Please read this excellent and extremely topical short story about Islam and the future by award winning science fiction writer Dan Simmons. Some of you may remember him as the author of the topnotch Hyperion series, while others may have perused his recent Ilium/Olympus duology. My favorite Dan Simmons quote (from Olympus): Three thousand years of civilization and all that Islam ever managed to create was self-replicating, time-traveling, Jew-hunting killer robots.
April 2006 Message from Dan
Greetings Readers, Friends, and Other Visitors:
The Time Traveler appeared suddenly in my study on New Years Eve, 2004. He was a stolid, grizzled man in a gray tunic and looked to be in his late-sixties or older. He also appeared to be the veteran of wars or of some terrible accident since he had livid scars on his face and neck and hands, some even visible in his scalp beneath a fuzz of gray hair cropped short in a military cut. One eye was covered by a black eyepatch. Before I could finish dialing 911 he announced in a husky voice that he was a Time Traveler come back to talk to me about the future.
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Being a sometimes science-fiction writer but not a fool, I said, Prove it.
Do you remember Replay? he said.
My finger hovered over the final 1 in my dialing. The 1987 novel? I said. By Ken Grimwood?
The stranger Time Traveler, psychotic, home invader, whatever he was nodded.
I hesitated. The novel by Grimwood had won the World Fantasy Award a year or two after my first-novel, Song of Kali, had. Grimwoods book was about a guy who woke up one morning to find himself snapped back decades in his life, from the late 1980s to himself as a college student in 1963, and thus getting the chance to relive to replay that life again, only this time acting upon what hed already learned the hard way. In the book, the character, who was to experience suffer several Replays, learned that there were other people from his time who were also Replaying their lives in the past, their bodies younger but their memories intact. Id greatly enjoyed the book, thought it deserved the award, and had been sad to hear that Grimwood had died . . . when? . . . in 2003.
So, I thought, I might have a grizzled nut case in my study this New Years Eve, but if he was a reader and a fan of Replay, he was probably just a sci-fi fan grizzled nut case, and therefore probably harmless. Possibly. Maybe.
I kept my finger poised over the final 1 in 911.
What does that book have to do with you illegally entering my home and study? I asked.
The stranger smiled almost sadly I thought. You asked me to prove that Im a Time Traveler, he said softly. Do you remember how Grimwoods character in Replay went hunting for others in the 1960s who had traveled back in time from the late 1980s?
I did remember now. Id thought it clever at the time. The guy in Replay, once he suspected others were also replaying into the past, had taken out personal ads in major city newspapers around the country. The ads were concise. Do you remember Three Mile Island, Challenger, Watergate, Reaganomics? If so, contact me at . . .
Before I could say anything else on this New Years Eve of 2004, a few hours before 2005 began, the stranger said, Terri Schiavo, Katrina, New Orleans under water, Ninth Ward, Ray Nagin, Superdome, Judge John Roberts, White Sox sweep the Astros in four to win the World Series, Pope Benedict XVI, Scooter Libby.
Wait, wait! I said, scrambling for a pen and then scrambling even faster to write. Ray who? Pope who? Scooter who?
Youll recognize it all when you hear it all again, said the stranger. Ill see you in a year and well have our conversation.
Wait! I repeated. What was that middle apart . . . Ray Nugin? Judge who? John Roberts? Who is . . . But when I looked up he was gone.
White Sox win the Series? I muttered into the silence. Fat chance.
#
I was waiting for him on New Years Eve 2005. I didnt see him enter. I looked up from the book I was fitfully reading and he was standing in the shadows again. I didnt dial 911 this time, nor demand any more proof. I waved him to the leather wingchair and said, Would you like something to drink?
Scotch, he said. Single malt if you have it.
I did.
Our conversation ran over two hours, but the following is the gist of it. Im a novelist by trade. I remember conversations pretty well. (Not as perfectly as Truman Capote was said to be able to recall long conversations word for word, but pretty well.)
The Time Traveler wouldnt tell me what year in the future he was from. Not even the decade or century. But the gray cord trousers and blue-gray wool tunic top he was wearing didnt look very far-future science-fictiony or military, no Star Trekky boots or insignia, just wellworn clothes that looked like something a guy who worked with his hands a lot would wear. Construction maybe.
I know you cant tell me details about the future because of time travel paradoxes, I began. I hadnt spent a lifetime reading and then writing SF for nothing.
Oh, bugger time travel paradoxes, said the Time Traveler. They dont exist. I could tell you anything I want to and it wont change anything. I just choose not to tell you some things.
I frowned at this. Time travel paradoxes dont exist? But surely if I go back in time and kill my grandfather before he meets my grandmother . . .
The Time Traveler laughed and sipped his Scotch. Would you want to kill your grandfather? he said. Or anyone else?
Well . . .Hitler maybe, I said weakly.
The Traveler smiled, but more ironically this time. Good luck, he said. But dont count on succeeding.
I shook my head. But surely anything you tell me now about the future will change the future, I said.
I gave you a raft of facts about your future a year ago as my bona fides, said the Time Traveler. Did it change anything? Did you save New Orleans from drowning?
I won $50 betting on the White Sox in October, I admitted.
The Time Traveler only shook his head. Quod erat demonstrandum, he said softly. I could tell you that the Mississippi River flows generally south. Would your knowing about it change its course or flow or flooding?
I thought about this. Finally I said, Why did you come back? Why do you want to talk to me? What do you want me to do?
I came back for my own purposes, said the Time Traveler, looking around my booklined study. I chose you to talk to because it was . . . convenient. And I dont want you to do a goddamned thing. Theres nothing you can do. But relax . . . were not going to be talking about personal things. Such as, say, the year, day, and hour of your death. I dont even know that sort of trivial information, although I could look it up quickly enough. You can release that white-knuckled grip you have on the edge of your desk.
I tried to relax. What do you want to talk about? I said.
The Century War, said the Time Traveler.
I blinked and tried to remember some history. You mean the Hundred Year War? Fifteenth Century? Fourteenth? Sometime around there. Between . . . France and England? Henry V? Kenneth Branagh? Or was it . . .
I mean the Century War with Islam, interrupted the Time Traveler. Your future. Everyones. He was no longer smiling. Without asking, or offering to pour me any, he stood, refilled his Scotch glass, and sat again. He said, It was important to me to come back to this time early on in the struggle. Even if only to remind myself of how unspeakably blind you all were.
You mean the War on Terrorism, I said.
I mean the Long War with Islam, he said. The Century War. And its not over yet where I come from. Not close to being over.
You cant have a war with Islam, I said. You cant go to war against a religion. Radical Islam, maybe. Jihadism. Some extremists. But not a . . . the . . . religion itself. The vast majority of Muslims in the world are peaceloving people who wish us no harm. I mean . . . I mean . . . the very word Islam means Peace.
So you kept telling yourselves, said the Time Traveler. His voice was very low but there was a strange and almost frightening edge to it. But the peace in Islam means Submission. Youll find that out soon enough
Great, I was thinking. Of all the time travelers in all the gin joints in all the world, I get this racist, xenophobic, right-wing asshole.
You were a philosophy major or minor at that podunk little college you went to long ago, said the Time Traveler. Do you remember what Category Error is?
It rang a bell. But I was too irritated at hearing my alma mater being called a podunk little college to be able to concentrate fully.
Ill tell you what it is, said the Time Traveler. In philosophy and formal logic, and it has its equivalents in science and business management, Category Error is the term for having stated or defined a problem so poorly that it becomes impossible to solve that problem, through dialectic or any other means.
I waited. Finally I said firmly, You cant go to war with a religion. Or, I mean . . . sure, you could . . . the Crusades and all that . . . but it would be wrong.
The Time Traveler sipped his Scotch and looked at me. He said, Let me give you an analogy . . .
God, I hated and distrusted analogies. I said nothing.
Lets imagine, said the Time Traveler, that on December eighth, Nineteen forty-one, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke before a joint session of Congress and asked them to declare war on aviation.
Thats absurd, I said.
Is it? asked the Time Traveler. The American battleships, cruisers, harbor installations, Army barracks, and airfields at Pearl Harbor and elsewhere in Hawaii were all struck by Japanese aircraft. Imagine if the next day Roosevelt had declared war on aviation . . . threatening to wipe it out wherever we found it. Committing all the resources of the United States of America to defeating aviation, so help us God.
Thats just stupid, I said. If Id ever been afraid of this Time Traveler, I wasnt now. He was obviously a mental defective.The planes, the Japanese planes, I said, were just a method of attack . . . a means . . . it wasnt aviation that attacked us at Pearl Harbor, but the Empire of Japan. We declared war on Japan and a few days later its ally, Germany, lived up to its treaty with the Japanese and declared war on us. If wed declared war on aviation, on goddamned airplanes rather than the empire and ideology that launched them, wed never have . . .
I stopped. What had he called it? Category Error. Making the problem unsolvable through your inability or fear of defining it correctly.
The Time Traveler was smiling at me from the shadows. It was a small, thin, cold smile holding no humor in it, I was sure -- but still a smile of sorts. It seemed more sad than gloating as my sudden silence stretched on.
What do you know about Syracuse? he asked suddenly.
I blinked again. Syracuse, New York? I said at last.
He shook his head slowly. Thucydides Syracuse, he said softly. Syracuse circa 415 B.C. The Syracuse Athens invaded.
It was . . . part of the Peloponnesian War, I ventured.
He waited for more but I had no more to give. I loved history, but lets admit it . . . that was ancient history. Still, I felt that I should have been able to tell him,or at least remember, why Syracuse was important in the Peloponnesian War or why they fought there or who fought exactly or who had won or . . . something. I hated feeling like a dull student around this scarred old man.
The war between Athens and its allies and Sparta and its allies a war for nothing less than hegemony over the entire known world at that time began in 431 B.C., said the Time Traveler. After seventeen years of almost constant fighting, with no clear or permanent advantage for either side, Athens under the leadership of Alcibiades at the time decided to widen the war by conquering Sicily, the Great Greece they called it, an area full of colonies and the key to maritime commerce at the time the way the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf is today.
I hate being lectured to at the best of times, but something about the tone and timber of the Time Travelers voice soft, deep, rasping, perhaps thickened a bit by the whiskey made this sound more like a story being told around a campfire. Or perhaps a bit like one of Garrison Keillors Lake Wobegon stories on Prairie Home Companion. I settled deeper into my chair and listened.
Syracuse wasnt a direct enemy of the Athenians, continued the Time Traveler, but it was quarreling with a local Athenian colony and the democracy of Athens used that as an excuse to launch a major expedition against it. It was a big deal Athens sent 136 triremes, the best fighting ships in the world then and landed 5,000 soldiers right under the citys walls.
The Athenians had enjoyed so much military success in recent years, including their invasion of Melos, that Thucydides wrote So thoroughly had the present prosperity persuaded the Athenians that nothing could withstand them, and that they could achieve what was possible and what was impracticable alike, with means ample or inadequate it mattered not. The reason for this was their general extraordinary success, which made them confuse their strengths with their hopes.
Oh, hell, I said, this is going to be a lecture about Iraq, isnt it? Look . . . I voted for John Kerry last year and . . .
Listen to me, the Time Traveler said softly. It was not a request. There was steel in that soft, rasping voice. Nicias, the Athenian general who ended up leading the invasion, warned against it in 415 B.C. He said We must not disguise from ourselves that we go to found a city among strangers and enemies, and that he who undertakes such an enterprise should be prepared to become master of the country the first day he lands, or failing in this to find everything hostile to him. Nicias, along with the Athenian poet and general Demosthenes, would see their armies destroyed at Syracuse and then they would both be captured and put to death by the Syracusans. Sparta won big in that two-year debacle for Athens. The war went on for seven more years, but Athens never recovered from that overreaching at Syracuse, and in the end . . . Sparta destroyed it. Conquered the Athenian empire and its allies, destroyed Athens democracy, ruined the entire balance of power and Greek hegemony over the known world at the time . . . ruined everything. All because of a miscalculation about Syracuse.
I sighed. I was sick of Iraq. Everyone was sick of Iraq on New Years Eve, 2005, both Bush supporters and Bush haters. It was just an ugly mess. They just had an election, I said. The Iraqi people. They dipped their fingers in purple ink and . . .
Yes yes, interrupted the Time Traveler as if recalling something further back in time, and much less important, than Athens versus Syracuse. The free elections. Purple fingers. Democracy in the Mid-East. The Palestinians are voting as well. You will see in the coming year what will become of all that.
The Time Traveler drank some Scotch, closed his eyes for a second, and said, Sun Tzu writes The side that knows when to fight and when not to will take the victory. There are roadways not to be traveled, armies not to be attacked, walled cities not to be assaulted.
All right, goddammit, I said irritably. Your points made. So we shouldnt have invaded Iraq in this . . . what did you call it? This Long War with Islam, this Century War. Were all beginning to realize that here by the end of 2005.
The Time Traveler shook his head. Youve understood nothing Ive said. Nothing. Athens failed in Syracuse and doomed their democracy not because they fought in the wrong place and at the wrong time, but because they werent ruthless enough. They had grown soft since their slaughter of every combat-age man and boy on the island of Melos, the enslavement of every woman and girl there. The democratic Athenians, in regards to Syracuse, thought that once engaged they could win without absolute commitment to winning, claim victory without being as ruthless and merciless as their Spartan and Syracusan enemies. The Athenians, once defeat loomed, turned against their own generals and political leaders and their official soothsayers. If General Nicias or Demosthenes had survived their captivity and returned home, the people who sent them off with parades and strewn flower petals in their path would have ripped them limb from limb. They blamed their own leaders like a sun-maddened dog ripping and chewing at its own belly.
I thought about this. I had no idea what the hell he was saying or how it related to the future.
You came back in time to lecture me about Thucydides? I said. Athens? Syracuse? Sun-Tzu? No offense, Mr. Time Traveler, but who gives a damn?
The Time Traveler rose so quickly that I flinched back in my chair, but he only refilled his Scotch. This time he refilled my glass as well. You probably should give a damn he said softly. In 2006, youll be ripping and tearing at yourselves so fiercely that your nation the only one on Earth actually fighting against resurgent caliphate Islam in this long struggle over the very future of civilization will become so preoccupied with criticizing yourselves and trying to gain short-term political advantage, that youll all forget that theres actually a war for your survival going on. Twenty-five years from now, every man or woman in America who wishes to vote will be required to read Thucydides on this matter. And others as well. And there are tests. If you dont know some history, you dont vote . . . much less run for office. Americas vacation from knowing history ends very soon now . . . for you, I mean. And for those few others left alive in the world who are allowed to vote.
Youre shitting me, I said.
I am shitting you not, said the Time Traveler.
Those few others left alive who are allowed to vote? I said, the words just now striking me like hardthrown stones. What the hell are you talking about? Has our government taken away all our civil liberties in this awful future of yours?
He laughed then and this time it was a deep, hearty, truly amused laugh. Oh, yes, he said when the laughter abated a bit. He actually wiped away tears from his one good eye. I had almost forgotten about your fears of your, our . . . civil liberties . . . being abridged by our own government back in these last stupidity-allowed years of 2005 and 2006 and 2007 . Where exactly do you see this repression coming from?
Well . . . I said. I hate it when I start a sentence with well, especially in an argument. Well, the Patriot Act. Bush authorizing spying on Americans . . . international phonecalls and such. Uh . . . I think mosques in the States are under FBI surveillance. I mean, they want to look up what library books were reading, for Gods sake. Big Brother. 1984. You know.
The Time Traveler laughed again, but with more edge this time. Yes, I know, he said. We all know . . . up there in the future which some of you will survive to see as free people. Civil liberties. In 2006 you still fear yourselves and your own institutions first, out of old habit. A not unworthy if fatally misguided and terminally masochistic paranoia. I will tell you right now, and this is not a prediction but a history lesson, some of your grandchildren will live in dhimmitude.
Zimmi . . . what? I said.
He spelled it out. What had sounded like a z was the dh. Id never heard the word and I told him so.
Then get off your ass and Google it, said the Time Traveler, his one working eye glinting with something like fury. Dhimmitude. You can also look up the word dhimmi, because thats what two of your three grandchildren will be called. Dhimmis. Dhimmitude is the system of separate and subordinate laws and rules they will live under. Look up the word sharia while youre Googling dhimmi, because that is the only law they will answer to as dhimmis, the only justice they can hope for . . . they and tens and hundreds of millions more now who are worried in your time about invisible abridgements of their civil liberties by their oppressive American and European democratically elected governments.
He audibly sneered this last part. I wondered now if the fury I sensed in him was a result of his madness, or if the reverse were true.
Where will my grandchildren suffer this dhimmitude? I asked. My mouth was suddenly so dry I could barely speak.
Eurabia, said the Time Traveler.
Theres no such place, I said.
He gave me his one-eyed stare. My stomach suddenly lurched and I wished Id drunk no Scotch. Words, I said.
The Time Traveler raised one scar-slashed eyebrow.
Last year you gave me words about 2005, I said. The kind of words Ken Grimwoods replayers in time would have put in the newspaper to find each other. Give me more now. Or, better yet, just fucking tell me what youre talking about. You said it wouldnt matter. You said that my knowing wont change anything, any more than I can change the direction the Mississippi is flowing . So tell me, God damn it!
He began by giving me words. Even while I was scribbling them down, I was thinking of reading Id been doing recently about the joy with which the Victorian Englishmen and 19th Century Europeans and Americans greeted the arrival of the 20th Century. The toasts, especially among the intellectual elite, on New Years Eve 1899 had been about the coming glories of technology liberating them, of the imminent Second Enlightenment in human understanding, of the certainty of a just one-world government, of the end of war for all time.
Instead, what words would a time traveler or poor Replay victim put in his London Times or Berliner Zeitung or New York Times on January 1, 1900, to find his fellow travelers displaced in time? Auschwitz, I was sure, and Hiroshima and Trinity Site and Holocaust and Hitler and Stalin and . . .
The clock in my study chimed midnight.
Jesus God. Did I want to hear such words about 2006 and the rest of the 21st Century from the Time Traveler?
Ahmadenijad, he said softly. Natanz. Arak. Bushehr. Ishafan. Bonab. Ramsar.
Those words dont mean a damned thing to me, I said as I scribbled them down phonetically. Where are they? What are they?
Youll know soon enough, said the Time Traveler.
Are you talking about . . . what? . . . the next fifteen or twenty years? I said.
Im talking about the next fifteen or twenty months from your now, he said softly. Do you want more words?
I didnt. But I couldnt speak just then.
General Seyed Reza Pardis, intoned the Time Traveler. Shehab-one, Shehab-two, Shehab-three. Tel Aviv. Baghdad International Airport, Al Salem U.S. airbase in Kuwait, Camp Dawhah U.S. Army base in Kuwait, al Seeb U.S. airbase in Oman, al Udeid U.S. Army and Air Force base in Qatar. Haifa. Beir-Shiva. Dimona.
Oh, fuck, I said. Oh, Jesus. I had no clue as to who or what Shehab One, Two, or Three might be, but the context and litany alone made me want to throw up.
This is just the beginning, said the Time Traveler.
Wasnt the beginning on September 11, 2001? I managed through numb lips.
The one-eyed scarred man shook his head. Historians in my time know that it began on June 5, 1968, he said. But it hasnt really begun for you yet. For any of you.
I thought What on earth happened on the fifth of June, 1968? Im old enough to remember. I was in college then. Working that summer and . . . Kennedy. Robert F. Kennedys assassination. Now on to Chicago and the nomination! Sirhan Sirhan. Was the Time Traveler trying to give me some kind of half-assed Oliver-Stone-JFK-movie garbled up conspiracy theory?
What . . . I began.
Galveston, interrupted the Time Traveler. The Space Needle. Bank of America Plaza in Dallas. Renaissance Tower in Dallas. Bank One Center in Dallas. The Indianapolis 500 one hour and twenty-three minutes into the race. The Bell South Building in Atlanta. The TransAmerica Pyramid in San Francisco . . .
Stop, I said. Just stop.
The Golden Gate Bridge, persisted the Time Traveler. The Guggenheim in Bilbao. The New Reichstag in Berlin. Albert Hall. Saint Pauls Cathedral . . .
Shut the fuck up! I shouted. All these places cant disappear in the rest of this century, your goddamned Century War or not! I dont believe it.
I didnt say in the rest of your century, said the Time Traveler, his torn voice almost a whisper now. Im talking about your next fifteen years. And Ive barely begun.
Youre nuts, I said. Youre not from the future. You escaped from some asylum.
The Time Traveler nodded. Thats more true than you know, he said. I come from a place and time where your grandchildren and hundreds of millions of other dhimmi are compelled to write pbuh after the Prophets name. They wear gold crosses and gold Stars of David sewn onto their clothing. The Nazis didnt invent the wearing of the Star of David . . . the marking and setting apart of the Jews in society. Muslims did that centuries ago in they lands they conquered, European and otherwise. They will refine it and update it, not toward the more merciful, in the lands they occupy through the decades ahead of you.
Youre crazy, I cried, standing. My hands were balled into fists. Islam is a religion . . . a religion of peace . . . not our enemy. We cant be at war with a religion. Thats obscene.
Have you read the Quran and learned your Sunnah? asked the Time Traveler. It would behoove you to do so. Dhimmi means protection. And your children and grandchildren will be protected . . . like cattle.
To hell with you, I said.
Your dhimmi poll tax will be called jizya, said the Time Traveler. His voice suddenly sounded very weary.Your land tax for being an infidel, even for fellow People of the Book Christians and Jews will be called kharaz. Both of these taxes will be in addition to your mandatory alms the zakat. The punishment for failure to pay, or for paying late, a punishment meted out by your local qadi, religious judge, is death by stoning or beheading.
I folded my arms and looked away from the Time Traveler.
Under sharia which will be the universal law of Eurabia, persisted the Time Traveler, the value of a dhimmis life, the value of your grandchildren, is one half the value of a Muslims life. Jews and Christians are worth one-third of a Muslim. Indian Parsees are worth one-fifteenth. In a court of the Eurabian Caliphate or the Global Khalifate, if a Muslim murders a dhimmi, any infidel, he must pay a blood money fine not to exceed one thousand euros. No Muslim will ever be jailed or sentenced to death for the murder of any dhimmi or any number of dhimmis. If the murders were done under the auspices of Universal Compulsive Jihad, which will be sanctioned by sharia as of 2019 Common Era, all blood money fines are waived.
Go away, I said. Go back to wherever you came from.
I come from here, said the Time Traveler. From not so far from here.
Bullshit, I said.
Your enemies have gathered and struck and continue to strike and you, the innocents of 2006 and beyond, fight among yourselves, chew and rip at your own bellies, blame your brothers and yourselves and your institutions of the Enlightenment law, tolerance, science, democracy even while your enemies grow stronger.
How are we supposed to know who our enemies are? I turned and growled at him. The world is a complex place. Morality is a complex thing.
Your enemy is he who will give his life to kill you, said the Time Traveler. Your enemies are they that wish you and your children and your grandchildren dead and who are willing to sacrifice themselves, or support those fanatics who will sacrifice themselves, to see you and your institutions destroyed. You havent figured that out yet the majority of you fat, sleeping, smug, infinitely stupid Americans and Europeans.
He stood and set the Scotch glass back in its place on my sideboard. How, we wonder in my time, he said softly, can you ignore the better part of a billion people who say aloud that they are willing to kill your children . . . or condone and celebrate the killing of them? And ignore them as they act on what they say? We do not understand you.
I still had not turned to face him, but was looking over my shoulder at him.
The world, as it turns out, continued the Time Traveler, is not nearly so complex a place as your liberal and gentle minds sought to make it.
I did not respond.
Thucydides taught us more than twenty-four hundred years ago counting back from your time that all mens behavior is guided by phobos, kerdos, and doxa, said the Time Traveler. Fear, self-interest, and honor.
I pretended I did not hear.
Plato saw human behavior as a chariot pulled by precisely those three powerful and headstrong horses, first tugged this way, then pulled that way, continued the Time Traveler. Phobos, kerdos, doxa. Fear, self-interest, honor. Which of these guides the chariot of your nation and your allies in Europe and your surprisingly fragile civilization now, O Man of 2006?
I stared at the bookcase instead of the man and willed him gone, wishing him away like a sleepy boy willing away the boogeyman under his bed.
Which combination of those three traits -- phobos, kerdos, doxa -- will save or doom your world? asked the Time Traveler. Which might bring you back from this vacation from history from historys responsibilities and historys burdens that you have all so generously gifted yourselves with? You peaceloving Europeans. You civil-liberties loving Americans? You Athenian invertebrates with your love of your own exalted sensibilities and your willingness to enter into a global war for civilizational survival even while you are too timid, too fearful . . . too decent . . . to match the ruthlessness of your enemies.
I closed my eyes but that did not stop his voice.
At least understand that such decency goes away quickly when you are burying your children and your grandchildren, rasped the Time Traveler. Or watching them suffer in slavery. Ruthlessness deferred against totalitarian aggression only makes the later need for ruthlessness more terrible. Thousands of years of history and war should have taught you that. Did you fools learning nothing from living through the charnel house that was the 20th Century?
Id had enough. I opened my eyes, turned, reached into the top left drawer of my desk, and pulled out the .38 revolver that I had owned for twenty-three years and fired only twice, at firing ranges, shortly after it was given to me as a gift.
I aimed it at the Time Traveler. Get out, I said.
He showed no reaction. Do you want more than words? he asked softly. I will give you more than words. I give you eight million Jews dead in Israel incinerated and many more dead Jews in Eurabia and around the world. I give you the continent of Europe cast back more than five hundred years into sad pools of warring civilizations.
Get out, I repeated, aiming the revolver higher.
I give you an Asian world in chaos, a Pacific rim ruled by China after the vacuum of Americas withdrawal this nations full resources devoted to fighting, and possibly losing, the Century War a South America and Mexico lost to corruption and appeasement, a resurgent Russian Empire that has reclaimed its old dominated republics and more, and a Canada split into three hateful nations.
I cocked the pistol. The click sounded very loud in the small room.
We were speaking about ruthlessness, said the Time Traveler. If you fail to understand it at first, you learn it quickly enough in a war like the one you are allowing to come. Would you like to hear the litany of Islamic shrines and cities that will blossom in nuclear retaliatory fire in the decades to come?
Get out, I said for a final time. Im ruthless enough to shoot you, and by God I will if you dont get out of here.
The Time Traveler nodded. As you wish. But you should hear two last words, two last names . . .religious judge Ubar ibn al-Khattab and rector-imam Ismail Nawahda of New Al-Azhar University in London, part of the 200,000-man Golden Mosque of the New Islamic Khalifate in Eurabia.
What are those names to me or me to them? I asked. My finger was on the trigger of the cocked .38.
These religious officials were on the Islamic Tribunal that sentenced two dhimmis to death by stoning and beheading, said the Time Traveler. The dhimmis were your two grandsons, Thomas and Daniel.
What was . . . will be . . . their crime? I was able to ask after a long minute. My tongue felt like a strip of rough cotton.
They dated two Muslim women Thomas while he was in London on business, Daniel while visiting his aging mother, your daughter, in Canada without first converting to Islam. That part of sharia, Islamic law, is called hudud, and we know quite a bit about it in my time. Your grandsons didnt know the young women were Muslim since they both were dressed in modern garb - -thus violating their own societys ironclad rule of Hijab modesty. The girls, I hear, also died, but those were not sharia sentences. Not hudud. Their brothers and fathers murdered them. Honor killings . . . I think youve already heard the phrase by 2006.
If I were to shoot him, I had to do it now. My hand was shaking more fiercely every second.
Of course, the odds against one sharia court in London sentencing both your grandsons to death for crimes committed as far apart as London and Quebec City is too much of a coincidence to believe in, continued the Time Traveler. As is the fact that they would both be introduced to Muslim girls, without knowing they were Muslim, and go on a single dinner date with them at the same time, in cities so far apart. And Thomas was married. I know he thought he was having a business dinner with a client.
What . . . I began, my arm holding the pistol shaking as if palsied.
The Time Traveler laughed a final time. All of your grandsons names were on lists. You wrote something . . . will soon write something . . . that will put your name, and all your descendents names, on their list. Including your only surviving grandson.
I opened my mouth but did not speak.
According to their own writings, which we all know well in my day, continued the Time Traveler, Hadith Malik 511:1588 The last statement that Muhammad made was: "O Lord, perish the Jews and Christians. They made churches of the graves of their prophets. There shall be no two faiths in Arabia. And there are not. All infidels Christians, Jews, secularists -- have been executed, converted, or driven out. Israel is cinders. Eurabia and the New Khalifate is growing, absorbing what was left of the old, weak cultures there that once dreamt of a European Union. The Century War is not near over. Two of your three grandsons are now dead. Your remaining grandson still fights, as does one of your surviving granddaughters. Two of your three living granddaughters now live under sharia within the aegis of New Khalifate. They are women of the veil.
I lowered the pistol.
Enjoy these last days and months and years of your slumber, Grandfather, said the scarred old man. Your wake-up call is coming soon.
The Time Traveler said three last words and was gone.
I put the pistol away realizing too late that it had never been loaded and sat down to write this. I could not. I waited these three months to try again.
Oh, Lord, I wish that some person on business from Porlock would wake me from this dream.
It was not the horrors of his revelations about my grandchildren that had shaken me the most deeply, shaken me to the core of my core, but rather the the Time Travelers last three words. Three words that any Replayer or time traveler visiting here from a century or more from now would react to first and most emotionally three words I will not share here in this piece nor ever plan to share, at least until everyone on Earth knows them three words that will keep me awake nights for months and years to come.
Three words.
Sincerely,
(Note: Books commented on in this essay include The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan, The Book of War: 25 Centuries of Great War Writing edited by John Keegan, While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destroying the West from Within by Bruce Bawer, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order by Samuel P. Huntington, Civilization and Its Enemies: The Next Stage of History by Lee Harris, The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace, and the Course of History by Philip Bobbit, and Replay by Ken Grimwood.)
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How are we supposed to know who our enemies are? I turned and growled at him. The world is a complex place. Morality is a complex thing.
Your enemy is he who will give his life to kill you, said the Time Traveler. Your enemies are they that wish you and your children and your grandchildren dead and who are willing to sacrifice themselves, or support those fanatics who will sacrifice themselves, to see you and your institutions destroyed. You havent figured that out yet the majority of you fat, sleeping, smug, infinitely stupid Americans and Europeans.
He stood and set the Scotch glass back in its place on my sideboard. How, we wonder in my time, he said softly, can you ignore the better part of a billion people who say aloud that they are willing to kill your children . . . or condone and celebrate the killing of them? And ignore them as they act on what they say? We do not understand you.
Use the Google cache.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/05/2006 21:40
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#4
To put it bluntly, Simmons is going to have problems getting anything published (except possibly by Baen) unless he disavows this story.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/05/2006 21:50
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#5
I liked it. And as far as getting published is concerned there are new channels opening up for author. For anyone who is interested in self-publishing I recommend www.lulu.com.
Prominent individuals belie the poverty of a minority left behind by the 1947 partition
Randeep Ramesh in Mumbai
Wednesday April 5, 2006
The Guardian
On the sprung floor of a Mumbai dance studio standing amid a huddle of male and female dancers is a young woman, dressed in tight sequinned clothes, sucking on a cigarette. She is shouting at her troupe.
It is difficult not to notice 19-year-old Mumait Khan. Tattoos ride on her shoulders and her lower back and her sinuous dance routines have made her one of the most sought-after "item girls" to roll out of Bollywood. "Item" is Mumbai film-speak for a raunchy musical number slipped into mainstream Hindi films.
In the lottery of life Mumait Khan has hit a jackpot. An Indian Muslim, she embodies an apparent contradiction that is rapidly becoming part of a national debate.
While government statistics reveal India's Muslims achieving lower educational levels and higher unemployment rates than the Hindu majority, paradoxically there are an increasing number of high-profile sports and film stars, politicians and industrialists among India's 150 million adherents to Islam.
India's tennis star, Sania Mirza, the country's president, Abdul Kalam, and Azim Premji, its richest man, are all Muslims. Like many success stories of this modern Indian Muslim resurgence, Mumait attributes her rise to self-reliance and self-help.
Although she says she still prays and comes from a pious family, it was poverty that persuaded her parents to overcome their conservative instincts and let her pursue a film career. Only after her father lost his job and could not get steady work again was Mumait allowed to begin dancing. Her appearance fee today runs into hundreds of thousands of rupees and she has just bought a duplex for 5.5m rupees (£70,000).
Walking past the rubbish-strewn streets and open sewers of the chawl or housing colony she grew up in, the teenager says: "Look, this is where I came from. I had to get out."
There is however growing concern that such high-profile success stories mask the relative decline of the Indian Muslim community.
The issue has political repercussions - Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the ruling Congress party, has made it clear that the nation's Muslims are key to winning elections, calling them the party's natural allies. Mrs Gandhi's party has embarked on a campaign to "empower" Muslims with quotas in jobs and universities. Hindu nationalist politicians claim an obscurantist minority is being appeased and pampered.
India has more Muslims than any country except Indonesia, a large religious minority in a professedly secular nation of a billion people. Indian Muslims often feel under pressure not to antagonise the Hindu majority and this sets them apart from many of their brethren in the rest of the Islamic world.
The result is that protests on global issues concerning Muslims, whether the Danish cartoons controversy or George Bush's "war on terror", are relatively muted in India. But there are some notable exceptions - a Muslim politician in Uttar Pradesh recently called for the beheading of the cartoonist and offered a 510m-rupee reward.
What is also striking about India's version of Islam is that it remains largely unreformed and looks outdated by comparison with other Islamic countries. Fatwas are frequently issued - priests pronounce on the correct length of tennis players' skirts. In India Muslim men can divorce their wives by saying talaq ("I divorce thee") three times - a practice largely abandoned in Islam. Last week village elders in eastern India even ordered a man to leave his wife after he said talaq three times in his sleep.
The most striking example of this attempt to be "authentic" are the beards and filigreed topi caps of students among the verandas and courtyards of Darul Uloom (House of Knowledge), a madrasa located in Deoband, 90 miles north-east of Delhi. The seminary is a global centre of Muslim learning with 15,000 schools worldwide adopting its sparse and dogmatic version of Islam. Although Darul Uloom spreads a message of peace, the Taliban sprung from its teaching.
Rising unemployment among Muslims in India has seen a steady increase in students. "My father is a farmer, but there is no work. He thought the best job was to become an imam (priest). People always need spiritual learning," said Mohammed Arif, 20, who has studied in Deoband for seven years.
A committee set up by the country's prime minister tasked with looking at minority employment found that despite making up 14.7% of the population, Muslims only comprise a fraction of the workforce in many areas.
In February there was an angry debate in parliament over the Indian army's refusal to tell the committee how many Muslim soldiers the country had. In the end the army relented: out of 1.1m Indian soldiers only 29,000 are Muslims.
There are many who wonder why Muslims, who before the subcontinent was divided made up a third of the armed forces, have stayed away from India's regiments. There is a widely held suspicion that Muslims prefer Pakistan. But in the three wars India has fought with Pakistan there were no signs of Muslim disloyalty and the dispute over Kashmir has not stirred wider passions.
More worrying, Muslims are falling behind Hindu Dalits, or untouchables, seen as the lowest social class. "In terms of educational achievement, Indian Muslim men in cities are less literate than their Dalit peers," says Abusaleh Shariff, a member of the prime ministerial committee conducting a socio- economic survey of Indian Muslims.
Why Muslims fare so badly is a mix of history and politics. When the subcontinent was partitioned in 1947, most of the Muslim upper and middle class emigrated to Pakistan. Those left behind were leaderless and mostly poor and many felt guilty they had been responsible for the carving-up of the country.
Experts also point out a linguistic divide. For many north Indian Muslims their language, Urdu, written in a modified Arabic script, is conspicuous by its absence in India.
Like their Hindu counterparts, descent often determines employment for Indian Muslims. The result is that poor artisans expect their sons to take over often low-paying jobs. "It is why 50% of car mechanics are Muslims. The fathers just hand over the business to the son," says Mr Shariff.
Academics say that rather like African Americans, Indian Muslims have become victims of history and discrimination. Some suggest that mimicking US policy on African Americans might help.
But, says Zoya Hassan, professor of political science at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University: "Unlike African Americans Indian Muslims are not organised. They have not campaigned for their rights effectively. Of course racism is easier to identify than an anti-Muslim bias, but African Americans were lifted by a policy of positive discrimination which could help here."
In numbers
Muslims form 14.7% of India's 1.1 billion population but only
3% or less of the Indian army
7% of public administrators
5% of the railways staff
3.5% of the country's banking employees
Posted by: john ||
04/05/2006
19:29 ||
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#1
The aversion of muslims to modern education plays a large part in their low numbers in certain jobs, including the Indian army, where a school leaving certificate is required for enlisted men.
A madrassa education for boys and none for girls pretty much ensures you remain poor.
Posted by: john ||
04/05/2006 21:30
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#2
Indian Muslims often feel under pressure not to antagonise the Hindu majority and this sets them apart from many of their brethren in the rest of the Islamic world.
In other words, they realize that acting like they do elsewhere would not have a positive result.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/05/2006 22:08
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#3
Muslims, blacks, most of South America, and just about all of Africa face the same problems, for the same reasons. The world is changing. To be successful, you have to KNOW something. There's no longer the opportunity of growing up poor and stupid and still making a decent living. Blacks graduate from high school with a poorer education than whites, fewer actually graduate, and even fewer take hard classes. Muslims believe their women don't need to be educated, but who will educate and train their children if their mothers are illiterate? Not everyone has the talent to be a movie star or a prominent athlete. Unless you want to remain on the bottom, learn something that will lift you up from it. Unfortunately, too few people in today's world are willing to work hard enough to actually SUCCEED at getting a decent, useful education.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/05/2006 23:13
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I am posting this to elicit input from the Rantburg group. I read spectator.org for the politix, but this guy, John Batchelor, who I believe to be a radio host, keeps posting these gloomy assessments of the US/Iran conflict. The common theme is that they are in great shape vs. the US militarily. Today he stated that the Iranian wargames are successful and indicated capabilities I did not know they had, like a German electric boat:
1. You will recall that Ahmadinejad vanished from the scene for ten days in February. Now confirmed that he spent his ten days at the new Gulf Operations HQ, site of the command and control for the recent Great Prophet war games. Successful demonstration of headquarters, subordinate headquarters, linked by secure communications, linked to National Command Center at Tehran.
2. During the games, National Command Center conducted successful simulation of ballistic missile launch. This means a nuclear warhead launch. Missile type identified as Fajar 3, or Victory 3. Resembles the body of a Russian SS-4 with a mirved warhead resembling Iskander 3, likely Chinese and or Russian assist. Mirved warhead also associated with distribution to Syria.
3. Announcements of test firings by two types of underwater warheads. Both Russian designs. The cavitation weapon is likely the KV111, rebuilt, and was likely acquired from Ukraine Black Sea Fleet. The Whale torpedo demonstrated in the Straits of Hormuz is Russian design, likely from the Black Sea Fleet. The torpedo maneuvered the shallows and depths of the Straits. The Whale is built for targeting big ships, such as carriers or supertankers.
4. Rebuilt German electric boat deployed and operational in Gulf: this is smaller than German original, aimed at operations on Gulf bottom and in crowded shipping lanes. Also Kilo boats (Russian made) deployed in Indian Ocean from Mozambique to Pakistan. No information if the Kilo boats are using the silencing technology avaiable.
5. Emphasize command and control and communications for all this equipment was successful. Does this mean satellite linkage? Does this mean AWACs?
6. Area of war games operation extended from from the Iraqi coast to Straits of Hormuz. Practicing for a crisis, both blocking the Straits, assault on Gulf oil and transportation facilities.
5. Analysis to follow. Snarky thought: Fifth Fleet is MacArthur, 1941.
To the extent I am qualified to perform the analysis, I believe that it's highly unlikely that Iran has made so many simultaneous advances even with Russian, Chinese, Ukranian and Pak help. However, I do believe that the proliferation of modern air to air missiles, anti-shipping missiles, torpedoes and air independent subs to a wack job country that already has IRBMs is a not good. I can only hope that the Navy and Air Force have been paying attention and that, in some ways, an air and naval battle vs. Iran would be easier for our military than the counterinsurgency slog in Iraq in that we trained for it.
I do think Batchelor's observation that the Iranians successfully communicated is trivial. We were not trying to stop them, after all.
#1
I fear it's all a red herring. This show of new weapons and craft. There is something quite different that they're actually proud of.
I think in part, given the lack of invective towards Israel in the last weeks, and this deflection to such a specific area, this is a diversion towards a build-up of Iranian-sponsored hit on Israel. A closer look at the Al Q build up in Paleostine and arms in surrounding territory is wise. How many gunnies are ammassed in surrounding areas now (Syria, Leb, Egypt, jordan - and close by enough to move within 24 hours?).
I do smell fish - not that the show isn't to be taken seriously.
#4
Re JAB's question, I think the best thing to do from here until Showtime is to take EVERYTHING we hear with double the normal grains of salt-- if for no other reason than there's going to be a lot of disinformation floating around from both sides of the conflict. It was that way in the runup to Gulf War I, I recall.
As to the Snowman's question, I suspect we're simply going to announce that any sub attack will be assumed to be Iranian and will be responded to appropriately; that should keep any underwater rubberneckers away.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/05/2006 19:41
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#5
Ya'think that maybe pulling their money out of the Swiss banks might be a strong hint of something afoot?
I find it hard to believe that Ahmadinejad would confront the US and/or Isreal at this point. Otherwise, where could Iran go on the tactical offensive?
Lebanon: Establish Shia supremacy over Sunnis and Christians.
Iraq: Consolidate the position of the Sadrists through violence.
Iraq or Afghanistan: Increase tempo of insurgency.
Gulf: Hit and run attacks on shipping
WMD: Nuclear test.
#6
Yanking the money out of the Swiss banks was the result of fear of sanctions resulting from the referral to the Security Council.
I suspect they're blowing hot air as far as these weapons go in an attempt to provide support to the anti-war forces in the west. The U. S. forces will be able to handle the Iranians with little difficulty as long as we control the tempo, i.e. they might pull off a "Peral Harbor" sneak attack for a few days at most, but that's it.
But the most important battle will be the one fought by the MSM and Iran against the United States in the living rooms of America. What will be interesting to see is which side the Democrats chose.
#7
I think all of the latests tests and such are for Iranian internal consumption. The people know they were held to a standstill for nearly a decade by Iraq and that the Allies took Iraq down in weeks. They need to bolster some confidence pretty badly and the Iranian folks this is aimed at aren't going to be as knowledgable or doubtful as the posters on Rantburg are.
#9
John Batchelor, who I believe to be a radio host, keeps posting these gloomy assessments of the US/Iran conflict. The common theme is that they are in great shape vs. the US militarily.
You know I heard the same thing all during the Cold War that the Soviet soldier was 10 foot tall and immune the the harsh conditions of combat. Then their arab allies kept getting their ass handed to them by the Israelis. Oh, that was just poor arab performance was the chorus. Then Afghanistan and then Chetchnya, and the doom and gloom assessements of superior Soviet capabilities were laid to rest. Then there was the 'terrible' Afghan winter and the victors over the Soviets who were doing to teach the Americans their place. One of the quickest campaigns in history. Then there was the Republican Guard [tm] which was suppose to give the American forces a fight for their lives, especially with the absolutely necessary northern thrust removed from the operation by Turkish politics. However, it was a sand storm that slowed the Americans down more than any action by Saddams' forces. But wait, taking Baghdad was going to be Stalingrad Part Deux. Instead we got live feed from the front balcony of the press hotel as Saddam's statute falls.
When are these idiots going to get a grip?
By playing into the enemy propaganda these twerps make conflict more probable. They play primitive warfare. Its a show, a display of posture and territory. Americans approach warfare like an engineering project. The hand wringer create a misunderstanding on the part of the posturing enemy that they have some effect. Let the record show the reality. They are about the face the most professional and deadly armed force in human history. They are about to get their collective asses handed to them. Sure there's going to be some degree of foul up. That goes along with the friction of war. However, when the dust settles they are going to end up in the same situation as Saddam does today. Don't screw with the thousand pound gorrilla in the living room.
#10
I think Batchelor is not so much afraid of a confrontation with Iran as he is agitating for one. He has been implicating Iran in the difficulties in Iraq for several years, and I think he is trying to use what influence he has to convince people to take Iran more seriously. To that end, he occasionally indulges in hyperbole.
#11
"But the most important battle will be the one fought by the MSM and Iran against the United States in the living rooms of America. What will be interesting to see is which side the Democrats chose."
Please. By now, you should already know what side they are on.
#12
I think America should take a long, hard look at how hard we want to press Iran, regardless of how . Forty percent of the world's oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz. All of you gas-guzzling SUV drivers with your predictable Bush/Cheney 04 stickers and your oxymoronic Support our Troops stickers on your rear windows are finally going to recka-nize that the Iranians have us by the proverbial balls, and that the use of force is economically disastrous. They tested two missiles, two torpedos and a ridiculous excuse for a flying boat in the Strait, and the price of oil shot up to $70/barrel. If/when the shooting starts, you'll have CARRY your kids to soccer practice. Nevermind if they get lucky and plug a super-tanker. I'm interested to see how this plays out, but definitely don't want to see the US, or anyone trading hot punches with Iran. The American economy can't afford it. And neither can the Iranian economy if they can't use their prime resource. I think there's room for a creative, non-military solution here...if only cooler heads would prevail.
#14
John Batchelor belongs oh the radio show "Coast to coast". You know the one about aliens, UFO's, etc. Or he could have his own radio show "Chicken little returns". Of course, he might eventually get something right?
The Western Australia Government has gone on the front foot over its opposition to uranium mining in the state, attacking a senior Liberal for advocating exports to developing countries such as Ethiopia.
Opposition Leader Colin Barnett says the state Government's attitude to uranium mining is straight out of the 1970s.
He told Parliament last night that Labor has turned its back on the mining industry and poorer countries.
"Why should we in the developed world deny developing nations for example Africa, Ethiopia, as nations, access to nuclear energy?" he said.
Environment Minister Mark McGowan says he is frightened by the prospect of uranium being exported to strife-torn countries like Ethiopia.
"It is dangerous, irresponsible and in years to come would be very much regretted by the rest of the world," he said.
Prime Minister John Howard yesterday labelled Labor's anti-uranium policy short-sighted.
Mr McGowan says the Government does not need to be lectured to by anybody.
A SHIP loaded with oil and diesel caught fire after an explosion today as it was docked in the Russian Baltic city of Kaliningrad, Russian media reported.
Two people were hospitalised with medium to serious burns, ITAR-TASS news agency quoted the emergency situations ministry as saying.
State television showed footage of firefighters hosing water at a ship with a red hull as thick black smoke poured from the vessel. RIA-Novosti news agency reported that 14 fire engines were in action.
The ship was carrying 200 tonnes of oil and 200 tonnes of diesel, ITAR-TASS reported.
"An explosion took place on the tanker at Kaliningrad's Yantar shipyard," Interfax news agency quoted the local chief of the emergency situations ministry, Alexander Kulchitsky, as saying.
The explosion could be heard throughout Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave bordering the Baltic and surrounded on two sides by Lithuania and Poland.
Why the fall and spring riot seasons in France are signs of the coming apocalypse
MARK STEYN
I've had a recurring experience in the last few months. I'll be reading some geopolitical tract like Sands Of Empire: Missionary Zeal, American Foreign Policy, and the Hazards Of Global Ambition by Robert W. Merry, and two-thirds of the way in I'll stumble across:
"With the onset of the Iraq War and European opposition, many Americans embraced a severe anti-European attitude. 'To the list of polities destined to slip down the Eurinal of history,' wrote Mark Steyn in the Jewish World Review, 'we must add the European Union and France's Fifth Republic.' "
Or I'll be slogging through Beyond Paradise and Power: Europe, America and the Future of a Troubled Partnership, edited by Tod Lindberg, and find that Timothy Garton Ash's essay on "The New Anti-Europeanism In America" begins thus:
"In the year the United States went to war against Iraq, readers saw numerous articles in the American press on anti-Americanism in Europe. But what about anti-Europeanism in the United States? Consider the following:
"'To the list of polities destined to slip down the Eurinal of history, we must add the European Union and France's Fifth Republic. The only question is how messy their disintegration will be.' (Mark Steyn, Jewish World Review, May 1, 2002)"
If the best evidence of the pandemic of "anti-Europeanism in the United States" is a Canadian columnist writing for a Canadian newspaper (Jewish World Review is a plucky New York website that happened to reprint a piece of mine from the National Post), that would seem to be self-refuting. A European who wanders along to his local bookstore to sate his anti-Americanism will find a groaning smorgasbord of tracts catering to every taste, including the French bestseller that claims the plane that hit the Pentagon on 9/11 never existed. An American who strolls into Barnes and Noble to sate his anti-Europeanism will have to make do with a two-sentence quote by an obscure Canadian on page 243 of some book sternly warning of the rampant anti-Europeanism all around.
Until now. Two books have just hit the shelves -- While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within by Bruce Bawer, and Menace In Europe: Why The Continent's Crisis is America's, Too by Claire Berlinski. In media-speak, two of anything makes a trend, and Clive Davis doesn't care for this one. Davis is a perceptive commentator for the Times of London and, in reviewing Bawer and Berlinski for the Washington Times, he sniffed: "What worries me about books like this is that they risk reducing Europe to a caricature in much the same way as Stupid White Men turns America into one big Wal-Mart with drive-by shootings."
That's unfair, and does a disservice to both authors. For many Europeans -- and Canadians -- the Stupid White Men school of anti-Americanism is a form of consolation: the Great Moron may be economically, militarily and culturally dominant but we can still jeer at what a bozo he is. Bawer and Berlinski, both genuine American Europhiles, have a serious purpose: in his titular evocation of the young JFK's book on pre-war European appeasement, While England Slept, Bruce Bawer makes plain that he wants to wake Europe up -- and, if it's too late for that, then at least to wake up America. Neither is a xenophobic yahoo: Berlinski "divides her time" -- as the book jackets say -- between Paris and Istanbul; she has a doctorate in international relations from Oxford. Bawer is a homosexual who moved to the Continent because he was weary of the theocratic oppressiveness of redneck America and wanted to live his life in the gay utopia of the Netherlands. Alas, when he got there he found the gay scene had gone belly up and, theocratic oppressor-wise, Pat Robertson has nothing on some of the livelier Amsterdam madrasas. Both books are somewhat overwrought -- Berlinski dwells on her own relationship with some Muslim lad who later figured in Zadie Smith's hit novel White Teeth, and Bruce Bawer is reluctant to give up on the idea that a bisexual pothead hedonist utopia is a viable concept rather than, as it's proving in the Netherlands, a mere novelty interlude; his book might have been better called While Europe Slept Around.
Nonetheless, if Clive Davis thinks this is anti-Euro rotten fruit-pelting, that's more of a reflection on the complacency of the Continent's own commentariat. The difference between "anti-Americanism" and "anti-Europeanism" is obvious. In, say, 2025, America will be much as it is today -- big, powerful, albeit (to sophisticated Continentals) absurdly vulgar and provincial. But in 20 years' time Europe will be an economically moribund demographic basket case: 17 Continental nations have what's known as "lowest-low" fertility -- below 1.3 live births per woman -- from which no population has ever recovered.
All those heavyweight scholars who immortalized between hard covers my cheap Eurinal-of-history aside did so because it was so self-evidently risible. Well, it looks a lot less so in 2006 than it did in 2002. The trap the French political class are caught in is summed up by the twin pincers of the fall and spring riot seasons. The fall 2005 rioters were "youths" (i.e. Muslims from the suburbs), supposedly alienated by lack of economic opportunity. The spring 2006 rioters are "youths" (i.e. pampered Sorbonne deadbeats), protesting a new law that would enable employers to terminate the contracts of employees under the age of 26 in their first jobs, after two years.
To which the response of most North Americans is: you mean, you can't right now? No, you can't. If you hire a 20-year-old and take a dislike to his work three months in, tough: chances are you're stuck with him till mid-century. In France's immobilized economy, it's all but impossible to get fired. Which is why it's all but impossible to get hired. Especially if you belong to that first category of "youths" from the Muslim ghettos, where unemployment is around 40 to 50 per cent. The second group of "youths" -- the Sorbonne set -- protesting the proposed new, more flexible labour law ought to be able to understand that it's both necessary to the nation and, indeed, in their own self-interest: they are after all their nation's elite. Yet they're like lemmings striking over the right to a steeper cliff.
When most of us on this side of the Atlantic think of "welfare queens," our mind's eye conjures some teenage crack whore with three kids by different men in a housing project. But France illustrates how absolute welfare corrupts absolutely. These Sorbonne welfare queens are Marie Antoinettes: unemployment rates for immigrants? Let 'em eat cake, as long as our pampered existence is undisturbed.
The only question about Europe is whether it's going to be (a) catastrophically bad or (b) apocalyptically bad, as in head for the hills, here come the Four Horsemen: Death (the self-extinction of European races too self-absorbed to breed), Famine (the withering of unaffordable social programs), War (civil strife as the disaffected decide to move beyond mere Citroën-torching), and Conquest (the inevitable victory of the Muslim successor population already in place). I'd say option (b) looks the better bet, for a few if not all Continental nations: united they'll fall, but divided, a handful might stand a chance.
However, if, like Clive Davis, you find Bawer and Berlinski too shrill, try Charles Murray's new book, In Our Hands. This is a fairly technical economic plan to replace the U.S. welfare system, but, in the course of it, he observes that in the rush to the waterfall the European canoe is well ahead of America's. Murray stops crunching the numbers and makes the point that, even if it were affordable, the European social democratic state would still be fatal. "Give people plenty and security, and they will fall into spiritual torpor," he writes. "When life becomes an extended picnic, with nothing of importance to do, ideas of greatness become an irritant." If Bawer's book is a wake-up call, Murray reminds us that western Europe long ago threw away the alarm clock and decided to sleep in.
And, if even Murray's too much, go back to the granddaddy of them all -- Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Recounting the Muslim march on France 1,300 years ago, Gibbon writes:
"The decline of the French monarchy invited the attack of these insatiate fanatics. The descendants of Clovis had lost the inheritance of his martial and ferocious spirit; and their misfortune or demerit has affixed the epithet of lazy to the last kings of the Merovingian race. They ascended the throne without power, and sunk into the grave without a name. . . . The vineyards of Gascony and the city of Bordeaux were possessed by the sovereign of Damascus and Samarcand; and the south of France, from the mouth of the Garonne to that of the Rhone, assumed the manners and religion of Arabia."
#1
Nonetheless, if Clive Davis thinks this is anti-Euro rotten fruit-pelting, that's more of a reflection on the complacency of the Continent's own commentariat. The difference between "anti-Americanism" and "anti-Europeanism" is obvious. In, say, 2025, America will be much as it is today -- big, powerful, albeit (to sophisticated Continentals) absurdly vulgar and provincial. But in 20 years' time Europe will be an economically moribund demographic basket case: 17 Continental nations have what's known as "lowest-low" fertility -- below 1.3 live births per woman -- from which no population has ever recovered.
When most of us on this side of the Atlantic think of "welfare queens," our mind's eye conjures some teenage crack whore with three kids by different men in a housing project. But France illustrates how absolute welfare corrupts absolutely. These Sorbonne welfare queens are Marie Antoinettes: unemployment rates for immigrants? Let 'em eat cake, as long as our pampered existence is undisturbed.
The only question about Europe is whether it's going to be (a) catastrophically bad or (b) apocalyptically bad, as in head for the hills, here come the Four Horsemen: Death (the self-extinction of European races too self-absorbed to breed), Famine (the withering of unaffordable social programs), War (civil strife as the disaffected decide to move beyond mere Citroën-torching), and Conquest (the inevitable victory of the Muslim successor population already in place). I'd say option (b) looks the better bet, for a few if not all Continental nations: united they'll fall, but divided, a handful might stand a chance.
Venezuela has taken delivery of three Russian-built military helicopters - the first of a total of 15 it has so far ordered from Moscow. President Hugo Chavez said they would help to protect Venezuela if the US ever mounted an invasion.
If you say so, Commandante.
Mr Chavez also repeated that he was ready to buy Russian fighter jets.
"And ponies, Vlad. My people are crazy for fine Soviet Russian ponies."
A crowd of Russian and Venezuelan generals and diplomats was treated to an air show, displaying the strengths of the Russian-built helicopters. A group of around 20 parachutists jumped in formation out of the olive green MI-17 helicopters during Monday's ceremony.
In formation, ya say? That's it then. We're done for.
President Chavez said Venezuela's latest purchases could be used to transport parachute troops quickly into Bolivia combat.
Or presidentes away from the pitchforks and torches...
This would be ideal for a war of resistance, Mr Chavez said, a reference to his often repeated concerns that the US may want to invade Venezuela to seize its oil reserves. Army Commander Gen Raul Baduel said Venezuela planned to buy a total of 33 helicopters from Russia. Venezuela has also agreed to buy a total of 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles from Russia. Mr Chavez also repeated his accusation that the US had blocked a deal to buy training aircraft from the Brazilian manufacturer, Embraer, because the Brazilian planes contained protected American technology. "Nothing and nobody will stop us from making our country's armed forces stronger," he said, while stressing that Venezuela was not preparing to invade anybody.
"Yet," he forgot to add.
The BBC's Greg Morsbach in Caracas says Mr Chavez's words may do little to dispel fears in Washington that Venezuela is stepping up its arms expenditure and is upsetting the balance of power in Latin America.
We're watching the hands, not the lips wriggling around on the floor.
#3
Russia must have too many generals if they can afford to send some to Hugo's circus.
Hmmm, 33 helicopters -- that should delay any U.S. invasion by about twenty seconds if our fighter pilots succumb to a lot of rubber-necking after launching their missiles.
#4
I know that Hugo would explode our weakness for slow moving lightly armored helicopters. I dont know about you but I am going to start my Spanglish lesson in earnest.
#10
All that nice Russian hardware may not last long against the Great Satan, but I suspect it is more and better than what his neighbors have. Call me paranoid, but I can't help but wonder if Hugo has something other than defense of the homeland in mind. Coveting his neighors ass? Or worried about The People becoming tired of his bloviating, socialist ways, perhaps?
NEW YORK - On her 15th anniversary on "Today," Katie Couric told viewers Wednesday she's leaving NBC to join CBS, where she will become the first woman to anchor a network weekday evening newscast alone. To replace Dan Rather - another 'fake-but-accurate' anchor.
"I wanted to tell all of you out there who have watched the show for the past 15 years that after listening to my heart and my gut two things that have served me pretty well in the past I've decided I'll be leaving 'Today' at the end of May," she said. "I really feel as if we've become friends through the years." Obviously not intended for Rantburgers....
Hours later, CBS confirmed that she will be anchor and managing editor of the evening news. Couric, 49, will also do prime-time specials and contribute to "60 Minutes" as part of the five-year deal.
Next to the "60 Minutes" crew, she'll look like a teenager
Couric, longest-serving anchorAnd moonbat extra-ordinaire in the 54-year history of "Today," agreed to a salary near her current range of $13 million to $15 million for five years, according to a non-network person close to Couric, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"I'm personally so excited that Katie Couric is coming to the CBS News family," said Leslie Moonves, CBS Corp. president. "With this move, our news division takes yet another giant leap forward. Katie is simply one of the best in the business and represents a tremendous addition to CBS News." Damn... what the hell is that I just stepped in?
Following a months-long guessing game that has consumed the TV industry, Couric chose the 15th anniversary of her first day as "Today" co-host in 1991 to say it's time for a change. "Today" ran a clip of her first day with then co-host Bryant Gumbel, which Couric joked was "172 hairstyles" ago. "Sometimes I think change is a good thing," Couric said. "Although it may be terrifying to get out of your comfort zone, it's also very exciting to start a new chapter in your life." So Couric... when will you leave your comfort zone and become a real journalist?
"It's hard to imagine being here and not having you sitting next to us," co-host Matt Lauer told her.
The bold move simultaneously forces NBC to find a new team for "Today," television's most profitable news program, and gives CBS News President Sean McManus a major success in his effort to lure more stars to his beleaguered news organization. And of course replacing one lying, egotistical, asshole with another lying egotistical asshole always works......
Couric, Lauer, newsreader Ann Curry and weathercaster Al Roker have formed TV news' most successful morning team in history since 1997, with "Today" riding an unprecedented 10-year streak at the top of the ratings. During that time, morning news programs have simultaneously grown in influence sunk in ratings....
and have become important entertainment vehicles. The job required Couric to both interview presidents and don goofy costumes on Halloween, not to mention having to wake up well before dawn. "Today" is currently seen by about 6 million viewers a day, while the "CBS Evening News" has been averaging upwards of 7.5 million. But it's a significant change in status from top dog to underdog: Thats ok, I hear Couric likes it doggie (ah... nevermind....)
CBS' evening newscast has been at the rear in the ratings for many years. The lure of trying something new and making history in the evening proved enticing to Couric. Journalist are supposed to RECORD and REPORT history - not make it (or make-it-up as Rather did....)
She spurned a more lucrative offer about $20 million a year to remain at NBC and accept the CBS Corp. offer, the person close to Couric said.
#4
Does anyone have a link to Couric stating "I hope Saddam got out in time" when she was speaking to someone on camera about the early stages of the invasion?
The local morning show was talking about this, and my instinctive response was the same as yours (except I used the "S" word instead of the "F" word ;-p).
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/05/2006 15:58
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#11
Don't fret so much, Katie. The folks at CBS are almost dhimmies now so it'll get much better when you start wearing a burqa....no more hairstyles to be concerned over.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/05/2006 16:54
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#12
This ain't news. The real news is that David Letterman didn't get the job once Howard Stern jumped ship.
#15
The only way that the ratings will go up for CBS if she doesn the news naked. They would have the 13yo male (and 42yo men still living in mom's basement) wrapped up!
#18
I still remember the colonoscopy she underwent on live TV, where they actually found her Cortex
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/05/2006 19:42
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#19
Good one Frank.
We get the show here in Oz and I have watched it a couple of times. My reaction watching her was she is a control freak and probably a borderline psycho/sociopath.
I watch morning news shows, even though I don't like their blurring of news into entertainment. What works is the formula. The actual people are pretty much immaterial. Take her out of that formula and I'll predict she will stumble, perhaps badly.
#20
Lemmie see, should I calibrate the meter in give-a-sh*ts, or in rat's a$$es (fat or normal)in reaction to this bit of news? The MSM is on its steady decline. I cannot stomach seeing the Today show any more. If I want weather I go to the Weather Channel, or get on the net. If I want news, I go to Rantburg News Service. I don't care about a bunch of sign waving flakes getting themselves on national TV. It's fluff, finger-in-throat puking fluff. /rant
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/05/2006 22:01
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Freetown, Sierra Leone: Former Liberian leader Charles Taylor is hunting for lawyers to defend him after pleading not guilty to war crimes at a UN-backed court in Sierra Leone, his advisors say.
Africa's most feared warlord pleaded innocent on Monday to 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role backing rebels who raped and mutilated civilians and recruited child soldiers during Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 civil war.
From his heavily-guarded cell in the Special Court compound, nestled among the shanty-covered hills of the capital Freetown, Taylor has been receiving legal advisors from around the region but has yet to decide who should defend him, lawyers said.
"We were able to see him and give him our advice. He will consider it and act on it but he has not yet chosen his own defence team," said Azanne Kofi Akainyah, a lawyer from Ghana who came to Freetown at Taylor's request and met him on Monday.
"He was resolute, not downhearted, fully aware of the political machinations behind everything," Akainyah said late on Monday.
Taylor's aides have said he would like Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz to lead his defence.
Taylor was defended at Monday's hearing by a staff lawyer from the tribunal, Vincent Nmehielle, who told the court the former Liberian leader did not currently have sufficient funds to employ his own defence team.
"Mr Taylor has made it clear that he has no money," Nmehielle said after the hearing. "But he has not hidden the fact that if he is able to raise the necessary money, he would love to defend himself with a legal team of his choice."
The former warlord was flown, handcuffed and surrounded by UN peacekeepers, to the Freetown tribunal last Wednesday, after nearly three years in exile in Nigeria.
He was arrested trying to leave Nigeria in a car with a trunk full of banknotes.
The UN-backed court has asked The Netherlands to hold his trial in The Hague, citing fears keeping him in Sierra Leone could provoke unrest there and in neighbouring Liberia, where some of his supporters have threatened violence if he is judged.
Taylor told the court he did not recognise its right to try him, an appeal based on his status as a head of state at the time the indictment was served, which has already been dismissed once by the tribunal in 2004.
"This is just a sort of pathetic attempt to reassert this head of state immunity that has already been rejected," the tribunal's chief prosecutor, Desmond de Silva, said after the hearing.
"He does not have head of state immunity any more than Milosevic did," he said.
The prosecution now has 30 days to present the defence with the evidence on which it relies before Taylor's legal team prepares its case, a process expected to take several months.
The declining white population would have serious consequences for the country's skills base and its tax revenue
Now why would that be....?
Methinks the spokesman is a wee smidgen racist.
Against black people.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/05/2006 16:11
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#4
I was in SA last December. Every white person I spoke to was a)disgusted/mad as hell about the out of control crime, and b)trying to find some way to get out of SA. BTW, they all thought Mandela (Nelson) was a murdering Communist bastard who should have been strung up while the white government was still in power. My take is that you won't see an indigenous white population in SA by 2025. They'll all be emigrated or dead.
Posted by: mac ||
04/05/2006 18:00
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#5
I dunno, mac. At some point the government will probably pass some laws to prevent white flight. People take their wealth along with them; can't let that happen, can you?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/05/2006 21:03
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#6
The truth of the matter is the African National Congress (ANC) could care less about the loss of whites. It is a joke to the ANC rank and file. They are using crime as a voluntary deportation strategy. The goal is a choci SA, ZIM, Kenya and Africa, plain and simple. I believe western leadership (such as it is) has recognized this for sometime and is purposefully avoiding African engagement, ie., dead-end conflicts such as Darfor and Somalia.
Victoria Lundy has a talent that would probably make Paris Hilton blush. When a gun went off inside the Ohio woman's holding cell, jail officials were puzzled. An officer had given her a pat-down before transferring her into detention and had found no weapon. So where did the mystery gun come from? According to Chillicothe Police Captain Thomas Hewitt, Lundy hid the weapon, a 5-inch .25-caliber semiautomatic, in her vagina.
Makes you wonder what the hell else she had in there, dunnit?
Officers responding to calls of shots being fired on Jan. 30 stopped Lundy, 41, as she attempted to leave the scene in her car. She was arrested for driving without a license and processed at the Ross County Jail. At the time of her arrest, Lundy denied any involvement in the shooting.
"Wudn't me."
Hewitt said Lundy extracted the gun when she went to use the bathroom in her cell. She attempted to conceal the weapon by lodging it in a space in the wall designed to hold toilet paper. When she returned to her seat, the gun fell out of its hiding place and discharged.
"Hoo, boy! I feel better after getting rid of [KERBLAMMO!] that..."
Puzzled officers questioned Lundy's cellmate, who said she had observed the woman squirming in the partially partitioned toilet area.
"She said she had gas! Really bad gas!"
Lundy later confessed to hiding the weapon before police intercepted her.
"Yeah. Dat's right. I hid it away in my happy place."
She also admitted to firing the shots that prompted the initial police inquiry, Hewitt said.
"Yeah. It wuz me. Can I have my diaphragm back now?"
Lundy is charged with four felonies, which include conveyance of a firearm into a detention facility and carrying a concealed weapon, and a misdemeanor charge for driving without a license. She is still in the Ross County Jail. I am speechless. This happened two months ago, and I only heard about it now?
Look on the bright side: her cellmate heard about it right away.
Knowing there are lots of military contacts here, I'm sure some our guys and gals would be pleased to receive a copy of this
Greetings From Rancho Mirage
By Ben Stein
Published 4/5/2006 2:29:42 AM
Tuesday
Dear Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, National Guard, Reservists, in Iraq, in the Middle East theater, in Afghanistan, in the area near Afghanistan, in any base anywhere in the world, and your families:
Let me tell you about why you guys own about 90 percent of the cojones in the whole world right now and should be damned happy with yourselves and damned proud of who you are. It was a dazzlingly hot day here in Rancho Mirage today. I did small errands like going to the bank to pay my mortgage, finding a new bed at a price I can afford, practicing driving with my new 5 wood, paying bills for about two hours.
I spoke for a long time to a woman who is going through a nasty child custody fight. I got e-mails from a woman who was fired today from her job for not paying attention. I read about multi-billion-dollar mergers in Europe, Asia, and the Mideast. I noticed how overweight I am, for the millionth time.
In other words, I did a lot of nothing. Like every other American who is not in the armed forces family, I basically just rearranged the deck chairs on the Titanic in my trivial, self-important, meaningless way.
Above all, I talked to a friend of more than forty-three years who told me he thought his life had no meaning because all he did was count his money.
And, friends in the armed forces, this is the story of all of America today. We are doing nothing but treading water while you guys carry on the life or death struggle against worldwide militant Islamic terrorism. Our lives are about nothing: paying bills, going to humdrum jobs, waiting until we can go to sleep and then do it all again. Our most vivid issues are trivia compared with what you do every day, every minute, every second.
Oprah Winfrey talks a lot about "meaning" in life. For her, "meaning" is dieting and then having her photo on the cover of her magazine every single month (surely a new world record for egomania ).This is not "meaning."
Meaning is doing for others. Meaning is risking your life for others. Meaning is putting your bodies and families' peace of mind on the line to defeat some of the most evil, sick killers the world has ever known. Meaning is leaving the comfort of home to fight to make sure that there still will be a home for your family and for your nation and for free men and women everywhere.
Look, soldiers and Marines and sailors and airmen and Coast Guardsmen, there are eight billion people in this world. The whole fate of this world turns on what you people, 1.4 million, more or less, do every day. The fate of mankind depends on what about 2/100 of one percent of the people in this world do every day -- and you are those people. And joining you is every policeman, fireman, and EMT in the country, also holding back the tide of chaos.
Do you know how important you are? Do you know how indispensable you are? Do you know how humbly grateful any of us who has a head on his shoulders is to you?
Do you know that if you never do another thing in your lives, you will always still be heroes? That we could live without Hollywood or Wall Street or the NFL, but we cannot live for a week without you?
We are on our knees to you and we bless and pray for you every moment.
And Oprah Winfrey, if she were a size two, would not have one millionth of your importance, and all of the Wall Street billionaires will never mean what the least of you do, and if Barry Bonds hit ninety home runs it would not mean as much as you going on one patrol or driving one truck to the Baghdad airport.
You are everything to us, as we go through our little days, and you are in the prayers of the nation and of every decent man and woman on the planet.
That's who you are and what you mean. I hope you know that.
#4
This is very nice, thanks Ben. He is now on my "Must Buy" video list, no matter if I ever watch it or not. As far as I'm concerned support works both ways. I will never allow products that support/promote folks like Susan Sarandon or Sean Penn into my house. But for people like Ben and Bruce Willis I will buy two.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/05/2006 16:00
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#5
Why's he getting down so much on Oprah? Did I miss something?
#6
He's not getting down on "O"...just pointing out that her "I am the center of universe, and all the planets and stars align around me" egocentric view of how everyone should feel about themselves is really a just a case of "bad gas" compared to the rock solid resolve of our armed forces.
I join Ben in thanking them for their service every chance I get.
Patricia Russo, who eliminated 30,000 jobs at Lucent Technologies Inc., says she will move quickly to reduce the work force when she takes over as head of Alcatel SA after the French companys $13.4 billion purchase of the biggest U.S. phone-equipment maker.
We clearly intend to have speed as our bias, Russo said on a conference call after Sundays announcement of the sale to Paris-based Alcatel, where she will become CEO. Russo aims to save $1.7 billion after three years at the enlarged phone equipment company.
Russo plans to eliminate 10 percent of the combined staff, or 8,800 jobs. Shes already reduced the work force by 50 percent at Murray Hill, N.J.-based Lucent. The turnaround experience may help her boost earnings at the new company, whose products range from phone gear to networking and broadband devices, executives said.
She had great learning from a difficult and complex challenge when she took over Lucent, said Fred Hassan, chairman and CEO of Schering-Plough Corp. Russo sits on the Kenilworth, N.J.-based drugmakers board. Some of those turnaround experiences are greatly helpful when you do a merger.
Russo closed factories and offices at Lucent. Pacific Crest Securities analyst Tim Daubenspeck said she may follow the same recipe this time and close plants in the U.S. first. The combined company will be based in Paris, and Russo may have a tougher time shuttering locations there quickly due to stringent labor laws, he said.
#6
What did Lucent used to be before it got a name with no meaning?
Merely one of the most illustrious telecom R&D labs in all history. You know, that place where the transistor was invented.
In February 1996, the soon-to-be-spun-off systems and technology unit of AT&T renamed itself Lucent Technologies and launched its separation with an initial public offering of stock issued in April 1996. The spin-off was completed in September 1996 when AT&T distributed its shares of Lucent to AT&T shareholders.
#8
You mean Bell Labs? The guys who discovered the universe is actually expanding? And it gets sold to the frogs and there's no national outcry? No wonder they give those companies such oxymoronic names.
#9
You mean Bell Labs of the transistor, Apollo program, lasers, etc. That Bell Labs is long gone. Most of the sites have been closed and the work moved off-shore. Thank Russo and her predecessor McGinn for that.
#11
Rather, thank an arrogance bred of a long monopoly position. The AT&T leadership - and that includes research leadership - never came to grips with having to compete in an open market.
I'm a little late in doing this, but I've been swamped and just now got the chance.
This is the letter I sent to Borders Books today:
Mr. Greg Josefowiczm
Chief Executive Officer
Borders Group, Inc.
100 Phoenix Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
Dear Mr. Josefowiczm:
As you can see by the enclosed letter, I have sent the money I would have spent at Borders to the Western Standard to assist them in their defense of free speech.
I find your decision not to carry the issue of Free Inquiry magazine which featured cartoons depicting Mohammad to be cowardly and short-sighted. Anyone can stand up for free speech when no one else objects; what counts is what we do when the going gets rough. By giving in to threats, you have shown your true character.
You have also informed any and all individuals or groups who object to some book or magazine you sell in your store how they may have it removed. Since almost every book is objectionable to someone, soon you will have nothing to sell.
As a bookseller, Borders should stand up for liberty and free speech; instead, you have chosen the shame and slavery of self-censorship.
To slightly misquote one of our Founding Fathers, Samuel Adams: If you love wealth greater than liberty, and the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go from us in peace. We seek not your counsel. Crouch down and lick the hand that threatens you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.
This is the letter I sent to Western Standard today:
Western Standard Legal Defence Fund
Western Standard
205-1550 5th Street SW
Calgary, Alberta
Canada T2R 1K3
Gentlemen:
As you can see by the enclosed letter and check, I am sending you the money I would have spent at Borders Books for use in your defense of free speech.
Thank you for standing up for the freedom our U.S. Constitution guarantees us in its First Amendment. As an American, I am ashamed (but unfortunately not surprised) that Canadians and Danes are more interested in the defense of free speech than our own media, and that you seem to understand better than our media that freedom of speech includes freedom to offend. The antidote to speech that offends people is not censorship but more speech (by those offended) to counter that speech they find offensive.
The check is in U.S. dollars, which I presume will be acceptable. If a foreign check presents a problem, please let me know the best way to contribute.
Borders will never see me or my money again.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/05/2006
12:25 ||
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#1
Well written, Barbara. I think I need to inform Mr. Josefowiczm ( =Josephson?) that I've taken my Border's-linked Visa card out of my wallet until further notice. Without the percentage of purchases kickback, my family will just as happily wallow in another bookshop.
***** For all of you in the Cincinnati, Ohio area, Joseph-Beth Booksellers has just ordered a copy of issue in question for me. I'll be there Sunday afternoon, plus whatever they stock that my bookshelves lack.
#2
Thanks, TW. I see that the italics and underlining didn't copy from the Word documents. Had to take advantage of the short lull I had, & didn't have time to check carefully before I posted.
Oh, well - the words are the same. I doubt my letter will give Mr. J any heartburn, but it made me feel better. As did sending that check, which is on its way to Canada even as we speak write.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/05/2006 15:56
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#3
Hate following Samuel Adams, but if political cartoons are "not allowed" then whose politics are ruling the day? This symbolism is NOT LOST on the muzzies.
Thanks for the info Barbara -- good letter, and I won't purchase from Borders either.
#4
Ms Skolaut, You may be interested in some of the response Josefowiczm sent to Charles Johnson. The whole thing is here
Now you and the other bloggers who are sitting around safe in your undisclosed locations may feel that I have a duty to carry the 46 copies of Free Inquiry magazine I'm going to sell chain-wide in the next month. You know, the one with those drawings of the Prophet (Peace be upon his raggedy ass.). You might feel I should do this in the name of being the last, best bastion of Free Speech in America. I feel your pain, but after due consideration I must respectfully instruct you all to just pound sand.
Who do you think we are up here in Ann Arbor, the 82nd Airborne?
Let's review. Embassies and other buildings set on fire. People injured and killed for months across the globe. Islamics freaking out everywhere. (Very excitable and childish culture and religion that.) All because some newspaper way up in the corner of Denmark pumps out a few drawings.
And no major US newspapers prints them. No major US media shows them. No real action from the US government other than tongue clucking. And everywhere around the world there has been no significant moment when these whack job Muslims are getting their asses roundly and dependably kicked for rioting.
Nope, there is no place outside of Afghanistan and Iraq where violent Muslims are getting their asses kicked by government or the press.
You want this shit to stop and people able to draw and publish what they want anywhere in the world at any time without being afraid of getting a bread knife in gut from some hyperventilating Islamic idiotarian with a religiously implanted mental disorder? Start getting governments that can grow a pair at home as well as overseas, and start kicking some Muslim ass whenever and wherever this crap gets started. Don't come bitching to me that Borders has to step up and take the hit.
Is it really the case that your guys expect me, after months of watching this global governmental cowardice in the face of Islamic intimidation go down, to pin a big "Kick Me" sign on the backs of every one of my employees? Dudes, I worked in the grocery business for most of my career and if I am the last line of defense here, log off and head for the mountain redoubt with a box lunch because the terrorists have won.
I can't believe that your guys expect me to step up and make my company the front line of defense against the Muslim hordes which, as far as I can see, get a free pass to do whatever they want whenever they show up in groups of like two?
Like I said, I run a bookstore not an army. You bloggers want the Muslim idiots brought under control so that Free Speech takes place everywhere and not just in the magazine section at Borders? Tell it to the Marines.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to head down to the main floor, fire that quisling who's writing tell-all email, rearrange some Korans, and check out our new window display of Glenn Reynolds' "An Army of Davids." Good book that, its just blowing out of the stores. I don't care if he did call me a coward. A man's gotta know his limitations.
Odd how small independent bookstores will carry the magazine, but a big one like Borders will not.
They have chosen the self-imposed slavery of self-censorship. That's their right. It's also my right to tell them I disagree, and to not give them any of my money.
But when self-proclaimed Christians* start threatening them if they sell anti-Christian books or magazines, what are they going to do? The camel's nose is already under the tent, and most of the American media - not just Borders - have lifted the tent flap and invited the camel inside.
*I know a real Christian wouldn't resort to violence, but that won't stop a lot of faux ones.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/05/2006 17:43
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#6
I want to keep my employees and customers alive is a pretty good defence.
The small booksellers are not targets.
You are certainly free to not purchase from Borders, but their decision is not without reason, either.
#9
NS - so long as Borders doesn't all the sudden get balls when it's a controversial book about Christianity...admit you're afraid of employees getting hurt and killed by Islamonuts - put a display sign in the entry way. Show some integrity all the time or quit trying to claim integrity when you publish "Piss Christ" art books
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/05/2006 19:31
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#10
Frank, I don't think he tried to claim any integrity at all. He's worried about his employees and customers getting home without having to stop at the hospital and making money. He was in the grocery business. He'll sell whatever you'll buy under those conditions.
#11
To Borders credit, they didn't hide behind some weasily PC crap about 'respect' like 98% of the MSM. They came straight out and said, we won't carry the magazine because we are afraid of what will happen if we do.
Don't make it right, but as the man said, we are running a business here.
#12
NB: Joseph-Beth called me back. They do stock Free Inquiry, and are holding one of this issue, and will hold one of the next one for me. I feel loved... and triumphant!
And the sales girl agree with me that none of the Muslims we know are the kind of people who go around knifing those who disagree with them, and were we Muslim, we'd be highly insulted if a corporation feared that we would.
#13
The muzzies won't pull the crap here, that they try to pull around the rest of the globe, cuz' we gots policemen with guns. That's pretty much it. They know they won't get away with it like they do elsewhere.
I can understand the business owner's sentiments--he's responsible to his employees and he DOESN'T carry a gun to back up his freedom of speech as store policy, so conceivably, any back up would be after the fact. He's not willing to risk that.
The only problem is when you admit fear, the muzzies really like it.
Don't think I can blame him, though. I wouldn't want some stupid-ass Islamofacist coming in with an attitude (and a suicide belt). Guess if he was a shop owner with no employees it might be different. Hope so.
A letter to the editor of the Chicago Daily Herald from somebody I know...
Instead of alarm bells going off, the news item concerning the possible leasing of the 274 mile Illinois toll system to foreign investors made page 17 on the Wednesday, April 5, Dailey Herald without editorial comment. This in contrast to the news a few weeks ago concerning the leasing of American port facilities to Dubai financial control. For that error in judgment the Bush Administration was taken to task by the press and many political leaders of both parties.
Why the silence when the Democratic leadership, under the prodding of Sen. Jeff Schoenberg of Evanston, is getting a seemingly positive pass in the press, in leasing control of our vital Interstate Highway System to foreign interests who will have the power to set the toll rates for the next 75 years? An example of this folly is already a reality in the lease of the Chicago Skyway which immediately led to a doubling of the toll rates. It seems that politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, are willing to sell the soul of America for the proverbial "mess of pottage". The possibility of $3.85 billion return is too tempting for politicians of both parties for our vital highways system which is important to the economic and military security of all Americans. After all, President Eisenhauer proposed this Interstate Highway system as a necessary for the security of these United States, linking all parts of the country in a modern, convenient and well managed system. If foreign control of our ports was considered dangerous to our national security, how about control of our highways in case of future wars or national emergencies? Where is a sense of patriotism or of concern for the well being of all who helped build our highways through taxes paid in the past? What right have elected or non-elected persons of either party to lease or sell the vital infrastructures of our nation to foreign interests simply because the cash is out there and they, the political leaders, can claim during the next election campaign that they did not raise taxes?This seems to be an new disease of the politically elite. The mayor of Chicago is suggesting that perhaps Midway Airport is up for grabs. The legislatures of Indiana and Ohio are also negotiating to lease their toll ways, to the detriment of the traveling public.
One courageous answer to the problem of tollways was made by the State of Connecticut in recent years. They abolished all their tollways, put their maintenance on the state budget, raised the gas tax a few cents per gallon to cover the added cost and now the traffic runs freely. What a pleasure both for the people of Connecticut and for the motoring tourists who travel its roads. Could Illinois political leaders of both parties have such courage and such vision? One can only hope!
#1
3dc, it's all part of the plan to pay off our Nation's debt. Sell assest to furiners, then, once the debt is settled from the payments, nationalize our assets back into the fold.
#3
There may be more here than meets the eye. If leasing or subcontracting the Illinois Tollway system to fuc*ing martians solved the democratic political patronage, graft, and bureaucratic waste of the Illinois Tollway Authority I'd say go for it. It has been an absolute mess for decades.
An Indian cleric on Wednesday publicly confessed his involvement and of a Bangladeshi Islamist group in last month's terrorist strikes in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi that killed at least 20 people.
The sensational disclosure was made at a press conference called by the Uttar Pradesh Police who announced the arrest of the cleric and five others for the March 7 Varanasi killings.
The six, arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force, alleged the hand of the Bangladesh militant organisation Harkat-ul-Jihad Al Islami, which the cleric said was linked to Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
While Waliullah, an imam in Phoolpur town of Allahabad district and the alleged mastermind, was picked up March 26, his confessions led to the five others on Wednesday from Sarojini Nagar locality in this state capital.
Weapons and explosives seized from them included an AK-47 rifle with a magazine containing 27 bullets, 15 grenades, nine kg of RDX and other plastic explosives with 10 detonators, officials here said.
The 32-year-old imam said the five had been sent by him to Bangladesh for arms training.
The blasts, he added, were carried out by three militants from the Harkat-ul-Jihad, with which he said he was closely associated.
"They were specially detailed for the blasts and have gone back to Bangladesh," he said, admitting his involvement in the blasts that left 13 dead at Varanasi's Sankat Mochan Temple and seven at the railway station.
Waliullah said he provided shelter to the three Bangladeshi militants, took them around to the sites of the explosions for a reconnaissance trip and got them to buy three pressure cookers that were used as killer bombs.
"They came to me on March 3 and I provided them a room to stay just across my home in Phoolpur. They undertook two trips with me to Varanasi," he stated.
"Finally, on March 7 (when the blast took place), the three men left Phoolpur very early in the morning by train to Varanasi after which they never came back to me. They were scheduled to go back to Bangladesh."
Waliullah admitted going to Bangladesh sometime in 2003, but claimed his plans to go to Pakistan could not materialise because of "some trouble at the Pakistan end".
"It was in Bangladesh that the Harkat-ul-Jihad chief Asad Ullah nominated me as area commander of the group for Uttar Pradesh," Waliullah said.
"Subsequently, in 2004, I sent these five young men to Bangladesh from where Asad Ullah forwarded them over to Pakistan to attend a 28-day ISI training camp," he said.
He confessed to having been inspired by the taped discourses of Maulana Azhar Mahmood, the Jaish-e-Mohammad chief who was released following the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane in Kandahar in 1999.
Referring to the three men who allegedly carried out the blasts, Senior Superintendent of Police SK Bhagat said: "Waliullah was known to the three Bangladeshi militants as they had all received their Islamic schooling (at India's well-known Islamic institution) in Deoband in Uttar Pradesh."
Interesting discussion at Slashdot on an young girl at MIT who was told by the RIAA to DROP OUT OF SCHOOL to pay their fines for downloading music.
There are some major issues that need discussion here.
1) Entertainment being part of the culture - the insanely long copyrights (currently 130 years) deny legal access to culture to the in-mature young. (sort of like hold drugs in front of addicts then arrested them when they use them. Entrapment
2) Peer presure is exterme in the college enviornments... I remember be shocked when the oldest was in UCLA. Each floor had its SHARING SERVERS and everybody new when the latest booty was there. - Again, we need to revist what all these laws mean in a criminal and social sense. Are all High School and College Students to be declared DEFACTO criminals just like the justice systems assume ALL DRIVERS ARE SPEEDERS? Should the whole nation be declared criminal of something and put in jail.
3) What does it say about Business when they are putting the nation's FUTURE (in this case a young woman from MIT who can contribute to both Firms and the Nation out of the talented workforce for downloading a $1 song?) Short sighted comes to mind.
4) It reminds me of the the RIAA trying to put soldiers in Jail as they went off to fight the Iraq war. AMAZING comes to mind. Also, small minds in LA!
5) This criminalzation of life reached another stage in a LA suburb a few weeks ago when they banned smoking tabacco outside with a $1,000 fine. The fine for smoking Mary Jane was a factor of 10 or 20 less! What gives?
Anyway... we need to discuss appropriate fines and sentences for everything and behaivors of big business and big government in trying to make living life illegal and MAKING TAX PAYERS (not big biz) pay to convict and jail all these folks.
BTW... I am surprised that immature young people have not taken revenge on the RIAA and MPAA. It says something about them when compared to the Riots in France or the Car Swarms in the MidEast. That being they are basicly good kids.... we need a way to change behaivors of both them, society and business without wasting their lives!
/end rant
You may flame away on principle but think about the waste. Drug users and killers are not treated as bad as we are starting to treat people who commit more minor infractions.
#1
1) Entertainment being part of the culture - the insanely long copyrights (currently 130 years) deny legal access to culture to the in-mature young. (sort of like hold drugs in front of addicts then arrested them when they use them. Entrapment
Because, of course, there is no entertainment that isn't generated by the RIAA and MPAA.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/05/2006 12:35
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#2
Excuse my spelling. I am really mad about this stuff. My spelling gets bad when I am mad.
#3
Back in the mid-90s, the boys in the executive suites of the entertainment industry did liberally dust both sides of the aisles of Congress with gold. In return they got a massive extension on the copyright period. All at the same time they continue to cook the books on accounting. They still charge music artist for 'breakage' in their write offs. Ever seen an AOL or Earthlink CD damaged in the mail? As far as I'm concerned the entire lot needs to have RICO dropped on them cause it'll take the executives' treasury rather than the business'. No prisoners taken. Oh, and demand of your quaking Pub representative concerned about November to repeal the G*D* Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act.
#4
The RIAA thinks you should buy separate copies of music on CD's and for your portable (MP3) music players. Converting CD's to MP3's for personal use is apparently unfair. I think the RIAA and their pals in the movie industry (MPAA) are a bunch of [language inappropriate even for Rantberg deleted].
See, I'm like a murderer, see, I'm like a murderer
And I could rip you limb from limb
And I could rip you limb from limb
Great big thing crawlin' all over me
Great big thing crawlin' all over me
See, I'm like a murderer, I kill what I eat
See, I'm like a, I'm a hunter-gatherer, see, I kill what I eat
See, I'm a steelworker, I kill what I eat
See, I'm, I'm a bricklayer, I kill what I eat
See, I'm a, I'm a murderer, I kill what I eat
See, I'm a, I'm a hunter-gatherer, I kill what I eat
El Jefe: The Thomas Edison of Cuba...
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba is racing to install thousands of container-sized diesel generators across the island to avoid another situation like the one last summer when widespread blackouts fanned popular unrest.
President Fidel Castro has taken personal responsibility for what he calls an "energy revolution" prompted by widespread complaints about the failings of Cuba's obsolete power plants. That's if it works. If it doesn't, I'm sure Fidel has a list.
His supporters say the first-of-its-kind energy plan is a stroke of audacious genius. His critics see it as a desperate blunder.The generators are being grouped in clusters and connected to the electrical grid so they can feed the national system or operate independently in all 14 provinces. "The unit consists of 32 generators in eight groups ... capable of generating 60.4 megawatts," state-run news agency AIN said of one cluster in eastern Holguin province.
The one- to two-megawatt generators, each capable of powering a whole neighborhood, are also being installed at key facilities around the Caribbean island, such as hospitals and factories. Around $800 million has been spent so far to import generators, mainly from Spain, Germany and South Korea.
Castro has promised to put an end to the frequent outages that Cubans have had to live with since the collapse of Soviet communism plunged their country into economic crisis. He has also vowed to provide every Cuban home with new electrical appliances from China that use less power, from stoves and fans to refrigerators, in many cases replacing inefficient U.S.-made products dating back to the 1950s. Cuba's communist-run state is also replacing millions of incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving fluorescent ones.
Castro says his "energy revolution" will pay for itself by saving Cuba at least $1 billion a year in generating costs.
Part of the cost will be borne by Cubans who for decades have enjoyed heavily subsidized electricity. Rates were jacked up last year, rising steeply for homes that use more power.
POWER GRID A MESS
Blackouts have wreaked havoc on the daily life of Cubans and the economy since the demise of the Soviet Union deprived their country of generous oil shipments. Now Cuba is receiving ample oil with preferential financing from Venezuela, but the electrical grid itself is a shambles.
The island's seven aging oil-fired power plants can generate about 2,700 megawatts, but operate at only 60 percent of capacity due to breakdowns and maintenance halts. For over a decade, the plants have run on locally produced high-sulfur oil that clogs and damages the equipment. Helluva polluter too as I remember...
The entire system nears collapse when a hurricane strikes transmission lines or two or more plants go out of service at the same time. It can barely cover national consumption in peak periods when Cubans turn on fans and air conditioners. With outages of 12 hours and longer last summer, Cubans were having trouble keeping cool in the tropical heat, while food rotted in their refrigerators. In crowded Central Havana, public discontent emerged as small street protests. The government scrambled to find a quick solution.
By May, according to Castro, hundreds of generators will have added the equivalent of three 350-megawatt power plants that would cost $1.7 billion and take six years to build. More will be added until Cuba can phase out its oil-burning power plants, while keeping two newer gas-fired ones.
LOGISTICS NIGHTMARE
Cuba is spending a further $250 million to replace old transmission lines, transformers and breakers so the grid can handle increased demand as Cubans still cooking with kerosene and wood fires go electric.
Since the generators began to arrive, blackouts have all but disappeared. But the real test will come with the hot summer months when demand peaks.
Cubans give the energy plan mixed reviews.
"Those of us who support the revolution support the plan; those who do not, as always, think it is crazy," a Communist Party militant said.
"There is no doubt it is an ingenious, though expensive, way for them to quickly solve their immediate problems," a Western diplomat said. "The question we all have is what will happen in a few years. Generators have never been used as the basis of a power system before, anywhere," he said.
Cuban officials brush off such concerns and insist the strategy has been well thought out. El Jefe knows best...
But foreign electrical engineers say it is a recipe for a logistics nightmare as thousands of generators will have to be constantly supplied with diesel and their engines serviced. Logistics issues in a Communist country? I believe we've seen how that usually works out.
Cuba would have been better off in the long run building generating plants, an Italian engineer said.
Still, Castro insists the plan will help Cuba cope with the impact of hurricanes by making each part of the country independent of the national grid. It will also strengthen Cuba's defenses, he said, recalling the U.S. invasion of Iraq. "Our entire power grid could have been knocked out with just seven bombs." There's a "fun fact" to remember...
#1
1) A bad time to switch to fluorescent. LEDs are just around the corner and would really make a dent in power usage.
2) These generators will pollute the air in the local neighborhoods.
3) If connected to the grid... when the grid goes down - surges might just take the generators down too.
4) If he wanted to do local in the neighborhood stuff - solar, and wind would make more sense and not require fuel and little service. 1,2 and 5 MW wind generators are common sizes. That is the same as these units. You would just need to secure them in hurricanes.
2MW GE Wind Generator installed on a site in the US is about $5mil so..
$800mil/$5mil = 160 2MW WindGenerators
160 * 2MW = 320MW
That is 320 peak MW compared to the 60MW he just bought.
A real bad deal. 320MW/60MW = a factor of 5.3
So if 1/5th of the wind generators had wind and were working that would equal 100% power from his 32 generators. That's a bad deal!
5) Some of the 50's era stuff was quite energy efficent. Look at a 50s coke or pepsi machine. They just sipped power.
Lots of the cheap stuff from China is NOT very energy efficent. Look at the ratings some time.
#7
High-sulfur oil and hundreds of maintenance-intensive engines. If Castro is lucky, he will die before those generators make his "energy revolution" a fiasco, but I'm betting that he will last longer then they do, even with his advanced Parkinson's and age.
South Korea said Wednesday it has set up a task force to seek the release of a South Korean fishing vessel that was captured by pirates off the coast of Somalia.
Could be a group of lawyers trying to work out ransom demands. With a company of very hard boys waiting off-shore just in case.
The 628 Dongwon was seized Tuesday afternoon by eight armed assailants, who approached in two speed boats firing guns, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. All 25 crew members being held captive were confirmed safe, Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon told reporters. The captain and some of the crew members have been allowed to call company headquarters and their families in South Korea, he said. The crew includes eight South Koreans, nine Indonesians, five Vietnamese and three Chinese, according to the ministry.
'We are still trying to figure out the identity of the kidnap group and they have yet to suggest conditions for negotiations,' Ban said. 'We are devoting all possible efforts for (the crew's) safe return.' South Korea has sent letters to the governments of Somalia and neighboring Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia asking for their cooperation in facilitating the crew's release, Ban said.
On Tuesday, two other South Korean fishing vessels in the area called for help, and nearby U.S. and Dutch naval ships tried to intervene, but gave up when the seized ship entered Somali territorial waters, the ministry said. Cmdr. Jeff Breslau, spokesman for the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain, said when the South Korean vessel turned toward Somali waters, the U.S. and Dutch ships tried to intercept it and fired warning shots in its direction. Members of the South Korean crew were seen on the deck with guns pointed at them, so the effort was broken off, he added. The seized ship is now at a port in northeastern Somalia, according to South Korea's Foreign Ministry.
It was the latest in a series of incidents off the coast of Somalia. On March 18, two U.S. Navy ships exchanged gunfire with suspected pirates, killing one and wounding five. No U.S. sailors were injured. Somalis involved in that incident later claimed they were patrolling Somali waters to stop illegal fishing when the U.S. ships fired on them.
The Malaysia-based International Maritime Bureau expressed concern Wednesday about a surge in piracy cases and advised ships to remain a safe distance from the coast of Somalia. Somalia has had no coast guard or navy since 1991, when warlords ousted the ruling dictator and then turned on each other.
Piracy in Somalian waters steeply increased last year, with the number of incidents rising to 35, compared with only two in 2004, according to the IMB. IMB regional director Noel Choong said six new attacks have been reported to the IMB so far this year. Last month, he said pirates attacked a U.N. chartered vessel and a United Arab Emirates-registered oil tanker after the two vessels off-loaded their cargo at a Somalian port.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/05/2006
09:40 ||
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#1
Say what you will about the ungrateful Korean politicians, I have respect for the ROK army. Those boys are the real deal. Hard boys indeed.
I think I actualy feel sorry for the pirates.
Posted by: N guard ||
04/05/2006 10:06
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wow intersting , SK going out of thier area on a little pirate hunting outing eh? Good guys are the SK's, wish the Japs would get outa gear to and branch out into other areas of interest with thier awesome navy.
Dear Ma and Pa,
I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before all of the places are filled.
I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m., but I am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot, and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing. Men got to shave, but it is not so bad, there's warm water.
Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food, but tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee. Their food plus yours holds you til noon when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much.
We go on "route marches", which the platoon sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it's not my place to tell him different. A "route march" is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks. The country is nice but awful flat.
The sergeant is like a school teacher. He nags a lot. The Captain is like the school board. Majors and colonels just ride around and frown. They don't bother you none.
This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing! I keep getting medals for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and don't move, and it ain't shooting at you like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges. They come in boxes.
Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, they break real easy. It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home.
I'm about the best they got in this except for that Tug Jordan from over in Silver Lake. I only beat him once. He joined up the same time as me, but I'm only 5'6" and 130 pounds and he's 6'8" and near 300 pounds dry.
Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding in.
Your loving daughter,
Carol After all the Nigerian scam spam, a different kind of email seemed appropriate. Reminded me of that convoy that got hit about a year or so ago and the woman from Kentucky (?) who led the counter-attack.
#1
Good recall CC. I was indeed Kentucky National Guard MPs led by two women that broke up an insurgent attack in March 2005 on a convey outside Salman Pak. Article here. Scroll down a few paragraphs for the combat details.
Pakistani security forces and suspected Islamic militants battled for a second day Wednesday near the Afghan border, leaving four soldiers and 16 fighters dead, an army spokesman said. Another 19 militants - some of them surrendering and laying down their weapons - were captured in the fighting in the North Waziristan tribal region, spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said.
The fighting erupted in the northwestern tribal region after militants fired rockets at two military bases Tuesday night, he said. Eight militants were killed overnight after the troops retaliated after the rocket attack on the security post in Shawal, a rugged region near the Afghan border and the eight others died in the fighting on Wednesday, he said.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/05/2006
09:35 ||
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#1
They fired rockets and there's an ongoing two day gunbattle and they're suspected militants?
Customs officials at Hong Kongs container terminal Tuesday reportedly foiled an attempt to smuggle a MiG-29 fighter jet through the territory, the DPA news agency reports. The Cold War-era fighter jet, with engines removed, is said to have been found inside a container being shipped through the Hong Kong port, the worlds busiest in terms of throughput. The government-run RTHK radio station said the fighter jet was intercepted as it was being shipped through Hong Kong to a third country.
Guess I'll have to pull that eBay add
It was not known where the plane began its journey. Customs officials confirmed they had intercepted a military plane but declined to say what type it was or to give any further details of the incident.
Smuggling through Hong Kongs massive Kwai Chung container terminal is widespread but usually involves drugs, counterfeit designer clothes or parts of endangered animals for use in Chinese medicine. The MiG-29, hailed as a highly effective fighter jet in its day, went into production in the former Soviet Union from the late 1960s onwards and was mostly exported to allied states around the world.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/05/2006
09:30 ||
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#1
WTF? this is odd at the least, bet it was on its way to the Norks, anyone else notice in the last few days just what fckers the russkies are selling all this stuff to sht hole nations. Still odd though - kinda reminds me of when Sammy supergun got nabbed.
#3
My guess is a private collector, actually. The MiG-29 is decades out of date. It wouldnt last five minutes in a dogfight with, say, the Dutch Air Force and would have minimal value putting down an insurgency.
#5
I stand utterly corrected. Design work began in 1974, with first 11 prototypes flying in 1977. Opts evaluation in 1983 with an eye to going up against the F-16. This is an effective, modern combat aircraft still in use by the Russians (or at least the Mig-29 Fulcrum is). Its also very expensive. It could be going anywhere, but Hugo is a good guess. He could afford one.
The leader of a party set up by former militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir has been shot dead, police have said. Mohammad Yousuf Ganaie was killed by suspected militants in Baramulla, about 50km (30 miles) north of the state's summer capital, Srinagar, police said. He was part of the Awami League party, formed by militants who had disarmed. A number of militant groups have been fighting Indian rule in Kashmir since 1989 in an insurgency that has claimed more than 60,000 lives.
Mr Ganaie, who had unsuccessfully stood in elections in 2002, was shot dead at a bus station. Two women were also injured in the shooting. Police say they were injured by firing by the militants. Local people say the shots were fired by security forces who mistook the militants' attack on Mr Ganaie as directed at them and opened fire, says the BBC's Bashir Ahmad in Srinagar.
Elsewhere in the region, seven people were injured in two separate grenade attacks on security forces, the Associated Press news agency reports.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/05/2006
09:28 ||
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#1
its very dangerous being a former militant in Kashmir
Police in India say they have arrested the mastermind behind last month's bomb attacks in the holy city of Varanasi. Vali Ullah, a resident of northern Uttar Pradesh state, ran a religious school and was associated with a famous seminary in the state, the police said.
Just like all the leading masterminds
Fourteen people were killed and over 100 others hurt in the twin blasts at a Hindu temple and a railway station. The police said the blasts were conducted with the help of a Bangladesh-based extremist group.
Senior Uttar Pradesh police official Jag Mohan Yadav told reporters that Mr Ullah was arrested in Gosaiganj near the state capital, Lucknow. "He was the mastermind of the whole operation which was conducted with the help of a Bangladesh-based group called Harkatul Jihadi Islami," Mr Yadav, who is inspector general of police, said. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Senior Superintendent of Police SK Bhagat alleged that Bangladesh was being used as a transit route by militants. "It appears that such groups are using Bangladesh as a route for infiltration since the route from Kashmir and Rajasthan is effectively sealed." There was no immediate comment from the Bangladeshi authorities.
The police had earlier freed two men they arrested in connection with the blasts. A wedding party took the brunt of the attack at Varanasi's famous Sankat Mochan temple. Nine people were killed in the temple attack and five at the city's Cantonment railway station. Varanasi, also known as Benares, is about 670 km (415 miles) south-east of Delhi. It is the religious capital of Hinduism and is usually packed with Indian pilgrims and foreign tourists.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/05/2006
09:22 ||
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#1
can we have a pic of the classic mastermind chair as used on the old tv show 'mastermind'. Mastermind lol - funny word really when you think about it - a Master Mind, don't make alot of sense to me. :) but then again i studied in a english school so what can we expect otherwise lol.
American superstar Gene Pitney has been found dead aged 65 in his bed in a Cardiff hotel. Pitney - who found fame with "Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa" - was pronounced dead at the Hilton hotel at 1000 BST. He was on a UK tour and had shown no signs of illness. The cause of death is not yet known but is not suspicious. His biggest success was in the 1960s and he enjoyed a 1989 revival with his chart-topping duet, "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart", with Marc Almond.
Mark Howes of his management company In Touch Music said the singer was found in his bed. Mr Howes told BBC Wales that everyone had been shocked by the death and there had been no signs that he was ill. "He did a good show last night at St David's Hall and it was wonderful," he said. "I've seen him quite a few times on this tour and he was fit and well. He said it was the best tour he had done for quite a few years." Pitney has continually toured over the last 40 years.
Every time one of the guys I grew up listening to passes away, I feel a little older
Posted by: Steve ||
04/05/2006
09:16 ||
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Rome, 5 April (AKI) - The secretary general of Italy's largest Muslim organisation, the Union of Islamic communities in Italy (UCOII), has called on Italian Muslims to vote for the Party of Italian Communists at the general election. Hamza Piccardo sent an email late Tuesday to Muslim centres saying that the party's leader Oliviero Diliberto had been sensitive to the needs of Muslim inmates when he was justice minister in the late 1990s and this constituted a sound reason to vote for him on 9-10 April. This was the first time that a leading member of Italy's Muslim community publicly supported a party on the eve of an election.
In the email, Piccardo also said that, "another five years with a cabinet of [prime minister Silvio] Berlusconi and the Northern League Party is for Muslims and for foreigners in Italy a sad perspective of misunderstanding and segregation." The Northern League is an anti-immigration party in the government coalition.
The UCOII leader explained that he met Diliberto along with the president of UCOII Mohamed Nour Dachan when he was justice minister - from October 1998 until December 1999 in the progressive government of Massimo D'Alema. "We spoke at length about the community's problems and needs, agreeing that the government needed to take more action on its behalf. Diliberto was extremely interested and helpful. In particular, we spoke to him about the problem of celebrating Ramadan in prisons, asking the ministry to make sure that dinner was served when [Muslim inmates] could interrupt their fast."
The leader of UCOII said that Diliberto's willingness to accommodate the needs of the Muslim community was a good reason to vote for his party - even placing at the end of his email the logos of the Party of Italian Communists and its allies at the Senate, the Greens, both members of the center-left coalition.
Piccardo concluded that in December 1999 the minister sent him a letter explaining that, as agreed in their previous conversation, he had "given instructions so that Muslims in Italian prisons could conveniently abide by their Ramadan obligations. Ever since, that practice has been implemented in Italian prisons."
Posted by: Steve ||
04/05/2006
09:11 ||
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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (AHN) - Malaysian couples showing public displays of affection for one another by kissing and hugging can be sentenced to jail or fined if caught, courtesy of a court ruling that labels such acts as indecent behavior.
Malaysia's federal court made the ruling in a hard-fought case involving Ooi Kean Thong, 24, and Siow Ai Wei, 22. City hall officials allegedly caught the couple embracing and kissing in August 2003 in a park at the city's Twin Towers - a main tourist attraction in the mostly Muslim nation. The couple claims they have received a summons after they refused to bribe two city hall officials, who have denied the claim. Ooi and Siow will now face indecency charges at Kuala Lumpur city hall's court, and can be either fined or jailed for the incident.
#2
Malaysian couples showing public displays of affection for one another by kissing and hugging can be sentenced to jail or fined if caught, courtesy of a court ruling that labels such acts as indecent behavior.
Ankara, 5 April (AKI) - Three Turkish soldiers were killed Wednesday in a clash with Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) militants in Turkey's mountainous southeastern Sirnak region. Four soldiers were also wounded in the fighting, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported. It was not immediately clear if any of the militants were injured. Anatolia also said that a police officer wounded in an attack by militants against a police station in the Bingol province on Tuesday had died from the injuries.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/05/2006
08:38 ||
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Baghdad, 5 April (AKI) - Iraqi police arrested 25 alleged terrorists in various parts of the country on Tuesday, including a member of the al-Qaeda network, according to Saudi daily al-Watan. The al-Qaeda member is reported to have sought refuge in the western city of Ramadi, a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency, and was found in possession of explosive belts and large sums of cash, as well as four kilos of gold.
That's about $75,000
In the man's hideout police found false passports, documents pertaining to Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Among the suspected terrorists detained on Tuesday were five people - including two Sudanese nationals - trying to cross illegally into Iraq from Jordan.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/05/2006
08:31 ||
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#1
Hmmm... These are Jabr's "police"... How many kilos of gold?
Jakarta, 5 April (AKI) At least two police officers were killed Wednesday in an explosion at an Indonesian police compound in the western city of Medan, the capital of the province of Sumatra, according to the Indonesian television station, Metro TV. A number of people were also injured, the report said. The cause of the blast is still unknown and the authorities have sealed off the area. The police compound houses the elite Mobile Brigade. Without citing sources, Metro TV reported that the blast occured as the officers were practicing defusing bombs, while some other reports suggested that the blast occured at the anti-terrorism unit or at the police forensic lab.
Could have been an accident, I suppose.
Reports say that the injured are being treated at a police hospital in the city. Indonesia has been on high alert after both the United States and Australia warned last week of possible attacks on Westerners in the country. There have been several attacks in the past few years on Western targets believed to have been carried out by al-Qaeda linked militants.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/05/2006
08:27 ||
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#1
OMG i dont drink but thats surly alot of moneys worth of free drink up there - hold on is this a joke - this is too sureal to be true, what next dope plants on Mars?
#8
wow yeah what'd happen if you did light it - it wouldnt burn would it cos of no air but im no scientist as you've gathered. Make a nuke look like a lit match though im guessing.
#11
When I die, I want my body loaded into a rocket and shot into the center of that cloud. And maybe if I'm lucky I'll get rejuvenated like Spock on planet Genesis and come back to life.
#16
"Tired of looking at your spouse that long time ago converted to an amorphous blob? Try our White Cane, bottled from our repository in the farthest reaches of the universe!"
#17
And if there are such clouds of gas, can there also be clouds of water vapor ? Also, if Earth ever ventures into such a cloud, would our skies become heavy with alcohol rain ? Shortage of water, shortage of oxygen, and doom.
Palestinian foreign minister, Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar tells officials ministry's policy should be to establish Palestinian state in place of Israel, says Jewish State must not be recognized
Ali Waked
Israel must not be recognized and the Palestinian Foreign Ministry should aim to establish a Palestinian State from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean, in place of the Jewish State, PA Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar said according to Palestinian media reports.
Al-Zahar made the remarks during his first meeting with Foreign Ministry officials and ahead of the first session to be held by the Hamas-led Palestinian government.
Fatah officials, who are closely monitoring the situation, said in recent hours that prospects for the continued existence of the Hamas government appear slim. Such government would not be able to last as long as Hamas refrains from modifying its positions, which only serve to isolate the cabinet, the Fatah sources said.
The Hamas-led government's first session will be held Wednesday in Ramallah and Gaza and be headed by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. The session will be held via satellite, with more than half of the government ministers staying in Ramallah.
No diplomatic declarations are expected during the meeting, which will be mostly dedicated to internal Palestinian affairs, and particularly efforts to battle the financial crisis faced by the PA through a three-month emergency plan.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian street is closely monitoring the new government's conduct and its chances of survival, while Hamas works to end the growing isolation faced by the government.
Elsewhere, London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat reported that Fatah is considering the establishment of a shadow cabinet that would operate along the Hamas government and be ready to take its place should the official government collapse.
Efforts to pay PA officials
Ahead of Wednesday's session, several Hamas ministers met Tuesday with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to discuss ways for the government and PA leader to work together.
Palestinian Finance Minister Omar Abdel-Razek said that the government continues to engage in fundraising efforts in order to pay the salaries of Palestinian officials. Starting this month, the Hamas government's mission will be first and foremost to guarantee the payment of salaries to approximately 150,000 Palestinian clerks and security personnel.
PA sources estimated that the delays in salary payments would in fact mark the beginning of the government's countdown toward collapse, but Hamas officials said that the movement plans on undertaken all efforts in order to prolong the government's life "for the sake of the Palestinian people."
In the meantime, the Hamas faction announced that it was making amendments in the distribution of roles in the faction. Following the appointment of Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar as the Palestinian government's foreign minister, Dr. Khalil al-Haya will be appointed the faction chairman. In addition, the faction decided on changes in the posts of the faction chairman's deputies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
#3
No diplomatic declarations are expected during the meeting, which will be mostly dedicated to internal Palestinian affairs, and particularly efforts to battle the financial crisis faced by the PA through a three-month emergency plan.
Free donkey parking is available, but lunch will not be served and please do not forget to bring your own bottled water.
#4
Oh, I thought the Saudis and Iranians were going to bankroll them? Isn't that what they said? As far as the Saudis go, make sure you get cash, don't ever take a personal check.
#5
What Mahmoud al-Zahar really wants is a Hellfire suppository. He just doesn't know it ... yet.
He||, you'd have thought that Arafat's timely demise would have ushered in a new era for Israeli-Palestinian relations. Instead, into the power-vacuum has scurried every maggot, louse and cockroach that could possibly gain admission. I hope that Israel and the IDF both have evolved an equally hostile response doctrine to deal with the Palestinians' wholly terrorist government.
#7
The only good thing we can say about Hamas is they say what they think and want to do.
Not the political correct lies of the P.A, about a two state solution. This stupid lie that the Israelis and Americans want to buy.
#8
It's not about the land or about Moslems being "humiliated." It's really about the stuff. The Palestinians want the Israelis' stuff (infrastructure, economy, developed agriculture, tech, business, etc.). It's about stealing their stuff.
Some 19 organization members indicted of extortion, money laundering, thefts and illegal trade aimed at collecting money for terror group
Yitzhak Benhorin
WASHINGTON The FBI uncovered a network attempting to smuggle Hizbullah agents into the United States through Mexico, FBI Director Bob Muller revealed at a House of Representatives hearing.
Hizbullah agents aided others connected to Hizbullah to enter the U.S., Muller said without elaborating.
According to estimates, the U.S. currently has 11 million illegal immigrants from Mexico. U.S. officials have expressed their fears in the past of cooperation between drug cartels and terror organizations in terms of border infiltrations.
The FBI director said during the hearing that apart from Hizbullah members, there was an attempt to smuggle four Chinese atom scientists into the U.S.
This is not the only sign, however, of Hizbullah's operation inside the U.S. On Thursday, 19 people were indicted of extortion, money laundering, thefts and illegal trade aimed at collecting money for Hizbullah.
The money was collected by selling fake Viagra, originating in China and central Europe, and cigarettes smuggled from U.S. which have no purchase tax on cigarettes to Michigan, where there is purchase tax, in order to win the difference.
The cigarette smuggling operation included a massive transfer of cigarettes worth up to half a million dollars in a week. The prosecution estimated that the state of Michigan lost USD 20 million, which Hizbullah members put in their pockets.
The network was uncovered in the city of Dearborn, a Detroit suburb, the largest Arab concentration in the U.S. The entire operation, however, was activated from Lebanon, Canada, Brazil, Paraguay and China.
Inside the U.S., cigarettes were smuggled to Michigan from North Carolina, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois and West Virginia, where large quantities of cigarettes were purchased or stolen and transported to Michigan. According to the statement of claim, large quantities of cigarettes were stolen from the RJ Reynolds tobacco company's storerooms in Kentucky.
Hizbullah's shopping list
Nine of the accused were arrested Wednesday by a War on Terror task force. Another eight of the accused managed to flee the U.S. and are residing in Lebanon, Canada and other places in the world.
The operation to recruit tens of thousands of dollars in the U.S. for Hizbullah began in 1996 and was first uncovered in 2002 following the September 11 terror attacks and the U.S. government's decision to form a joint task force to uncover terror organizations, just like the law authorities managed to crack the mafia through the money route.
The organization for Hizbullah, which has been operating for at least eight years, transferred some of the money to Beirut, to families and orphans of Hizbullah fighters who died in battles against Israel, and of those who carried out bombing attacks.
The Hizbullah headquarters sent its people in Canada and the U.S. a shopping list, which included night vision equipment, laptops and other sophisticated equipment the organization required for its war on the northern border.
..It was a bit less sophisticated than the MMs would have had us believe (EFL, RTWT)
Pentagon Confirms Last Friday's Missile Test Was Not a New ICBM MIRV but a Shahab-2 (Scud-C)
By Steve Schippert
"...It follows a common thread along with the rest of Irans new hardware announcements: Stealthy technology. This is the true value of the conventional advances announced by Iran in the Great Prophet maneuvers in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman, not any claimed MIRV development that Iran cannot arm or even the speed of the 328-feet-per-second Hoot torpedo, by contrast a very real threat to traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. The source of the stealthy technology is without doubt our friends in China and Russia.
Last week, it was noted that there was no word from NORAD nor the US Military in-theater of a ballistic missile launch detection in Iran. Today, we get that word. The Pentagon is saying now that Iran tested an older version of the Scud missile family last week and not any new ICBM development. What was launched in last weeks much publicized Iranian media event was, in fact, a Shahab-2 with a range of 310 miles. The Shahab-2 is the Iranian designation for the Scud-C variant of the Russian design.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman seems to echo sentiments expressed in this space since last week saying, It is possible they are increasing their capabilities and making strides in radar-absorbing material and targeting. However, the Iranians have been known to boast and exaggerate their statements about greater technical and tactical capabilities.
A senior Russian Minister of Parliament criticized Irans very public displays in their current wargaming maneuvers, calling them inappropriate. Minister Konstantin Kosachyov, the chairman of the Russian State Duma International Affairs Committee, also cast doubt on the wild (and vague) claims made by the Iranians regarding last weeks missile test announcement. So far we have nothing except the assertion by the Iranian military and by politicians that it is superior to other similar missiles, but I see no reason to believe these statements.
The development of stealthy technology is not insignificant. However, Irans greatest development is and was their creation, development and support of Hezbollah, and the terrorism and terrorist groups Hezbollah aids, trains, funds and arms. Aside from military attacks on shipping in the Straits of Hormuz, the only effective attack arm Iran possesses against the United States is that of Hezbollah and other terrorist groups carrying out attacks in the region and throughout the world.
While Iran states they will not use oil as a weapon, it can be assured that they will. They must. There is a reason that their latest maneuvers center around the Strait of Hormuz, and it is not because their missile testing ranges are conveniently located nearby..."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/05/2006
06:38 ||
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A CONVICTED Pakistan-born gang rapist who thought he had a right to rape two teenage girls because they were "promiscuous" would have known his cultural beliefs did not excuse his actions, a New South Wales court has ruled.
In the NSW Supreme Court today, MSK, 27, and his brother MAK, 26, had their jail terms increased for the 2002 rapes of a girl, then aged 14, and a 13-year-old girl who can be identified only as TW and CH respectively. The two men and their younger brothers MMK, 19, and MRK, 21 none of whom can be identified for legal reasons are currently serving between 10 and 22 years for raping the girls at knifepoint. Appeals against their sentences heard last year failed.
TW, who gestured angrily at the two men in court today, was raped by both MSK and MAK in a bedroom of their Ashfield home during an evening of drinking in June 2002. CH was also raped by MSK after having consensual sex with MMK, the youngest, at the home the following month.
MSK submitted he did not believe his actions were wrong because the girls were "promiscuous", something considered unacceptable in his strict Muslim upbringing. But Justice Peter Hidden today rejected the argument that culture played a part in the attacks, saying MSK had visited Australia nine times, and had once lived here for 10 months. "He was no stranger to this country," Justice Hidden said. "He must have had sufficient exposure to the Australian way of life to be aware that the place occupied by women in the traditional culture of his area of origin is far removed from our social norms." He also dismissed MSK's claims "satanic" voices told him to rape the girls, describing him as a man "who is prepared to manipulate the system in any way he can to avoid facing the consequences of his crimes".
MSK will now serve 28 years with a non-parole period of 22 years for the four rapes. He will be first eligible for parole in August 2024. MAK has now been jailed for at least 14 years, with a maximum 19 years, and will be eligible for parole in July 2016.
Justice Hidden also considered an indecent assault on another 16-year-old girl, TA, in January 2002, when sentencing MAK. MMK was sentenced to 12 months for having consensual sex with CH, as well as on charges of common and indecent assault of a 14-year-old girl in November 2001. Because the sentence will be served concurrently with his present term, MMK will not spend any extra time in prison. He will be eligible for parole in 2015.
TW stood as the men were led from the dock, making a rude gesture. "I've been waiting four years to do that," she said. "I'm sorry," MSK said. "F**k you, go to hell mate," she replied. Outside court TW, now 18, said she was disappointed by the outcome. "This is something that I have to live with for the rest of my life; it's worse than getting a jail sentence," she said. "This wasn't about culture, this was about abuse against women."
#1
Good. Their culture says women must be protected from men with evil intentions to the point of locking them away in hidden purdah. Thus his culture's ideal is that women are protected by good men, and the abusers are by definition evil. The fact that their culture is actually set up to abuse women on both the macro and micro scale, and all those defined as "not us" as well, doesn't change the ideal these gentlemen imbibed with their mothers' milk.
#2
IIRC, this is actually the second string of mediatised gangrapes by muslim migrants in australai, the first one being done by a gang of lebaneses, and it was as sordid as this one, with even one slight terror sidenote (the main perp made bogus terror claims, threatening attacks in Australia from his cell, if "muslim prisoners were not released from aussie jails", which perfectly illustrate the mental imagery of theses "passive-aggressive" jihad boyz).
I'm normally very shocked and disturbed by the sexual exploitation found in most jails, but I do hope theses animals, both the lebaneses and the pakistanis, will experience instant karma while serving their time; well, after all, unlike many european countries, muslims are not the ruling majority in the correction system there.
I'll make an exception for them.
#5
I'll merely repost the wonderful Charles Napier quote someone here provided a while back. (Let me know if all of you get tired of it.) That an Aussie court has deemed it fit to look past a so-called "cultural defence" and impose lengthy sentences makes it all the more appropos.
'"It is your custom to burn widows. We also have a custom. When men burn a woman alive, we take those men, tie a rope around their necks, and hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your national custom. And then we will follow ours.'"
#8
I agree with Zenster. Charles Napiers words should be on every courthouse and port of entry.
Multiculturalism is fine and great but it is not an excuse for bad behavior and it must swing both ways and when in doubt the laws/culture of the home country MUST prevail. There many nations to choose from, if they don't like it perhaps Saudi Arabia or Pakistan will be more to their liking.
#10
tw- Their culture says women must be protected from men with evil intentions to the point of locking them away in hidden purdah. Thus his culture's ideal is that women are protected by good men, and the abusers are by definition evil.
I shudder to think about the women who live in the countries where that culture is the norm.
In Pakistan, the "locals" attack Christians with impunity with the blessing of the local Mosque Imam.
#11
BigEd, I'm not so silly as to think that the women locked in purdah experience it as an act of love. And any man that tried to do so to me would not long enjoy his manhood, difficult though I find even the idea of me acting violently. But the original intent of locking women away was always to protect the women of the harem (and their children) from the dangers of a violent world. In ancient times the harem was in the inner keep of the citadel, the safest part of the city.
But even though the culture of Pakistan can charitably be described barbaric, and realistically as evil incarnate, the inchoate ideal is still that good men protect women from evil men.
ALMOST 200 suspected illegal fishermen are being detained in Australia, after a major sea and air operation off the Northern Territory coast. Customs Minister Chris Ellison said Operation Breakwater had led to the arrest of 23 fishing vessels and 197 fishermen, including eight youths. There were some resistance in relation to this operation ... in some cases shots were fired," Senator Ellison said today.
As I understand it, shooting at Aussies is a bad idea.
"But we now have 197 crewmen that have been apprehended and, as I say, 125 of them are at Baxter in South Australia, the remaining being processed in Darwin." It is understood most of the fishermen detained are Indonesian, but there may be some Chinese among the group.
Senator Ellison revealed the operation in a joint statement with Defence Minister Brendan Nelson and conservation minister Eric Abetz today. "This operation has not only resulted in 23 boats being seized, it will also have an impact on those fishers who wrongly think heading into Australian waters might be worthwhile," Senator Abetz said. "This country values its fish stocks and our right to ensure that they are sustainably managed for the benefit of future generations".
The air force worked with customs officers, who for the first time hired commercial tugs to bring suspected illegal vehicles into port. Operation Breakwater was a two-week mission that involved four Navy ships - the HMAS Armidale, HMAS Fremantle, HMAS Ipswich, and the heavy landing craft HMAS Balikpapan.
More to come...
A man on a humanitarian mission in Pakistan says what the U.S. government thinks is a terrorist training camp may actually be a Pakistani military facility.
"I was at the right location. I'm 100 percent sure of that," said James Lazor, a witness for the defense in the terrorism trial against Lodi's Hamid Hayat. Last month, Lazor was in Balakot, Pakistan searching for the camp and says he encountered Pakistani soldiers when he got close. When he spoke to one of them, Lazor said, "He was a military guy, no doubt in my mind."
Hamid Hayat, 23, is accused of training at a terrorism camp. Prosecutors claim his description of the area and the camp matches satellite images showing a complex of buildings tucked in the mountains of Pakistan's northwest Frontier Province.
Defense lawyers say Lazor's testimony disputes that. "Their expert sat on the stand and stated that in looking at the images that it cannot be a military camp, and he is clearly wrong," said Wazhma Mojaddidi, who represents Hamid Hayat. "The proof is in that the government is not able to, with all its resources, produce one person whoever went there. Us as the defense, we were able to find someone to go there, and he came back and reported what he saw."
Lazor testified that he went to Pakistan this past February, taking blankets to victims of the earthquakes as well as letters from California children to deliver to Pakistani children. He's a private citizen who went there on his own after speaking to friends about the needs of earthquake victims.
The defense would not reveal how they discovered Lazor was going there, but he agreed to try to find the terrorist camp armed with maps, a global positioning system device and the coordinates provided by defense attorneys.
Lazor said when he went up the trail and was about a mile and a half away, he was approached by a military-type vehicle. "I was stopped by a sergeant from the Pakistani military who said the area wasn't open to civilians and said it was a Pakistani military camp I would not be allowed access to," said Lazor. "He was polite and respectful. I mean if he was a terrorist it would've been a completely different scenario."
Lazor, who lead off Tuesday's defense witnesses, said he did very little research on the Hayat case before he went on his quest in Pakistan last month. "I went with an open mind," he said.
Also taking the stand was FBI agent Gary Schaaf, one of the agents who interrogated Hamid Hayat which was videotaped after Hayat claimed he attended training at the terrorist camp. Under defense questioning, he acknowledged that he often asked Hayat leading questions during the interview. Schaaf said he, not Hayat, was the one who first mentioned weapons and explosives training and the possibility someone would travel by bus to get there.
Besides the charge of training for terrorism, Hamid Hayat also faces three counts of lying to federal agents. The key evidence against him is his videotaped confession, along with secret tape recordings between him and a paid FBI informant, Naseem Khan.
On Wednesday, the trial for Hayat's father, Umer Hayat, resumes. The older Hayat, an ice cream truck driver from Lodi, is charged with lying to federal officials about his son's alleged involvement in terrorism.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
01:17 ||
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#1
The defense would not reveal how they discovered Lazor was going there, but he agreed to try to find the terrorist camp armed with maps, a global positioning system device and the coordinates provided by defense attorneys.
#2
A man on a humanitarian mission in Pakistan says what the U.S. government thinks is a terrorist training camp may actually be a Pakistani military facility.
Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/05/2006 8:55
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#3
Actually, that would be worse for the defense -- I believe American citizens are not permitted to join foreign armies. Not to mention terribly embarrassing for Pakistan -- what on earth are they doing giving military/paramilitary/terror training to non-citizen civilians?
#5
A man on a humanitarian mission in Pakistan says what the U.S. government thinks is a terrorist training camp may actually be a Pakistani military facility.
"..Oopsie."
Apparently when Lincolnshire County Council were widening the road past RAF Scampton's main gate in about 1958, the 'gate guards' there had to be moved to make way for the new carriageway. Scampton was the WWII home of 617 Sqn, and said "gate guards" were a Lancaster...and a Grand Slam bomb.
When they went to lift the Grand Slam, thought for years to just be an empty casing, with an RAF 8 Ton Coles Crane, it wouldn't budge. "Oh, it must be filled with concrete" they said. Then somebody had a horrible thought .... No!..... Couldn't be? ... Not after all these years out here open to the public to climb over and be photographed sitting astride! .... Could it? .... Then everyone raced off to get the Station ARMO. He carefully scraped off many layers of paint and gingerly unscrewed the base plate.
Yes, you guessed it, live 1944 explosive filling! The beast was very gently lifted onto an RAF 'Queen Mary' low loader, using a much larger civvy crane (I often wonder what, if anything, they told the crane driver), then driven slowly under massive police escort to the coastal experimental range at Shoeburyness. There it was rigged for demolition, and when it 'high ordered', it proved in no uncertain terms to anyone within a ten mile radius that the filling was still very much alive!
Exhaustive investigations then took place, but nobody could find the long-gone 1944, 1945 or 1946 records which might have shown how a live 22,000 lb bomb became a gate guard for nearly the next decade and a half. Some safety distance calculations were done, however, about the effect of a Grand Slam detonating at ground level in the open. Apart from the entire RAF Station, most of the northern part of the City of Lincoln, including Lincoln Cathedral, which dates back to 1250, would have been flattened.
#3
When I was at Wheeler AFB they evacuated base housing when they found two WWII bombs while digging fence posts in base housing. As it turned out the bombs were display models at the front gate on December 7, 1941.
#4
History channel had a show this weekend about the German battleship Tirpitz. Very heavy armor plate on the decks and sides. The Germans kept it in a fjord in Norway to threaten Russia bound convoys. After attacking it on and off for five years, the Brits finally took it out with 'Tall Boy' bombs (bigger than Grand Slams) dropped from a height of three miles!
Iraq's vice-president has added his voice to calls for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to step down as candidate to lead a new government.
Adel Abdul Mahdi is the most senior figure in Mr Jaafari's dominant Shia alliance to urge him to withdraw.
Mr Jaafari's nomination is one of the main sticking points in deadlocked coalition talks with Kurds and Sunnis.
In further violence, 10 people have been killed in a car bomb attack in the Shia district of Sadr City in Baghdad.
Another 25 people were injured in the explosion that happened during the evening rush hour, in a street where car auctions are held, a BBC correspondent in the city said.
Mr Mahdi's comments came a day after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw ended a visit to Baghdad to press for swifter movement on establishing a government of national unity.
He told the BBC's HARDtalk TV programme he had urged Mr Jaafari to step down pointing out "that the country is already in crisis and we have to find an end to that".
Mr Jaafari has so far failed to get the approval of minority political groups in parliament in his efforts to form a national unity government, and was also facing rejection within his own United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), Mr Mahdi went on.
"After such a time of naming him, not getting approval of others, now even in the UIA there is some rejection, so I think he should step aside," he said.
But he revealed that Mr Jaafari was determined to press ahead with his nomination, " and he's willing to go to the parliament.... he will welcome the decision of the parliament".
Mr Mahdi lost to Mr Jaafari by one vote in the contest within the Shia alliance for the nomination and is still considered a possible candidate for the prime minister's job.
His comments add significantly to the pressure on Mr Jaafari, the BBC's Mike Wooldridge in Baghdad says.
The US was reported in Baghdad last week to have taken a similar view of Mr Jaafari's position.
The first public calls within Mr Jaafari's own alliance for his withdrawal came at the weekend, but they were from less senior figures.
There are, however, some within the Shia bloc who are concerned that a growing challenge to Mr Jaafari would leave the alliance divided and weak, our correspondent says.
Iraq's political parties have been wrangling over forming a new government since December's election.
Kurdish and Sunni Arab parties rejected the ruling Shia-led bloc's nomination of Mr Jaafari as prime minister and have threatened to boycott a government unless he withdraws.
The delay in forming a government is thought to be partly responsible for fuelling the increasing sectarian violence which has struck since February's bombing of a key Shia shrine in Samarra.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
01:13 ||
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#1
by the way, I must say this guy, who sounds pretty good in English, has the most unfortunate name - Mahdi.
The Kremlin has found a way to include mayors in the vertical of power without formally violating the constitutional requirement of the independence of local self-governance from organs of state authority. Today the State Duma council will examine amendments to the federal laws On the General Principles of Organization of the Legislative and Executive Organs of State Authority in the Russian Federation and On the General Principles of Organization of Local Self-Governance in the Russian Federation. The amendments, written by United Russia Party members Vladimir Mokry, Vladimir Zhidkikh and Alexey Ogonkov, will allow governors to deprive inconvenient mayors of the majority of their authority and practically take the management of regional capitals on themselves. The document will be distributed to the subjects of the federation for examination this week.
The draft amendments allow regions temporarily to exercise individual authorities of organs of local self-governance of settlements and city districts that are the administrative centers of subjects of the Russian Federation for the purpose to guaranteeing unity in life support, communications and other infrastructure systems. Mayors can be deprived of up to ten authorities, including organization of heating, gas, electric and water services, management of domestic waste, building and maintaining roads and bridges, transportation services, establishing rights to land use and control over land use. The meaning of temporary is to be determined legislatively by the regions.
Mokry, head of the Duma Committee on Issue of Local Self-Governance, explained that We're not saying that it's mandatory. But, in the case of deterioration of the quality of the services provided to the population, organs of state authorities should have the same responsibility as local self-governance. It is a question of competence and the correct spending of funds. Local self-governance should confirm its work though efficiency. Kommersant has obtained information indicating that a number of Kremlin officials stand behind the initiative, including presidential chief of staff and former governor of Tyumen Region Sergey Sobyanin. The Kremlin also freely admits that the amendments will make it possible to control uncooperative mayors of wealthy donor cities who come into conflict with regional governors.
Governors have been attempting to gain control over the mayors of their capital cities since the institution of popular mayoral elections. That effort has gain momentum n regions where governors have been appointed by the president and not elected themselves. Incorporating municipalities in the vertical of power would require constitutional changes, however, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has said is impermissible. The appointment of mayors is also a violation of the European Convention on Local Self-Governance, which would cause Russian problems with the Council of Europe. A temporary transfer of power is not a de facto violation of the Constitution, even though the term of that transfer is left to the discretion of the head of the federation subject. The law already allows such transfer in cases of natural disaster, or when a municipality has overdue debts that exceed 30 percent of its income or state subventions are misspent. Representatives of the opposition characterized the law as a way for governors to punish politically disloyal mayors.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
01:12 ||
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#2
The amendments,.... will allow governors to deprive inconvenient mayors of the majority of their authority and practically take the management of regional capitals on themselves.
"But that's impossible. How will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?"
"The regional governors now have direct control over their territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station."
Posted by: Steve ||
04/05/2006 15:57
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Much of the money for rebuilding Iraq has already been spent, and Iraqi soldiers are gradually taking over for their American counterparts. So what can the United States still use as leverage? It may be that the strongest influence is the simple fear of what would happen if the US up and left.
"Most of Iraq's leaders recognize that if the US were to pull out precipitously, things could get much worse," says Phebe Marr, an Iraq expert at the US Institute of Peace who has spent considerable time with Iraq's principal political factions. "All the talk about the US getting out, an exit strategy and so forth, has them worried. It's having an impact."
Yet even as the US shows signs of growing increasingly impatient with Iraqi leaders over their inability to name a new government, that doesn't mean the US wants to look as if it is determining Iraq's future. The result is a delicate balancing act: It's applying pressure for political action even while encouraging a sovereign Iraq that appears to stand on its own two feet.
For weeks, the US has left its behind-closed-doors arm-twisting to its ambassador in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, with the aim of seeing a national unity government named that is acceptable to the major political factions and population groups. But with alarm growing that what the US calls a "power vacuum" is feeding sectarian violence, the pressure has become more public - and from higher up.
On Tuesday, President Bush said, "It's time for the elected leaders to stand up and do their job." The remark came one day after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice concluded a visit to Baghdad accompanied by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
The two diplomats gave no public indications of their preference for prime minister, the keystone in the construction of Iraq's first permanent government since the fall of Saddam Hussein. But the US has made little effort to squelch speculation that it wishes to see Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari give up his battle to retain his post.
Ms. Rice and Mr. Straw met once with Mr. Jaafari in a tense photo session, but pointedly met for meetings and a breakfast with two other prominent Shiite leaders, Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who heads one of Iraq's major Shiite parties. Mr. Mahdi lost his bid to be nominated prime minister by only one vote in secret balloting of the Shiite bloc.
Those meetings may have only served to spotlight the deepening fissures within Iraq's Shiite majority - a latent situation that could lead to a new front of violence. That is especially true, some analysts say, because Jaafari has the backing of the volatile young cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Mr. Sadr has recently toned down his anti- occupation rhetoric as he has amassed power in the new National Assembly, some observers note, but might reignite resistance if he decided it might enhance his kingmaker role.
In addition to the two diplomats, members of the US Congress have also visited Baghdad and key political leaders recently. Some have told Iraqi counterparts that the US commitment to Iraq is under pressure and could be scaled back if they do not end their political infighting.
Yet the US is also operating with the knowledge that too much pressure could have the negative result of prolonging the leadership stalemate among politicians who are sensitive about foreign influences in Iraq. "There are misgivings and growing mistrust towards those [leaders] with too-close ties to outsiders, particularly the US and Iran," says Ellen Laipson, a former CIA official with foreign-policy and national-security expertise.
By its investment and presence in the country, the US has a right to exercise pressure, and there are things it can do "without going over the line," says Ms. Laipson, now president of the Stimson Center, a Washington defense and security think tank. "We are operating within a boundary that says it's not up to us to pick the names" of who will govern, but that says the US provides "broad guidelines on what will help the security situation and get them on the right track."
So the US is in "the unusual situation of saying we'd like someone other than Jaafari" for prime minister, she says. But the US is also emphasizing that the ministers of defense and interior should be someone with no ties to the country's powerful and ethnically based militias.
Still, with US clout waning, other means of pressuring Iraq's leadership are under discussion. One idea is an international conference that would be held outside Iraq - something similar to the Bonn conference that provided guideposts to Afghanistan's post-Taliban government.
Ambassador Khalilzad, an Afghan-American who was previously ambassador to his native country, has floated that idea. Yet while "internationalizing" Iraq could help, some experts say, they also doubt that many countries wish to step in to help Iraq. Add to that the deep suspicions that Iraqis harbor toward the neighboring countries that might have some influence.
In any case, many experts caution that naming a government is not going to magically transform Iraq, any more than earlier milestones - such as elections - have done the trick.
"It's a little misplaced to say that [forming a government] somehow solves the sectarian problem or any of the other really difficult challenges on the ground," Ms. Marr says. "It will probably help some to have a new government, but we shouldn't be under any illusions that the day after, the insurgency will put down its guns, or the sectarian violence is going to stop."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
01:10 ||
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#1
We aren't ballet dancers and all this tip-toeing around is bullshit.
U.S. intelligence information on Iran is inadequate and may contain misinformation that spy agencies are accepting as solid, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said Tuesday.
Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., told a Council on Foreign Relations gathering that she and other lawmakers recently received a briefing from intelligence agencies based on information shared with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the U.N. Security Council.
Her bottom line: "I remain skeptical lots of unanswered questions."
"The conjecture that I have is that if I were Iran, and I wanted to put out disinformation, it might look a lot like what our government is claiming is information," she said. "I can't tell you that's true, but I can't tell you it's not true."
Harman didn't provide details on the classified session.
With tensions growing between the U.S. and Iran over its nuclear program, Tehran in the past week has touted new weapons including missiles supposedly invisible to radar and torpedoes too fast to be avoided. Experts have questioned Iran's claims about the weapons' capabilities.
The announcements came as the Bush administration was working toward a diplomatic solution to address its belief that Iran intends to produce nuclear weapons. Iran says it aims only to generate electricity, but it has thus far defied U.N. Security Council demands that it give up key parts of its program.
Last week, the Security Council unanimously approved a statement demanding that Iran suspend uranium enrichment.
When asked about Iran's recent weapons announcements Tuesday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Iran's "aggressive military program and defiant rhetoric are further examples of how the regime is isolating itself." But he stressed the administration hopes to work toward a diplomatic solution.
McClellan said the United States has a number of concerns about Iran's behavior, including its efforts to conceal its nuclear activities, support of terrorism, use of threatening rhetoric and disregard for the demands of the international community.
Harman said she does not doubt that Iran is a threat. "The issue is how capable are they and what are the real intentions of Iran's leaders, and I think the jury is out on both of those," Harman said.
In recent months, she and others on Capitol Hill have been seeking information about how to deal with Iran. Bruises in Congress and elsewhere in the government remain fresh on the botched prewar intelligence on Iraq's never-to-be-found weapons of mass destruction.
"I want to be absolutely sure that we base decisions especially tough decisions like what are the next steps with Iran, and I surely hope they are diplomatic because I think those are our best options on pristine and pure intelligence or the closest we can get to that," Harman said.
She was echoing the words of former U.S. weapons inspector David Kay, who was in charge of the hunt for Iraq's arsenal until he quit his position in January 2004. Then, he said that "pristine intelligence, good accurate intelligence" was fundamental to a pre-emptive military policy, which the Bush administration adopted after Sept. 11, 2001.
Harman spoke alongside former acting CIA Director John McLaughlin, a veteran intelligence analyst who was the agency's No. 2 official in the run-up to the Iraq war. He politely quibbled with the use of the phrase "pristine intelligence."
"It's important, I think, to realize that intelligence isn't going to be pristine and pure," McLaughlin said.
He said intelligence is often incomplete and at some point policy decisions must be made. "We are getting a little caught in the idea that intelligence has the answer to everything," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
00:56 ||
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#1
Harman's one of the smarter Dems but she still thinks we can somehow get 'pristine and pure' intelligence. It's like she wants to convict them in court after mirandizing, subpoening, etc.
It does not occur to these people most decisions in the real world, and all made in wartime, are made under uncertainty. When possible, it's best to err on the side of caution.
#3
Jane Harman may be one of the smarter Democrats, but I'm sure as Hell not willing to bet my life or my childrens' lives on her "concerns."
Iran has been shaking its fist at us and screaming, "DEATH TO AMERICA!!!!" for 27 years; a few years ago we learned they were running a secret program to develop uranium enrichment capability; and they continue to defy all efforts to persuade them to stop.
Those simple facts right there are enough for me. Whack the Mad Mullahs. DO IT NOW.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/05/2006 6:01
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#4
"I can't tell you that's true, but I can't tell you it's not true."
Indecisiveness and and hand wringing. Plane and simple. "I remain skeptical lots of unanswered questions."
Failure to commit and take a stand. Again, plane and simple.
What does she nor understand? They are building Nuclear material to use in boms. They have shown it to the world, there is no hunting for it or conjecture. Their Pres has said his goal in life is to destroy the United States of America. The Iranian Government funded the Beirut bombing that killed 200+ great American, bombed the Kobar towers, and built an army, Hammas, designed to carry out terrorist actions worldwide.
My only question to our esteemed Congresswoman is, "What questions here need answering????"
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/05/2006 7:20
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#5
She really pissed me off with her fench sitting. Sorry folks for the spelling errors. My bad.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/05/2006 7:22
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#6
Harman's one of the smarter Dems...
Damning with faint praise, again? I mean "one of the smarter Dems" is like being one of the more chaste street walkers.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/05/2006 7:39
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#7
I'd like to see a statement from George Bush to the effect that as a result of historical experience, we have no choice but to believe it when other countries make warlike and threatening statements, or claim to have or to be acquiring certain weapons -- and therefore we will respond to stated threats in the same way as to confirmed threats. This is not the kind of thing for which equivocation or nuance is helpful.
But lately I've been feeling more than a bit impatient with the usual nonsense. I'm very glad I'm not in the diplomatic corps, else we'd be in the middle of a couple of wars by now. ;-)
#8
If the dems are downplaying the intell, then it must be fairly damning. You know how dems run from war, therefore, Jane is off and running,
indicating we are soon off to war.
#10
Its delusional to believe the majority of elected US officials (of all stripes) can resist their political instincts. Even with all her deserved accolades, Harman has proven not to be the exception. Take her recent statement of how she felt mislead into authorizing the Iraq War for example. Or how she used weasel words to imply trepidation in light of the congressional intelligence committee briefing and authorization for the NSA surveillance. At best, for someone in her position, these smokescreen statements should be viewed as unashamed admissions of incompetence. Although I agree with her apprehension to accept some of the sensational information about Irans capabilities and goals, this is clearly another example of a politician making a CYA statement.
#13
Sadly, she has a point. A stupid one, but a point.
That being, that US intelligence agencies have so embarassed themselves so many times, over so many years, that to get accurate intelligence we almost have to subcontract to private entities, like Janes.
I really wonder if it is an insolvable institutional problem. That they are just so enormous that they cannot see out from under the puffy rolls of bureaucratic flesh. They would not be the first bureaucracy to suffer from such a problem.
The side of this coin she is concerned about is that they might lead us into an unneccessary war.
HOWEVER, it should concern those of us here, if their data is so flawed, that in a war, it might lead to a significant number of our soldiers and sailors getting killed.
I, for one, do not want to see a single soldier or sailor killed because some honorable schoolboy Eli at CIA was promoted because of his class ties.
#14
I have not been up at the senior levels were the ivy league guys are, and presumably the problems are. But down at the operator level, all of the guys I have known and worked with were focused, dedicated and trustworthy. I see them as the new breed as the culture shifts in that agency. As much as the senior leaders have embarased themselves and the agency, the new guys climbing the ladder are different. I am hopefull.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/05/2006 15:40
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#15
49 and OS and anyone else with experience...
My question has always been, "Isn't intelligence one of those areas that you never see or hear about the successes, only the failures?"
If so, how can anyone outside the system judge whether or not things are going reasonably well?
Remember, a batting average of .800 is pretty good, but, if you only hear about the misses it's still a .000
#17
Harmon is a political hack, first and foremost. She was on so many sides of the terrorist surveillance issue of which she was a principle, along with Rocky from the Senate Intel Committee.
If she is one of the brighest bulds on the donks side, sheesh.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/05/2006 22:51
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#18
amen, CA - she reminds me of a parrot that's learned from a disaffected family - she'll say whatever it takes to get the cracker and her feathers preened. Her turnabout on FISA should've got her ass off the intelligence committee if her party had any nads
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/05/2006 22:58
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Spains foreign minister said Monday that the European Union must take the Muslim world more seriously following the uproar over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. "The cartoon crisis has shown that we have to pay more attention to that part of the world," Moratinos told reporters during a visit to Denmark, where the cartoons were first published.
Moratinos told the crowd of about 150 people at Copenhagens Royal Library that European countries must preserve their traditions of free speech, "but it has to be exercised with responsibility."
He urged both sides to increase mutual respect, and refrain from stereotyping each other to reduce the risk of more serious conflicts.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
00:54 ||
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The cartoon crisis has shown that we have to pay more attention to that part of the world
Yep - someone punch in the coordinates please...
Posted by: Howard UK ||
04/05/2006 3:54
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"...increase mutual respect, and refrain from stereotyping each other to reduce the risk of more serious conflicts..."
'Increased respect' does not lessen the risk of serious conflict-it only delays the conflict, and thus improves the odds of a Muslim Caliphate being established worldwide.
#3
He didn't say why?
If muslims riot in muslim lands - then who cares?
If they riot in your countries - make sure they are not stupid enough to riot again. (hint fines and 3 month sentences at vacation prisons will not do it.)
#4
I guess Moratinos hasn't heard about the gay Muslim film that's coming out soon (so to speak). If he thinks the cartoons were a matter for concern I think we can all expect a litter of kittens from this spineless weasle.
Special Memo to Moratinos: Just because a bunch of stone-age psychotics are outraged that others have taken the opportunity to engage in what these loons do on a regular basis is not a reason to take them "more seriously." It is a reason to take measures that protect free speech "more seriously." A notion, I'm sure, that is entirely foreign to a country that caved so cravenly after the Madrid atrocity.
#6
I have less than zero respect for rioting assholes, no matter what their religion or association.
Obviously, Moratinos' mileage varies.
As ye sow, so shall ye reap - and I think Spain is trying really hard to get reaped. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/05/2006 16:03
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I guess he's missed the double-standard demand inherent in the muslim protests.
They get to scream death to infidels and anyone else they've got a froth on for that day, infidels get to shut up and never mention any kind of commentary or observation about islam at all.
Americans are getting impatient about the formation of a new Iraqi government. That's what Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told political leaders in Baghdad this week, and she was putting it mildly. But it would be folly if American impatience torpedoed the slow but real progress Iraqi leaders are making toward a government that could step back from the brink of civil war.
"We need to be patient to get it right," Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, told me in a telephone interview yesterday. "Their concept of time is not the same as ours. While we press them to hurry up, the American people also need to be patient."
Khalilzad recounted the items that the Iraqi political factions have agreed on in private negotiations over the past month. On Sunday, the leaders signed off on the last of these planks of a government of national unity. The Iraqis have saved the hardest issue for last -- the names of the politicians who will hold the top jobs. That bitter fight will play out over the next several weeks.
An example of what's in these unity documents is a passage that calls for "a timetable so the Iraqi forces assume the security tasks completely and end the mission of the multinational force in Iraq." That timetable language is vague, but it would allow the new government to say it is committed to ending the American occupation. Interestingly, U.S. officials said yesterday that this passage on troop withdrawal is consistent with Bush administration policy.
The political agreements are fragile, and they will be blown away if the factions can't form a government soon to put them in practice. Meanwhile, beyond the Green Zone, Iraqis are still being slaughtered every day in the streets. But given where Iraq was six months ago -- when Sunni and Shiite leaders were barely talking -- their agreement on the framework for a unity government is important. These negotiations may not succeed, but they are not a fairy-tale fantasy, as some critics argue.
"All the elements of the deal are there, up in the air, and they could come down and click into place," Kurdish leader Barham Salih told me by telephone from Iraq. "We have come to the real crunch."
Here's the framework for the unity government, as outlined by Khalilzad, who has attended nearly all of the meetings. First, the broad strokes: The Sunni leaders have accepted that the new government will operate under the Iraqi constitution and that it will be based on the results of last December's election, both of which reflect the reality that the Shiites are Iraq's largest religious group. The Shiites, in turn, have agreed that the new government will be guided by consensus among all the factions. And they have agreed to checks that will, in theory, prevent the key security ministries from being hijacked by Shiite militia groups.
To implement this consensual approach, the Iraqi factions agreed on two bodies that weren't mentioned in the constitution. They endorsed a 19-member consultative national security council, which represents all the political factions. And they agreed on a ministerial security council, which will have the Sunni deputy prime minister as its deputy chairman. Shiite leaders have tentatively agreed that the defense minister will be a Sunni. And for the key job of interior minister, the dominant Shiite faction, known as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, appears ready to accept the replacement of one of its members by an independent Shiite, perhaps Qasim Dawood, a man acceptable to most Sunni leaders.
The real brawl lies ahead over who should be prime minister. Ibrahim al-Jafari, the interim prime minister, is fighting to hold on to his job. Kurdish and Sunni groups have opposed him, as has the Bush administration, arguing that he is too weak and too sectarian. This anti-Jafari coalition added a crucial new member Monday when the Supreme Council's top leaders formally told Jafari they will vote against him if the choice is thrown to the new parliament. That broke the unity of the Shiite alliance, cutting 50 to 70 votes from the 130 that Jafari had counted on, and it may doom his candidacy.
The day-to-day bargaining is taking place in Baghdad. But the X-factor in this delicate game is U.S. political support. Khalilzad could fail in his effort to midwife a unity government, and Iraq could spiral into full-blown civil war. But it would be crazy for an impatient America to talk itself into defeat and pull the plug prematurely. As Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, remarked this week: "America came to Iraq uninvited. You should not leave uninvited."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
00:53 ||
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The State Duma Council on Thursday will discuss United Russia-drafted legislation that would allow governors to confiscate powers from mayors who manage their cities poorly.
The amendments promise to provoke consternation among liberal politicians and Western leaders, both of whom have expressed concern that the Kremlin is rolling back democracy by eliminating gubernatorial elections and scrapping individual races for the State Duma, among other things.
The latest measure, political analysts said, is a sign that the Kremlin wants to make sure that leaders from the municipal level on up will guarantee a good showing for United Russia in the Duma elections next year and a smooth handover of power to the person whom President Vladimir Putin picks as his successor in 2008.
Under the amendments, mayors would lose most of their powers during a natural disaster, if their city's debt exceeds 30 percent of its income or if the city mismanages government subsidies, Vladimir Mokry, a co-author of the amendments, said by telephone Tuesday.
The governor would gain the right to oversee key sectors of the city, including heating, gas, electricity, water and public transport, as well as the right to manage the building of highways and bridges and to determine the rules for using public land and building on it, said Mokry, who chairs the Duma's Local Administration Committee.
"Regional powers should not only have the responsibility but also the right to intervene to solve the problems that trouble a city," Mokry said.
He noted, as an example, that electricity had been cut to cities and towns that have overdue bills. "In this situation you have mayors saying that they don't have money and governors saying they don't have the power to intervene. We need to find a solution to this problem," he said. Mayors would still be elected by popular vote.
Mokry insisted that the amendments were not a "political order" to guarantee the Kremlin's control of the country.
"We are not building the power vertical or fulfilling someone's political will, we just want to force everyone to work in the interests of the people. We don't want to destroy democracy or the self-rule system in the country," he said.
The amendments are officially an initiative of United Russia, but the party usually only acts under the Kremlin's orders.
Duma deputies are currently discussing how long a governor should be allowed to keep a mayor's powers and the details about the circumstances under which the powers can be taken away, Mokry said.
The amendments were submitted to the Duma on Friday and will be discussed by the agenda-setting Duma Council on Thursday. Regional legislatures will then have 30 days to examine the legislation and add further amendments.
The Duma is expected to consider the legislation in a first reading in mid-May.
Even though the amendments would not give governors the right to hire and fire mayors, political analysts said that they would pave the way for the de facto control of every leader in the country.
"The Kremlin wants a situation even more maneuverable and predictable for the elections in 2007 and 2008. They want to be sure that they don't have any scandals before and during the elections," said Sergei Mikheyev, a senior analyst at the Center for Political Technologies.
Under the Constitution, mayors can be dismissed by courts. But with the new amendments, analysts said, the Kremlin would be able to control the mayors through the governors, without any change to the Constitution.
Governors are now effectively appointed by the president, a change Putin ushered in as a way to strengthen the state after the 2004 Beslan school attack.
Russia faced international criticism for that change, and the Kremlin appears keen to avoid a similar confrontation ahead of the 2007 and 2008 votes.
Yury Korgunyuk, an analyst with Indem, a think tank, called the latest amendments a step back to the Soviet Union, when everybody was somebody else's subordinate.
"Everyone has to have a boss breathing down his neck, starting from the governors, who are under the Kremlin control, to the mayors, who will be subordinated to the governors, and ending with the street cleaners," Korgunyuk said.
"The Kremlin is so paranoid about losing its power that wants to have control of every single person, just in case," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
00:49 ||
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A militant group comprising four members has been captured in a sweep operation in Chechnya.
"A total of four people, including the group's leader - Khamzat Tushayev, emir of the village of Duba-Yurt - have been arrested," the republic's Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov told Interfax on Tuesday.
The operation was carried out by Chechen policemen and servicemen of the Russian Interior Ministry's provisional task force, he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
00:47 ||
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A SUSPECTED leader of the Al Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf Group and his brother were killed in a fierce clash with government troops at the island village of Sacol in Zamboanga City, military officials said yesterday.
But the security forces lost one of the militiamen who accompanied them to verify civilian reports that Abu Sayyaf rebels were in the small island just off the city.
Col. Edgardo Gidaya, commander of Task Force Zamboanga, identified the Abu Sayyaf leader as Romy Akilan, who operates in Basilan with a band of 60 rebels, and his brother Patta Akilan.
The militiaman was identified as Mujid Ammang, who accompanied troops who were sent to the village Monday afternoon after civilians complained of heavily armed men on the island which has often served as an Abu Sayyaf refuge.
Security forces are now conducting pursuit operation to track down other members of the group, Gidaya said, adding some firearms were recovered from the scene of the fighting.
Earlier, Army spokesman Maj. Bartolome Bacarro said another ASG member, Kahal Asmad, alias Bua Akmad, was arrested by a combined team of the military and police intelligence agents in Isabela City.
Asmad, who guarded the hostages who were abducted from a beach resort in Sabah, Malaysia in 2000, had admitted he was the leader of Team Zero, a group of pirates who operate around the island of Tapul.
It was during the time that he was approached by a certain Jaja, said to be leader of another armed group based in Balloh Island, also in Tapul, Sulu, who asked him to guard the hostages from Sabah, Malaysia with his men.
He and his group then became a part of Abu Sayyaf which has been blamed for series of terrorist attacks in the country.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
00:46 ||
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Around 10 terror operatives affiliated with Al-Qaida and other global jihad factions have infiltrated the Gaza Strip in recent weeks.
Palestinian Authority sources said their security agencies suspect that the operatives, who arrived in Gaza from Egypt - some through the Rafah terminal - are staying in the cities of Khan Yunis and Rafah and are involved in smuggling materiel on a large scale.
According to various reports, some of which could not be fully verified by Israelis, the operatives belong to several factions, mainly radical Islamic movements in Egypt, that are affiliated with Al-Qaida. Beside Palestinians, there are citizens of Egypt, Sudan and Yemen.
Citing Jordanian security officials, the Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat reported Tuesday "a definite presence" of Al-Qaida operatives in Gaza who intend to carry out attacks on "sensitive" targets. The reference apparently was to attacks on crossings into Israel and perhaps also the foreign observers at the Rafah terminal.
The observers left the terminal in the past - during the wave of abductions in Gaza on the day the Israel Defense Forces raided the Palestinian jail in Jericho. The PA went to great lengths to mollify them. Through these attempts, it sent several delegations of Gaza children to the terminal to express Palestinian support for the observers.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas confirmed several weeks ago that Al-Qaida operatives had entered Gaza. The IDF admits that Gaza is wide open to weapons smuggling and the entry of terrorists - both through the Rafah terminal and through recently reactivated tunnels beneath the Philadelphi route in Rafah. Among the terrorists who entered were specialists affiliated with Al-Qaida, people who underwent training in sophisticated explosive devices and mass attacks at camps in Lebanon and even in Iran and Afghanistan.
A senior source on the IDF General Staff told Haaretz, "The focus of global Islamic terror on our region has already become a distinct phenomenon. We're not talking about gut feelings: The Katyushas fired on Shlomi and before that the Katyusha fire from Aqaba that hit the airport in Eilat were carried out by organizations affiliated with Al-Qaida and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's people in Iraq. The operational direction of these organizations is clear. They will try in the future to hit more Israeli targets."
MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud), chair of the outgoing Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said Tuesday that terror organizations in Gaza now have unfettered access to expert assistance and materiel through the Egyptian border.
"More sophisticated materiel is getting into Gaza, as are global jihad operatives who didn't used to get there. A weapons industry is developing there; it's still in an initial phase, but it is worrisome," Steinitz warned.
He claimed that Egypt is not living up to the agreement it reached with Israel before the disengagement, in which it pledged to combat these phenomena.
General Staff sources disagreed with Steinitz, saying there has actually been improvement in Egypt's activity to counter smuggling. With the entry of terror operatives and weapons smugglers from Sinai to the southern Negev, changes were made in the military deployment along the Egyptian border. There are now more than double the number of troops along the border than before the disengagement. In addition, cooperation among Israeli intelligence agencies has been increased to foil potential air and sea attacks by global jihadists.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
00:42 ||
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Egypt is not living up to the agreement it reached with Israel before the disengagement, in which it pledged to combat these phenomena.
Somalia's worst fighting in years suggests the failed Horn of Africa state may become a new proxy battleground for Islamist militants and the United States. Washington sees Somalia as a terrorist haven and backs the warlords in Mogadishu, which may have galvanised the Islamists against them both, analysts say.
A battle in March pitted warlords calling themselves the Anti-Terrorism Coalition against Islamic fighters backed by the influential Islamic courts. As many as 90 people were killed in the fighting. A widely held perception that the United States backs the warlords with weapons, money and surveillance prompted Islamist hardliners to start a fight that killed 37 people in February, hours after the coalition announced its presence.
What has many worried is that these two battles were seen as a fight between the United States and Islam. The U.S. backing for the warlords has, in fact, strengthened the position of the Islamists and "helped extreme elements to get the Somali public behind them," an official involved with Somalia told Reuters.
While the Islamic courts are not viewed as extremists, they and their supporters are seen as sympathetic to al Qaeda and foreign fighters who operate in Somalia, the official said. Others say the Islamic courts, whose leaders have blamed the United States for supporting warlords, want to fight any attempt to create a government that would undermine their authority.
Complicating things is what many say are some dissenting voices in the U.S. government over what the priority in Somalia should be: Washington's counter-terrorism agenda or diplomatic efforts to help its riven interim government succeed.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
00:39 ||
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#1
Sometimes, to save a village you have to destroy it.
A number of previously clandestine Islamic groups have spread in Yemen, especially after the unification of the north and south in 1990. These groups carry different names and vary in beliefs. Some of these groups are the Islamic Jihad, Al-Sunnah Wal-Jamaa, the Aden Abyan Army, and the Faithful Youth organization, led by Badr adinne al-Houthi. The confrontation between the Faithful Youth and the authorities between 2004 and early last year, posed the greatest challenge to the political regime in Yemen since the civil war between the north and south in the summer of 1994.
Asharq Al-Awsat looks into the topic of the jihadist groups in Yemen. In this report, the geographic location, programs and government support of groups will be looked into. Furthermore, the claim that some jihadist leaders have been integrated into the Yemeni Armed Forces as a way for the government to keep watch on them will be examined.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
00:37 ||
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A court in Pakistan on Tuesday convicted five Islamic militants and sentenced them to death for attacking police in a deadly bid to free an arrested comrade from custody, said lawyers.
The five had opened fire on a police van carrying their companion on his way to jail from a court hearing in Karachi in 2002. The raid, which failed, killed a policeman and another prisoner and injured several other people.
Their lawyer MA Wasti said that the anti-terrorism court in Karachi sentenced the five men, all Pakistanis, to death for the killings and also imposed a fine.
They were also given 12-year prison terms for attacking police and the attempted murder of the injured. Wasti said they would appeal.
He said: "The evidence was contradictory and the verdict is flawed." Government prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum said he was satisfied with the judgment.
The men, in their 20 and early 30s, were said to be members of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an al-Qaeda-linked Sunni Muslim militant group that the government banned in 2001. The group had been implicated in attacks on minority Shi'ite Muslims.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
00:36 ||
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Twelve years, the death penalty, and a hefty fine for the surviving family. Nicely done I'd say.
The British Defence Secretary John Reid has called for changes in the rules of war in the face of "a deliberate regression towards barbaric terrorism by our opponents."
He has put forward three areas for re-examination:
* The treatment of international terrorists
* The definition of an "imminent threat" to make it easier to take pre-emptive action
* When to intervene to stop a humanitarian crisis.
Perhaps the most controversial element was the first.
Although he framed his speech in the form of raising questions rather than proposing answers, he came close to suggesting that the way to end the "anomaly" of the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay was to change international law.
"Anomaly" is the word chosen by the British Prime Minister Tony Blair to describe Guantanamo and it has never really been defined. Mr Reid went some way towards doing that.
There are two ways of ending an anomaly - remove the anomaly or change the situation that makes it one. He appeared to favour the latter.
"On the one hand it is against our values," he said during questions after a speech to the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London.
"But we need to understand how we got to this unsatisfactory anomaly. It is not enough to say that it is wrong. We ought to discuss how it happened."
How it happened, he suggested in his speech, was 11 September 2001 "proved beyond doubt that, while no one can be sure that the era of war between great powers is entirely over, we certainly now face a new enemy.
"We now face non-state actors capable of operating on a global scale, crossing international borders, exploiting the teachings of a great, peaceful religion as justification for their murderous intent."
The Geneva Conventions, he said, were created more than half a century ago, when the world was almost unrecognisable to today's citizens.
"Those conventions dealt with important aspects of the conduct of war - how the sick and injured, and prisoners of war are treated; and the obligations on states during their military occupation of another state.
"I believe we need now to consider whether we - the international community in its widest sense - need to re-examine these conventions. If we do not, we risk continuing to fight a 21st Century conflict with 20th Century rules."
The implication of what he was saying that there should be a new category of international prisoner to cover al-Qaeda-type terrorists who are a new kind of fighter. They are not affiliated to any state and therefore do not strictly come within the Geneva Conventions, which refer to soldiers or militias in uniform.
The United States uses the term "unlawful combatants" for its Guantanamo Bay prisoners, but this is not a term used in the Third Convention covering prisoners of war. There is a list of all those who do qualify, but "terrorist" is not one of them.
The legal position of the prisoners is one that has been in constant dispute. In 2004, the US Supreme Court overturned lower courts and ruled that prisoners did have the right to petition US courts. A UN team argued in February that the United States had failed to follow international law.
Mr Reid said the question was "to what extent we could impose on non-state actors the same constraints we apply to ourselves. We need to make people feel the consequences of their actions."
His speech frustrated some listeners there who wanted answers not just questions.
But he got support from Sir Paul Lever, the RUSI chairman, who was at the heart of the diplomatic establishment during his time at the Foreign Office as an ambassador and chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee.
"The existing international law might not be adequate," he said. "The standards have to reflect the reality of the deployment. These are no longer straightforward."
However, Elizabeth Wilmshurst, the former Foreign Office legal adviser who resigned over the invasion of Iraq and who is now a senior fellow on international law at the Chatham House think-tank in London, opposed the idea of changing the Geneva Conventions on prisoners.
"Although the law might be made more explicit," she told the BBC News website, "the problem is not so much the rules as the enforcement.
"Human rights and humanitarian law applies to these prisoners and ought to be complied with. In any case, it is very difficult to see the world agreeing on changes in the present context."
Mr Reid's two other suggestions concerned the definition of the imminence of a threat which would justify pre-emptive action and the circumstances in which an intervention on humanitarian grounds could take place.
International law already allows self defence against an imminent threat, but how imminent it has to be remains for debate. President Bush has taken that a stage further with his doctrine of pre-emption and it seems that Dr Reid wants to go down that same path.
The war in Afghanistan had been justified on clear legal grounds, he said, but other situations might not be so clear.
"Difficult as it is, I think all of us here - including representatives from academia, the legal profession, diplomacy and journalism need to consider these issues now rather than waiting for the next threat to come along."
Humanitarian intervention has already been looked at by the UN, which has agreed the theory of the "responsibility to protect."
Mr Reid welcomed that move but suggested that it was not enough.
"The question that people standing in a bus queue in my constituency ask when they see on their TV what is happening in Darfur, Rwanda, Congo or elsewhere is not: 'Why are we interested in intervening?'
"The question they ask is: 'Why aren't we doing more to help these people?'"
The British Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Nick Harvey reflected the concern felt by those who opposed the Iraq war that Mr Reid was trying to clear the way for future actions.
"After the disaster of Iraq, the idea that the doctrine of the pre-emptive strike should be expanded will be met with incredulity in the West and with alarm in the ministries of Tehran," he said.
"If Mr Reid is inviting us to endorse American practices such as indefinite detention, or international rendition, they must be emphatically rejected," he said.
"Compromising on established values and principles would not only be wrong, but would undermine crucial efforts to win hearts and minds."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
00:22 ||
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"After the disaster of Iraq,
I have been following news quite closely but have no idea what disater this moonbat is talking about.
the idea that the doctrine of the pre-emptive strike should be expanded will be met with incredulity in the West and with alarm in the ministries of Tehran"
#2
ah, the fussy people. Losing sleep over the mistreatment of captured terrorists but not caring a whip for the millions murdered, starved or misplaced that they are responsible for. A tear for the terrorists, and the finger to their innocent victims.
#3
'The British Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Nick Harvey reflected the concern felt by those who opposed the Iraq war that Mr Reid was trying to clear the way for future actions.'
Pathetic - how the hell do they expect us to take what a 'liberal democrat defense spokesman' seriously - nobody in this country could give a flying fck what the lib dems want and think except for Al-Beeb which is their mouthpiece. Wtach for Al-Beeb to turn itself into a haven for Iranian propaganda over the coming months, i suspect programs about thier wonderful culture to wow us viewers, programs about how hard they are to scare us viewers, programs about how they're simply misunderstood, programs and radio debates about all about why Iran should have nukes, basically a full on propaganda treatment for the Iranians whilst making our leaders out to be evil oil grabbers out to conquer the universe! More anti war marches highlighted by the BBC on thier website like last time trying to get people to turn up to go against our goverments. I simply don't know how much longer the general public here will continue to be duped by these enemys who broadcast to the world. Every effort no matter how big or small is directed against our goverments by these propagandaists, never once during the whole Iraq conflict have i seen anyone interviewed who was anti saddam, every single person they managed to dig up was totally anti blair and bush, they continue to use phrase such as 'Iraq slips into futher chaos today' and im like hold on they say that everyday - by now there would be absolutly nothing left of the country, 'decended into futher violence' and 'civil war is happening' ,basically just utter twaddle that is so transparent its boggles the mind. Blair isnt the embarresment to this country, Al-Beeb is the big embarresment for it is an enemy propaganda machine, nothing more, nothing less!
#5
"The question that people standing in a bus queue in my constituency ask when they see on their TV what is happening in Darfur, Rwanda, Congo or elsewhere is not: 'Why are we interested in intervening?'"
It is becoming a majority attitude in the States, John. For better or worse.
When he wasn't sending pornographic movies to and asking for explicit photos from a teenage girl in Polk County, a Maryland man was bragging about his job as a spokesman at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, law enforcement officers said. The revelation - actually made to a detective posing as a 14-year-old girl - resulted in the arrest of 55-year-old Brian J. Doyle at his Silver Spring, Md., home Tuesday night, officials said.
During his Internet chats, Doyle quickly revealed his name and job, and he sent his office and government-issued cell phone numbers. The information allowed detectives to quickly verify Doyle's identity, the Polk County Sheriff's Office announced Tuesday night. Doyle moved quickly in other regards, officials said, sending enough sexually explicit messages and movie clips that they were able to secure a warrant for his arrest on 23 felony counts roughly two weeks after he responded to the detective's profile.
The charges stem from Doyle repeatedly requesting the girl he was pursuing to purchase a Web camera so that she could send explicit images to Doyle, sheriff's spokeswoman Carrie Rodgers said. Doyle promised to reciprocate, she said. He also sent numerous pornographic movie clips to the girl and used America Online's Instant Messenger program to carry on sexually laced conversations, a news release stated.
Maryland officials arrested Doyle at his home and seized his computer. It was unclear Tuesday whether Doyle used his office computer to carry out any of the conversations. He remains jailed awaiting extradition to Florida, Rodgers said. "We take these allegations very seriously and will cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation," Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/05/2006
00:22 ||
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#1
Wipe and flush
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/05/2006 0:53
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Directions: Homeland Security Agent Doyle's nuts nailed to a large stump, thence pushed over backwards while holding his Dell and monitor on his lap, thence promptly shot between the eyes immediately after hitting the ground. Woodland cremation follows.
#3
"Doyle, meet Tiny, your cellmate. Tiny's a very lonely man, just like you, even though he outweighs you y a hundred fifty pounds. He also works out in the prison weight room a lot. Have fun; see you in 5 to 15!"
Posted by: Mike ||
04/05/2006 11:23
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Stuart Levey, the Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence says Saudi Arabia must do a better job at ferreting out major individual donors who continue to fund terrorism abroad, including in Iraq.
The top U.S. Treasury official concedes that Saudi Arabia had made significant strides in counterterrorism efforts in recent years and that the kingdom was "doing an excellent job" fighting operatives of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network at home.
However, Stuart says concerns remain including the existence of so-called "deep-pocket donors" and the abuse of charities to fund militants.
According to Levey, "What needs to happen is they need to do financial investigations in a serious way in order to locate those deep-pocket donors that are still funding terrorism abroad. And that's something which is a concern that hasn't happened as robustly as it needs to happen."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
00:20 ||
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#2
Among the wealthy Soddies funding terrorism are the royals, which, frankly, means the Soddie "government" is funding terrorism.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/05/2006 7:38
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The bears-woods thing is still happening, too.
Reports also continue to trickle in that the Pope is still Catholic. While in breaking news, cutting edge scientific research reveals that a frog's @ss is water-tight.
#4
I'm still waiting for confirmation on the Pope/Catholic connection. The Vatican *did* issue a press release, but until CENTCOM makes a statement, I consider it speculative hearsay.
The Mujahideen Shura Council released a communiqué today claiming responsibility for shooting down an American helicopter in Baghdad on Saturday April 1, 2006. News reports of the incident cite the United States military announcing the death of two American pilots.
Among the many communiqués issued today by the Mujahideen Shura Council, seven claimed responsibility for the assassination of a "crusader spy" in Baaquba on Monday, April 03; detonating explosive packages against humvees in the al-Amyira region of Baghdad, Mosul, and the Kanaan area of Baaquba; detonating an explosive package against an American foot patrol in al-Howeider in Diyali; and firing "Snap" rockets at the American base in al-Ghozlani, Mosul.
The Mujahideen Shura Council is composed of eight insurgency groups in Iraq: al-Qaeda in Iraq, Victorious Army Group, the Army of al-Sunnah Wal Jamaa, Jamaa al-Murabiteen, Ansar al-Tawhid Brigades, Islamic Jihad Brigades, the Strangers Brigades, and the Horrors Brigades, collaborating to meet the unbelievers gathering with different sides and defend Islam.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
00:19 ||
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The Horrors Brigades - big Wes Craven fans, I hear.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
04/05/2006 7:39
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rofl - what next the 'Hammer Horror brigade' ?? using poorly done animation to show there skills? And just WTF are 'snap' rockets?? do they break in two when fired or do they make a snapping noise like a firecracker when they hit? I'm so confused, Im genuinly suprised they havnt tacked in the word 'stealth' here though, just like the so called stealthy Iranian sea 'lawn mowers' that were doing the rounds the other day. Oh wait WTF is the 'strangers brigade' , is it a bunch of wierd strangers or is it the name they give to foreign fighters, maybe the strangers brigade are just strange?
#4
Hmm. And how long exactly did it take for this communique to come out?
The quality of the insurgency is really slipping: a more alert propaganda minister would have had this out sunday morning at the latest, not 3 days afterwards.
Roj TV is the PKK equivalent of al-Manar, for those who are curious. The PKK, for those who might otherwise view it as a natural reaction to Turkish racism and oppression, is an extremely freaky Marxist group that would be far more oppressive to ordinary Kurds than Turkey would ever conceive of. The PUK, our Kurdish allies in Iraq, have fought against them alongside Turkey on at least one occasion.
A Denmark-based Kurdish television station denied on Tuesday Turkish accusations it was stoking street violence in the southeast of the country and said it sought only to give a voice to people Ankara refused to heed.
Roj TV head Manouchehr Tahsili Zonoozi said he planned to set up a 24-hour Kurdish language news station -- a proposal likely to further anger Ankara which deems the satellite broadcaster a tool of the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Sixteen people have died in a week of street violence triggered by the funeral of 14 PKK fighters killed in a clash with Turkish troops. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan says the unrest is engineered by those wishing to split Turkey.
Zonoozi, sitting before a map showing borders of a projected independent Kurdish state embracing parts of southeast Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria, told Reuters he had no links to the PKK though its members had contacted the station during phone-ins.
"We give voice to people they (the Turkish government) don't want to hear," he said in an interview at his office in the centre of the Danish capital.
"They say we are fully responsible for driving people on to the street, they think of us as the enemy."
Turkey, seeking European Union entry, has lifted a ban on Kurdish language broadcasting; but in practice tight limitations on television and radio remain, presenting Roj with its market.
The area also suffers, partly because of the past violence, from high unemployment and economic backwardness.
Turkish media, linking the station to separatist guerrilla violence that has killed over 30,000 since 1984, have compared Roj TV to an al Qaeda channel. The United States, the European Union and Ankara regard the PKK as a terrorist organisation.
"We condemn Roj TV. We believe it incites," U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Matt Bryza told reporters in Ankara.
"We believe it should be closed and we will continue to do everything we can with our other European allies besides Turkey to close down this support mechanism and any operations of the PKK in Europe," he said.
Zonoozi says his channel, a mix of news, culture and entertainment with a Kurdish theme, provided objective uncensored journalism. Denmark had effectively backed this, he said, in turning down Turkey's demands to shut the broadcaster.
"We don't support either one side, but it's all happening to the Kurds," the slim, grey-haired 47-year-old said.
Last year Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan boycotted a joint news conference with the Danish Prime Minister because a journalist from Roj TV was present.
An ornament of the Kurdish flag -- orange, white and green horizontal stripes behind a golden sun -- stood above a fireplace in Zonoozi's office.
With an estimated 25 to 30 million people, the Kurds are one of the world's biggest ethnic groups without their own country.
Although the violence dwindled after the arrest of former leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999 -- Zonoozi described it as a kidnap -- it has increased again in recent months.
"We do not interfere in politics but we are giving the chance to human rights organisations and the people," Zonoozi, from the Iranian city of Tabriz near the Turkish border, said.
He said it was only a matter of time before he added a 24-hour news channel to his media outlets, which include a radio station and music TV channel.
Wealthy Kurds and advertising pay the 35 million euro ($42.65 million) bill.
He said the Danish government had already given him the licence and he just has to find the extra cash.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
00:15 ||
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Suspected militants fired rockets at a military post in a Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border, triggering a gunbattle but causing no casualties, an official said on Tuesday.
The attack happened late on Monday on the outskirts of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, but the terrorists fled toward nearby mountains when our soldiers returned fire, said the official on condition of anonymity.
Although the official gave no further details, residents said the exchange of fire continued for two hours. Militants suspected of having ties with remnants of Al-Qaeda and Taliban often launch attacks against security forces. The latest attack came hours after Pakistani forces shot and killed two suspected militants after a grenade attack wounded five soldiers in the nearby town of Mir Ali.
The troops were patrolling a bazaar there when one of the two assailants hurled a grenade at them, according to a local government official.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
00:13 ||
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A Kenyan Muslim acquitted last year of murder in the 2002 al-Qaeda-linked bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel was yesterday jailed for eight years on weapons charges. Nairobi magistrate Rose-melle Mutoka convicted Omar Said Omar of having a cache of firearms, five light anti-tank missiles, one hand grenade and ammunition in Mombasa.
Omar and three others were acquitted of the murder charges on June 9 last year relating to an attack on the hotel near Mombasa. But Omar was immediately re-arrested on the charges of possessing arms.
Prosecutors hailed the ruling as an important step in fighting terrorism in the East African country, which has been criticised for not doing enough despite suffering a number of al-Qaeda attacks.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
00:11 ||
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LONDON: Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was rapped for ungentlemanly conduct Tuesday after reportedly commandeering US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's private quarters on her official jet. Rice was reported in a number of British newspapers to have graciously offered her British counterpart the use of her bed and cabin on the Boeing 757 plane and Straw ungallantly accepted, leaving her to sleep on the floor. What one newspaper called "Bedgate" is said to have happened as the political bedfellows flew to Kuwait at the weekend before transferring to a military flight bound for Baghdad.
Ummm... If she offered it, he didn't "commandeer" it. Accepting was certainly ungallant the sound of razzberries is emanating from Sir Walter Raleigh's grave even as we speak blog.
I have got to get one of those outfits...
Emily made you a hat, hmmm, perhaps ...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/05/2006
00:10 ||
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Condi knows who the wuss is
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/05/2006 0:49
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somehow i get the feeling this is gonna be a media story that will be spun up beyond all proportians, just like most tottally insignificant events that happen.
#12
Seeing as he is from the UK and she is from North America there is a good chance their sleep patterns were not aligned and he might have been very sleepy while she was well rested. Somehow I think this is much ado about nothing.
#14
Good God! I'm surprised the press did not leave out her sleeping on the floor and just report him sleeping in her bed, eluding they were together. Condi did the right thing here. Good on her!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/05/2006 15:46
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
00:09 ||
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Anybody wanna bet our SOF counter-sniper teams are trimming these twats faster than they can be trained? Given the Darwinian nature of the business, there is little room for error. And, we have decades of experience and technology to thin the gene pool.
#3
yep agree with you 100% gromky, Juba is probably nothing more then imaginary, and hell even if he is real he ain't gonna win a war for the terrorists - well not unless he manages to pick off about 1000 soldiers a day which i think is rather doubtfull :) .But the propaganda value is high, im waiting for AL-Beeb to do a story perhaps even a 'documentry' all about Juba and how he's so wonderfull and the hero to all iraqis against our evil invading forces, and they will do it and get away with it too just like they have been doing through out this conflict. We have no propaganda machine, nothing, all we get is cynical stupid journalists telling us all how were doomed to extinction against the wonderfull islamic heros.
#6
Pathetic explains it. So desperate are they that they start a rumor about one man who has come to save the day. Why it's Mighty Mouse.
Their whole phukan culture is a cartoon. I wonder what they pray for ?
Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia issued a communiqué yesterday, April 3, 2006, which concerns both the recent arrest by Saudi security officers of forty suspects accused of abetting terrorist activity in the state, and their impact on the jihadist Internet community, specifically, the al-Hesbah network. The group states that all claims made by the Saudi government that those arrested managed the groups statements and multimedia presentations are fallacious. Rather, these people are argued to have little influence and the announcement of their arrest is only to scare the supporters of the mujahideen from using the Internet. In addition, al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia promises to bring the worshippers good tidings of the surprises that will be released soon, especially a chain of blood that will heal the chests of the believers and irk the infidels and hypocrites.
Concerning the al-Hesbah Internet network, the group states that reports linking the forum and purported infiltrators to fallen mujahideen in Yarmouk are false, and al-Hebsah has provided great services to the jihad and the mujahideen. The message states: We warn the supporters of the Jihad and the Mujahideen to lend no weight to those who are trying to rend the ranks of the Mujahideen and bring fear to their supports.
Al-Hesbah, before going down on Friday, March 17, 2006, used by thousands of members, was one of the primary forums used by al-Qaeda, Abu Musab al-Zarqawis al-Qaeda in Iraq and other insurgency groups in Iraq, and myriad terrorist organizations that have a presence on the Internet. Membership to the board became very selective over time, employing lengthy screening procedures and member oversight, rarely opening new registration for even limited access, and utilizing passwords.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
00:07 ||
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An Afghani man accused of being a bagman for al Qaeda and Taliban translator made his debut at his Military Commission today -- and deferred entering a plea until this summer, after his U.S. Army lawyer goes to Afghanistan to work on his case. Abdul Zahir appeared fit with a trim, thick black beard but said little more than ''yes'' and ''no'' during his nearly two-hour hearing before Marine Col. Robert S. Chester, the presiding officer.
Zahir, about 35, allegedly was in the company of an insurgent who tossed a grenade at a convoy of Canadian journalists in Afghanistan in March 2002, amid the U.S. invasion that toppled the Taliban. A Toronto Star reporter was seriously wounded. According to his military charge sheet, Zahir allegedly joined al Qaeda in 1997, served as a courier, translator and at one point before his July 2002 capture doled out $50,000 to forces attacking U.S. troops.
Zahir is the 10th man to be charged among nearly 490 captives at this offshore detention center for suspected terrorists to go before the war-crimes court that President Bush ordered created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Zahir's attorney, Army Lt. Col. Thomas Bogar, did most of the talking, as a Farsi-language interpreter translated the preliminary proceedings.
In contrast to more defiant captives facing the court, Zahir stood attentively along with U.S. military and observers inside the tribunal room as the Marine colonel arrived and left in his capacity as presiding officer.
Zahir also looked alternately bewildered and bemused as his attorney explored the colonel's news consuming preferences. Chester said he watched Fox TV but did not subscribe to a newspaper or news magazine. ''I watched O'Reilly Factor until it became too obnoxious. I never watched Hannity and Colmes,'' said Chester, a veteran military judge advocate general on the cusp of retirement who last year presided at a Marine murder case at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
The colonel said his news viewing choices would not color his considerations as he presided over the case. Moreover, he said he was purposefully paying attention to news coverage of the commissions after a defense attorney in another case complained about remarks made by the Pentagon's chief prosecutor that described the captives at Camp Delta as ``terrorists.''
All sides agreed to a delay in the case, as well as a formal reading of the charges, until at least July, after Bogar travels to Afghanistan to interview possible witnesses in the case. A Philadelphia transactions attorney, Bogar was mobilized to reserve Army duty to defend the captive.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
00:06 ||
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Jordanian security sources have confirmed statements from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in early March alleging the presence of Al Qaeda terror operatives in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
London-based Arab daily Al Hayat on Tuesday quoted the sources as saying that the movement has commenced its activities in the Palestinian Territories.
Abbas had in an interview published by the same newspaper on March 2 said that Palestinian authorities had signs that Al Qaeda had established a foothold in the area, adding that the development could have dire consequences for the Middle East.
The latest report said a movement directly affiliated to Al Qaeda had been planning an operation aimed at a vital strategic target in Gaza City, but that the operation was foiled. The sources indicated that the movements membership exceeded ten individuals, but did not say whether any of them were arrested or not.
Al Qaeda militants are reportedly making use of the chaotic situation in the overpopulated Gaza Strip to build an organizational network in the area.
Conditions in the West Bank are however not as conducive due to its relative stability and due to Israels tight control over this territory.
Al Qaeda is said to have restructured its organization in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine and reportedly also appointed a new leader in charge of the area who is of Syrian origin.
Analysts say this latest appointment seems to indicate that the movement has sought to limit the influence of Jordanian-born terrorists Abu Musab Al Zarqawis organizational network in Iraq.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/05/2006
00:04 ||
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WASHINGTON: Irans nuclear weapons ambitions will be history by the time US President George W Bush leaves office, said a report published here. Veteran foreign correspondent Arnaud de Borchgrave, writing for the United Press International, quotes a prominent neo-con with good White House and Department of Defence contacts, as the source of the assertion. Asked what would the US do if sanctions did not make Iran turn away from its nuclear target, the source replied, B-2s. Two of them could do the job in a single strike against multiple targets.
De Borchgrave writes in an amused vein, So we looked up B-2s. The US Air Force only has 21 of them. Perhaps price had something to do with it. They came in at $2.2 billion a copy. But they can carry enough ordnance to make Iranians nostalgic for the Shah and his role as the free worlds gendarme in charge of the Wests oil supplies in the Gulf. These stealthy bombers have one major drawback in the Persian magic carpet mode. They can only attack 16 targets simultaneously; one short of the 17 underground nuclear facilities pinned red on Mossads target-rich PowerPoint presentations to the political leadership. Presumably, thats why two B-2s would be required.
De Borchgrave points out that most of Irans secret nuclear installations are not only underground, but also close to population centres. The first pictures of a B-2 raid would be dead women and children on al-Jazeera television newscasts, now as globally ubiquitous as CNN and FOX. The collateral damage would then rival Abu Ghraibs devastating impact on Americas good name. The perceived American indifference over the loss of Arab lives would now be seen as spreading to another Muslim country, he writes. The neo-con informant told the correspondent that there is absolutely no way Bush will accommodate to an Iranian nuke or two, the way he blinked first with North Korea. Bush uncompromising view of the Iranian nuclear danger and his determination to prevent it by force of two B-2s if necessary is as solid as his resolve to rid Iraq of Saddam Hussein, he said.
According to de Borchgrave, This is also the British assessment of Bushs intentions against Iran, a power whose president has vowed to wipe Israel off the map. Today (April 3, 2006), senior British officials met with defence and intelligence chiefs to assess the consequences of air strikes against Iran - as well as European and global repercussions. Neo-cons are unfazed by the fact that Iran is an ancient civilisation of 70 million people with retaliatory assets that range from a choke-hold on the worlds most important oil route in the Strait of Hormuz, to an anti-US Shiite coalition in Iraq with two private militias, funded and armed by Iran, to terrorist groups throughout the Middle East that have a global reach. Iran is also a power that not only resisted an Iraqi invasion, but fought Saddam Husseins legions to a standstill in an eight-year-war of attrition that killed about 1 million soldiers on both sides. If, as Bush has indicated, US troops were still in Iraq in 2009 under the next president, Tehran, in retaliatory animus, would pull out all the stops to ensure a Vietnam-like send-off for remaining US forces in Iraq. For the time being, Tehran is delighted to keep US troops in Iraq as protective cover for Iran as it consolidates its influence throughout 60 percent of the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/05/2006
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#1
Arnaud spends most of his time practicing being amused in a mirror and the echo chamber of his chosen ilk, instead of understanding the ramifications, the weapons, or the inconvenient facts that elude his chattering class.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/05/2006 1:15
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#3
Don't forget the Iranians have said they have no qualms resorting to launching or suppor new terror attacks against the USA, or Amer interests wherever in the world the same may be, in retaliation for any US attack or invasion of Iran, more popularly known as VOTE FOR HILLARY, for that kinder, anti-arrogant, anti-Fascist, Motherly Amer Holocaust, Socialism and future OWG.
#4
De Borchgrave: If, as Bush has indicated, US troops were still in Iraq in 2009 under the next president, Tehran, in retaliatory animus, would pull out all the stops to ensure a Vietnam-like send-off for remaining US forces in Iraq.
What Vietnam-like sendoff? We withdrew after beating the shit out of the North Vietnamese Army. They were done. Unfortunately, we also cut off military aid to the South Vietnamese even as the Soviets ramped up their shipments of Migs, tanks and artillery to North Vietnam - which the North Vietnamese used to rebuild. And that is what they used to overrun South Vietnam three years after we got out.
#5
De Borchgrave: "The perceived American indifference over the loss of Arab lives would now be seen as spreading to another Muslim country"
Last time I checked the Arabs and Persians did not like it when you confused them with eachother.
That "2 B-2" story has been repeated a few times. Hopefully it is true. However, it is unfair to claim the administration is unaware of the downsides of strikes, even successful ones. These include yet more Iranian backed terror, collateral damage, alienation of an Iranian populace that might otherwise like us and the potential for them to make a move on the Straits.
#7
so what I'm reading in this is..... we can take out Iran's nuclear facilities with only 2 B2's, blah, blah, neocon, blah, blah, George Bush is willing to do it.
This whole war reminds me of that scene from Indiana Jones with the fancy sword fighter.
#8
I wonder if this is yet more "preparing the ground" by the liberal media so that if the war doesn't turn out to be easy they can trot this thing out and say "those darn neocons were arrogant and lied to us again..."
Posted by: Phil ||
04/05/2006 9:06
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#9
they'd say that anyway even if we took out there goverment within 3 weeks with only 100 odd loses, sound familier?
#10
2 would be fine, if everything went well, if all bombs hit targets, if one didn't develop engine problems, etc.
That is why the Air Force would send in at least 6. 3 per target. Just in case.
Normal targets in bombing operations are targeted by 2 bombs. Lead plane primary is second plane secondary and visa versa.
In a high risk operation with standoff weapons, at least 3 per target is nessisary for the target to be considered "destroyed" since dodging flak, missiles and radar makes it slightly difficult to aim, even with a JDAM.
#12
don't worry about dodging flak at 60 odd thousand feet, remember the B-2 goes very high, way way higer them most anti aircraft missles in fact - but you have to not only see it you have to track it - tracking it to get a firing solution is the near impossible part.Rumours also the B2 has a system of counter measures that spoof radar by sending back a signal thats out of phase or something - but essentially it means if a radar did spot it - the B2 knows its been spotted within a fraction of a second it confuses the enemy radar set by 'Active cancellation' (think thats what is called) interestingly the Fwench are supposesed to have incorperated a working active cancellation system for thier Rafale aircraft. Really though the B2s launch phase is the bad bit - i mean you take off from Whiteman and i bet you some Iranian agent will be straight on the blower to the Iranian's. Need to lift off from Deigo Garcia or somewhere like that so as to not give the signal that there. I think the 20 odd B-2s that are operational would be able to provide us with a very good operational tempo for the first week before bringing in the B1's and standoff strikes from B-52's. But as for the B-2 i don't think they have a hope in hell of seeing let alone shooting one down, I think the B-2 can also take around 180+ SDB's also thats perfect for striking defenses around these nuke plants - i dont care how many AA systems they have they ain't gonna stop a massed attack using all those SDB's or alternitvly load up the B-2 with 80 500lb jdams and watch a whole complex go boom in the space of a minuite. B-1 could be the significant player though also, much under rated i think and even in a high threat enviorment a very good bomber - far better then B-52 which is just a flying truck really. Gonna be very interesting for the planners out there working out any air tasking order thats for sure.
#13
'Also it is believed that the Northrop Grumman ZSR-63 defensive aids equipment installed on B-2 bombers may be using active cancellation' found by a quick google search about active cancellation, ruskies too may have got this working too for thier latest future fighter jet apparently.
#16
Phase 1 - Take out every naval and airforce asset in Iran that we can hit. Also use massive bombardment to destroy any road or railway that connects the hump of Iran with the Shia Arab/Kurd/ and Baluchi regions (which would basically mean they may have to fight to get to their own borders). Also hit any nuclear asset we can with minimal casualties.
Phase 2 - Use propoganda and diplomacy as we hope for an uprising and for assets to become visible.
Phase 3 - Repeat as necessary with targets getting increasingly riskier regarding civilian casualties.
#19
indeed shock and awe did work fantastically, anyone who thinks otherwise shouyld go read up the history books and see that what was accomplished was something that no other war has every accomplished so quickly by any measure of historical standards. 3 fckin weeks to anhilate a military, move your forces into the neemys capital city and remove its Dictator and his Baathist cronies. Name me another conflict as successful and i'll give you a tenner. I challenge you to find me a defeat as swift and total as that my leftie friend :)
#21
lol ok you win - which just further proves my point i guess - Russia fought in vain for a years and all they got was badly bruised and beaten from it, it serves to show just how good coalition forces are i guess :)
Suspected Taliban fighters shot dead a district intelligence director in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday while four insurgents were killed in a separate clash, officials said. Gunmen opened fire on Mohammad Tahir, the Intelligence director of Delarum district of southwestern Nimroz province, as he was in a car travelling to his office, provincial police chief Abdul Khalil Bakhtiary said. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack on behalf of the Islamist movement.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/05/2006
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TEHERAN - Teheran and Washington will open direct talks over Iraq by early next week in Baghdad, the students news agency ISNA quoted an informed source in Irans Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) as saying on Tuesday. The Iranian delegation will be headed by one of the deputies of the SNSC secretary and some foreign ministrys diplomats will be among delegate members, ISNA quoted the source as saying.
The United States and Iran expressed willingness last month to hold talks about Iraq.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki termed the scheduled talks an opportunity for Iran, and a challenge for the US. But Washington cautioned that it has no intention to open a full-fledged dialogue.
For the first time in 27 years, Iran last month put direct talks with its political arch-enemy on the official agenda of the SNSC, which is the highest decision-making body in Iran. Ali Larijani, the secretary of the SNSC, said Iran always wanted a stable Iraq and was willing to meet with the US to help achieve that goal.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/05/2006
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#1
How about meet up with the soldiers they are killing? THAT may be a "political statement".
If they do not "get it" in a week, where are they sitting?
MIRANSHAH: Suspected militants fired rockets at a military post in a Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border, triggering a gunbattle but causing no casualties, an official said on Tuesday. The attack happened late on Monday on the outskirts of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, but the terrorists fled toward nearby mountains when our soldiers returned fire, said the official on condition of anonymity.
Although the official gave no further details, residents said the exchange of fire continued for two hours. Militants suspected of having ties with remnants of Al-Qaeda and Taliban often launch attacks against security forces. The latest attack came hours after Pakistani forces shot and killed two suspected militants after a grenade attack wounded five soldiers in the nearby town of Mir Ali. The troops were patrolling a bazaar there when one of the two assailants hurled a grenade at them, according to a local government official.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/05/2006
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THOUSANDS of West Papuan refugees could seek asylum in Australia, an expert has warned. Indonesian expert Scott Burchill said the temporary protection visas could open the door for more boats and potentially thousands of asylum-seekers to follow. "It will certainly encourage further attempts by Papuans to reach Australia and make similar claims," said Dr Burchill, senior lecturer in international affairs at Deakin University. "It would be very hard for (Australian) authorities to deny the claims."
He said the only thing holding back the flood was a lack of boats. "You can bet your life Indonesian authorities have increased surveillance of local ports and where people might leave from," he said.
They haven't met the Marielitos; a lack of boats didn't stop them. I think a few of them converted a 1959 Dodge pick-up truck into a boat and set out for the Florida Keys.
Dr Burchill said West Papua would remain a flashpoint if Indonesia failed to control its military in the province as it failed in East Timor.
Lawyer David Manne, acting for the 42 refugees in Melbourne, said several spoke by phone yesterday to relatives, who said they had been harassed. He congratulated the Immigration Department for a non-political decision and "playing a straight bat" in accepting the 42, who had a well-founded fear of persecution if returned to West Papua.
Human rights groups estimate up to 300,000 people have been killed since Indonesia assumed sovereignty in 1969.
#1
Dugout canoes from PNG wash up on Cape York beaches from time to time. There is no lack of seagoing craft. I think up till now people who have had enough in Irian Jaya have crossed over into PNG. This may be changing.
Hundreds of thousands of students have marched through French cities in protests aimed at killing off a new youth employment law. Rail workers and teachers staged one-day sympathy strikes on Tuesday across the country. Early counts around the country suggested turnout could reach that of a week ago, when anything between one and three million took part.
France's ruling conservatives stopped short of agreeing to scrap the law but, faced with sliding poll ratings, signalled possible concessions to trade unions. Dominique de Villepin, the prime minister, struck a defiant tone telling a rowdy parliament session the government would not "throw in the towel". "The priority is to come out of the current crisis. It is not in the interest of anyone, especially not of the youth who are looking for jobs and awaiting solutions to their difficulties."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/05/2006
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Revolt for Dommies?
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/05/2006 0:52
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A teacher who kept a 40 mm shell on his desk as a paperweight blew off part of his hand when he apparently used the object to try to squash a bug, authorities say. The 5-inch-long shell exploded Monday while Robert Colla was teaching 20 to 25 students at an adult education class. Now, class, there's a right way and a wrong way to do anything. For example, to squash this bug...
BOOM!
... wrong way.
Part of Colla's right hand was severed and he suffered severe burns and minor shrapnel wounds to his forearms and torso, fire Capt. Tom Weinell said. No one else was injured. He was reported in stable condition at a hospital.
The teacher slammed the shell down in an attempt to kill something that was buzzing or crawling across the desk, said Fire Marshal Glen Albright. Colla found the 40 mm round while hunting years ago and "obviously he didn't think the round was live," said Dennis Huston, who teaches computer design alongside Colla.
"Who's your teacher this year, Little Timmy?"
"Stumpy."
#13
I've got to wonder WHAT THE HECK is a teacher doing with a shell in his classroom ON HIS DESK. Show off? Can't think of any reason that is acceptable. This would be worse if the teacher was teaching kids, but it's just as ridiculous in an adult education class. Guess everyone in that class learned not to play around with firearms, so not a total loss.
ARBIL - A court in Iraqs northern Kurdistan region Tuesday sentenced to death 12 members of militant group Ansar Al Islam for numerous killings and explosions, an Arbil judiciary official said. Zana Nusrat Abdel Karim, the chief of a cell of Ansar Al Islam and 11 other members were condemed to death by the criminal court of Arbil, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The official said the 12 were convicted of numerous terrorist activities and killings of civilians in Kurdistans Arbil and Dahuk regions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/05/2006
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Israel's two main political parties, Kadima and Labour, have agreed to form a power-sharing government committed to further withdrawals from the occupied territories and reviving Israel's welfare state. The Labour leader, Amir Peretz, said he had decided to join the administration, and will back the acting prime minister, Ehud Olmert, to remain in his position "out of national responsibility".
In the coming days, the Israeli president, Moshe Katsav, is expected to formally invite Mr Olmert to form the next government. He then has up to 42 days to reach a coalition agreement with other parties to install a new administration.
Mr Olmert said he was prepared to invite any party into his government that backs his "consolidation plan" to draw Israel's final borders by 2010 using the West Bank barrier to mark out the frontier. It requires the dismantling of some smaller Jewish settlements, removing tens of thousands of Israelis living in the occupied territories, while annexing to Israel the larger settlement blocks that are home to about 350,000 people.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/05/2006
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They are sooooo stupid. Socialism/Comunism does not bring prosperity. Giving land for nothing does not bring peace.
Posted by: ana p ||
04/05/2006 8:52
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A friendly competition: can Peretz destroy Israel's economy before Olmert can turn the country over to Paleos?
The Federal Government has confirmed there are reports that another boat of six people from the Indonesian province of Papua has landed on an Australian island. Two months ago 43 separatists from Papua landed in Australia and the decision to grant all but one of them protection visas has sparked a diplomatic crisis with Indonesia.
A spokesman for Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has confirmed there have been reports of another boatload arriving but says it is an operational matter and there will be no further comment. The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald newspapers reported that it is a family of six, with four children, including a two-month-old baby.
The Australian Customs Service is trying to confirm reports that a family of six landed on Bamboo Island in the Torres Strait on Sunday after a voyage from the Papuan coastal town of Merauke. Customs says it can not confirm the reports and it is liaising with other authorities in the area. A Customs spokesman says it is a huge area with hundreds of islands and he is not aware of an island called Bamboo.
Last night Queensland police investigated a tip off that the family had landed at Bamaga on the tip of Cape York Peninsula and sought refuge with a local pastor. Door knocks were conducted but no one was located.
"There's no one here, and the people who aren't here didn't come from Papua!"
"Hmmm, hokay, thanks."
The Federal Opposition is calling on the Government to ensure that if there are more asylum seekers from Papua that they be treated fairly. Labor's Tony Burke says should be transported to mainland Australia for processing. "What have we have to make sure of is that there is independent and fair processing with no political interference at all," he said. "That processing if it can be done on the mainland that's where it should be done.
"Last time we went through the most expensive and awkward option of flying people to Christmas Island."
Federal Treasurer, Peter Costello, has emphasised that Australia needs good relations with Indonesia. While not commenting on reports of the latest arrivals, Mr Costello described Indonesia as a valuable friend to Australia. "Let's make this point, we have very common interests, we rely on Indonesia to help us with boat people, we rely on Indonesia to help us with the terrorist threat, we rely on Indonesia to help us with illegal fishing, we need Indonesia," he said.
Dang, he said that without his lips falling off. Must be a politican.
Iraq's interim-Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari has rejected growing pressure on him to resign, saying Iraqis must be left to choose their leader democratically.
In an interview with Britain's Guardian newspaper today, Mr Jaafari brushed aside calls from opponents and some political allies to step aside to break a political deadlock. Mr Jaafari's critics and some allies have called for him to step aside, saying the Shiite leader cannot bring the needed unity and security. "There is a decision that was reached by a democratic mechanism and I stand with it," he told the newspaper. "We have to protect democracy in Iraq and it is democracy which should decide who leads Iraq."
Democracy also says that, in a parliamentary system, if you can't win a vote of confidence you step aside.
The United States and Britain have said that Iraq's failure to appoint a new government four months after elections is undermining security. On a visit to Baghdad on the weekend, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said the Iraqi people are "losing patience" with the delay on forming a new government.
Mr Jaafari says no consensus had been reached during talks with Dr Rice and her British counterpart, Jack Straw. "I heard their points of view even though I disagree with them," he told the Guardian. "People will react if they see the rules of democracy being disobeyed.
"Every politician and every friend of Iraq should not want people to be frustrated."
#4
the slate system was imposed by the UN with the support of Jerry Bremer and the CPA. One of the "mistakes"
In any case thats the problem now. SCIRI and Sistani clearly want Jaafari out - but a vote in parliament is problematic. If Kurds+Allawi+Sunnis+SCIRI easily outvotes Dawa+Sadr but that means breaking the UIA, and I dont think Sistani and SCIRI are quite ready to do that. Thats why they want to pressure Jaafari to go quiety (and i presume there are carrots being offered as well, behind the scenes) but he either isnt biting, or is holding out for more goodies than theyll give.
Israel's new government has begun to take shape, with Moshe Katsav, the president, poised to ask Ehud Olmert, the acting prime minister, to form a coalition with Labour to fix the borders of Israel. After several days of sniping at each other, Olmert and Labour leader Amir Peretz announced on Tuesday they would work towards forming a coalition which will still need the support of several other smaller parties. "We are glad to announce that, after President Moshe Katsav appoints me to form a government, we will start coalition talks to create a government in which Labour will be a senior partner," Olmert told a joint press conference.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/05/2006
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Syed Suleman, a 50-year-old computer expert, was found dead in his sister's house in Garden Town's Ahmed Block, where he lived. The body has been sent for autopsy. Police said a case would be registered after the arrival of his wife, an Indian national who had been living in India for the last five years.
Probably a virus... I suspect W32.Nimda.A...
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Nay, arteries clogged with spam
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/05/2006 0:53
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#9
Anyone remember that old freeware program ParaScan? Tbe Momma Cass virus is one that it puported to find - signature - leaves a large ham sandwich lodged in your HD. Another was the RoseMary Woods virus - erased 19 KBs of all your WordPerfect files.
JERUSALEM - The Hamas-led Palestinian government is running into financial problems one week after taking office and could face crippling shortfalls as early as next month, Western diplomats and Palestinian officials said.
As Fred says, that's the chili talking.
A top official in the Hamas government said it had yet to secure promised funds from some donors needed to pay March salaries on time to 140,000 Palestinian Authority workers. Western diplomats and Israeli officials said the Palestinian Authority also did not appear to have any foreign reserves to pay April salaries next month in the face of a campaign by Washington to isolate the Islamic militant group.
Officials said one of the few options left open to Hamas would be to try to tap a key investment fund that was initially set up to combat corruption within the Palestinian Authority. The Palestine Investment Fund, which President Mahmoud Abbass office took control of after Hamass election victory, had an estimated value of $1.3 billion at the end of 2005.
But Palestinian officials said it may now be worth closer to $1 billion and only a fraction of that -- between $200 million and $400 million -- could be used to help pay salaries, enough for one-and-a-half to three months. For all intents and purposes, this is the bottom of the barrel, a senior Palestinian official said.
Maybe Suha could float them a loan.
The financial problems started long before Hamas, whose charter calls for Israels destruction, won January elections and major Western powers threatened to cut off direct support.
When Hamas ministers were sworn in last week, they inherited an Authority whose budget was already nearly $80 million in the red for the month of March alone. A few days before the handover, funds transferred to the Palestinians totaling more than $26 million from the United Arab Emirates and Oman were taken by the Amman-based Arab Bank to repay earlier loans, diplomatic sources said. Another $10 million promised by Russia was delayed.
To limit the risk that other foreign funds will be frozen, the Palestinian Authority has tried in recent days to shift its main accounts from the Arab Bank to a local Palestinian bank, Palestinian officials and diplomats said.
A Paleo banker will be so-o-o-o much more pliable, especially if he has the muzzle of an AK-47 up his nose.
Mazen Sonnoqrot, who stepped down as Palestinian economy minister this week, said Hamass big challenge would be raising money for April salaries, due early next month. They have taken empty buckets, Sonnoqrot said of the Palestinian Authoritys bank accounts. There is no money in the bank. There are only deficits.
The cash crunch stems in large part to Israels decision to freeze the transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinians.
Israelis out-foxed them again.
It is unclear how much of the more than $1 billion a year that the Palestinians get in foreign aid will be withheld now that Hamas has taken control of the Palestinian Authority. Foreign Minister and senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Al Zahar brushed aside US pressure, saying we have several other legitimate means to get support.
"That's right! We don't need stinking American dollars!
Mahmoud, quick, go kidnap someone and get a ransom note out there."
But even if Iran and other Muslim allies come through with promised aid, Western diplomats said it was unclear how the money would get to the Palestinian Authority. We have the legal means which can prevent the flow of money to terrorists, and Hamas is a terrorist organisation, said Israels Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev.
Diplomatic sources said major regional banks were also wary of working with the new government. Many of them have branches and other businesses in the United States, where dealing with Hamas is illegal.
And they do like their business with the Great Satan.
The new Palestinian Finance Minister Omar Abdel-Razeq told Al Ayam newspaper he expected to be able to pay March salaries, which had been scheduled to be paid this week, by April 15.
Like Hamas, US officials have been eyeing the Palestine Investment Fund as a way to keep the Palestinian Authority afloat through June or July. But both have run into resistance from officials at the fund who say an asset sale would bring in no more than $200 million and undercut long-term development goals. Nearly two-thirds of the fund has been pledged against prior Palestinian loans.
So they've already raided the rainy-day fund.
Whether its one month or two months, what comes after that? asked a Palestinian official who is involved in the fund.
They'll try and start a war, of course.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/05/2006
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Suha and Floating in the same sentence = PD's cognitive dissonance
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/05/2006 0:21
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#2
Hamas expected to fill its coffers with Moolah money, but, as with any other Mooslum cause, the Moolahs and tyrants don't give a fuck about their Islamist breatheren.
Now the Hamas PM is trying to make nice to get the more dependable Western bucks.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/05/2006 0:40
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#3
Somewhere between 60% and 80% of all the money in circulation in Paleostan comes from those salaries. Whatever remains of their economy must already be imploding with the late payments.
#8
hey Listen to the yappy dog!...he prefers to be banned. Apparently he has no self-control and doesn't have the will power to stay away on his own. Help him out, ban him.
#13
They hoped the Saudis would fund them. But now what would you do in place of the Saudis? Spend money in air conditionning the harem and to hell with Palestinians or giving it to the Palestinians and risk heat-induced heart failure every time you try to have a little fun?
#15
They get $1 billion a year in foriegn aid, and have been for years. They don't have a dime to their names, no industry, exports, nothing. No way to generate money, only ways to beg for more from other countries. WTF is their deal? This is the worlds largest welfare state. They are parasites living off handouts from the whole world. It boggles my mind how they could go through so much money for so many years and still not have a damn thing to show for it.
#16
I hate to be a pessimist, but this is probably the fiftieth time someone has predicted that the Paleos will be out of money within a month or two. I'll believe it when they're reduced to bartering.
#20
It's Victimhood, an ugly parasite that lives off the largess of the left wing. This parasite is loath of responsibility, therefore, it's not found on jobsites, around investers, attending classes, or partaking in creative activity. It complains frequently, and is often confused with the whiner family of non-parasites.
Five activists of the outlawed Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) were handed down capital punishment by an anti terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday on charges of killing a police constable and an under-trial prisoner (UTP) in an ambush on a prison van near the city courts in 2002.
According to the prosecution, Sabir Ali Waseem, Faizal Pehalwan, Mazharul Hasan, Muzamil and Malik Tasaduq had opened fire on a jail van that was escorting the UTPs back to Central Prison Karachi after a hearing at the sessions courts at the City Courts Complex on February 28, 2002 in the limits of Bohra Pir police station. Police constable Shakeel Arshad and UTP Saqib were killed in the ambush.
Presiding Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of ATC-V had earlier reserved judgment after recording the evidence and hearing arguments of the defence and prosecution. On Tuesday, the judge awarded the death sentence to all the convicts and handed down prison sentences of various terms for injuring policemen and UTPs and causing damage to property.
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04/05/2006
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Posted by: Dar ||
04/05/2006 13:31
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#5
Well done, ladies! Good luck. And remember, you're replacing the guys, not becoming them. So many of our women politians at the local level fall into that trap ;)
Blocked by Sudan from visiting Darfur and refugees in neighbouring Chad, the UN's top humanitarian official has accused Khartoum of trying to hide badly deteriorating conditions there. Jan Egeland, the UN under-secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, on Tuesday described the reasons Sudanese officials gave for denying him access to Darfur and then overflight rights to see Darfur refugees in Chad as "utter nonsense" and suggested Khartoum had a more nefarious motive. "I think the main reason is that they don't want me to see the tens of thousands of people being displaced as we speak today," he said, speaking in Nairobi, Kenya, where he flew after being forced to cancel his trips.
He blamed Omar el-Bashir, the Sudanese president, for personally preventing him from traveling north, and said that he understood Kofi Annan, the UN chief, was calling al-Bashir to protest. Egeland dismissed Khartoum's claims that his visit was inconvenient and his security could not be guaranteed, as well as claims that his Norwegian nationality posed a problem because of the uproar over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in Norwegian newspapers. He noted that he had been barred from visiting Darfur in 2004 "when ethnic cleansing was at its worst."
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"We must admit once and for all that the purpose of diplomacy is to prolong a crisis."
QUETTA: A paramilitary man was killed and two others seriously injured when the vehicle they were travelling in hit a landmine in Pathar Nulleh on Tuesday. Sui officials said that unidentified 'miscreants' had placed the landmine in the path of the water tanker
Also, unidentified men fired six rockets at a security forces convoy in Kohlu. Security personnel responded with artillery fire. Local administration registered a case against the unknown men. A search operation is also underway. Later, security personnel successfully raided and destroyed Ferrari camps in Goth Habib Lahi, Kundoi. Soldiers also confiscated a large amount of weapons and explosive material from Jugseela. The arms recovered include landmines, rifles, Kalashnikoves and thousands of bullets.
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TANK: A group of Taliban stormed a wedding ceremony to disrupt a music programme, wounding one man a few days after they ordered Bhittani tribesmen to grow beards, eyewitnesses said on Tuesday. Naib Nazim Haji Abdur Rehman told reporters that dozens of Taliban attacked the music programme at the wedding of Haji Saeedullahs two sons in Maghzey village of Tank district. They came by vehicles and opened fire at the participants in the music programme, wounding one late on Monday evening, the naib nazim said.
Riaz Kundi, Tank district nazim, confirmed the incident but gave no details. I am still gathering information, he said. Everyone ran for cover when the bearded Taliban attacked the programme, the naib nazim said. The music was stopped and all the frightened music-lovers went home.
The attack came three days after a Taliban chief in Jandola, a town on the Tank border with South Waziristan, ordered Bhittani tribesmen to grow beards within three weeks. Maulana Asmatullah, who claims to be the Taliban chief in Jandola, asked every adult to grow a beard or severe punishment will be awarded after the deadline expires, a shopkeeper in Jandola bazaar told Daily Times.
Meanwhile, key tribal commander Baitullah Mehsud denied on Tuesday that the Taliban had set up a parallel government in the tribal areas. Reports about the establishment of a parallel administration or parallel government in Waziristan are baseless and it is a media smear campaign against Islam and Pakistan, he said in a statement issued in Tank city.
His statement comes after reports from Waziristan that a Taliban-style parallel administration was set up disperse justice under Sharia. The Tuesday statement is the first from Mehsud since his peace deal with the South Waziristan administration on February 7, 2005. We want development and peace in our areas and Pakistan is our country and we have to uphold its constitution, Mehsud added. He said the local population pressed his force to help them against criminals and their illegal activities. We are helping our people who asked for help, the Taliban commander said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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fckin scumbags - i say set up a giant acoustic system balsting out every kind of music they hate over a 1000sq km area - think massive 'ghetto blaster' but when they come and try to shut it down gun the fck outa them. These chumps can't be hard to decieve like that, hell why arnt we doing just that sort of thing to lure them to us instead of us hunting high and low for them!!!! makes no sense with people this stupid, were making life hard for ourselves by not using their own stupidity and hatred against them! Argghhhh the dumbness of it all!
#2
The things that irritate these guys is so stupid. Cartoons and they kill each other. Music, and they atttack it. I had a dog like that once, everytime we brought out the ironing board, he'd attack it. He did'nt grow a beard though, so I did'nt mind.
#3
rofl - the ironing board :) oh thats funny, lol i've got a picture of Koranimals svagly attacking Ironing boards now in my head, Stoning it and jumping up and down on it shouting down with housework! Sorry but some things like this just make me laugh.
#5
What's the deal with the beards? As if life wasn't shitty enough in that part of the world, now you have the Tallywhackers pestering you. If they can't rule Afghanistan in the open, they'll subject the highlanders to their miserable islamic lifestyle, berift of any fun or simple pleasures. What an attractive way of life. I can see why people would flock to it.
#6
The fools are by and large illiterate, and rely on old on-eye to interpret the Koran...and he's as illiterate as they are. What a bunch of maroons. Fools leading fools...and none of them could tell you what the Koran really said if there life depended on it.
#7
From a Hadith: 'Rasulullah Peace be upon him has said: 'Amongst the fitrat (Deen) of Islam is the cutting of the moustache and the lengthening of the beard for surely the Majoos (fire worshippers) lengthen their moustaches and cut their beards so oppose them by cutting your moustaches and lengthening your beards'.
In other words, to separate the muslim cult from others. They would have been better off shaving their heads and selling flowers at airports.
Posted by: ed ||
04/05/2006 18:04
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I feel a Warren Zovon song coming on!
You know, the Sheriff's got his problems too
He will surely take them out on you
In walked the village idiot and his face was all aglow
He's been up all night listening to Mohammed's Radio
Don't it make you want to rock and roll
All night long Mohammed's Radio
I heard somebody singing sweet and soulful
On the radio, Mohammed's Radio
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
04/05/2006 21:11
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Zovon??
Mohammed's Radio is a great Warren Zevon (RRIP) song :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/05/2006 21:15
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Eric. You do realize this could get him killed. I know he's already died, but they will be looking for him now.
UNITED NATIONS - UN chief Kofi Annan on Tuesday deplored Sudans decision to bar UN humanitarian coordinator Jan Egeland from visiting its strife-torn Darfur region. The Secretary General regrets that .... Jan Egeland was not permitted by the Government of Sudan to visit Darfur, Annans spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
I'm confused, does he deplore it or regret it? Makes a difference, ya know ...
The pressing and urgent humanitarian requirements of Darfur are a priority for the United Nations and coordination efforts to sustain this large program were at the centre of Mr. Egelands visit, he added. Dujarric said Annan would try to raise the issue with Sudanese President Omar Al Beshir.
Just ask Omar to cut you a little slack, Kofi ...
Meanwhile Egeland, the UN under secretary general for humanitarian affairs, on Tuesday canceled plans to visit Darfur refugees in Chad after Sudan denied him overflight rights.
A day after protesting Khartoums refusal to allow him to visit Darfur itself, Egeland said Sudan had now quashed his plans to see the refugees by denying him permission to use Sudanese airspace to travel to neighboring Chad. I have been denied rights to fly over Darfur to visit refugees in Chad, Egeland told AFP by phone from Rumbek, a town in southern Sudan where he met with Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol on Tuesday.
We have now called off the visit to Chad because the foreign minister told me the government could not allow me overflight rights, Egeland said, adding that he would fly to the Kenyan capital Nairobi to consider next steps.
Over lunch.
He blasted the Sudanese government, which he said was deliberately obstructing his efforts to raise international attention to the worsening situation in Darfur and deteriorating conditions for the refugees in Chad. The president of Sudan is responsible for all of this ... denying me access to those two regions, he said.
Perhaps Omar has concluded that you guys are a bunch of powerless bozos whom he can safely ignore?
Egeland pointed out that his Norwegian nationality had been raised as an issue by the authorities since the global crisis that flared up in January between Europe and the Muslim world over cartoons deemed offensive to the Prophet Mohammed and first carried by Scandinavian newspapers.
Well sure, ya can't trust a herring-eater as far as you can throw him ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Kofi deplores his regret? Or regrets his deplores?
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/05/2006 0:33
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Egeland said, adding that he would fly to the Kenyan capital Nairobi to consider next steps.
Yes, yes, yes.... the overland route it is. Take lots of water and super-size your life insurance policy.
RAMALLAH - The Hamas-led Palestinian government is ready to live side by side with its neighbours, the foreign minister said in a letter to the UN Secretary General obtained by AFP on Tuesday that referred to a two state resolution for the Mideast conflict. We are looking for freedom and independence side by side with our neighbours and we are ready for serious discussions with the quartet, said a copy of the letter addressed to UN chief Kofi Annan obtained by AFP.
"Now would somebody please send us some money? We got a payroll to meet!" he added.
We look forward to living in peace and security, as all countries in the world, and that our people enjoy freedom and independence side-by-side with all our neighbours in this holy place, the text added.
"Just as long as they remember who's in charge."
Israeli procedures in the occupied territories will put an end to all hopes to kill all the Joooos reach a final and peaceful settlement based on the two-state resolution, the letter carried on.
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Neighbors? Why not recognize who you're neighbors are by name?
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/05/2006 0:47
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MULTAN: More than 1,500 Christians protested in Tibba Shomali in Mian Chunnu tehsil against the burning of the Bible and other sacred texts by four Muslims on Tuesday. The men were caught while burning the Bible, calendars carrying the picture of Jesus Christ and other Christian booklets. We caught four people Hafiz Islam, Hafiz Abid, Rana Abdul Ghaffar and Rana Abdul Jabbar burning our sacred books and literature on a heap of garbage on Tuesday evening, Pakistan Christian Writers Guild President AD Sahil said.
Union Council Naib Nazim Ch Shamoon Kaiser said: Two chapters of the Holy Bible, calendars carrying portraits of Jesus Christ and booklets containing religious literature were reduced to ashes. He said that a mob of Christians tried to attack them, but the elders intervened to save their lives. While condemning the incident, a former district councillor condemned the incident but asked the Christians of the area not to take the law into their own hands.
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Omeck - your comment shows you don't quite grasp how truly free westerners view this event.
If you think we are upset about the Bible burning, you are wrong. I'm a Christian, and I say burn away. Yawn. We'll send them another one for free. What we do find interesting, is the double standard given these events by the those who profess to value free speech and the press.
#4
oh fck it, just buy another bible but for gods sake don't lower yourselves to the level of the Koranimals! I found it interesting with the cartoon riots that the MSN refused flatly to call them riots and instead termed them as 'protests' - now i thought when a protest turned violent it becomes a riot, yet somehow MSN never once used the word riot. Just like the french 'protests' that turned in riots in Paris and journalists were saying ' riot police fight running battles with protesters' - i'm like what the fck, so they have riot police using full force but its not a riot but merely a mild mannered protest???? how long can they keep playing these silly word games with us, its getting as bad as the whole 'freedom fighter' and 'insurgent' crap they spew. example - 'insurgents today blew up a school' and you think WTF insurgents or terrorists! Sickening stuff.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
04/05/2006 5:32
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This is the Muslim world reaping what is has sown. They want to riot over the disposition of a handful of pulp; OK, they'll get riots over it.
They just shouldn't bitch when they're on the receiving end.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/05/2006 7:41
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If you think we are upset about the Bible burning, you are wrong. I'm a Christian, and I say burn away. Yawn. We'll send them another one for free.
Bravo, 2b. Quite obviously, the strength of your convictions relies upon something far more eternal than a mere book, however beloved that tome might be. Like the flag burning issue, the right to freedom of expression is much more worthy of preservation than the integrity of a piece of colored fabric or printed paper. The village elders did well to set an example that, I'm sure, the local Muslims will have a much more difficult time following.
The only outrage should be over how Islam routinely applies such a double standard to the conduct of its own followers.
Still, it's hard to apply the Golden Rule when, as far as I can tell, Islam's version of the Golden rule is "Take the Kuffir's gold."
While condemning the incident, a former district councillor condemned the incident but asked the Christians of the area not to take the law into their own hands.
Best way to prevent that is for the State to get off its ass and ENFORCE the law. Most attempts to take "the law into your own hands" start as someone respecting the law enough to enforce it when the State does not.
#10
Most everyone missing the point. If the Christians don't protest this publicly, the muzzies will consider them "fair game" and start doing worse. In this part of the world the rule are different. The beginning of a really ugly persecution starts with incidents like these going unchecked. This isn't a Harvard student protest of some sort, and it's not about overreaction. It's about the muzzies encroaching and forcing their religio-facist rules on others. And BTW, these people may not be able to get replacements like we can. Last thing--in the muzzie world, symbolism is everything. Burning Bibles is the same as burning Christians, and if they could get away with it, they would.
#11
one of the biggest mistakes that is made about Christians is re: the concept of forgiveness. You have to factor in the concept of repentance before you can understand forgiveness. Some think that being a Christian means you stand by idly and watch your friends and family get thrown to the lions. Not. Read the Bible and see that the God of Abraham is, by no means, a cuddly teddy bear. He has soldiers and armies and when he's pissed, the results are not pretty. Christ addressed soldiers. It's a mistake to think that being a Christian means you won't fight against evil.
#12
He said that a mob of Christians tried to attack them, but the elders intervened to save their lives. While condemning the incident, a former district councillor condemned the incident but asked the Christians of the area not to take the law into their own hands.
Well, Hell could freeze over and a similar incident with the religions reversed with village elders and Moslem leaders condemning attacks and asking people not to take law in their own hands... Well???
OK Hell hasn't frozen over yet. Never mind. Besides good Christians don't burn Korans anyway.
AMMAN - Iraq has signed a UN-sponsored agreement with the Audit Board of Jordan in a much-needed step to modernise the fight against corruption, the UN Developent Programme (UNDP) said in a statement on Tuesday. Iraq took the first much-needed step towards modernising its public accountability systems with the signing of a partnership agreement between the Supreme Audit Board (SAB) and the Audit Board of Jordan, it said.
The UNDP described the agreement as a landmark scheme and said it would improve Iraqs audit bureau in its efforts to combat allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement. In a climate currently clouded by rumours of mismanagement and corruption, the upgrading of SABs skills will give the Iraqi population the confidence they need in those who are managing the public purse and inspire a new generation of citizens to trust their government, the statement said.
Yup, UN rules and Jordanian auditors. A match made in heaven.
The project worth 4.8 million dollars is brokered and financed by UNDP-Iraq through international funding and will take 18 months to be completed, the statement said.
In line with the agreement Jordan will train Iraqi auditors in dealing with money laundering, fraud detection, public procurement and privatisation. According to the UNDP the Iraqi Supreme Audit Board is responsible for the independent financial monitoring of the activities of public and private institutions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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They don't need Jordanian auditors, they can just put my neighbor, the retired FBI man, on the case. He just got back from 18+ months in Iraq, where he traced down multiple millions of misbegotten funds. The old FBI skills do have some uses. ;-)
KATHMANDU - Nepals royalist government on Tuesday indefinitely banned protests in Kathmandu, two days ahead of a general strike and a series of protests against King Gyanendras seizure of power. The ban would come into force from Wednesday in Kathmandu and the neighbouring temple-town of Lalitpur, a government statement said.
Nepals main political parties have planned a four-day nationwide general strike from Thursday and a series of big protests in Kathmandu against King Gyanendra who seized power last year. The ban was necessary to maintain law and order as Maoist rebels could infiltrate the demonstrations and incite violence, it said.
The government decision came a day after the rebels announced an indefinite ceasefire in Kathmandu and its surrounding valley to help make the protests successful. But the government said it did not trust the rebels, who have been fighting to topple the monarchy and establish communist rule in the Himalayan kingdom. It is necessary to immediately control them because they could result in the loss of life and property, the government statement said.
Since, after all, the rebels are a bunch of blood-thirsty Maoists.
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The government decision came a day after the rebels announced an indefinite ceasefire in Kathmandu and its surrounding valley to help make the protests successful. But the government said it did not trust the rebels, who have been fighting to topple the monarchy and establish communist rule in the Himalayan kingdom. It is necessary to immediately control them because they could result in the loss of life and property, the government statement said.
Prior experience states that not trusting commies is a pretty good default option to follow.
Law enforcement agencies detained Munir Mengal, a retired officer of the State Bank of Pakistan and aide of some Baloch leaders, at Jinnah International Airport upon his arrival from Dubai on Tuesday morning. An immigration official told Daily Times that Mengal had arrived by an Emirates Airline flight. "He was leaving the immigration counter when personnel of the law enforcement agencies whisked him away," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The Pakis have a long history of buying PRC aircraft so I don't see the story. I'll bet that if the pakis will let us give it a once (or twice) over.
#6
Nothing to see here. Guys, these are Pak copies of Chinese copies of the latest in Russian EXPORT technology and are being manufactured in Pakistan. This is just another episode in the long history of countries selling their second-line shit to the wannabes in the backcountry.
Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, has made a surprise visit to Khartoum, his first in more than a decade, and held talks with Sudan's president on the conflict in the Darfur region. The talks came a day after Jan Egeland, a top UN envoy, protested over what he called a Sudanese government decision to bar him from visiting Darfur and Khartoum this week.
Egeland, the UN undersecretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, said the government was trying to prevent him from seeing the deteriorating situation in the war-torn region. The West Darfur state government acknowledged not allowing his flight to land, though the central government denied barring him. Mubarak and Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, held talks on Tuesday on developments in the situation in Darfur, Sudan's state news agency reported.
You'd normally guess that the two incidents are tied together, and that Hosni is counselling Omar to bring the Darfur situation under control or risk the Western powers getting damned tired of him and giving him a thump — whether directly, or by means of a "spontaneous" revolution. However, since we're talking about the Arab world, it's just as likely that Hosni's lending moral support and telling Omar to hang in there.
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Round about the time that the last christians are getting killed off the govmt will agree that the campaign should be ended and put a stop to it.
That's just one guy talking, but I stick to my prediction.
COPENHAGEN - Denmark plans to loosen its strict immigration regulations to open the door to qualified immigrants amid a labour shortage, the government said on Tuesday. Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced the proposal as one of a series of measures aimed at reforming the countrys welfare system, as the Scandinavian country experiences a shortage of workers and a rapidly ageing population.
The alternative is for Danes to have more children, but in a post-modern, secular, post-Christian state, that doesn't seem to win any support.
Rasmussen, whose government in 2001 introduced a slew of restrictive measures to curb immigration and so accept refugees only on humanitarian grounds, said it would be necessary to attract qualified labour in the years to come. We propose an immigration policy where it would be easier to come to Denmark to work if you have the necessary qualifications, and it would be more difficult to come if you dont, he told reporters.
Will this be applied to immigrants from Africa and the Middle East whose only qualification is having memorized the Qur'an?
The government said it planned to introduce a system similar to the United States Green Card, giving foreigners with the right qualifications the possibility to obtain a work permit and residency permit for a period of up to six months.
Rasmussen said immigrants in Denmark had a relatively low level of education compared to those in other countries, with only 20 percent having received a higher education. Some 5.0 percent of Denmarks 5.4 million inhabitants are immigrants. A total of 3.1 percent come from non-Western countries, according to official statistics. Including those who have acquired Danish citizenship, the number of immigrants is 8.5 percent.
That's not unreasonable, indeed it's not too dissimilar to our own country. The issue is whether the immigrants can truly become Danes, so that they and their children think and act like Danes.
The measures introduced in 2001 included delaying refugees eligibility for permanent residence permits from three years to seven, restricting asylum conditions for conscientious objectors and persecuted homosexuals, and reducing welfare payments for new immigrants.
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Eastn Europe has been exporting labour since the Berlin Wall came down. This shouldn't be an issue -- all they need do is post some Help Wanted ads in the local newspapers.
#3
No shit, anonymous2u.
Who says they have to be muslim immigrants? There are plenty of people in this world who want to work and have a normal life. Oh, and who don't want to kill you in your sleep. Russia, China, South America all have hordes of people on the lookout for the opportunity to work, not just collect a welfare check.
#5
Yeah, and East Asians--example: people from the Phillipines--they really need the work and would be much better behaved (and then they wouldn't have to work for the abusive Soddies).
NEW Zealand's police union wants to ban Muslim women wearing burqas from driving for safety reasons and also because criminals may start using burqas to hide their identity, local media reported today.
Borrowed that idea from the Saooodis.
"We deal with criminals who will very quickly cotton on to the fact that it's to their advantage to be driving around wearing burqas," Police Association president Greg O'Connor said to domestic newsagency New Zealand Press Association (NZPA).
The call for a ban follows a new police policy on burqas which stipulates that women police officers should be responsible for confirming the identity of Muslim women wearing burqas, as they can not reveal their faces to men under Islamic culture.
O'Connor said all motorists should be treated equally and drivers should not hide their identity. "I think the issue is if women are that strongly in their beliefs around the burqa, then perhaps they shouldn't drive," he said on Radio New Zealand.
Ouch, that'll leave a mark.
President of the Federation of Islamic Associations said police were within their rights to ask a Muslim woman driver to reveal her identity, but to impose a ban on burqa-wearing drivers was excessive. "If the police have strong suspicions about a person who is a driver and (they are) wearing a burqa, then they are well within their rights to stop the car and do their investigation in line with the police policy," Javed Khan said ot NZPA. "But saying that a person who is wearing a burqa cannot drive a car I think that is going a bit far."
#1
"But saying that a person who is wearing a burqa cannot drive a car I think that is going a bit far."
Oh, I dunno, Khan - why don't you drive around in one and report back on how much you can see?
If you think that, as a woman, you're property that needs to be covered with a sack, perhaps you shouldn't be driving. That might lead to your thinking you have some freedom, and we can't have that, now can we?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/05/2006 0:11
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Javed Khan should tell the Saudis that. Pathetic.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
04/05/2006 0:13
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How bout this?
If you want to wear a burka, or if you want to treat your wife like a farm animal, simply move to the middle east. Nobody will give you any greif about it there. You can live your squalid little life in as bizarre a fashion as you please and they will love you for it.
The chairman of the Russian State Duma International Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachyov has said that the latest demonstration of military force by Iran was inappropriate, RIA Novosti reported. Is that now a semi-official news agency?
I think that such a demonstration of force by Tehran is not quite appropriate now, as nobody, not even the most radical opponents of Irans nuclear programme in the U.S., is discussing the use of force, even hypothetically, Kosachyov said. Somebody needs to introduce this guy to Zenster
Or .com. Or me.
His comments followed the Irans testing of a new Fajr-3 missile during a military exercise in the Persian Gulf on April 2. Such actions by Iran are counter-productive and do not create the necessary atmosphere of trust at consultations and talks about the Iranian nuclear programme, the parliamentarian said. That's all that's missing, that atmosphere of trust.
The atmosphere is getting thick with something else.
The technical and tactical characteristics of the Iranian missile remain unknown, Kosachyov indicated. So far we have nothing except the assertion by the Iranian military and by politicians that it is superior to other similar missiles, but I see no reason to believe these statements, he said. Looks like the Persians are having a really hard time establishing that atmosphere of trust with their allies.
Kosachyov believes that the missile test and the discussions on Irans nuclear programme by the international community are connected. That's why they call him Master of the Obvious.
It is obvious that Tehran is flexing its muscles to forestall any discussion of a possible use of force against Iran, he said. They think their mouths are their mightiest weapons. They may be correct.
Kosachyov also thinks that Iran should give more attention to the negotiations on setting up a joint venture for uranium enrichment with Russia instead of demonstrating force. For a very reasonable price.
I would be happy if Tehran showed more flexibility on the well-known Russian offer of joint uranium enrichment instead of staking everything on the demonstration of new kinds of arms, he said. We want more of thieir money. Bribe us now or you're in trouble.
#1
In Ruskie talk, "don't let anyone know we're giving you all the shit and that we are backers of the Moolah nukes."
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/05/2006 0:45
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How do you know a US Strike on Iran is coming? The Russians are selling everything and the kitchen sink to the Mad Mullahs,right before we blow it up.
ABU DHABI Dismissing outright any suggestion of financial or ethical impropriety, a wide cross-section of businessmen and executives in the capital have asserted that UAE firms that allegedly paid millions of dollars in illegal kickbacks to ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in the oil-for-food programme could not be held accountable.
A Khaleej Times expose of the mushrooming multi-billion dollar Iraqi oil-for-food scandal, published yesterday, had listed over 110 UAE firms (among many others worldwide) which contracted by Iraq to supply humanitarian goods, reportedly paid over $100 million in illegal kickbacks over a seven-year period to secure the corruption-ridden deals. These controversial allegations are categorically listed in the independent UN inquiry into the scandal, led by Paul A. Volcker.
Widely condemning the innuendo of complicity in a rash of corrupt deals, prominent businessmen and top executives in Abu Dhabi said yesterday, 'These are perfunctory ordeals in the realm of business transactions and do not involve issues of moral turpitude, and therefore cannot be dubbed as illicit income.' To the contrary, they argued, 'This is normal business practice worldwide.'
"Pshaw, it's nothing!"
Some of the contracts were subject to tax by the former Iraqi president and bidders supplying a variety of goods were left with no option but to fall in line, said a market analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity. 'By complying with the measures enforced, the business houses in the UAE had only contributed their mite to serve the local economy by bringing in more non-oil business to bolster the economy, he observed. 'It is an unwritten law that such transactions are the order of routine business,' a leading businessman who wished to remain anonymous commented.
"It's not personal, it's business."
'The UAE economy is not impinged by these transactions, even if you give them the label of being 'illegal'. What is important is that the humanitarian assistance reached the millions of suffering masses in sanctions-hit Iraq and their purpose was to bail out these suffering people, he added.
Worked well, didn't it?
'Morally or legally speaking, the only aggrieved party was the Iraqi people, although it could be discounted that it was the money of business houses here that went into some private hands,' the businessman added.
An executive, who also did not wish to be named, said that the UAE businessmen have only been victims of circumstances, as they were at the 'wrong place at the wrong time' and it was a complex Hobson's choice for them. 'Some businessmen with deep values for probity might have refrained from indulging in these deals, but that does not mean that those who did the business resorted to corrupt practices, was their general consensus', he said.
Nope, nothing at all corrupt about dealing with a genocidal dictator.
As Saddam had turned hostile to the US and the West, there was a wave of sympathy and indulgence that might have prompted a certain flexibility in the initiatives the business houses took, reasoned a corporate lawyer.
Another businessmen said the over-prolonged and uncompromising UN sanctions on Iraq which crippled the Iraqi economy and caused heavy damage to the socio-economic sector, had also led to a sympathy wave, which found its bleak aftermath in popular reaction. The war-ravaged scenario in Iraq had led to a set of new values that is difficult to fathom from a pure commercial point of view, which the west champions. 'On the whole, we do not attach undue importance to what is euphemistically termed as a 'bribe', as it can only be construed as a business transaction, on mutually agreed terms and conditions, and for mutual benefit, in the process,' many of the people interviewed by Khaleej Times observed.
'Basically the people behind this probe wanted to malign all those who got contracts from Iraqi government as they wanted to divert the attention and criticism of conscientious people over the West's criminal silence over the plight of Iraqi children and victims of sanctions,' an executive summed up succinctly.
And there you have it, business as usual, in the UAE and in much of the world.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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What a bunch of horse shit.
They were intentionally subverting UN sanctions against Saddam. End of story. There should be penalties.
LAHORE: A 'black magician' raped a 22-year-old girl and stabbed her in Shahdara police precincts on Tuesday. Police said Qamar, who was running a 'black magic business' in Shahdara, and his wife Saba invited their neighbour Abida to their house, where Qamar raped and stabbed her. Neighbours arrived after hearing Abida's screams and caught Qamar. Abida was rushed to Mayo Hospital where she is in critical condition. Qamar has been handed over the police, a case has been registered and investigations have begun.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/05/2006
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A SHIP loaded with oil and diesel caught fire after an explosion today as it was docked in the Russian Baltic city of Kaliningrad, Russian media reported.
Victoria Lundy has a talent that would probably make 
An Indian cleric on Wednesday publicly confessed his involvement and of a Bangladeshi Islamist group in last month's terrorist strikes in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi that killed at least 20 people.
South Korea said Wednesday it has set up a task force to seek the release of a South Korean fishing vessel that was captured by pirates off the coast of Somalia. 
Police in India say they have arrested the mastermind behind last month's bomb attacks in the holy city of Varanasi. Vali Ullah, a resident of northern Uttar Pradesh state, ran a religious school and was associated with a famous seminary in the state, the police said. 
American superstar Gene Pitney has been found dead aged 65 in his bed in a Cardiff hotel. Pitney - who found fame with "Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa" - was pronounced dead at the Hilton hotel at 1000 BST. He was on a UK tour and had shown no signs of illness. The cause of death is not yet known but is not suspicious. His biggest success was in the 1960s and he enjoyed a 1989 revival with his chart-topping duet, "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart", with Marc Almond. 
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (AHN) - Malaysian couples showing public displays of affection for one another by kissing and hugging can be sentenced to jail or fined if caught, courtesy of a court ruling that labels such acts as indecent behavior.
Baghdad, 5 April (AKI) - Iraqi police arrested 25 alleged terrorists in various parts of the country on Tuesday, including a member of the al-Qaeda network, according to Saudi daily al-Watan. The al-Qaeda member is reported to have sought refuge in the western city of Ramadi, a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency, and was found in possession of explosive belts and large sums of cash, as well as four kilos of gold. 
Spains foreign minister said Monday that the European Union must take the Muslim world more seriously following the uproar over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. "The cartoon crisis has shown that we have to pay more attention to that part of the world," Moratinos told reporters during a visit to Denmark, where the cartoons were first published.
A court in Pakistan on Tuesday convicted five Islamic militants and sentenced them to death for attacking police in a deadly bid to free an arrested comrade from custody, said lawyers.
When he wasn't sending pornographic movies to and asking for explicit photos from a teenage girl in Polk County, a Maryland man was bragging about his job as a spokesman at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, law enforcement officers said. The revelation - actually made to a detective posing as a 14-year-old girl - resulted in the arrest of 55-year-old Brian J. Doyle at his Silver Spring, Md., home Tuesday night, officials said.
Stuart Levey, the Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence says Saudi Arabia must do a better job at ferreting out major individual donors who continue to fund terrorism abroad, including in Iraq.
A Kenyan Muslim acquitted last year of murder in the 2002 al-Qaeda-linked bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel was yesterday jailed for eight years on weapons charges. Nairobi magistrate Rose-melle Mutoka convicted 
LONDON: Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was rapped for ungentlemanly conduct Tuesday after reportedly commandeering US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's private quarters on her official jet. Rice was reported in a number of British newspapers to have graciously offered her British counterpart the use of her bed and cabin on the Boeing 757 plane and Straw ungallantly accepted, leaving her to sleep on the floor. What one newspaper called "Bedgate" is said to have happened as the political bedfellows flew to Kuwait at the weekend before transferring to a military flight bound for Baghdad.
Suspected Taliban fighters shot dead a district intelligence director in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday while four insurgents were killed in a separate clash, officials said. Gunmen opened fire on Mohammad Tahir, the Intelligence director of Delarum district of southwestern Nimroz province, as he was in a car travelling to his office, provincial police chief Abdul Khalil Bakhtiary said. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack on behalf of the Islamist movement.
TEHERAN - Teheran and Washington will open direct talks over Iraq by early next week in Baghdad, the students news agency ISNA quoted an informed source in Irans Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) as saying on Tuesday. The Iranian delegation will be headed by one of the deputies of the SNSC secretary and some foreign ministrys diplomats will be among delegate members, ISNA quoted the source as saying.
MIRANSHAH: Suspected militants fired rockets at a military post in a Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border, triggering a gunbattle but causing no casualties, an official said on Tuesday. The attack happened late on Monday on the outskirts of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, but the terrorists fled toward nearby mountains when our soldiers returned fire, said the official on condition of anonymity. 
THOUSANDS of West Papuan refugees could seek asylum in Australia, an expert has warned. Indonesian expert Scott Burchill said the temporary protection visas could open the door for more boats and potentially thousands of asylum-seekers to follow. "It will certainly encourage further attempts by Papuans to reach Australia and make similar claims," said Dr Burchill, senior lecturer in international affairs at Deakin University. "It would be very hard for (Australian) authorities to deny the claims." 
Hundreds of thousands of students have marched through French cities in protests aimed at killing off a new youth employment law. Rail workers and teachers staged one-day sympathy strikes on Tuesday across the country. Early counts around the country suggested turnout could reach that of a week ago, when anything between one and three million took part.
A teacher who kept a 40 mm shell on his desk as a paperweight blew off part of his hand when he apparently used the object to try to squash a bug, authorities say. The 5-inch-long shell exploded Monday while Robert Colla was teaching 20 to 25 students at an adult education class.
Israel's two main political parties, Kadima and Labour, have agreed to form a power-sharing government committed to further withdrawals from the occupied territories and reviving Israel's welfare state. The Labour leader, Amir Peretz, said he had decided to join the administration, and will back the acting prime minister, Ehud Olmert, to remain in his position "out of national responsibility".
The Federal Government has confirmed there are reports that another boat of six people from the Indonesian province of Papua has landed on an Australian island. Two months ago 43 separatists from Papua landed in Australia and the decision to grant all but one of them protection visas has sparked a diplomatic crisis with Indonesia.
Iraq's interim-Prime Minister 
Israel's new government has begun to take shape, with Moshe Katsav, the president, poised to ask Ehud Olmert, the acting prime minister, to form a coalition with Labour to fix the borders of Israel. After several days of sniping at each other, Olmert and Labour leader Amir Peretz announced on Tuesday they would work towards forming a coalition which will still need the support of several other smaller parties. "We are glad to announce that, after President Moshe Katsav appoints me to form a government, we will start coalition talks to create a government in which Labour will be a senior partner," Olmert told a joint press conference.
JERUSALEM - The Hamas-led Palestinian government is running into financial problems one week after taking office and could face crippling shortfalls as early as next month, Western diplomats and Palestinian officials said.
Blocked by Sudan from visiting Darfur and refugees in neighbouring Chad, the UN's top humanitarian official has accused Khartoum of trying to hide badly deteriorating conditions there. Jan Egeland, the UN under-secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, on Tuesday described the reasons Sudanese officials gave for denying him access to Darfur and then overflight rights to see Darfur refugees in Chad as "utter nonsense" and suggested Khartoum had a more nefarious motive. "I think the main reason is that they don't want me to see the tens of thousands of people being displaced as we speak today," he said, speaking in Nairobi, Kenya, where he flew after being forced to cancel his trips.
QUETTA: A paramilitary man was killed and two others seriously injured when the vehicle they were travelling in hit a landmine in Pathar Nulleh on Tuesday. Sui officials said that unidentified 'miscreants' had placed the landmine in the path of the water tanker 
UNITED NATIONS - UN chief Kofi Annan on Tuesday deplored Sudans decision to bar UN humanitarian coordinator Jan Egeland from visiting its strife-torn Darfur region. The Secretary General regrets that .... Jan Egeland was not permitted by the Government of Sudan to visit Darfur, Annans spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
RAMALLAH - The Hamas-led Palestinian government is ready to live side by side with its neighbours, the foreign minister said in a letter to the UN Secretary General obtained by AFP on Tuesday that referred to a two state resolution for the Mideast conflict. We are looking for freedom and independence side by side with our neighbours and we are ready for serious discussions with the quartet, said a copy of the letter addressed to UN chief Kofi Annan obtained by AFP.
AMMAN - Iraq has signed a UN-sponsored agreement with the Audit Board of Jordan in a much-needed step to modernise the fight against corruption, the UN Developent Programme (UNDP) said in a statement on Tuesday. Iraq took the first much-needed step towards modernising its public accountability systems with the signing of a partnership agreement between the Supreme Audit Board (SAB) and the Audit Board of Jordan, it said.
KATHMANDU - Nepals royalist government on Tuesday indefinitely banned protests in Kathmandu, two days ahead of a general strike and a series of protests against King Gyanendras seizure of power. The ban would come into force from Wednesday in Kathmandu and the neighbouring temple-town of Lalitpur, a government statement said.
Law enforcement agencies detained Munir Mengal, a retired officer of the State Bank of Pakistan and aide of some Baloch leaders, at Jinnah International Airport upon his arrival from Dubai on Tuesday morning. An immigration official told Daily Times that Mengal had arrived by an Emirates Airline flight. "He was leaving the immigration counter when personnel of the law enforcement agencies whisked him away," he said.
Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, has made a surprise visit to Khartoum, his first in more than a decade, and held talks with Sudan's president on the conflict in the Darfur region. The talks came a day after Jan Egeland, a top UN envoy, protested over what he called a Sudanese government decision to bar him from visiting Darfur and Khartoum this week.
COPENHAGEN - Denmark plans to loosen its strict immigration regulations to open the door to qualified immigrants amid a labour shortage, the government said on Tuesday. Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced the proposal as one of a series of measures aimed at reforming the countrys welfare system, as the Scandinavian country experiences a shortage of workers and a rapidly ageing population.
NEW Zealand's police union wants to ban Muslim women wearing burqas from driving for safety reasons and also because criminals may start using burqas to hide their identity, local media reported today.
ABU DHABI Dismissing outright any suggestion of financial or ethical impropriety, a wide cross-section of businessmen and executives in the capital have asserted that UAE firms that allegedly paid millions of dollars in illegal kickbacks to ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in the oil-for-food programme could not be held accountable.
LAHORE: A 'black magician' raped a 22-year-old girl and stabbed her in Shahdara police precincts on Tuesday. Police said Qamar, who was running a 'black magic business' in Shahdara, and his wife Saba invited their neighbour Abida to their house, where Qamar raped and stabbed her. Neighbours arrived after hearing Abida's screams and caught Qamar. Abida was rushed to Mayo Hospital where she is in critical condition. Qamar has been handed over the police, a case has been registered and investigations have begun.
