questioned at the AFP's headquarters in Melbourne. They have been charged with intentional membership of a terrorist organisation and intentionally making funds available to a terrorist organisation.
The two older men have also been charged with supporting a terrorist organisation. An AFP spokeswoman says the arrests are linked to the terrorism raids in Sydney and Melbourne in November last year coordinated by the AFP, ASIO, New South Wales and Victorian police.Operation Pendennis has resulted in multiple arrests and terrorist charges in both capital cities. The men are expected to face court on Monday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2006
09:55 ||
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#1
Hummmm..... right before the Australian Formula 1 race.
This demand made as part of Friday prayers, I presume in the Sadrist end of town...
A leading Iraqi Shi'ite cleric on Friday demanded the United States sack its envoy [Afghan-born ambassador and Sunni muslim] Zalmay Khalilzad, heading a push for a unity government, accusing him of siding with fellow Sunni Muslims in the sectarian conflict gripping the country. Ayatollah Mohammed al-Yacoubi's call at Friday prayers came as political leaders held their latest round of negotiations to form a new government, months after parliamentary elections in December, as sectarian bloodshed rises.
In a sermon read out at mosques for Friday prayers, Yacoubi said Washington had underestimated the conflict between Shi'ites and the once dominant Sunni Arab minority, which many fear threatens to trigger a civil war. "By this, they are either misled by reports, which lack objectivity and credibility, submitted to the United States by their sectarian ambassador to Iraq ... or they are denying this fact," Yacoubi said in the message, later issued as a statement. "It (the United States) should not yield to terrorist blackmail and should not be deluded or misled by spiteful sectarians. It should replace its ambassador to Iraq if it wants to protect itself from further failures." After the imam of Baghdad's Rahman mosque read that line, worshippers chanted "Allahu Akbar".
Yacoubi is the spiritual guide for the Fadhila party, one of the smaller but still influential components of the dominant Islamist Alliance bloc. He is not part of the senior clerical council around Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf. Nonetheless, Shi'ite politicians said his comments reflected widespread disenchantment among them with the ambassador. "It's a very good statement," one senior official in the Alliance, not from Fadhila, said of Yacoubi's sermon.
Khalilzad, who has been in Iraq 10 months, has been criticised by Shi'ite leaders, who openly resent his championing of efforts to tempt Sunnis away from armed revolt into a coalition government. Yacoubi said: "The American ambassador and the tyrants of the Arab states are giving political support to those parties who provide political cover for the terrorists."
Alliance leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim accused Khalilzad last month of provoking the Samarra bombing by making remarks critical of "sectarian" tendencies among the Shi'ite leadership. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari has also criticised U.S. "interference" this week in Iraq's political process. Jaafari's nomination to a second term by the Alliance is a major sticking point in talks with Sunnis and ethnic Kurds on a government. Shi'ite politicians say Khalilzad has delivered messages from U.S. President George W. Bush to both Hakim and Sistani in the past week urging them to drop Jaafari, whose nomination was secured with the support of Iranian-backed cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr. U.S. diplomats deny taking sides in the issue. Khalilzad is now planning talks with Iran,
Gah.
Washington's old enemy in the region, to try to ease the crisis in Iraq. The United States accuses Shi'ite Iran of fomenting violence.
#1
Never shun the chance to talk with your enemy. Such talks often reveal huge gaps in planning, secret weapons, timetables, and a vertitable cornucopia of other critical intelligence data.
Of course, such unintentional exposures can work both ways, so if possible you want the meeting recorded and heavily analyzed, to detect both their, and your own departures from discretion.
Imagine what information could be gleaned with just a few carefully crafted questions, later analyzed by audio lie detection?
#2
Sadr and his fellow institutionalistas need to keep talking. I hope someone in Washington is paying attention, so that when the final decision is made about what to do with Sadr and friends, their comments like this will move "whack and stack" to the top of the list of options.
Our biggest problem in Iraq is that we've been too nice. The islamofruitcakes believe we can't be mean enough to defeat them. We need to disabuse them of that silly, incoherent, and totally inaccurate idea. We need to come down HARD on Sadr and his minions in a way that is totally anal. I don't think we'd have any problems after that, even with Iran.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/31/2006 16:15
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I have heard it described that Iraq now has the second best military in the Middle East.
The militias do not stand a chance. America won't have to deal with this problem.
Would explain why Sadr and his minions are deparate to con the media into blaming the US, even to arranging hoax massacres. The Jenin Strategy? Just a ploy to keep the Coalition from letting the Iraqi army go to it.
Posted by: john ||
03/31/2006 21:07
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"Sanctions are a bad idea. We are not facing an imminent threat. We need to lower the pitch," the International Atomic Energy Agency's Mohamed ElBaradei said. "There is no military solution to this situation. It's inconceivable. The only durable solution is a negotiated solution." But Dr ElBaradei also demanded that Iran co-operate with his nuclear inspectors.
His comments came as Iran's Revolutionary Guards successfully test-fired a homemade missile that can evade radar. Iranian state television said yesterday's test was part of naval war games. "Iran successfully test fired a homemade Fajr-3 missile," senior Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami said. He said the missile's capabilities included evading radar and the ability to destroy several targets.
Attempts by the world's leading powers to join forces and stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons have fallen into disarray as they disagreed in public over whether Tehran could face sanctions. The UN Security Council on Wednesday night issued a unanimous "presidential statement", giving Iran 30 days to freeze its uranium enrichment program. A day later, at a meeting in Berlin, the foreign ministers of six key powers - America, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - reinforced the message by telling Iran it had to make a choice between negotiations or international isolation. But the ministers, who were meeting to co-ordinate future tactics, were soon at odds when it came to deciding what action to take if Tehran remains defiant.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the next steps could include a mandatory resolution under chapter VII of the UN charter "and the possibility of measures after that". But Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister who has been cautious about confronting Iran, said: "Russia does not believe that sanctions would serve the purpose of settling the various issues."
Western countries believe that Russia's ambition to host a successful G8 summit will give them enough leverage to secure Moscow's acquiescence to sanctions this summer. During weeks of wrangling, a key objective of Moscow and Beijing has been to retain as much power as possible in the hands of the IAEA, and to reduce the role of the UN Security Council. For the moment, the six key powers known as the "P5+1" - the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany - agree that Iran must freeze parts of its nuclear program. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said: "This is a strong sign to Iran that negotiation, not confrontation, should be their course."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2006
09:19 ||
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#1
The UN is so usless: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the next steps could include a mandatory resolution under chapter VII of the UN charter "and the possibility of measures after that". Mandatory resolution???? Iran doesnt seem to have much to worry about from the UN. If the U.S. and Israel have to go in and stop Iran's nuclear program with a military strike, tehran has no idea the pain coming to them. Some of the new weapons the U.S. has been coming up with (i.e. the 700 ton bomb being tested in Las Vegas.. among others)are destructively awesome. But I hope this crisis gets fixed diplomatically..... though I am very very skeptical..
France is keenly awaiting a presidential address tonight in which Jacques Chirac is expected to give his verdict on the highly contentious youth employment law. The country has been hit by a wave of protests and strikes over the measure. Yesterday France's highest constitutional body backed the law, passing it to Chirac to either sign or reject.
Polls show most people oppose it; there is little appetite for more disruption. In the streets of Paris some gave their views: "I think in the current context we should just give in try to calm minds," said one man. "We should work with real, concrete facts."
A woman said: "I don't think it's the head of state who deals with what's happening now. Whatever he says will change nothing."
Opposition leaders have joined unions in calling for Chirac to intervene, with Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin insisting he will not withdraw the legislation.
Socialist leader Francoise Hollande said France was gripped by a social and political crisis. "We have to get out of it and the only way is for the President to announce that he won't pass the law and will open a debate in parliament," he said. Another Socialist leader said: "We don't want to find ourselves back in the 19th century trying to deal with the 21st."
"We'd rather do what we've been doing, stuck firmly in the middle of the 20th century. Eventually what we're doing is going to work. All we have to do is keep doing it over and over again."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2006
09:14 ||
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#1
Chirac will sign for the reasons some say he will cave. By not signing there will be a prolonged and undertermined period of protest while debate resumes.
#3
"We don't want to find ourselves back in the 19th century trying to deal with the 21st" - thats what Socialism inevitably results in, Chirac, its called REGRESSION, espec when Socialists already know there isn't enough $$$ in all the world and heaven to keep all the promises and obligations made in the name of power. IT also doesn't help to tell economy- and societally-dependent/
competitive males Government, the Welfare-Nanny State, women, children, elderly and Institutions, etc. don't need them for anything - its isn't Men's fault Socialists and aligned can't, don't, or won't understand the merits/premises of their own -Ism(s). Secularists arguing that God, Religion, and Christ, etal. is fake, so there's the future exploding Moon, the Asteroid(s), the Sun, Risng Seas. Solar Flares-Sunspots, and melting Ice caps, etal. to come - IFF MAN AND GOVERNMENT(S) BE GOD, GIVE TO CAESAR WHO IS ALSO GOD, GO STOP IT. SECULARISM > SCIENCE IS NOT SUPPOSED TO TALK BACK TO YOU OR ANYONE, LET ALONE CONVERSE, PROPHECY, OR BE SENTIENT ACROSS TIME AND SPACE. GO SAVE THE SUN, MOON, and SEA, GO SAVE LIFE ITSELF!? "Let Justice be done, or the Heavens fall", so says Kevin Costner as in Oliver Stone's flick JFK back in the 60's - iff the Heavens fall, Justice was NOT done, the Truth(s) were NOT or NEVER told, correct!?
Sri Lanka's ruling coalition won an overwhelming victory in local elections, according to results released by the government, a result seen as an endorsement of the president's negotiations with Tamil Tiger rebels. President Mahinda Rajapakse's United Peoples' Freedom Alliance won majorities in 212 out of 249 local councils where results were declared, the Government Information Department said Friday. The main opposition group won 29 seats, and minor parties won the other eight seats. Remaining results for 17 councils were expected Saturday, the department said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2006
09:12 ||
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Turkish police backed by armored personnel carriers used tear gas and truncheons to disperse a violent march Thursday by tens of thousands of Kurdish protesters in Diyarbakir. A seven-year-old boy was reported to be in critical condition after sustaining bullet wounds in his stomach. Witnesses said he was fired on by police. The reports could not be confirmed.
The urban skirmishes, described as the worst in the past decade, first erupted on Tuesday during funeral services for 14 rebels of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK. The rebels were killed by Turkish security forces in the neighboring province of Mus over the weekend. Four of the rebels were from Diyarbakir, the most populous city in southeastern Turkey, a hotbed of Kurdish nationalism. Thousands of Kurds clashed with security forces during a funeral organized for the rebels on Wednesday. Three mourners, including an eight-year-old boy, were killed in the clashes. Elsewhere across the city, teenagers chanting Kurdish nationalist slogans smashed hundreds of shop windows and torched businesses and government offices in rioting that lasted for several hours. Most shops remained closed Thursday and most residents kept to their homes, fearing unrest during the funeral for the three victims of Wednesday's violence.
Eyewitnesses said the violence was triggered by teenage youths who hurled rocks at a police station on the way to the cemetery. The chief of Turkish National police and other high ranking security officials gathered in Diyarbakir Thursday as the violence spread to the neighboring city of Batman. Officials there say some 5,000 demonstrators, protesting Wednesday's deaths, torched and ransacked around 300 shops, banks and government offices in the city. At least 20 people were reported to have been wounded when police intervened to disperse that demonstration.
Violence has been steadily escalating in Diyarbakir and the surrounding region since June 2004. That is when the PKK ended a five year unilateral truce it had declared following the capture of its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, in February 1999. The PKK said it was taking up arms again because of what it termed the government's failure to broker a lasting peace. The rebel group began its armed campaign, initially for independence and later for autonomy, in 1984. Over 30,000 people have died in the fighting.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2006
09:09 ||
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#1
I'm amazed that the independence movements of the world are so stupid. Turkey claims to be a democracy. Turkey wants into the EU. The Kurds should march on Ankara in large peaceful groups to make demands. Time it right, and make the marches big and rare and free of puppets. If the Turks crack down they can kiss the west goodbye. if the Turks do not the Kurds get world sympathy for their independnece in a way the PKK could never provide.
#2
Oh, and demand something short of full independence so the Turks can grant it without losing too much face or else they'll replay the Armenian game with the Kurds and althought that would really get the Kurds sympathy it wouldn't help the dead get a state.
At least 57 people, mainly foreigners, drowned when their dinner cruise boat capsized off the coast of Bahrain, officials said on Friday. The boat's owner, quoted by Al Arabiya television, said the traditional wooden dhow may have been overcrowded and capsized when passengers gathered on one side. Arab media reports said the captain had been reluctant to sail with so many on board the twin-decked boat.
The vessel went down late on Thursday. By daylight, only the upturned hull of the dhow was visible, with empty orange life-jackets bobbing alongside. Some 13 passengers were still missing and Bahrain TV showed pictures of rescue workers using pickaxes to try to break through the bottom of the vessel. Rescuers pulled 67 terrified survivors from the water as the rescue operation went through the night, helped by the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet which is based in the Gulf Arab state. More than 30 people were taken to hospital, many shivering and wrapped in blankets.
Aqeel Mirza said he was about 100 metres (yards) away on a nearby boat when he saw the ship capsize. "The sea was calm, there were no heavy winds or waves," he told Arabiya. "Suddenly, in that instant that we were watching it, the boat overturned very quickly. It just overturned on one side in seconds, and two seconds later the lights went out and then we started hearing the screaming." Mirza added it took more than 25 minutes for rescue boats to arrive at the scene. "Most of who died were inside the enclosed restaurant. Those who were on the top deck found it easier to survive because they jumped off the boat and waited for rescue," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2006
09:07 ||
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#1
Well there is an office "fun day" gone badly wrong.
If all passengers are on the top deck, don't pull a tight turn.
"More and more throughout the 90s "History" was "out," and "Me" was in. "Me," "Having My Space," "How to Be Your Own Best Friend," "Me, Myself, I," were hallmarks of that self-besotted age. The History of Me was huge in the 90s and rolled right through the millennium. It even had a Customized President to preside over those years; the Most Me President ever. A perfect man for the time and one who, in the end, did not disappoint in choosing "Me" over "Country." How could he do otherwise? It was the option his constituency of Many-Million-Mes elected him to select. I know because I was into Me then and I voted for him because, well, because he seemed to be "just like me." It was a sad day when "Me" couldn't run for a third term, but The Party of Me offered up "Mini-Me" and a lot of Mes turned out for him too.
Many millions of Mini-Mes were very upset when there weren't quite enough Mes in one state to put Mini-Me in office to continue with the wonderful Me-ness of it all. I voted for "Mini-Me" in 2000, but not because he really seemed like Me, but because he was the only thing out there that said he was Me.
Unlike millions of miffed Mini-Mes, I wasn't too upset when he didn't get in after stamping his feet and holding his breath. I suppose I should have. It was what all the really intense Mini-Mes were doing. But I'd already started to become disgusted with all the Me-ness that had been going around so long and this tantrum of the Mini-Mes just made me not want to hang around them. After all, we were well beyond the End of History by this point, so what did it matter?
Then on one bright and unusually fine New York September morning History came back with a vengeance we'd never seen before in the history of America. It came back and it stayed and stayed and stayed. The doors of history swung open again and we were all propelled through them into... what?"
Posted by: Howard UK ||
03/31/2006 9:16
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#2
"History's back -- and it's pissed."
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/31/2006 9:49
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#3
Fukuyama is blaming everything stupid he ever said on "those darn neoconservatives seducing me to the dark side of the force."
Posted by: Phil ||
03/31/2006 10:04
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#4
Lighten up, Francis
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/31/2006 10:34
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Remember that self-infatuation is not just the product of an "esteem"-oriented society, it is also a reaction and rejection of the misuse of "those things more important than the self" in cynical and sarcastic ways.
Take "organized" Christianity as an example. It is facing a schismatic reformation because the laudable goals of its "better self" were co-opted by so many corrupt and perverse seducers that vast numbers of Christians could no longer tolerate it.
From "Creationists", to "Revolution Theologists", to infiltration of its clergy by pedophiles and homosexuals, to the tolerance of "Marianist" factions, Christianity as a whole suffered.
Its doctrines, Bible, Book of Common Prayer, Hymnal, were all torn down in many places, and its honored and beloved traditions were set aside as antiquated, to be replaced with crap.
Those who are stubborn enough, try to reform their sect; those who are not are returning to pre-Christian traditions (also rejecting secular philosophies such as communism, thank god.)
So we see the re-emergence of religions like the Druids, the Asatru (Aesir), the ancient Greek gods, even a pseudo-Aztec cult arising in Mexico.
These are not reflections of self-importance, these are efforts to find something that is "higher than onesself", and not yet corrupted by those seeking wealth and power, and the destruction of that which is honored.
#6
In this First Terrorist War, the character of our leadership will make a difference to some degree, but it will not decide. It is who we are and who we shall become as a people that will decide. How that will be in the end, I do not know. What I do know is that history, no matter what they tell you, never comes to an end. And because of that, the one small thing that I have the power to do is to decide that I shall no longer vote for Me. I shall vote for Us.
#7
Anonymoose, I would add Islam to that list. I think Islam has gotten a lot of followers in the West because it provides a very strict worldview and some folks need that. Christianity used to provide that (especially the Puritans) but not so much anymore.
#12
rjschwarz, the number of westerners converting to Islam is marginal. That is, not counting the prisons' inmates. Islam is popular there because it promises absolution and carte blanche for their next crimes. They would just need to select their victim properly.
#13
Charles Krauthammer exposed Francis last week. It's sad that his luminary career has become so damaged by his faux Damascus conversion.
Posted by: Captain America ||
03/31/2006 13:30
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Islam is popular there because it promises absolution and carte blanche for their next crimes.
As an excon buddy of mine is fond of saying: "They're Muslims when their inside, Christians when they're in the halfway house, and crackheads when they're back on the street."
Following a week of massive immigrant rights protests, a group of students in Apache Junction burned a Mexican flag, reported a local newspaper.
A Hispanic student had brought the flag to school Thursday morning in a response to what he said was a racist remark directed at him the day before. After he and other students raised the flag over Apache Junction High School, another group of students took it down and burned it, according to the East Valley Tribune newspaper.
The burning and ensuing shoving match between the two groups of students happened before most students arrived at the school.
The six students - three Hispanic and three white - will be disciplined, said school principal Chad Wilson. Officials with the Apache Junction Unified School District would not specify what kind of punishment the students face.
"I know (they) shouldn't have burned the Mexican flag," said sophomore Jacob Stewart, 16. "I heard it was raised above the American flag, and that just irked me."
The school will increase supervision because of the incident, Wilson said in a letter sent home to parents. The increased security will include four off-duty police officers the district hired as security guards, Wilson said.
District spokeswoman Carol Shepherd said the additional security was being brought in as a precaution. "It's one of those situations where if you didn't have additional security and something did happen, we'd be challenged by parents about why we didn't do anything," she said.
By early afternoon Thursday, district officials said the environment on campus had sufficiently calmed down.
About 17 percent of the overall student body is Latino, according to the district. Wilson said he e-mailed teachers separately Thursday about the incident, but left it up to them to decide if and how they should address the issue in their classrooms.
He emphasized that six out of the school's 1,618 students were involved in the flag fight, and many students might not have the same problems dealing with the racially charged immigration debate.
School flagpoles have been lightning rods across the country this week, including an incident in which a Houston high school principal was disciplined after he flew a Mexican flag underneath his campus' U.S. and state flags.
A new political awareness among high school students has also been grabbing attention, as thousands of teenagers in Arizona and other states have walked out of classes to join rallies nationwide.
Last Friday, more than 20,000 people protested in downtown Phoenix against a bill that would have made it a felony to be an illegal immigrant in the United States.
#3
"I know (they) shouldn't have burned the Mexican flag," said sophomore Jacob Stewart, 16. "I heard it was raised above the American flag, and that just irked me."
Its called being a patriot son, listen to your instincts they are right on this one. And by the way, its NOT WRONG to burn the flag of a foreign country that is flown above the American flag on US soil. Good job to you kid, you understand it clearer than most!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/31/2006 8:50
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#4
Demographic shifts in the Phoenix (sometimes pronounced "Pee-nis") Metro area have resulted in sometimes silly efforts to cater to (patronize) ethnic groups.
One such example was Marcos de Niza high school, which when built was going to have an almost entirely Mexican-American student body and faculty. So the school was built and decorated with Mexican culture in mind.
10 years later, the school was almost entirely white. However, in that same time another school in the area which had been almost entirely white became both black and Mexican.
With such demographic shifts, unless you are a longtime resident, you probably have no idea even where the local minorities live. This tends to take a lot of steam out of racial problems, except, ironically, in the high schools, where ethnic minorities are concentrated.
Since the Metro area is in total almost 1,000 square miles, this can sometimes get weird. When Vietnam fell, almost 60,000 Vietnamese relocated to the Valley of the Sun, and nobody noticed.
Wait till the real native Americans start to way into the discussion. Many have no love for their former hispanic overlords and the tribes keep alive the memories.
#6
Good. You don't go to another country, raise your country above the host country and expect to walk the next day. I would expect a severe beating or worse if I did that in Germany, France, China or others. I expect no less here.
#8
When Vietnam fell, almost 60,000 Vietnamese relocated to the Valley of the Sun, and nobody noticed.
Maybe that's because they settle in, go to school, learn english, get jobs and don't demand that everyone notice them and change their lifestyles for them.
#10
ungrateful brats, these people need to realize that they are illegally in this country, illegally! As in NOT legal...we need to realize that fact and face up to our own laws and enforce them accordingly instead of continuing to hire them and saving a buck, the real cost is born by the rest of "us" citizens, not that I dont like Mexicans and Mexico, it's the illegal part I have a problem with. Immegrate LEGALLY and more power to you amigos.
Posted by: bk ||
03/31/2006 12:50
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#11
When I went to school, not hell or high water would postpone the ass kicking to follow.
#12
"Wait till the real native Americans start to way into the discussion. Many have no love for their former hispanic overlords and the tribes keep alive the memories."
Geronimo was a medicine man until his wife and children were murdered during a "peaceful" trading encounter in 1858.
Posted by: Ernest Brown ||
03/31/2006 15:58
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#13
...by Mexicans
Posted by: Ernest Brown ||
03/31/2006 16:45
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#14
First of all, Apaches see themselves as just above Mexicans on the food chain. As late as Pershing's expedition into Mexico after Poncho Villa, the Apache tribes just assumed that they would be accompanying the US Army. When politely told that their services would not be required, there was considerable consternation, along with suggestions that they go anyway, if for no other reason than to preserve the balance of nature by culling as many Mexicans as they could capture.
That being said, Geronimo was small fry. Far more impressive was Cochise, who was to Geronimo as a General is to a Captain. There is a reasonably good Wiki on Cochise, but it understates many of his accomplishments.
#16
Well, in Mexican movies, if they want a really evil villain, usually chief henchman, he will be an Apache. They often fought the Mexican army to a standstill. Very tough people.
At least 1,000 injured in temblors; 200 villages damaged or flattened.
TEHRAN, Iran - Three strong earthquakes and several aftershocks jolted western Iran overnight, killing at least 66 people and injuring about 1,200 others, state television reported Friday.
The initial quake of magnitude 4.7 struck a mountainous region in western Iran late Thursday. It was followed by a quake of magnitude 5.1 that struck Boroujerd and Doroud, two industrial cities in western Iran, at 11:06 p.m. local time Thursday, state television said.
A third temblor of magnitude 6.0 hit Doroud and surrounding villages at 4:47 a.m. local time on Friday, the television reported.
A total of 66 bodies had been recovered from houses in destroyed in Silakhor, a region north of Doroud, the television reported.
200 villages damaged
The provincial head of the Unexpected Disaster Committee, Ali Barani, said no fewer than 200 villages were damaged, and some were flattened.
Most of the 1,200 people injured had been in bed when the quake struck, the television said.
The quake in the middle of the night caused panic, with citizens in Doroud running out of their homes. Many spent the night in open space, residents said.
"We are afraid to get back home. I spent the night with my family and guests in open space last night," Doroud resident Mahmoud Chaharmiri told The Associated Press by telephone.
Twelve aftershocks were registered after the first quake, said Nabi Bidhendi, the head of Tehran Tehran University's Geophysics Institute.
Such quakes have killed thousands of people in the past in the countryside where houses are often built of mudbricks, but initial reports suggested the devastation had not been so widespread this time, Chaharmiri said.
The epicenter of Thursday night's quake was in the mountains south of Boroujerd and north of Doroud.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 5.7-magnitude quake at 4:47 a.m., followed by a 4.7-magnitude 15 minutes later. Their epicenters were 210 miles southwest of Tehran.
The area had been hit by a 4.7-magnitude quake the day before, the USGS said.
Hospitals filled to capacity
Disaster official Barani told the official Islamic Republic News Agency that rescue teams had been sent to the region to help the survivors. He said survivors were in urgent need of blankets, tents and food.
First television images of the quake showed survivors standing next to their destroyed houses in villages north of Doroud. The television also showed dozens of sheep and goats killed by the quake.
Barani said hospitals in the cities of Doroud and Boroujerd were full to their capacity and could not receive further injured, the television reported.
Officials recalled on doctors and nurses from vacation to help treat the injured. Iranians are celebrating Nowruz, or new year, and most government offices are closed and their staff on holiday.
Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. It experiences at least one slight earthquake everyday on average.
In February 2005, a 6.4-magnitude quake rocked the town of Zarand in southern Iran, killing 612 people and injuring more than 1,400.
A magnitude-6.6 quake flattened the historic southeastern city of Bam in the same region in December 2003, killing 26,000 people.
Allah hates you, don't you see? I don't want one red cent of my money going there for relief.
#3
This doesn't have anything to do with underground testing in tunnels, like planned in our own Nevada desert does it? Can't we locate their origin and get the Iranian GPS coordinates?
#6
This doesn't have anything to do with underground testing in tunnels, like planned in our own Nevada desert does it?
Our seismic sensing apparatus allows us to easily distinguish between natural earth movements, large scale conventional explosives and nuclear tests. The waveform envelope contours for each of these three types of energy releases are distinctly different and easily distinguished from each other.
Had this been any sort of ordnance test it would have been leaked to the media already. Many other nations have detection equipment similar to ours. Besides, Iran already has a special test facility designed for the firing of the explosive focusing lenses used to initiate a nuclear explosion.
WASHINGTON - Soldiers will no longer be allowed to wear body armor other than the protective gear issued by the military, Army officials said Thursday, the latest twist in a running battle over the equipment the Pentagon gives its troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
#2
If this is being done, it is being done for both morale and operational reasons.
For much the same reason, soldiers are not permitted to use their own weapons (except in the rare case of using an enemy-captured weapon authorized by their local command.)
Another big reason is that privately obtained armor is designed for that one purpose only, not to be integrated with any other uniform features, and is designed for civilian, not military use.
You don't want soldiers to have a 'Send "Bob" forward--HE is the one with the good body armor' attitude.
#4
Actuallyt he stuff the troops that buy individually have is quite good. Police have been wearing anti-small arms ballistic protection far longer than the military, at least as a routine piece of gear. Military body armor until now has mainly been designed to protect from artillery or fragmentation effects, not bullets.
So the civialin stuff actually is probably better than all but the latest military stuff - and who do you think the military is buying from? Yep - those same companies.
But the individually purchased stuff can and will conform cosmetically to the military staandards - the troops demand that and will get it. Thats how the market place looks. But functionally, if you are a smart consumer, you actually can get a lot better stuff than the issued stuff. I knwo becasue I geared up before, well nevermind when and where (Im a civilian now, contractor).
Here is a point that was overlooked: Because it is usually custom fitted, it provides better protection (i.e. less coverage gapping), allows for more mobility and flexibility, and frequently weighs less and breathes better than issue gear. Add to that the ability to have some customization, like extra loops and hooks, a better chicken plate, and so on - its not the whitewash some brass hat types would have you beleive.
#6
Check it out. You are a Marine on "FOOT" patrol and carrying 70 pounds of equipment you need to survive. Guns, ammo, water, radio's etc. You are in a combat zone where you might have to scale walls, RUN for your life, or even have to swim for cover. Life is tough. Combat is cruel and people die. You have politicos who have no understanding of what combat is because the vast majority have never served. These do gooders with all the answers can't stand the political pressure of even discussing loss of a person engaged in mortal combat. These politicos in all their wisdom and cowardice decide to add an additional 20 pounds to the load with vests and steel plates to lug around. No wonder the vast number of BRAVE MARINES walking foot patrols choose not to carry the extra weight when given a choice. Survival in most cases is achieved by the fleet a foot and not the weighed down target silhouette.
#7
Hate to break your spiel, Spec [/sarcasm] -- but tell that to the families. IIRC, that's part of where the push for force protection comes from...
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
03/31/2006 13:58
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Riding in a Humvee or Bradley is much different from patrolling on foot. Speaking of Humvees they are becoming death traps on many occasions becaus of "OVER PRESSURE" Over pressure from an IED can't be defeated by body armor. I am for the troops and feel for their families losses an mine. The troops should decide.
#9
As a survior of a direct IED blast, I can definately say that you can't have enough armor in the turret of a humvee, however, on foot, anymore weight that you have now does hinder your movement. Read "A Soldier's Load and the Mobility of a Nation" if that doesn't make sense to you. When you are clearing houses or on patrol, you have a ton of shit to carry. Radio, Ammo, AT-4s, Water, breaching tools, etc. It adds up fast, not to mention the summer heat and then you add to that? nuts! The law of diminishing returns should apply....
#11
In the first place, soldiers are not supposed to use anything anyways except what Uncle Sam or the CO's allow, including any non-USDOD/QuarterMaster issued guns and gear. Realistically, however, grunts far from home, Mom, and Washington will listen to these alleged "new" order(s) and then do what they want or need to do to personally survive in combat regardless of what any orders say. Soldiers or warriors, includ Commanders, throughout human history have always supplemented their stuffs - always have, always will, with or without the Death Star, Battlestar Galactica, or the Space Babes.
An Iraqi policeman was killed, an officer and other civilians wounded, in a blast in Kirkuk, northern Iraq. An Iraqi police source told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that an explosive device went off targeting an Iraqi police patrol killing a policeman and wounding an officer, noting that three civilians were wounded in the blast, among them was a female university student. Meanwhile, two Iraqi civilians were killed by unknown gunmen in two separate shooting incidents in Kirkuk, the source said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Afghan authorities expelled 29 Pakistani nationals living in Afghanistan without valid passports on Thursday. Sources said the Afghan government started the operation after the exchange of tough statements between Islamabad and Kabul.
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#1
"Get OUT!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/31/2006 9:41
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I think this incident presents an opportunity for learning to take place. Let me see if I understand this correctly. These 29 people didn't have legal passports to be in the country, so they were told to leave. Sounds reasonable. Question is what would they do with 12 million people without any passports?
A MAN accused of being a member of a terrorist organisation was left in a cell in his underwear after a dispute with prison officers today, a court has been told.
Abdulla Merhi, 20, of Fawkner is one of 10 Melbourne men charged with being a member of a terrorist organisation.
Eight of the men have also been charged with financing a terrorist organisation.
Rob Stary, representing Merhi and seven other defendants, told the Melbourne Magistrates' Court that there had been a dispute between his clients and prison guards this morning over what the prisoners should wear to court.
Mr Stary said the accused had been in jail for six months and their civilian clothes were soiled and musty.
They asked if they could attend in their prison garb but were refused permission.
Mr Stary said that in the course of the dispute, Merhi was left in a cell in his underwear for up to an hour.
"Obviously, there was a sense of degradation and humiliation on his part," he told the court.
The dispute held up proceedings in court one for close to two hours, with only four of the accused wearing civilian clothes eventually attending.
One of the four was the alleged leader of the group, Muslim preacher Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 46, of Dallas, who has also been charged with directing a terrorist organisation.
Before Magistrate Paul Smith entered the court room, Benbrika flanked by security in the dock silenced the courtroom.
"This life is very short," he said. "Everyone is going to die but the best of us."
The end of his statement was indecipherable and was interrupted by the arrival of the magistrate.
The case was adjourned for another committal mention on April 28 and booked in for a committal beginning in the County Court on June 14.
Outside the court, Mr Stary said his clients had asked for their clothes to be cleaned but their request was refused.
He said his clients had wanted to wear prison garb as a protest about their treatment in prison.
"It's the only thing they can do to protest against their circumstances," he said.
#1
Mr Stary said that in the course of the dispute, Merhi was left in a cell in his underwear for up to an hour.
"Obviously, there was a sense of degradation and humiliation on his part," he told the court.
LOL! what a hoot. 'O the shame of nasty privies on the head.
Benbrika This life is very short," he said. "Everyone is going to die but the best of us."
huh? well you will anyway Benbrika, by slo humiliating panty shame.
#3
You'd never be left in your pants under Sharia law - you'd be dead.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
03/31/2006 3:39
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Even Saddam Hussein managed to hand wash his own clothes while imprisoned. We've seen the [unfortunate] photos that prove it. Of course, Mr. Hussein is a secular Arab fascist, so perhaps that's the explanation. What spoiled little brats.
BARA: Political authorities arrested dozens of tribesmen supporting Mufti Munir Shakir under the Collective Responsibility Act of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) on Thursday and sealed their businesses in various parts of the agency. The arrested tribesmen belonged to the Malik Deenkhel and Shalober clans and their businesses in Karkhano Market and Jamrud were closed, official sources said. "More arrests are expected before a formal operation is launched against the cleric's supporters," they said.
Khyber Agency was tense on Thursday two days after bloody clashes which left 25 dead and 14 injured when Mufti's supporters attacked supporters of rival cleric Pir Saifullah Rehman.
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Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari warned against US interference in his countrys politics and defended his ties to a radical Shia militia an interview published in the Thursday edition of The New York Times. With backing from Shia parties, Jaafari is seeking to stay in office but his candidacy has proved contentious among parliamentary factions that have yet to agree on a national unity government three months after national elections. Jaafari told The Times that certain comments from US officials had undermined President George W Bushs public stance in favour of democracy in Iraq. There was a stand from both the American government and President Bush to promote a democratic policy and protect its interests, he told the paper in an interview conducted in his Baghdad home. But now theres concern among the Iraqi people that the democratic process is being threatened.
Jaafari appeared to be referring to US concerns over his candidacy amid reports that US officials were actively lobbying for other figures who might be able to draw support from Kurdish and Sunni leaders, who oppose Jaafari.
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#1
...and that's Arab gratefulness. What lovely people.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
03/31/2006 2:35
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Does he really expect such statements to help his campaign? Even I am not that politically naive!
The Israeli army on Thursday claimed that four people who tried to infiltrate from Egypt were arrested. An army spokesman said the four people were unarmed when arrested. Meanwhile, Israeli police prevented worshippers from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque allegedly after intelligence reports that extremist elements were planning to attack the holy shrine.
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#1
There has to be a negative here somewhere...perhaps if they ask them what they are doing. According to the answer they give ten decide whether to let them go or not. Who knows they might have just taken a wrong turn at the light.
The State Department is investigating to see whether The New York Times violated American sanctions against Sudan by publishing an advertising supplement touting investment in the country. America has maintained a complex set of sanctions against the North African nation since 1997. The sanctions initially were aimed at punishing Sudan's support for international terrorism, efforts to destabilize neighboring governments and violations of human rights. In recent years, the government in Khartoum has come under intense criticism from Western nations and human rights groups for allegedly encouraging genocide in the Sudanese region of Darfur.
The same day that the eight-page supplement was published, the Times ran an editorial decrying the spread of genocide from the Darfur region of Sudan into neighboring Chad, the latest in a series of efforts by the newspaper to shine a spotlight on the mass killings in Darfur and to encourage major international pressure on Khartoum. The Times has caught the attention of the State Department, but not in the way that the newspaper had hoped. "We are currently examining the advertising supplement," Erin Tariot, a spokeswoman for the State Department, told the Forward. "We are looking into it in regards to our own policies with respect to the U.S. sanctions regime against Sudan."
The issue was not the ad's content, but the financial transaction. In addition to drawing scrutiny from the State Department, the Times is being criticized by some activists involved in the campaign to stop the violence in the Darfur. Aside from the question of whether any laws were violated, either by the Times or by the company that placed the supplement, the decision to publish the added feature is highlighting the issue of how closely a newspaper's advertising content should reflect its editorial position. The Times has denounced the Sudanese government as genocidal, and Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has made Darfur one of his signature issues. Martin Raffel, associate executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, accused the Times of violating its own advertising standards in accepting the advertisement. Citing the Times's published standards for "decency and dignity," he told the Forward, "I question whether the systematic rape and destruction of villages is decent and dignified."
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#1
No, really, 's ok, because they like slammed Sudan at the same time they were taking their money. The NY Slimes wouldn't do anything unethical. Remember, they are better and smarter than you.
"Expose" on the Bush Administration to deflect attention in 5....4.....3....
An oil pipeline transporting oil to Baiji refinery in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, went up in flames on Thursday due to blasts. An official in the oil facilities security force, who requested anonymity, said reasons behind the blast were unknown, while fire was strongest in Zaka' village in Riyadh area, west of Kirkuk. He added that fire brigades are still fighting fire in the oil pipeline.
The incident comes days after a statement by the Iraqi Acting Minister of Oil Hashem Al-Hashemi, in which he said that Iraq would need eight to 12 months before resuming oil exports from northern Iraq through Turkey after export operations came to halt due to sabotage acts. Al-Hashemi added that the northern main oil pipeline was totally destroyed and is non-functional, asserting that there is no way to export oil from northern Iraq.
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#4
Turks need oil; Kurds have oil; Salafis are sabatoging oil sales. I have always believed that landlocked Kurds would do better if they made an arrangement with the Turks. Eight months of tanker deliveries to Turkey, might force a new arrangement. When Muslim Bosnia first became independent, the first thing the Saudis did was pay Bosnians $50 million to wreck and rebuild the Ottoman built mosques. My enemies enemy...
A 37-year-old man from Algeria, who was appealing the denial of his application for asylum in Norway, was in police custody Thursday. He's charged with stabbing a doctor to death in downtown Oslo on Wednesday. The fatal stabbing set off a dramatic mid-day manhunt that ended Wednesday night with the arrest of Kamel Mellah, who reportedly has a record of psychiatric problems. Police had been able to identify the murder suspect fairly quickly, because he'd had an appointment with Dr Stein Sjaastad in Sjaastad's doctor's office earlier in the day. Mellah, who initially wasn't identified in Aftenposten because of editorial policy, is charged with threatening the doctor's receptionist, pulling a knife on Sjaastad and stabbing him repeatedly in the neck and chest area. The doctor died at the scene.
Police spokesman Finn Abrahamsen said Mellah had been in Norway for a few years but hadn't been granted permanent resident status. Abrahamsen said he was known for being aggressive towards healthcare workers, and police had warned healthcare personnel in Oslo Wednesday afternoon not to deal with him in case he sought them out while on the run. Mellah had lived at an asylum center in Mosjøen, northern Norway, until last year, when he moved to Oslo. Newspaper Aftenposten reported that he had a history of psychiatric problems and once had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital in northern Norway.
#2
It is good to remember how annoying the mentally ill can be in the US; then to consider how very many are walking around on the street in the rest of the world, and not just the moderately mentally ill, but the extremely, dangerously mentally ill. With no effort to treat or incarcerate them, unless they kill somebody.
#5
The wife is in the Mental Health field. The patients that drive her up the wall the most tend to be the muslim ones. She finds their families to be particularly unhelpful. Logic is not that common in discussion within the families so logic is truely alien to the more severe patients. That makes treatment very problematic.
#7
"Logic is not that common in discussion within the families so logic is truely alien to the more severe patients. That makes treatment very problematic."
Four Israelis were killed Thursday by a bombing attack against Kedumim settlement in the West Bank, said the Israeli army. An army spokesman said a number of Israelis were also injured by the blast which was launched through a booby-trapped car placed by a gas station adjacent to the settlement's gateway, adding that the operation was executed by a "single person" who died by the blast. A spokesman, in a statement to Israeli radio, said the blast was initiated by a member of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, military wing of Fatah. He added that the car might have been detonated from a distance with some type of remote-control.
"Surprise! You're a suicide boom!"
On its part, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, military wing of Fatah, said the attack was launched by one of its members. According to a release by Fatah broadcast by Palestinian radio stations, the person who executed the attack was 24-year-old Ahmad Mahmoud Mahsrqah "in reply to Israel's assassination campaign against Palestinians." Masharqah belonged to the brigade's group of martyr Hammoudah Shtaiwi.
In another development, an Israeli drone launched a missile at an unoccupied area in Gaza Strip. Palestinian sources an Israeli F-16 warplane launched the missile which did not result in any casualties or damage. The sources added that Palestinian security forces abandoned some of their locations in northern Gaza Strip after Israeli threats to bombard the posts. As Israeli warplanes are currently patrolling Gaza's skies, Israeli tanks continue bombarding the strip's northern part in what Israeli security sources termed as retaliation for launching missiles towards Asqalan city that led to injuring and terrifying a number of Israelis.
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#1
In another development, an Israeli drone launched a missile at an unoccupied area in Gaza Strip. Palestinian sources an Israeli F-16 warplane launched the missile which did not result in any casualties or damage. The sources added that Palestinian security forces abandoned some of their locations in northern Gaza Strip after Israeli threats to bombard the posts. As Israeli warplanes are currently patrolling Gaza's skies, Israeli tanks continue bombarding the strip's northern part in what Israeli security sources termed as retaliation for launching missiles towards Asqalan city that led to injuring and terrifying a number of Israelis.
#2
Abu Quka, a leader of either the PFLP or a smaller group (MSM is a tad unclear) was killed in Gaza when his car exploded. Some are blaming the IDF, but apparently many of his followers are blaming the PA Preventive Security Services, and are attacking them on the streets of Gaza.
I'll have mine without butter and salt, this time.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/31/2006 10:11
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2 dead now in the funeral festivities. also the requisite car swarm,of course. More serious popcorn than I expected. Check BBC, or the Israeli papers.
Abdul Rahman, the Afghan Christian who narrowly escaped the death penalty after converting from Islam, has been formally granted refugee status in Italy, the Interior Ministry announced on Thursday. The ministry said in a statement that Rahman, spirited into the country on Wednesday night, had been granted refugee status because he had suffered religious persecution.
Unlike the persecution Moose limbs complain about, it doesn't take a trained observer to distinguish it, either...
Meanwhile, Afghan lawmakers vowed Thursday to investigate whether the judiciary violated Islamic law by freeing Rahman
No doubt. They're up in arms that they couldn't kill somebody. It's that blood fetish.
as the Taliban insurgents called for 'jihad' over the case.
There's always another excuse for jihad, isn't there?
Parliamentarians said on Thursday they would go ahead with an inquiry into the judiciary's decision to free Rahman, even though he was out of the country.
Good idea. Maybe you can find somebody else to kill.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Maybe they could kill the foetus-in-foetu girl we featured on Wednesday's Page 3. I'm sure the Paks could rustle up the necessary paperwork.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
03/31/2006 2:45
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#2
Expect a rush of (phoney) christian converts from this.
#3
Meanwhile, Afghan lawmakers vowed Thursday to investigate whether the judiciary violated Islamic law by freeing Rahman
Barbarians. Barbarians who love being barbarians.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/31/2006 8:28
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#4
Remember how embarrassed they are because Rahman converted from their beloved Islam, the religion of ubiquitous death and destruction, to the relative tranquility of Christianity.
Makes me blush just thinking about it.
Hussain Andaryas, an Afghan Christian leader in the U.S., said the publicity surrounding the Abdul Rahman case had resulted in a surge of interest in Christianity among Afghans, strong concern for the plight of Afghanistan's underground Christians -- and an antagonistic response from Muslims. Andaryas runs a collection of Christian websites in Afghanistan's Dari-Persian tongue as well as daily radio programs and a weekly television program. He is in daily contact with individuals in his homeland, and has been reporting for several years about the risks faced by Afghan Christians -- all converts from Islam and thus considered apostates worthy of death, according to Islamic law (shari'a).
He said one of the websites, which carries news on Afghan Christians, typically drew about 300 unique visitors every month, but since the Rahman story emerged it had attracted half a million visitors. The number of emails received also has risen enormously, and 13 people are now tasked with responding to them. ...
And then there are emails coming from Afghans wanting to know more about Christianity, asking where they can get a Bible in the Dari or Pashto language, or sharing the news that they had become believers in Jesus Christ. Among the most stirring messages are those from Afghan Muslims marveling about a faith for which a man was willing to die and wanting to study the Bible further. Andaryas estimated there are up to 10,000 Christians in Afghanistan. He based that figure on the 6,000 messages sent to his ministry since it began in 1996, all from individuals inside Afghanistan who identified themselves as believing Christians. Even if some of those messages were not genuine, he said, the number would be more than evened out by Christians living in remote areas without access to computers; and those who are too scared to risk their safety by coming out.
#9
TW, I'd mentioned that this mass attempt at exodus was a big fear of the MM's if Rahman was allowed to leave the country.. alive. It was mentioned in a Yahoo News article, but I couldn't find it again to post it as a source.
This sudden coming out of Christians - or more truly a mass leaving of islam - was a big reason for the objection to letting Rahman live.
I think we've found our next cartoon. Or a tipping point. What think you?
#10
I was a keen fan of seesaws in my playground days, Thinemp Whimble2412. That's how it feels to me. Of course, I have been accused of being a Pollyanna -- a blatant lie, of course, as my back was never broken, not even a little bit, however bedridden I may have felt at the time, and there isn't a single P anywhere in my name. ;-)
Fatahs chief in Lebanon, a fugitive since he was sentenced to death in absentia in 1999, surrendered yesterday to a Lebanese military tribunal that swiftly quashed his conviction, a judicial source said. Sultan Abul Aynain was exonerated of charges that he formed armed groups and carried out terrorist acts, and was released following the court session in Beirut.
The move came days after Abul Aynain pledged his Fatah faction would round up weapons from refugee camps amid growing calls for militias in the country to be disbanded. Abul Aynain surrendered to authorities at the military tribunal in Beirut after traveling from the refugee camp of Rashidiyeh in southern Lebanon, where he had been holed up since the death sentence was issued in 1999.
Just prior to his surrender, Abul Aynain spoke to Arab News about the February 2004 UN Security Council Resolution 1559 which calls for all foreign forces in Lebanon mainly Syrian to withdraw from the sovereign country. We will not have dialogue with the Lebanese government based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559 nor on any other basis, said Abul Aynain. However we are very serious in reaching a solution regarding our weapons inside and outside the Palestinian refugee camps. But we will not enter the game of answering accusations through the media, which some Lebanese politicians with foreign agendas are playing, he added.
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A US informant told a British court on Thursday that he had been involved in two plots to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf, confirming that he had bought guns, ammunition and grenades to carry out the attack. Mohammed Babar, a Pakistan-born American, said the first plot had been in early 2002 and the second had been planned for 2003 during Eid.
The 31-year-old was the main prosecution witness at the London trial of seven Britons accused of planning bomb attacks in the UK. Police described the case as Britains biggest terrorism trial since the Sept 11 attacks on the United States. Babar, who has said he was the mens accomplice and has admitted terrorism-related offences back in the United States in connection with the allegations, told the court he had been involved in two conspiracies to kill Musharraf. Under cross-examination from defence lawyer Joel Bennathan, Babar said he had bought eight AK-47 machine guns, 5,000 rounds of ammunition and grenades for an assassination attempt in 2002.
Babar, who has been granted immunity from prosecution over his testimony, admitted that he would probably have been jailed for life in the United States had the plot been uncovered or would have received a potential death sentence in Pakistan had he been extradited there. During his testimony, Babar descried how some of the British suspects had links to Al Qaeda, had taken part in explosives training and had planned to smuggle detonators. The trial at Londons Old Bailey court continues.
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Ministers from Lebanons anti-Syrian parliamentary majority walked out of a Cabinet meeting yesterday in protest at the presence of pro-Damascus President Emile Lahoud, in the latest political row paralyzing the country. The ministers headed out of the session after a verbal clash between anti-Syrian Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh and Lahoud, whom the parliamentary majority seeks to remove from office, an AFP correspondent said. The walkout came shortly after majority leader Saad Hariri said that talks aimed at breaking a long-running political deadlock were close to resolving one of the most contentious issues the fate of Lahoud. Solutions have actually been found to certain issues and there will soon be a solution to the issue of the Lebanese presidency, Hariri told reporters in Cairo after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
The apparent meltdown also followed a public dispute between Lahoud and Prime Minister Fuad Siniora at Wednesdays Arab summit in Khartoum over a draft resolution pledging to support Lebanese armed groups. We represent the majority and Siniora was our representative at the summit. His position was the legitimate one, not yours, Hamadeh told Lahoud at the start of the cabinet session.
Interim Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat told reporters that Lahoud also attacked him verbally during the session. A visibly angry Lahoud told reporters after the session ended abruptly: This fictitious majority wants the head of the resistance (Hezbollah)... it wants all of Lebanon, but they wont go anywhere with us.
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#1
Squabbling in public is good for those citizens.
So they've cancelled the Dubai Ports World deal.
Feel better now? Safer?
I don't.
Because the problem is not just Dubai Ports World.
.
.
.
Influence and investment in the USA by Muslim nations --- particularly Saudi Arabia and the UAE --- not only continues, but is escalating.
#1
There are a few things to think about before going into Chicken Little mode.
The oil producing nations have serious excess hard cash. They have to do something with it. They invest in the US because we'll be around for the long run. They're not going to expose themselves by heavily investing in EUrabia.
This is a two-edged sword. If the UAE proved to be what the hand-wringers fear, all of these investments are instantly forfeit with the stroke of a pen. Yes, they are. Same goes for all the others. Think about it. This is mainly paranoia without corroborating substance. Look to what our military says before believing this crap.
Nothing is perfect. We are an open society and we allow foreign investment. If we limited foreign activities here in the US in precisely the same way that they limit US activities in their countries, it would make more sense, but we have been, and still are, the one place on the planet where we make every effort to be open and free. I'd prefer the equal treatment approach, but that's just common sense. This isolationist approach is crap.
If the price tag for our openness actually does endanger us, not these mindless "Run away! Run away!" freak-out articles, it will change with a vengeance. We're very slow to rile, but even slower to disengage once we get our collective dander up. We will do our best in the mean time. We have been doing the right things, more or less, for the last 5 years. What we will do after Bush is something worth worrying about.
The gravest danger we face is internal, not external.
#3
LOL. .com? LOL, thanks. Another clueless detective.
You're an oldie, but not a goodie. I've heard your sad song before, under other names. Many others here probably recognize you, too. Your offering is a repetitive ballad of phoney expertise. Hit Fred's donation button, then button up.
#4
You are right Grotle Gliting3445. We said we were serious about moving them forward so we had better follow through this time. Nothing changes overnight and we still have control over our soverign assets. It is debt, reserve, and trust. And if an Arab trusts you, you have made a decision to include them into something they will be less likely wanting to destroy. They MUST change but that is a slow process. Our notes depend on this and they have to have something to start off with for balance. It is NOT selling America. It is granting a well meaning group with a suit and a tie overseas a steak in OUR survival as well as a good chance to balance what they already spend on US out. Trust ME. Do not turn this oppertunity down. You will regeret it if you do. I know of what I speak.
If anyone has questions, I am open for discussion but this is necessary. Very neccessary. Not bad guys, just people moving forward and deserving of some trust. Remember Japan.
Do not fight this deal. Please do not.
The least you can learn with your neighbors is that they all do not want to destroy you and some mean well. (And have proved it)
#5
Besides, you do not want to see what can be done if they screw US. So relax for awhile. Hell, if we get screwed once, there will be nothing at all left in the middle east but rubble by quake or rake.
#7
Our system has given the rich in the ME vast amounts of $ for the oil in the ground. They have to do something with it, so they invest in the NY stock exchange. Okay so far. But, when they start investing in our universities, bells and whistles. Why don't they build their own universities ? Islam uncompatable with education ?
We have yet to win our universities back from the declining commies who run them, so we can't afford this latest $ influx. The results of the leftists in our universities is to separate us. The additional money will further separate us. I say we keep foreign money out of our institutions. The idea that we get down on our knees to stay on top does not bode well in my world. I'm not going to sell out my country for anything, not even a free trip to heaven.
#9
Speaking not of the UAE, but of their Saudi neighbors, Ibn Warraq, the esteemed author of Leaving Islam and Why I Am Not A Muslim pointed out at the Hague conference, "In August, 2002, the Rand Corporation published a report that described Saudi Arabia as ' the kernel of evil, the prime mover, the most dangerous opponent."
The report went on explain that "Saudi Arabia supports our enemies and attacks our allies. The Saudis are active at every level of the terror chain, from planners to financiers, from cadre to foot-soldier, from ideologist to cheerleader'. And yet little seems to have changed in the West's behavior towards a regime that has financed terrorism, funnelled millions into madrassas that preach more anti-Western hatred, has corrupted institutions of higher education like Harvard and Georgetown University, has bought the favours of Western politicians and seeks to destroy Western civilisation at every turn. We know the reason: oil. But until we address the question of Saudi Arabia and its influence on life in the West we shall have no progress, no rest."
Saudi Arabia still remains our most significant blind spot. Until we delimit the spread of Salafist and Wahabbist Islam the global war on terror will continue to be the political and economic quagmire it is. However useful the war in Iraq has been in terms of exposing the uselessness of exporting democracy to Arab Islamic countries, it is still sad to think that the money we have spent in Iraq could have propelled American technology towards permanently weaning us off of the oil teat.
We desperately need to free ourselves of dependence upon foreign oil. Let them eat sand.
#10
How can the Salafists be better targeted? Prior to the extreme polarization in the occupied West Bank, the Israel Defense Forces found an easy way to get intelligence. They would pick up large numbers of civilians and seek to use them as informants. Naturally, most refused but enough co-operated to facilitate attacks on terror arms dumps, terror commanders and staging areas. So many Arabs would be picked up that the terrorists couldn't identify the informants. On a few occasions, the terrorists murdered innocent suspects, which discredited them. This sounds like kidnapping, but even in the US investigative detention was upheld by SCOTUS in Terry v Ohio. If it works...
The Islamist group Hamas has defended a suicide bombing that killed four Israelis as "resistance" against Israeli "crimes", putting it at odds with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who condemned the attack. Hours after the bombing, Israeli warplanes and artillery struck the Gaza Strip, though no casualties were reported.
A car explosion in Gaza later killed a top leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, a group that frequently fires rockets into Israel. The Army, which often targets Palestinian militants in air strikes, denied involvement in the blast.
The conflicting statements of Hamas and Mr Abbas on the West Bank suicide bombing were the first since the President swore in the Palestinian Authority's first Hamas Government on Wednesday. Mr Abbas has said he could overrule the group, which is pledged to Israel's destruction, if it continues to block peacemaking. The suicide bombing, claimed by al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, occurred days after Israeli leader Ehud Olmert's Kadima party won elections on a platform of setting Israel's borders in the occupied West Bank unilaterally in the absence of peace talks. Palestinians say such a move would annex land and deny them the viable state they seek in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israeli officials said the bomber, whose group is part of Mr Abbas's Fatah faction, was disguised as a religious Jewish hitchhiker and blew himself up when Israelis in a car picked him up near a settlement late on Thursday. A spokesman for Mr Abbas told official Palestinian media that the President condemned the bombing and that he asked all factions to abide by a truce declared last year. Hamas described the attack as a "natural response to Israeli crimes". Information Minister Youssef Rizqa said: "Resistance is a legitimate right for people under occupation."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Ah yes, the government of terror. How are you enjoying so far, Pals?
Six people, including a district chief and five low-ranking officials, were killed by Taliban on Thursday in two separate attacks in southern Afghanistan. The district chief Mohammad Qadir was killed when his convoy was ambushed by Taliban in Afghanistan's comparatively peaceful Laghman province. Four security guards of the official also killed in the attack.
In a separate attack in the insurgency-hit Helmand province, situated south of the country, Taliban attacked and killed a security officer and his brother. Both the slain were on way to attend their duty in the provincial capital of Lashkargah.
Taliban had distributed night letters in the same province about a fortnight back asking government officials to quit their jobs and stop cooperation with the Afghan and US forces stationed in the area. Fearing action from the insurgents, hundreds of officials have either left their jobs or migrated to safer places. Early in the morning, seven Afghan civilians were injured when a suicide bomber missed a Canadian forces' convoy in the Kandahar province.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Point the blame finger at: Pakistan.
The sunglasses on the bearded freak look un-Islamic.
Two civilians including a woman and a child were killed and four others were wounded including two soldiers Thursday when suspected Islamic militants attacked a school with rockets in North Waziristan tribal agency along Afghan border, said security officials. Suspected militants fired several rockets at a school in Mir Ali village at the time when no one was in the school, officials told KUNA.
They said the attack on school, currently under Frontier Corps (FC) control, wounded four people including two FC soldiers. Officials said there was an exchange of fire between the militants and security force. They added that in exchange of fire a woman and a child were killed. Officials said security in the area has been beefed up and Mir Ali Bazaar has been sealed. Forces are fighting in the North Waziristan tribal agency for the last few weeks. The operation has killed so far over 100 militants including foreigners.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Wow. What brave 'lions of Islam'. I wonder how long it took them to summon the courage to attack an empty school.
A Pakistani tribal belt is easily distinguished from its less rustic Palestinain counterpart by the more elaborate vegetable dye waistband stiching and substitution of goat dung coated marbles for warferin layered ball bearings. Additional differences in ultimate Semtex ordnance payload weight are accounted for by the shorter average body height of the usual Pakistani wearer. Close examination of the trigger and detonation circuitry will reveal the use of reworked household heater tip-and-trip switches versus the cell phone remote acuation more popular in the occupied territories. Yaddita yaddita yadda ...
The US Navy sent ships, helicopters and divers on Thursday as part of a concerted rescue effort to save nearly 150 victims of a ferry accident in the sea waters of Bahrain. Initial reports said there were casualties from the evening cruise that sank after it overturned less than a mile off the coast of Bahrain in the late hours of the day. - US Navy Lieutenant Trey Brown confirmed to KUNA that some small boats with divers were responding to the ferry accident.
The Naval Forces Central Command is headquartered in Bahrain, where they are responsible for the Navy forces of the 27 countries in the area stretching from Afghanistan to Djibouti, said Brown.
You're welcome. Next time you're burning a few flags, think about who shows up when things go wrong. It's not your local holy man.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Technically, the holy man *does* show up, but only to tell you it's all your fault 'cos you've fallen away from Allan's One True Path...
Eight Iraqi employees working in the Baiji electric power facilities were killed by gunmen on Thursday. An Iraqi security source told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that unknown gunmen attacked with machineguns a group of employees leaving the facilities to their residence. The attack was preceded by another today when an oil pipeline caught fire due to blasts with unknown causes.
Also, four Iraqis were killed today and 22 others were wounded in a series of attacks using explosive devices and a booby-trapped car in Baghdad. Meanwhile, an Iraqi Interior Ministry source announced that the number of mortar rounds targeting the military college headquarters, used as a base by the US forces, reached 22 rounds, while losses were not figured yet.
Posted by: Fred ||
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At least seven citizens were injured when a suicide bomber hurled himself at a Canadian military convoy in southern Afghanistan early Thursday morning. Only the bomber was killed in the bungled attack, Afghan officials said. The Canadian soldiers, leading the provincial reconstruction team (PRT) in Afghanistan's Kandahar province, did not issue any comment. The fresh suicide attack was carried out less than 24 hours after claims by the US military of killing 32 Taliban in an offensive operation in the neighbouring Helmand province. One US and one Canadian soldier were also killed in the counter-offensive that was started on Tuesday and lasted till Wednesday afternoon. Rahmatullah Raufi, a senior Afghan military commander, told journalists it was a failed attempt by a militant riding in an explosive-packed car. He said the bomber himself was killed while seven passers-by suffered injuries. The Canadian convoy remained safe in the attack, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#4
ima thinkin' he meant that only the boomer got killed (note his e-mail address is from Canada). A theological question for those in the know...If you only blow yourself up (don't take out any infidels), do you still get all 72 raisins? Or only 1/2, or none at all. Yeesh, it's Friday...maybe I should go to the local moskkk and ask them.
Posted by: BA ||
03/31/2006 9:36
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#5
Whoops...meant "..he meant good that only the boomer got killed..." Carry on. I would like an answer to my question above though.
Posted by: BA ||
03/31/2006 9:37
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#1
At the conclusion of filthy-minded Prez, Bill Clinton's 1999 hoop-jump for Kosovo Islamofascists, an armistice was signed that recognized perpetual Serbian sovereignty over the Kosovo entity. And now a 2nd - after Bosnia - terror state is being formed in Europe. The more we retreat, the more will the mortal Muslim enemy advance. Slobo was a moron, but most Serbs recognized the inherently aggressive nature of the Muslim. The 9-11 lesson didn't sink in. I guess we need another. Check this out:
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/mitic/006.shtml
South Waziristan is under the full control of militants loyal to Baitullah Mehsud and Abdullah Mehsud, enforcing Taliban-style governance, said Col (r) Yakub Mahsud during a conference at Peshawar University on Thursday. Abdullah and Baitullah are controlling South Waziristan in the absence of a political agent, he said in a talk on Pakistan-Afghanistan relations and the situation in the tribal areas. Militants are implementing a Taliban-style government and also influencing Tank district, he added. The retired colonels revelation comes after NWFP Governor Khalilur Rehman denied the presence of Taliban in South Waziristan. Mahsud led the governments side in negotiations with the Mehsuds in October 2004 for the release of kidnapped Chinese engineers.
I doubt anybody really believed the governor, anyway. If we're this used to denials of the patently obvious, think what the Pak-in-the-street must feel like.
Abdullah and Baitullah are convinced the West understands only force - and their point is understandable. They have no faith in Muslim states, which are doing little to save Muslims from degradation, he said. Military operations in the tribal areas are not in Pakistans interest, he added, blaming Islamabad for not negotiating a peaceful resolution to the Waziristan issue. Abdullah is willing to negotiate a peaceful solution and honours his word unlike the government, said Mahsud. However, he did not expand upon when the government broke its promises.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Those primitives should be consistent, and only use weapons that can be created by using only their knowledge. That would leave them with slingshots.
Either Asif Zardari or Gomez Addams, I'm not sure which.
An accountability court on Thursday ordered the confiscation of property belonging to Asif Ali Zardari, husband of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, in an assets reference. The National Accountability Court gave the verdict in the illegal assets reference, saying that property belonging to Zardari in various cities, including Rawalpindi, should be confiscated. The judge has also directed all concerned DCOs to take steps to confiscate the property. The court has already declared Zardari a proclaimed offender in the case. Advocates Bashir Qurashi, Tanvirul Islam, Muhammad Iqbal and Arif Chohan appeared before the court on behalf of NAB, while Zardari's counsel was not present during the hearing.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Thursday that the "Zionist regime" in the Middle East has always proven to be a constant threat. In response to a question from the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) on whether Iran fears an Israeli pre-emptive strike, Mottaki said that the officials of the "Zionist regime" has said that they are facing an earthquake in the occupied land, and therefore "we do not think it can carry out its threats".
Mottaki stressed in a new conference today that nuclear technology for peaceful uses is the inalienable right of the states adhering to the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and that Iran has been a member for the past 36 years. The Iranian foreign minister did not see that the Security Council is the appropriate body to deal with the Iranian issue, and noted that deadlines are also not an appropriate idea. Mottaki stressed that Iran's drive to peaceful nuclear technology does not need the permission of any country. "We are ready to work towards the achievement of this right in the context of negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and that Iran's cooperation will continue with the agency," he stressed.
On the proposed talks between Iran and the US on Iraq and whether Iran is willing to start such talks after the Security-Council developments, Mottaki said that Iran supported the expansion of democracy inside Iraq. Mottaki added that Iran supported and supports the territorial integrity, national unity and nation building in Iraq. The Iranian foreign minister noted that the recent proposal by Iraqi leaders for Iran to talk with the US about issues relating to Iraq is viewed by Iran as a means of trying to help the Iraqi nation. He stressed that these negotiations will be only limited to the Iraqi issue, and that the venue and time is yet to be finalized. Mottaki held this press conference following his address to the Conference on Disarmament.
Posted by: Fred ||
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In response to a question from the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) on whether Iran fears an Israeli pre-emptive strike, Mottaki said that the officials of the "Zionist regime" has said that they are facing an earthquake in the occupied land, and therefore "we do not think it can carry out its threats".
Better get your story straight, Turban Boyz. You're the ones having the earthquake. See story.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/31/2006 2:28
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#3
Clearly, thpse zionists are a constant threat. it's obvious that tiny speck of land on the Med has designs on conquering neighboring Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Egypt first, with the rest of the middle east to follow. They plan on forcing the indigenous populations worship only in the Jewish faith. All others will be killed. After all, they have nukes, and they're just itching to use them agains the glorious muslim world. Because these joooooos are barbaric in nature, unlike the enlightened muslims of the world. If only they could find islam, the true religion of peace.
/sarcasm
What's ironic is that just about every other middle eastern country hopes Israel DOES preemptively strike Iran, but is loathe to admit it. So they keep their fingers crossed in their halls of government while fomenting hate in their streets.
#4
Mottaki said that the officials of the "Zionist regime" has said that they are facing an earthquake in the occupied land, and therefore "we do not think it can carry out its threats".
WTF? This is even hard logic to follow in MM-land. Because of an earthquake (in Iran), Israel can't carry out it's threats (not that Israel's even really threatened them yet)? What part of F-16s dropping bombs needs to be on the ground, there MMs? Yeesh, methinks someone's been hittin' the opium pipes too much.
Posted by: BA ||
03/31/2006 9:27
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#5
Yeah, Israel is always attacking Iran for no reason.
Sending suicide bombers into public markets and busses.
#7
I think the "earthquake" is a reference to the Israeli elections. (Yet, I don't know why he thinks there's a discord of earthquake proportions. He must be nuts.) And that in Israel's complete dissaray post-election, they won't be able to handle a pre-emptive strike.
On the other hand, he may be forecasting that Israel is about to undergo a major attack (the earthquake) that will eliminate the threat of pre-emptive strike.
I think the tense - despite the bad phrasing of the quote - "about to face" may be truer. Option 2 is what I fear is on the calendar.
#8
If the mullahs weren't such dangerous madmen, it would almost be amusing to watch these total wingnuts vigorously suck their own butts in order to breathe enough exhaust to finally believe what they're spewing.
THE first person in Australia to be convicted under new terrorism laws has been sentenced to five years' jail. Muslim convert and former Melbourne taxi driver, Joseph Terrence Thomas, was found guilty of intentionally receiving funds from al-Qaeda and holding a false passport. Supreme Court Justice Philip Cummins sentenced the 32-year-old to five years' jail, with a minimum of two years. Thomas, of suburban Werribee, was the first Australian to be charged under new terrorism laws and the fifth charged under anti-terrorism legislation passed by federal Parliament in October 2002.
"The thing that's weighing very heavily on our minds are the conditions that Jack's being held under," Mr Thomas said.
"They truly are very punitive. Jack has for some time been held in solitary confinement."
Jeez, ya think he was in...prison, or something...
#3
I'd bet he'll be longing for the days of solitary soon.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/31/2006 15:54
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Hi, Mrs. D. You've been much missed around these parts! I even went so far, a few days past, as to relate the history of Mr. Davis' mid-life crisis and subsequent troubles with Miss Gentle and Mr. Murat, for the edification of those Rantburgers who arrived afterward. ;-)
A Pakistan-based rebel group fighting India over Kashmir said a ceasefire was possible if New Delhi recognised such groups as parties to the dispute, according to a report published on Thursday. Not only Hizbul Mujahedeen but also the entire militant leadership would consider (a) truce if the Indian government acknowledges the disputed and tripartite nature of the Kashmir issue, Hizbul supreme commander Syed Salahudin told the Kashmir News Service in a telephone interview from Pakistan.
Salahudin - who is also the chairman of the Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant alliance, the United Jihad Council wanted talks between India, Pakistan and Kashmiris before agreeing to a ceasefire.
New Delhi has met moderate Kashmiri separatist groups in the past year as part of an effort to discuss the dispute and reduce violence. At least 44,000 people have been killed since the insurgency was launched in 1989. But Salahudin said those talks have not helped. The dialogue process initiated by the moderate leadership has so far failed to produce any breakthrough in terms of Kashmir resolution, he said. Salahudin, who tops the security force list of most wanted militants, said violence would decline as the dialogue process moves forward. In Afghanistan, Vietnam and other conflict areas war and dialogue have run side by side. Armed confrontation would automatically recede as serious dialogue process moves forward, he said.
However, he said groups such as his would continue to boycott elections in Indian-held Kashmir. As we dont recognise the Indian constitution, taking part in Indian-held elections is immaterial, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#5
I see a cartoon;
India starts catapulting their dead Muslims over to the Pakis. A form of taking out the trash. Maybe with a little sign like "We've been trying to live with you jerks for decades now, it never seems to get any easier."
#8
I see a cartoon;
India starts catapulting their dead Muslims over to the Pakis. A form of taking out the trash. Maybe with a little sign like "We've been trying to live with you jerks for decades now, it never seems to get any easier."
WX, that reminds me of the old skit on SNL about the "Yard-A-Pult," lol. Don't know if you saw it, but it was in the form of a commercial selling the yard-a-pult (for $29.95 of course). Had a picture perfect suburban home depicted with dad & son out back using the yard-a-pult to fling trash over their fence and down a few houses. Absolutely hilarious...until lil' Timmy came home, and Spot had died (the family dog). Dad took Spot's body out back and yard-a-pult'd it into the next county, it looked like. A very good idea/invention for this region, lol!
Posted by: BA ||
03/31/2006 9:44
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#9
This plan sounds an awful lot like blackmail. India should just keep blasting the he|| out of these rectal cavities and tell them to find some other talks to bully their way into.
#3
If you look at the various BBC discussions on the Iran Nuke issue - almost every other letter is the WHINE that Israel has nukes. (no mention of Pak ones).
#5
I doubt we'll be able to turn the entire Middle East into a nuke FREE zone, but I'm sure we can turn it into a nuke FIRE zone - unless some spoiled children learn some manners, yesterday.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/31/2006 16:06
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#6
but I'm sure we can turn it into a nuke FIRE zone
The Special Court for Sierra Leone has formally asked the Netherlands to host the war crimes trial of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor, the ministry of foreign affairs said here Thursday. "Wednesday the Sierra Leone special court asked the Dutch government to agree to allow the physical judicial process to take place in the Netherlands but it would remain the Sierra Leone tribunal," foreign ministry spokesman Dirk-Jan Vermeij said. The UN-backed court in Freetown told the Dutch authorities that Taylor's "physical presence there could endanger the stability of the region".
Posted by: Fred ||
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Yes, but the restaurants are much better in Brussels, and the Dutch are averse to taking payment on credit cards. (We ran out of cash in Amsterdam on a Sunday afternoon once. All the ATMs were turned off, too. It was a hungry afternoon. Of course, that was 1995, so perhaps things have changed for the better.)
(2006-03-30) The United Nations Security Council yesterday passed a resolution calling on Iran to halt uranium enrichment by the end of April or face the looming specter of a virtual mushroom cloud of additional Security Council discussions and resolutions.
Iran immediately called the non-binding resolution a terrifying deployment of words that threatens our women, our children and our peaceful way of life.
The measure, which carries no consequences for non-compliance, nevertheless contains active verbs, challenging vocabulary and deliberate punctuation that pose a clear and present danger to the people of Iran, according to an unnamed spokesman for the Islamic Republic.
The brutal thugs on the Security Council have us over a barrel, the Iranian source said. Our people are filled with fear. We are at the mercy of the United Nations.
Holding one-tenth of the worlds known oil reserves and the second largest natural gas reserves, Iran desperately needs enriched uranium only to generate electricity, and not to make nuclear weapons to wipe Israel from the map.
#2
He forgot the part where they were shaking in their jackboots over the "language used". And the fact that there was a "referal" was terrifying. They were wondering if sanctions were offered, they could go to kofi's son and get the cash bag for "oil for food". The Germans even thought they seemed serious about not sending anymore technology but since russia and france was, they figgured "might as well" Besides, with friends like China, who needs the UN - or the USA - or the Joos for that matter.
#4
"a terrifying deployment of words that threatens our women, our children and our peaceful way of life.
WTF ? A tsunami of shame is upon them. They are drowning in guilt and remorse. Doubt and mistrust have collapsed their homes and mosques into piles of dust. It's almost enough to make one blow himself up in a group of innocent people.
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.
Writing in monthly Naya Zamana (January 2006) Dr Parwez Parwazi narrated that Justice Muhammad Munir in his memoir talked about a spiritual leader staying next to his rest house in Murree whose disciples used stones to dry their genitals after urination. The process was called watwani. The custom was to take a stone and keeping rubbing it on the genitals while walking around. When Justice Munir protested to the pir he replied that his disciples were observing a sunnat.
Australians are not ready for a disaster such as a terrorist attack or spread of bird flu to humans and should undergo their own emergency training so as not to be reliant on authorities, experts say.
A notorious robber was killed in crossfire during a "shootout" between Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and his accomplices in Beanibazar upazila in Sylhet early yesterday. 
The outlawed 
Bangla Bhai was produced before the cognisance court of Magistrate Atiqur Rahman at about 11:30 am yesterday amid tight security with police seeking a 10-day remand for further interrogation in an explosives case. The court granted the remand. 
Rab-5 arrested Jamaat activist 
A Dhaka court yesterday again ordered the investigation officer (IO) of an August 17 bomb blast case to submit immediately the probe report against 
Three lawyers of Dhaka Bar Association --Mozammel Haq, Golam Kibria and Lutfor Rahman-- on Wednesday moved a bail petition on behalf of JMB member 
The chief prosecutor at the United Nations-backed War Crimes Tribunal in Sierra Leone says the trial of the former Liberian leader 
A report by more than 50 charity groups says the rate of violent deaths in northern Uganda is three times higher than in Iraq. The report has been prepared by 
Konoshin Kawabata, 48, was rummaging inside a room in Osaka in the early hours when he was suddenly confronted by wrestler Dewanosato, who stands 180 centimetres and weighs 131 kilograms. "Without thinking, my body moved," Dewanosato, whose real name is Hideyuki Kawahara, said. "I caught the guy and bear-hugged him." 
A New Zealand hostage released from captivity in Iraq believes a ransom was paid for his freedom. 
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice shrugged off protests over the US-led war in Iraq at the start of a tour today of north-west England hosted by her British counterpart 
Israeli doctors are preparing long-term care plans for comatose Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as his stand-in Ehud Olmert prepares to begin talks on forming a new government in his own right. A spokesman for Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital where Mr Sharon has been cared for since suffering a massive brain haemorrhage in January told AFP no final decision had been taken. But he said discussions were continuing while the 78-year-old premier's condition remained "serious but stable". 
Three Melbourne men have been charged with terrorist offences in relation to an ongoing counter-terrorism operation in the city. The Australian Federal Police (AFP), ASIO and Victorian police have all been involved in the arrests. A 21-year-old, a 25-year-old and a 26-year-old from the city's northern suburbs were questioned at the AFP's headquarters in Melbourne. They have been charged with intentional membership of a terrorist organisation and intentionally making funds available to a terrorist organisation. 
"Sanctions are a bad idea. We are not facing an imminent threat. We need to lower the pitch," the International Atomic Energy Agency's 
Attempts by the world's leading powers to join forces and stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons have fallen into disarray as they disagreed in public over whether Tehran could face sanctions. The UN Security Council on Wednesday night issued a unanimous "presidential statement", giving Iran 30 days to freeze its uranium enrichment program. A day later, at a meeting in Berlin, the foreign ministers of six key powers - America, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - reinforced the message by telling Iran it had to make a choice between negotiations or international isolation. But the ministers, who were meeting to co-ordinate future tactics, were soon at odds when it came to deciding what action to take if Tehran remains defiant.
France is keenly awaiting a presidential address tonight in which Jacques Chirac is expected to give his verdict on the highly contentious youth employment law. The country has been hit by a wave of protests and strikes over the measure. Yesterday France's highest constitutional body backed the law, passing it to Chirac to either sign or reject.
Sri Lanka's ruling coalition won an overwhelming victory in local elections, according to results released by the government, a result seen as an endorsement of the president's negotiations with Tamil Tiger rebels. President Mahinda Rajapakse's United Peoples' Freedom Alliance won majorities in 212 out of 249 local councils where results were declared, the Government Information Department said Friday. The main opposition group won 29 seats, and minor parties won the other eight seats. Remaining results for 17 councils were expected Saturday, the department said.
Turkish police backed by armored personnel carriers used tear gas and truncheons to disperse a violent march Thursday by tens of thousands of Kurdish protesters in Diyarbakir. A seven-year-old boy was reported to be in critical condition after sustaining bullet wounds in his stomach. Witnesses said he was fired on by police. The reports could not be confirmed.
At least 57 people, mainly foreigners, drowned when their dinner cruise boat capsized off the coast of Bahrain, officials said on Friday. The boat's owner, quoted by Al Arabiya television, said the traditional wooden dhow may have been overcrowded and capsized when passengers gathered on one side. Arab media reports said the captain had been reluctant to sail with so many on board the twin-decked boat.
An Iraqi policeman was killed, an officer and other civilians wounded, in a blast in Kirkuk, northern Iraq. An Iraqi police source told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that an explosive device went off targeting an Iraqi police patrol killing a policeman and wounding an officer, noting that three civilians were wounded in the blast, among them was a female university student. Meanwhile, two Iraqi civilians were killed by unknown gunmen in two separate shooting incidents in Kirkuk, the source said.
BARA: Political authorities arrested dozens of tribesmen supporting Mufti Munir Shakir under the Collective Responsibility Act of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) on Thursday and sealed their businesses in various parts of the agency. The arrested tribesmen belonged to the Malik Deenkhel and Shalober clans and their businesses in Karkhano Market and Jamrud were closed, official sources said. "More arrests are expected before a formal operation is launched against the cleric's supporters," they said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari warned against US interference in his countrys politics and defended his ties to a radical Shia militia an interview published in the Thursday edition of The New York Times. With backing from Shia parties, Jaafari is seeking to stay in office but his candidacy has proved contentious among parliamentary factions that have yet to agree on a national unity government three months after national elections. Jaafari told The Times that certain comments from US officials had undermined President George W Bushs public stance in favour of democracy in Iraq. There was a stand from both the American government and President Bush to promote a democratic policy and protect its interests, he told the paper in an interview conducted in his Baghdad home. But now theres concern among the Iraqi people that the democratic process is being threatened.
The State Department is investigating to see whether The New York Times violated American sanctions against Sudan by publishing an advertising supplement touting investment in the country. America has maintained a complex set of sanctions against the North African nation since 1997. The sanctions initially were aimed at punishing Sudan's support for international terrorism, efforts to destabilize neighboring governments and violations of human rights. In recent years, the government in Khartoum has come under intense criticism from Western nations and human rights groups for allegedly encouraging genocide in the Sudanese region of Darfur.
An oil pipeline transporting oil to Baiji refinery in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, went up in flames on Thursday due to blasts. An official in the oil facilities security force, who requested anonymity, said reasons behind the blast were unknown, while fire was strongest in Zaka' village in Riyadh area, west of Kirkuk. He added that fire brigades are still fighting fire in the oil pipeline.
Four Israelis were killed Thursday by a bombing attack against Kedumim settlement in the West Bank, said the Israeli army. An army spokesman said a number of Israelis were also injured by the blast which was launched through a booby-trapped car placed by a gas station adjacent to the settlement's gateway, adding that the operation was executed by a "single person" who died by the blast. A spokesman, in a statement to Israeli radio, said the blast was initiated by a member of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, military wing of Fatah. He added that the car might have been detonated from a distance with some type of remote-control.
Fatahs chief in Lebanon, a fugitive since he was sentenced to death in absentia in 1999, surrendered yesterday to a Lebanese military tribunal that swiftly quashed his conviction, a judicial source said. Sultan Abul Aynain was exonerated of charges that he formed armed groups and carried out terrorist acts, and was released following the court session in Beirut.
A US informant told a British court on Thursday that he had been involved in two plots to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf, confirming that he had bought guns, ammunition and grenades to carry out the attack. Mohammed Babar, a Pakistan-born American, said the first plot had been in early 2002 and the second had been planned for 2003 during Eid. 
Ministers from Lebanons anti-Syrian parliamentary majority walked out of a Cabinet meeting yesterday in protest at the presence of pro-Damascus President Emile Lahoud, in the latest political row paralyzing the country. The ministers headed out of the session after a verbal clash between anti-Syrian Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh and Lahoud, whom the parliamentary majority seeks to remove from office, an AFP correspondent said. The walkout came shortly after majority leader Saad Hariri said that talks aimed at breaking a long-running political deadlock were close to resolving one of the most contentious issues the fate of Lahoud. Solutions have actually been found to certain issues and there will soon be a solution to the issue of the Lebanese presidency, Hariri told reporters in Cairo after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
The Islamist group Hamas has defended a suicide bombing that killed four Israelis as "resistance" against Israeli "crimes", putting it at odds with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who condemned the attack. Hours after the bombing, Israeli warplanes and artillery struck the Gaza Strip, though no casualties were reported. 
Six people, including a district chief and five low-ranking officials, were killed by Taliban on Thursday in two separate attacks in southern Afghanistan. The district chief Mohammad Qadir was killed when his convoy was ambushed by Taliban in Afghanistan's comparatively peaceful Laghman province. Four security guards of the official also killed in the attack.
Two civilians including a woman and a child were killed and four others were wounded including two soldiers Thursday when suspected Islamic militants attacked a school with rockets in North Waziristan tribal agency along Afghan border, said security officials. Suspected militants fired several rockets at a school in Mir Ali village at the time when no one was in the school, officials told KUNA.
The US Navy sent ships, helicopters and divers on Thursday as part of a concerted rescue effort to save nearly 150 victims of a ferry accident in the sea waters of Bahrain. Initial reports said there were casualties from the evening cruise that sank after it overturned less than a mile off the coast of Bahrain in the late hours of the day. - US Navy Lieutenant Trey Brown confirmed to KUNA that some small boats with divers were responding to the ferry accident.
Eight Iraqi employees working in the Baiji electric power facilities were killed by gunmen on Thursday. An Iraqi security source told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that unknown gunmen attacked with machineguns a group of employees leaving the facilities to their residence. The attack was preceded by another today when an oil pipeline caught fire due to blasts with unknown causes.
At least seven citizens were injured when a suicide bomber hurled himself at a Canadian military convoy in southern Afghanistan early Thursday morning. Only the bomber was killed in the bungled attack, Afghan officials said. The Canadian soldiers, leading the provincial reconstruction team (PRT) in Afghanistan's Kandahar province, did not issue any comment. The fresh suicide attack was carried out less than 24 hours after claims by the US military of killing 32 Taliban in an offensive operation in the neighbouring Helmand province. One US and one Canadian soldier were also killed in the counter-offensive that was started on Tuesday and lasted till Wednesday afternoon. Rahmatullah Raufi, a senior Afghan military commander, told journalists it was a failed attempt by a militant riding in an explosive-packed car. He said the bomber himself was killed while seven passers-by suffered injuries. The Canadian convoy remained safe in the attack, he added.
Iranian Foreign Minister 
THE first person in Australia to be convicted under new terrorism laws has been sentenced to five years' jail. Muslim convert and former Melbourne taxi driver, Joseph Terrence Thomas, was found guilty of intentionally receiving funds from al-Qaeda and holding a false passport. Supreme Court Justice Philip Cummins sentenced the 32-year-old to five years' jail, with a minimum of two years. Thomas, of suburban Werribee, was the first Australian to be charged under new terrorism laws and the fifth charged under anti-terrorism legislation passed by federal Parliament in October 2002.
A Pakistan-based rebel group fighting India over Kashmir said a ceasefire was possible if New Delhi recognised such groups as parties to the dispute, according to a report published on Thursday. Not only Hizbul Mujahedeen but also the entire militant leadership would consider (a) truce if the Indian government acknowledges the disputed and tripartite nature of the Kashmir issue, Hizbul supreme commander Syed Salahudin told the Kashmir News Service in a telephone interview from Pakistan.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone has formally asked the Netherlands to host the war crimes trial of former Liberian leader 
