To remember: some of our citizens and how they fared in WWII.
MERIZO, Guam, Aug. 11 - In July 1944, American warships were bobbing on the Pacific horizon when a squad of Japanese soldiers swept through this old Spanish fishing port. Jogging down sandy alleys and bursting into stucco homes, they rounded up 30 villagers, all known for their ties to the United States. "They didn't want any leaders to be around when the military landed," Ignacio Cruz said as he recalled the roundup he watched as a 17-year-old. "Then, they machine-gunned them, they grenaded them, and if they found them surviving, they bayoneted them."
"Dad got killed, and a lot of young babies were brought up without fathers," continued Mr. Cruz, who grew up, joined the Marines and became the village mayor, the post his father once held. "I managed to survive, and go to school, and build a house for my mother and continue my education."
With the 60th anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender on Monday, Mr. Cruz, who is now 78, and other elderly Guam residents hope American politicians will go beyond solemn speeches and act to compensate them for abuses they suffered under Japan's 32-month occupation.
Often overshadowed by the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan's occupation of this American island started Dec. 10 and continued until American soldiers returned to Guam on July 21, 1944, a date celebrated as Liberation Day.
With 83 Congressional sponsors supporting the Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act, a House bill introduced in April, momentum for compensation is building. A 1951 treaty between the United States and Japan absolved Japan of future individual American war claims, which means American taxpayers would be asked to pay for abuses committed by Japanese soldiers on American nationals on American territory.
The bill was introduced by Delegate Madeleine Z. Bordallo, a Democrat, who is Guam's nonvoting representative in Congress. Compensation for the Guamanians would be roughly comparable to the compensation paid to Japanese-Americans who were interned in the United States during the war. Under that program, each claimant was paid $20,000. Over the program's 10-year span, 82,250 Japanese-Americans were paid a total of $1.65 billion.
The Guam compensation program would cost about $135 million: $12,000 to each of the roughly 9,000 survivors of the occupation, and lump sums of $25,000 to children of about 1,000 Guam residents killed by Japanese occupation forces. "It has been 60 years," Ms. Bordallo said Wednesday in an interview. Hers is the latest of 11 bills submitted on the issue since 1983. "We have tried time and time again."
The Bush administration has not taken a public position on the bill. But David B. Cohen, deputy assistant secretary of the interior for insular affairs, the only administration official to have testified at Congressional hearings on the issue, was not encouraging in testimony last summer. "Reasonable people might disagree in good faith, however, about the appropriate level of financial compensation to be paid by the federal government for damages that were caused not by the fault of the United States, but rather by the fault of a foreign occupying power," he said. "Reasonable people might also disagree in good faith about what is prudent in light of our current circumstances. There are many worthy programs competing now for limited federal dollars."
Mr. Cohen, who arrived on Guam on Thursday for other business, would only say this on the bill's prospects: "It is a challenging issue, especially in this fiscal environment."
Guam officials have asked the State Department to ask Japan for a formal apology. They did not include the request in the bill for fear of creating diplomatic problems.
In 2003, President Bush signed legislation authorizing the appointment of the Guam War Claims Review Commission. The result was a collective convulsion for older residents, people newspapers here now call Guam's "greatest generation." On an island of 160,000, 8,300 people petitioned to testify before the commission.
Often speaking in Chamorro, the Spanish-influenced dialect of Guam's native people, elderly witnesses painted a picture of Japanese colonial occupation that turned progressively violent against anyone suspected of sympathies with the United States. At the time of the Japanese occupation, the United States had governed Guam as an unincorporated territory for four decades.
Initially, Japan treated Guam as its latest Pacific colony, renaming it Omiya Jima, or Great Shrine Island, and seeking to turn the 22,000 islanders, all American nationals, into Japanese subjects. Chamorros, as native residents are called, were forced to learn Japanese and to bow deeply to Japanese authorities. But as the American military's island-hopping campaign drew closer to Guam, Japanese officials suspected that Chamorros were spying for the Americans and were hiding fugitive American soldiers in the jungle.
In hearings here, Manuel Merfalen testified that he watched the Japanese police whip his older sister, who was married to a sailor in the United States Navy. When she fell unconscious, he said, police interrogators revived her by pouring gasoline on her wounds.
"One witness recalled that, as an 8-year-old boy, he watched as his father was repeatedly beaten and paraded naked through the village for his loyalty to America and as a warning to the others that they should be loyal to Japan," the Guam commission report said.
With American connections potentially fatal, Antonio Lizama recalled in testimony that he rubbed mud on his baby sister, fearing that her fair skin would arouse suspicions of Japanese soldiers seeking to purge all traces of the American past.
Ten days before the American attack, Japanese troops herded most of the island's civilian population into three concentration camps in the island's interior, a move that spared many from the fighting.
After Japan's surrender, the Navy Department, which had administered Guam before the war, started to judge damage claims filed under the Guam Meritorious Claims Act of 1945. At a time of high illiteracy rates, no newspapers or telephones, and a language barrier between Navy administrators and the largely Chamorro-speaking population, many claimants missed what amounted to a six-month window to file claims. In the testimony, many older residents said they were never aware in 1946 of the claims system. "In 1946, I went to Hawaii for one and a half years, and I never got any money," Cecilia Yatar said in her home in Santa Rita. Repeatedly clubbed on the back by the Japanese as a girl, Mrs. Yatar, now 80, said she has had back problems all her life.
The family had come under suspicion because the Japanese police believed that a brother, a crab fisherman, was spying for the Americans. Mrs. Yatar said her mother was tortured, her brother and an uncle were beheaded, and surviving family members were thrown into a hard labor camp reserved for natives who were considered pro-American.
Last year, the review commission studied the 1946 claims process. Although $8 million was paid at the time, largely for property damages, the report said that the 1946 process was hurried and missed many claims. "This is about a group of Americans who were authorized to make claims against the U.S. government, but were not treated fairly by the U.S. government," said Robert A. Underwood, who fought to win compensation during the decade from 1983 to 1993, when he was Guam's delegate. "It is not a question of Japanese brutality, but a question of whether the U.S. government treated its own nationals fairly."
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/14/2005
23:09 ||
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This was at Yahoo! Sports, but there was no indication of who wrote the story.
EFL
This time, Rush Limbaugh wants to help Donovan McNabb, not criticize him.
Limbaugh, who once said the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed, wants to help McNabb and wide receiver Terrell Owens settle their differences on his radio show.
``I am here to offer and to assist. I can,'' Limbaugh said on his nationally syndicated radio show Friday, according to a transcript on his Web site. ``I could bring these two guys together. I've been there, folks, and I could do this, and I'm serious in my desire to do it.''
Owens has been unhappy with the Eagles over his contract and took some of his frustration out at McNabb, calling the quarterback a hypocrite and saying the two of them could not be successful together.
EFL, much more conspiracist nazi bullshit at link.
Cindy Sheehan, a mother who lost a son in the Iraq War, is determined to prevent other mothers and fathers from experiencing the same loss.
Courageously she has gone to Texas near the ranch of President Bush and braved the elements and a hostile Jewish supremacist media to demand a meeting with him and a good explanation why her son and otherâs sons and daughters must die and be disfigured in a war for Israel rather than for America.
Recently, she had the courage to state the obvious that her son signed up in the military to protect America not to die for Israel.
In a recent letter to âNightline,â she wrote the following hard-hitting words:
Am I emotional? Yes, my first born was murdered. Am I angry? Yes, he was killed for lies and for a PNAC Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel. My son joined the Army to protect America, not Israel. Am I stupid? No, I know full-well that my son, my family, this nation, and this world were betrayed by George [W.] Bush who was influenced by the neo-con PNAC agenda after 9/11. We were told that we were attacked on 9/11 because the terrorists hate our freedoms and democracyâŠnot for the real reason, because the Arab-Muslims who attacked us hate our middle-eastern foreign policy. I don't doubt that Duke is an official spokesman for terrorist motives, but why should anyone believe him?
That hasnât changed since America invaded and occupied IraqâŠin fact it has gotten worse. We have J. Goebbels jr's word for that, it must be true.
Now, a gauntlet of personal attacks has been let out against her. A recent article on David Horowitzâs FrontPage and repeated by many pro-Israel zealots dares to compare her with that incorrigible American, me. Here is a FrontPage readerâs commentary published in the Lonestar Times.
âŠ(Sheehan) voiced vaguely anti-Semitic rhetoric when she alleged that the Iraq War was all about protecting Israel, i.e. a Jewish conspiracy (a similar opinion is frequently expressed by David Duke and his ilk).â â From the Lonestar Times August, 13, 2005
Imagine that, compared to David Duke just before DD himself weighs in to validate the analogy.
What do Jesse Jackass, Cynthia McNinny, and Al Sharpnot have to say about this? I'm sure Robert "Sheets" Byrd will understand though.
#1
Now that the pipsqueak fuhrer has weighed in, how much do y'all think Lumpy Riefenstahl (aka Mike Al-Moor etc.) will offer Mother Sheehan for the movie rights?
Stung by the Nepalese army blaming its punishing reverses on the India-made INSAS assault rifles, the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu issued a statement on Saturday, despite it being the start of a three-day holiday, refuting the allegation and casting doubts on the Royal Nepalese Army's capability.
Posted by: john ||
08/14/2005
19:14 ||
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If you plug your nose and wade through the Newsweak ruminations, you see a Commander-In-Chief who is a great leader.
The grieving room was arranged like a doctor's office. The families and loved ones of 33 soldiers killed in Iraq or Afghanistan were summoned to a large waiting area at Fort Bragg, N.C. For three hours, they were rotated through five private rooms, where they met with President George W. Bush, accompanied by two Secret Service men and a photographer. Because the walls were thin, the families awaiting their turn could hear the crying inside.
President Bush was wearing "a huge smile," but his eyes were red and he looked drained by the time he got to the last widow, Crystal Owen, a third-grade schoolteacher who had lost her husband in Iraq. "Tell me about Mike," he said immediately. "I don't want my husband's death to be in vain," she told him. The president apologized repeatedly for her husband's death. When Owen began to cry, Bush grabbed her hands. "Don't worry, don't worry," he said, though his choking voice suggested that he had worries of his own. The president and the widow hugged. "It felt like he could have been my dad," Owen recalled to NEWSWEEK. "It was like we were old friends. It almost makes me sad. In a way, I wish he weren't the president, just so I could talk to him all the time."
Bush likes to play the resolute War Leader, and he has never been known for admitting mistakes or regret. But that does not mean that he is free of doubt. For the past three years, Bush has been living in two worldsâunwavering and confident in public, but sometimes stricken in private. Bush's meetings with widows like Crystal Owen offer a rare look inside that inner, private world.
Last week, at his ranch in Texas, he took his usual line on Iraq, telling reporters that the United States would not pull out its troops until Iraq was able to defend itself. While he said he "sympathized" with Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, he refused to visit her peace vigil, set up in a tent in a drainage ditch outside the ranch, and sent two of his aides to talk to her instead.
Privately, Bush has met with about 900 family members of some 270 soldiers killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. The conversations are closed to the press, and Bush does not like to talk about what goes on in these grieving sessions, though there have been hints. An hour after he met with the families at Fort Bragg in June, he gave a hard-line speech on national TV. When he mentioned the sacrifice of military families, his lips visibly quivered.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/14/2005
18:45 ||
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#1
Damn, should be filed elsewhere.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/14/2005 18:48
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Thank God he isn't some LBJ-like meglomaniac. He understands the consequences of his decisions and knows he will have to live with them. Just like the rest of us.
#3
he has never been known for admitting mistakes or regret
sounds like MSM projection, huh?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/14/2005 22:24
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Dittos Frank and whitecollar redneck... By my lights W is the genuine article. Despite his feelings and terrible responsibilitys He makes the tough decisions for America and the world for the long run.
God bless him and the families.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
08/14/2005 22:50
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Still waiting on the Left to apologize for their 'accessory to the fact' of the butchery of 1.25 million Cambodians in the third Holocaust of the 20th Century. However, considering the Left never stepped up to apologize for their support of Stalin and his multi-million human sacrifice to Marxism, I won't hold my breath.
Frustrated with the limitations of using its fleet of modern Humvee four-wheel-drives in rugged mountains with few roads, a battalion of U.S. marines has enlisted a mode of transport used for centuries by Afghan villagers: donkeys.
About 30 of the animals have been rented from local farmers to haul food and bottled water to hundreds of Afghan and U.S. troops on a two-week operation to battle militants deep in remote mountains in eastern Afghanistan's Kunar province.
"With all the smart bombs and the modern stuff in war nowadays, this is the best way for us to resupply our troops there," said Lt. Col. Jim Donnellan, commander of the Hawaii-based regiment. "It's also much cheaper for the U.S. taxpayer for us to rent the donkeys than for everything to be air-dropped."
Using aircraft to resupply the forces is also dangerous.
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In late June, militants in the area shot down a special forces Chinook helicopter, killing all 16 troops on board, as it tried to land in one of the many steep-sided, wooded valleys that snake their way through the mountains.
The operation, which began Friday, is aimed at flushing those fighters out of the valley and U.S. commanders are nervous about risking other choppers in the process.
From a temporary resupply base in a cornfield at one end of Korengal Valley, where the militants are suspected of hiding, squads of marines with heavy packs on their own backs led out lines of donkeys, each laden with two boxes of water, a box of food rations and a sack of grain.
While each marine carried enough food and water for themselves for two days, the donkeys gave each squad supplies for an extra 48 hours. Once finished, the animals would be led back to the resupply base to load up again and then return to the mountains.
Before coming to Afghanistan, some of the troops received training in handling donkeys at the Marines' Mountain Warfare Training Centre in Bridgeport, Calif., said Capt. John Moshane.
"Marines have used donkeys since the American revolution," he said, as each animal received a spray painted number for identification.
Still, the donkeys sometimes stubbornly refuse to co-operate and their determination to try to mate with each other whenever they were untied persistently frustrated their handlers. When one marine slapped one of the animals on the rump in exasperation, the donkey promptly gave him a sharp kick with one of its hind legs.
Donkeys have long been used by armies in Afghanistan, including by mujahedeen independence fighters against Soviet troops in the 1980s. Smugglers also use them to sneak loads of opium, illegally mined gems and timber across the country's mountainous borders.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/14/2005
18:17 ||
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#1
plz relocate to appropriate category
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/14/2005 18:19
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Isn't donkey the symbol of the (anti-war on terror) Democratic party? Ride em troopers! Ride em!
#4
Now the Marines are stuck there. The Army only uses mules.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/14/2005 18:49
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...There is a marvelous picture from Afghanistan in '01 that shows Green Berets in traditional dress, on horseback, carrying laser designators. Sometimes you have to cross the old with the new.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/14/2005 18:58
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#6
I am waiting for the armored up jack asses. Rumsfeld, where are they?
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/14/2005 19:00
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an Observer investigation can reveal that, far from being moderate, the Muslim Council of Britain has its origins in the extreme orthodox politics in Pakistan. And as its influence increases through Whitehall, many within the Muslim community are growing concerned that this self-appointed organisation is crowding out other, genuinely moderate, voices of Muslim Britain.
Posted by: john ||
08/14/2005
17:51 ||
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Al Qaeda Militant Luai Sakra, arrested for organizing the double bomb attacks in Istanbul on 15-23 November, has claimed to have played a role in the September 11 attacks to World Trade Center (WTI) in New York.
How many newtons pressure on the #7 pliers when he said that?
Syrian citizen Sakra has confessed to Turkish police that he provided the attackers of September 11, accepted as the biggest terrorist attack of the history, with passports. Sakra, who has been interrogated in Istanbul Police Department Anti Terror Office for 4 days has made many interesting confessions. He noted that he knew Muhammad Ata, planner of the attacks on the WTI and Pentagon. Sakra claimed that he has organized terrorist activities for Jihad but he said that he drinks alcohol and does not pray.
Sarka said: âI was one of the people who knew the perpetrators of September 11, and knew the time and plan before the attacks. I also participated in the preparations for the attacks to WTI and Pentagon. I provided money and passports.â
Some of the passports, which Sakra claimed to have provided himself, were strangely found in the ruins of WTI. Luai Sakra, who is said to be one of the 5 most important members of Al Qaeda, said that he had no connection with the attacks in Sharm Al Sheikh, where 88 people were killed.
Confessions of Sakra, who was interrogated at the Istanbul Anti-Terror Directorate, have not been turned into an official statement. Sakra's conversations with police were written down as an official report signed by officials participating in his interrogation, but Sakra is using his right of silence.
Remarkable anecdotes have emerged between Sakra and the police during his interrogation. The Security Directorate officials told Sakra that he might perform his religious practices to have a better dialogue with him and to gain his confidence. "I do not pray. I also drink alcohol," Sakra told officials. Officials said Adnan Ersoz and Harun Ilhan, who were detained for connections to the Istanbul attacks, had perfomed their religious practices. The police said such an attitude at the top-level of al-Qaeda was confusing. Security officials noted the al-Qaeda militant has been undergoing psychological therapy and said the following about Sakra: "He has an intellect of a genius. He might develop plans according to momentary situation. There were medicines on him for his illness when he was arrested. He is still undergoing therapy either for manic-depression or panic attacks. He has no university degree but there are doctors and engineers among his siblings. He says he is of Turkish-origin."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/14/2005
16:58 ||
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#1
These claim cannot be verified. The 9/11 Commission didn't mention his involvement, so it must be false.
Besides he's a drinker and not a prayer and, following the mental models of the CIA, drinkers and prayers don't intermix.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/14/2005 23:01
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Ex-Iraqi officers Sunday denied accusations of plotting to attack the U.S. and British embassies in Yemen as their defense called the charges "invalid."
The defense attorney for the four Iraqis, Abdul Aziz Samawi, told the Yemeni State Security Court the prosecution extracted the defendants' confessions through at the intelligence prison, where they were held for more than two years.
He said "the prosecution evidence is therefore null and void."
The Iraqis, allegedly intelligence officers in the toppled regime of Saddam Hussein, were charged with coming into the country disguised as school teachers and planning to carry out terrorist attacks in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, against the Western embassies.
The defendants claimed their signed confessions were taken after "physical and psychological torture," and one of them said he tried to commit suicide more than once to escape the abuse.
The prosecutor Sunday said he will prove one of the four men, Sami Nouh, was "in charge of a cell" in Sanaa planning to strike Western interests in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/14/2005
16:57 ||
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POLICE and military intelligence agents have launched a hunt for four women believed to be members of a terrorist group, abs-cbnNEWS.com learned Sunday.
âThe possibility of terrorist cells using women is not very remote these days,â said Col. Eduardo del Rosario, head of Task Force Davao.
He said intelligence reports indicated that the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) has recruited women in a campaign to sow terrorism in some parts of Mindanao.
â[There are] reports that they will be using women members,â he said.
Chief Supt. Antonio Billones, director of the Davao police regional office, also confirmed the intelligence report.
Billones said they are tracking the women believed to be in possession of bomb-making materials.
He added that the women terrorists are believed to be âanywhere in the northern part of Davao.â
Del Rosario and Billones said the police and military are now equally treating women and men in security inspections.
âSecurity checks in public places are more lenient on women than on men,â del Rosario said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/14/2005
16:54 ||
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A Russian regional commander and four other officers were killed in an ambush as they responded to a guerrilla attack on the home of a local official in war-torn Chechnya on Sunday, Russia's NTV television reported.
One rebel fighter was killed during the attack on the official's house, which was burned down, it said.
Rebels with grenades and machine guns ambushed the officers as they drove towards the village of Roshni-Chu where the house was under attack.
Colonel Alexander Kayak, military commander of the Chechen region of Urus-Martan, died along with three fellow officers. A fifth died later of his wounds, and another was seriously injured.
The official was not hurt. His son was taken away by the attackers but managed to escape.
Earlier an Interior Ministry spokesman confirmed three deaths, including that of Kayak, but he was not available to confirm the NTV report.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/14/2005
16:51 ||
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Rising up against insurgent leader Abu Musab Zarqawi, Iraqi Sunni Muslims in Ramadi fought with grenade launchers and automatic weapons Saturday to defend their Shiite neighbors against a bid to drive them from the western city, Sunni leaders and Shiite residents said. The fighting came as the U.S. military announced the deaths of six American soldiers.
Dozens of Sunni members of the Dulaimi tribe established cordons around Shiite homes, and Sunni men battled followers of Zarqawi, a Jordanian, for an hour Saturday morning. The clashes killed five of Zarqawi's guerrillas and two tribal fighters, residents and hospital workers said. Zarqawi loyalists pulled out of two contested neighborhoods in pickup trucks stripped of license plates, witnesses said.
The leaders of four of Iraq's Sunni tribes had rallied their fighters in response to warnings posted in mosques by followers of Zarqawi. The postings ordered Ramadi's roughly 3,000 Shiites to leave the city of more than 200,000 in the area called the Sunni Triangle. The order to leave within 48 hours came in retaliation for alleged expulsions by Shiite militias of Sunnis living in predominantly Shiite southern Iraq.
"We have had enough of his nonsense," said Sheik Ahmad Khanjar, leader of the Albu Ali clan, referring to Zarqawi. "We don't accept that a non-Iraqi should try to enforce his control over Iraqis, regardless of their sect -- whether Sunnis, Shiites, Arabs or Kurds.''
Iraqi Sunni tribal leaders and armed followers of Zarqawi have clashed before in the far west, and Sunnis and Shiites in western cities have sympathized with one another over what they have said are attempts by foreign fighters to spark open sectarian conflict. But Saturday's clash in Ramadi was one of the first times Sunni Arabs have been known to take up arms against insurgents specifically in defense of Shiites.
The dramatic show of unity in the western city came as Sunni and Shiite Arabs and ethnic Kurds in Baghdad continued negotiations over the country's constitution. They were trying to meet a Monday deadline but failing to resolve some key differences.
President Jalal Talabani, who has hosted days of closed-door talks among Iraq's factional and political leaders, said he remained hopeful the deadline could be met. "There will be no postponing of any issue," Talabani told reporters. "God willing, tomorrow the constitution will be ready."
Disputes over federalism -- particularly whether Shiites should be allowed to have a separate federal state in the south equivalent to the one the Kurds have established in the north -- remain the biggest obstacle. Sunni Arabs rigidly oppose the division, expressing fears that it would split Iraq and leave their minority stranded in the resource-poor center and west.
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad sat with faction leaders throughout the day, pushing for completion by Monday, said a Sunni Arab constitutional delegate, Salih Mutlak.
The fighting in Ramadi suggested a potentially serious threat to Zarqawi's group, al Qaeda in Iraq, which is made up of Sunni extremists from inside and outside Iraq. The insurgency has increasingly targeted Shiite civilians along with U.S. and Iraqi forces, particularly with grisly suicide bombings that have killed scores of Shiites at a time. Zarqawi's followers see Shiites as rivals for power and as apostates within the broader Islamic faith.
At midday Saturday, men with grenade launchers and AK-47s still could be seen in Ramadi's two contested neighborhoods, Sejarriyah and Tameem.
Masked men distributed leaflets that declared the city's tribes would fight "Zarqawi's attempt to turn Ramadi into a second Fallujah," referring to the nearby city that U.S. forces wrested from insurgent control in November. Statements posted on walls declared in the name of the Iraqi-led Mohammed's Army group that "Zarqawi has lost his direction" and strayed "from the line of true resistance against the occupation."
A grateful Shiite resident of Ramadi said he was not surprised at the threats by Zarqawi's followers or the defiance of them. "So many ties of friendship, marriage and compassion" bind Shiites and Sunnis in Ramadi, said Ali Hussein Lifta, a 50-year-old air-conditioning repairman and a resident of Tameem.
"We have become in fact part of the population here, and this we are going to convey to the rest of Iraq and to those who want to instill division between Sunnis and Shiites," Lifta said. "We are happy to know that the ties with the Sunnis have become so strong that the Zarqawis and their terrorism cannot affect them.''
Separately Saturday, Zarqawi's movement posted statements in Ramadi pledging to kill Sunni clerics in the west for urging Sunnis to take part in the country's next elections.
"We, al Qaeda in Iraq, announce that we will apply the religious punishment for apostasy upon whoever calls for creation of the constitution. You, preacher at the podium of prophecy, be a speaker of truth, doer of good and rallier for the rule of sharia," or Islamic law, the statement said.
Similar threats led the majority of Iraq's Sunni voters to boycott elections in January, weakening their position when the country's factions began crafting a constitution.
If the draft constitution is finished by Monday as scheduled, and Iraqis agree in an Oct. 15 vote to adopt it, Iraq will hold elections Dec. 15 for its first full-term government since Hussein was toppled.
Missing the deadline would risk greatly aggravating political instability and violence that have claimed thousands of Iraqi and American lives since the elections.
Existing law requires the current government to dissolve if the deadline is not met, opening the way for the election of a new government, which would take another try at writing a constitution.
Around the country on Saturday, bombings and ambushes killed at least 12 Iraqis and wounded more than a dozen, according to the Associated Press and the Reuters news agency.
Late Saturday, the military announced the deaths of five U.S. soldiers, three of whom were killed in a roadside bomb attack while on patrol Friday night in the northern town of Tuz. One soldier died when a roadside bomb detonated in Baghdad Saturday. Another was found dead from a gunshot wound in the Iraqi capital, according to an Army statement. On Sunday, one soldier was killed and three wounded by a roadside bombing in the western town of Ruteah.
Also in Baghdad, a U.S. Bradley Fighting Vehicle was left burning in the Sadr City district, Reuters reported. The U.S. military said the armored personnel carrier was set on fire by a roadside bomb, but there were no reports of American casualties. Local police said an Iraqi civilian was killed in the explosion.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/14/2005
16:28 ||
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#1
Missing the deadline would risk greatly aggravating political instability and violence that have claimed thousands of Iraqi and American lives since the elections.
Obviously, WaPo believes they will miss the deadline and will trumpet the failure tomorrow.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/14/2005 17:24
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Who's deadline ours? The Media's? Not the Iraqi's really, when it's done it's done. Let it be an Iraqi Constutition, it's not going to be ours. It will come, but it may not come tomorrow. BFD.
Egyptian security forces have arrested three men in connection with last month's deadly bombings in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, a newspaper reported on Sunday. The semi-official al-Ahram said the search was continuing for two more suspects wanted for their alleged role in the July 23 triple attacks that left about 70 people dead, including more than a dozen foreigners. The authorities believe the suspects helped three suicide bombers plan and prepare for the attacks, al-Ahram said.
It added that the police, acting on a tip-off, raided a farm in al-Arish on the Mediterranean coast of the Sinai, where they recovered nearly a tonne of explosives. More explosives and firearms were found at the hideouts of the suspects and experts are comparing them to traces of explosives found at the sites of the three attacks, al-Ahram added.
Bet they get a match.
Security officials told the paper that they apprehended the fugitives with the help of a man identified as one of the main suspects in the case.
That would be Mahmoud the Weasel.
They said the man worked as a watchman on the al-Arish farm that al-Ahram said was registered to a Palestinian. Security forces said they found out about the watchman after tracing the route of two pick-up trucks used to ship the explosives from the middle of the Sinai peninsula to Sharm el-Sheikh.
Egyptian security forces can be pretty good when they want to be, and when they're unleashed.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/14/2005
16:23 ||
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There are indications that the Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terror network had a hand in the twin bombings that rocked Zamboanga City last Wednesday, leaving 26 people wounded, a government bomb expert revealed.
According to Superintendent Jose Bayani Gucela, the deputy police chief and commander of the city policeâs Explosive and Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit, a pattern has emerged showing a "similarity to the previous bombings" three years ago. During the October 2002 series of bombing attacks in the cityâs Malagutay district, authorities traced the bombing to the Abu Sayyaf urban terrorist group (UTG), said to be behind the attack that left a dozen people killed, including a visiting US serviceman, and wounded more than 70 others.
The police and military explosives experts, along with their counterparts from the US, found that the Abu Sayyaf bombers used plastic explosives, more commonly known as C-4, in the bombing attacks. The investigation also led authorities, in just a week, to arrest five of the suspects in the bombing. Their arrest also led the police to uncover a new terror unit, reportedly trained by the JI in Sulu. Gucela, however, admitted they had yet confirm the reports and the kind of explosives used in last Wednesdayâs twin attack. "We have recovered the empty box of the timing device. But as of now we cannot confirm yet the kind of explosive that was used" in the twin blast, Gucela said.
"Nevertheless, we can establish there is a pattern of similarity of the previous bombing that we have experienced in Zamboanga City," according to Gucela, a US-trained bomb expert who led the investigation into the twin blasts. Gucela declared last Wednesdayâs bombing attacks "related to the ASG-JI pattern of placing bombings and explosions." Police have already filed criminal charges against the suspects. One of the suspects has been positively identified by witnesses who saw him planting an explosive device in a parked multicab before it went off. Police said they have strong evidence against the bombing suspects that would lead to their successful prosecution in court.
"(We have strong) evidence against them. We have already confirmed that these people are members of the Abu Sayyaf," Superintendent Prospero Noble said. Senior Superintendent Henry Losañez, city police chief, added he is optimistic they could solve the second blast that hit the St. Annâs Pension house and Chowking Building in the city. Losañez claimed they have some suspects in custody but declined to name them.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/14/2005
16:21 ||
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No one's life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session." Mark Twain's old saw got a British twist last week after the country started examining a dozen stern antiterror proposals Prime Minister Tony Blair had announced before leaving for a sunshine break. His plans include a new law to ban radical groups, extending pretrial detention, and listing extremist centers and bookshops that will trigger deportation for any foreigner "actively engaged" with them. The measures made headlines in a country still absorbing the reality of homegrown suicide bombers after the July 7 and July 21 terror attacks, but not all the headlines were good. Some legal experts saw a slapdash, populist quality in the proposals. And moderate Muslims, the group the government needs to help weed out and isolate British radicals, are uneasy about Blair's new strategy to curb those who preach jihad, not just practice it.
That the paint wasn't quite dry on the antiterror plan was evident when the government flip-flopped over the fate of Omar Bakri Muhammad, a Syrian-born Islamic preacher who has been a refugee in Britain since 1985. He established the British branch of Hizb-ut-Tahrir and later al-Muhajiroun, organizations the government now wants to ban as dangerous proponents of jihadism. Some of al-Muhajiroun's alumni have been suicide bombers abroad and have links with al-Qaeda figures. Bakri himself has issued a fatwa advocating death for Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and said he would never report a suicide bomber to the authorities. As leaks hinted (improbably) that he might be tried for treason, he left for what he said was a holiday in Lebanon. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott tried to bolster the case for new regulations to exclude or deport radicals when he said the government needed the laws to keep Bakri out. "At the moment he has the right to come in and out," Prescott said. "It's not a dictatorship, for God's sake!"
But the uproar this produced in right-wing newspapers (also incensed that Bakri and his seven children live on state benefits) prompted the government to ban him under existing powers after all. Perhaps a moot point: Bakri was arrested in Lebanon last week (though released the next day), and Syria has requested his extradition.
Bakri's travails were only one sign that the "rules of the game are changing," as Blair had promised. On Thursday, 10 men were arrested for deportation, including Abu Qatada, who fled to Britain in 1993 after being accused in Jordan of inciting terrorism. The government has considered him a dangerous jihadist for years. It imprisoned him without charge for over two years until the courts declared it a violation of the Human Rights Act, and has kept him under house arrest since. It couldn't return him to Jordan, where he was convicted in absentia in 2000 of conspiring to attack U.S. and Israeli tourists; the courts hold that deporting anyone to a country with a record of torture violates the Human Rights Act.
The day before Qatada's arrest, Jordan signed a pact with Britain to treat all deportees humanely. The undertaking is supposed to be monitored by an independent group, which is not yet chosen. The other nine deportees come mainly from Algeria, which is regularly cited for torture by human-rights groups. It has only just started discussing a good-treatment pledge with London. That only adds to the complexity of the legal challenges the men can raise.
Civil-liberties groups see an oppressive streak in many of Blair's initiatives. One is a statute to ban "condoning, glorifying or justifying terrorism anywhere in the world." Shami Chakrabarti, director of the civil-rights organization Liberty, calls this law "the broadest speech offense imaginable." In 2002, Blair's wife Cherie said, "As long as young people feel they have got no hope but to blow themselves up, you are never going to make progress" between Palestinians and Israelis, causing an uproar. Downing Street later issued a statement saying Cherie Blair did not condone suicide bombings. But in future, could remarks like that be read as "justifying" terrorism?
Even some of Blair's own aides think he's spoiling for a fight with judges over their willingness to strike down his antiterror laws on human-rights grounds. Charles Falconer, the government's chief legal officer and a Blair loyalist, indicated the government might pass a law instructing judges to balance individual rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights with national security. "Blair figures he'll have the public on his side after the bombings," says one aide. "I'm not so sure."
Even less sure are British Muslims. In a MORI poll last week, 60% of Muslims surveyed said suspected terrorists should not be detained without trial, compared to 36% for the public as a whole. Asghar Bukhari, spokesman for the Muslim Public Affairs Committee, which wants Muslims to campaign and have more of a voice, says Blair's 12-point plan is "like a cork in a volcano" that "intensifies the us vs. them feeling." Chakrabarti says that the threat posed by homegrown suicide bombers means the government's most pressing need is "intelligence from Muslims. You are asking them to rat on their husbands, sons, imams, and they will do that only if they feel confident." And intelligence seems to be in short supply. Last week, several officials expressed frustration with what they knew about the July 7 and July 21 bombers; one said, the "trail had gone cold." No link has yet been established between the two groups, or back to al-Qaeda from either. On every front, says one investigator, "we have a long way to go."
When British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced that part of his government's response to July's terror attacks included drawing up a list of "specific extremist websites" and possibly deporting or imprisoning people in Britain involved with them, he set himself a difficult task. Once radicalized, aspiring jihadists â and possibly some of those involved in the London bomb plots â turn to "Google terrorism" by surfing the Internet for all the encouragement, terror training manuals, how-to videos and bomb recipes they need. Extremist websites that offer these pop up, relocate and vanish every day, flouting British laws that forbid incitement to racial hatred or violence. Some of these websites are based in Britain, others elsewhere. Many experts are skeptical about how much more can be done to shut them down. "How can you close the Internet?" asks Magnus Ranstorp, director of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St. Andrews University in Scotland.
The answer is obvious: you can't, at least not completely. A quick surf through English-language Islamic websites and chat rooms in the weeks after the London bombings uncovered some disturbing postings: on the U.K. website ummah.com, a poem purportedly put up by al-Qaeda operative Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi glorifying insurgent attacks in Iraq (elsewhere on the site, a user writes that "killing Americans is not murder, it is retaliation"); on islamicawakening.com, also based in Britain, a paean to last year's attack on a school in Beslan, Russia, which killed more than 300 people, half of them children. And that's a tiny sample of the English-language sites hosted in Britain. Dozens of Arabic websites are devoted to the conflict in Iraq. One of them, qal3ati.com, published the first claim of responsibility for the July 7 London bombings, from an outfit calling itself the Secret Organization Group of al-Qaeda of Jihad Organization in Europe. The site quickly disappeared and has yet to resurface. Finding site operators or preventing them from setting up under new domain names in far-flung outposts is an unending â and often hopeless â task.
Since the London attacks, law-enforcement officials, security agencies and private monitoring groups have intensified their Web trawls to gather information and, sometimes, disrupt sites. Many Arabic sites are based outside the U.K., and are sometimes operated by people in yet another country. A few are based in Europe or the U.S., but the most extreme find homes in the Middle East, the Gulf states or Southeast Asia. Yet even the websites run on British servers can be elusive. The groups Hizb-ut-Tahrir and al-Ghurabaa, the successor organization of al-Muhajiroun, both to be targeted in Blair's crackdown, have websites served by British companies. Some members of al-Ghurabaa communicate via a website on a server owned by British Internet service provider clara.net. A clara.net spokeswoman says the ISP can't take action until the government bans the group, because the site â which attacks democratic systems and moderate Muslims â doesn't infringe national laws.
Shutdowns are anyway rarely permanent. Tech-savvy operators can simply move their sites offshore. Four years ago, the U.K.-based website of Egyptian-born radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri's Supporters of Shariah was shut down. Now that al-Masri is in a British prison awaiting trial, his followers keep his message alive on shareeah.org, hosted in Malaysia. A spokesman for the group, who identified himself as Hashim and was contacted on a British mobile-phone number, says 11 of the 13 people who maintain the site are not in the U.K. "It's going to be real, real trouble to find the people who are running it," he says. "It's out of the country. They can't do much." Al-Muhajiroun's founder, the Syrian-born radical cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad told Time that he used chat rooms on Paltalk.com, hosted in the U.S., until other users began asking too many questions. He says he didn't want his answers to be construed as incitement.
Chat-room hosts such as Paltalk disclaim responsibility for what users write, and say they can't police all the content on their sites. Some users, however, are very much aware that security services are trying to do just that. Chat-room participants now frequently introduce themselves jokingly as spies and advise each other to be on guard. The heading on one Paltalk page last week read: "U.K. Islamists be warned this is an MI5 [British domestic security service] aware forum." What some users do through those forums, though, is no joking matter.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/14/2005
16:20 ||
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Groups behind the July London bomb attack that killed 52 people and a failed attempt to strike again soon after appear to have been acting independently of an al Qaeda mastermind abroad, a newspaper reported on Saturday.
The Independent, quoting police and intelligence officials, said it was also likely that four July 7 suicide bombers were probably not linked to another group of four who failed to blow up explosives on buses and underground trains two weeks later.
But some of the report's conclusions were questioned by a terror analyst, who said it would be difficult for Islamic militants in Britain to prepare and set off explosive devices without some training in Pakistan, Afghanistan or elsewhere.
The newspaper said police and intelligence sources felt the fact there was no leader from abroad showed how other "self-sufficient" units could be hiding in Britain.
"All the talk about 'Mr Bigs' and al Qaeda masterminds looks like something from a film script at the moment," the newspaper quoted a police source as saying.
"Of course, things could change if new intelligence comes through, but it looks increasingly as if these people were largely working on their own. It is not something we expected."
The newspaper report quoted one counter-terrorist source as saying: "the key point is that the events were not connected. It appears they were self-contained, rather than being organized by some kind of mastermind."
The attacks have raised alarm in Britain that militants are living and operating in the country. Police have yet to establish whether they are acting alone or being directed by international networks like al Qaeda.
A police spokesman said they were investigating several lines of inquiry and would not comment on the details of the newspaper report. He would not rule them out either.
But a terrorism expert who did not want to be named said it took time and knowledge to prepare such attacks, and would not rule out the involvement of a foreign-trained mastermind putting the plots together either, possibly from inside Britain.
"They're crude devices, but I think there is a mistaken belief that you can just go on the Internet and download these things," he said.
"It was possible that they (the two groups of bombers) are not linked, but it's inconceivable that you could just spontaneously get a group of people together in two weeks, get the material, build the devices and carry out the attacks."
He said that "the old al Qaeda" had been "shattered" after U.S. military action in Afghanistan and the crackdown on militant groups in neighboring Pakistan since 2001.
But that did not mean that people who lived and trained in those countries could not now be operating in Britain.
He said both sets of men suspected of being behind the attacks were not particularly well educated and described them as "misfits."
"People like that generally aren't capable of building bombs. There is definitely someone who has catalyzed them, who has given advice on materials, provided technical expertise and maybe paid for all this," he said.
"I wouldn't rush to discount the idea that there is a mastermind or puppet master somewhere, it just may not fit the traditional description.
"The ringleader may be someone who lives in this country and spent sometime in somewhere like Pakistan or Afghanistan where they honed these skills."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/14/2005
16:18 ||
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The U.S. Military's new nemesis in Iraq is named Abu Mustafa al-Sheibani, and he is not a Baathist or a member of al-Qaeda. He is working for Iran. According to a U.S. military-intelligence document obtained by TIME, al-Sheibani heads a network of insurgents created by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps with the express purpose of committing violence against U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. Over the past eight months, his group has introduced a new breed of roadside bomb more lethal than any seen before; based on a design from the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia Hizballah, the weapon employs "shaped" explosive charges that can punch through a battle tank's armor like a fist through the wall. According to the document, the U.S. believes al-Sheibani's team consists of 280 members, divided into 17 bombmaking teams and death squads. The U.S. believes they train in Lebanon, in Baghdad's predominantly Shi'ite Sadr City district and "in another country" and have detonated at least 37 bombs against U.S. forces this year in Baghdad alone.
Since the start of the insurgency in Iraq, the most persistent danger to U.S. troops has come from the Sunni Arab insurgents and terrorists who roam the center and west of the country. But some U.S. officials are worried about a potentially greater challenge to order in Iraq and U.S. interests there: the growing influence of Iran. With an elected Shi'ite-dominated government in place in Baghdad and the U.S. preoccupied with quelling the Sunni-led insurgency, the Iranian regime has deepened its imprint on the political and social fabric of Iraq, buying influence in the new Iraqi government, running intelligence-gathering networks and funneling money and guns to Shi'ite militant groups--all with the aim of fostering a Shi'ite-run state friendly to Iran. In parts of southern Iraq, fundamentalist Shi'ite militias--some of them funded and armed by Iran--have imposed restrictions on the daily lives of Iraqis, banning alcohol and curbing the rights of women. Iraq's Shi'ite leaders, including Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, have tried to forge a strategic alliance with Tehran, even seeking to have Iranians recognized as a minority group under Iraq's proposed constitution. "We have to think anything we tell or share with the Iraqi government ends up in Tehran," says a Western diplomat.
Perhaps most troubling are signs that the rising influence of Iran--a country with which Iraq waged an eight-year war and whose brand of theocracy most Iraqis reject--is exacerbating sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shi'ites, pulling Iraq closer to all-out civil war. And while top intelligence officials have sought to play down any state-sponsored role by Tehran's regime in directing violence against the coalition, the emergence of al-Sheibani has cast greater suspicion on Iran. Coalition sources told TIME that it was one of al-Sheibani's devices that killed three British soldiers in Amarah last month. "One suspects this would have to have a higher degree of approval [in Tehran]," says a senior U.S. military official in Baghdad. The official says the U.S. believes that Iran has brokered a partnership between Iraqi Shi'ite militants and Hizballah and facilitated the import of sophisticated weapons that are killing and wounding U.S. and British troops. "It is true that weapons clearly, unambiguously, from Iran have been found in Iraq," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last week.
How real is the threat? A TIME investigation, based on documents smuggled out of Iran and dozens of interviews with U.S., British and Iraqi intelligence officials, as well as an Iranian agent, armed dissidents and Iraqi militia and political allies, reveals an Iranian plan for gaining influence in Iraq that began before the U.S. invaded. In their scope and ambition, Iran's activities rival those of the U.S. and its allies, especially in the south. There is a gnawing worry within some intelligence circles that the failure to counter Iranian influence may come back to haunt the U.S. and its allies, if Shi'ite factions with heavy Iranian backing eventually come to power and provoke the Sunnis to revolt. Says a British military intelligence officer, about the relative inattention paid to Iranian meddling: "It's as though we are sleepwalking."
The Iranian penetration of Iraq was a long time in planning. On Sept. 9, 2002, with U.S. bases being readied in Kuwait, Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei summoned his war council in Tehran. According to Iranian sources, the Supreme National Security Council concluded, "It is necessary to adopt an active policy in order to prevent long-term and short-term dangers to Iran." Iran's security services had supported the armed wings of several Iraqi groups they had sheltered in Iran from Saddam. Iranian intelligence sources say that the various groups were organized under the command of Brigadier General Qassim Sullaimani, an adviser to Khamenei on both Afghanistan and Iraq and a top officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Before the March 2003 invasion, military sources say, elements of up to 46 Iranian infantry and missile brigades moved to buttress the border. Positioned among them were units of the Badr Corps, formed in the 1980s as the armed wing of the Iraqi Shi'ite group known by its acronym SCIRI, now the most powerful party in Iraq. Divided into northern, central and southern axes, Badr's mission was to pour into Iraq in the chaos of the invasion to seize towns and government offices, filling the vacuum left by the collapse of Saddam's regime. As many as 12,000 armed men, along with Iranian intelligence officers, swarmed into Iraq. TIME has obtained copies of what U.S. and British military intelligence say appears to be Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence reports sent in April 2003. One, dated April 10 and marked CONFIDENTIAL, logs U.S. troops backed by armor moving through the city of Kut. But, it asserts, "we are in control of the city." Another, with the same date, from a unit code-named 1546, claims "forces attached to us" had control of the city of Amarah and had occupied Baath Party properties. A 2004 British army inquiry noted that the Badr organization and another militia were so powerful in Amarah, "it quickly became clear that the coalition needed to work with them to ensure a secure environment in the province."
For many Iraqis in the south, the exile militia groups brought with them forbidding religious strictures. "These guys with beards and Kalashnikovs showed up saying they'd come to protect the campus," says a student leader at a Basra university. "The problem is, they never left." Militants frequently "investigate" youths accused of un-Islamic behavior, such as couples holding hands or girls wearing makeup. "They're watching us, and they're the ones who control the streets, while the police, who are with them, stand by," says a student leader who did not wish to be identified. "From the beginning, the Islamic parties filled the void," says a police lieutenant colonel working closely with British forces. "They still hold the real power. The rank and file all belong to the parties. Everyone does. You can't do anything without them."
Military officials say they believe Iranian-funded militias helped organize a mob attack in the southern township of Majarr al-Kabir on June 24, 2003, that resulted in the execution of six British military-police officers. According to a classified British military-intelligence document, a local militia leader is "implicated in the murder of the 6 RMP [Royal Military Police]." The man heads a cell of the Mujahedin for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (MIRI), a paramilitary outfit coordinated out of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's base in Ahvaz, Iran. Although U.S. and British officers think it unlikely the soldiers were killed on orders from Revolutionary Guard officers, they agree that the slayings fit within the Iranian generals' broad guidelines to bog coalition forces down in sporadic hit-and-run attacks.
The Iranian program is as impressive as it is comprehensive, competing with and sometimes bettering the coalition's endeavors. Businesses, front companies, religious groups, NGOs and aid for schools and universities are all part of the mix. Just as Washington backs Iraqi news outlets like al-Hurra television station, Tehran has funded broadcast and print outlets in Iraq. A 2003 Supreme National Security Council memo, smuggled out of Iran, suggests even the Iranian Red Crescent society, akin to the Red Cross, has coordinated its activities through the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. The memo instructs officials that "the immediate needs of the Iraqi people should be determined" by the Guard's al-Quds Force.
More sinister are signs of death squads charged with eliminating potential opponents and former Baathists. U.S. intelligence sources confirm that early targets included former members of the Iran section of Saddam's intelligence services. In southern cities, Thar-Allah (Vengeance of God) is one of a number of militant groups suspected of assassinations. U.S. commanders in Baghdad and in eastern provinces say similar cells operate in their sectors. The chief of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service, General Mohammed Abdullah al-Shahwani, has publicly accused Iranian-backed cells of hunting down and killing his officers. In October he blamed agents in Iran's Baghdad embassy of coordinating assassinations of up to 18 of his people, claiming that raids on three safe houses uncovered a trove of documents linking the agents to funds funneled to the Badr Corps for the purposes of "physical liquidation."
A former Iraqi official and member of Saddam's armored corps, who identifies himself as Abu Hassan, told TIME last summer that he was recruited by an Iranian intelligence agent in 2004 to compile the names and addresses of Ministry of Interior officials in close contact with American military officers and liaisons. Abu Hassan's Iranian handler wanted to know "who the Americans trusted and where they were" and pestered him to find out if Abu Hassan, using his membership in the Iraqi National Accord political party, could get someone inside the office of then Prime Minister Iyad Allawi without being searched. (Allawi has told TIME he believes Iranian agents plotted to assassinate him.) And the handler also demanded information on U.S. troop concentrations in a particular area of Baghdad and details of U.S. weaponry, armor, routes and reaction times. After revealing his conversations to U.S. and Iraqi authorities, Abu Hassan disappeared; earlier this year, one of his Iraqi superiors was convicted of espionage.
Intelligence agencies say Tehran still funds various political parties in Iraq. Documents from Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps files obtained by TIME include voluminous pay records from August 2004 that appear to indicate that Iran was paying the salaries of at least 11,740 members of the Badr Corps. British and U.S. military intelligence suspect those salaries are still being paid, although Badr leader Hadi al-Amri denies that. "I've told the American officers to bring us the evidence that we have a deal with Iran, and we will be ready, but they say they don't have any," he says.
What remains murky is the extent to which Iran is encouraging its proxies to stage attacks against the U.S.-led coalition. Military intelligence officers describe their Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps counterparts' strategy as one of using "nonattributable attacks" by proxy forces to maximize deniability. What's uncertain, says a senior U.S. officer, is what factions within Tehran's splintered security apparatus are behind the strategy and how much the top leaders have endorsed it. Intelligence sources claim that Brigadier General Sullaimani ordained in a meeting of his militia proxies in the spring of last year that "any move that would wear out the U.S. forces in Iraq should be done. Every possible means should be used to keep the U.S. forces engaged in Iraq." Secret British military-intelligence documents show that British forces are tracking several paramilitary outfits in Southern Iraq that are backed by the Revolutionary Guard. Coalition and Iraqi intelligence agencies track Iranian officers' visits to Iraq on inspection tours akin to those of their American counterparts. "We know they come, but often not until after they've left," says a British intelligence officer.
Western diplomats say that so far, the ayatullahs appear to be acting defensively rather than offensively. An encouraging sign is that even Shi'ite beneficiaries of Tehran exhibit strains of Iraqi and Arab nationalism; and many have strong familial and tribal ties with the Sunnis. "We are sons of Iraq. The circumstances that forced me to leave did not change my identity," says Badr leader al-Amri. He's proud of his cooperation with the Revolutionary Guard to battle Saddam but says it extended only "to the limit of our interests." An informed Western observer thinks that while those groups maintain a "shared world view" with Tehran, much as Brits and Americans share each other's, they are now trying to balance their interests with those of their backers and are eager to wield power in Baghdad in their own right. "I think you'll never break a lifelong relationship," says the senior U.S. military officer, "but as time goes by, as they become politicians fighting local issues, they will change."
That may be true. But Iran shows every sign of upping the ante in Iraq, which may ultimately force the U.S. to search out new allies in Iraq--including some of the same elements it has been trying to subdue for almost 2œ years--who can counter the mullahs' encroachment. The Western diplomat acknowledges that Iran's seemingly manageable activities could still escalate into a bigger crisis. "We've dealt with governments allied to our enemies many times in the past," he says. "The rub, however, is, Could it affect [counterinsurgency efforts]? To that I say, 'It hasn't happened yet, but it could.'" The war in Iraq could get a whole lot messier if it does.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/14/2005
15:54 ||
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#1
Thanks, Dan, I heard the interview on CNN with Ware and was going to hunt this down. You saved me the trouble.
Been hearing about the Iranian trouble makers for three years now, mostly in the south. Their involvement with funneling shaped charges seems relatively recent--and deadly.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/14/2005 18:24
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The U.S. believes they train in Lebanon, in Baghdad's predominantly Shi'ite Sadr City district and "in another country" and have detonated at least 37 bombs against U.S. forces this year in Baghdad alone.
Funny I just read a piece that discussed the favorable turnaround in Sadr City:
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said on Sunday a referendum would be held next month on a controversial amnesty aimed at ending 13 years of Islamist insurgency, but added that only a partial amnesty was on offer. "I invite you ... to voice your opinion in a referendum that will take place on Thursday, Sept. 29 over the draft charter for peace and national reconciliation," he said in a speech.
But only the relatives of the victims can vote.
Militants involved in "massacres and explosions in public areas" would be excluded from the amnesty, Bouteflika said, without giving further details. The amnesty would involve dropping legal action against Islamist rebels who had already surrendered, and against some still at large in Algeria or abroad.
Bouteflika urged Algerians to back his initiative, saying that the referendum would be "transparent, democratic and fair." He had initially been expected to propose a full amnesty for all insurgents, but scaled down the offer when the main outlawed Islamist movement, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), praised the al Qaeda network in Iraq for killing two Algerian diplomats last month.
"The kidnapping of our diplomats is part of attempts aimed at hampering national reconciliation," Bouteflika said.
The draft reconciliation plan also bars those behind insurgent violence from entering politics, an apparent reference to leaders of the now-banned FIS. FIS chief Abassi Madani and his deputy Ali Belhadj were released in July 2003 after serving 12 years in a military prison, but remained banned from politics and from speaking to the media.
Belhadj was detained again last month after he praised insurgents in Iraq and said they had the right to kidnap the diplomats.
Time for a remedial lesson.
Under the reconciliation plan, thousands of people who disappeared in the violence will be considered "victims of the national tragedy" and their families will receive compensation, Bouteflika said. A government human rights group recently said the number who disappeared was 6,141.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/14/2005
15:53 ||
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A Syrian Al Qaeda member accused of involvement in the Istanbul bomb blasts of two years ago has also said that he was present at the video taped execution of a Turkish chauffeur in Iraq. Luai Sakra, currently being held at the Besiktas Court in Istanbul, was identified in different videotapes of Turkish chauffeurs whose throats were cut by Islamic militants in Iraq over the past year.
During questioning at the courthouse, Sakra pointed at his image on the videotape of the Turkish citizen's murder, saying "I was there" to the audience, and even smiling from time to time. Right before the taped execution of the Turk takes place on video, Sakra pointed at the gun on the table in the video,
saying "Look, now they will cut off his head. In a little while, I will take the gun off the table so the blood doesn't get onto it. Because blood destroys the inner workings of the gun."
Sakra, who had worked at one point in the laundry service of a US base in Iraq, was also able to identify another Istanbul bombing suspect present in the group of militants responsible for the videotaped execution of Turkish citizen Murat Yuce. The suspect, Habib Aktas, was fingered by Sakras as being partially behind the financing of the 2003 Istanbul bombings. Sakras, who said he gave the final orders for the Istanbul bombings, said this:
"I gave the orders, but as far as the targets, Habib Aktas made the decisions. We fought because so many civilians were killed. I had with me 6 kilos of C-4 explosive. I could have used it against a 50 person group in Antalya, but I decided not to, so that Turkish civilians wouldn't die. I was planning on attacking Israeli ships."
Sakra, who was caught in possession of 6 false passports, claimed that he had been picked up and released twice before by the Turkish Intelligence Service, or the MIT.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/14/2005
15:50 ||
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Luai Sakra, one of the 5 most important key figures in Al Qaeda, was captured last week by Turkish Police. Israel police was almost spoiling all operation, Turkish officials say.
* Sakra claimed that he helped the militants who involved the 9/11 Attacks. Sarka said: âI provided them passport and other things.â
* Sakra: "I knew London bombing"
* Sakra: âI do not pray. I drink alcohol and like very much drinkingâ
* Turkish police asked Sakra whether he like to pray after the operation. But he rejected the offer and said âI do not pray. I do not like prayingâ.
* âI do drink alcohol and I prefer like whisky and wineâ Sakra added.
* Sakra also confessed that he knew the London attack before the assaults happened.
* Sakra however claims that he knew nothing about the Egypt bombings.
* Turkey on the other hand is not happy with the Israeli terrorism warnings before the operation. Turkish officials argue that Israel used the secret intelligence Turkey provided to warn the public. âHowever, it may had spoiled all the operation, and all the militants might escapeâ one of the security man said. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul also said âwhat is Israel made is a shameâ. Israel had warned its citizens not to visit Turkey last week because of the Al Qaeda risk.
* Sakra was detained after forged passports were discovered in a flat. Turkish police continues the investigation.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/14/2005
15:49 ||
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Ah, the wonders of Turkish interrogation techniques ...
A suspected al Qaeda militant arrested by Turkish police last week was quoted on Sunday as saying Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of America's most wanted men, was hiding in northern Iraq.
Luia Sakra, charged by a Turkish court last Thursday with plotting to bomb Israeli cruise boats in southern Turkey, said he had met Zarqawi in Iraq, the Referans daily said.
Jordanian-born Zarqawi, head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, has been behind some of the deadliest attacks against U.S. troops, the Baghdad government and forces and Shi'ite Muslims.
Referans also quoted Sakra, a Syrian-born bomb-making expert, as saying he had received training with explosives in camps run by al-Qaeda in northern Iraq.
Turkish security sources have said Sakra is the top figure in Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network in Turkey. He is also thought to have played a key role in bombings in Istanbul in November 2003 that killed more than 60 people.
Referans quoted Sakra as saying he had no idea where bin Laden was but that he would not tell even if he did know.
Sakra's lawyer has denied his client has any connection with al Qaeda and insists he was acting alone in planning the attacks on the Israeli cruise boats.
Israel diverted a number of vessels from Turkey last week and urged its citizens to avoid Turkey's popular southern coast, citing "concrete and grave terror threats". Israel has since lifted its travel warning.
Turkish media have also reported this weekend that police found a large cache of weapons at a villa recently bought by Sakra and an accomplice in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya where the two men had reportedly lived with three women.
The top-selling Hurriyet daily quoted Sakra as saying he did not pray but that he liked to drink whisky and wine.
Sakra was apprehended last Sunday in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir while trying to board a plane under an assumed name for Istanbul, security sources said.
He had undergone plastic surgery and was returning to Istanbul for another operation, they said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/14/2005
15:48 ||
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#1
"Northern Iraq" is pretty vague. Hopefully the actual information he provided was sanitized for publication. Also, we need the graphic with the brass knuckles and the pliers. Maybe a car battery too.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
08/14/2005 18:23
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This is my graphic little desire for the pervert moon-worshipper Zarqawi and his confused servants of Satan. It good time, Zarqawi will join Satan in a game of cards with Hitler on one side, Stalin on the other and Idi Amin in drag giving him a wet willie. What yellow streaked road must Zarqi follow to get to his promised land of sitting at and licking the feet of Satan? Pay attention little Zarqi... watch this video and follow their example... after all... they stayed after you fled and aren't you at least a little bit curious at what happens afterwards? At least Sakra is crimminal scum and he is honest in front of danger whereas you flee in a burqa just as UBL instructed. But be a man, watch this video and be a man like they were. http://www.jswaim.com/files/CAS.wmv
Two people have been arrested on Sunday in connection with the sale of coupons bearing the name of Al Qaeda in some Muslim-dominated areas of this West Bengal capital over the past few days.
City Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee told IANS: "We have arrested two persons from Kolkata. We cannot disclose all the details now."
A middle-aged Bangladeshi was reportedly selling coupons to raise funds for Al Qaeda in some Muslim areas of Kolkata, according to the state detective department.
Reports said the man, who looked like a fakir and was believed to be about 50 years old, sold coupons of Rs. 25 and Rs. 50 denominations under the name of "Mujahiddin al Qaida Pacific International - Dhaka, Bangladesh" in Metiaburz and other areas near the Kolkata port.
It was not known if the two people arrested on Sunday were Bangladeshis. The coupons were also distributed in some central Kolkata neighbourhoods.
The coupons were in Urdu and some booklets of Muslim jehadis organisations were reportedly distributed along with them.
One of the groups mentioned in the booklets was "Harkat-ul-Jihad-Islami", which is believed to be an arm of a Pakistani terrorist organisation that works with Al Qaeda.
The police found that several people were engaged in selling the coupons.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/14/2005
15:47 ||
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I just got my Lexus RX400, and returned to the dealer the next day, complaining that I couldn't figure out how the radio worked. The salesman explained that the radio was voice activated. "Watch this!" he said. "Nelson!" The radio replied, Ricky or Willie?
"Willie!" he continued...... and On The Road Again came from the speakers.
I drove away happy, and for the next few days, every time I'd say, "Beethoven!" I'd get beautiful classical music, and if I said "Beatles!" I'd get one of their awesome songs. One day, a couple ran a red light and nearly creamed my new car, but I swerved in time to avoid them.
"A##HOLES!" I yelled......
The French National Anthem began to play, sung by Jane Fonda and Michael Moore, backed up by John Kerry on guitar, Al Gore on drums and Bill Clinton on sax.......
I LOVE this car! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/14/2005
14:52 ||
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MEMORANDUM FOR: SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE
Subject: Trip Report - Kuwait and Iraq - Saturday, 4 June through Saturday, 11 June 2005
1. PURPOSE: This memo provides feedback reference visit 4-11 June 2005 by General Barry R. McCaffrey, USA (Ret.) to Kuwait and Iraq. (the numbers give a clue to how much was snipped. Sorry, I've lost the site to make a hat-tip, but it started as an e-mail for a retired Army friend.)
3. THE BOTTOM LINE---Observations from Operation Iraqi Freedom: June 2005:
1st - US Military Forces in Iraq are superb. Our Army-Marine ground combat units with supporting Air and Naval Power are characterized by quality military leadership, solid discipline, high morale, and enormous individual and unit courage. Unit effectiveness is as good as we can get. This is the most competent and battle wise force in our nation's history. They are also beautifully cared for by the chain-of-command -- and they know it. (Food, A/C sleeping areas, medical care, mental health care, home leave, phone/e-mail contact with families, personal equipment, individual and unit training, targeted economic incentives in the battle area, visibility of tactical leadership, home station care for their families, access to news information, etc).
3rd - The Iraqi Security Forces are now a real and hugely significant factor. LTG Dave Petreaus has done a brilliant job with his supporting trainers.
169,000 Army and Police exist in various stages of readiness. They have uniforms, automatic weapons, body armor, some radios, some armor, light trucks, and battalion-level organization. At least 60,000 are courageous Patriots who are actively fighting. By next summer--250,000 Iraqi troops and 10 division HQS will be the dominant security factor in Iraq.
4. Top CENTCOM Vulnerabilities:
1st - Premature drawdown of U.S. ground forces driven by dwindling U.S. domestic political support and the progressive deterioration of Army and Marine manpower. (In particular, the expected melt-down of the Army National Guard and Army Reserve in the coming 36 months)
2nd - Alienation of the U.S. Congress or the American people caused by Iraqi public ingratitude and corruption. Not to mention the MSM!
3rd - Political ineptitude of Shia civil leadership that freezes out the Sunnis and creates a civil war during our drawdown.
4th - "The other shoe" - a war with North Korea, Venezuela, Syria, Iran, or Cuba that draws away U.S. military forces and political energy.
6. Coalition Public Diplomacy Policy is a disaster:
1st - The US media is putting the second team in Iraq with some exceptions. Unfortunately, the situation is extremely dangerous for journalists. The working conditions for a reporter are terrible. They cannot travel independently of US military forces without risking abduction or death. In some cases, the press has degraded to reporting based on secondary sources, press briefings which they do not believe, and alarmist video of the aftermath of suicide bombings obtained from Iraqi employees of unknown reliability.
2nd - Our unbelievably competent, articulate, objective, and courageous Battalion, Brigade, and Division Commanders are not on TV. These commanders represent an Army-Marine Corps which is rated as the most trusted institution in America by every poll.
3rd - We are not aggressively providing support (transportation, security, food, return of film to an upload site, etc) to reporters to allow them to follow the course of the war.
4th - Military leaders on the ground are talking to people they trust instead of talking to all reporters who command the attention of the American people. (We need to educate and support AP, Reuters, Gannet, Hearst, the Washington Post, the New York Times, etc.)
7. SUMMARY:
a.. This is the darkness before dawn in the efforts to construct a viable Iraqi state. The enterprise was badly launched --but we are now well organized and beginning to develop successful momentum. The future outcomes are largely a function of the degree to which Iraqi men and women will overcome fear and step forward to seize the leadership opportunity to create a new future.
b.. We face some very difficult days in the coming 2-5 years. In my judgment, if we retain the support of the American people --we can achieve our objectives of creating a law-based Iraqi state which will be an influencing example on the entire region.
c.. A successful outcome would potentially usher in a very dramatically changed environment throughout the Middle East and signal in this region the end of an era of incompetent and corrupt government which fosters frustration and violence on the part of much of the population.
d.. It was an honor and a very encouraging experience to visit CENTCOM Forces in Iraq and Kuwait and see the progress achieved by the bravery and dedication of our military forces.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/14/2005
14:36 ||
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#3
Bobby, here's a link to McCaffrey's full report and it may also be the site you had in mind.
Note that this link also includes items 2 and 5 missing from the General's report posted above.
SYDNEY: A man faced an Australian court yesterday charged with having sexual relations with a rabbit and the sadistic killing of 17 other rabbits whose carcasses were found dumped in a lane.
Brendan Francis McMahon, 36, North Sydney, appeared briefly before Central Local Court Magistrate Allan Moore yesterday charged with having allegedly committed the offences over the past three weeks.
McMahon, a New Zealand born finance company director, sat quietly in the dock during the hearing at which he was represented by barrister Doug Marr.
No plea was entered to a total of 21 charges laid by polcie against McMahon, a business partner with Jason Meares, the former brother-in-law of James Packer.
McMahon, who's company website claims he is a former Bachelor of the Year winner, was arrested by detectives at a house in Tamarama early yesterday.
The investigation began after skinned and partially-skinned dead and dying rabbits began to appear in a laneway off York Street, near Circular Quay in late July.
The laneway adjoined a building in which McMahon occupied a first floor office from which he ran a financial planning and mortgage brokerage company.
Before McMahon was charged police alleged some of the rabbits had been thrown from some height into the laneway.
In addition to 17 rabbits, police also found a dead guinea pig in the lane.
Alarmed at the continuing discovery of freshly killed rabbits, some whose genitalia had allegedly been mutilated, detectives began contacting city pet stores to determine who had been buying rabbits.
Police found that a credit card in McMahon's name had been used to purchase the animals at a number of pet shops. Police also seized a security video showing a man buying a pet.
In all McMahon was charged with 17 counts of acts of aggravated cruelty upon an animal between July 20 and August 11.
He was further charged with committing an act of bestiality with an animal between 3am and 4am on August 1.
McMahon was further charged with two counts of possession of cannabis.
His barrister, Mr Marr, told Mr Moore that McMahon would not be applying for bail today but would make a formal application next Friday, August 19.
Mr Moore formally refused McMahon bail and ordered him to reappear before the court via a prison video link next week.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/14/2005
13:26 ||
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#1
I have to admit I was attracted to Jessica Rabbit but this is a bit much.
We knew this sort of thing was coming. Those in the West who reject the value of western culture aren't free thinkers - they're ripe for conversion to some fundamentalism. What's alarming is that he already was radicalized -- and teaching radical Islamacism -- as early as 2000.
A MUSLIM convert who was arrested on suspicion of being an Al-Qaeda terrorist is thought to have presided over Islamic study circles at a bookshop in Leeds where the 7/7 bombers were radicalised.
The Sunday Times has been told that Scots-born James McLintock, the so-called Tartan Taliban, preached at the Iqra bookshop in 2000, shortly before moving to Pakistan with his family.
His seminars are thought to have been attended by Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, the suspected ringleader of the July 7 suicide attacks on London, and Shehzad Tanweer, 22, the Aldgate bomber. Both had close links to the bookshop. Hasib Mir Hussain, 18, the bus bomber, was also regularly seen at the store, which sold violent anti-western videos and DVDs.
The Scot, who changed his name to Mohammed Yacoub, was arrested by the Pakistani authorities at a checkpoint near the Afghan border in December 2001.
Although he claimed to be working for a charity in the region, he was taken to a military prison and questioned by the CIA and anti-terrorism officers from Scotland Yard. Dundee-born Yacoub was released a month later.
Yacoub, 41, was arrested again while visiting Manchester in 2003. He was questioned by police investigating possible Al-Qaeda cells operating in the UK, but was released without charge. He has consistently denied having terrorist links or knowledge of terrorist activity.
Yacoub lived in Bradford during the mid-1990s. By 2000 he was working in nearby Leeds at a second Islamic bookshop called Rays of Truth with a fellow Muslim convert, Martin Abdullah McDaid.
McDaid, a former special forces soldier, was also closely linked to the Iqra bookshop and knew the three Leeds-based bombers. When The Sunday Times approached him about Yacoub last week, McDaid said: âWhether he was at the Iqra bookstore or not is none of your business â you should fear Allah.â
A former friend of Khanâs said: âYacoub was definitely giving study circles. I remember walking past the Iqra shop one day. I asked who was giving the talk and a brother said it was Yacoub. Other brothers I know were also aware that Yacoub was giving study circles.â
It has also emerged that an extremist Muslim cleric, now in prison, preached at mosques in the district of Leeds where three of the four bombers lived.
Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal was jailed in 2003 for inciting followers in study circles, which he conducted across the country, to murder Jews, Christians and Hindus. He also encouraged teenage boys to train and die in the name of Allah.
Afzal Choudhary, a race equality worker in Leeds, said: âSheikh Faisal came at least twice to Beeston. I should know, because I was one of the people opposed to his coming.â
Posted by: leader of the pack ||
08/14/2005
13:10 ||
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#1
Well, at least he didn't convert to Catholicism.
#2
"...Afzal Choudhary, a race equality worker in Leeds, said: âSheikh Faisal came at least twice to Beeston. I should know, because I was one of the people opposed to his coming.â
------------------------------------------
#3
A race equality worker equalizes the races; too many oranges in surgery, get me some blues, too many blues in accounting, shift them to surgery. You know, government work.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/14/2005 15:49
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Few can denounce the "imperialist ogre" or "kingpin of evil" as well as the writers at North Korea's official news agency, and a California graphic artist is now cataloguing their rhetorical masterpieces on a Web site. Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, is the only regular source of the views of the secretive government of Kim Jong-il available to diplomats, journalists and scholars.
But there was no way for them to search the archives of KCNA until Geoff Davis, fighting boredom during a rainy San Francisco spring, decided to hone his Web design skills on a topic he had followed in news reports on the North Korean nuclear crisis.
"Their propaganda is often unintentionally hilarious and I couldn't find an existing searchable database of the KCNA on the Web. Thus, NK News was born," Davis told Reuters.
Launched in May, www.nk-news.net boasts of having nearly every KCNA article since December 1996 -- "over 50 megabytes of hard-core Stalinist propaganda ... each article written in the unique and indelible style of the KCNA."
Readers can get a taste of that KCNA style from recommended key word searches, such as "burning hatred," which turns up 18 articles. The targets of that hot wrath include Japan, Yankees, "U.S. imperialist ogres" and "class enemies." "Human scum" yields 25 KCNA reports applying that epithet to U.S.President George W. Bush, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and diplomat John Bolton. Rumsfeld also keeps company with Japanese officials in the "political dwarf" category.
The flip-side of withering scorn for North Korea's perceived foes is fawning praise for Kim and his father, state founder Kim Il-sung. Kim Il-sung, who died in 1994, is hailed as a "peerlessly great man" in 139 articles since 1996. "Inveterate" is another popular KCNA word and a search for it returns an entry describing "U.S. imperialists" as "a pack of beasts in human skin and the inveterate enemy with whom the Korean nation cannot live under the same sky."
"From browsing through the KCNA's propaganda, even the most casual observer can see that the regime is a cult," said Davis, 31, who makes his living producing graphics for court trials.
Davis took 10 weeks to build www.nk-news.net, which he calls a "hobby site," and spends $10 (18 pounds) a month to run it. He said he doesn't count page visits but he has tallied 5,000 searches and has received positive feedback from journalists and experts on North Korea.
For those seeking a comic diversion from blood-curdling diatribes and self-congratulatory reports, Davis created a "random insult generator" using pejorative words commonly found on KCNA. "You loudmouthed beast, your ridiculous clamour for 'human rights' is nothing but a shrill cry!" reads one insult. One click later and the message is: "You sycophantic stooge, you have glaringly revealed your true colours!"
Although he has found a source of satire in a country that is mostly known for weapons threats, repression and famine, Davis does not joke about North Korea's nature and says the world must not cut Kim's government any slack. "The 'axis of evil' remark pales in comparison to a single day of KCNA rhetoric," he said, referring a controversial 2002 Bush speech that lumped North Korea,Iran and prewar Iraq in a trio of malign countries.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/14/2005
12:20 ||
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#1
Fred, I think you need to put this site on the blogroll.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
08/14/2005 14:30
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A very handy site -- it even has links to popular searches. My favorite -- "sea of fire" -- yields a disappointing 18 results. However, the ever-popular "on-the-spot guidance" yields 234 results over 10 years. Truly glorious! (And my randomly generated insult was "You politically illiterate lackey!")
Posted by: Jonathan ||
08/14/2005 15:14
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BAGHDAD, Aug. 13 -- U.S. troops raiding a warehouse in the northern city of Mosul uncovered a suspected chemical weapons factory containing 1,500 gallons of chemicals believed destined for attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces and civilians, military officials said Saturday.
Monday's early morning raid found 11 precursor agents, "some of them quite dangerous by themselves," a military spokesman, Lt. Col. Steven A. Boylan, said in Baghdad.
Combined, the chemicals would yield an agent capable of "lingering hazards" for those exposed to it, Boylan said. The likely targets would have been "coalition and Iraqi security forces, and Iraqi civilians," partly because the chemicals would be difficult to keep from spreading over a wide area, he said.
Boylan said the suspected lab was new, dating from some time after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The Bush administration cited evidence that Saddam Hussein's government was manufacturing weapons of mass destruction as the main justification for the invasion. No such weapons or factories were found.
Military officials did not immediately identify either the precursors or the agent they could have produced. "We don't want to speculate on any possibilities until our analysis is complete," Col. Henry Franke, a nuclear, biological and chemical defense officer, was quoted as saying in a military statement.
Investigators still were trying to determine who had assembled the alleged lab and whether the expertise came from foreign insurgents or former members of Hussein's security apparatus, the military said.
"They're looking into it," Boylan said. "They've got to go through it -- there's a lot of stuff there." He added that there was no indication that U.S. forces would be ordered to carry chemical warfare gear, such as gas masks and chemical suits, as they did during the invasion and the months immediately afterward.
U.S. military photos of the alleged lab showed a bare concrete-walled room scattered with stacks of plastic containers, coiled tubing, hoses and a stand holding a large metal device that looked like a distillery. Black rubber boots lay among the gear.
The suspected chemical weapons lab was the biggest found so far in Iraq, Boylan said. A lab discovered last year in the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah contained a how-to book on chemical weapons and an unspecified amount of chemicals.
Chemical weapons are divided into the categories of "persistent" agents, which wreak damage for hours, such as blistering agents or the oily VX nerve agent, and "nonpersistent" ones, which dissipate quickly, such as chlorine gas or sarin nerve gas.
Iraqi forces under Hussein used chemical agents both on enemy forces in the 1980s war with Iran and on Iraqi Kurdish villagers in 1988. Traces of a variety of killing agents -- mustard gas and the nerve agents sarin, tabun and VX -- were detected by investigators after the 1988 attack.
No chemical weapons are known to have been used so far in Iraq's insurgency. Al Qaeda announced after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States that it was looking into acquiring biological, radiological and chemical weapons. The next year, CNN obtained and aired al Qaeda videotapes showing the killings of three dogs with what were believed to be nerve agents.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/14/2005
11:50 ||
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#1
My 2 bits worth-- its a bomb factory. Arty shells/munitions are getting scarce here, relatively speaking. The bad guys are starting to make explosives now, easier/cheaper than finding/importing premade.
Posted by: N guard ||
08/14/2005 12:02
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#2
hmmmmmm, they specifically mentioned precursor elements. That seems different form straight 'splosives.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/14/2005 14:53
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IIRC, this would not be the first chem weapons materials cache found, albeit the largest and perhaps newest.
Posted by: leader of the pack ||
08/14/2005 15:04
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I found this over at "IRAQ THE MODEL",it is fantastic.This"message"answers all of Sheehan's questions and I can't see any better way.It's pretty long so I'll just post the link.
Okay kids, let's review how to post: put the link in the SOURCE line, and do NOT embed it in the text. An improperly embedded link can hose the whole site.
Repeat: put the link in the SOURCE line, where it belongs. I fixed it this time. AoS
#10
Yeah,awhile back I got a Manx kitten,and was letting him use my foot for hunting practice.Several badly infected scratches later I ended up on I.V. antibiotics.I have Beurger's disease,it's an allergic reaction to nicotine(and only caused by nicotine).What Beurger's does is cause perminate,progressive constriction of the blood vessels.The good news is the infection is gone,it will take awhile for the wounds to heal.And most important of all I quit smoking(thus halting bthe progression of the disease).
#13
Rapter, I don't know you, but glad to hear that you stopped smoking, that's one of the hardest things to do. Continue to get well and stay strong.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/14/2005 16:47
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#14
No prob Rapter. Sorry to hear about your hospital stay. (3 weeks? Hell I'll be stark raving mad at 3 days...).
Glad to hear you quit smoking. I did a couple of years ago after about 20-25 years (thanks to my girlfriend/now wonderful wife :). Don't miss it much now but sometimes get a craving. Dont give in.
#15
Good deal Raptor! Glad to hear you're better. I assume this was related to the finger problem of several months past? Hang tight, I quit smoking involuntarily too.... :>
#17
Yeah it is,Ship.Most of you know I'm a recovered alcholic,dropping booze weren't nothing compared to stopping smokeing.3 weeks and the cravings are still kicking my skinny,white ass.
All your well wishis and encourgment are most deeply appreciated.
#18
Raptor - My Dad quit several times, including before the Surgeons General's report (1962). He told me, "You think you're over it, and then you paint the house for the first time in five years, and you climb up the ladder and reach for the cigarette..."
Hang in there Bud. He made it, and so did I!
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/14/2005 21:03
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#19
Raptor. I've been of a year and a month. I don't expect the cravings to ever stop. But the frist three weeks ar4e the hardest. Each day will get better. Tell yourself that often.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/14/2005 21:11
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#20
goddamer. glad yoo okay. ima wus spose kwit xmokerin thes wekend but ima bak owt. :(
Hat tip Drudge. Don't know how long the link will be valid. Filed under 5th column because that is how is really pulling her strings....
Anti-war protestor and moonbat extraordaire Cindy Sheehan, whose soldier son Casey was killed in Iraq, is calling for Bush's "impeachment," and for Israel to get out of Palestine!
"You get America out of Iraq and Israel out of Palestine and you'll stop the terrorism," Sheehan declares.
Sheehan, who is asking for a second meeting with President Bush, says defiantly: "My son was killed in 2004. I am not paying my taxes for 2004. You killed my son, George Bush, and I don't owe you a penny...you give my son back and I'll pay my taxes. Come after me (for back taxes) and we'll put this war on trial." I guess its true that moveon.org and Soros are now controlling her and giving her the talking points. I almost (but only almost) feel sorry for the poor bitch.
"And now I'm going to use another 'I' word - impeachment - because we cannot have these people pardoned. They need to be tried on war crimes and go to jail." "And a pony! I definately want a pony! Gimme a pony or I'll hold my breath!
The 48-year-old California mom remains tented up in a ditch along the one-lane road that leads to Bush's Texas ranch.
As her protest entered its second week, hundreds of people with conflicting opinions about the war in Iraq descended on the area.
TIME mag reports in new editions on Monday: Sheehan gets support from her surviving son, Andy, in principle, but he recently sent her a long e-mail imploring her, "to come home because you need to support us at home." Anyone wants to bet Time doesn't mention her glowing response to Bush'es first meeting with her? Or that the rest of her family have, in effect, denounced her actions? I didn't think so either.
#1
I had already official filed hre under moonbat 1st class. So far she has declared that Bush had lied (because of the DSM) and that he had stolen two elections. I think after the Israel, Palestine, and no taxes comment the press will start to shy away from her (except Err Amerika).
#2
"You get America out of Iraq and Israel out of Palestine and you'll stop the terrorism," Sheehan declares.
Oh, no you won't, Cindy. Do that, and you'll see terrorism like you've NEVER seen before. Guaranteed.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
08/14/2005 11:35
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#3
she's a moron, a tool, and a waste of air. The pukes using her and the media sucking on her are just as disgusting. Wanna bet her husband pays the taxes or gets a divorce? If she can spend the month camped out in Crawford, what job does she hold? None!
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/14/2005 11:40
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#4
If only the US would leave Sudan, then the Arabs wouldn't have been forced to kill over 2 million black Sudanese. If only the US left Thailand, the muslims wouldn't have to ambush buddhist monks ...
Posted by: ed ||
08/14/2005 11:41
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#5
It is a sad thing. I feel bad for her consumed by her grief. The rest of her family has publicly backed away and I suspect her son is looking down from heaven thinking "Jeez, Ma! Knock it off, willya? I am a soldier".
#6
The KOSsacks want her only to speak via a "spokesperson". Perhaps, cause every time she opens her mouth it becomes more apparent what a total whackjob she is.
#10
have you seen her? The vacant eyes? She's an idiot, loving the attention
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/14/2005 12:57
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#11
maybe if she moved her tent to a more stategic position she could spot OTM's coming over the border and do some good at least. On second thought, I wonder if those are some of the folks that she's been in cahoots with. What part of volunteer military doesn't she get. Sad, how very sad.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/14/2005 13:25
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#12
Anyone noticed how little that racist b...h seems to care about genocide in Soudan? Or in fact about any other opressed people when Jews are not involved.
#15
Moonmat mom wants Condi's job. The longer she is in Crawford doing road work, the more foolish her contentions.
Was Casey killed because of Israel? It gets stranger and stranger, drifting, drifting, drifting....
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/14/2005 14:46
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#16
She is like a Vampire, feeding on her son's carcass. He dies and she is reborn. She goes from a homelier than a wet hen nobody, to queen of the left. There is no draft, and her son could have joined the Air Force or Navy, but he joined the much more dangerous Army. He was nothing like her. His death seems to be the best thing that ever happened to her.
#17
FeralCat, If that [moonbat-mom] was what he had to come home to perhaps his honorable death was the best thing to happen to him.
People like her make me sick. They don't have even the concept of honor or sacrifice (or most of the other virtues). All they think about is me! me! me!.
#18
The report on his enlistment and re-enlistment to get away from mom was via a Sac valley radio show. A woman that claimed to be an aunt said that casey joined up to get away from her and his voaction versus her political leaning would lend some validation to that.
#20
The fit between her and the MSM is perfect. The MSM will use her as a useful tool to bash Bush and push their agenda. When her MI* becomes too high, or people become bored with the story, they will drop her in the story landfill and that will be that. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.
*MI = Moonbat Index
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/14/2005 16:03
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I just heard the interview on CNN of Larry Mattlage (the Pres. neighbor). He evidentally fired a gun and scared the folks down at the tent camp. (He was preparing for Dove season.) He's fed up with the protests. I guess so after all of these weeks. I don't blame him for being upset with all of this mess in his front yard.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/14/2005 16:36
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When are her 15 minutes going to be up?
And why the hell can't these anti-war idiots SPELL, for heaven's sake? (Note to Cindy....."impeachment" is not a "t" word, but an "i" word. My foreign born hubby can spell better than you.)
#24
Anyone noticed how little that racist b...h seems to care about genocide in Soudan?
You're assuming she's even aware there's genocide occuring in Sudan. Hell, she probably has no idea there is a Sudan.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/14/2005 19:51
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#25
You know, I feel terrible for the woman for having lost her son. That is a cost that no one should have to pay.
But to see her campaign to ensure his sacrifice was in vain is absolutely sickening! Wasn't losing him for a cause bad enough, but now she wants to make the loss meaningless?
Posted by: Dar ||
08/14/2005 20:04
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The effort to seize the vacation home of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is moving ahead toward the goal of a public vote in March.
That according to John Babiarz, chairman of the New Hampshire's Libertarian Party, who appeared tonight on the Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" program.
"We have every intention of doing the proper petitioning and have the people of Plainfield make the decision," Babiarz said. "We're in the petition-gathering stage right now."
Babiarz, a 2002 candidate for governor in the Granite State, stressed the seriousness of the issue in the wake of the high court's recent ruling on eminent domain, giving governments the power to transfer private property from one private party to another. The decision ignited a firestorm of outrage across the political spectrum.
"Property rights are very important," said Babiarz, who would like Breyer's land to become a public park. "It's got to go from talk to action. ... I think the justices don't realize the impact [of their decision]."
Justice Breyer, who owns 167 acres in the Connecticut River Valley in Plainfield, N.H., is the second Supreme Court justice to be targeted for property seizure.
Justice David Souter's home is also in the crosshairs of a California entrepreneur who's looking to build the "Lost Liberty Hotel" on Souter's land in the town of Weare, N.H.
As WND exclusively reported this week, Breyer made news beyond eminent domain by saying not all rulings from America's highest court are correct, admitting judges don't have "some great special insight," and he defended the practice of studying courts in foreign countries to help decide cases in the United States. Breyer's an even better target than Souter. Let's hope that both of them have to start home hunting soon.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/14/2005 11:12
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The next targets should be homes of their relatives.
Posted by: DanNY ||
08/14/2005 11:23
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3 more to go.
Posted by: ed ||
08/14/2005 11:33
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Ain't it grand.Betcha it never occured to these nitwits they would be a target for Eminent Domain.I wish somebody would interview one of these judges,sure would love to hear what they have to say now.Now that's a fine idea,DanNy
Yet another look into the murky thought processes of an Islamic apologist. He's the editor in chief of Palestine Chronicle, writing in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer...
By RAMZY BAROUD
The deadly terrorist attacks in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheik Red Sea resort in July and the earlier October bombings at two other Red Sea resorts seem to have disrupted the consistency of the rationale that links the current terrorism upsurge in the Middle East to the U.S. war effort in Iraq.
Good thinking, since the current upsurge was under way before the war in Iraq...
The Christian Science Monitor attempted to neatly package the ongoing debate in the West on the root causes of political and ideological terrorism within two primary schools of thought: one that links terror directly to the war on Iraq, and another that believes that terror groups are ideologically rather than politically motivated, thus reinforcing the "clash of civilizations" argument.
I think they're trying to discuss apples and oranges. Or maybe motive and opportunity.
The civilization argument contends that the Sharm el-Sheik terror -- directed at Westerners regardless of the role played by their governments to aid the Iraq war effort -- is a perfect case in point. Westernized Egyptian and European tourists were targeted for the "sin of being a beachhead of a globalized, tolerant culture in Arab Muslim territory," goes the logic of that argument.
It's part of Arab culture to feel revulsion at the thought, much less the sight, of people indulging in individual freedom, even doing what they damn well please. The very thought induces uncontrollable seething that can be alleviated only by blood. The other factor in the Sharm bombings is that there were a hell of a lot more furriners to be found there, and in much higher concentration, than in the boomers' home towns. So it's a matter of culture and convenience.
In Egypt itself, the debate is taking on another distinctive, yet equally flawed, approach.
You haven't actually pointed out where the flaws are...
The Associated Press, for example, reported that some Egyptians are now openly examining the link between culture and extremism, highlighting the assertion that mosques and schools should be blamed for promoting Islamic extremism. The Egyptian debate, while unique in some ways to that country, is a re-creation of the ongoing and honestly dubious intellectual scuffle over the role of the madrassas in Pakistan in molding and forging terrorists from an early age.
I don't see where the argument is intellectually dubious. Specific mosques and madrassas are connected with terrorism. Period. There's no rational argument. Binori Town is a center of extremism. Muridke is a center of extremism. Jamia Haqqania is a center of extremism. I'm too fat and I don't get enough exercise and most of my hair's fallen out. The fact that I'm unhappy with the fact doesn't make it dubious.
Not only do these arguments fail to candidly inspect a variety of other factors that might have contributed to the spread of terrorism, but they imprudently encourage measures that will most probably give terrorists more fuel to carry on with their mission of violence, cajoling additional recruits and resources.
It's the "if you try to do anything about the mortal threat you'll just make things worse" argument. That one I would tag as "dubious."
Cultural and religious intolerance is certainly not unique to the Middle East, nor is terrorism itself.
Yet both have become cultural characteristics of the tribal Muslim world.
If madrassas supposedly elucidate the motives behind the militancy of al-Qaida and the Taliban, what will one make of terrorism in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Spain (before the train bombing) and Northern Ireland? It is not as if the list ends there. To the contrary, it barely begins.
That's because terrorism is a tactic. Its use is available to anyone. A knife is a tool, also available to anyone, but it's part of Yemenis' national dress. A gun is a tool, available to anyone, but it's part of the well-dressed young Pashtun's ensemble, just like his turban. India's afflicted with a number of non-Muslim "liberation movements" who take their inspiration from the Commies. The Nepal rebels are Maoists as well. Curiously, Spain's ETA and the IRA also have Marxist roots. The Tamil Tigers are rooted in Leninism. So we have two schools of thought, neither of which regards the individual as anything more than a tool of state power.
The truth is that Middle East terrorism became a globalized phenomenon after many regions around the world -- that are neither Arab nor Muslim -- experienced their share of deadly terror.
Most of them at the hands of Marxists. There were a fair number of successes, which meant that the tool was usable, hence its adoption by the Islamists. I believe it was Qutb who combined the tactics of Soviet-sponsored terrorism with Islamist thought.
It goes without saying that the rise of al-Qaida and its support networks worldwide has not in any way contributed to the decline of terrorism elsewhere. In fact, many innocent people continue to fall victim to terrorism in many other regions and in large numbers. The quandary is that the victims are often not Westerners, thus their plight is either entirely neglected or hastily stated by the world media and then quickly forgotten.
Actually, some of us watch the agony on a daily basis. There are entire organizations within the U.S. and British and French government whose purpose in life is to follow the details of the agony and attempt to come up with ways of curtailing it. The method the U.S. and the Brits have come up with is to declare war on the people who kill not only Westerners, but also their Muslim and non-Muslim brethren. The author, of course, disapproves of this approach. The Frenchies, on the other hand, have decided to pursue action primarily against only their own domestic fifth column by civil means, but the author also will be found to disapprove of that.
Using the same logic, if the root cause of terrorism is indeed cultural and religious intolerance -- advocated in some Islamic schools and mosques -- why aren't young American neo-conservatives and fundamentalist evangelicals blowing themselves up in crowded Libyan or Sudanese streets? Or why are suicide bombings a prevalent practice employed by Palestinians against Israelis, and not the other way around?
That's a point we've made here before, though the author's phrasing it differently and indulging in a bit of fallacious argument — I believe the fallacy's known as "framing the argument." Fundamentalist evangelicals and American neo-conservatives aren't taught in their schools to hate the members of other religions and cultures. Evangelicals are Christians and they believe in persuasion and example. Now, their attempts at persuasion can be pretty tedious, but I've yet to have one point a gun at me or try to blow up my house because I don't agree with him. Neo-conservatism is as much a style of argument as a philosophy. I've never had to worry about starting my car after meeting with a neo-conservative and failing to reach concensus.
While unofficial terrorism -- as opposed to official, state-sponsored terror -- can inflict untold hurt,
That "state-sponsored terrorism" thing keeps making its way into these polemix. Yet the guys pushing the concept never seem to mention Sudan. I wonder why that is?
it is often a frantic retort to political, cultural, religious, ideological and even physical oppression and violence.
By whom? And notice the differentiation there: "terrorism is a response to political, cultural, religious, ideological and even physical oppression and violence." In my occasional discussions with Evangelicals and neo-conservatives, no one has hollered for someone's blood in response to actions that haven't produced blood, and precious few times when they have. The tribal Muslim approach is always to demand blood to avenge perceived insults, whether one's sister getting knocked up by the guy down the street or the guy down the street deciding to become a Unitarian because he's tired of wearing a turban. Salman Rushdie writes a book you don't like? He must be killed. The typist transposes two verses from the Koran? He must be killed. Pick an offense, and the offender must be killed. Only blood will wipe out the action.
Unprovoked terror, at least in much of the Middle East is, if considered objectively, unheard of.
Maybe if considered objectively from Alpha Centauri...
Thus, violence in most instances trails behind often greater acts of violence; the Iraqi "insurgent" (a terrorist according to the prevailing Western media interpretation and a resistance fighter as considered by many Arabs) was, in some ironic way, a U.S. discovery: Without a violent invasion and occupation, Iraqis would've had no reason to fight back.
Except that prior to the invasion and occupation the same guys were busy polishing their guns and fiddling with their detonators in their home countries. The natives who're up in arms against us were busy bumping off Kurds and Shiites and rounding up young girls to pleasure Uday. Seems to me that one flavor of violence has been replaced by another flavor, in a culture where violence is a part of the warp and woof.
On the same token, without an Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and the subsequent violence wrought upon the Palestinians, Palestinians would've had no particular interest in blowing themselves up.
If he's talking about the West Bank and Gaza, then there would have been no occupation had there not been a 1967 war, initiated by the Arab states. If he's discussing the existence of the state of Israel, then he's got a problem, though it's a common enough problem among his intellectual set.
If Islamic religious extremism truly produced terror in a complete vacuum, it would make little sense for an Iraqi woman to be the first suicide bomber after the invasion in March 2003, considering that most extremists forbid women from taking part in physical jihad.
I thought the first boomer was a lietenant from the Palestine Liberation Army? That's what Sammy said, anyway...
It would be equally baffling if one recalls that communist Palestinian revolutionaries are the ones who indeed spearheaded Palestinian terrorism in the 1970s, decades before Hamas was even conceptualized.
I think I previously made the point of terrorism being a tool used with equal enthusiasm by Marxists and Islamists...
Needless to say, a Jewish settler need not blow himself up, nor does a neo-con enthusiast, for they simply don't have to, as their religious and cultural ideals of intolerance are carried out on a much greater scale through the official policies and practices of their respective governments.
That's a pretty neat little libel right there. The neo-con pushes the idea of individual freedom for The Masses™ and that's intolerance. The Jewish settler defends himself against krazed killers and that's intolerance.
Hence, the war in Iraq, which has killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians, is arguably by far the greatest act of terrorism experienced in many years.
No, it's not. It's a military action. Twist words and twist concepts all you want, it's still a military action, taken against military and then paramilitary forces.
As for the case of Egypt, veteran Egyptian journalist Ayman El-Amir, writing for Al-Ahram Weekly articulated it best: Terrorism (as a consequence of political ostracism, not religious fanaticism) is "fermented not in the mosque or the madrassas but in solidarity confinement cells, torture chambers and the environment of fear wielded by dictatorial regimes as instruments of legitimate governments." It's here where any genuine inquiry into the root causes of terrorism should begin, and most likely, conclude.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2005
08:49 ||
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#1
Using the same logic, if the root cause of terrorism is indeed cultural and religious intolerance -- advocated in some Islamic schools and mosques -- why aren't young American neo-conservatives and fundamentalist evangelicals blowing themselves up in crowded Libyan or Sudanese streets? Or why are suicide bombings a prevalent practice employed by Palestinians against Israelis, and not the other way around?
Because evangelical Christians and Jews aren't taught that holy war is the quickest way to paradise? Because they're taught that murdering the innocent is a sin?
Unlike Muslims, who are taught the exact opposite.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/14/2005 9:09
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#2
It's here where any genuine inquiry into the root causes of terrorism should begin, and most likely, conclude.
Nope. It should start by carrying out extensive psychological/neurological studies on Muslims---to catalog their deviations from the human norm.
A Cypriot passenger airliner carrying at least 121 people has crashed north-east of Athens.
The plane - from Helios Airways - hit a mountain as it approached Athens after one pilot was seen slumped in his seat and the other could not be seen.
An air traffic controller at Athens airport told the AFP news agency the plane, travelling from Larnaca, Cyprus, crashed into the Euboea peninsula.
The crash was reported by F-16 pilots sent to aid the struggling plane.
A spokesman for the Greek army chief of staff said the possibility of a hijacking could not immediately be ruled out.
Posted by: True German Ally ||
08/14/2005
06:38 ||
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#1
German press reports that the pilots had collapsed in their seat. One interpretation is that a malfunctioning of the air condition poisoned the pilots but terrorist background can't be ruled out.
Lack of oxygen most probable cause now. Yet I wonder a bit: To fly from Cyprus to Athens would be a short flight, you wouldn't fly at such a high altitude where lack of oxygen would be a real problem.
#5
...FNC is saying there was a text message from someone on the plane right before it went in that said, "ALL FROZEN". My guess would be a decompression at altitude.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/14/2005 9:33
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#6
Isn't that what happened to that professional golfer's plane about five years ago? (Rapid decompression)
#8
Yeah TGA, this is a commercial airliner, catastrophic loss of pressure would bring down the masks.... very strange. Maybe a bad environmental control system?
#11
Yes, and if it was at cruising altitude the plane should have been on autopilot, too. But if the pilots were still able to initiate an emergency descent, the oxygen masks should have worked.
#16
The plane was scheduled for a landing in Athens so I wonder a bit about the altitude. It's rather unlikely that it would climb to an altitude of 30000 ft or more for a short haul.
Rapid decompression is something pilots are trained for and they'll grab the oxygen masks in seconds.
The Boeing 737-300 has various emergency systems which must have failed at the same time? Hmmmm
#19
TGA, maybe he was younger and in better shape than the pilot. (Besides, one of the F-16's reported that the pilot wasn't in the cockpit. Maybe he was trying to get to the passenger compartment and passed out there?) He might have been able to hold out a bit longer.
Plus some kids are really good at text messaging. They can do it without even looking at the keypad.
#20
Desert Blondie if one pilot tried to look after the passengers he would have to make sure first that the other pilot would be safely flying the plane? If the pilot had his oxygen mask on (as the F16 pilot reported, he should have been able to land that plane safely.
Unless the oxygen system in the masks shut down. But in that case I don't see passengers typing away on their phones.
#23
For the plane to be intercepted, the plane flew for some time. The plane was probably in a gradual descent and the pilots most likely would have had time to recover from decompression. The passengers themselves do not seemed to have been incapacitated.
Payne Stewart's plane was on autopilot at high altitude, and crashed when fuel ran out.
One bit of speculation. Could it have been a bomb in the forward lavatory directed in the bulkhead shared with the cockpit, incapacitating the pilots and causing decompression?
Posted by: ed ||
08/14/2005 12:13
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#24
I hate to ask this, but I remember the Egyptian pilot who sent his plane down into the sea, passengers and all, a while back.
And word on the identity - and ethnicity - of the pilot and crew? What with Cyprus being a hot issues for Islamacists and nationalists in Turkey ....
Posted by: too true ||
08/14/2005 12:21
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#25
Thanks TGA, however news is that less than half of the passengers were going to Praque and I can't get through to my friends.
#26
I suppose the others were just going to Athens where the plane was scheduled to make a stop.
I have also read that almost all passengers were Cypriots, are yours?
#27
Thanks. I've checked the timetables and it doesn't look like it'd make sense for them to fly to the UK via Athens, so I'm feeling less worried. They're a Viking and Kiwi, just on holiday.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/14/2005 12:49
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#29
TGA, it's just speculation. When they finish with the black boxes, we'll have a better idea.
All I know is oxygen deprivation can make you do some pretty stupid things. That's why some mountain climbing expeditions have done things like figure out simple math equations after they have been at altitude for a while....if they can't, they're done. It's a sign that they aren't thinking clearly if 2+3 takes a minute or two. Otherwise they could get themselves and others killed.
Same thing for scuba diving. You go deep (80-130 feet, depends on the individual) on compressed air and you risk nitrogen narcosis. Divers don't get the oxygen they need to their brains and start doing dumb things like offering their regulators (breathing apparatus) to fish, or heading deeper when they say they are going to the surface. Some get violent or agitated. It can even hit you hard at 80 feet, and you'll be perfectly ok at 100. Nobody really knows why. We all just watch each other more closely if we're going deep, just in case.
#30
TGA: Larnaca-Athens is still a relatively lengthy flight. Someone on airliners.net reported the flight plan was filed for 34,000 feet. At that altitude, they would have two problems: oxygen and the freezing cold. Even if they had oxygen, how long could they last with -50 celsius temperatures? Not long. Though on autopilot, they should have been able to get down to below 10,000 feet.
Maintenance records will solve this one, I believe.
Posted by: Rafael ||
08/14/2005 13:53
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#31
Thanks TGA and DB -- my friends called and are fine.
#33
How would one send a text message from an airplane?
On GSM phones, you can send the message without a signal being present. The message is put in the "outbox" of the phone and once the connection is established (at lower altitude, closer to Athens in this case) the message is sent without further action from the user. At least, that's how it works on my motorola.
Posted by: Rafael ||
08/14/2005 14:50
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#34
A friend of mine flies Lears, and Paine Stewart's plane probably had a fitting leak in the O2 line from the reserve bottle. That was a problem for the older Lears. So when they lost pressurization they had not O2. And at altitude, hypoxia and unconsciousness comes quickly. On the Bo-jet, do not know the checklist, but one would think that they would have had reserve oxygen. We are just going to have to see what the flight data recorder and voice recorders come up with.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/14/2005 15:03
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#35
Last time I was in an commercial airplane cockpit, I distinctly recall seeing an oxygen bottle with a mask attached. Does anyone know if its standard? Otherwise, sudden decompression by accident would be an extremely rare event. I can't recall it happening in a commercial airliner. Which indicates a bomb to me.
#36
If it was an act of terrorism, the odds are about 80/20 that it will be covered up. There are three main reasons for this. The terrorist tactic is used to garner the most amount of attention with the least amount of effort. Official denial is an effective method of squelching this.
The second reason is the bureaucratic self-defence mechnaism. If there's no failure, there's nothing to be held accountable for.
The final, and perhaps most important reason, is that acts of terrorism really can't be countered by traditional law enforcement methods. The threat must ultimately be handled through diplomacy or military action. The role of the cops is simple: declare that there is no evidence of terrorist involvement.
One of the easiest acts of terrorism to cover up is bringing down a single airplane. Such an act doesn't leave much intact evidence on the ground, and with airplanes one can put out all kinds of BS technical excuses why the thing crashed -- or even describe the mechanical failure e.g. "center wing fuel tank explosion" but not the reason for that faliure, e.g. "a bomb." It's much more difficult to explain simultaneous events. The Russians hemmed and hawed for a couple of days last summer before they admitted the obvious - that bombs brought down both Aeroflot craft at the same time.
#37
Curioser and curioser. CNN reports a witness saying that the bodies at the crash site were all wearing oxygen masks. The BBC says that the escort saw people in the cockpit struggling to take control, but didn't know if they were the pilots or passengers. This, says the Beeb, was on "second look" by the escort, whatever that may mean exactly.
#38
Well the aircraft was reported to have had problems with cabin pressure before. It doesn't look like terror to me (yet).
There are reports that all passengers wore oxygen masks and that some bodies were frozen. This would indicate that the aircraft did not perform a rapid descent.
I speculate that cabin pressurization failed dramatically AND the oxygen flow of the masks did not work properly. This means that TWO systems failed at the same time. An aircraft does not freeze within a minute or two and the first thing the pilots would have done is to bring the plane to lower altitudes where breathing works an temperatures would not kill you.
I have been in a situation like that. Oxygen masks drop, cabin gets foggy, plane performs a very rapid descent which makes some passengers panic but a few minutes later you can breathe without masks and things calm down.
If the aircraft was cruising at 34000ft altitude and did not perform a descent because the pilots were unconscious, then the scenario makes sense. At that altitude you have temperatures of -50° C and within minutes you'd freeze to death.
The question is: why did the cabin pressurization fail so dramatically? It would take some minutes to "freeze" the cabin unless there was a hole and the air evaporated very fast.
Helios Airways would probably prefer a "terrorist" cause. If they had these problems several times already and did not act, the company is dead.
#39
Apply Occam's Razor and you will find the answer. Mechanical failure or human error both as the causality. Why would a terrorist attack a Cypriot aircraft?
#40
Get a bomb on board a plane at a place with poor security and have it transferred to a plane with high security. The MO was used several times in the 80s. Bomb explodes prematurely as happened in Tokyo.
#41
Why would a terrorist hit a Cypriot plane?
Because half of Cypris has been taken over by Muslim Islamist Turks and they want the other half, that's why!
#43
This means that TWO systems failed at the same time
If this was the newer 737-800, then it's unlikely that this would happen unless the company had a lousy maintenance record. But then again it could be a chain of unfortunate events, eg. multiple mechanical failures, wrong decisions by crew, time...
August so far has been a lousy month for aviation. Hope it doesn't continue.
Posted by: Rafael ||
08/14/2005 18:51
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#44
I think a bomb is one possible cause, I also think lazy crappy maintaince is a cause. I have had to systems fail on me so I know it can happen (not on an aircraft fortunately)
If it is a bomb we will know soon enough but the Greeks will try and cover it up if it was a bomb.
I thought newer planes cargo containers had been re-enginered to contain a blast?
#45
This article informs us that this airline had a loss of cabin pressure incident in Dec 04. Lousy maintenance is a possibility. But the freezing thing bothers me, as TGA mentions.
Morgle's point about Turkish presence in Cyprus my be important. Remember Ankara just broke up a Raiders Front (or whatever they're called) operation to attack Israeli cruise ships. A few of the involved hadn't been caught yet, and they may have chosen to go out in style...
I saw a report that the Greek PM and Prez cancelled their vacations.
#47
Rooters now saying many remains found with oxygen masks. Pilots apparently succumbed to hypoxia. Some passengers tried to regain control of plane as it lost altitude and they revived. Obviously, they failed. God bless em all.
AMERICAN intelligence chiefs have warned that Al-Qaeda terrorists are plotting to drive hijacked fuel tankers into petrol stations in an effort to cause mass casualties in London and US cities in the next few weeks.
The leaked warning, contained in a bulletin issued by the US Department for Homeland Security last week, says the attacks aim to create catastrophic damage at about the time of the fourth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
The warning came as it emerged that the British Department for Transport had for the first time issued guidelines ordering a tightening of security around the UK road tanker fleet.
The US warning has been circulated among law enforcement agencies and fuel transport agencies. Although a preamble states that âno other intelligence exists to corroborate this specific threatâ, the intelligence report is highly specific.
It says: âAl-Qaeda leaders plan to employ various types of fuel trucks as vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED) in an effort to cause mass casualties in the US (and London), prior to September 19. Attacks are planned specifically for New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. It is unclear whether the attacks will occur simultaneously or be spread over a period of time. The stated goal is the collapse of the US economy.â
The document goes on to suggest that the proposed methods will involve suicide drivers: âSome of the vehicles used will be hijacked. The type of vehicle may be anything from gasoline tanker trucks to trucks hauling oxygen and gas cylinders. Water trucks filled with gasoline or other highly combustible material may also be used. The detonation of the vehicles will be carried out by driving them into gas stations or ramming explosive-laden vehicles into the trucks carrying the fuel.â
The intelligence report says that the terrorist cells thought to be planning the attack will âexecute the plan upon receipt of an orderâ. It goes on to speculate that the videotape released last week by Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaedaâs deputy leader, may have been meant as âthe activation signal to the cellsâ. In the video al-Zawahiri warned that attacks would continue in Britain until it pulled out of Iraq.
The report says that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, one of the alleged masterminds of the September 11 attacks, has told US interrogators that he had developed plans for targeting petrol stations. This was âdue to their apparent vulnerability and the potential destructive force of a fuel-driven explosionâ, it says.
The use of petrol tankers as mobile bombs has been a well-tested Al-Qaeda tactic in the Middle East. Terrorists in Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Iraq have all used large fuel tankers against military and civilian targets.
A fuel tanker attack on the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996 killed 19 US servicemen. Four weeks ago terrorists exploded a fuel tanker in a busy market town 25 miles south of Baghdad killing nearly 100.
Although the specific threat of a tanker attack on London is thought to be new, Scotland Yard and MI5 have long feared that Al-Qaeda would try vehicle attacks on key targets in the capital.
Last year police disrupted an alleged plot to bomb a âsoft targetâ â thought to be a Soho nightclub â with a truck bomb. More than half a ton of fertiliser, which can be used to make explosives, was recovered in a raid in north London.
Security sources say that fears about the use of fuel tankers has led to them being closely monitored when they enter the City of London.
Concrete security barriers have been placed in other key locations across the capital to stop vehicles packed with explosives reaching buildings such as parliament.
#1
Gas stations will probably not blow-up like they think.Here in the U.S. the tanks are buried(not only to save space,it's safer),they are double hulled,they are not preasurized,and are equiped with preassure relief(to relieve preassure build-up from heating and cooling) valves.
#2
...What raptor said. It is extraordinarily difficult to get a gas station burning. There was an instance back in OH some years ago that bears mentioning - a gentleman was refueling his car when some jackass lost control of his and slammed into it, igniting a fire. Despite the fact that there were six cars refueling - and the damaged one did catch fire - the only cars that burned were the ones immediately involved in the accident, and although there was heat/smoke damage to the canopy over the pumps, the only gas that burned was that in the struck vehicle.
This isn't to blow off a possible threat, far from it - it's just that this won't do much except make people very vigilant while tanking up.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/14/2005 9:30
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The stated goal is the collapse of the US economy
As ignorant about the outside world as the women they like to keep in purdah. Even if the effects of this effort were as spectacular as in the American action films they appear to model themselves on, we would simply run serious background checks on all truck drivers, post armed guards around gas stations (most likely privately hired in most cases, or local volunteers -- I hear the National Guard units are a bit preoccupied these days), and carry on driving the world's economy. Oh yes, and accelerate the transition to hybrid vehicles, which don't need to be refueled nearly as often. If 9/11 didn't do any permanent damage to our economy, what makes them think booming a bunch of gas stations would?
#4
A full tanker with an IED would make a pretty good explosion, even if it didn't blow the in ground tanks. The real question is, would the media be alerted so that it could get pictures of the truck going off? And would the media alert authorities before or after getting the film?
Posted by: Eason Jordan ||
08/14/2005 9:54
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#5
Aw shucks... I just placed a bet on Strategy Page's Prediction Market that their wouldn't be any. These goofballs are really skewing my losses.
#7
And would the media alert authorities before or after getting the film?
That's called "Accesory" and should result in the same criminal charges as the perp would get.
First time it happens the cameraman/reporter better have a damn good legitimate reason for being there and setup.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/14/2005 13:00
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#8
Thinking eurther about it, a few years ago a tanker filling a station's tanks in Mississippi overflowed and a passing car set the gas running across the road afire, not as bad as a deliberate explosion of the tanker, but 3 motorists died.
This method of "Boomerism" seems unproductive, hijacking tankers is a hard job, and srations are designed to have the gas flow away from the pumps in case of spillage. (Slanted Concrete)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/14/2005 13:13
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#9
Damn, can't spell this morning, more Coffee needed (Slurp, Aahhhh)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/14/2005 13:15
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#10
So if London or the UK keeps on getting attacked how long do you give it before raving mad anti arab/muslim/pakistani mobs are out on the streets torching premises?
I don't support that behaviour but I think people are starting to get a little fucked off with the governmentâs lack of potency in dealing with things correctly.
Just for the record; instead of giving our social benefit money to immigrants coming to the UK why doesn't it go to the people who made this country what it is!
Forget the outsiders for once.
Posted by: dom ||
08/14/2005 18:15
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Rising up against insurgent leader Abu Musab Zarqawi, Iraqi Sunni Muslims in Ramadi fought with grenade launchers and automatic weapons Saturday to defend their Shiite neighbors against a bid to drive them from the western city, Sunni leaders and Shiite residents said. The fighting came as the U.S. military announced the deaths of six American soldiers.
Dozens of Sunni members of the Dulaimi tribe established cordons around Shiite homes, and Sunni men battled followers of Zarqawi, a Jordanian, for an hour Saturday morning. The clashes killed five of Zarqawi's guerrillas and two tribal fighters, residents and hospital workers said. Zarqawi loyalists pulled out of two contested neighborhoods in pickup trucks stripped of license plates, witnesses said.
"We have had enough of his nonsense," said Sheik Ahmad Khanjar, leader of the Albu Ali clan, referring to Zarqawi. "We don't accept that a non-Iraqi should try to enforce his control over Iraqis, regardless of their sect -- whether Sunnis, Shiites, Arabs or Kurds.''
Zarq...you're daze are numbered m*ther f*cker
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/14/2005
01:44 ||
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#2
I guess the "insurgency" isn't "raging" in Ramadi quite the way most media reports would leave most people to believe. Imagine.
Meanwhile, there's a reason Mosul's been seeing less and less, and less and less ambitious, enemy activity. Unemployment hasn't changed. Sunni Arab harassment of Kurds hasn't changed. Certain people were killed or captured. In Samarra things have gone the other way -- again not due to economic conditions. I fear that 90% of so-called counter-insurgency doctrine and thinking is bunk: force, killing, intimidation, and keeping the initiative are still the requirements for success. In the Iraqi context, the soft side is of trivial importance.
#3
Ahmad sounds like he has a little Rantburger in him. I'll bet he didn't really say "nonsense." Maybe the reporter knows how sensitive some of the marshalls get about use of the vernacular.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/14/2005 11:59
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In recent weeks I have reported how the Ministry of Defence has been secretively committing billions of pounds to buying new equipment from European defence contractors, as it prepares to integrate Britain's Armed Forces with the EU's planned "Rapid Reaction Force".
One project after another has been brought to light by my colleague and fellow-researcher Dr Richard North, but the missing piece of this jigsaw was some central agreement that had set this unprecedented revolution in Britain's defence policy in train. This has now emerged, in a "secret treaty" between Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Sweden in 2000, which at last makes comprehensible the startlingly consistent pattern of Britain's recent defence purchases.....
Only now are we seeing the fruits of this agreement, as the MoD closes down one joint project with the US after another, and commits taxpayers to spending tens of billions of pounds on German, Italian, Swedish and French equipment ready for the Armed Forces to be fully integrated with their continental counterparts. And the MoD will have pulled this off without it ever having been discussed by or voted on by Parliament. What is unfolding amounts to the most astonishing coup d'etat in our history.
#1
Well I know we are going to have to go it on our own sooner or later. It appears sooner is the probable outcome. I don't think we should be astounded.
The TRANZI proclivities of Europe don't favor it's survival. That they thought to keep this secret isn't that big a deal. Why would they want to publicize that instead of weapons programs they will be engaging in welfare programs. That they are reducing the sizes of their military to a size that can't provide for their own defense. Well I think we have inherited all we can of their culture and have the best and most useful of their gene pool. So so long, nice knowing you. You can have our TRNAZIs if you want them however.
#2
... is this the end of their involvement in Joint Strike Fighter?
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
08/14/2005 4:20
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Edward-
You know, I hadn't thought of that before. I'm guessing that if all of this is true, then the other shoe will drop in a month or three at most. THAT will put us in an almost untenable position re the F-35, because all the numbers have been based on significant RAF/RN participation from the beginning.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/14/2005 9:40
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#4
The British will continue with JSF. Only the JSF and Harriers will be able to operate from their two future carriers (no catapults) and only the JSF will have the performance to defeat aircraft in the 2010-2030 timeframe. The JSF will not suffer from low build rates. It's export potential has barely been scratched.
British EU spending is most likely being redirected to a common EU comms and C&C suite. Remember, European armies are 1-2 generations behind the US in comms and C&C and can't really operate in the same battlespace anymore.
Posted by: ed ||
08/14/2005 11:15
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#5
Which will be even more true if they use the Galileo constellation rather than GPS.
Posted by: leader of the pack ||
08/14/2005 12:00
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#6
Euro rapid-reaction with who's airlift assets? Hell, they cannot even take care of a domestic in their own back yard, re: the former Yugoslavia.
The Chicoms may not be world class in their military, but they have the big picture. The Euros do not know what REAL spending is in order to build up a credible military.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/14/2005 15:36
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#7
They will attempt to use this to increase employment among whitecollar workers. And will spend a lot of tax monies to do it.
Posted by: leader of the pack ||
08/14/2005 15:37
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Rantburg just isn't Rantburg without a good corpse-as-artwork story.
A decision by Florida's attorney general Friday could scuttle plans for a controversial museum exhibit featuring human bodies preserved and posed to reveal their inner workings. The board that oversees the use of human specimens at Florida's medical schools wants proof that the deceased or their families authorized the use of the bodies. The Tampa Museum of Science and Industry argues that the Anatomical Board doesn't have jurisdiction. Attorney General Charlie Crist weighed in Friday, writing that because the purpose of "BODIES: The Exhibition" is educational, "it is my opinion that the approval of the Anatomical Board of the State of Florida is required." What that means for the future of the Tampa exhibit, scheduled to open Aug. 20, remains to be seen. We want corpses! We want corpses!
Museum President Wit Ostrenko said Friday the exhibition would open as scheduled. "It is our intention to continue to have a constructive dialogue in an attempt to resolve our differences," he said. But on Thursday, Arnie Geller, president and CEO of Premier Exhibitions, the Atlanta promoter of the exhibit, said the documentation the board wants would be impossible to obtain because the identities are unknown.
The bodies were obtained legally but belonged to Chinese people who died unidentified or unclaimed by family members and were preserved at the Dalian Medical University of Plastination Laboratories in China, according to the exhibition's medical director, Roy Glover. That's how I want to go. Mummify me and send my body on a world tour.
"BODIES: The Exhibition" features 20 cadavers and 260 other parts preserved with a process that replaces human tissue with silicone rubber. Skin is removed, exposing muscles, bones, organs, tendons, blood vessels and brains. Tampa is to be the U.S. debut for the exhibit. A similar human anatomy exhibit called "Body Worlds" is now showing in the United States and has drawn more than 15 million visitors since its debut in Tokyo in 1996. It has also drawn criticism from medical ethicists, however, and the condemnation of religious groups that claim it violates the sanctity of the human body. Violate, schmiolate. Bring on the gory, skinless mummies!
Posted by: Chris W. ||
08/14/2005
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#1
It's actually pretty neat, sorta like a petrified tree is only the form of a tree.
#2
Don't bother with the museum. You can get your fill just by visiting concourse A of Midway Airport in Chicago. I am not kidding. You're walking to your gate and notice a curtained display. You wonder what's behind that curtain. You go behind it and there he/she is in all his/her glory. I literally can not remember what sex he/she was though. I guess I was too dumbfounded/horrified/shocked/fascinated/titillated to think to check. My only memory is the arm bones looked so breakable and you can't make sense of the guts.
The writers of profanity-laden "Jerry Springer - The Opera" are angry. The creators of the show that caused a record number of complaints when aired on British television say religious censorship is in danger of strangling the arts. "The arts" being a subjective term.
"I am angry that 60,000 people made a judgment without even bothering to see it," said composer Richard Thomas. Comedian Stewart Lee, who wrote the script, is also fuming because a British provincial stage tour was postponed after a third of the venues pulled out due to fears about protests. The musical is based on Jerry Springer's brash American talk show whose lurid topics include "Honey I'm a Call Girl" and "Bring on the Bisexuals." I say, old chap, do bring on the bisexuals. Then, we shall retire for tea.
In the show which was garlanded with theater awards, viewers could watch a diaper fetishist confess all to his true love, catch a tap dance routine by the Ku Klux Klan and see Jesus and the Devil launch into a swearing tirade against each other. As Christian protesters set fire to their television licenses outside the BBC, the publicly funded broadcaster defended its right to air the show on television earlier this year despite being inundated with complaints. "Television licenses". Brits get taxed to watch TV, don't you know. Sucks to be them.
Lee, at the Edinburgh Fringe to do a show with Thomas about the trials and tribulations of staging the opera, said: "At the time the Christian right were feeling a bit left out as the Sikhs had managed to get a play banned. "They wanted a political football to kick around." The censorship row came less than a month after hundreds of angry Sikhs stormed a theater in the central England city of Birmingham and forced it to scrap a play depicting sexual abuse in a Sikh temple.
British Christian pressure groups have less political clout than their counterparts in the American Christian right, but Lee and Thomas think the chances of the opera now making it to Broadway are slim. "The Americans are more nervous than before," Thomas said, adding: "When the Right in America protest, it ends in a global conflict with thousands of civilian deaths. Yup, I remember all those protest marches in 2002 declaring that there just wasn't enough killing of innocent civilians, and whammo! Iraq war one year later. Nothing like a good, right-wing protest.
"I am going to write a show about the Taliban called The Taliban Can Can." Oh, that dry, British humor! Hilarious!
But their bitterness is not confined to the religious right. The British government is trying to pass through parliament legislation to stamp out religious hatred with a bill that gives all faiths equal protection. Muslims welcomed it as long overdue but critics saw it as a threat to civil liberties. Comedians say it smacks of political correctness and will stop them making religious jokes. "I think it is unenforceable," Lee said. "And if you say to comedians you can't do something, they go ahead and do it." Guffaw! Yuk yuk yuk.
British Indian comedian Paul Chowdhry, also performing in Edinburgh, complained: "That means I would get locked up with hardened criminals just for making a joke." Lee argued that such legislation could even end up discouraging funding for stage or film projects with religious themes.
At the Fringe, the world's largest arts festival, comedians have not shied away from talking about last month's London bomb attacks by four British Muslim suicide bombers that killed 52 people. "A lot of the young Muslim comedians are discussing it," Lee said. "That is really great because they have an interesting perspective as a result of the fact that anywhere they go in London, people are now frightened of them." Everybody Loves Al-Raymond - coming soon to CBS!
Posted by: Chris W. ||
08/14/2005
01:09 ||
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#1
This is pure xenophobia, plain an simple. Anyone with control of that sector of the domestic market wants no competition. The Americans have their Springer and the Brits have their Royal Family. Now bugger off.
NEW YORK (AP) - Radio communication broke down. Commanders lost contact with their squads. Noise and dust obscured the senses. One paramedic likened it to being in an infantry unit overrun by enemy troops. Yet, in the confusion at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, firefighters and emergency medical technicians improvised, and kept working.
Without direction from superiors and no plan to guide their actions, they followed their instincts and extinguished blazes, triaged casualties and comforted the injured, at a time when they could have surrendered to panic.
More details of their rescue efforts that day have emerged in an archive of interviews and audiotapes released by the city this week as a result of a court order. Among the hundreds of pages of transcripts are scores of instances where trained rescuers realized they were on their own.
Frank Pastor, an EMT who lost his helmet and his equipment running for his life as one of the towers collapsed, recalled finding himself in the lobby of a building surrounded by hundreds of survivors crying, ``Help me! We can't breathe,'' in the cloud of dust. ``I'm looking around to see what I can do,'' he said. ``I remember opening up this door. There was a slop sink. There was clothes hanging. I took the clothes and I started soaking the clothes, wetting them, started cutting out strips, giving it to kids, giving it to the mothers.''
Firefighter Tiernach Cassidy dusted himself off after the second tower collapsed and found a command post. ``At first we started asking, 'What are we doing? What are we doing?''' he said. ``Nobody really had a specific answer.'' He salvaged rope and some tools from parked emergency vehicles and began looking for ways into the mountain of rubble. After hours of searching, he and a companion lowered themselves into a deep pit, where they found a pocket of trapped civilians, firefighters and a Port Authority police officer who had survived.
Cassidy described who he used his body as a bridge to help the dazed officer climb up to a girder and reach clear skies. ``He gets up on my leg and then my shoulder, and he's up on the girder,'' Cassidy said. ``He lies there on top of the girder and he gives me the biggest hug and he starts crying.
``For me, it was like, 'All right. No time for sentiment. You've got to get going.''
The failures of the day were apparent in the transcripts and radio calls, released as the result of a lawsuit by some of the victims' families and The New York Times. Several city EMTs complained about their inability to communicate with the private ambulance corps. Some firefighters said they never heard the evacuation order. Many described difficulty keeping in touch with commanders or members of their own units.
But the chaos didn't stop rescuers from acting.
Fire Captain Bruce Lindahl recalled realizing, amid all the confusion, that someone needed to put water on the Trade Center's smoldering remains.
EMT Fermin Merrero described walking down the street, treating wounded people as they passed. ``Nobody was in charge,'' he said. ``I know what they teach you at the academy about we're going to triage, we're going to do this, we're going to do that. One thing about it, everybody kept their head. Everybody worked as a team.''
Paramedic Camille Marroncelli said that for many, the decision to keep going in the face of chaos came naturally. ``You react because it's second nature on this job and that's the only reason why people - a lot of people rose to the occasion, because it is second nature,'' Marroncelli said. ``If you stood there and really had to think about what you had to do, you would have been more paralyzed than you were.''
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/14/2005
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#1
Great article, but let's get to what the MSM needs to focus on: The failures of the day were apparent in the transcripts and radio calls
Ordinary Americans at their best.
All of which demonstrates that the TSA is clueless and useless. Passengers should remain prepared to join the 93rd Volunteer Infantry.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The federal agency in charge of aviation security is considering major changes in how it screens airline passengers, including proposals that an official said would lift the ban on carrying razorblades and small knives as well as limit patdown searches.
The Transportation Security Administration will meet later this month to discuss the plan, which is designed to reduce checkpoint hassles for the nation's 2 million passengers. It comes after TSA's new head, Edmund S. ``Kip'' Hawley, called for a broad review in hopes of making airline screening more passenger-friendly.
An initial set of staff recommendations drafted Aug. 5 also proposes that passengers no longer have to routinely remove their shoes during security checks. Instead, only passengers who set off metal detectors, are flagged by a computer screening system or look ``reasonably suspicious'' would be asked to do so, a TSA official said Saturday. Any of the changes proposed by the staff, which also would allow scissors, ice picks and bows and arrows on flights, would require Hawley's approval, this official said, requesting anonymity because there has been no final decision.
Why on earth does anyone need to travel with an ice pick?
``The process is designed to stimulate creative thinking and challenge conventional beliefs,'' said Mark Hatfield, TSA's spokesman. ``In the end, it will allow us to work smarter and better as we secure America's transportation system.''
The Aug. 5 memo recommends reducing patdowns by giving screeners the discretion not to search those wearing tight-fitting clothes. It also suggests exempting several categories of passengers from screening, including federal judges, members of Congress, Cabinet members, state governors, high-ranking military officers and those with high-level security clearances.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/14/2005
00:58 ||
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#1
I bet ol' Teddy Kennedy thinks the exceptions for members of Congress is good news (wasn't he supposedly on some no-fly list?).
I'll just be happy when I can start wearing some other shoes besides flip-flops when I fly.
#2
It dawned on me today as I walked my daughter to the security line, in her flip flops, that we have no known islamic terrorist threat involving females on air transportation. Should we subtley ignore screening females to improve airport security cycle time, and see if the radical islamic assholes can bring themselves to not only involving "chicks" but training them too?
Bet they can't do it!
#3
Personally, if there's trouble I'd just as soon myself and others have their trusty ol' pocketknives handy on any flight. Why disarm the general public when bad guys can sneak on a ceramic knife anytime they want?
#4
Sorry, Capsu78, but the gang o' idiots running Palestine have already convinced some of their stupider broads (yep, using that term because they don't deserve any respect at all IMHO) to load up on the explosives.
How the hell are they supposed to know what clearances I have unless they learn how to read my facility badges, which differ depending on which agency controls the facility I happen to use that badge in.
Other than that, I'm all for the "high security clearance" exemption. I figure with the invesigation, polygraph, etc - Im no threat to anyone on the aircraft except a terrorist, whose neck I will quickly break.
#7
badges, I don't need no stinkin' badges...
but yes we need ice picks, lol
Posted by: Jan ||
08/14/2005 5:38
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#8
I think the rational approach is that each passenger has the ability to be equally equiped. The unofficial SOP is Flight 93. The point is that no one or couple of passengers have better means to inflict injury or wounds than anyother.
"...in April 1986 Nezar Hindawi, a freelance Syrian-funded Jordanian terrorist and would-be agent of Syrian intelligence, sent his pregnant Irish girlfriend on an El Al flight to Israel, promising to meet her there to be married. Unknown to her, however, Hindawi had hidden a bomb (provided by the Abu Nidal Organization (ANO)) in a false bottom to her hand luggage. His attempt to bomb the airliner in midair by duping his pregnant girlfriend was thwarted when the bomb was discovered by Heathrow security personnel."
This is the reason the professional security outfits - the Israelis - look at profiles beyond the young male Arab profile. The Israelis don't just search people by the way, they interview people before flights looking for these sorts of connections. Profiling is useful, but there is more than one profile to look for.
#12
Incidently, the pregnant girl was carrying Hindawi's child. The report cites some psychologist as labeling Hindawi "psychopathic". What a hoot. You can tell this report was written in the naive days of 1999 before psychopathic behavior was realized - by Rantburgers at least - to be a norm in the Middle East.
WASHINGTON (AP) - For the second time since the Iraq war began, the Pentagon is replacing body armor for U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, citing a need for better protection that can withstand the strongest of attacks from insurgents, a spokesman said Saturday.
The effort, which began more than a year ago, would upgrade the protection used by more than 500,000 soldiers as well as civilian employees and news reporters. The first upgrade installed ceramic protective plates in the vests and was completed in early 2004.
Defense officials acknowledge the replacement processes have been slowed in part by debates over what is best for the troops. The current replacement is expected to take several more months to complete, said an Army official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of information affecting troop safety.
Pentagon spokesman Paul Boyce said Saturday, ``Obviously, the body armor is manufactured and tested to exceptionally high standards. This is not the type of technology that is readily available from a local hardware store. It's very exact.
``But as new technologies emerge, the Army works aggressively with the commercial industry to develop, test and produce the best possible equipment for our soldiers. Members of Congress have been briefed, and they have been fully supportive,'' he said of the latest replacement effort.
Maj. Gen. William D. Catto, head of the Marine Corps Systems Command, said he wasn't happy about the yearlong delay to replace the armor, noting that if defense officials had the capability, they would upgrade the protective garb right away. But he blamed the delay partly on a shortage of the raw material that is needed to strengthen the plates.
The new armor weighs about 18 pounds, about one pound heavier than the original plates, and consists of thicker plates that could shield soldiers against stronger attacks, according to the Army official. The heavier weight was one factor that hindered a quicker change, the official said, pointing to concerns that soldiers might not be able to move swiftly in the face of an attack. The official declined to release additional information or specifics about how much armor had already been shipped to Iraq.
The New York Times first reported the Pentagon's efforts Saturday on its Web site. It said upgrades will cost at least $160 million. The Times said it withheld details of which insurgent munitions are able to pierce the older body armor to protect troops still using it in the field.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/14/2005
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The Times said it withheld details of which insurgent munitions are able to pierce the older body armor to protect troops still using it in the field.
Well, that would be a fucking first for the NYT by NOT printing stuff that is harmful to the troops.
#3
The Times said it withheld details of which insurgent munitions are able to pierce the older body armor to protect troops still using it in the field.
I agree it is strange, but don't worry - it'll leak out.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/14/2005 10:49
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#4
You have to subscribe to the premium service to get it.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/14/2005 11:15
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#5
Saw some video of troops with kevlar shoulder protection. Seems like a good idea, especially for vehicle mounted gunners.
Posted by: ed ||
08/14/2005 11:45
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#6
Saw some video of troops with kevlar shoulder protection. Seems like a good idea, especially for vehicle mounted gunners.
Whatever happened to those "Ball Turrets" that WWII planes had? Seems like a good idea to equip tanks with those. Maybe heavy hinges one one side to escape and a ring collar of armor to cover the turn mechanism.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/14/2005 14:04
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#7
Ball turrets were a claustrophic purple heart box. We have enough technology to do something else.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/14/2005 16:16
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#8
claustrophobic.....excuse me.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/14/2005 16:16
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#9
I didn't comment on the Times' last statement about withholding information, comfortably certain that our regulars wouldn't fail me :-)
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/14/2005 18:30
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More evidence that the SKors should be left to their own devices.
SEOUL - A North Korean delegation arrived in the South on Sunday for joint celebrations of the 60th anniversary of independence from Japanese colonial rule despite the unresolved crisis over Pyongyangâs nuclear plans. The four-day event highlights renewed exchanges between the two Koreas and comes during a recess in inconclusive six-party talks aimed at ending the Northâs nuclear ambitions.
Two North Korean passenger jets flew from Pyongyang to Inchon, near Seoul, carrying 182 delegates led by senior communist party official Kim Ki-nam. Security was heavy at Inchon International Airport, but the North Koreans, wearing badges depicting North Korean leader Kim Il-sung, passed through the terminal in smiles and were warmly greeted by welcoming South Koreans.
South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon has said Seoul planned to hold discussions with visiting officials to help negotiate an agreement when the six-party nuclear talks resume.
The North Korean officials were scheduled to visit the Southâs national cemetery during their visit where many of the remains of South Koreaâs war veterans are buried. The unprecedented visit to the national cemetery is seen by Seoul as a new turn in the two Koreasâ relations. âThere is a great historic significance in this since it marks the beginning of a process of healing the pain of an unfortunate past of division and national struggle,â South Korean Vice Unification Minister Rhee Bong-jo said on Friday.
Conservative South Korean groups however said they planned to disrupt some of the events, including the national cemetery visit.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/14/2005
00:52 ||
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Well, we really should get rid of the biggest obstacle to reunification. Namely, the US Forces stationed there.
I know the guys will really miss the kimchee if we bring them home, but I think they'll adjust nicely.
SRINAGAR â Two Muslim militant groups in Indian Kashmir have rejected a call by the regionâs top woman politician for a truce, saying their âjihadâ would continue until the Indians kill them the region was wrested from India.
The Himalayan regionâs top woman politician appealed to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday to help bring peace to the revolt-hit region by persuading Islamic militants to declare a ceasefire. âEncourage them to announce a ceasefire,â Mehbooba Mufti urged Musharraf. âPeople in Kashmir want peace, not violence.â
But the regionâs most powerful group, Hizbul Mujahideen, said it would not agree to any ceasefire in the 16-year-old insurgency against New Delhiâs rule. âThe jihad will continue until Kashmir is liberated from India,â Hizbulâs spokesman and Kashmir-based field commander Junaid-ul-Islam was quoted by a local news agency as saying late on Friday.
"A truce would be un-Islamic!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/14/2005
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MANAMAâ Sixty-four woman candidates officially announced their participation in Bahrain's municipal council and parliamentary elections next year.
The announcement was made by the Supreme Council for Women (SCW) to mark the beginning of a $600,000 programme to empower women politically. The programme, in association with the United Nations, aims to enhance the political and leadership skills of candidates and prepare them to face competition.
Women will undergo a series of training and improvement courses as well as be informed on the political history of Bahrain and the Arab world and the purposes and missions of the municipal councils and the Chamber of Deputies.
And the inappropriateness of their candidacies.
The programme comes in line with Bahrain's gender equality that is highlighted in the constitution. It is also part of the SCW's keenness to empower women in different areas.
The programme aims at motivating women to play an active role in the decision-making and support candidates to fulfil their dreams of winning seats at the municipal councils and the Chamber. It also stresses the importance of enhancing women's involvement in development and changing social misconceptions about women.
The programme will continue until 2010 to motivate women to stand for elections and the public to vote for them. It will be run in association with civic organisations and international establishments concern about empowering women politically. Training in the constitution and election principles, the duties of candidates and the balance between family obligations and political work will be offered as well as time management and communication skills. Candidates will also be informed about important skills required to find sponsors for their election campaigns, fostering teamwork and interacting with the public.
Learning to take bribes, learning to stay bought, ...
"We are looking forward to the coming elections but we fear that women will meet with the same fate of the 2002 elections," SCW's general secretary Lulwa Al Awadi said.
Hey, they did better than the Democratic Senatorial candidates ...
She said the influence of Islamic societies might curb the winning chances of female candidates, especially that the public values their opinions. She said Al Menbar Islamic Society's decision to include two female candidates in its electoral list came as an encouragement to all candidates.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/14/2005
00:42 ||
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JEDDAH â A mother and her 17-year-old daughter fought over a groom, with the former winning the argument and the young man.
Lucky for both of them that the woman's 9-year old didn't intervene.
The quarrel started between the mother and the daughter after a young man came to ask for the daughterâs hand in marriage and later changed his mind in favour of the mother instead, according to a report in Al Madinah Arabic daily on Thursday.
When he sat âinterviewingâ her, he was so impressed by the beauty of the mother that he immediately changed his mind and asked the mother for her hand in marriage. The daughter got upset and demanded that her mother refuse the man because he had originally come for her. The mother, however, told her daughter to look for someone else.
"Take a jump, missy, he's mine!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/14/2005
00:33 ||
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#7
Didn't Jack Nicholson end up with Diane Keaton instead of Amanda Peet with a story very similar to this on "Something's Gotta Give".
This happened in real life? wow.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/14/2005 5:29
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#8
Quite likely the mother's clan is more powerful or better connected than the daughter's deceased father's clan.
Posted by: leader of the pack ||
08/14/2005 7:29
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#9
Don't you get it? This way he gets to have the mother and [his new] daughter.....
From Compass Direct, following up an earlier article.
Hostile spectators filled a courtroom in West Java, Indonesia on July 28 as the fifth hearing in a controversial trial against three Christian women began. The women were accused of attempting to convert Muslim children through a Christian education program. Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun insisted in court that the children had attended the classes with their parentsâ consent.
At the close of the hearing, the lead prosecutor announced that the case would be transferred to the High Court. This move could considerably lengthen the trial process. The judge has scheduled the next hearing for August 11.
During court proceedings, the prosecutor questioned the women about the activities and materials used in their âHappy Sundayâ classes for children from Babakan Jati elementary school. Bangun explained that the children prayed, read the Bible, sang and sometimes colored pictures. In response, Judge Hasby J. Tholib said the women should never have allowed Muslim children to attend the program. The three women are formally charged with breaching Indonesiaâs Child Protection Act.
Bangun and Zakaria replied that they had been completely honest with the parents of children attending the program, and that there was no hidden agenda. .... Muslim hecklers in the courtroom shouted, âLiar! Liar!â ....
The women launched the Minggu Ceria (Happy Sunday) program on Sept. 9, 2003, providing education for 10 Christian children. Within weeks, several Muslim children had asked to join the program. Zakaria said that the Muslim children attended with the verbal consent of their parents, and that most of the children had photos taken with their parents for church records.
When Muslim leaders lodged an official complaint, however, these parents refused to testify in support of the women. A source who prefers to remain anonymous told Compass, âNone of them dare to come forward to say that they personally allowed their children to attend the program out of fear from their own Muslim brethren, especially now that the trial has started.â
The morning of the most recent hearing, two truckloads of Muslim youth arrived. As the women left the courtroom, according to one observer, the youths shouted insults at them and called for the judge not to be âfooledâ by their testimony. Four truckloads of Muslim youth were also present at the first hearing on June 30. Students from a nearby Islamic boarding school stood in front of the courtroom shouting âAllahu akbar! (God is great!)â and âDeath to Christianity!â They also demanded a guilty verdict and the maximum penalty for the accused.
That's the kind of 'discussion' I was expecting ...
Anyone found guilty of attempting to convert children under the Child Protection Act of 2002 may be imprisoned for up to five years, and/or fined up to 100 million rupiah ($10,226) .... West Java is known as a staunchly Muslim province. Christian communities are often refused permits to build churches or to worship in rented facilities -- and therefore meet together in private homes. Muslim leaders have forced many of these âhouse fellowshipsâ -- including the GKKD church run by Zakaria -- to close. Just last week, Muslim leaders forced six house churches in the sub-district of Cimahi, West Java, to cease meeting for worship. ....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
08/14/2005
00:20 ||
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A PROMINENT London-based Saudi dissident, Muhammed al-Massari, is running a website that features a guide to urban warfare for potential terrorists. In a series of video and audio clips, the Beginnerâs Guide for Mujahed gives detailed advice on physical training, the surveillance of enemy targets and operational tactics. It features footage of an Arab instructor who recommends would-be holy warriors to invest in a knife for self-defence, saying: âOf course, this knife is mainly for stabbing and is not suitable or good for beheadings.â Referring to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al-Qaedaâs leader in Iraq whose followers murdered the British hostage Ken Bigley by slitting his throat, the instructor adds: âAs far as beheadings are concerned, we ask our brothers to seek Abu Musabâs advice on this issue as he has more experience in this.â
Another section focuses on the use of binoculars and night vision equipment for the surveillance of âhuman enemy or enemy targets or vehiclesâ. The instructor implores Allah to âgrant his mujaheddin victory over . . . the Jews, the Americans and the apostatesâ.
An audio segment of the course posted on the websiteâs discussion forum advises that urban warfare is best conducted by several terrorist cells that may share a leader but should remain unknown to each other in case members are captured. One cell should stake out a target, another should acquire military equipment or explosives, and a third should actually mount the attack.
Massariâs website, www.tajdeed.net, also hosts a Hollywood-style film presenting a gory âtop 10â of attacks by insurgents on westerners in Iraq and provides helpful tips for fighters trying to gain entry to the country. A fatwa by Massari supporting âmartyrdom operationsâ, which was originally posted on his website in 2002, was still accessible last week. Last November The Sunday Times revealed that footage of a suicide attack on a Black Watch patrol in Iraq had been posted on the tajdeed forum. The story sparked an investigation by anti-terrorist police who seized computer equipment and hard drives in a raid on properties linked to the Saudi dissident.
Analysts believe the forum is one of a handful regularly used by jihadis to exchange information and for the recruitment of potential terrorists. âMuhammed al-Massari has been ahead of the curve in what we now call the electronic jihad,â said Rebecca Givner-Forbes, an analyst at the Terrorism Research Center in Virginia, a security consultancy that advises the United States government. âThere are six or seven jihadi websites which are what I call the âin crowdâ sites,â she added. âMassariâs site runs a message board that is definitely on that list.â The 58-year-old Saudi exile, who lives in Wembley, north London, arrived in Britain in 1994 and has continuously campaigned for the replacement of the Saudi royal family by an Islamic regime.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2005
00:10 ||
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#1
Crap! Some of the stuff is identical to al-Qaeda/Taliban material that I downloaded from qoqaz.net, prior to 9-11. I advocate shooting all West based terrorists, terror financiers and accessories on sight. Last I heard, one in sixteen UK Muslims supports the 7-7 massacre. Someone take a frigging hint.
Also, I can't post these articles with my piece-of-junk - AKA: Mac - borrowed computer;
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15032453&BRD=2038&PAG=740&dept_id=226956&rfi=6
The Dems are getting good at partisan bi-partisanship. "Political" solution? Just like the "Paris Peace (sic) Talks."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/236034_mosque.html
What! Did a dope-cloud from Alaska drop on Seattle?
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler ||
08/14/2005 1:01
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#2
Do not pass go, do not collect $200.00. Go directly to jail.
What a crime that they are only now learning of this activity, or acting on it which is worse.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/14/2005 5:24
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#3
I think I saw this guy awhile back on some news blurb.He operates out of what amounts to a one room tenament.
American troops in Iraq face an insurgency whose limitless supply of weapons is forcing an unremitting bloodbath with no end in sight, U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch warned yesterday as he wrapped up a five- day visit to Iraq. "Saddam (Hussein) has spent the last forty years stockpiling weapons here," Lynch (D-South Boston) said in a phone interview from Ramstein Air Base in Germany. "The volume of Muslim fighters who are being urged to wage war against American troops that are on the ground in Iraq is basically inexhaustible." Strategic Problem #1: neither the White House, nor the House of Representatives nor the State Department nor Defense authorities, are willing to put an ideological tag on the enemy. The term Islamofascism that is used widely at Rantburg, has no currency in US government circles. One consequence is that Muslim leaders still attack the treatment of Gitmo and Abu Ghraib terrorists, as acts in defense of Muslims. But, if they are "Muslims" then is their terror, "Islamic"? CAIR, ISNA, AMC etc need to be forced to declare Muslim terrorists as apostate (murtad kaffir), under penalty of losing status as political-religious groups. Frankly, I support a shoot-on-sight policy viz all proven - in secret legal forums - terrorists, financiers and accessories.
Because Iraq's borders cannot be secured, any resolution to the conflict has to be a "political, not military" solution, said Lynch, who will meet with reporters to discuss his trip at his South Boston home tonight. "Political"! Like the Paris Peace (sic) talks with the Vietcong? The solution is: military. Iraqization will work to some extent, especially where US air services supplement ground work. One earlier tactical change - "reactive" to "pro-active" patrol tactics - that was implemented in Nov. 2003, reduced US casualties by 70% (from one month to the next), and put the enemy on the defensive. I favor immediate implementation of: disproportionate retaliation. In my opinion, it is the lack of a meaningful - ie: deadly - response to terror that fuels Islamofascist aggression, more than Iraqi reaction to native combat deaths. "Wahabi" is becoming Iraqi for "shit."
Lynch met with more than 30 Massachusetts residents serving in Iraq, visited wounded soldiers, met with military commanders in Baghdad and visited two U.S. Marine bases - at Al Qiam along the Syrian border and Balad in northern Iraq. Dems are getting good at partisan' bi-partisanship.
Asked what he would tell the parents of Massachusetts soldiers waiting anxiously at home, Lynch said: "I would tell the parents of those young men and women that, in my opinion, they are the very best Americans and how tremendously proud I am of their willingness to stand up for their country and to try to liberate that country."
A wounded soldier from Fall River, thrown from his vehicle and wounded after riding over a double-stacked anti-tank mine, was just one of many soldiers who were anxious to get back to fighting, Lynch said.
"The morale here, I think, ranged from between very, very good to excellent," Lynch said. "I found one of our Marines who had part of his left foot amputated who requested we assist him in getting back to his unit." Great! But morale could slip unless military resources are better directed at achieving their noble objectives.
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler ||
08/14/2005
00:08 ||
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#1
my opinion, it is the lack of a meaningful - ie: deadly - response to terror that fuels Islamofascist aggression
Russia's Chechnya policy isn't enough proof that this tactic ain't working ?
The reality is that we are in a 20-30+ year war. It will be fought in a variety of places and with a variety of means, none of which can fully be predicted at this point.
Lynch is right in tht sense. There WILL be a long military conflict. The only question is how much of it will occur in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Consider, for instance, the reports that Carlos the Jackal and also a major Mexican revolutionary leader have converted to Islam. We talk here about the alliance between the far left and Islamacists but my guess is that that alliance will rapidly evolve beyond rhetoric into a military / terror network partnership.
Those who realize the dangers of Islamacism and appeasement - including most Rantburg readers - need to understand that there is no quick fix to this. Nuking this or that city, a Russian-style clampdown a la Chechnya ... none of this is going to put a decisive end to the threat. There will be times when tactics are used - look at the operation to wipe out the Afghan warlord whose fighters killed the SEALs. But that's tactical, not a strategy.
One reason I push back against extreme calls for nuking this or that muslim city is that we have GOT to realize that we will need determination and endurance to win this war. There will be no quick fixes to Islamacism or to the security threats posed by major geopolitical changes going on right not.
And retreating behind a barrier at our borders won't work either. This is going to be a long, painful, difficult and uncertain war, folks. We can win it, but only if we realize what we're up against.
Posted by: leader of the pack ||
08/14/2005 8:08
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#3
The supply of cannon fodder is endless? Then why is the "quality" of boomers going down? The use of the afflicted (Downs Syndrome) and even donkeys and dogs speaks to a SHORTAGE of cannon fodder class minions.
Posted by: Dave ||
08/14/2005 8:08
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#4
Russia's Chechnya policy isn't enough proof that this tactic ain't working ?
Your brilliant comparision works only if you ignore the emnity existing between Russia and Checnya, dating back to the days of the Czars 150 years or so.
#5
Let us take a lesson from this. A US government employee is basically saying the US will lose this war. The press in their never ending quest to help kill Americans, gleefully reports this nugget while faithfully ignoring the good news in Iraq.
Now, if you are a terrorist in Iraq and you hear this, this is all you need to have to go to your contributors to ask for more explosives and fighters, because a US congressman says terrorism is winning.
To me, that is prima facie evidence of a person who is not with the military folks he just spoke with, inasmuch as the same people he spoke with have themselves on the line to advance the cause of freedom.
Can this congressman be reliably considered to be a patriot if he publically announces his own nation is losing a war?
I don't think so, and in fact this congressman is a defeatist: someone who would rather indicate to the world he thinks they are losing, than to ask the obvious question if you are truley supporting your own country in time of war, what do you need to win?
We killed traitors after WWII for broadcasting enemy propaganda. What is different from what this congressman is doing?
#6
Not sure about the "no quick fixes" there LOTP. How about this set of events;
1) The republic of Eastern Arabia is set up (40km in the Eastern part of SA) and the oil there managed by a pro-Western, non-religious government. The Saudi oil-ticks are then bereft of cash and cannot fund terror organisations around the world. .com's idea and he's written on it in the past.
2) The blockading of all Iranian oil and an ultimatum issued 'step out of line and you're history' (actually the way things are going, this might well happen anyhow)
3) Mass deportation of Muslims to recognisable Muslim countries (this has the added bonus of showing up Multi-Culturalism as the evil sham that it is)
4) Splitting Iraq into three countries - Kurdish north, Shia South and Sunni in the middle. The North and South get large amounts of oil, and the Sunni in the middle get a little too (see the maps .com posted a few days ago)
Essentially - cut off the supply of money, isolate those people who want to live in a 7th century 'paradise' into a place where they can't hurt the outside world and then watch the whole house of cards come tumbling down. Harsh? maybe, but what's the alternative? a 20-30 year war that might be withdraw from at any time by the election of a US president that doesn't have the cojones that Bush has? Or a 20 minute war that sees much of the Muslim world a radioactive ruin?
The problem is that for those events to come into play, the West is going to have to be hit -badly- by the Islamists. If that hit is nuclear, then the genie really is out of the bottle and noone (except Bush) knows what happens next.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/14/2005 8:39
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#7
I agree that this is going to be a protracted battle and that nuking the world's bad guys won't fix it. Blockades are a declaration of war and also at this point in time blockading Iran's oil fields wouldn't be tolerated by China who at that point may decide it's a good time to take back Taiwan while we're busy in a bloodbath in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Afghanistan and God knows where else.
The ultimate answer to the whole quandry is to starve them all out though. We need a Manhatten type project to develop another form of energy. Oil drives the Mid-east. Get rid of the need for oil and the whole area again becomes a non-entity that we can destroy as we please. In the long run that's the only ultimate answer to our present problems because as long as the world is dependent on mid-east oil we really can't deal with them to forcefully.
#8
Lyot -#1 my opinion, it is the lack of a meaningful - ie: deadly - response to terror that fuels Islamofascist aggression
Russia's Chechnya policy isn't enough proof that this tactic ain't working ?
So explain Afghanistan were the Russians lost and where American and multi-alliance sponsored democracy is now taking hold?
This is a war of cultures. All the Islamics have is numbers, just as the American Indian outnumbered the early British colonist on North America. It took a long time, but the 'West' was consolidated. There was no single 'final solution' forcused, organized or planned by the migrants from Europe. It was a long series of relatively small disassociated conflicts. Each side won some, lost some. Americans lost soldiers and settlers all the time to native attacks and ambushes which didn't cause a flinch in the well to do salon's of New York or Philidelphia, though it did generate 'humanitarian' outcries by the same when the Army executed the policies of the elected government in Washington. Sympathy was abundent for the 'distant' noble savage, who would just as likely make territorial displays of war against their neighboring clan as the white man. Not much really changes in human behavior over 4000 years of history, just the name of the players.
#9
Russia's Chechnya policy isn't enough proof that this tactic ain't working ?
Russia's problem with Chechnya isn't that violence doesn't work to combat terrorism, but that the violence has to be applied in a controlled and competent manner. The Russian military is primitive in both organization and tactics. Their once-feared intelligence services are ineffective. If they had effective intelligence driving their military, the Chechen war would be over by now.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2005 10:01
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#10
we have GOT to realize that we will need determination and endurance to win this war.
Did we ever realize we needed to have determination and endurance to win the Cold War? Perhaps at first. But by 1965 at the latest, we had settled into "peaceful" co-existance. By then no one any longer realized we needed determination and endurance, they just accepted the continued existence of the Soviet Union as "the way it is." I suspect this is how the current conflict will evolve, until they will have so weakened themselves that they collapse because of their internal contradicitions. They cannot win this war. We can only lose it. And useful fifth columnist idiots like Lynch are trying, howerver unwittingly, to do just that.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/14/2005 10:05
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#11
They cannot win this war. We can only lose it.
#12
Did we ever realize we needed to have determination and endurance to win the Cold War? Perhaps at first. But by 1965 at the latest, we had settled into "peaceful" co-existance. By then no one any longer realized we needed determination and endurance, they just accepted the continued existence of the Soviet Union as "the way it is."
Until Reagan. Who did NOT accept that existence "the way it was" and did something about it. The Soviet Union did not simply fade away -- it collapsed under the pressure of military R&D and spending.
Posted by: leader of the pack ||
08/14/2005 10:38
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#13
And may I remind us all that Reagan's determination and endurance was required, because people here and in Europe regarded him as Satan, an irresponsible bully?
But that said, I agree with you Mrs. D., that this will be won in a series of encounters that will stretch on for some time and - barring some horrific miscalculation by the Islamacists - will have no single definitive battle and victory.
Posted by: leader of the pack ||
08/14/2005 10:43
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#14
He's from Massachusetts, for heaven's sake; Boston, no less!
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/14/2005 10:47
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#15
good point Bobby. Take this as seriously as Sheila "we landed men on Mars" Jackson Lee or Cynthia McKinney discussing foreign policy and the military
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/14/2005 11:16
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#16
LOTP, Agreed and I do not diminish Reagan's impact, but it was an impact on Soviet elites effected in spite of the resistance from western elites. It relied primarily on the internal degeneration of the Soviet system, a house of cards ready to fall from the pushes of a man, a woman and a Pope. We endured by outlasing them. Again an example of not one side winning, but the other losing.
A long fight it will be, but after having survived a real threat from the Soviets and their fellow travellers, I am confident we have the strength to outlast these pikers. I just don't know if I'll live long enough to see this wall come down. Or to find out what the next wall will be.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/14/2005 11:26
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#17
Stalin had no problem nipping the Chechen rebellion in the bud with a combination of ultra-violence and mass deportation to Siberia.
Posted by: ed ||
08/14/2005 11:28
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#18
Central Asia, not Siberia.
Posted by: ed ||
08/14/2005 11:30
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#19
We should not concede the proposition that there are infinite jihadis with infinite weapons so therefore we might as well give up, which is what Rep. Lynch seems to be saying. This has been an Islamist theme from the beginning ("We're willing to die but you life-loving westerners aren't.") If there were an infinite number of fearess jihadis Israel would have been pushed into the Mediterraneum sixty years ago, the Taliban would still be in power, and the "insurgents" wouldn't wear track shoes.
Nor should we assume that the parents of the young jihadis don't feel grief when they hear that Mahmoud Jr. briefly occupied the same space as chain-shot from a Bradley's main gun. Their losses are every bit as painful to them as ours are to us.
What we have here is a case of mini-hysteria brought on by the loss of the Marine AAV in Iraq and the Special Forces losses in Afghanistan, combined with the enemy's Number One Force Multiplier, our own media. Our army in Iraq is arguably the best ever fielded by anyone in any conflict. If we stay the course and let them do their job, we will defeat the enemy on the ground.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/14/2005 12:50
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#20
..any resolution to the conflict has to be a "political, not military" solution.
Well no shit Congressman. Political resolution is what we have been working towards for the last 2 years. But, you can't get to the political resolution without the military victory. The former without the later is just stage-managed surrender and of no use to us. Thanks for the puppet show Congressman. Like Kermit, you have no spine.
Ah yes. Again with the canard support the troops, but not the mission. Nice riff on the theme Congressman. And just what does it mean Congressman, when after 2 years of battle, the troops have good morale. It does not mean they are getting three square meals a day and 8 hours sleep at night, it means they are confident in their ability to kick the snot out of the enemy in any situation. Take a hint from the troops Congressman and not your hand-wringing constituents, they expect and are confident of victory. You have failed the test of leadership Congressman - your resolve has been duly noted and held in contempt.
#21
The way to win the war is to stop the money flowing to the Jihadists, the Madarassas. We in the civilized world, and I am not ethnocentric on the term, are financing our destruction with Petrodollars, petroeuros, that we work hard for and give to the oil ticks.
Look at Saudi Arabia. The so-called princes are getting wealthier and the per-capita income of the just-plain-joe Saudis is seriously decreasing. Unemployment among the young adults is 25% or so. This is a recipe for disaster in SA.
So the issue is how to deny the Saudi princes the money, or to ahem show the errant princes the errors of their ways. That is the big issue. I make no effort to minimize the valiant efforts of our military, but everything else is treating the symptoms. My tuppence worth.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/14/2005 15:59
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#22
The way to win the war is to stop the money flowing to the Jihadists, the Madarassas.
#23
anon---Massachussets politicians are closet jihadists wannabes. It is implied that their money gets cut off, LOL!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/14/2005 18:05
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#24
"-Massachussets politicians are closet..."
20 years ago, it was the NORAID supporting IRA.
Besides, to be Frank, some Massachusetts' politicians have been out of the closet for some time now.
Posted by: Dave ||
08/14/2005 18:26
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#25
The target is AMERICA, the objective is PC destabilizing and forcing/suborning America unto SOCIALISM and ultim COMMUNISM - the Burqua Boyz are just a DIVERSION, albeit violent. Remember, the Comie Clinton-led Dems are using the alleged arrogant, "Fascist" GOP-Right to conquer and dev GLOBAL EMPIRE WHILE RUSSIA-CHINA MODERNIZE VIA CONTROLLED OR LIMITED STATE CAPITALISM. As the alternate or antithesis to FASCIST SOCIALISM IS COMMUNIST SOCIALISM, I have no doubts Hillary and the Dems are waiting for new devastating terror attacks to occur ags America, Dubya, and GOP-dominated Washington, the US Congress and US Govt., thus justifying stronger and stronger, more militarized and centralized, aka COMMUNIST-STYLE, Govt- and National-State Controls.
"FASCISM" per se is gen considered by most academics/intelligentsia as an AUTHORITARIAN IDEOLOGY - any US-specific, CASUALTY-INTENSIVE [CIVILIAN] terror attack(s), espec where there are high civilian casualties + many domestic Political casualties, will be argued as requiring SUPER/EXTRA-AUTHORITARIAN NATION-WIDE MEASURES, which fits right up Communism's alley as an ideology of despotic, ultra-LeftConservative, Super-Regulatory ideo. Eight years of Clintonism absolutely justified Leftism-Socialism once, before, and forever, and SSSSSSSSSSSSHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, ultra-Left Communism also, as far as the power-mad Lefties are concerned, and regardless of defect or delusion. You can see it already on the programs of Amerikan SSR/USR Stae BUreau known as HOLLYWOOD AND BIG TV - with their "Reality Shows" and Commercials hinting or depicting ALTERNATE LIFESTYLES: Gay-Lesbian, wife/hubby-swapping, Group Sex, conspiring women, illegitimate birthrights, etc. THE LEFT'S MESSAGE IS NOT "TOLERANCE" OR "DIVERSITY", BUT THAT NO ONE CAN BE TRUSTED FOR ANYTHING, ERGO SSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH, THE NEED FOR GOVT-CONTROLLED REGULATION AND MORE REGULATION, BIGGER BIG GOVT., and ultim TO PAY MORE TAXES TO THE STATE. NEVER MIND WHAT THE REP SAYS - THE THREAT TO AMERICA IS "CREEPING SOCIALISM/COMMUNISM", i.e. STATE REGULATION AND CENTRALISM, AND ITS NOT A "NEVENDUM" CAUSE THE LEFTIES ARE GIVING AMERICA UNTIL 2015-2020 TO ACCEPT SOCIALISM AND SWO/CWO! AFTER 2015-2020, THEY RESERVE THE RIGHT TO USE FORCE AND VIOLENCE EN MASSE TO [MILITARILY]DESTROY AMERICA FOREVER! WE ARE IN WW3, WE ARE IN COMMUNISM'S "FINAL CONFLICT" - BY PEACE OR WAR, AMERICA IS INTENDED TO LOSE, NEVER TO RISE AGAIN! THE FAILED/ANGRY LEFT WILL NOT ACCEPT AMERICA NOT WAGING WAR FOR GLOBAL EMPIRE - IFF AMERICA DOES NOT ATTACK, AMERICA WILL BE ATTACKED: Now you know why belligerent IRAN and NORTH KOREA: Iran = Norkies, etc. = 300K-500K US troops to invade and occupy, at risk of nuclearized, PC, "People's War" = Martial Law America = Socialist-Commie America; New 9-11's = only Communist, NOT "Fascist" domestic Regulation, and OWG, can save America from itself and new attacks. THE COMMIES AND CHICOMS HAVE NO QUALMS DESTROYING THE WORLD VIA NUKE WAR IF IT MEANS THEIR POWER - DO YOU AMERICANS OF THE CLINTONS' FUTURE USSA, A SOCIALIST SUBSIDIARY-SSR OF THE FUTURE OWG???
The case of Omar Bakri is a damning case-study of the apparent inability of Britain's politicians to deal with the danger posed by Islamic terrorism. Bakri arrived here in 1985 claiming asylum. He has lived on benefits ever since, fathering seven children, preaching hatred of Britain, and reportedly applauding terrorism and mass murder. Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, now says that his presence is "not conducive to the public good" - a statement of the obvious, if ever there was one - but it is still not clear that the Home Secretary can stop Bakri returning here from his "holiday" in Lebanon. Human rights lawyers insist that Bakri has the entitlement, under the Human Rights Act, both to continued asylum in the UK, and to "reunion" with his family here. The case has descended into farce. But the issues at stake are deadly serious.
That the Government may be forced to take back a man known to foment hatred and violence is a depressing testament to the extent to which it is unable to discharge its most fundamental duty - which is not to enforce the European Convention on Human Rights, but to protect British citizens from threats to their lives and liberty. The Government insists that the judges are responsible for that situation. But while some senior judges have indeed interpreted legislation perversely, the Government itself has consistently failed to enforce the laws which already give it the power to deal effectively with men such as Bakri.
The fundamental problem is actually one of political will, rather than law. Abu Qatada, who has an even worse record than Bakri, is now known to be among the 10 foreign nationals Mr Clarke proposes to deport. But the fact that he has been here for so long is hugely embarrasing evidence of the extent to which ministers have dragged their heels. For years, the Jordanian government has been patiently requesting the extradition of Abu Qatada. Although the evidence that he was involved in terrorism was well-known, the Government's response was a contemptuous dismissal of all those requests.
Vicious and callous apologists for terrorism such as Abu Qatada have in practice been granted protected status in Britain - to the consternation not only of Middle Eastern states such as Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, but also of our European allies, such as France and Germany. Contrary to the legal myth nurtured by ministers, there is no insuperable barrier to deportation formed by human rights legislation. France, Italy and Spain are all signatories to the Human Rights Convention, with judges as eager to demonstrate their independence from the elected government as ours. Yet they have all sent men they believed to be terrorists back to countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco. They have not been intimidated by fear of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. There is no reason why we should not be similarly robust. In this case, at least, there is much we can learn from our EU partners.
Posted by: Fred ||
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At least one man was killed and more than 50 injured after about a dozen homemade bombs exploded at a packed shrine in eastern Bangladesh, police said. `The explosions occurred late on Friday at Akhaura in Brahmmanbaria district, 80km east of the capital, Dhaka, as people were taking part in an annual festival, area police chief ATM Tareq said.
An unidentified man died instantly during the attack at the Hazrat Shah Syed Ahammed shrine, Tareq said. About 40 of the injured were being treated in hospitals while another 10 were released after receiving first aid. Police and residents said thousands of visitors, including women and children, attend the festival and a week-long fair each year. The reason behind Friday's attack was not immediately clear. "We need a detailed investigation to find out the actual reason," Tareq said. In 2004, bomb attacks at Bangladesh's shrines separately killed about a dozen people.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
You might try "It's sectarian in nature." That might be a good guess.
Iraqi leaders, under intense US pressure, have reached tentative agreements on oil wealth distribution, perhaps the most divisive issue among for the country's ethnic and religious groups. Panelists finalising Iraq's constitution said on Saturday a deal had been struck to share the world's second largest known oil reserves, which are concentrated in the Kurdish controlled north and largely Shia south. "An in principle agreement has been reached late yesterday that Iraq's oil revenues will be shared between the Shia, the Kurds and the Sunnis," Sunni panelist Saleh al-Mutlaq said.
Many Sunnis fear that if Iraq adopts a federal structure, the country's oil wealth will be divided up between the Kurdish and Shia regions, leaving them with nothing. But Mutlaq explained that while a percentage of oil revenue would go to the federal government, the rest would be distributed centrally to each governorate according to its population size. "All the groups have agreed on this," said Mutlaq, one of the representatives on the 71-member constitution committee struggling to draw up a draft charter before Monday's deadline. Some reports indicated the federal government of each oil producing region would take a revenue share of about 5%, with the rest going to Baghdad for nationwide distribution.
A Kurdish member of the panel expressed caution over interpreting the apparent consensus as an end to problems over the division of Iraq's oil wealth. "The Sunnis have still not agreed to any of the main points ... but even if there is no agreement from them, the draft can still be passed in the National Assembly," Kurdish National Assembly member Mahmud Othman said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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I'm suspicious of that 5% figure. A 50:50 split would make sense and I'm willing to bet that is what has been agreed.
KARACHI: Maulana Abdul Karim Naqashbandi, a candidate for union council nazim in the local elections and a central leader of the Sunni Tehreek (ST), was shot dead and his friend and a passerby injured in Moosa Lane, Baghdadi, on Saturday.
Gee. I'm sorry to hear that. What happened?
Naqashbandi, 35, was a candidate for nazim in UC 2 of Lyari Town from the Insan Dost panel supported by the Sunni Tehreek. He was on a motorcycle with Maulana Riaz when unidentified assailants on a motorcycle opened fire at them on Haji Ismail Road. Naqashbandi was shot multiple times and died at the scene. Riaz and a pedestrian were shot and injured. The area was tense after the incident and shops and markets were closed. No violence was reported in the area.
Other than the murder, of course...
The police and Rangers are patrolling the area to maintain law and order.
Posted by: Fred ||
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In the West Bank, dozens of members of Abbas' Fatah faction, some of them armed, stormed into a government building on Saturday to demand jobs, witnesses said. The incident in the town of Qalqilya was another sign of growing lawlessness and frustration at the lack of economic opportunities in the Palestinian territories. "We belong to Fatah. We ask you to leave your offices. The offices will be closed until our demands for employment are met. Our protest is peaceful so far," one of the Fatah members told the employees, who complied immediately.
The Fatah men then closed the offices with chains and locks and departed, leaving several members of the group behind to guard the building. Police did not intervene. Abbas was elected in January to replace the late Yasser Arafat. He promised during the presidential campaign to boost employment and recruit into Palestinian Authority institutions resistance fighters who have confronted Israeli forces during a four-and-a-half year uprising. Promised jobs are yet to materialise.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#6
Why are we NOT finding and arresting the cameramen who take these pictures?
They have to be known, all cameramen want their name printed for the credits.
Must be enemy, and fotget "Freedom of the press" it doesn't exist over there, it's just law here at home in the US.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/14/2005 13:30
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Note the flag in the poster, they can't even get the fields right.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/14/2005 16:28
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Iff the Norkies can have nukes andor nuclear energy then the Southies can have nukes and nuclear energy as well, which I am sure EQUALISM-loving Lefties and Commies all over the world, or at least in Asia, will support in the name of fairness ... NOT!? The last thing China wants are more JAPAN(S), and the last thing the Norkies want is to be reminded they are controlled from Beijing and have no real regional- or international manifest destiny without Beijing's permission - you know, the Korean-specific, Korean-controlled/decided freedom, independence, and sovereignty, etal. [from China]the Korean peoples fought for for so many decades!
A senior Japanese Defence Agency official has expressed concern that recent violent demonstrations in the southern Iraqi city of Samawa, where Australian troops are based, "are escalating". The capital of Al Muthanna province is under the control of Australian forces, who are providing security to a Japanese humanitarian military contingent. SDF Joint Staff Council chairman General Hajime Massaki said the demonstrations may affect the activities of Japanese troops there. "There are signs that the followers of (Shiite cleric) Moqtada al-Sadr are inciting demonstrations,'' Gen Massaki said, acknowledging that Iraqi locals are dissatisfied with electricity shortages and unemployment.
On Sunday, at least one person was killed and about 60 were injured in a clash between demonstrators and police in Samawa. Earlier this week, Defence Minister Senator Robert Hill said Australian troops are not involved in the violence. Senator Hill says the Australians are there to guard the Japanese and not to respond to the civil differences. "It is a worrying development but overall the province of al Muthanna remains one of the most stable within Iraq," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
wack the tater tot time has long since arrived.
Time for a black op, commission a splodydope, truck bomb, prussic acid + rat poison, whatever is firtus with the mostus.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
08/14/2005 15:48
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The top American commander in Iraq has been privately rebuked by the Bush administration for openly discussing plans to reduce troop levels there next year, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.
President George W Bush personally intervened last week to play down as "speculation" all talk of troop pull-outs because he fears that even discussing options for an "exit strategy" implies weakening resolve.
Gen George Casey, the US ground commander in Iraq, was given his dressing-down after he briefed that troop levels - now 138,000 - could be reduced by 30,000 in the early months of next year as Iraqi security forces take on a greater role.
Politically, the administration will be under pressure to signal a significant cut in the US presence by autumn next year to help Republicans fighting mid-term elections in November 2006. Military commanders, however, also need to wind down numbers, the imperative that prompted Gen Casey's comments, according to Dan Goure, a Pentagon adviser and vice-president of the Lexington Institute defence think-tank.
"It's number-driven," Mr Goure said. "The military can only maintain these levels in Iraq if it has absolutely no choice. Otherwise, the current pattern of rotations and other commitments mean that they will have to lower numbers."
There will, in any case, be a short-term increase in US troop levels to cover the Iraq elections scheduled for December. After that, said Mr Goure, the military has drawn up three broad strategies for cutting troops. Their "best scenario" target is to reduce numbers to 60,000-70,000 by next autumn if Iraqi forces start to make progress against the insurgents. The fall-back option would be Gen Casey's minimum 30,000 reduction by the summer.
There is also a rarely-mentioned and completely unlikely "Plan C" - complete withdrawal if all-out civil war erupts between the Shias and Sunnis, both of whom are engaged in a last-ditch battle for political territory in the current negotiations.
Link fixed, some editing for length. AoS
Posted by: DanNY ||
08/14/2005
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after he briefed that troop levels - now 138,000 - could be reduced by 30,000 in the early months of next year as Iraqi security forces take on a greater role.
And this translates into "calls for troops to be pulled out of Iraq". Nice try.
Posted by: Rafael ||
08/14/2005 0:20
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The article itself does not say the general called for anything. The article was mischaracterized by the headline, which probably was written by someone else.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
08/14/2005 0:48
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That's right, and it was done intentionally.
Posted by: Rafael ||
08/14/2005 0:50
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General Casey discussed these numbers at a Senate Armed Forces Committee hearing in July, covered by CSPAN.
I frankly don't see what the hubbub is about, other than its August and everyone is out of Washington DC right now on vacation.
Incidentially, I don't hear anyone complaining about senators and congressmen being out on vaca for five weeks.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/14/2005 2:09
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President George W Bush personally intervened last week to play down as "speculation" all talk of troop pull-outs because he fears that even discussing options for an "exit strategy" implies weakening resolve.
Actually, "discussing options for an 'exit strategy'" will be INTERPRETED as weakening resolve.
I am SURE that a lot of rational courses and necessary discussion are not being done because the Liberals, Democraps, and the Media are deliberately politicizing the issue. We have troops fighting over burnt out hulks that our ancestors would have abandoned SOLELY because the aforementioned Terrible Three insist on broadcasting images of gun-waving jihadis sitting on said wreckage in close-up shots calculated to exclude the dead bodies of their comrades about said junk-heap.
#8
The top American commander in Iraq has been privately rebuked by the Bush administration for openly discussing plans to reduce troop levels there next year
No E-Ring office for you.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/14/2005 9:35
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I frankly don't see what the hubbub is about
It's about politics. In the 2006 Congressional elections Bush's strategy (or lack thereof) will be presented as a failure; "Why haven't you reduced forces in Iraq as you had planned?" There's still too many Clinton Generals in the military and this guy looks to be one of them. He should have been filtered out sooner.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/14/2005 9:48
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Mrs. D -- obviously this is for politics. My comment pertained to the lack of substance behind the political vitriol.
As for the notion that discussing exit strategies portrays a lack of resolve.
The discussion of exit strategies at this time puts needed pressure on those drafting the Iraq constitution. Moreover, the administration has been quite overt in conditioning any discussion of numbers and mileposts with the phrase "depends on the conditions on the ground".
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/14/2005 10:38
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I doubt the route for maximum pressure on Iraqi constitution makers runs through the comments to the NYT.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/14/2005 11:31
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Mrs D --
Plz, you minimuize the argument. The NY Slimes is not the only publication that has taken liberties with General Casey's assessment on troop draw down. Moreover, this month the general made his comments while in Iraq.
The point being that when General Casey testified in public to the Senate committee in July, and stated his estimated drawdown (complete with caveats), there was precious little notice.
When the general restated his estimates (again, complete with caveats), the MSM here have turned the story into a major battle between President Bush and General Casey. August is a painfully slow month for the MSM in Washington, and the antiwar push is the cause de jour.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/14/2005 14:42
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Armed fighters in Iraq have killed nine people including six soldiers in a series of attacks across the country. Armed assailants killed four soldiers at the al-Siniya base west of the northern oil refinery town of Baiji on Saturday, said Iraqi army captain Toufik Khalaf. In a separate incident, two soldiers were killed when armed men attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint in al-Dhuluiyah, 70km north of Baghdad. An Iraqi translator for US forces was also shot dead on Saturday while in front of his house in al-Sharquat, 300km north of the capital. Meanwhile, a worker from the Dura refinery was gunned down in his car.
Meanwhile, an Iraqi group calling itself the Islamic Resistance Movement Twentieth Revolution Brigades says it has downed a US spy drone in the Abu Ghraib district, west of Baghdad. The group posted a video on the internet showing armed men firing a missile and then pieces of wreckage said to be parts of the drone. The authenticity of the tape could not be verified by an independent source.
Posted by: Fred ||
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My gawd, a fricking drone. Knock yourselves out.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/14/2005 2:13
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In a series of attacks the bad guys managed to kill only 9 (and, of course, a drone)? They don't seem to be very effective these days!
Palestinian security forces deployed in the Gaza Strip as part of Israel's pullout operation, have been taking up positions they were forced to abandon almost five years ago at the start of the intifada. "Palestinian police and national security have re-deployed around the settlements and along bypass roads," a senior Palestinian security official said. "A total of 7500 security forces will be deployed over the next 24 hours, some of them in areas which they had vacated after September 28 2000," he said in reference to the day the second Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted.
The deployment was planned in coordination with Israel to ensure that the evacuation of illegal settlements from the Gaza Strip takes place free of violence. An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed the Palestinian deployment had begun and that the Palestinians had entered areas they had not held since the start of the last intifada. On Monday, those of the 8000 Gaza settlers who have not already left their homes will be given a two-day period to quit their houses voluntarily. On 17 August, Israeli security will remove recalcitrant settlers forcibly. Both Israeli and Palestinian security sources said the main task of the Palestinian force would be to prevent rocket attacks by resistance groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad during the pullout.
Posted by: Fred ||
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making "dibs" on any booty left after the Jooooos vacate
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/14/2005 11:33
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I understand Israel is committed to razing the settlements after they've been emptied. The Palestinians aren't supposed to want to live in such polluted dwellings anyway. On the other hand, even the leavings are likely better than what many Palestinians have at home, after so many years of Intifada unemployment and destruction.
Your thoughts, gromgorru? And we haven't heard from Elder of Zion for ages...
#7
Israel has been asked to demolish the structures so the paleos will not fight over them or destroy the infrastructure under them which will remain if a typical paleo swam develops and trys to raze them, by the PA. Yes the PA wants them destroyed but the sewer and water services to remain. These houses are huge mansions by Paleo standards leavning them intact will create "problems" for the PA.
PESHAWAR: The Nowshera district returning officer (DRO) served notice on NWFP Senior Minister Sirajul Haq on Saturday, summoning him for August 15 to explain alleged interference in the local government elections. The summons was issued after Chief Election Commissioner Abdul Hameed Dogar directed the Nowshera DRO to investigate complaints by Taraqi Pasand Group candidate Niaz Muhammad in Union Council Dheri Katthikhel that the senior minister was "interfering" to help Jamaat-e-Islami-backed candidates win.
Comes as a surprise, huh? I know. It floored me, too...
Haq, however, said he had not received the summons.
"Nope. Nope. Never happened."
"I am not interfering in the elections. The charge is baseless," he told Daily Times.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
He said federal ministers such as Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao and Minister of State for Water and Power Amir Muqqam had been "openly interfering" but had not been censured. "Why hasn't President Pervez Musharraf been summoned for his interference when he is asking people not to vote for extremists?"
"Why's ever'body alway pickin' on me?"
Posted by: Fred ||
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President General Pervez Musharraf on Saturday asked the army to be ready to maintain law and order in the country during the upcoming local government elections. "Be prepared to assist the civil administration should such a need arise to maintain law and order during the local government elections," ISPR quoted the president as instructing the top brass of the Pakistan Army. Chaired by the president at GHQ, the 92nd meeting of corps commanders was attended by the vice chief of army staff, corps commanders and principal staff officers. The meeting reviewed the internal and external security situation and operational preparedness of the Pakistan Army besides training and other matters of professional interest.
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Indonesian police say they have arrested a new suspect in the murder of a leading human rights activist, who died of poisoning on a flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam. Activist Munir died in the business-class cabin of a flight by national carrier Garuda Indonesian September last year. A Dutch autopsy found a lethal dose of arsenic in his body.
Munir's case is seen as a test of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's commitment to the rule of law. The head of the police team investigating the case, Brigadier General Marsudhi Hanafi, said the new suspect, Ery Bunyamin, was a late booking on the same flight and travelled using a forged and expired passport. "He was the 15th passenger in the business class and was not listed in the flight manifest. He took the flight at the last minute," Brig Gen Hanafi told reporters. He said the addresses in Bunyamin's two passports were also fictitious. Brig Gen Hanafi said Bunyamin left the plane hurriedly as it made a stop-over in Singapore, his destination. When asked what he did in Singapore, he told investigators he was "shopping for t-shirts and perfume," Brig Gen Hanafi said.
Bunyamin's lawyer Amir Syamsuddin said his client was a high-profile lawyer and had been arrested because he used a dubious passport. "It would be laughable if investigators are trying to link him to the murder case simply because he was on the same flight as Munir," Mr Syamsuddin told AFP. He said that in 2000 Bunyamin applied for a passport in Jakarta using a fake identity card to avoid the hassle of going back to his home town on Bangka island off Sumatra. The practice is common among people who live and work in Jakarta but are not residents of the capital.
Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Priyanto, who was travelling off duty on the same flight as Munir, went on trial on Tuesday as a key suspect in the murder. Two cabin crew members have been detained as suspects but have not been indicted. Prosecutors said poisoned orange juice served during the flight was used to kill the activist and described Priyanto as a staunch nationalist who saw Munir as "a hindrance to the implementation of the Government's programs". Independent investigators have said the case showed signs of involvement by the state intelligence agency. The pilot has also been accused by human rights activists of being an intelligence agent.
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Bunyamin's lawyer Amir Syamsuddin said his client was a high-profile lawyer and had been arrested because he used a dubious passport.
Sounds like one of Indonesia's finest legal minds at work. (Have to give him some credit, though. At least he's not dumb enough to represent himself.)
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz received two of the recently pardoned Saudi Activist; Ali al Dumaini and Matruk al Falih, at his palace in Mecca yesterday. The two received a royal pardon on the 9th of August.
The king also received princes, religious scholars, sheikhs, as well as the people and nobility of Mecca who offered their condolences for the passing of late king Fahd and pledged their allegiances to the Former Crown Prince according to the Koran and the prophetâs tradition. Ali al Dumaini clarified to Asharq Al-Awsat that they came out of their personal desire to meet king Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz and thank him for his generous initiative last Tuesday. They also wanted to pledge allegiances to him and wish him success in his bid to further develop and advance the nation. Al Dumaini said, "We thanked king Abdullah and pledged our loyalty in the presence of Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz, Interior Minister Prince Nayef Bin Abdulaziz, and Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs Prince Mutab Bin Abdulaziz. We were glad that the pillars of government were present and we seized the opportunity to show our loyalty to them and our trust in the ability of king Abdullah to carry on the progression of our country. It was also a chance to assure him that we would stand by him and work for our homeland.â
Posted by: Fred ||
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Translation: "They made us come for PR purposes, but it's okay -- we wanted to case the joint anyway, and we are willing to lie to the American-loving infidel king."
Italy has begun winding down its military presence in southern Iraq with the withdrawal of a battalion of more than 120 soldiers, a military spokesman says. "Between 120 and 130 men from San Marco battalion have returned to Italy and will not be replaced," Lieutenant-Colonel Fabio Mattiassi, spokesman for the Italian contingent in Nasiriya, said.
Goodbye, and thank you...
The announcement appeared to confirm a report in Saturday's La Stampa newspaper and previous statements by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that Italy would recall 300 soldiers from its 3000-strong contingent operating under British command in southern Iraq. Berlusconi faced massive protests at home when in June 2003 he committed Italian soldiers to Iraq.
But he had the guts to send them there, and he's had the guts to keep them there. He said when he was going to withdraw them, and now they can go home with honor, unlike the Spanish.
A bombing on an Italian police base in Nasiriya on 12 November 2003 killed 17 Italian soldiers and two civilians, and wounded 20 others. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the attack. An Italian soldier was killed and 12 others injured in later clashes with Shia militias in the city. Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni was kidnapped in August 2004 and murdered after the Italian government rejected an ultimatum to withdraw its troops from Iraq.
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Posted by: DanNY ||
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The Telegraph makes the mistake thinking that we would allow this to become a protracted war. (I don't think they understand our revolution isn't over either, it is renewed every generation.) We can react in much more suddenly, violently, harshly and brutally than anyone outside of ourselves can even fathom. We will not try and pacify Iran. Iran is not Iraq, after 20 plus years of "death to America" well will utterly destroy Iraq, there will be no Marshal plan, there will be no making our former enemies friends, there will be no Iran to make 'friends" with. This is totally outside of the UN's abilities to deal with. Our military is spread too thin for us to even consider going toe to toe with Iran without a New conscript army and long military build up. That will not happen. I can only suggest that all other nations stay out of our way when I comes time for the rubber to meet the road.
#4
The 2008 elections will possibly be too late. The MMs are gearing up their push for nukes. The US is spread thin in the military dept. The EUniks are a paper tiger, and Iranian MMs HAVE to get the US out of Iraq for their own survival. The MMs are seizing on the opportunity because the have to for survival of their system. It also helps to be crazy.
These are the givens, how we deal with the threat is the issue. The threat will not go away.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/14/2005 16:23
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The 2008 election will be to late. Anyone with a reasonably functional brain knows that our intelligence on Iran is sparse. Making decisions on the assessments of our intelligence agencies as the sole source of information is a huge mistake. This was writ large in Iraq.
#6
I also believe 2008 will be too late, both because for Iran and NK per se, within a narrow scope dev nukes is truly their only claim to "great power" status, plus Dubya is a man of action and a moralist - Dubya will want written, unbreakable commitments and actions from these nations iff they wish to avoid any US mil action. Since I believe Dubya also knows its the Commmies whom are ultim behind 9-11 and the Radic Islamists, Dubya knows it'll be more dangerous for America to back down from any mil or nuke confrontation with the Islamists, andor ags Russia-China over Radical Islam. No matter the risk to US-Allied forces, Dubya must defeat the Rogues before their LR nuke capabilities get to strong, and the Rogues know this - IOW, unless these regimes can be internally imploded despite their level of anti-US support received from Moscow-Beijing, AMERICA AND AMERICANS MUST BE WILLING TO ACCEPT SOME FORM OF LIMITED NUKE WAR LEVEL OF "ACCEPTABLE [COLLATERAL] CASUALTIES" AGS ITS MILFORS, GOVT., ANDOR CITIES. AMERICANS SHOULD HAVE NO FEAR BECAUSE AMERICA'S ENEMIES NO LONGER CARE ABOUT CO-EXISTENCE OR COMPETITION WITH AMERICA - THEY WANT AMERICA DEFEATED AND DESTROYED! THESE GUYS WANT AMERICA'S HEAD, BE IT THEY CUT IT OFF, ANDOR WE AMERICANS DO IT OURSELVES AND GIVE IT TO THEM, BY ANY EACH ALL AND EVERY MEANS NECESSARY!? * The GOP-Right are belabeled and criticized by the DemoLeft as "FASCISTS" - the Clinton-led Dems are both depending on these GOP "FASCISTS" while promo themselves as the PC antithesis to Fascism, which is COMMUNIST SOCIALISM, i.e. COMMUNISM - you know, Lefty SECULAR MORALISM where one doesn't have to believe in God to tell the truth, to say what they truly stand for!? Bill O'Reilly: "... the Panzers of [Left]Liberals/Marxists". The Lefties and Commies believe they can win because they lie to everybody, includ their own, includ to themselves.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/14/2005 15:30
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Heh, I'm afraid so... Pretty fine diversion, eh? Thingys within thingys, man.
BOB is the Military wing of the al Buddha of the Existential Plane between the Two Paper Storks - or so I gathered from my last visit by an astrally projecting Monk.
It's pretty stupid to piss off people who can project astrally, y'know. Like a Phildephia Experiment without all the magnets and shit. *Poof* and they're in KL wreaking havoc. ;-)
ISLAMABAD: Maulana Fazlur Rehman, opposition leader in the National Assembly, was deported from Dubai only because of his own wrongdoings, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said on Saturday. "The government was not behind Fazl's deportation. It's only his evil deeds that made the UAE authorities send him back," Rashid told reporters at a training workshop for journalists. Rashid said the United Nations was about to introduce laws for blacklisting religious outfits involved in terror and extremist acts anywhere in the world.
That sounds like a delightfully sensible thing to do, which makes me suspect that the UN is about to do no such thing. I have no idea whether the Pak government had anything to do with Fazl's deportation from Dubai, but I'm sure he earned it fair and square.
Posted by: Fred ||
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President General Pervez Musharraf has admitted that previously his hands were tied when it came to reining in extremists in Pakistan, but says he is now "much stronger". In an interview to British newspaper The Telegraph, Gen Musharraf said that previously his hands were tied, either because of the 10-month-long confrontation with India in 2002 or political insecurities at home and abroad. "The situation is now far different from what I faced before," he said. "Now I am much stronger."
I wonder if that's apparent to anybody but Perv? We refer to him as a dictator, but he's not a dictator in the Baathist-Fascist-Peronist sense. There's no party structure other than the military at his beck and call, no brown-shirted street gangs, not even a particularly good propaganda machine; Pakland's press is pretty lively, across the entire political spectrum. What we don't see is the internal machinations within the military. Has he in fact consolidated his power base? I dunno. We don't see a parade of officers trooping out to sing his praises, but we didn't see any parades of officers trooping out to damn him, either except for guys like Hamid Gul and Aslam Beg, who've been moved out of their jobs.
Gen Musharraf said he had made it clear to the police and government ministries that they must crack down on banned extremist groups which have re-emerged under new names, close all "hate" publications, create a new syllabus for the madrassas and register them by December.
The coppers, as we've seen, often claim not to have gotten the memo. Perhaps Perv needs to crack down on the coppers, too...
"This time those madrassas who don't register by December will be shut down," he said. Now the government would no longer distinguish between "terrorists", Pakistanis linked to Al Qaeda or other international terrorist groups, and Islamic "extremists" who fought in earlier jihads considered legitimate, such as that in Kashmir.
Good move, since they're now an amalgamated whole. Qaeda tasks Lashkar-e-Jhangvi just like it does al-Tawhid, and probably more directly.
Improving relations with India weighed heavily on the president's mind. "I see the sincerity of the Indian leadership. But if we can move faster towards Kashmir resolution my hands will be stronger to deal with extremism," he said. "I have told the Indians we can only control the extremists to a degree."
I think the entire world's noticed that. The entire world's noticed that Pakland is in a mess that Pakland got itself into.
He insisted that ISI officers dealing with Afghanistan had been changed "two or three times" since 2001 and nobody was left from the old guard who might have ideological affiliations with the Taliban, he said. "All this talk about the ISI being a government within a government is wrong."
In that case, the gummint is pretty deeply implicated in some pretty scuzzy thing. Best to continue to maintain plausible deniability. For instance:
Much of the Taliban resistance was being generated from inside Afghanistan, he said, but admitted that there were some Taliban elements clandestinely based in Pakistan. He accused the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam of allowing Taliban to use sanctuaries inside Pakistan.
That's an encouraging sign. As we've pointed out before, the Taliban is a Pashtun phenomenon that's being driven from safe havens in Pakistan. I don't even regard it as a native Afghan thing anymore the Afghans have their own form of lunacy, and it's not the Taliban. So it's not being "generated from inside" Afghanistan. We've made the assumption that it's being run by the ISI, but I suppose pushing it off on the JUI is pretty plausible. Certainly Fazl and Sami have historically been deeply involved with them.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2005
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I've changed my mind, relented, General Perv is a sincere and admirable ally. And he looks so strident in his uni.
Perhaps some Draino, General?
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/14/2005 0:13
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Has he in fact consolidated his power base?
Hasn't he replaced all the Corps Commanders with his allies? He in untouchable now. The Pak army structure is well disciplined. Coups arise from army high command, never lower ranks.
There is zero chance of an islamic uprising. The Pak army (as a leaked ISI document clarifies) tolerates islamist protest because of a need to portray them as powerful with only the army as the cork in the islamist bottle. This guarantees a steady supply of american money and arms.
This blackmail - "apres moi le deluge" is an old pakistani tactic, first used by Liqiat Ali Khan right after independence.
No pak mobs will dare an uprising against Perv. Any genuine threat to the regime will result in an utterly brutal crackdown.
We must remember that the Pak army has probably killed more of its fellow citizens than any other armed force on earth.
Posted by: john ||
08/14/2005 19:39
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If there's no deadline, then there aren't any teeth in the order. That's fairly typical for Pakland. I wonder how many of the "students" will still be there in six months? And how many will be "lost track of"?
KARACHI: The government has set no deadline for expelling foreign seminary students as a host of logistics involved in the repatriation process still need to be worked out, Sindh Home Secretary Ghulam Mohtaram told reporters on Saturday. "We have to see if their home countries will accept them back," he said. The provincial government is preparing to send home 648 foreign students studying in religious schools in Sindh, Mohtaram said. "There are some 648 foreign students studying in madrasas in the province, of which 591 are in Karachi," the home secretary said. "The government has taken a policy decision on foreign students in madrasas. They will be sent back as soon as possible."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2005
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"We have to see if their home countries will accept them back,"
#2
"We have to see if their home countries will accept them back,"
So the right to deport them is based on whether or not they will be accepted back?
sigh, whose decision is it anyway.....
Posted by: Jan ||
08/14/2005 12:24
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they'll be given a rifle and "deported" over the Line Of Control
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/14/2005 12:51
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#4
Why waste a perfectly good rifle?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/14/2005 13:41
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For the first time in a decade, the founders and top political leaders of Hamas gathered on Saturday on the same stage, vowing to go on fighting Israel and claiming victory for the impending Israeli withdrawal. In a direct challenge to the Palestinian Authority, Hamas' top brass said Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement could not be the sole decision-making body and insisted it has the right to possess arms, the latest sign that tensions are heating up in the days before Israel's Gaza pullout, set to begin on 15 August.
At Friday's Gaza sea-front event, Cabinet minister Mohammed Dahlan said all events would take place under the official Palestinian flag, a warning to Hamas which is planning its own military-style celebrations. Taking responsibility for the Israeli pullout, Abbas promised the West Bank and Jerusalem would be next. But the Hamas leadership - positioned in front of the group's logo and a green Islamic flag - challenged the Palestinian Authority statement, saying their armed struggle had led Israel to evacuate settlements, and vowed not to lay down their weapons until the Israeli occupation ends. "Hamas remains committed to the choice of resistance as a strategic choice. Hamas remains committed to its military wing and its right to possess weapons," said Ismail Haniyye, a top Hamas leader. Hamas does not plan to battle the Palestinian Authority, Haniyye said, but said: "Hamas rejects the idea of allowing any single party to monopolise the decision-making process."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2005
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Sounds like a target-rich environment. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/14/2005 0:49
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Hamas will try and take credit for the withdrawal, a la Hezbollah in Lebanon. Dahlan won't want that to happen. Pass the popcorn?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/14/2005 11:41
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A militant cleric jailed for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings will be among 53,000 inmates receiving sentence reductions to mark Indonesia's independence day, authorities and media reports said Saturday. Abu Bakar Bashir, alleged spiritual head of the al-Qaida-linked terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, was convicted in March of conspiracy in the Bali bombings that killed 202 people, many of them Australian tourists.
Others convicted in the Bali blasts will also receive reductions in their prison terms, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin told the Jakarta Post. "Convicts with a record of good behavior can get up to 10-months remission," said Mayun Mataram of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights in Bali. Nineteen of the 24 Bali bombers jailed on the tourist island will get sentence reductions, said Mataram. The youngest son of former dictator Suharto, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, is also expected to have his sentence for assassinating a judge reduced when Indonesia celebrates its 60th birthday on Wednesday, Hamid said. The 43-year-old former playboy earlier this year had his 15-year sentence reduced by five years on appeal.
It is an Indonesian tradition to cut jail terms on holidays for some of the country's 105,000 inmates who exhibit good behavior, with only those sentenced to death or life in prison excluded. Authorities are expected to announce the length of the reductions Wednesday, but on average terms are cut by a few months. Attorney Wirawan Adnan, who represented many of the Bali bombers including Bashir, said his clients deserve a break just like any other well-behaved inmate. "This happens all over the world if you have been a good boy and don't cause trouble," Adnan said. "We're talking about human rights, and everyone should be treated the same whether you are a murderer (or) rapist."
But Peter Hughes, a survivor who suffered serious burns in the Bali attacks, said the bombers should serve out their entire sentences. "We don't like it but there is not much we can do about," said Hughes of Perth, Australia. "This is not justice. These guys are criminals and murders should be given heavy penalties without a reprieve." Bashir was sentenced in March to 30 months in jail for conspiracy in the Bali bombings that killed 202 people, many of them Australian tourists.
Will that pretty Aussie girl get a shortened sentence?
Don't bother replying, I think I know the answer.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2005
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Brilliant idea. Regards Bashir, Indo "justice" had already made quite the impression upon me. This serves to confirm it. The Gong Show had more class.
#2
Another way the Indonesians might celebrate their independence day instead would be to get together with friends at picnics and watch firework shows.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
08/14/2005 8:27
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Agreed, Mike. Reducing 53,000 sentences seems like a silly way to celebrate. Especially reducing sentences of people who would rob you of your independence.
#4
"We're talking about human rights, and everyone should be treated the same whether you are a murderer (or) rapist."
Hmmm, which am I, a murderer or rapist.... Of course they're exhibiting good behavior, they can't get their hands on any terror material while in prison. "53,000 inmates receiving sentence reductions to mark Indonesia's independence day"
I can think of a few better ways to celebrate. "We don't like it but there is not much we can do about,"
Let me count the ways....
Posted by: Jan ||
08/14/2005 12:51
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KARACHI: The police have arrested four suspected militants who were planning a series of terrorist attacks, a senior police official said on Saturday. "The four men were arrested in an early morning raid from the eastern district of the city and they belong to a religious and political party," Tariq Jameel, the Karachi police chief, told a news conference. The police seized revolvers and ammunition from the militants, who have admitted to plotting terror attacks in Karachi. "During initial interrogation they have confessed they belong to a group of 22 young men, some of whom are students," Jameel said. "They were planning terrorist activities to create unrest and disturb the peace of the city."
"This is Karachi. Of course we were planning terrorist activities!"
Jameel declined to identify the party to which the militants belonged and said they were arrested on information given by Syed Waseem Akhtar, who was arrested from Hyderabad last month. "The arrested militants don't belong to any madrassa and are all trained in the use of firearms and explosives," he said.
One might ask where they were trained in the use of firearms and explosives, and who trained them, and who provided them or gave them the dough to buy them. But that's assuming one is not a Pak policeman.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2005
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Four electricity poles near Barkhan, in the border area of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, were blown up on Saturday morning, disrupting the power supply to the area. WAPDA authorities despatched a team from Dera Ghazi Khan to restore power. "Outlaws used explosives to blow up four electricity poles near Barkhan," said a police statement. A QESCO spokesman said that power would be restored in the next 72 hours, Online reported. A bomb exploded outside the office of the pro-government Pakistan Workers Party in Qalat on Friday, damaging walls and windows but causing no casualties, a police official told AP on Saturday. No one claimed responsibility for the blast.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2005
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There is too much cancer in the Punjab, undoubtably caused by global warming, food additives and EM fields from electricity poles.
Pakistan is a world leader in environment activism and general social proressive stuff.
Pakistan needs to destroy all electricity poles. As a bonus, this will be islamic since Allah did not reveal electrity poles in the koran.
Since they are not in the koran, they are haram.
Posted by: john ||
08/14/2005 17:27
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Hamas will not surrender its weapons to the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip after Israel's pullout from the territory, one of the movement's top leaders has said. "This army will continue to defend our homeland as long as one inch of Palestine remains occupied," Mahmoud al-Zahar told reporters on Friday, after attending a training session of Hamas's military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. "It is criminal to claim that there is only one weapon," al-Zahar said in reference to declarations by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas insisting that the Palestinian Authority was the only legitimate security tool.
Zahar can describe it as criminal, but the Paleo Authority is the group that's recognized as the proto-government in the area. It's the organization with an observer at the UN, and it runs the Paleoparliament. They've even had elections. Hamas remains a political party and an armed militia. If it's not under government control, even a proto-government, then it's an outlaw band that should be broken up. Places like Somalia have militias running all over the place, pushing Armed Struggle™ as a way of life. The countries with the strongest "militias" are the ones that're highest (or maybe lowest) on the list of failed states.
During a keynote speech to the Palestinian parliament earlier this week, Abbas urged all armed groups to end their rocket attacks on Israeli targets, as part of a larger appeal for calm during the pullout. Abbas met al-Zahar and Hamas's two other top Gaza leaders on Tuesday in a bid to ensure the group's fighters would not seek to scupper the historic pullout of Israeli troops and settlers.
I'd guess that Zahar and Haniyeh are probably next on the list for helizapping next time a bus booms.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2005
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Any deal with a government that can't control Hamas, and they seem to support them not stop them is a very sad state of affair. They're telling us this up front too.
Even a King Kong type fence won't keep all the violence out.
As Han Solo said, "I've got a bad feelin' about this."
Posted by: Jan ||
08/14/2005 5:03
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How real proto thugocracy governments handle this is they invite in all the leaders of the various "factions" who are not programing to a big meeting. They get them all in a conference room seperated from their bodyguards. They then take them to the courtyard out back a shoot them and dispose of the bodies so they are never seen again. The Paleos can't even do this right.
#3
Why should they, given the limp-wristed way the PA has tried to enforce its authority? Why should they, when Israel's actions can only be interpreted as limp-wristed as well?
It never ends. It's reaching the point where it's become routine. I have no idea why any country in the world allows people from Somalia to come in. The entire country should be quarantined until it grows up. It's one of the best arguments in favor of colonialism I can think of.
Rival militias in arid southwestern Somalia battled Saturday for control over a village with pastures and wells. Twelve combatants died, and hundreds of residents fled, according to those in the area. The 2 1/2-hour clash began early Saturday, when Yontar community fighters attacked the village of Idale in a bid to seize it from the Hubeyr community. Hundreds of people fled their homes in the Bai region before the fighting ended at dawn, elder Salimow Sheikh said. Combatants used assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, Liban Mohamed Nageye, a nurse, said in a radio interview from a neighboring village. He said 12 fighters died.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2005
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When my boss of long ago (a German) describes some kind of social madness, he used to say it's like Africa after the Queen left.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/14/2005 14:56
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One of Haiti's most powerful gang leaders said he would be willing to surrender if U.N. peacekeepers guarantee his safety. Armed gang members controlled by the man known as General Toutou are believed to be behind many of the kidnappings and killings that have added to the instability in Haiti as the country prepares for fall elections to replace the interim government. Toutou, in an interview Friday with The Associated Press, said he has begun talks on a possible surrender with the U.N. peacekeeping mission that came to Haiti to restore order following the ouster of the country's first freely elected leader, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in February 2004. "If the (U.N. mission) is ready to guarantee our security, we'd be ready to give up the fight," said Toutou, whose real name is unknown.
A U.N. official declined to discuss any possible deal to guarantee the Toutou's safety, but said the peacekeeping mission was negotiating with gangs in Bel-Air, the sprawling slum where the gang leader commands a well-armed force of street fighters. "A window of opportunity is opening for us to reduce violence ahead of the elections," said Desmond Molloy, head of the U.N. disarmament program in Haiti.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2005
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A United Nations investigator intends to question Syrian officials directly as part of a probe into the killing six months ago of Lebanese former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, a UN official says. Detlev Mehlis will also probably ask for more time than the designated three months to complete his findings, the official said. "Detlev Mehlis needs to directly interview Syrian officials concerned. He needs to visit Syria for this purpose," UN spokesman Najib Friji said on Saturday. "The Syrians have agreed in principle to cooperate with Mehlis but he has yet to receive an official Syrian response to visit the country."
It was not clear which Syrian officials Mehlis plans to question, although he announced at the start of the inquiry that "we will ... investigate anyone who was in one way or another responsible for security in Lebanon at the time of the crime". Lebanon's As-Safir newspaper reported on Saturday that Mehlis had already questioned three Syrian officials in writing rather than in person after Damascus declined direct interviews. "In his report, Mr Mehlis will request an extension of his mission," Friji said. He declined to say how much more time Mehlis will ask the world body to grant him.
But Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said on Friday the UN mission may need a few weeks only beyond its 15 September deadline to complete the investigation. Siniora spoke after two hours of talks with Mehlis. "He gave me some ideas, but there is nothing specific," Siniora said afterwards, referring to the investigation. Mehlis, a German prosecutor, did not talk to reporters. The UN Security Council voted in April to authorise Mehlis' probe after a UN fact-finding team concluded that a Lebanese investigation into the killing did not meet international standards. The UN team has 30 investigators, including an explosives unit from Germany, crime technicians from the Netherlands, and divers from Britain - the bomb exploded next to the Beirut waterfront.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2005
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A roadside bomb exploded in southeast Turkey on Saturday moments after the convoy of local governor passed, in what appeared to be an attack by Kurdish rebels, an official said. Gov. Kadir Kocdemir was on his way to a meeting organized to protest increased terror attacks in the region, the official said on condition of anonymity. Turkish civil servants are rarely permitted to speak on the record. No injuries were reported, but some of the cars in the convoy were slightly damaged, he said. The blast was triggered by remote control, some 18 miles from the town of Alacakaya in Elazig province, the official said.
Meanwhile, police in the southern city of Mersin said a car explosion Friday appears to have been a bomb that exploded prematurely in the lap of the would-be bomber. The bomb killed the man and injured the driver, said Suleyman Ekizer, Mersin's deputy police chief. Mersin's governor, Atilla Osmancelebioglu, suggested that the two men may have been on their way to carry out an attack when it exploded. He did not say if the two were suspected Kurdish rebels.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2005
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While I know the Kurds in Turkey are quite capable of pulling all this current spate of bombings, I have this itchy feeling that it's not all Kurds. What better way to sow discord and bring discredit to the government than to blame the Kurds for everything, when in some cases it's others who are doing the dirty work. The bottom case reported here makes that even more likely - we KNOW how much trouble Arab bomb-makers have with that silly Red/Green wiring diagram.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/14/2005 17:24
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German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder rejected the threat of military force against Iran yesterday, hours after US President George Bush said he would consider it as a last resort to press Tehran to give up its nuclear program. Schroeder, one of the most prominent European opponents of the US-led war in Iraq, told an election rally in his home city of Hanover that the threat of force was not acceptable. "I am worried about developments there because no one wants the Iranian leadership to gain possession of atomic weapons," Schroeder said.
But if it comes down to a choice of Iran developing nuclear weapons and the U.S. beating the hell out of them, you'd rather they had nuclear weapons? Brilliant.
"The Europeans and the Americans are united in this goal. Up to now we were also united in the way to pursue this. This morning I read that military options are now on the table. My answer to that is: 'Dear friends in Europe and America, let us work out a strong negotiating position. But let's take the military option off the table. We have seen it doesn't work,'" he said.
Actually, it's worked pretty well. Ask Mullah Omar. Sammy's out of the dictator business and Uday and Qusay are decomposing. There are Baathists among the guys we're fighting in Iraq right now, but they're never coming back to power. So the military option does work. If the military option's on the table it will make the diplomatic approach work better — there'll be an incentive to reach a deal rather than duke it out with the Marines.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2005
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"Dear friends in Europe and America, let us work out a strong negotiating position. But let's take the military option off the table. We have seen it doesn't work."
Dear Schroeder, it certainly worked very well in Germany's case: it converted a nation once bent on genocidal conquest and domination of the entire planet, into a nation of pacifist perennial vacationers and pensioners with all the imperialist impulse of a bag of turnips. Force not only worked, it worked very, very well.
Almost too well, it seems.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
08/14/2005 7:58
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"I ask you 'Does it advances the iterests of the Arian volk?'."
#4
I hope you're correct, TGA, but media stuf like this makes me worry. I'll feel lots better after the election and formation of a new government.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/14/2005 10:10
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Let's get Sammy swinging, sooner rather than later. A nice public hanging will stiffen the spine of our "allies" and tighten the sphincters of our "less than allies."
#6
Mrs Davis, campaigns will be campaigns. Stoiber is realizing that he needs to mobilize voters in the conservative South to upset losses in Eastern Germany.
Remember, he only lost the elections by 6000 votes which he could easily have secured in Bavaria with a little more effort.
#9
If it limps like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is probably a lame duck.
If two people in negotiations have a sense of goodwill, and that there is give and take and a vision of the common good, then negotiations will proceed and conclude successfully.
If one of the negotiators has no intention of give-and-take and jacks the other around, then the only negotiating tool the other has is a big stick leaning agin' the wall in the corner of the room.
Without a stick, the EU3 don't have jack sh*t to back them up. Their only tool is appeasement, which has been used a few times in the last century, but to little avail. Nice bag of tricks you have in your kit, Herr Schroeder.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/14/2005 15:45
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I hope you're correct, TGA, but media stuf like this makes me worry. I'll feel lots better after the election and formation of a new government.
I didn't know Howard Dean had a sister?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/14/2005 16:37
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#11
Hmmmmmmmm, so GLOBAL ISLAMIST/JIHADIST STATE does NOT extend or mean GERMANY nor to the German people, just as it doesn't to FRANCE - you betcha boy!? And "JIHADIST" > is NOT mean any future Global Islamic Govt./Bureaucracy will NOT be in a permanent "state of war" like the USSR-Red China -OOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPSSSSSSSSSSSSSS, whether dedicated Muslim or Convert, "state of war" = you have no rights except thru the now Global Mad Mullahs, aka the Central Committee/Presideum of Global Mullahship!?
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.
Al Qaeda Militant Luai Sakra, arrested for organizing the double bomb attacks in Istanbul on 15-23 November, has claimed to have played a role in the September 11 attacks to World Trade Center (WTI) in New York.
MANAMAâ Sixty-four woman candidates officially announced their participation in Bahrain's municipal council and parliamentary elections next year.
JEDDAH â A mother and her 17-year-old daughter fought over a groom, with the former winning the argument and the young man.
At least one man was killed and more than 50 injured after about a dozen homemade bombs exploded at a packed shrine in eastern Bangladesh, police said. `The explosions occurred late on Friday at Akhaura in Brahmmanbaria district, 80km east of the capital, Dhaka, as people were taking part in an annual festival, area police chief ATM Tareq said.
Iraqi leaders, under intense US pressure, have reached tentative agreements on oil wealth distribution, perhaps the most divisive issue among for the country's ethnic and religious groups. Panelists finalising Iraq's constitution said on Saturday a deal had been struck to share the world's second largest known oil reserves, which are concentrated in the Kurdish controlled north and largely Shia south. "An in principle agreement has been reached late yesterday that Iraq's oil revenues will be shared between the Shia, the Kurds and the Sunnis," Sunni panelist Saleh al-Mutlaq said.
KARACHI: 
In the West Bank, dozens of members of Abbas' Fatah faction, some of them armed, stormed into a government building on Saturday to demand jobs, witnesses said. The incident in the town of Qalqilya was another sign of growing lawlessness and frustration at the lack of economic opportunities in the Palestinian territories. "We belong to Fatah. We ask you to leave your offices. The offices will be closed until our demands for employment are met. Our protest is peaceful so far," one of the Fatah members told the employees, who complied immediately.
A senior Japanese Defence Agency official has expressed concern that recent violent demonstrations in the southern Iraqi city of Samawa, where Australian troops are based, "are escalating". The capital of Al Muthanna province is under the control of Australian forces, who are providing security to a Japanese humanitarian military contingent. SDF Joint Staff Council chairman General Hajime Massaki said the demonstrations may affect the activities of Japanese troops there. "There are signs that the followers of (Shiite cleric) Moqtada al-Sadr are inciting demonstrations,'' Gen Massaki said, acknowledging that Iraqi locals are dissatisfied with electricity shortages and unemployment.
Armed fighters in Iraq have killed nine people including six soldiers in a series of attacks across the country. Armed assailants killed four soldiers at the 
Palestinian security forces deployed in the Gaza Strip as part of Israel's pullout operation, have been taking up positions they were forced to abandon almost five years ago at the start of the intifada. "Palestinian police and national security have re-deployed around the settlements and along bypass roads," a senior Palestinian security official said. "A total of 7500 security forces will be deployed over the next 24 hours, some of them in areas which they had vacated after September 28 2000," he said in reference to the day the second Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted.
PESHAWAR: The Nowshera district returning officer (DRO) served notice on NWFP Senior Minister 
President General Pervez Musharraf on Saturday asked the army to be ready to maintain law and order in the country during the upcoming local government elections. "Be prepared to assist the civil administration should such a need arise to maintain law and order during the local government elections," ISPR quoted the president as instructing the top brass of the Pakistan Army. Chaired by the president at GHQ, the 92nd meeting of corps commanders was attended by the vice chief of army staff, corps commanders and principal staff officers. The meeting reviewed the internal and external security situation and operational preparedness of the Pakistan Army besides training and other matters of professional interest.
Indonesian police say they have arrested a new suspect in the murder of a leading human rights activist, who died of poisoning on a flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam. Activist Munir died in the business-class cabin of a flight by national carrier Garuda Indonesian September last year. A Dutch autopsy found a lethal dose of arsenic in his body. 
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz received two of the recently pardoned Saudi Activist; Ali al Dumaini and Matruk al Falih, at his palace in Mecca yesterday. The two received a royal pardon on the 9th of August.
Italy has begun winding down its military presence in southern Iraq with the withdrawal of a battalion of more than 120 soldiers, a military spokesman says. "Between 120 and 130 men from San Marco battalion have returned to Italy and will not be replaced," Lieutenant-Colonel Fabio Mattiassi, spokesman for the Italian contingent in 
ISLAMABAD: Maulana 
President General Pervez Musharraf has admitted that previously his hands were tied when it came to reining in extremists in Pakistan, but says he is now "much stronger". In an interview to British newspaper The Telegraph, Gen Musharraf said that previously his hands were tied, either because of the 10-month-long confrontation with India in 2002 or political insecurities at home and abroad. "The situation is now far different from what I faced before," he said. "Now I am much stronger."
KARACHI: The government has set no deadline for expelling foreign seminary students as a host of logistics involved in the repatriation process still need to be worked out, Sindh Home Secretary Ghulam Mohtaram told reporters on Saturday. "We have to see if their home countries will accept them back," he said. The provincial government is preparing to send home 648 foreign students studying in religious schools in Sindh, Mohtaram said. "There are some 648 foreign students studying in madrasas in the province, of which 591 are in Karachi," the home secretary said. "The government has taken a policy decision on foreign students in madrasas. They will be sent back as soon as possible."
For the first time in a decade, the founders and top political leaders of 
A militant cleric jailed for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings will be among 53,000 inmates receiving sentence reductions to mark Indonesia's independence day, authorities and media reports said Saturday. Abu Bakar Bashir, alleged spiritual head of the al-Qaida-linked terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, was convicted in March of conspiracy in the Bali bombings that killed 202 people, many of them Australian tourists.
KARACHI: The police have arrested four suspected militants who were planning a series of terrorist attacks, a senior police official said on Saturday. "The four men were arrested in an early morning raid from the eastern district of the city and they belong to a religious and political party," 
Four electricity poles near Barkhan, in the border area of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, were blown up on Saturday morning, disrupting the power supply to the area. WAPDA authorities despatched a team from Dera Ghazi Khan to restore power. "Outlaws used explosives to blow up four electricity poles near Barkhan," said a police statement. A QESCO spokesman said that power would be restored in the next 72 hours, Online reported. A bomb exploded outside the office of the pro-government Pakistan Workers Party in Qalat on Friday, damaging walls and windows but causing no casualties, a police official told AP on Saturday. No one claimed responsibility for the blast.
Rival militias in arid southwestern Somalia battled Saturday for control over a village with pastures and wells. Twelve combatants died, and hundreds of residents fled, according to those in the area. The 2 1/2-hour clash began early Saturday, when Yontar community fighters attacked the village of Idale in a bid to seize it from the Hubeyr community. Hundreds of people fled their homes in the Bai region before the fighting ended at dawn, elder Salimow Sheikh said. Combatants used assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, Liban Mohamed Nageye, a nurse, said in a radio interview from a neighboring village. He said 12 fighters died.
One of Haiti's most powerful gang leaders said he would be willing to surrender if U.N. peacekeepers guarantee his safety. Armed gang members controlled by the man known as General Toutou are believed to be behind many of the kidnappings and killings that have added to the instability in Haiti as the country prepares for fall elections to replace the interim government. Toutou, in an interview Friday with The Associated Press, said he has begun talks on a possible surrender with the U.N. peacekeeping mission that came to Haiti to restore order following the ouster of the country's first freely elected leader, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in February 2004. "If the (U.N. mission) is ready to guarantee our security, we'd be ready to give up the fight," said Toutou, whose real name is unknown.
A United Nations investigator intends to question Syrian officials directly as part of a probe into the killing six months ago of Lebanese former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, a UN official says. Detlev Mehlis will also probably ask for more time than the designated three months to complete his findings, the official said. "Detlev Mehlis needs to directly interview Syrian officials concerned. He needs to visit Syria for this purpose," UN spokesman Najib Friji said on Saturday. "The Syrians have agreed in principle to cooperate with Mehlis but he has yet to receive an official Syrian response to visit the country."
German Chancellor 
