Cranberry juice has long been a prime natural-food weapon against urinary tract infections in women, and studies show that the good juice deters infection by preventing disease-causing bacteria from entering body cells. One study found that when cranberry juice was present, 80 percent fewer bacteria stuck to cells. Adhering to a host cell is the first step in a successful infection.
Could cranberry juice also protect cells from viruses?
Apparently so, according to research just reported by Patrice Cohen and Steven Lipson of St. Francis College (Brooklyn, N.Y.). When the researchers bathed animal cells in the red juice (we'll call it juice, but it's actually cranberry juice cocktail, straight from the supermarket!), virtually none of the cells got infected by reoviruses or rotaviruses, two common causes of diarrhea. (The researchers used red blood cells and kidney cells, which are common tests for viral infectivity.) Undiluted juice reduced infectivity by more than 99.9999 percent. When cells were bathed in diluted juice, the protection waned. Juice diluted by 512 parts of water offered no protection. Agents that prevent pathogenic adhesion, if one can obtain the effect orally, could be of major value for certain diseases. I am especially thinking of the ever-nearer avian flu, where any trick in the book is a good one.
#1
When the researchers bathed animal cells in the red juice (we'll call it juice, but it's actually cranberry juice cocktail, straight from the supermarket!), virtually none of the cells got infected by reoviruses or rotaviruses, two common causes of diarrhea.
And how much would you have to drink to get this effect?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/05/2005 22:41
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#2
Prolly a gallon an hour for the duration...
Gotta keep saturated!
Posted by: DanNY ||
08/05/2005 22:54
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When the researchers bathed animal cells in the red juice . . . virtually none of the cells got infected by reoviruses or rotaviruses, two common causes of diarrhea.
EXCELLENT! NOW WE CAN REST ASSURED THAT REOVIRUSES AND ROTAVIRUSES WON'T GET THE RUNS!!!
The Bush administration is considering taking the unprecedented step of preventing a visting head of state from addressing the United Nations in New York by denying a visa to Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, Iran's new elected conservative president.
Officials said a decision rested on investigations into whether Mr Ahmadi-Nejad was involved in the 1979 US embassy hostage crisis and the killing of an Iranian-Kurdish dissident leader in Vienna in 1989. Iran denies his involvement in either event.
A top Iranian official confirmed Thursday that Mr Ahmadi-Nejad, who took office on Wednesday, planned to address the UN Millennium Summit and its annual General Assembly next month. Ahmadi-Nejadââ¬â¢s visa application was submitted on Thursday, the Iranian official said.
The trip would be ââ¬Åmutually beneficial to the US and Iranââ¬?, the official added.
A White House official said that visa applications were confidential under US law and therefore he could not comment on the outcome. Asked if the presidentââ¬â¢s alleged involvement in the 444-day-long embassy hostage crisis, if proven, would be sufficient reason to deny him a visa, the US official replied: ââ¬ÅThat is something we are looking at.ââ¬?
A US official who asked to remain anonymous said agencies were examining whether there was sufficient evidence to deny a visa and how this would be justified under international law.
Stephane Dujarric, UN spokesman, said: ââ¬ÅThe host country agreement calls on the US not to impose any impediment to the travel to the UN of any representative of a member state on official business.ââ¬?
Yasser Arafat, Palestine Liberation Organisation chairman, was denied entry in 1988. He addressed the UN in Geneva. Mohammad Khatami, Iran's previous president, spoke at the UN several times, most notably just weeks after the September 2001 attacks, which he condemned.
Former US diplomats allege they recognise Mr Ahmadi-Nejad as one of their captors, but the Central Intelligence Agency has found no confirmation of this.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/05/2005
20:51 ||
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#1
OH, Please do,
Or better Yet, arrest him when he steps foot on the tar-mac.
Muslim-Themed 'Beurger King' Opens By SOPHIE NICHOLSON, Associated Press Writer
Fri Aug 5, 2:08 PM ET
Muslims in France are having it their way with "Beurger King" â a new fast-food restaurant that caters to the country's large Islamic population.
The bright and colorful eatery was launched in July in an eastern Paris suburb crowded with immigrants and dilapidated housing projects. Its name plays on the French word "Beur," meaning a second-generation North African living in France.
The menu at Beurger King Muslim, or BKM, is standard fast-food fare: burgers, fries, sundaes and doughnuts, and prices are comparable to those at major chains. But the beef and chicken burgers are halal â meaning made with meat slaughtered according to Islamic dietary laws.
Waitresses wear Islamic head scarves, as do many of their customers.
Mouna Talbi, 24, traveled 55 miles to Clichy-sous-Bois with her husband and two small sons to try it out.
"I was so happy to come here that I had tears in my eyes when I walked in," she said, watching her sons climb on colored blocks in the play area as she ate a halal burger.
After the success of Mecca Cola, a soft drink marketed to French Muslims, it was perhaps only a matter of time before a Muslim-themed, fast-food restaurant opened in the country with Europe's largest Islamic population.
Talbi's children always clamor for fast food, but this was the first time they've been able to order something other than fish, she said.
"A woman in Muslim dress feels at home here How 'bout a bomb belt?," she said, sitting in a red tunic and matching head scarf.
Three Muslim friends from the Paris suburbs set up the restaurant after seeing similar restaurants in Thailand and Algeria.
They saw a demand for a clean, family-oriented halal fast-food restaurant that would offer an alternative to the big non-halal chains and the many downscale halal street vendors.
One of the founders, Morad Benhamida, 33, said he and his partners worked for almost two years on a business plan to convince French backers.
"I was shocked when my bank manager believed in the project straight away," he said, sitting under an umbrella on the restaurant's terrace.
He said the business plan showed the halal meat came from reputable wholesalers and was inspected twice daily. But he had not anticipated how successful the idea would be.
"I was very surprised because people really liked the restaurant, so much so that we have tripled stocks since opening a month ago," he said. "It seems like magic."
He is planning to hire eight new employees in fall, expanding his staff of 28. Put down that nail bomb and get to work!
In an area with high unemployment, people are grateful to find work. Some female employees said they took the job because they were allowed to wear head scarves, unlike workers in other French fast-food restaurants.
Female customers also seemed happy. Cherifa Halimi, 19, sat in a booth sipping drinks with four friends, all dressed in black flowing gowns covering all but their hands and faces.
"There are a few changes they could make to give the place a completely Muslim image," Halimi said. "The television is OK, but there shouldn't be any music.
"But I'd like to work here."
Muslim diners said they felt more misunderstood in France since last month's terror attacks in London.
"Even the media demonizes the image of Islam in this country," Ahmed Talbi said, sitting in a booth opposite his wife. "People are afraid of terrorist attacks here, too."
Customers, including non-Muslims, said the restaurant was not segregating Muslims but showing a normal, peaceful Muslim activity that was open to all.
"Both Muslims and other people feel at ease here," Talbi said. "Maybe this kind of place will help to correct the bad image of Muslims and tell the world to stop talking nonsense about us."
#1
This is actually a good thing -- a first step toward mainstreaming the Beur population. Also, the more people off the dole, the fewer will have time for polotting and seething.
My only comment: in future, intrinsicpilot, please highlight your in-line comments. I had to read that bit about the bomb belt twice before it sank in. Thanks!
Also Thursday, Jordan announced the arrest of 17 terrorists linked to Abu Musab al Zarqawiâs al Qaeda network in Iraq and an affiliated Saudi group for plotting attacks on US personnel.
On July 16, DEBKA-Net-Weekly 214 revealed the plot's huge scale:
An ambitious attack in Jordan was foiled this week. It was to have been Zarqawiâs crowning venture. The scheme had four parts: One, to blow up the Iraqi-Jordanian oil pipeline from Kirkuk to Zarqa; two, to torch the hundreds of American and Jordan tanker trucks waiting outside Jordanian pumping stations including H4. The Jordanian-Iraqi border terminals were to have been attacked at the same time and the villages around the terminals and oil pipeline set on fire.
Four would have emanated from the first three: the cutoff of the main energy lifeline from Jordan to the US army in Iraq and Baghdad.
Jordanian intelligence got wind of the danger in time and aborted the multiple attacks.
DEBKA-Net-Weeklyâs anti-terror sources reports that Zarqawi placed one of his lieutenants, Abu Abd al Raham al-Afghani in charge of this operation. His real name is believed to be Ismail Abu Awda. The man on the ground in Jordan was to have been Fahd Faiqi, a Saudi Arabian aged 26, who lives in Jordan and acts as Zarqawiâs main contact with Jordanian crime gangs.
The controversy stirred up in the United Kingdom over the details given by the New York Police Department on commonly available materials used in the July 7 London bombings would actually appear to users of jihadi forums as of no particular interest.
The details, described as âunhelpful' by British counterparts, were released during the course of a briefing given by NYPD Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, where the commonplace nature of the explosive materials used was intended as a measure to increase vigilance.
Yet the information available on the Internet to would-be bombers makes the controversy largely irrelevant.
The material itself, Acetone Peroxide (used allegedly for bombings in London and Casablanca) is given a detailed treatment in a jihadi forum [http://elaqsa.2islam.com/Explo/11.html], which hosts an "Al-Aqsa Encyclopedia" compiled by one âDr. Doom', which specializes in the art. Incongruously sitting opposite a contents list of Qur'anic commentaries, Hadith studies and chapters on Muslim law, including monographs on "Weddings in Paradise", the section "Military Preparation" contains a heading on "The Science of Explosives." It maps out the following:
First principles in the science of explosives
The composition of explosives
The influence of oxygen on explosives
Other factors influencing explosion
Chemical properties for explosives
Stabilization of chemicals
The physics of explosives (biophysics)
Explosive gas pressure
Under the section âmanufacture' the Encyclopedia lists an article available on Peroxide Acetone, followed by âforthcoming' treatments on:
Nitro starch
Nitro-cellulose
Nitro-glycerine
ââŠand much more, God willing.'
The exhaustiveness of the treatment of Peroxide Acetone is demonstrated by the elaborate specifications given on a hyperlink, which details the mass, density, boiling point, distillation and speed of detonation, in addition to molecular diagrams and detailed ingredient lists on manufacture. The article gives photographic step-by-step illustration of the preparation method and also provides extensive details on storage requirements. Full warnings are given on the sensitivity of the explosive to friction, heat and agitation and contact with acidic substances, and an advice to prepare the explosive as soon as possible to the time of its deployment.
The mujahid reader can also access video films illustrating in detail the manufacture and detonation processes, and both the thoroughness and the matter-of-fact economy of the whole article indicates that it was produced (or translated) by a highly trained expert in the field.
Other forums have been just as fruitful for aspiring mujahideen. The al-Ma'sada site posted details on explosives manufacture, often in the form of correspondence. The following from last November is typical:
"A question. Concerning Ammonium Nitrate â if it comes in the shape of gun pellets, does it need to be coated in an insulating substance, or is it ready for use as it is? When it comes to destroying buildings, what is the most powerful mixture for nitrates, and are nitrates of 46% nitrogen content ready for use directly, and without any further admixture? God grant thee ample reward"
"God willing, I can answer both your questions ⊠[details then follow of the correct quantities]. Also, on the following [web] page you can find all the details just about Ammonium Nitrates. Read it carefully and you won't be boredâŠ"
Another posting on the same forum in January provided no less than 64 detailed recipes for explosives production, including the full text of what it terms the "Mujahideen Terrorist Handbook", an American publication which lists, among other things, âBuying explosives and propellants', âuseful household chemicals and availability', âpreparation of chemicals', âexplosives recipes,' âignition devices', âlists of suppliers' and a âchecklist for raids on labs', prioritizing the materials to be stolen.
"Almost any city or town of reasonable size" the manual explains, "has a gun store and a pharmacy. These are two of the places that potential terrorists visit in order to purchase explosive material. All that one has to do is know something about the non-explosive uses of the materials âŠ"
As to the detonation method of using alarms on cell phones, mentioned in the briefing by Commissioner Raymond Kelly, this too has long been standard fare on the Internet. A posting last November on al-Ma'sada was a detailed response to a request for the essential missing part for a detonation system that employed an electronic circuit that would automatically turn on the phone. The answer was given with the customary self-absolvement of responsibility: "Do not use these files against any Muslim, we bear witness to God that we are innocent of anyone who does that⊠These files are provided for the aim of spreading Good among Muslims, and to prepare them for Jihad ⊠Fear God, and do not undertake anything until you have consulted with people of judgment and wisdom."
Articles such as these form part of the extensive literature on military materiel transmitted by the Internet on the more technical aspects of jihad. The most comprehensive of these manuals is the exhaustive Mawsu'at al-I'dad, (Encyclopedia of Preparation) which is nothing less than a massive contents list made up of URLs leading to further pages, with ever more sub-categorized URLs covering weaponry manufacture and deployment, guerrilla warfare, training and tactics. As indicated by Terrorism Focus article "A Guide to Jihad on the Web" (see Focus, Volume 2, Issue 7) the "Encyclopedia of Preparation" is now available in CD form. The anxieties of the UK police force in this respect, while understandable, are in the final analysis misplaced, since the Internet has long been used by mujahideen to distribute the information to within a few taps of the keyboard.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/05/2005
18:02 ||
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#1
Surely someone can hack into these sites and jigger the instructions? It wouldn't take much, explosives tending to be, well, explosive.
#4
Lots of hackers use auto-dialers, right? I'm thinking about "War Games".
So why not start a program whereby you log on and call 50 cell phone numbers in Iraq? How much would that cost? Blow up a Jihadi while he's transporting the boom!
Remote detonation from the Great Satan™!
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/05/2005 21:46
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#5
Lots of hackers use auto-dialers, right?
In the 80's and early 90's, yeah.
This is the Internet age.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/05/2005 22:40
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The latest video communication from al-Qaeda, broadcast on August 4 by the Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite television station, was notable for a number of reasons. First of all, it prolongs the mystery of attribution of the London bombings. The speaker, Ayman Al-Zawahiri noticeably did not explicitly claim responsibility for the attacks â perhaps the strongest pointer yet as to whether al-Qaeda was directly involved, or rather, whether its involvement extended to more than an âaspirational' role. There have been indications in the past of attacks carried out in their name (such as the Doha theatre bombing which they distanced themselves from), and the mixed implications for Islamist supporters in the United Kingdom leave their position on the July 7 bombings unclear. But in any case, an attack of such high priority, even if al-Qaeda were not involved, simply has to have a comment from the terror group, if they wish to retain their relevance. More than that, al-Qaeda can draw out the psychological impact of the bombings and benefit from them: if the attacks are a local affair, bin Laden and al-Zawahiri will take the credit for them.
Several audiences are intended for the video. For the Middle East, a large part of the five minute tape expounded on the occupation of Islamic lands by the infidel. The language of such addresses also typically focuses on the dangers of Western culture â notably the plan for democracy for the Middle East â presents to their vision of an Islamic world. For the Western audience, now grappling with the issue of whether to connect the London bombings with Iraq, and whether to take the route of Madrid, this message was intended to isolate the policymakers via inspiring foreboding among civilians and changing the political language among the intellectual elites. For British citizens: "Blair has brought you destruction to the heart of London, and he will bring more destruction, God willing." For citizens of the United States: "If you continue the same policy of aggression against Muslims, God willing, you will see the horror that will make you forget what you had seen in Vietnam."
Al-Qaeda still has its work cut out to reconcile the varying identities which it has accorded itself â as a defender of Muslims against Western geopolitical oppression and defender of Muslims against Western cultural infiltration, even where these formulate themselves in pro-democratic policies. Political representation of Muslims remains difficult for al-Qaeda, which has distinguished itself by dispensing with established national borders, using as in this tape, elastic terms such as "the land of Muhammad." Hence, in its âpolitical rhetoric' in video recordings and propaganda literature, the use of innovative âpara-political' vocabulary: âCrusaders,' âZion-Crusaders' (Sahyu-Salibiyyin), âinfidels' and âpolytheists' â most notably in the logo: "Akhriju al-Mushrikeen min Jazirat al-Arab" (Expel the Polytheists from the Arabian Peninsula). The strategy documents published by al-Qaeda for non-Western audiences, and which abound with this un-geographical (and un-chronological) terminology, indicate that the struggle will not end with a territorially defined settlement, but will remain an existential one.
Al-Zawahiri was careful to remind the Americans of bin Laden's previous offer of a truce and the threats that "you will not dream of security before there is security in Palestine and before all the infidel armies withdraw from the land of Muhammad." But one of the problems with al-Qaeda's weak political credentials is the inability to enforce its own threats and rewards. Spain's withdrawal from Iraq following the March 2004 train bombings has not spared its security forces subsequent Islamist threats.
For Western audiences, the al-Qaeda leadership is now experienced in nuancing its language for maximum resonance, at the same time sending alternative signals to the jihadi foot-soldiers. All the while Dr. Zawahiri spoke of the potential âtruce', expounded on more than one occasion as "cooperation with the Islamic nation on the basis of mutual respect," he was wearing a black turban â a badge of war and a sign that his secondary intention is to exploit the raised passions of the bombings in London and Sharm al-Sheikh to instigate further actions.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/05/2005
18:00 ||
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#1
Spain's withdrawal from Iraq following the March 2004 train bombings has not spared its security forces subsequent Islamist threats.
That would be because because Al Q CONTROLS nothing. They influence the Jihadis, but they have no control. So the followers blow up women and children, Iraqis, Egyptians, tourists and Muslim apostates indiscriminately. Even if it's NOT in Binny's plan, how can he complain? That'd show his lack of control.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/05/2005 22:16
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Terrorism is not new to North and West Africa. The region as a whole has been affected by a range of ethno-nationalist and religious conflicts, a number of which have been accompanied by highly destructive campaigns of terrorism. The civilian carnage wrought by the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) in Algeria is one of the more graphic examples, although more limited campaigns have also been associated with the Christian/Muslim communal conflict in Nigeria, Tuareg insurgent violence in Mali, the Cassamance struggle in Senegal and, to a certain extent, the POLISARIO secessionist struggle in the Western Sahara. While much of the terrorist violence in the region revolves around specific catalytic events (such as the annulment of the Islamic Salvation Frontâs electoral victory in Algeria in 1992 and the institution of Shariâah law in Nigeriaâs northern states in 2000), institutional weakness, autocratic governance and economic marginality have all provided an environmental context that is highly conducive to political violence and extremism.
These various manifestations of terrorist violence have had a notable impact on stability throughout the region. At the national level, it has played a prominent role in polarizing sub-national ethnic and religious identity, leading to highly divisive societies that have been unable to forge institutional structures for peaceful communal coexistence. Nigeria provides a graphic case in point, suffering over the last decade from an increasingly serious Christian-Muslim gulf borne of what is rapidly becoming an entrenched culture of extremist sectarian mobilization and violence. Equally as indicative is Algeria, where viscous campaigns waged by the GIA, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) and associated splinter groups over the last two decades have torn and, arguably destroyed, much of the underlying social fabric holding the country together. Economically, terrorism has discouraged foreign investment and tourism as well as necessitated the re-allocation of scarce resources away from productive uses.
Just as critically, the rhetoric of counter-terrorism has frequently been co-opted by regimes to legitimate draconian internal security measures and institute all-embracing anti-opposition crackdowns, which have had a highly damaging impact on human rights and notions of responsible and responsive civil governance. The combined effect has been the emergence of states lacking most, if not all of the prerequisites for viable socio-political development.
Regionally, terrorism and terrorist-infused armed campaigns have also had a marked impact, complicating bilateral interstate relations and often negatively interacting with other transnational threats to stability. The POLISARIO struggle in the Western Sahara, which has involved documented, albeit sporadic attacks against civilian Sahrawis, has been a major factor in heightening tension between Morocco and Mauritania as well as undermining the prospects for the development of a wider economic community in the Maghreb. External terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda are strongly suspected of having forged mutually beneficial links with West African crime networks, particularly in Nigeria, paying syndicates to facilitate everything from document forgery to people, weapons, diamonds and drugs trafficking. Finally, the integrity of borders between neighboring countries has periodically been called into question as a result of population displacements and illicit commodity movements connected to, if not directly caused by extremist activity and/or repressive internal security drives.
Although for the most part terrorism in North and West Africa has manifested itself as a local phenomenon, there have been exceptions. The Algerian GIA, for instance, has carried out numerous attacks in France, benefiting from the overseas assistance of various diaspora communities scattered throughout southern Europe. More seriously and with particular salience to post-9/11 threat contingencies, the region has been directly connected to the global anti-western jihadist ambitions of Bin Laden. Al-Qaeda is known to have made logistical inroads into West Africa, seeking to radicalize regional Islamist sentiment, benefit from the pervasive influence of organized criminality that infuses states such as Nigeria and exploit the weak, porous borders and institutional structures that are characteristic of states throughout the Sahel and Maghreb. [1]
Moreover, there is increased evidence of North African Muslim involvement in the insurgency in Iraq where security officials fear they are gaining critical training and combat experience that could be used to inflame local jihadist sentiment in much the same way that occurred following the anti-Soviet mujahideen campaign in the 1980s.
It is this extra-regional dimension that is currently informing the threat perceptions of Western governments and intelligence analysts. In the United States there is a growing appreciation that terrorism in North and West Africa could pose a serious long-term threat to American national security interests. Economically, the region remains important, both with regards to oil â roughly 17 percent of Washingtonâs non-gulf petroleum imports come from the Central/West African basis â as well as in terms of overall trade and investment on the continent. Outbursts of extremist political violence obviously hold direct implications for ensuring the protection of these strategic energy supplies and otherwise providing a safe and stable environment in which to conduct macro-economic business. Just as importantly, the Bush Administration has become concerned that the combination of autocratic governance, economic degradation, political corruption and disregard for human rights will radicalize Islamic sentiment in West Africa and possibly avail the emergence of a new al-Qaeda front that could be used as a base from which to plan and execute future attacks on American global interests. The steady depletion of its regional diplomatic and intelligence capacities over the last several years has further heightened misgivings in the U.S., not least because it has translated into a weakened grasp of quickly evolving trends on the ground and created acute vulnerabilities that could be brutally exploited in the same manner as the 1998 bombings of Washingtonâs embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.
Apart from the United States, both France and the United Kingdom have exhibited a keen interest in dampening the potential for terrorism in North and West Africa. London and Paris retain substantial economic and political ties to many states in the region, which they do not want to see jeopardized as a result of extremist ethno-nationalist or religious violence. Moreover, by virtue of their past colonial relationship, the two countries continue to share an unwritten obligation for maintaining stability in this part of Africa by actively working to dampen cross-border and transnational influences such as terrorism. On a more practical level, the proximity of conflict-ridden states such as Algeria has galvanized concerns about imported extremism into Europe. France has already been severely affected by GIA hijackings of its commercial airliners â including a thwarted 1994 plot to fly an Air France jet into the Eiffel Tower â and during the summer of 1995 was hit by a wave of devastating subway bombings in Paris. Since 9/11, there have also been growing fears that al-Qaeda has effectively exploited the so-called Maghreb-southern Mediterranean backdoor to implant operational and sleeper cells in major metropolitan cities stretching from Rome to London. [2]
International concerns have been further galvanized by the endemic culture of transnational organized crime (TOC) that exists throughout West Africa, much of which is carried out by loosely organized networks based in Nigeria. These entities are known to have engaged in a variety of illicit pursuits including, notably: gem, people, drugs and weapons trafficking; document forgery; and advanced fee fraud (which essentially involves the creation of bogus business proposals that promise the recipients substantial financial rewards for participating). Algerian Islamists linked to the al-Qaeda network are widely suspected of using false passports and fake credit cards supplied by Nigerian syndicates to gain entry into France, Italy and Britain, while Bin Laden, himself, is alleged to have exploited the underground West African diamond trade to hide terrorist assets to the tune of at least $240 million.
As in many parts of the world, regional counter-terrorist structures and policies remain nascent or have yet to be developed. The reasons for this are complex, although most relate to one or more of the following eight considerations:
- The inherent tension between state sovereignty and the common will upon which regional cooperation is founded â namely that effective collaborative action necessarily requires individual member countries to cede some of their national independence to the wider group collective.
- The highly personalized nature of governance and politics in Africa, which has not only hindered the development of institutionalized forms of cooperation but also made these efforts contingent on the nature of the individual relationships that exist between what are often overly powerful presidents.
- The proliferation of regional groupings with overlapping memberships and/or mandates, which has resulted in duplication of effort, wastage of resources and conflicting spheres of jurisdiction. Moreover in several instances it has led to highly problematic institutional confusion, much of which has arisen from the pursuit of contradictory policies that have been instituted by countries belonging to more than one organization.
- A general lack of stakeholder involvement â particularly in relation to those constituencies most affected by regional security cooperation and related decision-making processes.
- Differing perceptions of the terrorist phenomena and the specific threat that it is seen to pose.
- A general absence of integrated national counter-terrorist structures through which to channel and direct wider regional responses.
- Insufficient national resources â both technical and human â to invest in counter-terrorism strategies commensurate with the rhetorical missions and designs adopted at the international level.
- The frequent use of proxy sub-state actors to undermine and destabilize bordering states.
The challenge for Africa in terms of counter-terrorism and security cooperation is first to undertake an honest assessment of the current threat environment confronting the continent; second to utilize the lessons regional governments have garnered from previous efforts at multilateralism; and third, to determine realistic policies for addressing cross-boundary challenges and influences. The stakes are high, as evidenced by a recent statement by Major General Richard P. Zahner, Chief intelligence officer for the United Statesâ Eastern Command: â[It is clear that] al-Qaeda is assessing local [North and West] African groups for franchising opportunities. I am quite concerned about that.â [3]
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/05/2005
17:58 ||
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Terrorist attacks on civilians in the heart of London have long been considered inevitable by the UKâs police and intelligence services. For them, the London bombings represent the ultimate security nightmare: young men from Britainâs 1.6 million strong Muslim community willing to kill themselves and their fellow citizens in the country in which they were born. All but one of the men involved in the July 7 attacks were of Pakistani extraction, the other being a Muslim convert of Jamaican descent.
The West Yorkshire Scene
The bombers and their support network hailed from in and around the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire. Leeds lies at the heart of the industrial north of England and like many UK cities with an industrial past, has instituted regeneration programs over the last decade that, on the surface at least, have revitalized its image as a center of culture and business. However, within the Pakistani community â the cityâs largest minority group â in excess of 40% possess no qualifications and unemployment is double that of the white population. The city, with its population of 715,000, hosts more than 70 nationalities and one of its most culturally diverse communities is Beeston, an area in the southwest. [1] It is from there that western Europeâs first suicide attacks were planned.
Pakistanis constitute 11 per cent of Beestonâs population and are the largest non-white group in the area. The district is visibly deprived and has 7.8 per cent unemployment against a city average of 3.3%. [2] However, it is not a âsink estateâ but a working class district typical of northern Englandâs industrial cities, with its tight streets and rows of terraced redbrick houses. The area has three mosques, which attract worshippers from all over south Leeds. Beeston, and Leeds in general, has a history of peaceful cross-community relations. This stands in contrast to those in the nearby city of Bradford, and a number of other northern towns, which have experienced race riots involving disaffected Pakistani youths in recent years. The invasion of Iraq and the onset of the âwar against terrorismâ have challenged members of the wider Muslim community and their disparate and often divided leadership with fundamental questions concerning issues of identity, representation and religious interpretation.
The Terrorist Cell
Mohammed Siddique Khan, a mentor by profession, is regarded by the security services as the senior, dominant figure with operational command over the bombing team â a common attribute of terrorist cells. He was responsible for identifying, cultivating and supporting the three younger men. Khan also took charge of liaising with contacts outside the area and in Pakistan, including the alleged âmastermindâ. He was employed as a âlearning mentorâ at a local primary school between March 2001 and December 2004. Dedicated to his job, he was perceived as a father figure to the disenfranchised young men of Beeston. In a chance interview given to a national newspaper in 2003, he described with disdain how the deprivation in Beeston remained untouched by the city councilâs âregenerationâ strategy. [3]
The thirty-year old Khan lived with his pregnant wife and 18-month-old daughter and had studied at Leeds University. He had been off work on sick leave since September 2004 and resigned from his job last December. Khan had recently relocated from Beeston to Dewsbury, a small town near Leeds. [4] Back in February 2000, he established a gym with local government money under the rubric of the Kashmiri Welfare Association, which was associated with the Hardy Street mosque in Beeston. [5] The group aimed to keep youths off the streets by involving them in weightlifting. He continued his voluntary youth support activities following his appointment at the local school. However, in the past 18 months he was expelled from the mosque on suspicion of preaching extreme interpretations of Islam to young people. [6]
In 2004, he set up a second gymnasium on Lodge Lane in Beeston in the name of the youth program of the nearby Hamara Centre charitable foundation. [7] In the two months prior to the bombings, the building was closed for renovations, but locals have reported its continued use. All of the bombers are known to have frequented the Lodge Lane building. [8]
Shahzad Tanweer, 22, was a successful sportsman who received good grades at school before going on to study Sports Science at Leeds Metropolitan University. Son of a successful local businessman, Tanweerâs family was relatively prosperous and well respected, though he was effectively unemployed. [9] In November 2004, Tanweer and Mohammed Siddique Khan took the same flight to the Pakistani port city of Karachi. Tanweer had gone to the country, according to his uncle, to learn the Qurâan by heart. Their precise movements upon arrival cannot be confirmed, except that Tanweer traveled to his familyâs home village in rural Faisalabad and spent most of his two-month stay there. He studied the Qurâan in the local mosque and spent the majority of his time indoors as he did not feel welcomed as a Briton. His aunt confirmed that his only visitor during his stay was Khan. [10]
They flew back to the UK together in February of this year. At this stage, Tanweerâs relatives noted that he had become more religious; he now had a beard and prayed five times a day. According to his family, Tanweer despaired of UK policy in Kashmir, Iraq and Afghanistan, and he idolized Osama bin Laden. [11] Upon his return from Pakistan, he worked intermittently for his father and both he and Khan volunteered in an Islamic bookstore in Beeston, which also acted as a local drop-in center for youths. [12]
Eighteen-year-old Hasib Hussein left school in July 2003 after five yearâs education with no formal qualifications. [13] A keen sportsman, he was unemployed and frustrated by both his lack of options and local facilities to pursue his love of football. He smoked marijuana with his friends and got into occasional fights with white youths. Hussein had performed the Hajj and had become increasingly devout, but remained normal to his friends, although he had shaved his beard prior to the attacks â a common preparatory act amongst Islamists. His father, a devout Muslim who suffered from poor health and had been unable to hold down full-time work, had expressed concern at his relationship with Khan. [14]
Jamaican born 19-year-old carpet fitter Germaine Lindsay recently relocated to his English wifeâs hometown of Aylesbury in the south of England. He grew up in West Yorkshire, in the small working class town of Huddersfield, close to Leeds. Lindsay lacked a father figure and converted to Islam following his motherâs relationship with a Muslim. School friends portray him as an intelligent young man âfascinated by world affairs, religion and politicsâ who changed markedly after his conversion during the summer of his final year at school. Lindsayâs deepening religiosity became increasingly obvious: he studied Urdu, wanted to be known as Jamal, and condemned those who drank alcohol. His sister said that âhe was not my brother anymore.â Lindsayâs young wife, also a convert to Islam, was 8 months pregnant with their second child. [15]
A local politician stated that âwe know Lindsay used to travel, because the local mosques were too moderate for him.â Lindsay, who was a fitness fanatic, is believed to have met his fellow bombers while attending one of the gyms set up by Khan. Moreover, his best friend revealed that he âhad been going to a mosque in London and spoke of the teachings of someone down there.â [16]
Terror Connections
According to various reports, Khanâs name had emerged following a foiled plot to detonate a truck bomb in London in 2004. However, the intelligence services did not further investigate as he was only indirectly linked to one of the alleged plotters. In addition, Israeli reports have alleged that Khan spent a day in Israel in February 2003, leading to speculation that he was linked to the suicide attack perpetrated that April by two British born Pakistanis. An unnamed acquaintance of Khan told a local newspaper that he had traveled abroad frequently. [17]
Two other individuals linked with the investigation have been named as Haroon Rashid Aswad and Majdi al-Nashar, but their alleged roles remain unconfirmed. On July 21, it was reported and later denied that Aswad, 30, who was originally from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, had been arrested by Pakistani authorities in Islamabad. Police allege that he is the mastermind of the operation and is said to have made around 20 phone calls to the bombers Khan and Shehzad Tanweer in the months leading up to the attacks before flying out of London before July 7. [18] Aswadâs family stated that he had not lived in the family home, nor had they had contact with him, for around ten years. He is believed to reside in London. [19] One local press report said that he is a former aide to the radical London cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri. [20]
Egyptian national Majdi al-Nashar is linked to a flat in which the homemade explosives were manufactured. A devoted Muslim, he headed the Islamic Society at Leeds University, though one of its members said that he did not propagate extreme views. [21] The Islamist community in both Egypt and London also stated that they had never heard of him following his arrest in Cairo. [22] Although suspicion initially fell upon Al-Nashar, who was awarded a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Leeds University this year, he claims to have let the flat out to someone from London. This may have been Germaine Lindsay, whom he knew through attendance at a central mosque in Leeds, or Aswad, who local press allege visited the Yorkshire area after entering the country from abroad in the weeks before the attacks. [23]
Islamists and Counterterrorism
The attacks were claimed in two separate statements, one by the hitherto unknown Secret Group of Al-Qaeda of Jihad Organization in Europe and another by the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, who have previously threatened European states. Occurring as they did on the day of the G8 summit, the bombers would have wanted to convey their fury at UK and U.S. policy in Iraq. This makes the first statement more credible. Yasser al-Sirri of the Islamic Observation Centre in London discredited this claim as âit contradicts the language and literature of al-Qaedaâ with its poor Arabic, misquotations of the Qurâan and its use of terminology. [24] Yet these very elements of the posting, which are usually written in the erudite Salafi-Jihadi language of al-Qaeda, indicate that even at the planning stage, and although there are connections with Pakistan, this was an all-British affair. On top of this, the claim stated that Britain is on fire in its ânorthern, southern, eastern and western quartersâ reflecting the bombers intended direction on the London Underground, before Hasib Hussein discovered the Northern Line was temporarily suspended and took a bus. [25]
The reaction to the blasts among the UKâs Islamist community has reflected the fact that the attacks will severely affect their future status in this country. Hizb ut-Tahrir condemned the bombings, as did Yasser al-Sirri, who stated that the goal was âillegitimateâ and that âGod says if anyone wants to do something [against a country] he must leave that country and fight them outside. He can go to Iraq and fight the American forces there, or British forces, but he shouldnât kill [British civilians].â [26] Other prominent London-based figures refrained from comment, though the website of Muhammad al-Massariâs Islamic Renewal Organization later posted one of the claims of responsibility and was promptly disrupted.
The only tacit endorsements came from Anjem Choudary, former UK secretary of the now defunct al-Muhajiroun â whose spiritual leader recently claimed that the âcovenant of securityâ between Islamists and the British state had expired â when he refused to condemn the attacks, and from Hani al-Sibaâi, Director of the Al-Maqrizi Centre for Historical Studies. Hani al-Sibaâi stated on al-Jazeera television that if al-Qaeda was responsible for the attacks, which he did not believe was the case, than âit would be a great victory for [al-Qaeda] and it would have rubbed the noses of the heads of eight countries [G-8] in the dirt.â [27]
The UKâs counter-terrorism policy is now under heightened scrutiny with demands for robust action. In response to the attacks, the government has announced an extra £10 million for the police, who will increase the number of Special Branch officers. MI5, the domestic intelligence service, had already been steadily increasing its numbers back to Cold War levels before the attacks and may receive an additional monetary injection, particularly following some well-calibrated comments to the press. It recently established a Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre to smooth cooperation between the different intelligence services after the debacle over intelligence related to the Iraq WMD claim. It is has also launched an Urdu language version of its website and, in recognition of the threat, is in the process of establishing eight regional offices, including one in Leeds, which it hopes will attract young Asian recruits. [28]
Current UK anti-terrorist legislation is already rigorous and controversially allows the detention of terrorism suspects without trial. High court judges regularly review such cases and suspects can now be released and made subject to âcontrol ordersâ that limit their movements and contacts. In the wake of the London attacks, a global list of terrorism suspects has been proposed and new counter-terrorism laws aimed at further squeezing the Islamist community in London and its communications network are being drawn up for fast-tracking in the upcoming parliamentary session.
Intelligence officials admit that they are at the same âlevel of penetrationâ amongst the Muslim community now as they were with the Irish republican community in the early 1970s, when the Provisional IRA acted with impunity. It took twenty years to effectively infiltrate the IRA, but that was a structured organization supported by a tiny community with distinct and realistic political goals. Now the potential pool of recruits is massive and the enemy is young British Muslim âclean skinsâ who are engaged in what appears to be a global struggle.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/05/2005
17:55 ||
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I was hoping for something short. Maybe tomorrow.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/05/2005 22:04
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Western experts are continuing to debate whether the 7 and 21 July 2005 attacks in London and the 23 July 2005 attack in Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt, were directed and controlled by al-Qaeda's leaders, undertaken by so-called al-Qaeda "franchise" groups, or staged by al-Qaeda-inspired free-lancers. While this debate proceeds, it seems useful to step back and consider the possibility that, whoever exercised command-and-control over the attacks, al-Qaeda's assiduous effort to cultivate and train professional insurgents and urban warfare specialists via the Internet is bearing fruit.
Bin Laden has always considered al-Qaeda's main role in the war against America and its allies to be incitement and paramilitary training. Toward those ends, he established religious and insurgent training camps in places like Afghanistan, Sudan, and Yemen. Always aware of and eager to exploit the latest in modern communications technology, however, bin Laden did not put all his marbles in training camps. By the late 1990's, al-Qaeda's use of the Internet was well underway in regard to theological and paramilitary training. This trend accelerated rapidly after 9/11 when U.S. airpower made the use of physical training camps problematic.
Al-Qaeda's Internet programs cover a wide array of topics and this article will focus only on the training that has been made available for urban insurgents over the past few years; training, that is, which is pertinent to the recent operations in the cities of London and Sharm al-Sheikh. In particular, the writings of al-Qaeda military chief Sayf al-Adl and Abd-al-Aziz al-Muqrin, al-Qaeda's commander in Saudi Arabia until his summer 2004 death in a firefight with Saudi police, are pertinent to all three attacks.
Al-Adl is a former Egyptian military officer -- probably of its Special Forces -- and became al-Qaeda's military commander after Mohammad Atef's death in November 2001. Al-Adl played a prominent role in commanding and then dispersing al-Qaeda's fighters after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. He has since written extensively on the lessons al-Qaeda learned from fighting U.S. ground forces, and has been a prolific producer of paramilitary and intelligence instructional essays for the group's Internet journals. Less is known about al-Muqrin. He commanded al-Qaeda's forces in Saudi Arabia, and was killed in the operation in which the American engineer Nicholas Johnson was beheaded. While in command, he produced a stream of Internet articles on the need for jihad to defend the Muslim world, as well as instructional essays on urban warfare.
The most important fact of the three July 2005 attacks is that each was an absolute defeat for the security services involved. Both London attacks completely surprised London's Metropolitan Police and the British Security Service -- both among the best in the Western world -- and the Sharm al-Sheikh operation stunned the pervasive and interwoven security services of the Egyptian police state. In all three cases the attackers selected and surveilled the target, planned and prepared the attack, and struck at the time and place of their choosing without detection. The botched 21 July London attack should not obscure the fact that British authorities were blindsided for the second time in two weeks.
The training that made these attacks possible was available electronically. In a series of articles in al-Qaeda's Internet journal Mu'asker al-Battar, Sayf al-Adl and Abu-Hajar Abd-al-Aziz Muqrin offered instruction on how to plan and conduct an urban attack. "Planning," al-Adl wrote in September 2004, "is the scientific pre-examination of targets to identify the right target and the best means to achieve success. This is done by means of organizing a group of coherent, comprehensive, and well-aimed measures intended for misleading and taking the enemy by surprise and minimizing losses as much as possible if the act is discovered." To be effective, al-Adl explained, an attack plan must be "creative, flexible, and confidential" and have the following additional features:
1. A plan should be reasonable. In other words, alternatives should be well-examined and weighed carefully to choose the best of them.
2. There should be a major -- specific -- target and other secondary targets for the operation.
3. The plan should be realistic.
4. It should be coherent, tight and accurate. There should be no gaps in it. Rather, each part of the plan should complement the other part. It should appear to the enemy as a connected sequence of events.
5. It should be simple. In other words every member [of the attack team] can easily understand it [the plan] to implement it without difficulty. [1]
In the articles, al-Adl also stressed the need for rigor in the planning process by "presuming that the target is in the farthest place possible - the most difficult place," proceeding as if "the enemy is very smart and free to move," and preparing the operation "from the end to the beginning and not vice versa." [2] Al-Adl also emphasized the need for "vigilance" and security within the attack team. All members, he wrote, must be alert, steadily calm -- "no excessive zeal", and schooled to work on a strict need-to-know basis, especially regarding the actual attackers and the timing of the operation. [3] Team members should also carefully vary their activities -- "do not be a hostage of habit" -- and ensure that the vehicles and motorcycles used in pre-attack surveillance activities are locally owned and insured, "have proper licensing," and that drivers and passengers "adhere strictly to traffic laws to avoid being stopped [by police]." [4]
Abu-Hajar Abd-al-Aziz al-Muqrin supported al-Adl on the need for urban operations, adding that "[t]he dangers surrounding a mujahid in the city far exceed the dangers surrounding him in mountains or jungles." [5] Urban attacks are vital, al-Muqruin argued, "because most targets, regime officials, the economy, and wealth are concentrated there. In most cases cities reflect the state's prestige." As a practical matter, al-Muqrin explained, "City action needs small and separate groups, with no more than four individuals in each group." These men must be urbanites because "city residents are familiar with the nature and roads in the city ⊠[and will] be able to move around easily and smoothly to escape the eyes of the spies who are present in the cities." Al-Muqrin instructed his readers that the operational team for an urban attack should be divided into four units: the command group; the information-gathering group; the preparation group; and the execution group. The participants in these groups must be the best available, "[o]nly the best educated, cultured, and trained personnel in the organization must work in the cities. This will help personnel move and operate better." [6]
While the experts have yet to assign final responsibility for the attacks in London and Egypt, the foregoing suggests that the attackers and their supporters may well have profited form the urban-warfare training al-Qaeda has made readily available on the Internet. The complete surprise and success of the operations shows the attackers were well-trained in urban operational techniques approximating those taught by al-Adl and al-Muqrin. The London attackers picked out and surveilled âreasonable' targets; chose targets that were within their capabilities to strike; maintained compartmentation and security in the planning and preparation phases; and executed the attacks, as al-Adl instructed, so that they would "appear to the enemy as a connected sequence of events." Ironically, the rapid post-attack round-up of some members of the London teams by British and Italian authorities suggests that the al-Qaeda leaders' instructions for post-attack behavior were not followed. Al-Adl, in particular, stressed the importance of urban team members avoiding excessive movement and electronic communications after an attack, [7] and the British and Italian media report that the spate of arrests was triggered by the members' frequent movement and cell phone use. [8]
The foregoing barely scratches the surface of the in-depth instruction for urban operations, as well as for the organizational, intelligence-collection, logistical, and financial activities needed to support them that al-Qaeda has placed on the Internet. The instruction seems likely to produce a highly professional cadre, and one that is infused with al-Qaeda's offensive spirit. "A plan should be aggressive and free of hesitation. It should not be defensive," Sayf al-Adl told his readers. "Almost 75 percent of the plan involves well-examined possibilities. Apparently, it will be cowardly to try to increase this percentage since we will be seeking a higher safety percentage. Almost 25 percent of the plan is left to fate." [9]
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/05/2005
17:52 ||
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WASHINGTON (AP) - An Israeli businessman who conspired to ship controlled nuclear technology to Pakistan was sentenced to three years in federal prison. U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina on Thursday imposed the sentence on Asher Karni, who pleaded guilty last year to helping ship devices that could be used to test, develop and detonate nuclear weapons.
Karni, who was based in South Africa, admitted routing sophisticated oscilloscopes and high-speed electrical switches through South Africa to avoid raising authorities' suspicions. The scopes and the switches were then shipped to Pakistan. A federal indictment is pending against Humayun A. Khan, a Pakistan businessman who the government says was Karni's partner. Khan remains at large. A Pakistani with the last name of Khan involved in smuggling nuclear weapons parts? Another "Family Affair" moment, perhaps, or are all guys named Khan crooked? More later.
The United States prohibits the export of the switches - also known as "triggered spark gaps," which can be used in medical and military devices - to Pakistan and some other countries to prevent nuclear proliferation. Karni was arrested on New Year's Day 2004 as he entered the U.S. at Denver International Airport.
Additional: Did a Google on Humayun A. Khan and found this guy:The most elusive character in the case of the U.S. nuclear triggers shipped illegally to Pakistan is Islamabad businessman Humayun Khan. Khan has been indicted by the U.S. Justice Department but he remains free in Pakistan, where he insists he is innocent. His South African collaborator, Asher Karni, has already pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing in a Brooklyn prison. Khan is the owner of Pakland PME Corporation, which has long-standing ties to the Pakistani military. Follow the link and check out Humayun A. Khan's photo. Now open this link in another window and check out a photo of Humayun Akhtar Khan, the Pakistani Minister of Commerce. Do they look like the same guy to you, with a better haircut.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005
13:16 ||
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Link to LA Times article
Bratt said in court Thursday that the U.S. government still did not know for whom Khan was purchasing the spark gaps or where the disabled components were.
But Bratt told the judge that the buyer was either the government of Pakistan and its nuclear program, another country that Pakistan was secretly helping with its nuclear program or a Pakistani political organization that supported "jihadist elements" or other rogue groups.
"The choices for the true recipient of the triggered spark gaps are not comforting," Bratt said.
The agents, James Brigham and David Poole, said they could not comment on the case or on their continuing investigation, for which they have tried to travel to Pakistan to conduct interviews.
They and others have been unable to do so, authorities have confirmed, in part because the departments of Commerce and Homeland Security have failed to gain adequate support from within the Bush administration to pressure Pakistan into letting them in the country
Posted by: john ||
08/05/2005 14:26
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The SA Tribune link is written by:
By M T Butt & Syed Saleem Shahzad
Boy, that one's too easy! Can hear Beavis & Butthead now!
Posted by: BA ||
08/05/2005 15:04
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john: They and others have been unable to do so, authorities have confirmed, in part because the departments of Commerce and Homeland Security have failed to gain adequate support from within the Bush administration to pressure Pakistan into letting them in the country
Possibly because this is part of some giant sting operation, where Khan's creds are being pumped up so that jihadis will come calling. We can only speculate.
#5
Why on earth did Karni only get 3 years? I do hope it's because he is talking just as fast as he can. Otherwise this is a travesty, and sets a dangerous precedent for others thinking of exporting dangerous toys under the table.
Quite possibly, the blood of many Jews are going to be on your hands, you stupid moron. You maybe out in 3 yrs but, you rebelled against the God of Israel by selling tech. to the Jewish enemy.
Numbers 26: ..were among Korah's followers when they rebelled against the LORD. v.10 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them along with Korah, whose followers died when the fire devoured the 250 men. And they served as a warning sign.
#7
PR-
That's the first reference to the Korah Curse I have ever seen on line.
Karni is probably still arranging the payoff from both sides before he declares he converted to Islam before the transaction. It would be simpler for everyone if he just announced this. Everyone should payoff.
#8
It is interesting that the Pak nuclear weapon program is reliant on medical devices - triggered spark gaps designed for lithotripters imported from abroad.
Posted by: john ||
08/05/2005 16:52
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#9
Penquin,
Jew converting to Muslim = Traitor
Jew selling tech. to Muslim= Traitor
#10
Unfortunately there are Jewish traitors, just like everyone else. The description sounds like he was in it strictly for selfish financial gain, not for idealistic reasons (like imminent conversion to Islam). Convict the man, then give him a couple of years in solitary confinement without any sunlight, and let his family disown him from shame.
#11
Israeli Businessman? Sounds to me like South African businessman, who happened to be a Jew and therefore eligible for an Israeli passport (and had obtained one, very common for south africans). If he had a british born grandparent and hence been eligible for a UK passport and obtained one, would he have been described as a British Businessman? I doubt it.
#13
Karni was born in Hungary and has lived for 20 years in South Africa, moreorless as long as he lived in Israel (I'm not sure when he left Hungary).
#14
Why was South African Karni flying into DIA? Denver just had a (Saudi national, I think) U of Co professor sentenced for mistreating his Asian slave/maid. Denver is also on the list of previous mentioned targets. They are a sanctuary city that seems to harbor illegal gang members from south of the border, but I didn't know about a Muslim population. Couldn't doctors access these dual-use kidney stone busters? Maybe that's how the rumor Bin Laden needed dialysis got started...I also read in Bill Gertz' book Treachery that a German company, Siemens, had sold some to Iraq, also via South Africa, I think. I hope they are doing a sting and onto something here.
A U.S. citizen in Maryland, accused of attending a terrorist training camp in Pakistan, has been charged with conspiring to support a terrorist organization. Federal authorities say Mahmud Faruq Brent, arrested Thursday, allegedly admitted during a conversation secretly recorded by the FBI that he had attended the Pakistani terrorist camp, The Washington Post reported Friday. Brent, who once worked as a paramedic in Silver Spring, Md., is accused of supporting Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant Islamic group the U.S. government has designated a terrorist organization.
A criminal complaint says the FBI listened in during a conversation between Brent, who also uses the name Mahmud Al Mutazzim, and Tarik Shah of New York, a jazz musician and self-described martial arts expert. Shah was arrested in May and has pleaded not guilty to charges that he provided material support to al-Qaida. The complaint also links Brent to Seifullah Chapman, a member of the "Virginia jihad network" now serving a 65-year sentence for conspiring to support Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Post said.
Nice bunch of friends ya got there, Brent
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005
13:14 ||
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[cough] yesterday [cough] :-)
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/05/2005 14:35
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#2
I was waiting for you to show up. Yes, Steve, he was arrested yesterday. This is an update with additional data on his friends, So there.;-)
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005 15:02
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#3
Is an inter-Steve insurgency about tyo break out in the AoS?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/05/2005 15:26
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#4
Is an inter-Steve insurgency about to break out in the AoS?
We prefer to call it a minor disagreement between factions. Or as some people call it, civil war.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005 16:26
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#5
Steve across the board for 500 pls.
Posted by: George C P ||
08/05/2005 19:32
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Invasion of the Pod People
Current TV is youth culture as imagined by Al Gore.
By Dana Stevens
Posted Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2005, at 1:39 PM
a sample below
...
As each pod plays, the lower left-hand corner of the screen displays a progress bar that fills up as the clip approaches its end. I guess the point is to keep viewers watching till the end of the pod, figuring, what the hell? I can afford to waste two-and-a-half more minutes on this. Then again, progress bars on a computer screen tend to be associated with some unpleasant or tedious taskâwaiting for a download to end, for example, so you can get to the good stuff of actually listening to the song or using the software. It's hard to get lost in the content of a given story when you're constantly glancing down to see how much longer it has to go...
and I thought this was sort of al in a nutshell...specializing in long-form documentaries gradually ceded its place to a more market-driven, youth-oriented undertaking, spearheaded by former executives from CNN, Teen People, and Rupert Murdoch's Sky Network.
#5
I read another review that suggested Howlin' Al's new TV show was permantly stuck in the 90's. I haven't seen it myself but I'll take his word for it.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/05/2005 17:52
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More meat and sanity in the 90s.
This is failed MTV BS.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military has launched a new offensive against insurgents and foreign fighters in western Iraq's Anbar province, an area that has been the scene of a string of deadly attacks on American forces this week.
About 1,000 U.S. Marines and Iraqi soldiers are participating in Operation Quick Strike, which began Wednesday.
The offensive was not retaliatory but planned in advance of three insurgent attacks that killed 21 Marines earlier this week in Haditha and Hit, Sunni Arab cities along the Euphrates River, said Lt. Col. Steve Boylan, director of the U.S.-led Combined Press Information Center.
Since spring, several American offensives have been conducted in this region along the Euphrates that snakes into Syria. The U.S. military said it is hunting down fighters reportedly infiltrating Iraq from the country's long, porous border with Syria.
On Friday, Iraqi special operations forces directed a Marine airstrike on insurgents firing from buildings near Haqliniya, southwest of Haditha.
A U.S. military statement said Quick Strike's "objective is to interdict and disrupt insurgents and foreign terrorists' presence in the Haditha, Haqliniya and Barwana area."
The military said intelligence gathered in recent operations shows "that terrorists are operating in these cities and surrounding areas."
Stronger explosives
The military also said it was concerned that insurgents were developing stronger explosive devices, such as the weapon used in an attack that killed 14 U.S. Marines near Haditha on Wednesday.
Military sources said they believe recent evidence suggests neighboring countries are being used as routes to smuggle "shaped charges" into Iraq.
These types of explosives produce concentrated blasts that penetrate targets such as armored vehicles. The Marines killed in Wednesday's roadside blast were using an amphibious assault vehicle.
It's not known whether U.S. forces have captured such shipments or if these explosives were used in the deadly Haditha attack.
The blast that killed the 14 Marines marked one of the deadliest attacks on American forces in the Iraq war.
Six Marines also died Monday in a firefight in Haditha, and a suicide bomber killed another Marine that same day in Hit. Twenty-eight U.S. troops have died in Iraq this week.
Maybe I'm becoming unduly sensitised to this sort of thing, but here is yet another case where the headline does not match the article.
From the head, it sounds like this is an attempt by the Marines to strike back at their tormenters, but by the 3rd para, we find that The offensive was not retaliatory but planned in advance of three insurgent attacks An impressive display of 'journalism', CNN!
#6
Better yet, Speash Elmineque1256, I hope the Marines capture or kill all the "insurgents" (Al Qaeda, former Baathist, and common criminal), destroy all their weapons materials, discover all their connections, restore all their hostages, and make them look like the losers that they are.
British Prime Minister Tony Blairâs pledge to ban militant Islamic groups will be seen by Muslims as âstifling legitimate political dissentâ, a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir said today. Imran Waheed, a spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, said the group would fight any ban through the courts and insisted it was a ânon-violent political partyâ.
I think it's pretty well established that it's an al-Qaeda front organization.
He added: âThere will be serious repercussions in terms of community relations if this ban goes ahead. We have a lot of support among the Muslim community in Britain and it will be seen by the Muslim community as stifling legitimate political dissent.
Sounds like a threat to turn Britain into something like Karachi on a hot day...
âHizb ut-Tahrir is a non-violent political party. It has had a history of non-violence for the last 50 years and these measures are like what we have seen in Uzbekistan where President Karimov has been burning his political opponents alive. Our members are all for political expression, not for violence.â
Hizbut's members also all call for the establishment of a caliphate to rule an Islamic world. They take the phrase "over my dead body" literally and look forward to it with anticpation.
Mr Waheed said the group had made its position on the London bombings clear - that it was ânot justified to take innocent livesâ.
"But since they're already dead, we should just move on. There's certainly no reason to actually do something about it."
âWe have been very clear about that and we will fight any ban through the legal system. We will continue our work. Our work is totally non-violent.â But he added: âOur views are very similar to those in the Muslim community. We want an end to Western interference in Muslim countries.â
In that case, you'll have nothing against those Muslim communities being moved to Karachi and left to their own devices...
Mr Waheed rejected shadow defence minister Gerald Howarthâs comments that Muslims opposed to the British way of life should leave the country even if they are UK citizens. âThis is nothing to do with not liking the country,â he said. âWe were born in Britain and there is nothing precluding a Muslim from a being a decent citizen in this country. By doing this, he (Mr Blair) is setting an example to the tyrant rulers of the Muslim world, encouraging them to further suppress their populations.â
There's nothing precluding a Muslim being a decent citizen of Britain. That doesn't explain why those who aren't decent citizens shouldn't be dumped...
The Hizb ut-Tahrir website says the groupâs aim is to âresume the Islamic way of life and to convey the Islamic daâwah (teachings) to the worldâ. A statement posted following the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, last month said the âcolonialists, especially America and Britain, harbour a hidden hatred against Islam and the Muslims".
We just hide it really well, since we as nations go out of our way not to offend the sensitive little beasties...
It continued: âThey forget their differences when it comes to Islam and the Muslims. The London explosions, which took place at the time of the G8 summit, revealed this crusader viewpoint and hatred of Islam and the Muslims to the extent that every Muslim in Britain, even British citizens, have come under suspicion where even some British organisations have begun calling openly for âwaging a crusader war to expel Muslims from the streets of Europeâ.
Only those who've declared war against the host country. I use the term "host country" descriptively, to describe a nation that's afflicted with destructive parasites. Parasites, in fact, like Hizb ut-Tahrir...
âYou can see these states, especially the colonialist states and those which have ambitions over our countries, may disagree on everything but they are united against you and against your Deen (faith).â The site has several question and answer-style pages arguing that America is trying to create an âevil empire which will control the whole worldâ.
That's why we've imposed a tax on the countries we've liberated, right? That's why we've removed their treasure to our own countries. That's why we've slaughtered their military age males in batches... Oh. Wait. That's what Muslims would do. That's what Saddam did, in fact.
Other statements read: âWestern capitalism is a shameful and licentious civilisation for which there is no precedent known in history. Abnormal behaviour, mutilation and nudity can be found amongst human beings.â
If you don't like it, don't indulge. If you don't like being around it, go back to Karachi. The difference between Western civilization and Islamism is that we in the West have over the course of the years tamed our impulses somewhat to tell other people how to live their lives.
The common link between Al Muhajiroun and Hizb ut-Tahir is Sheikh Omar bin Bakri bin Mohammed. Bakri Mohammed has been investigated by police over his allegedly inflammatory language, but no charges have ever been brought.
We'll believe the Brits have actually caught on when he's booted...
After living in Syria and Lebanon, he was expelled from Saudi Arabia as an extremist and arrived in Britain in 1986. He set up a branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation), which recruited from mosques and colleges. He split from the group in 1996 and created Al-Muhajiroun (The Eyes and Ears of the Muslims), which praised the âMagnificent 19â hijackers after September 11. Last October, Bakri Mohammed announced he was disbanding Al-Muhajiroun in the interests of unity in the Muslim world, and has since adopted a lower profile.
Which means he's working behind the scenese and thinking of going underground if he thinks Tony's serious this time. Tony faces the choice to be Churchill or Musharraf...
However, he is now head of one of the âsuccessor organisationsâ referred to by Mr Blair today â the Saviour Sect (Ahl ul-Sunnah wal Jammah), which disrupted a Muslim Council of Britain press conference in April.
I think he sees this as a British equivalent of Jamaat-e-Islami...
A group of chanting militants stormed the meeting, condemning the Council as âa mouthpieceâ of Mr Blairâs and claiming that voting in the General Election would go against Islam. There were chaotic scenes as a group of more than a dozen men, two of them masked, broke down the door of the library in the Central London Mosque in Regentâs Park. The men who burst in said they represented the Saviour Sect, from the disbanded Al Muhajiroun group and headed by cleric Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed. They also targeted election candidates George Galloway and Oona King in violent scuffles during hustings in Londonâs East End in April.
Sounds a lot like the Islami Jamiat Talaba and the festivities at Punjab University, doesn't it?
Another Al-Muhajiroun offshoot is known as Al Ghurabaa, or âThe Strangersâ. This week, Al Ghurabaa spokesman Abu Izzadeen refused to condemn the July 7 bombings and said he hoped they would make people âwake up and smell the coffeeâ.
We're all hoping exactly the same thing, bub.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/05/2005
11:49 ||
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Slipspeak soft death fatwa? As a front group on the more accessible end (worse than mere apologist though) of the scale the words can't be issued as bluntly and with the same sort of calls to violence that the more hardcore mouthpieces can. "Nonviolent" is a term of art with these folks. They have nothing to offer a civilized, democratic and tolerant society do they.
#2
But he added: âOur views are very similar to those in the Muslim community. We want an end to Western interference in Muslim countries.â
And yet he attempts to interfere in a non Muslim country. No double standard at all.
#3
This week, Al Ghurabaa spokesman Abu Izzadeen refused to condemn the July 7 bombings and said he hoped they would make people âwake up and smell the coffeeâ.
#6
It looks like Bush and Blair are playing rope-a-dope with these people, giving them enough rope to hang themselves.
Posted by: john ||
08/05/2005 14:20
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Hopefully this new law means they can be deported back to wherever they came from..Lets see how opinionated they are in their own shithole....
Posted by: Kent Mccord ||
08/05/2005 14:23
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The London explosions, which took place at the time of the G8 summit, revealed this crusader viewpoint and hatred of Islam and the Muslims to the extent that every Muslim in Britain, even British citizens, have come under suspicion where even some British organisations have begun calling openly for âwaging a crusader war to expel Muslims from the streets of Europeâ.
You want a Crusader viewpoint? How about "Kill them all and let God sort them out"? Does the word "cauterization" make you lose any sleep?
Diluting the term "crusader" really isn't in your best interest, genius.
Israeli diplomats in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, fear that a mob might assault the embassy and are considering moving to Senegal. The Military Council for Justice and Democracy - the group now leading the country after Wednesday's coup - has asked the police to increase security around the building. Mauritania, along with Egypt and Jordan, is one of the three Arab states officially recognising the state of Israel. The decision to recognise Israel was taken by the former regime which was overthrown in the coup.
I think of it as kind of a litmus test. If they trash the Israeli embassy or otherwise start making faces at the Zionists, then the coup is pushed by the Islamists and we're going to have trouble. Since they're increasing security around the embassy, I'm still moderately hopeful. If the additional cops disappear in the dead of night or at the approach of a magickally appearing howling mob, then I'm wrong...
The Mauritanian population strongly opposed the former regime's international policies, in terms of its diplomatic ties with Israel and military cooperation with the United States on the war of terror.
Pretty categorical statement, that. Are there no Mauritanians to be found who're in favor? Aren't there any who don't care one way or the other?
Last month Mauritania's foreign minister - Mohamed Vall Ould Bellal - called on Arab countries to build closer diplomatic ties with Israel and contribute to the Middle East peace process. After Wednesday's coup, the people in Mauritania are asking for a change in strategy, demanding the closure of diplomatic relationships with Israel, according to the Al-Quds Al-Arab newspaper.
Again we have that presumption of unanimity. Surely Mauritania, with the entire continent of Africa between them and Israel and a breath-taking level of poverty and backwardness, has more important things pushing toward the top of the national attention span?
The Mauritanian population was also critical towards the former regime's cooperation with the US on the war on terror, according to the paper.
A bit worried, is the Mauritanian population?
In July, Mauritania hosted the first Sahara anti-terrorism summit attended by its military chiefs, as well as those of Algeria, Mali and Niger - the other countries within whose border the Sahara desert extends - and US military chiefs. The four countries are keen to combat armed Islamic extremist groups crossing their borders, who are operating and carrying out attacks on military personnel in the Sahara. The United States had troops stationed in military bases in Mauritania and Mali three years ago, for the war on terror, helping Mauritanian troops patrol the country's northern border with Algeria. Militants from the Algerian extremist formation, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), use the desert as a logistic base.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/05/2005
11:48 ||
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The home language of the site is Italian, fwiw, and the Italians generally aren't keen on Israel. And neither are journalists, in general. So perhaps the writer's assumptions are not the Mauritanians's... or the Military Council's. (Are Military Councils in the habit of consulting the wishes of the peepul?)
The State Department says it has found ''mounting evidence'' that Venezuela is using its oil wealth to fund ''anti-democratic groups'' in Bolivia, Ecuador and elsewhere as part of a plan to destabilize the region.
The allegation is contained in a July 27 letter from the department's top congressional affairs official, Matthew Reynolds, to Rep. Ileana Ros Lehtinen of Florida, a member of the House International Relations Committee.
The letter was perhaps the clearest expression of administration concerns about the activities of Venezuela's leftist government in the Andean region. It said the State Department is troubled by the close relationship between the governments of Venezuela and Cuba.
''Cuba has a 46-year record of fostering instability and thwarting democracy at home and abroad,'' Reynolds said.
He also noted that the administration is worried about Venezuela's program to purchase arms and military equipment, including 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles and military helicopters from Russia and maritime patrol aircraft and vessels from Spain.
Asked about the letter by reporters at a briefing, State Department acting spokesman Tom Casey said he stands by the letter but he declined to cite evidence to back up the charges.
''I think if you look at the public actions Venezuela has taken, some of its efforts to use revenues that it's gotten through its oil industry to exercise influence or gain influence over some of its neighbors, you have at least some idea of some of the issues that have concerned us,'' Casey said.
Venezuelan Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez rejected the State Department allegations against his government.
''There is no evidence whatsoever,'' he said. ''We have good relations with all of the countries of the region,'' he added, mentioning Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil and the Caribbean.
''We are using energy as way of promoting real integration of the continent,'' he said. He added that Venezuela is striving for a more balanced relationship between Latin America and the United States to replace the ''hegemonic'' concepts associated with the Monroe Doctrine of 1823.
Casey said another source of U.S. concern about Venezuela is the ability of Colombia's largest leftist rebel group, the FARC, to operate on Venezuelan soil.
He also complained about the ''lack of controls'' in the border area and called attention to the weapons that find their way ''through illicit means'' into ``the hands of Colombian terrorist groups.''
Reynolds sent the July letter to Ros-Lehtinen in response to a letter she wrote to his office that she said was prompted by expressions of concern by constituents about Venezuelan activities.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/05/2005
11:45 ||
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I think "Hugo the Magnificent" should suffer an "unfortunate" accident...
The travels of international terror figure Mustafa Setmarian Nasar:
- 1988, Afghanistan - Nasar makes contact with Osama bin Laden while fighting alongside other mujahedeen there. Occasionally travels to Khartoum, Sudan, after bin Laden sets up operations there in 1991.
- Mid-1990s, Madrid and London - Keeps contacts with extremists, works at extremist newsletter al-Ansar, or ``the supporters.''
- July 25, 1995, a blast in a Paris metro station opens campaign of eight bombings or attempted bombings in France, blamed on the Algerian Armed Islamic Group. British Secret Service detain and later release Nasar, suspecting his involvement.
- Fall 1997, Afghanistan - By now, he has returned there and runs a bin Laden-financed camp, keeps contact with Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
- By 1998, serves on al-Qaida's Shura, or ``consultation'' council, as Syrian representative.
- Fall of 2001, Afghanistan - There for the attacks of Sept. 11 and the U.S.-led invasion.
- Late 2001, Iran - believed to have fled there with other al-Qaida operatives after the fall of the Taliban.
- U.S. officials believe he has been to Iraq since Saddam Hussein's fall, perhaps as late as last summer. Thought to be in Pakistan, Afghanistan or Iraq since then.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/05/2005
11:40 ||
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Looks like al-Guardian has a new hero.
They have never seen Juba. They hear him, but by then it's too late: a shot rings out and another US soldier slumps dead or wounded.
There is never a follow-up shot, never a chance for US forces to identify the origin, to make the hunter the hunted. He fires once and vanishes. Juba is the nickname given by American forces to an insurgent sniper operating in southern Baghdad. They do not know his appearance, nationality or real name, but they know and fear his skill.
"He's good," said Specialist Travis Burress, 22, a sniper with the 1-64 battalion based in Camp Rustamiyah. "Every time we dismount I'm sure everyone has got him in the back of their minds. He's a serious threat to us." Gun attacks occasionally pepper the battalion's foot and mounted patrols, but the single crack of what is thought to be a Tobuk sniper rifle inspires particular dread.
Since February, the killing of at least two members of the battalion and the wounding of six more have been attributed to Juba. Some think it is also he that has picked off up to a dozen other soldiers.
In a war marked by sectarian bombings and civilian casualties, Juba is unusual in targeting only coalition troops, a difficult quarry protected by armoured vehicles, body armour and helmets. He waits for soldiers to dismount, or stand up in a Humvee turret, and aims for gaps in their body armour, the lower spine, ribs or above the chest. He has killed from 200 metres away.
"It was the perfect shot," the battalion commander, Lt Col Kevin Farrell, said of one incident. "Blew out the spine. "We have different techniques to try to lure him out, but he is very well trained and very patient. He doesn't fire a second shot."
I wonder if he's local or an import?
Some in the battalion want marksmen to occupy rooftops overlooking supply routes, Juba's hunting ground, to try to put him in the cross-hairs. "It would be a pretty shitty assignment because he's good," said Spc Burress. "I think it's a sniper's job to get a sniper, and it'd probably take all of us to get him."
American snipers operate in teams of at least two people, a shooter and a spotter, the latter requiring more experience since he must use complicated formulae to calculate factors such as wind strength and drag coefficients.
Some worry that Juba is on his way to becoming a resistance hero, acclaimed by those Iraqis who distinguish between "good" insurgents, who target only Americans, and "bad" insurgents who harm civilians.
If we don't hear anything about him from their side, that could be a clue he's an imported hired gun. Wasn't there a rumor about a IRA shooter?
The insurgent grapevine celebrates an incident last June when a four-strong marine scout sniper team was killed in Ramadi, all with shots to the head.
Unlike their opponents, US snipers in Baghdad seldom get to shoot. Typically they hide on rooftops and use thermal imaging and night vision equipment to monitor areas. If there is suspicious activity, they summon aircraft or ground patrols. "We are professionals. There is a line between a maniac with a gun and a sniper," said Mike, 31, a corporal with a reconnaissance sniper platoon who did not want to his surname to be used. He spoke during a 24-hour mission on a roof during which his team ate junk food and urinated into a bottle. During daylight they lay on the ground, immobile, to avoid being seen. "It's not a glamorous life," he said. There was no sign of Juba, who tended to operate further east, but the team spotted mortar flashes and fed the coordinates to base. Mike said he had shot 14 people in Somalia, three in Afghanistan and one in Iraq. "It's not like you expect it to be, an emotional high. You just think about the wind, the range, then it's over with."
Sniper fire is only of the threats for an American military that has suffered heavy losses this week. Yesterday another soldier was killed in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, adding to the 21 who died in attacks on Monday and Wednesday. Roadside bombs account for most of the lives lost, and the size and design of the explosions has led investigators to conclude that the insurgents are learning bombmaking methods from other terrorist organisations.
Yesterday's New York Times reported that the techniques used by Hezbollah in Lebanon were increasingly being seen in roadside bombs in Iraq. An unnamed senior American commander quoted by the paper said bombs using shaped charges closely matched the bombs that Hezbollah used against Israel. "Our assessment is that they are probably going off to 'school' to learn how to make bombs that can destroy armoured vehicles," he said.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005
11:33 ||
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Wonder if we'll ever hear if he is rubbed out?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/05/2005 12:15
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Obviously, they have no clue on the capability of a U.S. Marine sniper. I hear reports that a single U.S. sniper takes out 200 jihadi's a month.
#3
Yeah, the Guardian story will read something like: "The US military claimed today to have killed the elusive Juba, but insurgent sources -- like the bloke standing right next to me -- deny those claims, as the Bush adminstration's costly and illegal war continues..."
Posted by: Matt ||
08/05/2005 12:24
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#4
i say he is import from iran or syria maybe he'll get a 500 lb'er up his ass next time he takes aim
#6
After reading the article, I didn't quite figure out where there was any evidence that morale was being "sapped", except maybe in the author's mind.
..for an American military that has suffered heavy losses this week.
"Heavy"? This guy was obviously not around during WW2.
#7
Yeah, 3dc, there's some listening devices being tested that can locate the source of a sound by backtracking the echos. (That's prolly not completely technically accurate!) The article specifically refered to gunshots in an urban environment!
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/05/2005 16:39
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My thing is an Islamic hero sniper going worldwide. With idiots trying to emulate him all across this nation.
Some worry that Juba is on his way to becoming a resistance hero, acclaimed by those Iraqis who distinguish between "good" insurgents, who target only Americans, and "bad" insurgents who harm civilians.
Wonderful. Is it just me, or does this whole article have the whiff of "Tokyo Rose"? Fucking enemy propaganda under a British masthead...
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/05/2005 16:43
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long time after the war is over Juba will be sitting in his villa in Syria when masked men surround him and kidnap him never to be heard from again.
Painfull death awaits in a murky room.
#11
Sniper vs. sniper was the old way. Now, we have a 3rd dimension--UAVs. Combine them with a gun noise triangulation device already used in several American cities and you have this bird nailed. The devices pinpoint the building, then the UAVs both keep an eye on it, and anyone who exits it, and tracks them. Most likely he doesn't abandon his rifle, so he can be killed on sight if he is carrying it.
A federal grand jury Wednesday indicted two smugglers border activists who were arrested last month with three illegal entrants in their vehicle. Wow. The MSM actually used the "I" word.
Daniel Strauss and Shanti Sellz and the three men were stopped by U.S. Border Patrol agents 25 miles from the border on July 9.
Strauss and Sellz, volunteers with the No More laws Deaths group, were arrested under a federal statute making it a crime to transport illegal entrants.
The pair told the agents they were taking the men to Tucson's Southside Presbyterian Church because they were vomiting and suffering from bloody diarrhea.If you were really sick, wouldn't you prefer to go to, oh I don't know, perhaps a hospital emergency room? Border Patrol officials have said the men were not ill and refused medical aid once in custody.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Strauss and Sellz were indicted on one count each of conspiracy to transport an illegal alien and transporting an illegal alien.
Strauss, who is from New York, and Sellz, who is from Colorado and New Mexico, will be arraigned Aug. 11.
The conspiracy charge carries a 10-year maximum sentence and the transporting charge carries a five-year maximum sentence.
Defense attorney Jeffrey Rogers said, "The material witness will testify that he believes my clients saved his life." And if they had helped a couple of bank robbers with bullet wounds, that would be saving their lives, too. It stills falls under aiding and abetting.
#4
I hope they can get transferred up to Maricopa county, where they can live in tents (when it's 113 in the shade), wear pink underwear, and eat bologna sandwiches.
I'm still surprised that the Red Star would actually call them "illegal entrants," though.
An Arabic TV station has aired video footage shot by al-Qaeda fighters which they say shows the gunning down of a US Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan.
The fighting led to the heaviest losses in the history of America's special operations Navy Seals.
The tape shows the identity card of a Navy Seal who died in the fighting as well as documents the fighters say they captured from an American computer.
The fighting took place in Kunar province in late June and July.
The tape, entitled "the war of the oppressed", was broadcast on the Al-Arabiya station. It shows three unidentified masked men speaking in the tape in English, French and Urdu.
The identity card of a US special forces operative, Danny Dietz, who was found dead in early July as part of a rescue operation in Kunar, is shown on the tape.
In the video, the militants claim to have captured a computer containing details of US military plans.
The US military said it had not yet seen a copy of the tape and would not comment at this point on whether it was authentic.
But in late June the US military had accepted that "hostile fire" might have been involved in bringing down the Chinook helicopter.
The Pentagon confirmed 16 personnel died in the Chinook crash.
The servicemen were on their way to join operations against militants.
At the time two separate Taleban spokesmen said there was a video of the crash.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/05/2005
11:32 ||
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Voice print analysis needed - compare to phone calls and get the perps.
Confidential government assessments say that Al Qaeda remains intent on attacking targets in the United States, and suicide bombings are clearly "a preferred method of attack among extremists" in the wake of terror attacks last month in London.
The July 7 attacks on the London transit system, as well as others in other countries, have prompted U.S. officials to reassess potential threats to targets in the United States.
Their conclusions, circulated among law enforcement officials by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, differ little from many earlier assessments since the Sept. 11 attacks but make clear that officials see Al Qaeda as a continued threat.
Although U.S. intelligence officials "do not believe the London attack necessarily presumes a similar attack against rail or mass transit targets in the United States, there has been consistent threat reporting for some time suggesting that terrorists may have an interest in targeting mass transit systems," according to a July 20 security bulletin.
A second bulletin, also after the London bombings, warned that in addition to bombs on trains and subways, Al Qaeda might seek to derail trains or crash trucks carrying flammable material into trains.
Intelligence officials are also concerned that terrorists linked to Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups may again turn to airplanes as a method of attack by sending operatives to flight training schools or by using "an increased number of operatives" in the aviation industry to evade tightened airport security measures.
Still another target considered vulnerable by intelligence officials are high-rise apartment buildings. The bulletin says Al Qaeda might consider renting rooms in a high-rise building and using natural gas as an explosive to destroy it. But it cautions that the feasibility of such a plot is questionable.
The bulletin suggests that fresh intelligence collected as recently as last spring showed that Al Qaeda "remains interested in striking the homeland to undermine U.S. security and damage the U.S. economy."
Since the London bombings, U.S. officials have tightened security at many mass transit systems and have been combing leads from New York to Oregon in search of possible connections to the attacks.
So far, officials say they have found no hard evidence to suggest any complicity or knowledge by anyone in the United States, nor have they found any evidence to suggest plans under way for an attack here.
"We have no specific credible information to indicate that an attack in the United States is imminent or that Al Qaeda operatives are in the United States to conduct a homeland attack," one of the intelligence bulletins concluded.
With federal officials seeking to provide local law enforcement officers with quicker and more useful information to guard against terror attacks, some local officials have become more aggressive in developing their own policies.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/05/2005
11:31 ||
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American citizens better not even think about defending themselves or we'll sue everylast one of them!
Abdul Samad, a 23-year-old of Bangladeshi descent, worries about what is in store for him back home in Britain as he talks about Pakistan's plan to expel foreign students from the country's Islamic schools.
Responding to worries after the July 7 London bombings that some of the schools, known as madrasas, were militant recruiting grounds, President Pervez Musharraf announced a ban last week on foreign students coming to Pakistan for religious education.
Musharraf said an estimated 1,400 overseas students, mostly from Southeast Asia, Europe, North America and Africa, enrolled in Pakistani madrasas would be sent home.
Facing up to the stigma of becoming a deportee, British-born Samad derided the directive as a violation of human rights.
"I came here on a proper visa. But since they are sending us back forcibly, we will be treated like deportees," he told Reuters at Jamia Binoria, one of Karachi's largest madrasas.
"Given the mood back home, they will interrogate me. But I have nothing to hide. I am not a jihadi," says Samad, whose family settled in England after his grandfather left Bangladesh.
Revelations that one of the suspected London suicide bombers, Shehzad Tanweer, a Briton of Pakistani descent, had visited madrasas in Pakistan months before the attacks stoked alarm in the West that some schools were preaching hatred.
Musharraf says all madrasas should register by December as part of a plan to introduce a mainstream curriculum in the schools and to correct any leaning towards extremist teachings.
The number of foreign students fell sharply after al Qaeda's Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States spread alarm among governments abroad that their nationals were being indoctrinated with radical ideas preached by some Pakistani madrasas.
Analysts say the government will have to tread carefully on the issue of madrasas, as there are about 12,000 in the country, many of which provide food, lodging and at least a rudimentary education to close to a million boys from poor families.
Most students from the West, however, go to madrasas recognised for teaching Islamic thought, jurisprudence and Arabic.
A national organisation of madrasas wants Musharraf to rethink the ban on foreign students and plans for madrasa reform.
Maulana Mohammad Hanif Jallundri, liaison secretary of the Ittihad Tanzeemat Madaris Dinya Pakistan (Alliance of the Organisations of Religious Schools Pakistan), said the expulsion of foreigners was "an emotional decision".
"We are trying to meet General Musharraf, and if the issue is not resolved through talks then we will go to the Supreme Court," he told Reuters from the central city of Multan, where he runs a huge madrasa, Jamia Khair-ul-Madaras.
Almost half the foreign students registered at Pakistani madrasas study in the southern city of Karachi.
But madrasa officials say the number of foreign students is probably more than officially estimated, as many were admitted to schools without a student visa or a government "no objection certificate".
Some madrasas, officials said, took in overseas students who entered Pakistan on tourist or business visas.
Imtiaz Baksh, a Canadian national, had no student visa when he first began studying at Jamia Binoria.
"I have been in this madrasa for the last five years. My wife and son are with me. We do nothing but study Islam," he said, berating the government for punishing every foreign student for the actions of a few.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/05/2005
11:29 ||
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Posted by: john ||
08/05/2005 13:43
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No we shouldn't. We're a western society, and we have laws. We don't jug people who are innocent. Yes, yes, I know the old saw about how the splodydope is 'innocent' til he pushes the button, but these folks, most of them anyways, are truly innocent.
They may also be mopes, and may be excitable and prone to eye-rolling and face-making, and that's something the Brits have to fix.
So Samad, for example, needs to return to Britain, get a degree in something useful (accountant, registered nurse, teacher, social worker, mechanical engineer, systems analyst, something). Then he needs to get a job and join a club. Then he needs to marry a nice, professional Muslim woman (doctor, lawyer, etc) and have a couple of kids, buy a house, identify with a good soccer club (Arsenal?), learn to like a pint of warm beer, put a good English garden in behind the house --
-- in other words, he needs to become British.
And if he can do that, he won't have any trouble at all.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/05/2005 14:29
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#3
Sorry, I was thinking of the other devout student quoted, Imtiaz Baksh. He appears to need peace and quiet to continue his studies.
Posted by: john ||
08/05/2005 14:37
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#4
Hans Island has oil. If Imtiaz studies there, it will soon become the 13,753rd holiest place in Islam.
#6
It sounds like Imtiaz Baksh has gone native. He needs to buy a nice little house in Pakistan, put his son down for a good local public school, get a job -- perhaps teaching English? He must do better than the locals -- plant a garden, etc. It's time for his mummy and daddy back in Canada to stop supporting him, and force him to grow up.
The latest video from the al-Qaeda leadership is being studied closely in Washington and London for clues about the organisation's strategy and possible whereabouts.
It is not, however, being seen as conclusive proof that Osama Bin Laden or his deputy were directly involved in either planning or executing the London attacks.
The 7 July bombings were said by police to bear the "hallmarks" of al-Qaeda but that could still mean the bombers were inspired and influenced, rather than directed, by it.
The Ayman al-Zawahri video does not include a direct claim of responsibility for London - although al-Qaeda videos rarely, if ever, contain such statements.
British intelligence agencies and police investigators have been trying to follow the trail of the 7 July bombers to see if it leads to the al-Qaeda leadership, but they say so far no conclusive evidence has been found.
It could still be found at some point but any links unearthed are more likely to be indirect.
The video message is being interpreted more as an opportunistic attempt by al-Qaeda to exploit the London attacks as a vehicle for pushing its own agenda.
Some analysts even believe al-Qaeda's leadership could be trying to claim credit for something others have carried out, because it's important for it to show itself as still the leader of the jihadist movement.
Despite being heavily damaged since 2001, al-Qaeda needs to show it is still around and active in order to maintain its reputation and draw in new recruits.
Claiming ideological and spiritual sovereignty over the attacks is therefore important for it in order to maintain its self-image as the leading, guiding force of jihadist opposition to the West.
After tying the London attacks to Tony Blair's foreign policy and warning of further harm, the statement moves into far more traditional rhetoric that has been seen in previous messages, with the demand to leave Muslim lands and the focus on Iraq.
The message does show an acute understanding of the nature of the information war and the news agenda.
While earlier messages were directed largely at the Muslim world, more recently they have also targeted western public opinion in an effort to divide it from its political leadership.
In this case they bring up the issues of British involvement in Iraq and US casualties, knowing full well that these are difficult questions for Tony Blair and George Bush.
US and British officials are increasingly focused on fighting the ideological battle against al-Qaeda as well as the military conflict, focusing on the need to counter its propaganda.
In many ways the battleground here is Muslim youth in the West and the fear that, unless properly countered, statements like that of Zawahri will contribute to radicalisation and recruitment, sustaining the long-term threat.
Al-Zawahri's last message came in June and was focused on Egypt. A month later suicide bombers struck hotels at the Sharm al-Sheikh resort.
No one is sure whether these messages act as triggers for other groups to attack but that possibility may cause some concern for British officials.
Even if there is no third group ready to attack, the concern will be that other groups may take their cue from the message and try to put some kind of operation together.
"When Zawahri goes public and says 'conduct more attacks in London' there will be people that will attempt to do it," argues former CIA officer Robert Baer.
Every day the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre - housed inside MI5 - assesses the intelligence over the threat.
The message will be factored into the assessment but is thought unlikely to make any significant difference to its overall view.
However that will not prevent the message being taken seriously as another salvo in the ongoing campaign.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/05/2005
11:26 ||
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Iran is shipping more powerful and sophisticated military-caliber bombs to Iraqi guerrillas for use against U.S.-led coalition forces, NBC News reported yesterday.
Citing U.S. military and intelligence officials, the network said U.S. soldiers intercepted a large shipment of high explosives last week, smuggled into northeastern Iraq from Iran.
"The officials say the shipment contained dozens of 'shaped charges' manufactured recently. Shaped charges are especially lethal because they're designed to concentrate and direct a more powerful blast into a small area," NBC reported.
"They'll go right through a very heavily armored vehicle like an M1-A1 tank from one side right out the other side," retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey told the network.
Military officials said insurgents in Iraq began using shaped charges to kill U.S. forces three months ago. Recent weeks have brought a spate of deadlier roadside-bomb attacks on U.S. forces.
In one attack earlier this week, 14 U.S. Marines were killed inside a 28-ton armored vehicle that would be immune from most improvised explosive devices, but vulnerable to shaped charges, which were developed by militaries worldwide specifically to pierce armor.
Intelligence officials believe the explosives were shipped into Iraq by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard or the terrorist group Hezbollah, most likely with the consent of the Iranian government, NBC reported.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/05/2005
11:23 ||
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#1
What an OBVIOUS attempt at disinformation! The US Mil Intel clearly wants to make Iran into the bad guys - providing IEDs to Iraq - so that the Bushits can have an excuse to make war with Iran. I don't believe a word of this crap.
#3
What an OBVIOUS attempt at disinformation! The US Mil Intel clearly wants to make Iran into the bad guys - providing IEDs to Iraq - so that the Bushits can have an excuse to make war with Iran. I don't believe a word of this crap.
Spererong Snong, isn't IRAN a bad guy tho, or is America the bad guy? IRAN is the #1 state sponser of terrorism, they supply palestine with cargo ships full of AK-47 and other weapons, why wouldn't they do the same in Iraq. I guess you never hear the massive rallies declaring America the "GREAT SATAN", so OBVIOUSLY there are the BAD GUYS.
How come nunayou english-major types figgered this out before? ;-)
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/05/2005 12:45
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Bobby I always thought that the Web term "troll" derived from Norwegian mythololgy. Where a Troll (n)is defined as: Ugly, powerful and generally dangerous humanlike creatures, but stupid and naive. Seems to fit better than the fishing term-- especially the ugly, stupid and naive part.... ;)
#7
MSNBC still has the NBC report up on msnbc.com, but without the video that NBC broadcast during its Nightly News program.
From what I recall, the mines had a cylindrical top with a cone-shaped bottom. So far, I haven't seen any stills or video of the intercepted mines , so the closest item I could find on the web that matched was this mine .
Caveat: I know next to nothing about land mines. The link is for illustrative purposes only (the FFV 028 and the mines on last night's program look similar). The cylindrical portion of the intercepted mines appeared taller, but that could have been from lens (wide-angle) distortion. And there is no way I could tell how the mines were fused.
#9
Yes, what an obvious attempt to mislead us. Just because the parliment chants "Death to America" when they pass a law obligating the country to pursue uranium enrichment doesn't mean they are our enemy.
Just because they have a history of kidnaping our citizens and supporting terror groups(ever heard of hezbollah, Spererong Snong5027?). But yeah, youre probably right, they are trying to fool us.
The home of U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., was broken into by a group of suspected illegal immigrants but little damage was done, authorities said. Santa Cruz Sheriff Tony Estrada said a friend of Kolbe's reported the break-in on July 23 when he noticed one of the home's doors was wide open. Sheriff's deputies, Border Patrol agents and Patagonia police responded to the home in Sonoita, which is 25 miles north of the Mexican border.
The culprits apparently showed little interest in items of value and left untouched a computer, television, and rifle. Instead, they appeared to have showered, prepared a meal in the microwave, and helped themselves to a change of the congressman's clothes. The scene was consistent with similar cases involving migrant break-ins along the border, said Patagonia Assistant Police Chief Thomas Schenek. "The only real items you see taken or gone through in cases like this are food and clothing," he said. Estrada said the case will remain open until Kolbe can make a complete inventory of the missing items. They had better not break into homes of liberal democrat congressmen. Those liberals arm themselves with automatic weapons and shoot anything that moves.
#3
Just drove from LA to Austin last month via I10. What a godforsaken territory. I can't even imagine living 25 miles from the border. It's all freakin'desert!!
#5
I used to live in the Sonoita area, and now reside in Tucson. What happened is quite common in these parts. What more can be said on the illegal immigration topic? Arizona building industry, food service industry, and housekeeping industry runs on illegal labor...Republicans want the cheap labor and the Democrats/Identity Politics crowd want the increasing numbers of "victimized" undocumented workers as recruits...see MEXIFORNIA by Victor Davis Hanson for details...
#6
Good news. We have one less RINO. Be sure to welcome the prodigal son Kolbe, with open arms.
Moose,
Actually, liberals are cowards. They hire people to do their shooting. I can't for the life of me, picture a liberal, oiling much less shooting, a .270 hunting rifle.
MADRID - Investigators believe the masterminds of last yearâs Madrid train bombings set the date for their attack one day after Osama bin Laden threatened Spain and other foreign nations with troops in Iraq, a newspaper report said on Friday. The Al Qaeda chief, in a video that aired Oct. 18, 2003, warned of attacks on US allies that had dispatched troops to Iraq, including Britain, Australia and Spain.
The next day, a key suspect in the Madrid bombings purchased a cell phone in Belgium under a false name, and as a birth date gave March 11, 1921, El Pais said, citing a confidential police report to the judge investigating the attacks that killed 191 people.
So following Binny's threat, he purchased a phone. On that evidence you conclude they decided right then to begin planning the attack? And 3/11/1921 has what signifigance, exactly?
Police also believe the bombers chose that date to influence Spanish general elections - which were expected in March 2004 - and because March 11, 2004, was exactly 2 1/2 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, the report said.
1921 = 2 1/2. I guess that makes some sense. Or not.
âIt thus seems the perpetrators considered themselves heirsâ to Sept. 11, the police report said.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005
10:36 ||
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3/11 = 911 days after 9/11.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/05/2005 11:23
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Math was always my worst subject.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005 11:32
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Ah, the beauty of numeromancy: you can always twist digits until the desired pattern emerges. Similar to a good conspiracy theory.
Investigators for the city of New York are scrutinizing loans and transfers totaling more than $800,000 that went from the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club charity in the city to the liberal Air America Radio network and one of its founders. The company that now owns Air America blames the Boys & Girls Club charity for alleged "mismanagement and corruption," but has still agreed to reimburse the organization. Most here would agree that investing in Air America should be considered "mismanagement and corruption".
Evan Cohen was supposed to be raising $30 million to finance the Air America start-up in March 2004, at the same time he was serving as the director of development for the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club (GWBGC) in the Bronx, N.Y. While Cohen held the simultaneous positions, he allegedly solicited and received $167,000 in loans from GWBGC for Air America and $70,000 in personal loans for claimed medical expenses. GWBGC officials also accuse Cohen of issuing Air America a $213,000 GWBGC check and a $400,000 wire transfer without their approval. Cohen could not be located for comment on the allegations. No conflict of interest here. Move along.
In an undated statement posted on its website, Air America blames the fundraising scandal on "mismanagement and corruption at Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club," and absolves itself of any responsibility for the alleged improprieties. "The company that the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club officials gave money to, Progress Media, has been defunct since May 2004," the Air America statement explained. "The current owners of Air America Radio have no obligation to Progress Media's business activities." Somehow, this means that Cohen never had anything to do with raising funds for Air America while he served as the Boys' Club director. See? It's clear as day. Thanks for clearing that up, AA.
The original investors in Air America, except for Cohen, created a new corporation, Piquant, LLC. That company then acquired the network from the original owner. Air America's statement continues to explain that, for fear of its reputation being harmed, the network will repay the money. "We are very disturbed that Air America Radio's good name could be associated with a reduction in services for young people," the statement adds, "which is why we agreed months ago to fully compensate the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club as a result of this transaction." Cash only.
Martta Rose, spokeswoman for the GWBGC, told Cybercast News Service that the radio network has always agreed that it would reimburse the charity, but that the terms had only recently been "hammered out." "The money will be paid back within two years," Rose said. "The first payment will be in September." Out of the goodness of our hearts, we will pay you back on our terms and whenever we feel like it.
Rose acknowledged that it is "not usual" for non-profit charities to loan money to for-profit business entities. Especially when it was in the form of government grant money to begin with.
On June 24, the New York City Department of Investigation (DOI) announced that it was terminating all contracts with GWBGC and its subsidiaries. "[These] determinations were based on an on-going investigation by the New York City Department of Investigation concerning allegations that, among other things, officials of Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club approved significant inappropriate transactions and falsified documents that were submitted to various City agencies," the announcement stated. Read: Cohen is a crook. Did I mention that he was employed as a key fundraiser for Air Anti-America?
Rose said that some of GWBGC's programs are continuing with alternative sources of funding. "We hope to continue those as well as become fully operational in the near future," Rose said. She could not speculate as to how long the city's investigation might last. "We are cooperating fully with the city," Rose added, "with the DOI and other city agencies." A spokesman for the DOI would not comment on or answer questions about any aspect of the ongoing investigation.
According to its website, the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club "has been helping youth from tough Bronx neighborhoods stay out of trouble, stay in school and succeed in life," since 1977. The charity states that it serves "nearly 15,000 young people each year at 32 locations (elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, public housing facilities and community centers) in the Bronx." And how exactly does "investing" in a wacko lib radio project constitute "helping youth"?
Financial records filed with the Internal Revenue Service for the 2003 tax year show that GWBGC received nearly $530,000 in private contributions and more than $ 3.7 million in taxpayer funding. The organization also received $461,000 in "donated services and use of facilities." Your tax dollars at work. Why is it that NY City is doing all the investigating? Where are the feds on this?
Posted by: Chris W. ||
08/05/2005
10:34 ||
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#1
How's about all involved in the corruption should be forced to listen to the Air America? (dun't tell Amnest Int.) Anyway, it might even bump AA listeners from like 4 to like 8. .. just a thought..
#3
I would love to see Franken run for Senate. He would not win and he would bellow about fraud, its a win/win. These blowhards make way to much of themselves and they need a good election to prove just how insignificant they really are.
#4
There's some good reporting on this around the Blogosphere. Start with radioequalizer.blogspot.com. Michelle's got quite a bit on it, too.
The essence is "Air America" (be it as owned by Piquant LLC, or by previous owners Progressive Media) agreed "months ago" to pay back the "loan". Statements coming from AAR say that they have been waiting for some direction from New York's DOI. DOI sez "We didn't tell you anything about waiting to repay."
Step right up! Step right up!
Pyongyang, August 4 (KCNA) -- Chongsong Bullojong is a medicine manufactured by the Korea Pugang Pharmaceutic Company of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Won Hak Rim, 60, who lives in Pyongyang, had chronic gastritis cured after taking the medicine. You, sir! What has it done for you!
He said: I had long suffered from gastritis. Several days after I started taking the medicine, I felt hungry and had a cycle of diarrhea and constipation stopped. That wonder was that I regained strength in my feeble legs. People tell me that I have become younger. Now I dare say that Chongsong Bullojong is efficacious for digestive diseases and those of the aged. That's a little more then we needed to know but thanks for the testimonial! Efficacious, folks! Did you hear that! Efficacious! How can you go wrong!
It, strong in digestive ferment, is potent for preventing gastroenteritis, stomach ulcer, hepatitis, enteritis, colitis and other digestive diseases. It is good for detoxicating nicotinism, alcoholism and drug poisoning, preventing aging and various contagious diseases, treating arteriosclerosis, hypertension and heart disorders and recovering from weak constitution and malnutrition. It also promotes the growth of children. And don't we all know how important that prevention of malnutrition is around here, right, folks?
Chongsong Bullojong is made with nutritive elements extracted from pollen and needles of pines growing in Mts. Kumgang and Myohyang. That's right! Mts. Kumgang and Myohyang! Dear Leader and Great Leader probably did some famous Arduous March stuff up there, so you know this has gotta be good!
It contains 40 sorts of microelements and more than 90 kinds of natural elements including essential amino acid, vitamins C, B1, B2, E, PP and K, protein, lignin, chlorophyll, essential oil, oligosaccharide and polysaccharide. How many do you need! Don't crowd me now! We got plenty for everybody!
SRINAGAR, India - Police in Indian Kashmir said on Friday they had arrested six men suspected of being militants involved in three car-bomb blasts that killed 16 people and injured 75. The powerful blasts that have cast a shadow over the ongoing peace process between India and Pakistan occurred in June and July in the disputed regionâs main city of Srinagar which has a population of over one million people.
âWe have arrested six people involved in three major car-bomb blasts in Srinagar,â the regionâs police chief Gopal Sharma told a news conference. Sharma said four men were arrested Friday in different parts of Indian Kashmir. Two others were arrested earlier in the week.
The police chief alleged the suspects belonged to the militant group Hizbul Mujahedin. âWe are conducting raids to arrest two more militants who have been masterminding these attacks,â Sharma said, adding unnecessarily one of them is a Pakistani.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005
10:25 ||
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Jeff Rubin, the famously voluble chief economist of CIBC World Markets, has been sent to sensitivity training after angering Canada's most prominent Islamic lobby group with language he used in a report on the oil market. Does that mean the islamic hate preachers in Canada have to go, too?
In April, he predicted that oil prices would double by 2010. Demand will outstrip supply because "this time around there won't be any tap that some appeased mullah or sheik can suddenly turn back on," he wrote. Amazing. Simply amazing.
While Mr. Rubin used the terms to describe the OPEC-induced price shocks of years past, the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) found the language offensive. In fact, CAIR-CAN wrote the bank saying it was "gravely concerned that Mr. Rubin is promoting stereotyping of Muslims and Arabs." Message to CAIR-CAN...I am more concerned that you clowns cannot condem terrorism, murder, massive rape in Sudan and Chad. Piss on you and your little dog, too.
Two weeks after the complaint, CIBC World Markets chief executive Brian Shaw responded.
Mr. Shaw said in a letter to CAIR-CAN that the remarks "were not meant to offend anyone" but "in hindsight, the comments were insensitive." OK. Is this this insensitve? "SCREW YOU, CAIR. Condem murder, rape, and destruction by your islamo-brothers in the middle east and africa and I will listen.
Mr. Shaw went on to say that "we will be providing him [Mr. Rubin] with training to ensure that this situation does not occur again in the future . . . in addition, Jeff has withdrawn the research report from the World Markets website [and] redrafted the paragraph in question." You are not allowed to tell the truth anymore.
CAIR-CAN has posted the text of the exchange with Mr. Shaw on its website and urged its supporters to thank CIBC for excising the mentions of mullahs and sheiks. Mr. Rubin's revised forecast now concludes that "this time around, with suppliers already running full tilt, there's no tap that can suddenly be turned back on." with the cause removed.
The controversy went unreported in mainstream newspapers, though one right-wing website that saw CAIR-CAN's statement on the controversy accused the group of going "way, way overboard in the name of political correctness." Ya think?
But safeguarding the image of Canada's 600,000 Muslims is very serious business for CAIR-CAN, which has lately been gaining clout and publicity. Last week, it arranged a meeting between Prime Minister Paul Martin and several spiritual leaders, who have signed a statement condemning the terrorist attacks in Britain. Unless muslims who claim to be peaceful start speaking up...and ACTING against the islamo-fascists...my sympathy meter for insensitive remarks will remain near zero.
Likely the best organized and most outspoken of the dozens of Muslim groups that exist in Canada, CAIR-CAN has lately been denouncing several groups and individuals for what it terms careless comments and actions. Message to CAIR-CAN..."Is the rape and murder of 100s of thousands in Chad/Sudan/Somolia in the name of allan, suicide bombings, etc. considered a "careles action"...you bunch pompous a**holes?"
For example, it has released a report called Presumption of Guilt, a criticism of the way Canadian security agencies are questioning Muslims. tap, tap, tap...sympathy meter still reading zero.
It has also recently criticized the Israeli consul-general for what CAIR-CAN characterized as "Islamophobic" remarks, and taken Quebec politicians to task for making what it calls "xenophobic" remarks about sharia law tribunals. You mean like.."sharia law is for sh**heads?"...is that "Islamophobic" enough?
Mr. Rubin could not be reached for comment. CAIR-CAN would not elaborate other than to point to the information on its website about the case.
It is understood that Mr. Rubin has completed some sort of in-house sensitivity training since he wrote his report, though CIBC World Markets officials would not divulge details.
Some of his contemporaries find the whole situation strange. "Is that true?" asked a surprised David Rosenberg, chief North American economist for Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. in New York.
He said that Mr. Rubin has "got a flair and unique writing style. I know him and he's a good guy.
"I have a tough time believing Jeff Rubin would be purposefully offensive to a certain group."
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is an 11-member organization comprising some of the world's largest oil exporters. It includes mostly Muslim nations.
Oil closed at $62 (U.S.) yesterday, a record high despite reassurances from the new Saudi King, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, that he would keep the oil flowing the way his deceased predecessor did. King Abdullah's officials say they would like to get oil down to $50 a barrel.
#1
The folks at CAIR must laugh their asses off at their meetings when they force another one of these down our PC throats. They probably think it's only a matter of time...
August 5, 2005: The U.S. ground-based ICBM fleet covers an area of over 114,000 square kilometers â about the size of the state of Pennsylvania, and distributed across the Western United States. Current inventory includes 500 silos for Minuteman III missiles. The last of the 50 Peacekeeper silos and their launch facilities are in the process of being sealed up, with the final Peacekeeper missile scheduled to be removed from alert status on September 19.
One of the dirty little secrets of the ICBM force is that the government doesn't actually own and control all of the land the silos reside on. The majority of missile fields are on privately owned ranches, with silos and launch facilities having a 15 meter easement around them. Air Force personnel manning the silos travel a cumulative 19 million miles per year to get from bases to the launch facilities, often through snow, on gravel roads, because the locations are so remote.
I used to maintain the cameras in the entry ports in the Titan silos around McConnel AFB. Trip to the most distant one was 90 miles one way, if I remember correctly. Nice road trip in good weather, winter sucked.
Currently, half the 9,600 people in the U.S. Air Force ICBM force are dedicated to security, conducting such duties as patrols around the missile fields and stationary guards at silos and launch control facilities. Often, security forces can get called out as many as three times per day for alarms or incidents that require a manned response team to check things over. Currently, missile silos are protected by barbed wire fences and motion sensors, but the Air Force wants to add remote cameras. The motion sensors are so sensitive that a rabbit or tumbleweed often triggers off an alert, requiring a response team to go out and "eyeball" the cause of the alarm. A camera system would drastically cut down on false alarm calls. The Air Force would like to get funding for the cameras in the 2007 budget.
WTF? They still don't have freaking cameras topside?
The Air Force also wants to upgrade the helicopter fleet that carries around security personnel. An elderly fleet of 62 UH-1N Hueys currently move response teams around, but the first helicopters entered into service in 1970.
They're still using those same birds as when I was working? They were old then, leftovers from Vietnam.
The Hueys don't have the range or speed the Air Force wants; for example a Huey can't cross the ICBM facilities at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana without refueling. The Huey has a range of around 480 kilometers and a cruising speed of around 180 kilometers per hour. Replacement candidates include the Lockheed Martin/AgustaWestland/Bell US101, Sikorsky S-92 and the Northrop Grumman/EADS NH90.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005
09:58 ||
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#1
Yipes! I didn't realize the PeaceKeepers were being taken down so soon. Apologies to whoever sed bring back the MX yesterday, knew what he was talking about.
#2
One of the annoying reasons for taking the MX's offline is because they don't break enough. They do not provide enough hands-on repair time for the maintenance types at the depots. The Minutemen do. So there is a practical angle to it, along with a vested interest 'got to keep the jobs' angle. Kind of sad, but then, they did fully serve their secondary purpose - breaking the bank of the USSR.
These were my babies. I am sorry to see them go.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
08/05/2005 19:48
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Ah the MX was indeed a great program I hope that whatever 4th gen ICBM they decide to build at least meets the standards the MX had when it was deployed.
August 5, 2005: The average number of IED (âImprovised Explosive Deviceâ â mostly. car bombs and roadside bombs) attacks in Iraq are down, and the percentage of attacks that are intercepted has been rising. But the casualty rate from IEDs has been rising as well. The primary reason for this is that the terrorists are using increasingly larger bombs. In addition, some attacks have been coordinated so that automatic weapons or RPG fire is used to draw attention away from the actual bomb, thus making it more likely that the distracted drivers will take their vehicles close enough to the bomb to get hurt. This indicates that the terrorists are using more experienced people to set up and use IEDs. The bombs are increasingly detonated by wire, because of the increasing use of jammers by American forces. UAV surveillance is also spotting more IEDs, and even the people setting them up. All of this has forced the terrorists to concentrate on fewer, but much more skillfully set up, IED attacks.
An additional problem is that U.S. forces are increasingly taking the fight into enemy territory (western Iraq), where most of the terrorists have their bases and hide outs. This means itâs easier for the terrorists to set up more, and larger, IEDs. The overall American casualty rate has been going down, but thatâs because the terrorists have pretty much given up trying to have gun fights with U.S. troops, and are having a harder time firing mortar shells or rockets at American bases.
The pressure on Syria to stop being a transit area for foreign terrorists entering Iraq has had some effect. Syria claims that it has 5,000 troops on the Iraq border, which carry out 50 patrols each day, in addition to maintaining 557 fixed posts. The Syrians insist this is sufficient to severely limit illegal crossings in the day time. Night time security is dependent on night-vision equipment the U.S. and Britain said they would supply, but so far have not. There are also complaints that the Iraqis have not made a similar effort on their side of the border. This is not true, but the Iraqis have only recently put border police back on the border (they largely disappeared two years ago.)
The Syrians also claim that, recently, they have stopped 1,240 foreign Islamic militants, and some 4,000 Syrian Islamic militants, from crossing into Iraq. Still, Iraqi officials have been blunt in accusing Syria of providing sanctuary for Saddamâs henchmen, who are still allowed to operate freely in Syria. This includes building car bombs in Syria and driving them across the border illegally, along with suicide bombers, as well as weapons and money for terrorists operations in Iraq. The Syrians are caught in a bind. While they want to please they Iranian allies, they are getting mixed signals from Iran. The Islamic radicals in Iran, who control parts of the military, police and intelligence forces, encourage Syria to assist the Iraqi terrorists, even though these guys are anti-Iran (Saddamâs followers and al Qaeda). But the Iranian radicals hate the United States so much (as the âGreat Satanâ), that they will deal with the devil in order to hurt American efforts to bring real democracy to Iraq. The Iranian radicals tolerate democracy only if religious officials have veto power, like they do in Iran.
Meanwhile, the Iranian government is trying to support the Iraqis, because they understand that an Iraqi democracy will be controlled by Shia Arabs, and their Kurdish allies. This is good for Iran, even if the Iraqi government is not dominated by the Shia clergy if Iraq. Moreover, the Iranians, who are supporting religious groups in Iraq, believe they have a chance of getting a new constitution adopted that gives the religious authorities a lot of power. The Iranian leadership knows that most Iraqis, even Iraqi Shias, donât want a clerical dominated government as exists in Iran. But as the Iraqi committee hustles to write a draft constitution by August 15th, there is still a chance that the religious leaders will get a lot of power. But in the long run, Iran has more influence in Iraq than it has had for centuries. While the Iraqis are mostly Arabs, and the Iranians mainly Indo-European, and have traditionally been enemies for thousands of years, they are united by their Shia religion, which has long been persecuted by the Islamic Sunni majority. Al Qaeda, and the Sunni Arab minority in Iraq, are particularly deadly foes of Shia Islam. Thus, in the grand scheme of things, Iraq and Iran both want these two groups defeated. Itâs a small, but influential, bunch of radicals in Iran who are obsessed with destroying the United States, and the West in general, that offer some help to al Qaeda. Fanatic flakes like this are what make the Middle East such a dangerous place. These guys are not only way out there in terms of philosophy and goals, but are willing to use murder and suicide in hopeless attempts to achieve their goals. You have to deal with them, if only to kill them.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005
09:51 ||
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#1
An additional problem is that U.S. forces are increasingly taking the fight into enemy territory (western Iraq),..
Taking it into true enemy territory like Syria or Iran would be ideal.
These guys are not only way out there in terms of philosophy and goals, but are willing to use murder and suicide in hopeless attempts to achieve their goals. You have to deal with them, if only to kill them.
#2
I call bullshit on some of this article's points, mainly that the Iranian and Syrian govts don't control the forces that are allowing the suicide bombers and Sunni war architects to operate out of their countries.
They know and are coordinating the allowance of these activities. They have much to gain from a populace of Shiia that are in fear of and at war with the Sunnis.
Civil war would benefit the Iranians in that their boyz in Iraq, the Badr Brigades aka the Red Guard, will then be needed to protect the populace from the Sunnis. Sure some Shiia die as a result of this, but that's a small price to pay for the increased loyalty to the Ayatollah that comes with a fear of the Sunnis. Imagine the Shiia Ayatollah's in charge of a Iran friendly Iraq, what a coup for the Iranians.
The article does make mention of, correctly I think , of the Iranaian moves to place more power in the hands of Ayatolla Sistani and his army, but its not without some coordination with the Al Q and Sunni militantss, as ludicrous as cooperation may seem between the traditional enemies. Politics make strange bedfellows.
A Shiia populace afraid of the Sunnis is a Shiia populace in need of Iranian leaning politicos and groups.
#3
I seem to recall that, post-liberation, there was a massive flow of Iranian pilgrims to Shiite holy places in Iraq. The discussion at the time was that the Iraqi holy places outranked the Iranian holy places. Also, that the Iraqi ayatollas were more highly respected for their knowledge than their Iranian counterparts. I suspect this must concern Khameini, et al, because Sistani is speaking up in support of Iraqi democracy, to which the Iranian version can't compare. Not to mention that the Iranians could follow Sistani without giving up being good little Shiites, a real threat given the dissatisfaction of the Iranian masses.
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Hezbollah Friday rejected calls by U.N. Representative in South Lebanon Geir Pederson to deploy the Lebanese army along the border with Israel. Minister of Energy Mohammed Fneish, who represents Hezbollah in Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government, said the army was already present in the south.
Speaking in an interview with Beirut's daily al-Balad, Fneish charged that the United Nations was acting at the behest of Israel and the United States, which want to have the Lebanese army deployed on the border in order to act as a security shield for Israel. Hezbollah militants virtually control the border with Israel. On Thursday Pederson called Lebanon to deploy the army along the Blue Line, which the United Nations drew in 2000.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005
09:41 ||
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - About 1,000 U.S. Marines and Iraqi forces launched attacks in western Iraq in an operation aimed at disrupting insurgents and foreign fighters in the Euphrates River valley, the U.S. military said Friday. The operation, dubbed Quick Strike, began Wednesday with Iraqi soldiers and Marines positioning their units, said a military statement. They focused on an area centered around the cities of Haditha, Haqlaniyah, and Parwana, about 130 miles northwest of Baghdad. On Wednesday, 14 Marines and their civilian translator were killed when their vehicle was hit by a massive roadside bomb near Haditha as they were traveling inside a lightly armored vehicle.
On Friday, U.S. and Iraqi troops, including Special Operations forces, moved into the city of Haqlaniyah, the Marine statement said. U.S. jets conducted an airstrike on insurgents hiding in buildings outside of the town. Residents in the area said U.S. and Iraqi forces had cordoned off Haqlaniyah, about 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, and began conducting house to house searches. American warplanes were hovering overhead and a number of heavy explosions were heard. Witnesses said 500-pound bombs were being dropped in the area. The U.S. military has defended its operations in western Iraq, insisting it is reducing insurgent attacks, despite the deaths of the 14 Marines. The extremist Ansar al-Sunnah Army claimed responsibility in a Web posting and said its fighters used two bombs to destroy the vehicle. Four more U.S. service members were killed in action Wednesday, the military said - three in Baghdad and one in Ramadi.
U.S. military spokesman Brig. Gen. Donald Alston said American military operations in Anbar province, which includes the area where the Marines died, have succeeded in disrupting insurgent activities. "We still have deaths. We still have suicide car bombs," he said. "But the numbers we see indicate (the insurgents) can't generate the same tempo, and I think that's because we've had some degree of effect in interdicting these forces." Alston cited figures showing there were 13 car bombs in Iraq last week - the lowest weekly number since April. "There's a clear indication to me that the tempo has decreased."
U.S. troops have stepped up operations in recent months in Anbar, the center of the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency and a major avenue for foreign fighters infiltrating the country from Syria. Alston warned that militants will likely rally their forces in a concerted effort to derail the country's political progress, including a referendum on the constitution in October and an election in December.
The president's office said a key meeting scheduled for Friday by political leaders to hammer out differences in the draft constitution has been postponed until Sunday. The statement issued Friday did not say why the meeting was delayed. The gathering was called by constitutional committee chairman Humam Hammoudi, who promised the National Assembly that the draft charter would be ready by the Aug. 15 deadline, provided the country's political leaders reach compromises on key issues including federalism, the role of Islam, and distribution of national wealth. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari spent Friday in Najaf meeting with the country's top Shiite Muslim cleric, the highly influential Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The two were expected to talk about developments with the constitution. U.S. leaders, who pushed hard for the committee not to seek an extension on completing the charter, considers the constitutional process vital to maintain political momentum, undermine the insurgency and pave the way for the Americans and their coalition partners to draw down troops next year.
U.S. commanders have warned that although the number of vehicle and roadside bombings are decreasing, they are increasing in potency and sophistication. Bombs on the roads or planted in vehicles account for 70 percent to 80 percent of the U.S. deaths in Iraq, command spokesman Lt. Col. Steven Boylan said. A roadside bomb late Wednesday killed three U.S. soldiers in Baghdad, the U.S. command said. A Marine was killed Wednesday by small arms fire in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province 70 miles west of Baghdad, the command added. At least 1,826 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Al-Jaafari announced a new 12-point security plan. He gave few details but said it included steps to improve intelligence, protect infrastructure and prevent foreign fighters from entering the country.
"We will not hesitate in saying this: We are in a state of war. It is one of the most dangerous types of war because it is not a conventional or a war of borders," he said.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005
09:27 ||
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#1
wretchard has a lot more on the military side of this at his site:
http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/
its a bit hard to believe all this action is being done with only 1000 people
#2
U.S. military has defended its operations in western Iraq, insisting it is reducing insurgent attacks, despite the deaths of the 14 Marines.
There's a fair and balanced statement - 'defended its operations against' who/what Media turds, or just the specific author of this "article".
insisting it is reducing insurgent attacks, despite the deaths of the 14 Marines. So only when the deaths stop will the 'reduction in attacks' be believed? I hate the AP.
Why should I try to finish this piece of political campaigning drivel?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/05/2005 12:01
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The trick to reading AP or Wapo or NYTimes stuff is similar to the trick used for many years to read Pravda (allowing for the ideological view and correcting accordingly as well as comparing the instant document to the previous chain of similar documents.
Of course it would be better if the MSM was objective (or even if they didn't outright hope for a terrorist victory).
#4
From the Belmont Club site - Speculation alert) There are probably many similar operations that are taking place along the river and to its north, as per the Di Rita briefing. One of them may have been undertaken by the US Marines at Haditha, during which 21 Marines were killed. One possible reason why this operation has been kept low key, despite its size, is that it may be literally ripping up the insurgent base of support along the upper Euphrates. If the LA Times article is accurate, the insurgents essentially took the whole population of Rawah with them; if the phenomenon is being repeated elsewhere, the displacement of the Sunni population must be huge. To the north there is the unsustaining desert; to the south across the river there is the sweep of the Marines; for the insurgents to leave the population in place would risk leaving intelligence in the hands of the Americans. This has got to hurt and it is only the beginning. The LA Times notes the abandonment of RPGs, sniper rifles, mortars -- stuff you wouldn't leave behind -- not willingly. The whole point of strangling the enemy lines of communication while building support bases is to set up the stage for pursuit. And they will be pursued. The focus of newspaper coverage in the coming days may abruptly shift from 'poor helpless Marines from Ohio' to 'we're slaughtering them! We're killers!' These are the hard choices of war, and as Hemingway once wrote "all stories, if continued far enough, end in death, and he is no true-story teller who would keep that from you."
I'm crossing my fingers the press will soon be complaining how mean our troops are! Go git 'em, guys!
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/05/2005 16:36
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The focus of newspaper coverage in the coming days may abruptly shift from 'poor helpless Marines from Ohio' to 'we're slaughtering them! We're killers!'
I suspect that is why we're getting CNN headlines stating the operation is taking place as a result of 21 dead marines, and not the other way around.
In early 1957, when the only thing he commanded was a half-starved band of a dozen "rebels" in Cuba's Sierra Maestra mountains, Fidel Castro was approached by some of his rebel group's wealthy urban backers. "What can we do?" They asked. "How can we help the glorious rebellion? We can write you some checks. We can buy you some arms. We can recruit more men. Tell us, Fidel, what can we do to help?" "For now," answered Castro, "get me a New York Times reporter up here."
Bingo! The rest is history. They quickly complied and The New York Times' ranking Latin American expert, Herbert Matthews, was escorted to the rebel camp with his notepad, tape recorder and cameras. Within weeks Castro was being hailed as the Robin Hood of latin America on the front page of the world's most prestigious papers. Within two years he was dictator of Cuba, executing hundreds of political prisoners per week, jailing thousands more -- all the while being hailed as "the George Washington of Cuba!" by everyone from Jack Paar to Walter Lippmann to Ed Sullivan to Harry Truman.
One prominent American who wasn't snookered was Vice President Richard Nixon, and one American publication that bucked the "Castro-as-democratic hero," tide was Human Events, who had already outed him as a Communist-terrorist--and at the very peak of his heraldry by The New York Times a year earlier. Alas, these were voices in the wilderness.
This April in front of "the Union of Young Communist Leaders, the Officers the Revolutionary Armed Forces and Relatives and Surviving Victims of the Empireâs Terrorist Attacks on our Country," Castro gave one of his famous "speeches." This one blasted John Bolton's nomination as U.N. ambassador. "The longer John Boltonâs Senate hearing for the post of United Nations representative went on," Castro raved to the suffering crowd, "the more outrageous it seemed that President Bush could have nominated this man!" Much applause erupted here (his honored guests knew they were being watched. They wanted their starvation rations that week.) "Mr. Bolton tried to have an intelligence analyst punished for stopping him from making false claims about a weapons program in another nation, notably Cuba! He's a kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy" (unlike Castro, I suppose) and this intimidation had a lasting effect on his department!"
Castro was simply reading from a (translated) New York Times article dated April 13th titled "Questioning Mr Bolton." Castro spent three-fourths of his time at the lectern reading from the article verbatim, spicing it up with exclamation marks and a few quips of his own. "See what kind of man this Mr Bolton is?" He asked while poking his finger skyward and arching his eyebrows. "This is one of those people who can walk on his long tongue, (much laughter here, for the same reason I mentioned above) Theyâd better watch him! This Mr Bolton is a Liar! A Cynic!--a Gangster!" The rest of Castro's speech came mostly from Newsweek and the Washington Post. And who could blame him? Why put Cuba's propaganda ministers to work fashioning anti-Yankee diatribes and puff pieces on himself when he can simply pick up America's Mainstream media? For almost half a century now they've served him handily. During the Elian circus, in particular, they merited honors. Much better to put my captive propagandists to cutting sugar cane, rather than duplicating the work of the Yankee media, he reasons.
No one--not even his bitterest critics--calls Castro dumb.
Last year he laid off The New York Times and Newsweek a bit. For a few weeks he relied mostly on "that outstanding American!" (as Castro hails him,) Michael Moore. For weeks Castro showed Fahrenheit 9-11 in every theater in Cuba for free, then on Cuba's state TV. In fact, exactly one day after it opened in U.S. theaters, bootleg copies of Fahrenheit 9-11 were all over Cuba. Needless to say, in Cuba, this type of thing doesn't happen without connivance--indeed, without orders-- from on high.
Fidel Castro has good reason to fear and loath John Bolton. The entire brouhaha in the media and Congress over Bolton's "bullying" of intelligence officials stems from his concern that some of Clinton's Intelligence appointees (still in positions of influence), namely Fulton Armstrong and Christian Westermann, were heavily influenced by a Castro spy and were parroting "intelligence estimates" authored by this spy and planted by Castro. (It does not take bribes, or even coaching, from a Castro spy for a Clinton appointee to parrot Castroite propaganda. These people parrot the mass-murderer's propaganda out of pure leftist conviction, and absolutely free of charge.)
In the late 90's Ana Belen Montes was the Defense Intelligence Agency's ranking expert on Cuba. She had access to all U.S. intelligence on Cuba and led briefings on Capital Hill, at the State Department and the Pentagon regarding Cuban policy. "On Cuba," one government official said. "Montes was who you went to." On September 20, 2001, Ms. Montes was arrested by the FBI as a Castro spy and charged with "Conspiracy to Commit Espionage," the same charge against Ethel and Julius Rosenberg and it carried the same potential death sentence. "Ana Belen Montes was the crown jewel of Castro's intelligence services," wrote the Miami Herald, "one of the most effective spy agencies in the world. And Montes had access to the U.S.' crown jewels on Cuba." Besides handing over reams of sensitive documents and photos to Castro's DGI, Montes outed 4 U.S. undercover agents working in Cuba. "Montes passed some of our most sensitive information about Cuba back to Havana" said then Undersecretary for International Security, John Bolton. A year after her arrest Montes was duly convicted and today, after a plea bargain, she escaped the Rosenberg's fate and serves a 25 year prison sentence.
In a report from 1999 the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency concluded that "Castro poses no significant threat to the U.S. or any of it's Hemispheric neighbors. No evidence exists that that Cuba is trying to foment any instability in the Western Hemisphere." From Havana Castro immediatly hailed the DIA report as "an objective report by serious people." The report had been authored by none other than Ana Belen Montes. John Bolton didn't buy this fable then, and he doesn't buy it now. Among the complaints against Bolton by senior intelligence analyst Fulton Armstrong and aired by the New York Times was that when testifying to Congress in 2002 about Cuba's weapons capabilities, Bolton actually hinted that Cuba might be a danger. More specifically, Armstrong sniffed that, "Mr. Bolton did not include cautionary caveats contained in a 1999 National Intelligence Estimate on Cuba" (emphasis added).
And for an excellent reason: that National Intelligence Estimate had been heavily influenced by none other than Castro's mole, Ana Belen Montes. The "caution" the Estimate recommended was not against Cuba itself, you see, but against the hysterical McCarthyite notion that Castro might be up to no good.
Alcibiades Hidalgo was once Raul Castro's Chief of Staff. Later he served as Cuba's ambassador to the U.N. He defected to the U.S in 2002 and disclosed that, "virtually every member of Castro's U.N mission is an intelligence agent." Just two years ago the Bush administration was forced to expel eight Cuban U.N diplomats for "undiplomatic activity."
The reason for Castro's discomfiture with John Bolton at the U.N. should be obvious.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005
09:21 ||
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#1
A gangster, eh? Well, at least Castro didn't call him a murderous, ratbag, commie dictator.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
08/05/2005 11:05
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#3
Bolton should bitch slap Castro first and then bust a cap in his ass. Boyyee!
Posted by: Tibor ||
08/05/2005 11:22
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Lemmee See - Fidel Castro - Date of Birth: 13 August 1927
Ana Belen Montes - 25 year plea bargain in 2001.
Means she must serve 16 years minimum... Gets out 2017... Fidel would be 90... Probably still alive and running Cuba (into the ground as usual) No good...
I think this is why the Donkofarts opposed him so viociferously, too much exposure in their own dirty houses...
#6
It's eight a.m. I roll out my silk sheets
Get fly crash the limo back seats
Lookin' in the faces
Of some ladies that I never met
On the interview tip, no sweat
They ask me questions
I throw the words back
They say they write facts
I know that's bull crap
They're kickin' drama
But then drama's my middle name
That's the price ya pay for big fame
The cellular phone rings
Don't wanta pick it up
But it's my J-O-B I gotta kick it up
Another damn reporter
On the line with a word quiz
I gotta show cause I'm livin' with the show Biz
Out the limo, to the plane
In the pourin' rain
I hate flyin'
But there's no time for slow trains
another show to do
I gotta catch my crew
They left last night
In the bus around two
The plane's a small one
No fun at all
Bouncin' round the air
Like a tennis ball
When it touches down
I wanna kiss the ground
But it's time to wreck a new town
Get to the arena, meet up with the crew
They tell me all the speakers blew
The cordless don't work
Sound man's a jerk
Somebody's gonna get hurt
I'm crazy mad
But my fans want autographs
I turn my angry frowns
Into fake laughs
I can't be rude
Cause they wouldn't understand
I ain't human no more, I'm a superman.
-- Ice-T, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous", from the 'O.G. Original Gangster Album'
NEW YORK â CNN suspended commentator Robert Novak indefinitely after he swore and walked off the set Thursday during a debate with Democratic operative James Carville. The exchange during CNN's "Inside Edition" came during a discussion of Florida's Senate campaign. But CNN correspondent Ed Henry noted when it was through that he had been about to ask Novak about his role in the investigation of the leak of a CIA officer's identity. A CNN spokeswoman, Edie Emery, called Novak's behavior "inexcusable and unacceptable." Novak has apologized to CNN, and CNN apologizes to viewers, she said. "We've asked Mr. Novak to take some time off," she said. A telephone message at Novak's office was not immediately returned Thursday.
Carville and Novak were both trying to speak while they were handicapping the GOP candidacy of Katherine Harris. Novak said the opposition of the Republican establishment in Florida might not be fatal for her. "Let me just finish, James, please," Novak continued. "I know you hate to hear me, but you have to." Carville, addressing the camera, said: "He's got to show these right wingers that he's got a backbone, you know. It's why the Wall Street Journal editorial page is watching you. Show 'em that you're tough." "Well, I think that's bullââ and I hate that," Novak replied. "Just let it go." As moderator Dan Harris stepped in to ask Carville a question, Novak walked off the set.
I think Novak should have tasered Carville, but that's just me
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005
09:14 ||
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Yes....firing the sole conservative on their network will surely save their ratings...
Posted by: Mark E. ||
08/05/2005 9:37
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I got a funny feeling that this is it for Novak. He is not going to lower his standards by coming back.
"called Novak's behavior "inexcusable and unacceptable."
What a bunch of hypocrites! What about the fact that Mr. Amanpour, Chance, and Robertson being in bed with the terrs for so many years, in order to get the so called "exclusive." According to CNN, supporting terrs is acceptable behavior.
#14
Yeah, well, I'm not gonna let you forget about that time you went upside rkb's head before you knew she was a mdoreator.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/05/2005 14:42
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#15
lol, Matt. Don't remember that one, although I'm frequently away from the ole' pooter. Linky?
Posted by: BA ||
08/05/2005 14:49
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#16
rkb and I already had some history betwixt us. She was posting under her first and last name that day - I was not aware they were the same person that day or it would not have been played that way. I'll leave it at that.
Or we'll huff...and we'll puff...
TEHRAN/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Have they finally surrendered and made it official?
The European Union on Friday insisted Iran give up nuclear fuel work and called an urgent meeting of the U.N. nuclear watchdog that could refer Tehran to the U.N. Security Council for sanctions. You'll get it now, smart guy!
But a senior Iranian nuclear negotiator said the Islamic Republic would resume work at a nuclear fuel plant regardless of EU proposals for political and economic incentives that offered support for the building of nuclear power stations. "As Iran will have an assured supply of fuel over the coming years, it will be able to provide the confidence needed by making a binding commitment not to pursue fuel cycle activities other than the construction and operation of light water power and research reactors," said a copy of a summary of the proposals obtained by Reuters. How you say, "Take a friggin hike", yes?
The EU -- represented by Britain, France and Germany -- has been trying to find a compromise for two years between the United States and Iran. Washington says Iran is trying to build covertly a nuclear bomb, but Tehran denies the charge and says it has the right to convert and enrich uranium for power generation. No, no, no. We need it for...those glow in the dark wrist watches! Yes! That's the ticket!
The ambassadors of the Britain, France and Germany presented the EU's proposals to 15 top Iranian officials on Friday. "This proposal is not definite. It is negotiable and expandable," two sources present at the meeting quoted one of the ambassadors as saying. "The only item which is definite, is the one which asserts that the EU3 considers no difference between enrichment and uranium conversion activities." Make us an offer. I wanna sell you this car! "LISTEN TO REASON" Which, I believe, is the diplomatic equivalent of "pretty please".
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy called on Iran to "listen to reason." If Iran resumed its nuclear activities, "the international community will surely bring the issue to the Security Council," he told Europe 1 radio. Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooh...
The trio of European Union countries are also planning to call a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) -- the U.N. nuclear watchdog -- early next week to warn Tehran against restarting the sensitive nuclear work, diplomats said. We're warnin' yas!
The IAEA can refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council where the United States says Tehran should face sanctions. We really mean it!
"The Europeans, the Americans and the whole world should know that however many bribes they give, on no condition will Iran abandon its rights, we have definitely made our decisions and whatever they do it will be harmful for them," Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati told Tehran Friday prayers. Then it's time to start tweaking those target profiles.
Iranian officials said the EU offer included backing for Iran to be the main route for oil and gas exports from Central Asia, allowing Western companies to build nuclear power plants in Iran and closer political and security ties. Iran says it needs nuclear power stations to meet booming electricity demand. The EU3 offer of power stations could help Iran to meet that demand without having to process its own nuclear fuel -- which could be used to make a bomb. Isn't it about time that these idiots finally realize that the Iranians will not deal? They want the bomb, they will get the bomb. Unless they're stopped by force.
(CNSNews.com) - New research linking male circumcision with significantly reduced HIV/AIDS infections has sparked a backlash from anti-circumcision groups, with some calling on the United Nations to label the procedure a crime against human rights. An international AIDS conference in Brazil last week was told that researchers tracking 3,000 young African men in a randomized controlled trial found the number of HIV infections among those who had been circumcised to be three times lower than among those who had not. The dramatic result prompted some medical experts to call for routine circumcision of young males to be promoted in the drive against the deadly disease, although U.N. agencies, while calling the research "promising," cautioned that such a step would be premature.
Anti-circumcision groups are alarmed that the research may encourage a greater acceptance of a procedure -- surgical removal of the foreskin -- which they consider to be mutilation. Several have joined together in calling for the U.N. "to classify circumcision of male children as a human rights crime."
Millions of parents in America and other western countries routinely circumcise their baby boys for reasons including hygiene, health benefits or family tradition. Carried out on the eighth day after birth, the procedure is a central tenet of the Jewish faith, while it is also a rite of passage in Islam -- sometimes at birth, sometimes at a later age. Some African groups, Australian aboriginals and Pacific islanders also practice circumcision.
Marilyn Milos, director of the California-based National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers (NOCIRC), noted that the U.N. convention on the rights of the child says member states "shall take all effective and appropriate measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children. "This terminology is fully applicable to male circumcision," she said.
Another campaigner, Dr. George Denniston of Doctors Opposing Circumcision in Seattle, said circumcision "removes erogenous tissue and leaves the genitals with significantly diminished sexual capacity.
"The best way to prevent HIV transmission is by using condoms, not by cutting off part of the genitals," he argued. San Diego-based activist Matthew Hess focused on the age of boys undergoing circumcision.
"Circumcision of children is genital mutilation ... and the U.N. needs to take action now to ensure that male circumcision is performed only on fully informed consenting adults," he said. Hess represents a group called MGMbill.org, named for a piece of legislation that it hopes lawmakers will take up at a state and federal level. The group is currently looking for a legislative sponsor in Congress for the Male Genital Mutilation Bill, which seeks to make it an offense to circumcise, or help or facilitate circumcision, of a child or a "nonconsenting" adult, punishable by a maximum 14-year prison term. It would also prohibit Americans from arranging circumcisions abroad.
'Benefits outweigh risks'
Prof. Fred Ehrlich of the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of New South Wales in Australia said Friday he has safely circumcised about 3,000 boys -- both as a surgeon and as a mohel, or traditional Jewish circumciser. It is essential that circumcision be carried out by someone who is competent and trained, he said. "I've never had a complication." The best age is undoubtedly the biblically mandated eighth day after birth, Ehrlich said. "If you do it on the very newborn, they have a higher tendency to bleed. By the eighth day, the bleeding is less. If you wait say until the baby is a year old, two years old, they can remember it -- it hurts -- whereas in a newborn, they don't even notice it."
He compared the anti-circumcision lobby to groups opposing the immunization of children. "There are plenty of mad people in the world."
"There is not a shadow of a doubt that circumcision is beneficial," Ehrlich said. Apart from AIDS, "there are many other good reasons why it should be carried out." These included reducing urinary infections -- "not common in little boys, but when it does occur, it is a serious problem" -- and cervical cancer in circumcised men's partners. "In India, the Muslim women have much less cancer of the cervix than the Hindu women because the Muslim men are circumcised."
Ehrlich distinguished between what he called "the lunatic fringe" among anti-circumcision groups and "a genuine medical anti-circumcision position," tied to the risk that some infants may bleed or become infected. Immunization also carried risks, he argued, but in both cases, "the benefits outweigh the downside." Ehrlich said there was no likelihood that the drive to have the U.N. act against circumcision would succeed, "if for no other reason than because there are so many Muslims in the world."
Prof. Brian J. Morris, professor of molecular medical sciences at the University of Sydney and a firm advocate of male circumcision, also dismissed the latest campaign. "Whenever there is yet further evidence in support of circumcision, the anti-circumcision lobby goes into panic mode," he said Friday. "Their propaganda machine gets propelled into action with this kind of misinformation in an attempt to shore up their untenable cultist position."
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005
09:01 ||
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#1
Moyle jokes in:
5...4...3...2...1...
Posted by: Mark E. ||
08/05/2005 9:27
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Dr. George Denniston of Doctors Opposing Circumcision in Seattle, said circumcision "removes erogenous tissue and leaves the genitals with significantly diminished sexual capacity.
Five Turkish soldiers have been killed in an attack by suspected Kurdish rebels, officials say. At least six others were reportedly wounded in the attack, in Turkey's south-eastern Hakkari province. It is the most serious loss of life for the Turkish army since six soldiers died in a bomb attack in early July. Kurdish rebels have stepped up their campaign of attacks on civilian and army targets in the past few months.
The attack happened in the early hours of Friday near the town of Semdinli, which is close to the country's borders with Iran and Iraq.
Private CNN-Turk television said a powerful explosion was set off before rebels opened fire on the soldiers. The rebels made their escape by fleeing into the mountains. A number of the injured soldiers were reportedly airlifted by helicopter to a military hospital in the main provincial town of Hakkari. Security forces have launched an operation to catch the rebels. The attack came only hours after Kurdish rebels freed a Turkish soldier they had held for more than three weeks.
The separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party, known as the PKK, has been fighting the government since 1984 in a campaign to create a Kurdish homeland in the south-east. More than 37,000 people have been killed since then. The rebels declared a unilateral truce in 1999, but ended it in 2004, saying Turkey had not done enough to meet their demands.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005
08:54 ||
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This is from the BLS report. This month the payroll increase was about 200k and the household about 450k. The media spin will be toward the 'higher interest rates' meme.
THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: JULY 2005
Nonfarm employment grew by 207,000 in July, and the unemployment rate was
unchanged at 5.0 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Depart-
ment of Labor reported today. Over the month, payroll employment rose in many
service-providing industries.
Unemployment (Household Survey Data)
Both the number of unemployed persons, 7.5 million, and the unemployment
rate, 5.0 percent, were unchanged in July. A year earlier, the number of
unemployed was 8.2 million and the jobless rate was 5.5 percent.
Unfortunately, the economy in Kentucky (I'm presuming that's where you live) has been underperforming relative to the national economy for the past year or two.
US announces indictment of two senior AIPAC officials
CNN suspends Novak after he walks off set
Community Consoles Ohio Military Families
Bush Warns Colombian Leader on Human Rights
Chief Justice Rehnquist treated at hospital
Midair collision kills two: Plane spirals into vacant elementary
Mike slams suit over subway bag searches
NY accuses Maryland man of supporting terror group
GOP Wants More Details of Corzine Aid
I think Google hired somebody from APNYT to program their news service. Where do other readers go for news?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/05/2005 10:09
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#6
Poison's right on. Bin Laden thinks he knows how to break us, but, we have a economy that just gets richer when we have to invent new products, like we have to do for security and the military.
I'm even amazed at how well we are doing. If the price of oil ever drops, look out. This economy could explode.
#7
Yes, but what kind of jobs are these? Outsourcing is tearing this nation apart! Interest rates are rising! People are working to earn wages that forces them to live paycheck to paycheck! This administration is running high deficits and ignoring the American people! I served in Vietnam!
Posted by: John Kerry ||
08/05/2005 11:08
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#8
Plainslow
I'm planning for a drop to $40/barrel in the summer of 06. This will give my evil minions the 'our President's energy program is working' talking point and get the bump up in the economy that you anticipate and we'll wait until after the election in Nov 06 to raise interest rate 100 basis points or so to cool the economy off.
Bwahhaaaaa
Posted by: karl rove ||
08/05/2005 12:26
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WASHINGTON â Neo-Nazi skinheads are working with radical Islamists in a growing unholy alliance that has European law enforcement officials concerned about a new front in the war on terrorism, reports Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence newsletter published by the founder of WND.
Sources in the UK, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Italy, Switzerland and in the Middle East are warning that the world should not be surprised to see young, white males involved in terrorism and in league with Osama bin Laden.
Just a few years ago, Muslims represented one of the biggest harassment targets of neo-Nazi skinheads in Europe. But anti-Muslim hate crimes by skinheads have seen a dramatic drop-off â even as their movement takes on more visibility and bigger numbers.
"In business they ignore the race," said an Italian official.
Law enforcement officials fear skinheads and neo-Nazis could provide not just additional numbers to the Islamic terrorist cause but also some operatives who would defy profiling efforts.
Skinheads can easily cover their tattoos and wear respectable clothing to deceive police and immigration authorities, say police officials. An Italian police expert on gang activities said it is known skinheads travel as far as Australia, South Africa and the Indian sub-continent "at times looking like the boy next door or a student on vacation." He also revealed Italian agents are aware of a number of meetings between gang leaders, radical Islamic students and organized crime bosses.
The chilling possibility that Muslim terrorists and neo-Nazis may combine forces was raised as a distinct possibility by Israel's president last month.
On a visit to commemorate the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Israel and Germany, Moshe Katsav declared, "Let us not be surprised if one day terror organizations use neo-Nazis to carry out terrorist attacks."
The majority of Muslims in Europe are law-abiding citizens, he added. But Muslim extremists may form alliances with neo-Nazis, he said.
What brings the groups together is a common enemy â Jews â and business interests, say law enforcement officials. Neo-Nazi skinheads are deeply involved in drug-running and human smuggling gangs â two areas of common interest with Islamists.
Long before Katsav warned about the links between the neo-Nazis and the jihadists, Germany's minister of the interior, Otto Schily, the Muslim Hizb ut-Tahir, or Party of Liberation, which had ties with the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party. Hizb ut-Tahir, an organization with acolytes in many European countries, wants to unite the Muslim world in a single theocratic state under a caliph, or supreme Muslim leader.
Schily banned the group in 2002 after accusing it of "spreading violent propaganda and anti-Jewish agitation" and after receiving reports its representatives had met with members of the National Democratic Party in 2001. Schily is now considering a ban on activities by Hezbollah members in Germany.
Three million or more Muslims live in Germany, comprising about 4 percent of its population.
There is also a community of 100,000 ethnic German converts to Islam. One of them, Steven Smyrek, was arrested and imprisoned in Israel some years ago on charges of being a Hezbollah agent. He was released in 2004 in an Israel-Hezbollah prisoner swap, and now lives in Germany as a free man.
The mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Mohammed Atta, lived and studied in Hamburg, a major port in northern Germany.
Twenty-five thousand to 30,000 Muslims in Germany are members of radical Islamic organizations, according to a ministry of interior official.
Meanwhile, neo-Nazi skinhead numbers are swelling throughout Europe.
As Swiss President Samuel Schmid stood on the Rutli Meadow last week commemorating the Swiss Federation, he was shocked by more than 700 skinheads and neo-Nazis wearing black T-shirts who stood facing him, waving their fists in a Nazi salute.
The number of militants amounted to more than one third of the people attending the event, twice the number registered in the 2004 celebrations. The skinheads, waving the Swiss national flag, were not shy about chanting slogans such as "Schmid is a traitor," and other slurs aimed at minorities, especially against refugees from the third world. As is their common routine they also voiced hate expressions against the U.S. and the Jews.
Schmid was openly shaken as he realized he would not be able to finish his speech. He later expressed his anger and suggested that radical changes in future public celebrations of national day events should be seriously considered.
G2 Bulletin reports it has learned from a reliable source the stunned president did not waste any time contacting members of cabinet and other officials, telling them to get their act together and put an end to what he described as "hoodlums taking over a national holiday."
In reality it was the 10th year in a row that the extremists have made the journey to the legendary meadow on the shores of Lake Lucerne, and their numbers have increased each year.
An analysis of the overall proliferation of skinhead movements that originated in the UK, where they first appeared as gangs in the '60s, shows the Swiss numbers probably represent only a small fraction of the total number. Overall figures of those directly involved with skinheads, who later also joined neo-Nazi and fascist movements is well over 150,000 worldwide.
An Interpol source said the skinheads are well-organized, citing a number of events this year including a mass gathering during a concert near Germany. At that event, French and German police tried to stop hundreds of French and Italian skinheads and neo-Nazis from crossing the border into Germany.
Other notable events this year were neo-Nazi gatherings in Germany including Berlin and neo-Nazi and skinheadsâ demonstrations in the Baltic States and Scandinavia. Skinheads and neo-Nazis are a growing menace in Poland and in parts of Russia where they are accused of having committed murders, arson attacks, robberies and of cooperating with organized crime elements.
Russian law enforcement agencies are witnessing constant clashes between skinhead gangs and the police and murders of foreigners.
A Swiss official with the federal police, reacting on the Rutli Meadow event, bitterly emphasized agents have to divert attention from pressing issues related to the global war on terrorism to monitor skinheads, neo-Nazis, bikers and other street gangs.
They need to recognize who is who in these radical movements and to prevent gangs from becoming hired guns or suppliers of forged documents, weapons and explosives later used against governments at war with jihadi Islam.
The danger posed by the skinhead-Islamist alliance is being compared with the fast-growing menace of Central American street gangs, such as the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, who are now the largest and most dangerous criminal group in several Latin American countries and in the U.S. MS-13, too, has been known to meet with al-Qaida operatives and is believed to be involved in smuggling some into the U.S. across the Mexican border.
#6
I was just thinking of how remote the missile silos in NE Colorado are, operated out of Warren AFM in Wyoming, and how long before anyone would even notice sabotage in these unmanned sites. This article brought to mind the time we went to Yellowstone and I was poisoned by Skinheads in a Cheyenne BBQ. He definitely shot me a very evil glare and made my whole family uncomfortable. I was gripped with the most violent case of dysentary imaginable in the most desolate area of high desert imaginable and nothing but cactus in sight! A FOX report on McVeigh placed him at a Neo-Nazi camp in OK as well as with Iraqi asylum seekers before the bombing and his repeated phone calls to the Phillippines to a number associated with Abu Sayaf. I know everyone hates to say 'conspiracy' but that's more believable than to say the Clinton administration or the FBI didn't botch the OK City investigation. I hope they rethink about these base closings, such as Ellsworth.
#7
I one more thought. The Skinheads often work as roughnecks on the oil rigs out there. These guys are often offered big bucks to work in the ME, as local crews steal the rig blind and hold everything up until they get new tools in. They get great vacations but partying risks a stay in the local dungeon. They typically don't feed their prisoners, as the family is responsible, so fiercely independent Americans must really need a job to go to Libya. Besides sharing the same hate literature and conspiracy theories, this is another possible tie. The home-grown jihadis and even training camps wouldn't draw much notice out there. Look how long it took to find Ted Kaczinskey's cabin.
The cause of the helicopter crash which killed veteran southern Sudanese leader John Garang is "not clear", Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said. All previous official comments have insisted that the crash was an accident.
Supposed to have flown into a mountain in bad weather.
Mr Garang was travelling in Mr Museveni's helicopter when he died. Mr Garang's death sparked three days of riots in Sudan, in which at least 130 people were killed. Mr Museveni was speaking to thousands of mourners in southern Sudan.
"Some people say accident, it may be an accident, it may be something else," he said in Yei, one of the southern towns where Mr Garang's body is being taken before the funeral on Saturday. "The [helicopter] was very well equipped, this was my [helicopter] the one I am flying all the time, I am not ruling anything out," Mr Museveni said.
"After all, it could be me next time"
Mr Garang died three weeks after being named vice-president as part of a deal to end 21 years of civil war. Hundreds of people - many in tears - have been turning out to see Mr Garang's coffin when the plane arrives in each town. In Juba, where the funeral is due to take place, thousands of volunteers are helping to build a mausoleum to house Mr Garang's remains, reports the AFP news agency.
Welcome to Graceland
A huge crowd is expected for the funeral, including the presidents of Sudan, Uganda and South Africa. Saturday has been declared a national holiday.
Juba is recovering from communal clashes, sparked by Mr Garang's death.
Northern Arab traders were attacked and their goods looted by angry southerners, leaving at least 19 dead. The town is reportedly running short of food. Mr Garang's widow and his children are accompanying the body from New Site, near where the helicopter crashed. "We have to keep his [Garang's] promise. We have to implement the peace agreement," Riak Machar, one of Mr Garang's former colleagues told the crowd in Kurmuk on Thursday. On Friday, the funeral procession goes to Yei, the one-time base of Mr Garang's rebel SPLA, Bor, where the rebellion started in 1983 and his birthplace of Panyagol near Bor, before reaching Juba.
Mr Garang's successor as southern leader, Salva Kiir, has also been appointed as national vice-president. The capital, Khartoum, is reported to be calm, with no more of the clashes between southerners and Arabs sparked by Mr Garang's death. More than 130 people were killed in three days of violence. An overnight curfew has been imposed and heavily-armed police and soldiers are on patrol.
A Sudanese minister has urged Muslim preachers not to further inflame tensions - most northerners are Muslims, while southerners are generally Christians or animists. The US has expressed deep concern over the situation. Its two envoys are due to meet President Omar al-Bashir. Leaders of both sides earlier urged calm, agreeing to set up a joint inquiry into what caused the crash of Mr Garang's helicopter. But correspondents say there is a real danger that a much-vaunted peace deal ending 21 years of civil war could be shattered by the sudden violence. "Enemies of peace may want to take the opportunity of the situation so that they don't allow the government and the SPLM to implement the peace agreement," Mr Kiir said. "We want this situation to be stopped as soon as possible so that security returns to Khartoum and its suburbs."
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005
08:36 ||
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#1
Likely a Newtonian Mechanic did the maintenance.
Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday announced new deportation measures against people who foster hatred and advocate violence following last month's transportation attacks that killed 52 people and four suspected suicide bombers. Clerics who preach hate and Web sites or book shops that sponsor violence would be targeted. Foreign nationals could be deported under the new measures.
Blair said his government was prepared to amend human rights legislation if necessary if legal challenges arose from the new deportation measures. Britain's ability to deport foreign nationals has been hampered by human rights legislation. As a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, Britain is not allowed to deport people to a country where they may face torture or death. "Let no one be in any doubt that the rules of the games are changing," Blair said, promising to crack down on extremists blamed for radicalizing pockets of Muslim youth.
By the year's end, Blair wants to pass legislation that would outlaw "indirect incitement" of terrorism â targeting extremist Islamic clerics who glorify acts of terrorism and seduce impressionable Muslim youth. The law would ban receiving training in terrorist techniques in Britain or abroad. A new offense of "acts preparatory to terrorism" would outlaw planning an attack and activities such as acquiring bomb-making instructions on the Internet. Blair said his government would hold a short, one-month consultation on new grounds for excluding and deporting people from the United Kingdom. "The Muslim community have been and are our partners in this endeavor," said Blair, who has appealed to community leaders to help roots out extremists in their midst.
Posted by: ed ||
08/05/2005
08:30 ||
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#1
1. Is there a way to narrowly define this kind of measure so that governements aren't deporting anybody they feel like?
2. Bye-bye EU human rights legislation -- the UK is going to be just the first in a long line of European nations to decide that "human rights" is not more important than survival.
3. This took some balls. I wonder how Labor's loonier elements are taking this?
Posted by: Jonathan ||
08/05/2005 8:40
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#2
Yes, balls big enough to come in a dump truck.(given his party's stance on most issues) I wonder if Americans are learning anything from all this? Like that you can pass laws that work, even if special interest doesnt like it.
#4
When I heard TB on the radio the first thing that popped into my mind is that Galloway and Red Ken will go ballistic over this. And in my book it makes it the right thing to do
#5
As valiant a move as this is, let's see what erosion in resolve there is in, say, six months or more.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/05/2005 12:40
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#6
I agree CA, the proof will be if anyone is actually deported, or whether this is just a sop the general voting public.
Posted by: john ||
08/05/2005 14:22
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#7
About time. I can get two families in a car if they need a lift to Dover..
Posted by: Kent Mccord ||
08/05/2005 14:30
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#8
KM, two families in one car? Would that leave any room for the rucksacks?
Posted by: john ||
08/05/2005 14:39
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#9
I'll believe it when I actually see a deportation, hell thay can't even extradite someonme to the US.
Talk is cheap and at least 80% of the population will think you have actually done something when you haven't. The Laborites like Clare Short will never allow it.
Less explicit than I would have hoped feared.
Cape Town - Western Cape police are investigating necrophilia and the illegal amputation of body parts at the Salt River mortuary, they said on Thursday. Superintendent Rian Pool said a pathologist took fluid and tissue samples from a body as a "precautionary measure" to determine whether or not the corpse had been sexually violated after death. The identity of the deceased would not be revealed at this stage, because the investigation was only a precautionary measure to determine "beyond all doubt" that no violation of the body occurred after death. "Should the outcome of the investigation indicate that post mortem violation took place it will be made public," said Pool.
Police were also investigating the illegal amputation of a foot from the body of an accident victim received at the mortuary on July 31.
According to an autopsy report conducted on August 1, the body still had both feet. "At approximately 15:45 a police officer discovered that the right foot of the body had been amputated. An investigation into the illegal amputation of the leg was immediately launched." Pool said both case were being investigated by the police and the investigations were being closely monitored by the ndependent complaints directorate.
#2
bleah. At least these creepy, night of the living dead people can feel comfort in the fact that on the scale of hideous, Sevan and Annan, Switzerland, Belgium and bin Laden rank beneath them.
I do not know well the "Ni putes ni soumises" (I know very little overall), but I have the impression it is less a grassroots movement than a satelite of the french socialist party, like some more (sos racisme) or less (stop la violence) successful predecessors. IMHO one of their biggest flaws is that they don't explicitely acknowledge the weight of traditional islam, nor do they always denounce the "homeboy/yob" culture (as seen in one of their leaders defending the "Sniper" rap band and its declaration of war to France and anti-white prejudice), they seem more stepped into sociological explanations.
Still, it is quite good to have positive forces on that cultural battlefield, but I doubt they're ultimately much representative of anything.
Young Muslim women in the working class suburbs of France have two choices: slut or servant. Fadela Amara is trying to offer them a third option: respect. By Rebecca Hillauer
Fadela Amara has a mission. One sees it in the intensity of her eyes and feels it in the passion of her speech. A good two years ago, the daughter of an Algerian immigrant family in Paris, she founded the organisation "Ni putes ni soumises". This is also the title of her book, which won the "Prix du Livre Politique" of the French national assembly last year. In the book, Fadela Amara tells in a simple and direct style the story of her fight against the growing violence and social disintegration in France's suburbs.
Reading Amara's book, one understands quickly the gravity of the situation. On October 4, 2002 in Vitry-sur-Seine, a satellite town of Paris, 18 year old Sohane Benziane, the daughter of Kabyle immigrants, was burned alive. The perpetrators were two men her age of North African descent. They lured the girl, who refused to submit to the "norms of the neighbourhood", into a cellar. While one kept watch outside, the other poured gas over Sohane and set her on fire with a lighter.
This horrible deed was a catalyst for Fadela Amara. A few days later, she along with 2000 other men and women took part in a silent march. Then she organised gatherings at which girls and women could speak openly about violence in their districts. In February 2003 she initiated a "March of Women from the Suburbs". It went through a total of 23 cities and drew the nation's attention to the particular repression of the "girls of the city". Today "Ni putes ni soumises" has more than 6000 members and 60 local committees. The organisation encourages young women and men in the suburbs to act against ghettoisation and the suppression of women, and to support equal opportunity and rights. Fadela Amara wants to break the law of silence which has masked the violence of the suburbs, mafia-style.
The petite woman with the narrow face and the little pig-tail grew up in a suburban housing development in Clermont-Ferrand, a working class city in the South. "We thought at the time that the French republic was going to give us immigrant children a chance as well." Freedom, equality, fraternity â France's founding principles â are still seminal terms for the 40 year old. Like many daughters of immigrant parents, she didn't enjoy equal rights as she grew up in the 1980s either, but the common commitment to anti-racism movement brought the sexes closer together. The number of forced marriages decreased and the number of female Muslim students increased. Since the economic crisis of the 1990s, however, the clocks have started ticking backwards again.
Fathers in immigrant families don't only lose their jobs when they're unemployed. They lose their authority in the family. This position is then occupied by their eldest sons who, although they may not be able to find legal employment, can provide for the family through their work in "parallel economies": car theft and drug dealing. With the authority they inherit, they are able to impose their conservative notions of religion and morality onto their social surroundings. Their spiritual nourishment comes from the Islamic fundamentalists, whose influence in the suburbs continues to rise.
For girls in the neighbourhood the message is: take on traditional female roles, dress chastely, don't go out and most importantly, remain a virgin until you marry. This unwritten law doesn't only apply to Muslim girls. The north African young men, although they constitute a minority, command the non-Islamic populations in the suburbs as well: African immigrants and lower class French.
In her book, Fadela Amara describes precisely what effect this moral pressure has on the girls. And how much courage they need to stand up to their moral guard dogs by wearing make-up, for example, or a skirt. In the suburbs, both represent an act of rebellion. Many girls dress intentionally unattractively or wear a veil, for fear of reprisals.
"The veil symbolises submission to male dominance," Fadela Amara explains. For this reason, she supports Chirac's hard line of banning the veil in schools. The veil says "I am not available" and should, in principle, buy the women some peace. But what results is a confirmation of the fatal alternative presented in the provocative name "Ni putes ni soumises"; either a woman gives in to her traditional role, or she is considered a whore and fair game.
A common punishment for girls who rebel, in the worst case, is the so-called "tournante" â gang rape. Samira Bellil was the first to describe this phenomena in her book "Dans l'enfer des tournantes" (in gang-rape hell). She had been the victim of three gang rapes before she found the courage, after psychotherapeutic treatment, to tell her story. Samira Bellil was also patron of "Ni putes ni soumises" until she died last year at 31 of stomach cancer. (Here an obituary from the Guardian.)
Bellil's book and Amara's activites have woken up politicians. In various cities, emergency hotlines and hostels have been set up for women and girls forced to flee their neighbourhoods. In police stations, specialised workers are being trained to deal with "migrants' problems". But Fadela Amara believes that these measures address only the symptoms of the grievances; to eliminate the roots of the problem, steps have to be taken against mass unemployment and the ghettoising of the suburbs. But the author does not hold political forces responsible. In her book, she is very critical of the way many immigrants bring up their children.
"In Muslim immigrant families, the sons are treated like kings. They are not just preferred over the girls, they are spoilt and coddled." The crux is that when these young men encounter resistance beyond the family for the first time - when they don't get into university or college, for example - they react helplessly and destructively. They compensate for their fury and inferiority complexes with machismo and violence against those who are socially and physically weaker â girls in particular.
"In the suburbs, sexual education takes place through porn videos â how can these boys not have a twisted image of women?" Amara asks. She demands better sexual education in schools. The boys should learn values: how to deal with the opposite sex respectfully. To this purpose, Amara published a "How to respect" guide that's designed to fit into a trouser pocket. Her colleagues take these into the schools and discuss with students their notions of marriage, virginity, forced marriage, circumcision, tenderness and love.
Amara emphasises that this is the difference between those who talk about cultural relativism and her organisation, which is aimed at achieving universal human rights. "An exaggerated tolerance of supposed cultural differences which results in the maintenance of archaic traditions - that's just not acceptable."
Fadela Amara: "Ni putes ni soumises". La Decouverte, Paris 2004. 168 pg., 6 Euros.
Samira Bellil: "Dans l'enfer des tournantes". Gallimard, Paris 2003. 280 pg., 3,50 Euros.
#1
The ghettoisation of french suburbs comes from the msulim community recoiling away from mainstream life. The french did not put them in a ghetto, they put them in a suburb that they made a ghetto by being obnoxious enough to drive out all other non-muslims in the area. As for the unemployment thing, 10% is standard throughout france, so live with it. And as for the gangrape thing, I just don't know what to say, sounds very muslim to me.
#2
Cultural relativism is just another name for bmlatanat racism who allows rich white men to ask for Brown living in poverty and terror while rich white women ask for Coloured women suffering genital mutilation. Of course all of them, the coloured that is, as far as possible of the Chosen Ones (the white progressives).
#4
And here we go again with the bleeding heart explanation: unemployment. The problem is not unemployment but culture. The truth is that the North African culture makes for a boy who is usually an abyssal student (from the mouth of maths teacher: in her class most 12 years old weren't able to deal with proportionality problems) and this because in their culture the male child is a spoiled brat: if his sister, even older sister, is using/eating something and he takes it from kim he is not punished. It is not even clear his mother has authority upon him. He is also told that he is superior to the kaffirs.
But our spoiled brat who at 12, was still unable to master proportionality grows to an unemployable adult. Unemployable due to ignorance but also unemployable because he doesn't recognize authority from kaffirs. Worse, he sees his sisters perform better than him at school (1) and on the job market and tghen he reacts with violence.
The error is not having broken this culture: previous generations were teached that we were all French with Gaul ancestors, even when the kid was from Polish origin or had a black skin. But then the multicultis came telling that this were perfectly valid cultures (so it was OK to keep it) , that the police should not go into their suburbs and that Crusades were a great crime and Jihad a reaction against it (2). That is how you ensure a generation will not integrate: you integrate when you think this will improve your status not when you think you will degrade to kaffir status.
(1) Despite the handicap of Islam. We are told that the first years four-five years are crucial in the development of intellect, these are "the mother years" and Islam tries hard to produce stupid and ignorant mothers
(2) It is not a fiction. The Bibliotheque Natiionale de France (the equivalent of the Library of Congress) prepared a dossier for kids where they asked to show that a Jihad was reaction to the Crusades. Preventive reaction I suppose.
#5
Thanks for posting that article. I've read it before, but it's good to be reminded that there are indeed Muslims who have learnt positive lessons from living in the West. There are our mythical moderate Muslims: they want the freedom to just be regular members of society, who happen to be of the Muslim faith. It is odd, and a reflection of the male-primacy society they want to escape, that only females seem to be joining this movement.
#1
There has been a quiet and unassuming shift that has happened. It is difficult to explain but I will attempt to do so by comparing it to nagging... nagging means there is hope for improvement and cooperation. When you really need to worry is when the nagging stops.
#2
finishing my thought...re: all of this PC, CAIR, ACLU, apologist elephant dung, I'm finding myself moving beyond. Obviously I'm not there yet. But I'm getting close.
#3
The apologist wave needs to subside, Britain and Europe (well, most of europe)have dispensed with it and are in the "purge" phase of the game. We still may need another good hit here to get on the ball and bust some heads. The global nature of the threat now has people demanding things they didn't seem to care about a few years ago; tightening the borders and giving the police and DHS freedom to do their jobs. Combine this with muslim moderates starting to speak out against extremism and al-qaida calling every arab country and even al-jazeera/ al-arabiya apostates and you have what could be the start of a good trend.
#4
I would say that the very best thing from the WoT has been the realization that there is now, for the first time in world history, a chance that the democratic revolution can be spread to the entire world.
This fact, this vision which began in earnest with the American Revolution, has been the persistent undercurrent in how America approaches the rest of the world.
Even US presidents can be gauged by the number of nations that have found freedom and real democracy during their term, and usually with their encouragement (and of course the few failed Presidents in whose time some proto-democracies and freedom were turned back under the heels of a tyranny or totalitarian regime.) But the good presidents always conspired in any way they could to spread the revolution.
The nay-sayers, who often with racist undertones have long said that this-or-that people "are not ready" for democracy, or that their culture, or recently, their religion, was such that they just wouldn't "want" democracy, have been severely slapped down.
Democracy spreads to all mankind, opposed only by the tribalists, the vandals, the tyrants, the kings and princes, the autocrats, and the megalomaniacs. They are as vampires, thriving on death, decay and corruption, and are driven away by the dawn of democracy.
Democracy brings peace. With discipline, it eventually brings prosperity, because failed policies are slowly purged from its realm. It slowly overcomes racism, inequality, injustice, and extremism. It is the very foundation for the promulgation of human rights.
And with this War on Terror, vandals and anti-democrats from around the world are being systematically annihilated; their ancient corrupt cultures and regimes destroyed; their dreams of conquest, genocide, and mayhem crushed. With philosophical Darwinism, the vestiges of Philistinism are finally being purged from the world.
No, it is not a war of religion. Many of the anti-democratic enemy already live in the western world, and in their delusion call themselves its "elites". Many seemingly peaceful peoples lend their support with loyalty above all to their tribe, with no grasp of the greater good of their nation. Paranoid militants who hate and fear democracy because of its complexity and egalitarianism. And lastly, creatures of the herd, willing to surrender all in exchange for direction of a "master"; the damned peoples who embrace slavery as freedom from responsibility.
So far, 30 million people in Afghanistan and Iraq are now tasting democracy and freedom. Surely there is nothing better in all the world.
Why does my name keep coming up as one of these random ones even though I change it when posting??
Posted by: DanNY ||
08/05/2005 8:41
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#3
Another morning, another Russian naval disaster. Jeez, I hope they can the poor guys out.
If the US Navy is sending a rescue sub (unmanned, the article says), I'm guessing that it has the right hatch/connectors to attach to the Russian mini-sub? Or might it attach a cable so a surface ship could pull it up?
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
08/05/2005 9:05
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#4
2 subs and 1 ship in about a month and a half? My, oh my, are they having a string of bad luck or what? This, on top of the few accidents w/ the Chinese Navy lately gives me hope that we may very well see communism finally die on the vine.
Posted by: BA ||
08/05/2005 9:13
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#5
Reports are the minisub has it's prop fouled by a fishing net. The ROV has a cable cutter on one of it's arms that could be used to free it. Fox is reporting they only have 24 hours of air left.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005 9:51
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#6
communism is dead except in North Korea and Cuba. It's just authoritarianism and one party rule that survive and will probably never die. Look at France. Five republics later they still don't really have the democratic liberalism thing down.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/05/2005 9:59
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#7
The idea of russia maintaining a sub fleet would be like me owning a Hatteras Yacht. Sure I would look like Mr. Cool Guy motoring along in it, but I couldn't afford to put fuel in it when it ran out or maintain it in any fit fashion. Why don't they stick to shit they can afford, like surface ships, small surface ships.
#10
LotR:
Probably not. While we published the specs and blueprints for our escape hatches and hinted it would be helpful to be compatible, the USSR and a few others refused to go along with the Capitalist Plot.
#11
I think they should call their new butt-buddies, the ChiComs for help. Puttyputz has made it clear he doesn't need or want cooperation with the US. So be it. This is a fitting metaphor for the opportunities squandered since Yeltsin stood atop the tank.
#20
It's not a rumor. The NR-1 has wheels with plain old tires on them. (See the next to last paragraph in the link.) My old boss is a semi-legend in the submarine force for accidently driving the NR-1 off the continental shelf.
#21
My understanding is the sub did not foul its prop on a fishing net but on some kind of antenna and anchor line. Was it perhaps servicing an underwater submarine communication system?
Given how close the location is to Kamchatka and some major Russian naval institutions I wonder if we might not have a 'quiet' boat very nearby. But alas, not likely equipped to rescue the Russians.
If they got these flyin' and they're lettin' out the photographs, what else have they got flyin' today (anybody remember when the first Stealth crashed way back in the '80s?)?
#9
Pictures of the F-22 have been out for a long while.
My father-in-law (a WWII P-38 driver) went to the 1st Fighter Group reunion a few years ago in Virginia and a whole group of them got a tour up close and personal with the F-22s.
He was mightily impressed.
Brought home some great pics.
Posted by: DanNY ||
08/05/2005 23:05
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#10
Kool pics !
Posted by: God Save The World ||
08/05/2005 23:54
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TORONTO (AFP) - An Air France jet that crashed at a Toronto airport was working normally as it arrived, Canadian investigators said, but a dispute erupted over who approved the landing during a storm.
Canadian authorities and Air France sought to deflect responsibility on who approved the landing while Toronto Pearson International Airport was on "red alert" because of a lightning storm.
The Airbus A340 jet hurtled off the runway and ended up in a gully in flames. But all of the 297 passengers and 12 crew survived in what Canada's Transport Minister Jean Lapierre said was a "miracle". Crash investigators have found the so-called black box flight recorders and are studying the information. They said the jet appeared headed for a safe landing before it skidded off the end of the runway.
"The initial landing appeared very normal," said Real Levasseur, lead investigator for the Canadian transportation safety agency.
"There was no emergency declared from the part of the air crew and there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the aircraft condition and its safety as it was approaching to land." ...
[A] strong tail wind may have given the plane a push as it sped along the runway. Media reports have highlighted other theories. Passengers and witnesses have said the jet was hit by lightning as it descended. Experts have also said it could have aquaplaned because of the torrential rain in the area. Pearson airport had earlier stopped landings and departures because of the storm, which investigators have already said probably played a key role in the accident. Investigators have questioned the co-pilot who was at the controls, but they gave no details.
The decision to land has already become a controversy. Air France chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta indicated that it was the control tower that decided the Airbus could come down in a storm, while Canadian transport minister Lapierre said it had been the pilot's decision to land.
The captain of the jet injured his back in the accident and investigators will not interview him until doctors give approval, Levasseur said. A flight attendant and 12 passengers were still in hospital, according to officials...
#1
I'm a little confused here. I thought the final decision was always the pilot's. The tower has to clear him to land, but he can always abort on his own authority, and it's therefore his responsibility.
#2
Well, I can attest to the torrential rainfall at the exact time of landing (given as 4:03pm). The pilot in command has the final say, but he is guided by the information that ATC provides. If there were planes landing ahead of him on the same runway (as claimed by another witness close by) then he would have no reason not to attempt a landing. ATC should have closed the airport, or cancelled his clearance. But they didn't.
Posted by: Rafael ||
08/05/2005 1:27
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"Tuesday's crash in Toronto came 20 years to the day after the crash of Delta Flight 191 at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, which killed 137 people. That disaster focused renewed attention on wind shear, a natural phenomenon that can make airplanes drop out of the sky, said Larry Cornman of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.
Wind shear is a sudden change in wind speed or direction.
The most dangerous kind, called a microburst, is caused by air descending from a thunderstorm.
While the cause of the Toronto crash has not been determined, the fact that it happened during a thunderstorm raises the possibility of wind shear.
Since the D/FW crash, Cornman said Tuesday, systems to detect wind shear have been installed at almost all major airports in the United States.
He said the Canadian government investigated installing such systems during the 1990s, but he added that he did not know how many have been installed."
From what's been revealed so far, this seems the likely reason. Here's an excellent PDF (Dallas Morning News) explaining microbursts and how they can affect aircraft.
Fight 191 made everyone who was living in the DFW area a walking-talking fount of info on windshear and microbursts. Lessons learned - the hard way.
#4
Pilot's fault: unexpectedly getting hit by lightning would be a pretty good defense in my mind. While our culture of blame has long since rejected the notion - the fact is that some things are just an accident and finding fault is just a spectator sport.
#5
not to imply that that's what anyone else was doing here when discussing how it happened. But you watch, the media will wet all over itself trying to assign "blame".
#6
TORONTO (CP) - The Air France jet that skidded into a wooded ravine and erupted in flames at a Toronto airport landed further down the runway from where a similar passenger jet would normally touch down, the lead investigator into the crash said Friday. Air France flight 358 landed "longer than normally, or longer than usual for this type of aircraft," Transportation Safety Board investigator Real Levasseur told a news conference.
Data and witnesses have already suggested the plane carrying 309 passengers and crew was nearly halfway down the runway at Pearson International Airport before it touched down. Everyone on board escaped with their lives; 43 people suffered minor injuries. Despite emergency braking, the plane hurtled off the end of the runway at nearly 150 kilometres per hour before toppling into a ravine just metres from Etobicoke Creek and erupting into flames. Levasseur added that all four of the plane's thrust reversers were operating correctly when it landed.
I guess we know what the cockpit voice recorder will reveal:
"Reverse thrust, full brakes....please stop....stop dammit.....ah, crap!"
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005 11:29
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#7
.com:
I thought most airports had installed wind-shear detectors? Of course, if it happens on runway 6 while the detector is on runway 15, oh well.
I did not mean that it was the pilot's fault, just that the final decision was his, and just because the airport says "we're open," doesn't mean he can abdicate his responsibilty to determine safety for himself.
#8
Jackal, in the US I believe detectors are now on all commercial-use runways at all Tier 1 airports and at almost all Tier 2 airports. As the article I cited states, Canada's situation is unknown - which I think means the reporters were charitably allowing him to pretend ignorance and the fact was they didn't follow suit across the board.
As for comment #6, this could also be caused by a microburst in front of them causing them to flare and stay aloft longer than intended - then come down pretty hard as they passed through it and it became a tailwind cutting lift dramatically - which is what doomed Flt 191 - in that case they passed through the microburst about .1 mile before reaching the runway and crashed short. You may recall the landing gear crushed cars on the highway (Hwy 114) running along the edge of the airport property.
#9
The wind shear situation and the microburst situation are a bit different.
I think (this is based on memory - I might be getting this wrong) that in the former (much more common) you point the cockpit down an extra few degrees (because shear decreases in nearer the ground), in the latter you do the reverse if you are in the downdraft portion of the microburst. I'm not sure if Canada has detectors or if they can distinguish the two situations.
#10
heck..don't mind me. This thread is what is best about blogs. And it may well end up being a bad decision by the pilot or someone else. I just hate the way the media loves to assign blame even when it it was just an accident - but that was a personal rant unassociated with your comment - carry on :-)
#11
Just FYI from the microburst link I gave in #3:
Microburst: A brief but powerful column
of downward-moving air associated with
thunderstorms. With a duration of only a
few minutes, a diameter of less than 2.5
miles and strong winds, microbursts can
cause a plane to lose altitude rapidly. This
is especially dangerous during takeoffs
and landings.
Wind shear: A sudden change of wind
speed and direction between two
points. A major contributor of wind
shear is a microburst.
#12
For all your meteorological needs, click here. (then Basics of Meteorology, and Aviation Weather Hazards)
BTW, this sounds eerily similar to what happened in Warsaw (mid 1990s?) to an Airbus A320. Same circumstances: rain storm, plane landing further down the runway, not enough room to stop, everyone survives except the pilot. It may be Airbus hasn't really fixed that landing gear-thrust reverser problem.
Posted by: Rafael ||
08/05/2005 16:06
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#13
Oops, bad link. Go to www.navcanada.ca then choose Local Area Weather Manuals on the left.
Posted by: Rafael ||
08/05/2005 16:09
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#14
More info on the Lufthansa A320 crash in Warsaw:
3...Ground spoilers, when selected, will extend provided that either shock absorbers are
compressed at both main landing gears....Engine reversers, when selected, will deploy provided that shock absorbers are compressed at both main landing gears....
4 In emergency, the crew is unable to override the lock-out and to operate ground spoilers and engine thrust reversers.
SAN DIEGO â The Border Patrol's fleet just got a little more fleet. The Border Patrol's Marine Interdiction Unit is the proud owner of two new patrol craft. The 25- and 30-foot-long vessels are larger, faster and have better radar than the original three 24-foot rigid hulled inflatable patrol boats, which are going to be phased out. Senior Patol Agent Allen Gustafson said the boats are capable of going nearly 50 knots and have already made an impact.
"They're pretty quick," Gustafson said. "They allow us to be out there constantly."
In less than two months since getting the new boats, the unit has seized seven boats involved in migrant smuggling, rescued two disabled boaters and even helped bail out the "Stars and Stripes." Eighteen passengers were taken off the America's Cup yacht on July 13, after the yacht's crew put out a distress call saying they were taking on water. The yacht, now used as a charter vessel, was then towed to the Hornblower dock at Broadway Pier.
The Border Patrol plans to acquire a second 30-foot-long patrol craft later this year.
BAKU: Azerbaijan does not plan to take part in a US military campaign against Iran or deploy US military bases on its territory, said Novruz Mamedov, the head of the country's presidential international affairs department, interfax reported on Thursday. "These rumours have nothing to do with the real state of affairs," Interfax quoted him as saying. Mamedov also dismissed rumours of Azerbaijan's involvement in a US campaign against Iran as "highly exaggerated". On Wednesday, the Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta had reported that Azerbaijan was close to agreement with Washington on the establishment of a US military presence following the eviction of American forces from Uzbekistan. The paper cited a source in the Azerbaijani security forces as saying that a team of US military instructors was already in the country looking at two possible sites for hosting the US military, one close to the capital Baku and the other close to the border with Iran. The former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan could represent a highly strategic location for US forces, in part because it borders Iran %u2013 one of the countries named by US President Bush in his first term as forming an "axis of evil", the Russian newspaper reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2005
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A non-denial of US bases. Check out a map. With overflight rights from Georgia, and Armenia if required, guaranteed, Azerbaijan is a no-brainer for a base, and with Iraq makes Turkey irrelevant.
#2
Iran has been openly threatening grim death on the Azeris if they help the US in a war. So the US would both have to promise them a *lot* of remuneration *and* protection from any Iranian counterattack, mostly missiles.
France late on Wednesday called for democracy and the "legal institutional framework" to be respected in oil-rich Mauritania after troops seized power in the northwest African country.
"Or else. Pretty please?"
The military coup happened while Mauritanian President Maaouyia Ould Taya was in Saudi Arabia for the funeral of King Fahd. France is following the situation "with concern", a statement by the foreign ministry spokesman said.
Concern, with a side of apprehension. And a quick riffle thru the talking points to see if this can be blamed on neocons.
France "recalls its position of principle which condemns any seizure of power by force and calls for respect of democracy and of the legal institutional framework", the statement said.
Horse. Barn door. Note to professional handwringers: Stagers of coups rarely respect the "legal institutional framework." Until it's time for the trial, at any rate.
#1
Sounds pretty boilerplate to me. What else would you expect them to say? Of course there must be some nuances: "with concern" probably means "Are you friendly?" while "with deep concern" would mean "You aren't getting the easy loan terms."
Posted by: James ||
08/05/2005 0:34
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KARACHI: About 26 people, including 22 children and four women, were injured by shooting during a wedding in the densely populated Lines Area on Thursday night. Over 300 people were attending the 'mehndi', a wedding ritual, of Muhammad Ramzan's son Yameen in the Sabzi Wali Gali of the Lines Area when the incident occurred. Brigade police said that the women and children were injured due to shots fired from a 12 bore shotgun. However, the police have failed to ascertain the cause of the incident while all the injured have been discharged from the hospital after first aid. Police said that none of the residents were cooperating in the investigation.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2005
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#1
When is the electrocution kite festival?
Posted by: ed ||
08/05/2005 0:56
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#2
I feel naked at a wedding without my 12 gauge...
Two people acting suspiciously were arrested outside the US consulate in Lahore and later released in the past week, sources in the police told Daily Times on Thursday. A man was arrested outside the consulate six days ago. He had been writing down the registration numbers of cars visiting the consulate. He was released after interrogation, in which he said he was unemployed and bored and noting down the registration numbers as a hobby.
My son shares this strange fixation with vehicle registration information. He often spends his entire day stopping motorists and demanding such information, in fact. He claims it's connected with his job — he's a Maryland State Trooper — but we know better. I wonder which police agency this guy works for?
The second man was arrested a couple of days ago. He had collected some trash and sat down with it outside the main gate of the consulate. He was found to be mentally-ill and later released. A senior police officer confirmed the incidents and said that security was being tightened outside the consulate.
Posted by: Fred ||
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was unemployed and bored and noting down the registration numbers as a hobby
Five soldiers including a junior officer of the Pakistan Army were killed in a remote-controlled bomb explosion in North Waziristan on Thursday afternoon, a military official said on Thursday. The improvised explosive device was placed between Dattakhel and Miranshah area to targeted a military convoy, said the official who asked not to be named. The condition of two wounded soldiers is stated to be serious. "Four jawans were killed on the spot. The fifth died on his way to hospital," the source said. He did not say where the convoy was heading. The dead soldiers were a havaldar, a JCO and three sepoys.
This is the highest number of soldiers killed in a single attack in North Waziristan this year. The official said that no arrests were made so far. "In this type of activity, it is not easy to make quick arrests. But the (political) administration will use local tribal laws to apprehend the perpetrators of the crime," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
"But the (political) administration will use local tribal laws to apprehend the perpetrators of the crime"
In other words, it's time to charge the batteries on the DeWalt circular saw and drill combo pack.
Come to think of it, this is an excellent politically correct quote. The Pentagon spokesman should memorize this quote. Anytime we are accused of torture, we say that, we are using "local tribal laws" to obtain information.
BTW, why not use the local tribal laws to apprehend Been Laden?
#2
Because using the local tribal laws effectively means finding out if the perps are connected with any big turbans. If they are, well, it must have been somebody else.
Binny's connected with the Learned Elders of Islam. Therefore, it musta been the Zionists, which is why they're peculiarly lackadaisical in looking for him. Expect the same if the perps belong to a status subtribe.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2005 18:48
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A New York police officer working with the US army was killed by a sniper near Baghdad, said a Multinational forces (MNF) statement, issued on Thursday. The 27-year-old American soldier was on duty at an American military camp near Baghdad when he was targeted by a sniper's shot, killing him immediately. The US army announced that 14 American soldiers were killed yesterday and another seven the previous day, which has been the biggest US human losses in Iraq in two days since major military operations to oust the Iraqi regime were seized.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2005
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#1
the biggest US human losses in Iraq in two days Maybe he meant the biggest two-day loss? Not only mean, but incompetent.
It's always the biggest something, isn't it? Biggest since this, biggest since that, biggest in two months, biggest since I woke up this morning.
Guadacanal was the biggest. Then D-Day was the biggest. Then Monte Casino was the biggest since Guadacanal. Battle of the Bulge was the biggest setback since Dunkirk - biggest setback in four years! Then Iwo Jima was really big. Okinawa was the biggest yet.
Then we won.
How did the press manage way back then?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/05/2005 12:11
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#2
Back then they were Americans first and journalists second.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005 19:20
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Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, vowed Thursday to upgrade capabilities of the armed forces in the coming phase. Prince Sultan who is still the Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, said in a speech he delivered before the Saudi army command that his government will meet all people's demands and the armed forces would undergo a five-year term upgrading process. Meanwhile Saudi citizens including the regional governors and officials resumed for the second day running their visits to the palace of rule here pledging allegiance to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Will this also include lessons in surrounding suspected terrorists?
#4
I find this new situation in SA interesting. Traditionally, the Army, Air Force, and Navy (such as it is)have been under the Minister of Defense and Aviation. The counterbalancing, anti coup, forces, known as the White Army or the National Guard have been under the command of the Crown Prince. The latter forces are tribesmen loyal to the king.
So does King Abdullah relinquish the National Guard to Sultan while Sultan turns the defense forces over to a yet unnamed Minister of Defense?
It doesn't look that way when Sultan is out there pronouncing a new vision for the defense forces.
If a new minister of defense is named who will it be? Sultan's brother Rahman, the present deputy, or one of Sultan's sons?
#6
BigEd.... Flickr.com check it out..... cheap, fast and built in sizing or do your own H & W statement, I recommend it. There's a freebie that allows 10 meg upload a month.
The Iranian government has deployed large numbers of troops in cities in the northwestern region which borders Iraq in an effort to quell three weeks of civil unrest that has left up to 20 people dead and more than 300 wounded, according to reports from dissident groups. They said as many as 100,000 state security forces, backed up by helicopter gunships, had moved into the region to crack down on pro-Kurdish demonstrations.
The claims, from Kurdish groups in Iraq, could not be independently verified, and Iranian officials remained silent about the unrest.
The state-owned news agency IRNA said the trouble was due to "hooligan and criminal elements".
How 'soviet' of them.
News agencies have reported trouble in the northern areas over the past two weeks, though the scale of the unrest has been unclear.
The protests in the Kurdish areas came after the killing of a Kurdish activist by Iranian security forces in the city of Mahabad on July 9. Since then, anti-regime demonstrations have erupted in the mainly Kurdish towns of Sanandaj, Mahabad, Sardasht, Piranshahr, Oshnavieh, Divandareh, Baneh, Sinne, Bokan and Saqiz. In the worst violence so far, Iranian security forces are reported to have killed at least 12 Kurdish demonstrators and injured more than 70 in a clash in the city of Saqiz on Wednesday.
Witnesses said the unrest began just before noon as hundreds of protesters attacked a paramilitary outpost with sticks and stones. Government buildings, including the governor's office, were also attacked and some were ransacked. Protesters then gathered in the main square, chanting "Down with Khamenei", the country's supreme leader.
Witnesses said that security forces responded with live bullets, and some protesters were fired at by helicopters. Kurdsat, an Iraqi-Kurdish satellite channel based in Sulaimaniyah, reported yesterday that police had detained as many as 1,200 people after the incident.
Further unrest was feared yesterday in Bokan and Sinne, where up to 6,000 special forces soldiers were said to have gathered. Opposition leaders appealed for calm and called for the international community to put pressure on the Iranian authorities to halt the crackdown.
In a statement, the Kurdistan Democratic party of Iran, which is based in Iraq, urged "international organisations, human-rights supporters and the international community to make efforts to stop the bloodshed of the Iranian Kurdish people by the Islamic republic regime of Iran".
"This could turn into yet another tragedy for our people," said Hussein Yazdanpanah, the general secretary of the Revolutionary Union of Kurdistan, who is in exile in the city of Irbil. "Our people want their rights and to demonstrate and work for them peacefully. But they are being met with a brutal force."
Is it time for us to help the Iraqi Kurds help their cousins?
Iranian agents provocateur were moving among the protesters, he said, "ensuring chaos and violence and thereby justifying an extreme reaction from Iranian authorities".
How soviet of them, too.
A UN report released last Saturday said authorities were denying basic amenities to Iran's ethnic and religious minorities and in some cases seizing land. "Regions historically occupied by Kurds ... seem to suffer disproportionate inadequacy of services such as water and electricity and unsatisfactory reconstruction efforts," the report concluded. But Tehran dismisses such charges and is extremely sensitive about any hint of ethnic unrest, particularly by the Kurds. Anti-government demonstrations are dealt with harshly.
Mahabad, where the activist Shwana Sayyed Qadr was killed, was the capital of the short-lived Republic of Kurdistan, established by the Kurdish leader Mustafah Barzani in 1945. It has since become a symbol for Kurdish nationalism.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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"Is it time for us to help the Iraqi Kurds help their cousins?"
Past time. Won't be easy.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
08/05/2005 6:35
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#2
How about the U.S. JDAM's, among other arsenal, taking care of the Iranian troops right before reaching "northwestern region"? A chance to take out 100K Iranian "security force" terrs is just so juicy.
#3
The Kurds shouldn't make the mistake of letting the government take the fight to their neighborhood. They should turn the tables and take the fight to Tehran. Also Qom, where so many of the mullahs are trained.
#4
here here moose, I agree. But what's he chance of any number of Kurds making it to Tehran? About 150,000 to 1?
Their every move is monitored and their travel extremely limited. Their best bet is to high tail it over the border into Iraq where the Peshmerga can back em up, then launch cross border attacks and retreat back into Iraq to escape impending Iranian destruction, just like the baathists do to avoid American reprisals when attacking targets inside Iraq.
You know neither the Americans nor the Kurdish autonomous govt wouldn't do anything to try to stop em. Hell we would secretly help them and facilitate such action.
#5
Elvis, Iran is a multi-ethnic state where ethnic Persians are a bare majority. A non-Persian in Tehran would not be noteworthy.
What we are likely seeing is the result of Kurds crossing into Iraq, getting military training and returning to Iran. This is a bad dynamic for the Mullahs and will get worse as crackdowns will send more across the border accelerating the process.
LONDON â British police investigating the botched London subway attack of July 21 said Thursday they had charged two women under anti-terror laws.
Weshshiembet Girma, 29, and Muluemebet Girma, 21, of separate addresses in south London, were charged with failing to disclose information that could have helped police secure the arrest, prosecution or conviction of a person involved in terrorism, a Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said. A quick search of RB doesn't show them appearing up to now. They appear to be typical "moderate" moslems, not actually performing jihad, but sheltering those who do.
Press Association reported that the women are sisters and that both were arrested on July 27, accused of failing to disclose the required information between July 21 and July 28.
They are the second and third persons to be charged in Britain in connection with the failed July 21 bombings on London's subways.
The first person charged â Ismael Abdurahman (search), 23, from southeast London â appeared in court Thursday to face charges of withholding information that helped suspected subway bomber Hamdi Issac avoid capture.
London police are continuing to detain 12 other suspects without charge. Amnesty International is gonna be unhappy about that.
#1
I guess Saladin's well-known demands of "No Women or Children shall fight in Allah's cause/name against the Crusaders" does not apply to contemporary Radical Islamism - maybe for Hillary except its NOT Der Waffen SS MarxFrau Hillary whose doing the self-explodin'!
Pravda is unhappy. I think the whole article is comical.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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PRAVDA is also quoting and expanding on London Mayor Livingstone's comment about how the West [read - USA] is responsible for dev and funding Islamist terror, and for ignoring terrorists as long as they were "killing Russians". IOW, the West = USA is the only one responsible for any and all anti-Russian terror attacks, ergo Russia cannot be held responsible or blamed for any pre-emptive mil actions, espec if it results in US-Russ mil conflict!?
Seriously, if you read Pravda for any length of time you start getting the impression they're never happy unless they're expressing schaudenfreude.
Maybe prozac would help?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
08/05/2005 0:19
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Oops. Sorry Joseph; I didn't see your post. I was trying to joke about Steve's comment.
There's a serious timing issue in blaming Al Qaeda on the West, more or less based around why it took so long for the Taliban to take over Afghanistan after the war if they were identical with or a substantial subset of the anti-Soviet resistance. The worst thing about the partisan bull that Livingstone was sprouting is that it helps let the ISI off the hook for their actions in installing the Taliban.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
08/05/2005 0:21
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RAMALLAH: Israeli troops detained the West Bank spokesman of the militant Islamic Jihad group on Thursday, Palestinian security sources said. Khader Adnan was taken into custody during a raid in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the sources said, a day after the group said it would suspend rocket attacks on Israel to facilitate an Israeli pullout from occupied Gaza in two weeks. An Israeli army spokeswoman said an "Islamic Jihad activist was arrested in Ramallah" but did not identify him or provide further information. Israel has detained dozens of Islamic Jihad militants since the movement, which is dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish state, carried out a suicide bombing on July 12 that killed five Israelis. Adnan, 27, has been held without charge by Israel several times in the past. Islamic Jihad said Israeli troops detained four other members of the group on Thursday in Jenin, a militant stronghold.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Why just "detain" this guy? If he's IJ or Hamas, he needs to disappear permanently.
Posted by: mac ||
08/05/2005 5:39
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"Islamic Jihad activist was arrested in Ramallah" but did not identify him or provide further information"
This statement is not good for the jihadi. Sacraficial singing Canary bird comes to mind.
#3
Senior bad guys are detained until their brains are emptied, I suspect. Also, any changes in the command structure must then be only temporary, pending the alpha male's return. This would lead to uncertainty and plotting for control amongst those left behind.
Cardiologist Akmal Waheed told an intelligence agency last week he would give a statement in the trial of Joseph Thomas, an alleged Australian Al Qaeda member, only after seeing his photograph. Waheed was sentenced to 18-years imprisonment for sheltering and treating members of a Pakistani Al Qaeda-linked group. Sources told Daily Times the Australian Federation Police wanted Waheed to give a statement in Thomasâs trial. Thomas was arrested from Pakistan while trying to leave here using a fake passport. He was deported to Australia in June 2003.
Sources said that Australian authorities had asked the Interior Ministry for Waheedâs statement, alleging that the cardiologist had met Thomas in Afghanistan. Sources said a local intelligence agency met Waheed at Karachi Central Prison last week regarding this matter. âWaheed told the agents that he might have met Thomas at a Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) medical camp in Afghanistan but did not know anyone with such a name, especially since it was a Christian name and the man (most probably) had converted to Islam,â they added. The cardiologist had said he would only give a statement after identifying the man through his picture, said sources. A Melbourne Magistrate Court released Thomas, who converted to Islam in 1996 and changed his name to Jihad, on February 15, 2005. He claimed he had been tortured in Pakistan.
Osama Bin Laden allegedly recruited Thomas, a âsleeperâ agent in Australia, to recce Afghanistan. Thomas worked as a taxi driver there for several years. He is also accused of training at a militant camp near Kandahar, fighting for Al Qaeda and being funded by the group. Thomas could be awarded the maximum jail term of 50 years imprisonment if proven guilty.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Osama Bin Laden allegedly recruited Thomas, a âsleeperâ agent in Australia, to recce Afghanistan.
Does that just not sound right? Couldn't Osama just have asked his friends in the ISI?
Posted by: ed ||
08/05/2005 1:00
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Switzerland's supreme court on Thursday ordered the country's justice authorities to halt cooperation with a French probe linked to a half brother of Osama bin Laden, Yeslam Binladin.
Hey Switzerland, don't do us any more favors, ok? You've done enough already.
The Federal Tribunal upheld an appeal by two companies cited in the probe which had sought to block the handover of bank account details to French judge Renaud van Ruymbeke. Van Rumbeyke first opened an investigation in December 2001 into allegations that Binladin's companies handled terrorist funds. The companies, which were not named in the tribunal's ruling, had protested that they had not received an adequate explanation of why the French investigator wanted the details.
"Er, 'cos he's the half brother of Tommy Turban and the money trail has left a dreadful stench?"
Swiss prosecutors had declined to give the companies the information, saying they wanted to protect the private interests of Saudi-born Binladin, a naturalised Swiss citizen who is based in Geneva.
"Yasss...his personal assets must be protected at all costs. Or no retirement to Montreaux for me..."
In its ruling, the Federal Tribunal said this was not sufficient reason for withholding the information, and that the companies should be granted access to their files. Meanwhile, Swiss prosecutors should freeze their cooperation with the French investigation, the court said. Binladin was questioned by Van Ruymbeke in September 2004 as a witness, but has never been charged. He has consistently denied any involvement in money laundering, and has condemned his half brother's terrorist acts.
#1
funny how Switerland, once considered the most friendly and neutral little chocolate haven on earth has finally been exposed as probably the most vile den of vipers nests in the galaxy. Who me? Steal money from little ol' ladies as I smile and help them cross the street?
This is the bill to Talibanize the NWFP. The MMA will keep harping on it, of course. I'm actually surprised that the court struck it.
Pakistan's Supreme Court has declared as unconstitutional a bill passed by a province to introduce what critics describe as a moral policing system. "The governor of the province of North West Frontier Province may not assent to the Hisba (accountability) bill in its present form," the Supreme Court said in its order.
The province's assembly, which is dominated by a coalition of Muslim parties, on 14 July approved the bill that called for establishment of a department to ensure adherence to "Islamic values at public places". A provincial bill must be approved by the provincial governor, who is appointed by Islamabad, before it can become law. The nine-member court bench noted that many of the provisions in the bill violate the country's 1973 constitution. The court had sat for four days to hear a challenge by the federal government against the legislation. The issue was referred to the Supreme Court by President Pervez Musharraf.
The bench said it would give reasons for its decision later and explain which parts of the provincial legislation are against the constitution. "We will introduce the bill again with some amendments," Malik Zafar Azam, the province's law minister, told reporters in the Supreme Court after its ruling. The six-party Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal or United Action Forum won parliamentary elections in 2002 in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2005
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#1
Not that it will have any actual effect - the tribal society will still impose their mood-of-the-moment version of Shari'a, sanctioning the marriage of children, stonings, burnings, "honor" rapes and killings, the lot.
British police have charged two sisters under anti-terrorism laws for failing to give police information regarding the botched 21 July attempts to bomb London. Police said Yeshshiembet Girma, 28, and Muluemebet Girma, 21, of London, would appear at the capital's Bow Street Magistrates' Court on Friday charged under the Terrorism Act 2000. They were arrested on 27 July in a raid on a public housing estate in the Stockwell area of south London. Police accused them of failing to give information to detectives which could help convict someone "for an offence involving the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism". The failed bombings on 21 July came two weeks after four bombers killed 52 people and themselves in three underground trains and a bus. Police have linked the bombers to al-Qaida.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2005
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#1
Throwing relatives in jail, may do some good. Every little disincentive helps.
#5
I could just see the uproar now, about how Muslim womenfolk are being treated in jail. Penis Durbin is going to be all over this one. IMO, give them a rope let them kill themselves and call it a honor killing. BTW, has anyone figured out what female martyr's get when they go to heaven?
#7
This will serve as an incentive for Brits who don't want to be Brits to emigrate before they are deported. It'll work out better for everyone that way. And don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/05/2005 10:49
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#8
If these lasses are Ethiopian I want the money back I gave to Band Aid in 1984.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/05/2005 11:05
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#9
#6 - mmmm... sexy shoes.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/05/2005 11:05
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Howard, you've a small touch of the vicious in 'ya.
Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister, has highlighted the significant role played by Late King Fahd bin Abdulaziz in the service of the Arab and Muslim causes as well as the international causes. Addressing a press conference here last night, Prince Saud said King Fahd had adopted a realistic oil policy for the service of both oil consumers and producers. He noted that the Kingdom's local and international polices would remain in line with the values and principles laid by Later King Fahd.
Prince Saud pointed out that the Custodian of the tow Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz would continue the polices of Late King Fahd.
Since they were his in the first place.
He underlined the importance of further developing of the country, adding that 'but development should be within the framework of the country's deep-rooted traditions and norms'. 'There will be no basic changes in the Kingdom's foreign policy', he said. On the Saudi-American relations, Prince Saud said 'they are excellent relations, and they will further improve'. 'In the Kingdom we are sure of the development of our institutions and of the existing confidence between the people and their leaders', he noted.
Meanwhile, Prince Saud denied the reports which said the Kingdom had received a request from the Mauritanian President, who had faced an attempt of military coup, for return to the Kingdom. Prince Saud highlighted the success attained by the Kingdom in fighting terrorism, and added 'this success is far more better than some politicians envisage in the us in this regard'. 'The Kingdom is determined not only to firmly confront terrorism at the military sphere, but also to tackle the roots and causes of this dangerous phenomenon', he elaborated. Citing the determination of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz to uproot terrorism, Prince Saud said the Saudi Government would tirelessly confront terrorists and their financiers and sympathizers.
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An Iraqi delegation led by Saad al Hayani, the Foreign Minister Undersecretary for resource management and technical affairs, has recently visited Damascus for talks with Syrian officials on bilateral relations, Asharq Al Awsat has learnt. A source at the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied the presence of security officials amongst the delegation, revealing two visiting Iraqi officials held talks on Tuesday with Deputy Foreign Minister Walid al Muallem. They are al Hayani and Salah Abdel Salam, director of the consulate section.
The source told Asharq Al Awsat, âThe delegation was expected to include security officials. The fact that it included only two diplomats reveals its mission was to discuss diplomatic relations between the two neighbors and the necessary steps to be taken to establish embassies in Damascus and Baghdad.â Diplomatic relations between the two countries are currently restricted to a small presence in the Algerian embassy in each capital.
A Syrian diplomatic and security delegation had visited Baghdad on 28th June, 2005 carrying a message from Syrian Foreign minister Faruk al Sharaa to his Iraqi counterpart, Hoshyar Zebari. During meetings with Iraqi officials it discussed the obstacles that remain in the way of establishing full diplomatic relations between the two countries. At the time, a Syrian source close the negotiations said the delegation did not receive concrete proof of insurgents flocking to Iraq through the common border. It said officials in Baghdad spoke in general terms and stressed the importance of border controls and detaining members of the former regime. Damascus, to underline its desire to control its borders, had requested the United States supply it with specialized technical vision equipment. The demand was referred to Britain who has yet to supply the gear.
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Iyad Jamal al Din, an Iraqi political activist and specialist in Islamic affairs attacked the Shiaa religious authorities for interfering in politics and favoring a particular political group. âIt is dangerous,â he said, âto exploit religious legitimacy in politics. The Shiaa are courting catastrophe when the name of the religious leadership is exploited in politics. The 1,300 year old religious authority is respected throughout Iraq, and not only by the Shiaa community or parts of it.â
Jamal al Din is well known throughout his native country for opposing establishing a religious state in Iraq, instead strongly backing a secular state in Iraq . In an interview with Asharq Al Awsat in London, earlier this week, the Iraqi scholar said, âWhen the religious authority espouses a single state that does not represent the entire Shiaa community it puts itself in danger because its standing in Iraqi society and honor have been taken hostage by a few men.â If those in power succeed, Iraqis âwill rejoice and say they have weathered the storm.â However, if the politicians fail, âtheir failure will reflect on the religious authorities.â Jamal al Din feared for the standing of the Shiaa religious establishment if it is to be tarnished by political bickering. âWe want it to protect all Iraqis,â he added.
Explaining his preference for a secular state to in Iraq , the Iraqi scholar said such a regime âguarantees the freedom of political parties and individuals alike. It is a non-ideological regime.â He indicated that he did not believe secularism was an ideology in itself. Instead, he saw it as a method of administering the state. As such, according to Jamal al Din, the new Iraqi governments should be non-ideological and free of religious and doctrinal affiliations. âIts most important task ought to be managing the affairs of the country and its citizens and maintaining security. Other tasks historically entrusted to the government, such as acting as a moral guardian and encouraging the institution of the family should be transferred to civil society.â
Continued on Page 49
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Many moderate Muslims believe that much of Britain is decadent. They are right. Mr Blair says that the fanatics who want to blow us up despise us, but he wonât admit that their decent co-religionists â who are the best hope of undermining the extremists at source â despair of us. They despair of the moral decline and the ugly brutishness that characterise much of urban Britain. They despair of the metropolitan mix of gay rights and lager louts. And they despair of the liberal establishmentâs unwillingness to face the facts and fight the battle for manners and morals.
They are not alone. The Windrush generation of Caribbeans came to Britain with the most traditional of values â proud Christians with dignity and a sense of duty â the kind of people so steeped in our history that they gave their children names like Winston, Milton and Gladstone. As vice-chairman of the British Caribbean Association, I recently had the chance to ask such people why so many young British blacks had got into trouble with the law. They unequivocally blamed the licence they encountered almost as soon as they arrived here, which made it so hard to inculcate their standards in the next generation.
The alienation felt by young blacks and Asians is not a result of any intolerance shown towards them, but of the endless tolerance of those who would allow everything and stand up for nothing. It is the excesses permitted by a culture spawned by the liberal Left that have produced a generation that feels rootless and hopeless. The young crave noble purposes as children need discipline; neither get much of them in modern Britain and the void is filled by disrespect, fecklessness, mindless nihilism or, worse, wicked militancy.
It is unreasonable to expect Muslim leaders to put right whatâs wrong in their communities if we are not going to be honest about whatâs wrong with ours.
Some of rural Britain (including the area in which I live and represent) still has strong communities. There, many of the old-fashioned values lost elsewhere prevail. Beyond these heartlands, much else is ailing. A sickening decadence has taken hold. Peopleâs sense of identity has been eroded as our traditions and the institutions that safeguard them have been derided for years. Peopleâs sense of history has been weakened by an education system that too often emphasises the themes in history rather than its chronology, and which indoctrinates a guilt-ridden interpretation of Britainâs contribution to the world. Peopleâs sense of responsibility has been undermined by a commercial and media preoccupation with the immediate gratification of material needs, regardless of consequences â we want everything and we want it now, so we spend and borrow, cheat and hurt. Peopleâs self-regard has diminished as, robbed of any sense of worth beyond their capacity to consume and fornicate, they feel purposeless. We have forgotten that pleasure is a mere proxy for the true happiness which flows from commitment and the gentle acceptance that it is what we give, not what we take, that really matters.
The vulnerable are the chief victims of decadence. Children suffer when families break down. The old suffer as their needs are seen as inconvenient and their wisdom is no longer valued. For the rich, decadence is either a lifestyle choice or something you can buy your way out of. But for the less well off â stripped of the dignities which stem from a shared sense of belonging and pride â the horror of a greedy society in which they canât compete is stark. The civilised urban life that was available to my working-class parents is now the preserve of those whose wealth shields them from lawlessness and frees them from the inadequate public services that their less fortunate contemporaries are forced to endure.
Safely gated, the liberal elite do not merely turn a blind eye â though that would be bad enough. They voyeuristically feed the masses with Big Brother and legislate to allow 24-hour drunkenness. In answer to the desperate call for much-needed restraint, we hear from those with power only the shrill cry for ever more unbridled liberty.
Politicians who should know better fear debates about values, preferring to retreat to morally neutral, utilitarian politics, as uninspiring as it is unimaginative. It is the kind of discourse which leaves those who aspire to govern reduced â in the heat of a general election campaign â to debating how efficiently their respective parties can disinfect hospitals. Most Church leaders have also given up the fight. Many have convinced themselves that to be fashionable is to be relevant and that being relevant is more important than being right. Is it any wonder that the family-minded, morally upright moderate Muslims despair?
So, with little understanding of the past, little thought for the future, little respect for others and virtually no guidance from those appointed or elected to give it, many modern Britons â each with their wonderful, unique God-given potential â are condemned to be selfish, lonely creatures in a soulless society where little is worshipped beyond money and sex.
The roots of this brutal hedonism are in soulless liberalism. Against all the evidence, the liberal elite â who run much of Britainâs politically correct new establishment â continue to preach their creed of freedom without duty, and rights without obligations. Pope John Paul II â perhaps the greatest figure of our age â said âonly the freedom which submits to the truth leads the human person to his true goodâ. Freedom without purpose is the seed corn of social decay. It is through the constraints on self-interest and the restraint that good Muslims revere that we can rebuild civil society. The most fitting response to the terrorist outrages would be the kind of moral and cultural renaissance that would make Britons of all backgrounds feel more proud of their country.
John Hayes is Conservative MP for South Holland and The Deepings.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
Sigh. Though much of this rocks, his decadence argument as reason (and subtle justification) of jihadism is specious. Believing Britain to be decadent is a reason to leave, perhaps, but not to kill innocent people (the "fanatics") or despair (the "co-religionists") and either do nothing or play the resource pool part of the jihadi scenario.
If you want to undo some of the ultra-liberal stupidity, that would be a welcome thing, please do. If you want to blame the ills of your society on this "moral decline" and "ugly brutishness", go for it, knock yourself out.
BUT, just as a thug or thief or murderer is responsible for his or her own actions, social inanity notwithstanding, so are jihadis and splodeydopes responsible for their actions... as are those who help them in any way - they are accessories to a crime without any means or hope of redemption.
Deal with your football hooligans if you must, but deal with the hate-spewing imams and their followers, who send toolfools off to become trained jihadis and create support networks of "neutral" Muzzies to facilitate them, NOW.
#2
Didn't someone say the same thing about the US just after 9/11? I didn't hear the No.2 Al Qaeda guy mention anything about decadence in his recent DVD release. Is this what Mr Hayes is talking about?
Posted by: Rafael ||
08/05/2005 2:26
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It is the Spectator, after all. I'm surprised the writer didn't slip in something about how all this decadence is somehow America's fault.
#4
Or Dubya's fault, TW. I'm like .com on this one. The one area I agree with Muslims is the decadence and unbridled debauchary that takes place in the U.S. As a Christian, I stand with them (Muslims) any time they want to fight against abortion, gay "rights/marriage", the worship of the almighty dollar, heck, even stem cell research! BUT, we must do it within the confines of "the system" and with common sense. Going out and killing as many infidels as possible will not solve any of these issues.
Posted by: BA ||
08/05/2005 8:49
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#5
jeese, BA, when I go to church I can only hope I hear more about faith, hope, charity, forgiveness and why it is important for me to take the high road. Somehow I don't recall Christ screeching about the evils of gays, stem cell research and abortion.
IMHO, that's the problem with Christianity today - the abuse of the pupit to achieve political, not spiritual goals.
#6
BA, one difference is that Christians opposed to those things won't be out at the nudie bars the night before their "protest".
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/05/2005 9:12
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'Tis true, RC. And, I somewhat agree with you 2b. We should follow the example of Christ. However, that doesn't mean we shouldn't speak out against issues that His Holy Word speaks to as sin. So many people are looking for the mythical 100% "loving" God, that they fail to see that His judgement will one day come a knockin'. It's the whole "love the sinner/hate the sin" issue. Yes, Christ was very compassionate/loving to the person who was sinning, but would also rebuke them firmly to "go and sin no more."
Posted by: BA ||
08/05/2005 9:18
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I don't think our moral decadence is the cause of these attacks (if that is the case then are not jihadis employing an uber-tough-love "this bomb hurts me more than it hurts you" discipline to call us to our senses?), but it is surely our greatest impediment in mustering the courage to deal with them.
Posted by: Kent Mccord ||
08/05/2005 14:44
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#11
I don't think, .com, that you are reading the article right: The moderate muslim, if he/she exists, would be mainly concerned with the Moral, rather than the political, aspects of Islam. The muslims this guy is talking about may not believe in militant Islam enough to physically attack the patently decadent society around him, but doesn't see any point in coming to the defense of a society today that yesterday derided, ridiculed, and cursed them for being religious bigots and busybodies, and worked to undermine the morals they were trying to instill in their youth the day before that. This guy is NOT justifying Jihadist behavior, which is inherently unjustifiable: he is explaining moderate Muslim inaction to help a system that they view works against them in the moral arena.
I would never attack a liberal or an ACLU lawyer, but I wouldn't feel obligated to cross the street to lend a hand if I saw them getting mugged by the guys they sprang from jail or blown to shreds by terrorists that they sprung from Gitmo. While I would not hurt any man, there are some people I would refuse to help because they would use that help to get into a position to destroy what I hold dear: Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, warned against throwing your pearls before swine who would respond by attacking you despite your generosity.
WASHINGTON: An international organisation representing police chiefs has broadened its policy for the use of deadly force by telling officers to shoot suspected suicide bombers in the head, The Washington Post reported on Thursday. The International Association of Chiefs of Police issued new guidelines to its 20,000 members about two weeks before British police shot dead a Brazilian electrician because they mistook him for a suicide bomber, the newspaper said. US law enforcement officers typically had been authorized previously to use deadly force if lives were in imminent danger, the newspaper said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2005
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#1
"Use of unnecessary force in the apprehension of the Blues Brothers terrorists... has been approved."
#2
Most US cops lack the shooting skills to make headshots consistently or at all under pressure. Many of them can't hit anything at all when under pressure as a matter of fact. This is really mostly propaganda. This organization is also anti firearms ownership (supports gun bans and gun banning politicians.)
#3
I don't doubt it was intended to be propaganda - but if it is, it's piss poor propaganda. As propaganda, it has the exact opposite effect of what they want. I would guess that it's a planned event so that someone ACLU type, already prepped and ready, can file a law suit that will attempt to restrain lethal force.
#5
Maybe it was put out for the consumption of jihadis and heavy-coat-in-the-summertime folks?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/05/2005 12:38
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#6
FYI..
I just read an article on WND stating that, Congress has been asked to investigate the ACLU for frivolous lawsuits, including subway searches. This should keep the ACLU busy, for a while.
Jees, stop with the piercings dialogue. Multiple, folds of flesh. I keep getting this obese Roseanne Barr image in my head, uuuugggghhh. Folds and folds of fat oozing over a steel piercing. Freakin horrible.
I'll puke up those beer battered fries I had for lunch indeed if I can't shake that image loose.
I'm trying to come up with another image of piercings in folds of skin that's much more pleasant,maybe, maybe, but nope here comes Roseanne again...Damn you, you cruel bastards!
I'm cautiously optimistic at this stage, which is probably the wrong thing to be. No one has mentioned how essential shariah will be to institute real democracy. It looks like your usual run of the mill military coup, which will result in elections in two or three years, confirming whoever's at the top of the junta as president for life. But the Islamists would love to have Mauritania, because it's such a primitive place. I'd guess they'll either try for a counter-coup or simply try and set up shop like Ansar al-Islam did in Kurdistan.
The military council that overthrew Mauritania's president on Wednesday has named the longtime chief of national police force as the country's new leader. A statement by the coup leaders published by the state news agency said Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall was "president" of the military council which toppled President Maaoya Sid Ahmed Ould Taya. The Military Council for Justice and Democracy had earlier announced the coup in a statement run by the state news agency. "The armed forces and security forces have unanimously decided to put an end to the totalitarian practices of the deposed regime under which our people have suffered much over the last several years," the statement said.
The council said it would exercise power for two years to allow time to put in place democratic institutions. Vall, 55, had served as the national police chief since 1987. Known for being calm and tight-lipped, he was considered a close confident of Taya for more than two decades. "The armed forces have unanimously decided to put an end to the totalitarian...regime under which our people have suffered much" The military statement also identified 16 other army officers who were members of the council. It pledged to "establish favourable conditions for an open and transparent democratic system on which civil society and political players will be able to give their opinions freely".
"This council pledges before the Mauritanian people to create favourable circumstances for an open and transparent democracy," it said. An opposition leader and a military source said they believed the head of the presidential guard, Colonel Mohamed Ould Abdel-Aziz, was involved in the coup d'etat.
Continued on Page 49
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#1
The Ould folk's home might be able to return to obscurity.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
08/05/2005 0:04
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#2
I'm predicting plenty of baubles and gewgaws to decorate His Excellency's smart new sash...
#2
Only part of it - the Sandinistas were gonna invite and let Cubans and the Soviets use these area as a staging ground for regional revolutionary efforts ags surrounding nations, besides also as a PC armed buffer ags the US-led Contras - read, USA-USSR confrontation. Another reason to love Ronny Reagan and his Boyz.
Posted by: Fred ||
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That would, of course, be 130 where officials are bothering to count. Never mind the tens of thousands the Arab Muslims have murdered in the last decade for being either not Muslim or not Arab.
#2
It is not tens of thousands. It is well over a million and counting. BTW, anyone noticed the deafening silence of the left about it? A Palestinian dead (provided he was killed by the Joooos) is a tragedy, a thousand niggers Black Soudanese is a statistic.
Anyone coming with an explanation about why the progressists are mute about this?
And I mean true racism and not the 'you didn't respect me enough' B-S the left is always spewing about.
Why else whould they expend so much energy on one blonde, white, rich girl who went drinking in Aruba and got into trouble while ignoring the million(s) of black who are being routinely targetted, murdered and gang-raped in Sudan?
#4
Hear, hear, CF! Africa is one continent that completely befuddles me as to why there's a lack of coverage. It's not as if there's nothing going on there. Heck, you have daily landgrabs/murders in ZimBOBwe, Arab/Muslim "conflicts" with the Christians/Animists in Sudan, chaos in Mauritania, famine in Niger, even lesser events in Algeria. Sadly, I thought we learned our lessons over Rwanda, but I don't think we did. It always cracks me up when I talk to some blacks here about Africa and even they don't know what's going on, and are amazed at my (basic) knowledge of the violence going on over there. And, I'm not pushing the black on white violence of ZimBOBwe, but usually tell them of the African on African or Arab on African violence of Sudan.
Posted by: BA ||
08/05/2005 9:56
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#5
It's dangerous over there and how will they blame the US if they get killed?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/05/2005 10:00
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#6
CF: American media spent as much time as they did on "one blonde, white, rich girl who went drinking in Aruba" because she was American. Had she been blonde, white, rich and Finnish, I don't think we would have heard anything about it.
I agree that there's racism on the hard Left, but the young woman who died in Aruba is not an example of that.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/05/2005 10:33
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#7
Another reason is because they hope the Arabs will "finish the job Hitler left unfinished". Since the invasion of Soviet Union it is politically uncorrect in left circles to use the same themes than the Nazis. But the Palestiaians akllow to circumvent the problem: after sobbing upon the "poor Palestinians" (and not a tear upon the Soudanese), they can go to phase two "I am not anti-Jew just anti-Sionist" and then to phase III "Death to the Jew" like it was openly told during the demos against the Irak war.
#1 Arabs/Muslims killing again cause we're in Iraq right.....
Posted by MACOFROMOC 2005-08-04 15:03|| Front Page|| Comment Top
#2 No MAC the Root cause is the Reagan budget cuts. Don't you get the newsletter?
Posted by Shipman 2005-08-04 15:20|| Front Page|| Comment Top
#3 maybe it'll spread the whole waste of a continent and they will kill each other off
Posted by Thraing Hupoluper1864 2005-08-04 16:09|| Front Page|| Comment Top
#4
WOT: Wouldn't it be wiser to arm and train up the Christian side Thraing Hupoluper1864?
Posted by Red Dog 2005-08-04 16:33|| Front Page|| Comment Top
#5 well since the christian side is a very little minority then no i it wouldn't be wise. Just give them a few more years and they'll each other off if we stop sending aid. Between spreading AIDS and fighting they have nothing better too do evidently.
Posted by Thraing Hupoluper1864 2005-08-04 17:14|| Front Page|| Comment Top
#6 The language and thinking of your commentators is of the worst I have ever read. As A Sudanese and an African I feel great offense. Grow up you fools and try to understand the gravity of possible Civil War. It seems that British Civil War and the American Civil War donot feature in your simple minds. The late Colonel John Garang would have greatly disappointed that fellow Christians harbour such contemptuous thought.
Posted by Javique Grorong8527 2005-08-04 19:00|| Front Page|| Comment Top
#7 After that South America! You with me Thraing! Let's Roll!
Posted by Shipman 2005-08-04 19:08|| Front Page|| Comment Top
#8 Actually what JG just said, way better than my poor sarcasm.
Posted by Shipman 2005-08-04 19:10|| Front Page|| Comment Top
#9 Re #6: Well said!
Posted by borgboy 2005-08-04 20:00|| Front Page|| Comment Top
#10 The language and thinking of your commentators is of the worst I have ever read.
I blame it on the free use of computers at the public library and the cheap PCs they hand out with AOL subscriptions.
Posted by Pappy 2005-08-04 21:29|| Front Page|| Comment Top
#11 I can certainly empathise with JG's comment at #6, since war generally sucks and the Rantberg Motto is "Civilized, Well-reasoned Discourse"
However, at first glance, the Sudan situation looks like business as usual in Africa: tribal feuds, ethnic hatreds and the settling of old scores.
The Americal Civil War has been described as "two mobs chasing each other around the country", but there was a point and purpose to it other than just killing people - the question of whether the Union would survive.
Perhaps someone who has been following Sudan more closely can explain it, assuming there is more to it. I have a hard time keeping track of who is killing whom and why around around the world.
Posted by SteveS 2005-08-04 22:50|| Front Page|| Comment Top
#12
The language and thinking of your commentators is of the worst I have ever read. As A Sudanese and an African I feel great offense. Grow up you fools and try to understand the gravity of possible Civil War.
Lump my #4 question in... did ya Javique Grorong8527.
It seems that British Civil War and the American Civil War donot feature in your simple minds.
Lump me in that declaration, did ya Javique Grorong8527?
Assuming for a moment that you are Sudanese Javique Grorong8527, why not enlighten us with your direct experience and insights, putting context [historical] to the current events in Sudan?
/instead of wagging the finger.
Posted by Red Dog 2005-08-04 23:06|| Front Page|| Comment Top
Still waiting Javique Grorong8527. I didn't see any blood on the comments thread yesterday JG did you?
Posted by: Red Dog ||
08/05/2005 12:34
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#10
Steve, you may be right - I hope so. I don't see much of this wall-to-wall coverage about anyone who is non-white.
Hmm... I could will be wrong - and I'm willing to accept that. (have been wrong before....).
#11
why don't you see wall to wall non-white suburban coverage? Because...oh man...don't get me started....too late...
because these people have been raised in cultures where anything goes. In places where life is good, no one is getting their heads chopped off and everyone is for the most part nice and kind, the biggest sin of all is to point out someone else's sin. So - since the sins of their own world consist mostly of indulgence, they have this disassociative need to go outside their own little bubble worlds and meddle in communities that actually do have problems - with the intent of helping by sharing their own lack of experience in real conflict with platitudes such as, "can't we all just get along". Because they are bubble children, they don't understand that sometimes these conflicts go beyond just looking away and saying "to each his own".
How do I know. These are my people, my friends, my family, my neighbors. The sheltered and shallow...and yes, I suppose I am among them. With no real problems of their own, they look to analyse the problems of others. They really just want to help. The problem is that they haven't a clue.
Hugo Chávez is spending some of his country's oil windfall on buying support abroad. How much of a return is he getting?
WITH a swipe at American âimperialismâ and reports on social problems in Latin America, a new regional television channel began pilot transmissions on July 24th. Telesur, backed by the governments of Argentina, Cuba, Uruguay and Venezuela, bills itself as a home-grown answer to CNN that will let Latin Americans see themselves âthrough their own eyesâ. But 70% of the channel's $10m start-up cost comes from Venezuela's government. To many, Telesur looks like propaganda for Hugo Chávez, Venezuela's president, and his âBolivarianâ revolution, named for South America's independence hero but of increasingly communist socialist bent.
Predictably enough, at the urging of Connie Mack, a Florida Republican, the United States' House of Representatives greeted Telesur by approving an amendment to the Foreign Appropriations Act calling for rival propaganda broadcasts. That allowed Mr Chávez to gloat that by getting his channel on air he had âscored the first goalâ against George Bush. Telesur comes on the heels of other initiatives in which Mr Chávez is using some of his country's windfall oil revenues to procure friends and influence abroad, especially in Latin America. Thus, Venezuela has bought $538m of Argentine debt. It is talking about doing the same for Ecuador's new populist government. Venezuela has also promised to build houses in Cuba and to finance co-operatives in Argentina.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/05/2005
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#1
Hugo, Hugo, Hugo - what will Chelsea Clinton, Shannon, and Penn State, etc. say iff they knew!?
Hugey, Hugey, don'y let another Marriot betray its bananas?
#2
LOL, the first post where Joseph Mendiola didn't use mostly capital-letters!
But nonetheless, what do you all deem better - letting them rot away internally, or taking a wrecking ball to the problem and hoping that gringo-hating (I'm a banana, but would they know the difference or care?) doesn't actually slow the rot?
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
08/05/2005 9:14
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#3
EY: But nonetheless, what do you all deem better - letting them rot away internally, or taking a wrecking ball to the problem and hoping that gringo-hating (I'm a banana, but would they know the difference or care?) doesn't actually slow the rot?
To Latin Americans, *all* Americans are gringos, including the diplomats of Hispanic descent that we send out there.
#4
Let 'em rot or ripen, who cares? They will all turn on us, especially the Mexicans. So just keep some one covering the 6.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/05/2005 10:12
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#5
If pouring money down the sinkhole that is Cuba constitutes a diplomatic victory for Senor Chavez, we should encourage many more such triumphs for him. Just because you don't believe in profit/loss statements doesn't mean you aren't rocketing to bankruptcy.
Once oil drops below $40/barrel, Hugo will be hanging from the nearest lamp post.
#9
Pretty easy to understand if you weren't thinking in a linerar 1990 SEC Fashion. Joesph M. ain't talking about Auburn, this is like RealPolitik, I'm gonna call it RealFootaball. Come to Columbia and buy a visor.
Posted by: The Ole Ball Coach ||
08/05/2005 16:32
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LONDON - Britain must withdraw its troops from Iraq in order to prevent further terrorist attacks, London Mayor Ken Livingstone wrote in a British newspaper on Thursday.
Britons need to support the police, treat Muslims with respect and pull out from Iraq to âmake us all saferâ; âAll are inter-relatedâ, Livingstone wrote in The Guardian daily. âAcceptance that the invasion of Iraq increased the likelihood of a terrorist attack on London now extends far beyond the usual suspects,â the anti-war left-winger wrote.
How about all the al-Q killing before Iraq?
âIf the invasion of Iraq had been justified, it would be possible to argue that we must bear the sacrifices necessary to achieve an outcome,â wrote Livingstone, who staunchly opposed the March 2003 US-led invasion.
Livingstone said Britons should also treat all members of the community equally to âshrink the pool of the alienatedâ that bombers draw upon. âThe reason the US is not able to stabilise Iraq is related to the same critical issue that affects policing in Britain: fanatical Islamofascists information,â he added.
He said Britainâs police forces would only be effective if they receive community cooperation. The mayor urged fellow anti-war campaigners to tell Londonâs communities to cooperate with police to catch terrorists. However, âthe quality of information the police get will be decisively affected by the degree to which communities are treated with respect,â he wrote.
So when you catch a jihadi and interrogate him, treat him respectfully. Giggle juice, for example.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/05/2005
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#1
Only a Lefty would argue that the USA and its Allies that appeasing and getting out of Muslim lands will stop the Burqua Boyz from working to accomplish their Global Islamist/Jihadist State, where Britain somehow does not fall under the definition or precept of "GLOBAL" or "GLOBAL STATE" * "I have a document signed by Mr. Hitler .... PEACE REIGNS IN OUR TIME"!?
#4
The family Every British solider who is injured or killed in Iraq can thank Red Ken for aiding in their loved ones death. Red Ken abettor of terrorism and islamo-fascist repression everywhere. I'd call him a pig, but that's a insult to swine.
#7
TGA - Yep, like most lefties in the UK, they've failed to realise they're under threat from an ideology akin to Nazism. I think we've shown the Muslim communities in the UK too much respect in recent years - the thanks we get? 7/7.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/05/2005 5:30
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#8
The speech of Livingstone and Galloway is that of the vilest treason against the west. How can any Englishman allow these pigs to continue to speak as they do while British soilders put their lives at risk to protect them? They have sided with those who would kill you as soon as look at you. Not one person seems to speak against them or even attempts to silence them. These two blame the the bombers victims for their own deaths.
The English are becoming unreliable. So be it if we have to go it alone. It's getting where I can't bear to even read the UK press since it's full of lies and propaganda. Shortly Livingstone will get his way and the UK will cut and run. Sad crap.
#10
Sock, I watched Tony Blair this morning and if his deeds match his words the Brits are taking a big step. They still have to overcome such nonsense as the directives for police when raiding Moslem homes but I'm not ready to write them off yet. We've got our share of surrender monkeys here, too. A reporter asked Blair to respond to Galloways attack on him and he refused. he said he wasn't going to get into a debate with Galloway because that is exactly waht he wanted and his statements didn't warrent a reply.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/05/2005 9:14
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#12
This reminds me of when Guliani said we should all grow beards, memorize the Koran, and changed the name from New York to Bin Laden City after 9/11, right? Oh, wait...
When's the next mayoral election in London? If you vote him back in, you deserve to get blown up.
#13
How about all the al-Q killing before Iraq?
How about the US financing Israeli terrorism for the last 50 years?
Ken's quite right in what he's written and as for the British being appeasers, I seem to remember that it was the USA that took nearly 3 years to join the fight against the Nazis and even then it was after both Germany and Japan declared war on them. Now that's real appeasement.
#14
Tell me again about the 1939 US-UK mutual defence treaty? But I do seem to remember a UK pledge to defend Poland. I also remember the French and British doing fuck all and sitting on their asses in France until the Germans drove panzers down their collective throats. And Socialtist trash like you in Britain were rooting for Stalin's buddy, Hitler, right up to the day German forces crossed Soviet lines.
Nothing ever changes with you narcissistic supporters of tyrants, except the name and flavor of the tyrany.
Posted by: ed ||
08/05/2005 10:25
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#15
On Sept 1st 1939 the Nazis invaded Poland, on Sept 3rd 1939, Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany.
While you guys were wearing your yellow ribbons Britain and France were faced by the world's strongest military power, the Nazis were in much the same position as the USA are today, indeed there are many similarities not just Hitler/Bush.
I find it quite often Ed that Americans seem to have little factual knowledge of WW11, what they do have is based on what comes out of Hollywood. The USA of course continued to trade with the Nazis before and actually during the war. War for Americans even then was a matter of economics.
#16
Nice little European war you got yourselves in. Wasn't any US business. Tell me again how Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand came to the rescue of the Poles? Did one British soldier fight in defence of the Poles? Was one Wehrmacht soldier fired on in anger? Did your "antiwar" granddaddy also march in support of Hitler until Adolf broke the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and drove for Moscow? Save me from your hypocracy. Chamberlain lied, Six million Poles died.
Posted by: ed ||
08/05/2005 10:52
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#17
Ms Thriper would be having to translate from German if it wasn't for the States' intervention in either World War - take your choice. Ken's an arse - inviting suicide bombers round for tea and now suggesting appeasement - I guess he's lost a whole lot of votes. I get the tube every day and won't be cowed by muslim scum.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/05/2005 11:02
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#18
We waited 2 days to declare war on Germany, your yellow bellies waited nearly 3 years. It was a world war, not restricted to Europe, even you should know that. What did you expect the British to do, march through Germany to get to Poland? I don't think I've ever heard anything quite as stupid in my life before.
Anyway if I continue to blow away your stupidity I will simply get censored from this extreme right wing board, so I leave the stage to you and your fantasies and ignorance.
#19
Finally, Ken would be or will be re-elected when the time comes round again, there's no doubt about that. British people are far more knowledgeable of world affairs than Americans and distrustful of Blair's collusion with dumbo Bush.
#20
How come Blair won the last election? You have a vote in this country and throwing bombs around where innocent people are concerned cannot be allowed to achieve any political outcome. Ken should be intelligent enough to realise this.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/05/2005 11:09
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#22
BFD. Your war, your neighborhood, your promises to come to the aid of allies. When did the mightiest forces in the world come to the rescue of Poland?
What the US should have learned from 1939 was that mutual defence treaties with Europe aren't worth the paper they are printed on. Never fear, this time Americans are paying attention. Be sure to count us out when the muslim conquest of Europe gets underway sometime between 2025 and 2035. I'm sure the Caliphate is counting on you to do what you always do, wait to be rolled over.
Posted by: ed ||
08/05/2005 11:13
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#23
Now-now, children.
Remember that the Hindenburg burned up because the USA refused to sell Helium to the Germans. When the war started, the USA said it would sell weapons to both sides on a "cash and carry" basis: you paid up front and used your own ships to transport it. While legally "equal," the facts of course were that the Allies could take advantage of this while the Germans couldn't. After the fall of France, British ships could be repaired in American shipyards. The USA had a "military exclusion zone" which we tried to patrol and keep all "belligerant submarines" out. Again, legally British submarines were equally forbidden, but who cared? Of course, there was FDR's Destroyers-for-bases deal, which didn't go through the Senate and thus was impeachment material.
Now, as for Poland, the problem was that way the German army did its waves, it was quicker to mobilize (plus, having started it, they had a head start). France did in fact launch an "attack" on the West Wall, but it was very timid. France did send a bomber unit to Poland, where it was destroyed in the fighting. Britain was far worse in preparedness and could only send 4-5 measely infantry divisions over to the continent. They bomb some German ships and tried a raid on Wilhelmshaven which got their bombers decimated.
#25
We should be getting equally PO'ed with the people of London for voting this guy into office. They got what they wanted.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
08/05/2005 12:05
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#26
In light of Fred's comments about this becoming a hate site I'd like to qualify what I said about muslim scum. I meant it in the same way as the Phalangists in Beirut who massacred Palestinians were Christian scum. Just like football hooligans are English scum. Ok? Got to stop poking trolls.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/05/2005 12:44
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#27
It was a world war, not restricted to Europe, even you should know that.
Can't argue with a professor of History. He's got us licked.
Posted by: Rafael ||
08/05/2005 13:33
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#28
SOB! Rafael you're right! He's talking about WW Deuce, The Big One! Dad's War. Has you know it was fought mainly in the Pacific North and NW of Australia, tho Ima told there was a bloody great battle along Queen St. in Auckland (that in New Zealand.... an island). The war ended almost 60 years ago to this date when Nixon dropped the bomb on Kent State.
#29
Blair can say all he wants to, he is a politician and gets paid for that. Facts are Livingstone is Mayor of a city of 7,421,209 souls (12,415,310 in the metropolitan area), those people elected and are happy to have him. To me London is England (screw this PC UK crap) If Englishmen are happy to have him that tells me where they are a a whole. It is ready to cut and run I say.
Call me when Blair tells Livingstone to shut up publicly. Tell me when someone punches Galloway in the face. If you think Britain is going to be with us in a year if it's needed good luck. As far as they are concerned we do it all wrong and are worse than the terrorists. Bush is more evil than Osama, read their press. Go to the BBC web site and read the comments left in their âHave Your Sayâ comments section. The comments reflect hate for the US as almost and subject they feature will have at least one comment blaming the US for the problem even if it's totally unrelated to the subject.
#30
So, thriper, we are cowards for not fighting your war for you any sooner? Tell me, then, what kept the Soviet Union from intervening against Hitler before he attacked them?
Oh, yeah, they were on his side, as were all of Red Ken's predecessors and their American counterparts.
For that matter, what kept Iraq and the Palestinian Arabs from joining the war?
In fact, they did, but on Hitler's side.
#31
"Anyway if I continue to blow away your stupidity I will simply get censored from this extreme right wing board, so I leave the stage to you and your fantasies and ignorance."
"Finally, Ken would be or will be re-elected when the time comes round again, there's no doubt about that. British people are far more knowledgeable of world affairs than Americans and distrustful of Blair's collusion with dumbo Bush."
Stupid authoritarian nationalist thriper.
These national socialist media slaves have no idea how backward and laughable their clairvoyant pronouncements sound to us.
#32
It's ironic that today's peace movement, represented here by the cowardly clairvoyant thriper, would fault us for a situation to which their direct, lineal predecessors, the peace movement of the 1930s contributed.
In the 1960s, the US guaranteed the independence of South Vietnam, as Britain did that of Poland in 1939. Where did that get us with the Brit left?
These vermin will be extinct by the time this war is over, it cannot end any other way.
#33
I'm gratified to hear you say that, AC. I consider the internal "ists" to be far more dangerous than the external threat posed by the sum of Islamofascists. We cannot be defeated. Wounded, yes, but not defeated. The true danger we face is surrender. I would welcome our Second Civil War - and to be utterly blunt, the sooner the better. What is being wasted, from limited time to lost focus to precious resources, dithering with these insane elements, simply boggles. The distractions retard the process of coalescing on important issues, such as border security. It will probably lead to our being hit, again. Were that not the case, just imagine what we could accomplish sans that 25% hardcore Moonbat segment and their Soros-type money-men scamming the 20% that are gullible, but well-intentioned... No Pelosis or Kennedys or Leahys or Dodds or Rangels or Voinovichs or Moores or KosKiddies... I do not pretend to know what will happen elsewhere, but I hope the moment of truth arrives soon here.
#34
#25 - but the buses run on time CAN'T YOU SEE THAT? Allahu Akbar.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/05/2005 18:57
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#35
Back in #13, I suspected Ebbuse Thriper9740 was trolling, so to speak, and thus fit the definition of the Norwegian creature living under the bridge and collecting tribute from the Billy Goats Gruff.
Goodbye, Ebbuse Thriper9740!
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/05/2005 22:10
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#36
what's up with these trolls and never-heard-of-before-posters who have been coming in here and purposely try to find issues between American and Britian? They've been at it for a week now. First one tried to get it going with the American Revolution and since that effort bombed, another effort was made and now another. Maybe we should all just start messing with our little divide and conquerer's mind. I know that I for one am still smoldering over the British policy of taxation without representation!
#37
or maybe it's Zang F in drag, still grinding his axe?? Or maybe not. Anyhoo...next time someone starts one of this intentionally inflamitory threads - I say everyone just either ignore or write jibberish answers to take the fun out of it.
Much gassing from defense attorney deleted NEW YORK â Investigators have concluded that the former chief of the Iraq Oil-for-Food program, Benon Sevan, took kickbacks under the $64 billion humanitarian operation and refused to cooperate with their probe, his lawyer said Thursday.
Comes as a surprise, huh? I know. It floored me, too...
While the amount of money Sevan allegedly took wasn't immediately known â and may be as little as $160,000 â the findings would be a major blow because of his stature in the organization and the control he had over it. Sevan is also being investigated by the Manhattan District Attorney's office and could face criminal charges. As little as $160,000? Oh, well, let's just forget the whole thing then.
If anybody wants to kick in $160,000 to the tip jar, I promise not to dismiss it as piddlin'...
The Independent Inquiry Committee plans to release its findings about Sevan on Tuesday, and had sent advance notice to Sevan's lawyer, Eric Lewis, last week. Lewis revealed the findings early and vehemently denied both claims against Sevan, whom the U.N. is paying a symbolic one dollar a year to keep him on payroll so he'll cooperate.
The committee, led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, refused to comment on Lewis' claims. Under the Oil-for-Food program, Saddam's regime could sell oil, provided the proceeds went to buy humanitarian goods or pay war reparations. Saddam's government decided on the goods it wanted, who should provide them and who could buy Iraqi oil. But the Security Council committee overseeing sanctions monitored the contracts. In a bid to curry favor and end sanctions, Saddam allegedly gave former government officials, activists, journalists and U.N. officials vouchers for Iraqi oil that could then be resold at a profit. According to Lewis, the committee will find that a small trading company called African Middle East Petroleum Co. Ltd. Inc. paid Sevan in exchange for his helping it win oil contracts from Saddam Hussein's regime. It will say that he acted "in concert" with a friend named Fred Nadler, who is the brother-in-law of former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Lewis said the letter of findings that Volcker's team sent to him does not spell how much he got in kickbacks.
Volcker's team has been investigating Oil-for-Food for more than a year. In an interim report released in February, the committee concluded that Sevan solicited oil allocations from Saddam Hussein's regime on behalf of the company, known as AMEP, between 1998 and 2001. It said Nadler was essentially his middleman and accused Sevan of a "grave conflict of interest." In its report, Volcker's team mentioned $160,000 in "unexplained funds" belonging to Sevan. Sevan had disclosed the money earlier, saying it was from an aunt in Cyprus.
That was the lady who fell down the elevator shaft...
After the February report, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced disciplinary proceedings against Sevan but said he would wait until the report came out before making a decision. It is almost certain that Sevan would be fired if the United Nations accepts the Volcker committee claims. Under what conditions might he not be fired? If he blackmails Kofi?
#3
I wouldn't accept any invitations to go fishing if I were you, Benon. Or any helicopter rides either.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005 8:36
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#4
There has to be a special room in hell for people like this. When it gets right down to it, there are few who are more contemptible than those who have plenty, are entrusted by others to administer to the world's most desperate and then they take the opportunity line their pockets with their last crumbs of bread. As if all of that despair and misery won't be what faces them for eternity.
That's your hell Sevan. You earned it. An eternity of pitiful spirits demanding you look at them and asking you why?
AMMAN - Jordanâs King Abdullah told Israel on Thursday that its planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip must be followed by a pullout from the West Bank. Officials said the king also told visiting Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz that the withdrawal should open the door to restart negotiations on a US- backed âroadkill mapâ peace plan.
âThe withdrawal from Gaza should constitute the successful start and prelude to the withdrawal of Israel from the West Bank and the setting up of a viable independent Palestinian state,â he was quoted by the state news agency Petra as telling Mofaz.
Pro'ly not the time to remind Skippy that Jordan was once envisioned as the Paleo state.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/05/2005
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âThe withdrawal from Gaza should constitute the successful start and prelude to the withdrawal of Israel from the West Bank and the setting up of a viable independent Palestinian state,â he was quoted by the state news agency Petra as telling Mofaz.
No.
Israel pulls out of Gaza, then everybody watches what happens as a result and an appraisal is made then. The Paleos don't get a "viable state" by default, as they haven't proven that they have any sense of responsibility, nor have they proven that they can wean themselves of their seemingly ingrained tendency to resort to violence as a first response.
#2
If you give away everything before the negotiations start what the hell is left to negotiate the pre-67' 49' whatever. Not to mention how can you negotiate with someone that has no authority to do sh*t. The first thing would be for the Paleo leader X to prove he actually has authority by making a 1month cease fire actually have a cease of fire in it not just less fire. Once that was established then you could begin to actually negotiate.
Now once this is plan above is in place no negotiations because I doubt anyone can control the Paleo's with authority so how to get a leader to take control and negotiate and have the people's support. 1st someone has to lose Isreal is hated already in the world so Isreal should tell the world to stick it and just announce that every terrorist attack will result in more Paleo's being forced to exit territory while Isreali settlers move in (start with the border areas to secure a solid defendable border not a jig jog they have now. At first it would intesify the conflict then the Paleo's would realize they will be pushed to the borders of W Bank and Gaza if they dont stop the terror. A leader will step forward and stop the terror and negotiate. War has to have concequences the Paleo's feel they have reached the bottom and can lose nothing else no matter that should be proven wrong and Isreal should prove that the Paleo's can and will lose what little they have left if they continue. Consequences then the terror will stop or the Paleo's will be pushed to citie sized prisons on the border or scattered to the four corners of the earth. Either way at some point negotiations would come from the paleo's and peace and stop of the war would be the terms not more more more more then walk on water or die.
#3
The King of Jordan has no standing in the negotiations, unless he is willing to guarantee the peacefulness of the West Bank as a de facto Jordanian territory. Just as Egypt stands as guarantor - for what that's worth - for peace in the Gaza Strip.
#4
These mooks haven't even proven they can run a township let alone the Gaza Strip. After they establish authority and stop all attacks on Israel for 6 months to a year, then, maybe they can talk. Until then, King Guy, STFU.
Indian military sources said on Thursday an investigation has been launched into alleged espionage by a soldier at a major air base near China, in which documents on troop deployments and high-level strategy were stolen. The investigation was prompted after the arrest last month of a corporal who worked in an area of the base with access to computer data. He was found with 100 pages of computer printouts of strategic importance, said a senior army officer who declined to be named. âIt seems (the corporal) last year passed on copious data on missile locations, deployment of infantry battalions at Chinaâs borders, weapons technology upgrades and classified minutes of commander conferences,â the officer said. Some documents, he added, had been stolen and passed on to rival Pakistan, which is a close ally of China.
He's toast.
The army officer said the thefts likely happened in a two-month period last year. âWe are in the process of ascertaining what we have lost but from the surface it appears there has been a serious breach (of national security),â the officer said. A military intelligence official said the thefts were from a âwar roomâ at the Tezpur base in northeastern India and were likely passed on to Pakistan and then China. The heavily-fortified base acts as a shield against three Chinese airfields in Tibet. The suspectâs father, who is a retired air force sergeant, and five others were picked up July 16 from the New Delhi suburb of Noida in connection with the case, the military intelligence official said. The Indian military declined any official comment.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/05/2005
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(cough) Yesterday (cough)
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005 8:14
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#2
Oh yeah? You got one yourself today (the cabbie from MD) :-)
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/05/2005 10:39
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#3
Dissention in the AoS ranks!
Now's the time for De-Stevefication!
The Free Rantburg forces must strike!
For immediate broadcast on RB Free Radio:
"The sun shines brightly on Lake Titicaca."
"The mangos are fresh today."
repeat...
"The sun shines brightly on Lake Titicaca."
"The mangos are fresh today."
BEIRUT - The United Nations envoy for southern Lebanon urged Beirut on Thursday to consider how to deploy its forces in the south, where Hezbollah guerrillas often clash with Israeli troops.
Hezbollah currently controls security in the southern border area. Last week the UN Security Council called on Lebanon to extend its military presence to the south, with UN help if necessary, following Syriaâs withdrawal from the tiny country. âThe Security Council has asked for the deployment of the Lebanese Army to the south and I discussed with the foreign minister the need to establish a way of procedures so we can start working together on this very important issue,â Geir Pedersen told reporters.
Pedersen, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annanâs special representative for southern Lebanon, had been meeting new Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh. âWe agreed that obviously it has to be a Lebanese discussion, and then we will follow up on this very important issue,â he said.
âAt this stage it is not fair to give any time or any deadline. So, the important thing is that we have started the discussion and then hopefully, we will be able to move forward together,â Pedersen added.
Last weekâs unanimous council resolution had encouraged Annanâs staff to help Beirut comply.
Perhaps Mr. Bolton should volunteer us to help the Lebanese control the border.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/05/2005
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Are you suggesting we give lessons on how to control southern borders?
Posted by: James ||
08/05/2005 0:40
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#2
Dang. You got a point.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/05/2005 0:44
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#3
UN envoy urges Lebanon to control southern border
Ain't gonna happen without the sternly worded letter...
Finding and fixing these kind of problems is hard. I've been involved in a couple cases like this, (though our company makes missiles, not targets), and we spend a lot of time determining if there is even a problem. Sometimes there isn't; it really is operator error. But once we find the problem, then we have to fix it, then fix it in the field. The one thing the customer never wants to hear is "You're going to have to ship all your units back to Tucson to be fixed." Sending them all to a depot isn't much better. Then, of course, your fix works and everything seems OK unless it causes some other long-term or itermittant problem that doesn't show up for a couple years when everyone on the original project has left the company or retired.
If the Navy is really doing everything they can (training, preventive maintenance, constant inspections), then it's just one of those things we have to get through and we'll be fine. If they are sweeping it under the rug (as the press always thinks, and unfortunately is actually true one time in a hundred, that's a different matter.
I put this under "tech," because I couldn't think of a better place. How about a separate section for weapons (of all nations)? Or maybe one about just the US military (all aspects)? In your copious free time, of course.
#1
Actually, it's exactly the same AP article as yesterday, just reported by a different outlet. Sorry about that. Maybe delete all but the link and comments?
#2
Done. Tech is where we put stories on military hardware, unless they're talking about how they are being used in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan today.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2005 8:30
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TWENTY-NINE PALMS, California I have a friend who recently commanded a Marine infantry company in Ramadi, in central Iraq. Captain John Maloney spent four months in the most dangerous city in Iraq, and his story needs to be heard because he is representative of a class of Americans whose lives are rarely depicted in the press. A new fighting American is forming on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. Every day, more than 100,000 of them face challenges that will define their lives, and their country, for decades to come.
When I called John last month, he was minutes away from departing on a combat patrol. Patrolling is one of the most basic operations in Iraq, but also one of the most dangerous. Small groups of soldiers or marines will walk a route through a city looking for anything unusual and "showing the flag."
At times it feels like you are walking around waiting for an improvised explosive device, or IED, to detonate, just so you can react to the event. Other times, I have been almost overwhelmed by the sense that my head or chest may be in the crosshairs of a sniper's rifle. Patrolling is slow, dangerous and difficult work.
Most units in the U.S. military have by now been to Iraq, and like my friend John, their veterans' psyches are being seared by the constant exposure to the danger and stress they face. Yet they still patrol. They persevere. In my infantry company, which returned from the Syrian border last September, men are re-enlisting in robust numbers. I had 12 men step forward and volunteer to fill nine slots for another four years. We took all 12. The other companies in my rifle battalion had similar success.
These men (and in non-infantry battalions, women too) will go back to Iraq and patrol again, day in and day out. These young Americans are being redefined. For John, as for all our service members, the definition of a "normal" life has been changed in a way that's almost impossible for others to comprehend. The implications for America are profound.
In four months spent last year near Iraq's border with Syria, I was exposed to the full gamut of emotions and experiences typical of any modern combat tour. I saw corrupt, wicked men captured or killed by 19-year-old Americans who possessed maturity in applying different levels of force that left me in awe. Eleven years ago when I was their age, I wouldn't have held a candle to our 19 year-olds of today.
On patrol last year, I saw one old friend and 17 new ones killed by sniper's bullets, exploding artillery shells or hidden land mines. I grieved in the desert and saw 900 comrades do the same. Then I saw our marines lock their grief and rage behind a mental door and go back out the gate to patrol again. On those very next patrols, I saw looks of utter joy in the eyes of Iraqi children when I'd hand them a soccer ball, or when one of my marines would mimic a salute at a child pretending to be an Iraqi Patton or Schwarzkopf.
Through it all, our countrymen have been imprinted with a new perspective on life. Much like the returning veterans of World War II, they stepped off the plane with a sense of how petty or unimportant many of the seemingly pressing issues covered in the news media truly are. Compared to the shock of the instant, violent death of a squad-mate standing right next to me, or the excitement of a child looking at my uniform, the constant barrage of partisan politics, runaway brides and the activities of Paris Hilton seem utterly devoid of importance. I have marines slowly recuperating at hospitals in San Francisco, Washington, Bethesda and San Diego. Who is telling their stories?
To be honest, I just want to go back to Iraq. It's where I understand the world now. It's where I find perspective. It's where I make a difference every day.
For all the mistakes in planning that have been made in this war, and all the acts of heroism that have (or more often have not) been reported, this war is transforming young Americans. We are forming a new "greatest generation" that will counteract the obsession with one's self that has characterized the last few decades.
On June 16, five days after I last spoke to him, John Maloney was killed. He was 36, and he came from Chickopee, Massachusetts. John was leading his rifle company on patrol in southern Ramadi when an IED detonated near his Humvee. He died instantly. Even in a service that values its reputation as America's elite, Maloney was an icon. It would take a book to do justice to his impact on the Corps over 18 years of service. Now he's gone, like almost 2,000 others. The day after he was killed, John's marines were out on patrol again.
In six weeks, my rifle company will deploy again, this time to Ramadi. We will replace the company formerly commanded by Captain Maloney. We will patrol the city for seven months and train Iraqi security forces and then come home, God willing, with every man in one piece. But even without any scratches, my 19-year-old men will never be the same. Gone will be the self-absorbed, pleasure-focused children raised on video games. Instead, they will humbly want to serve society and make the world a better place.
If the policy makers and politicians choose the right path, if they spend our lives wisely, this global war on terror will be a Normandy, and not a Vietnam. Through the actions of our service members and the sacrifices of our Maloneys, we are transforming Iraq. As we return home, we are also transforming the face of America.
(Rory B. Quinn is a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps.)
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/05/2005
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#1
Here's the seed corn needed to cure the decadence John Hayes so laments in another Op piece today. It's right here in this piece, Johnny. Read slowly, carefully.
It's to learn responsibility, of the life and death variety, in early adulthood. It's to learn trust and teamwork that the omnipresent faux corporate training programs only play at. It's to learn to help others selflessly - your reward being only to see smiles slowly replace fear. It's to inculcate doing the right thing automatically - even when it can get you killed - and being fully aware of the fact. It's to mourn the loss of good people in a worthy effort. It's to step outside oneself and serve a greater and lasting good instead of fleeting self-centered gratification. It's to grow up, take responsibility, show loyalty, defend the good, and fight evil. It's to do all this by deeds, not mere words.
It's something not learned in a pub, or school, or on the telly, or even in the gym, on the pitch or playing field. It's tough and demanding and humbling and full of payback that's only understood or valued by those who've done it.
So there you go, John, my boy. Want a solid society chockablock full of solid citizens who can get things done, without whining and dithering? Want a society which will make the right choices in future conflicts? Want a society which values the long-term future and knows it all begins with what you do here and now?
Commit your entire society to doing the right thing - which means working to elect political leaders who have that vision and will act and show the backbone required. Commit your best and brightest to the task. Support them - honestly support them, without reservation or hesitation. The crucible of life is a mean and arbitrary bitch, taking many who are full of promise. But that is the nature of the beast and those who survive are further ripened and tempered by that realization. I know that America will have a solid core of amazing citizens born of this war on Islamofascism. I hope they remain in the majority, but I know they will not tolerate submission, regardless. Period. And that means precisely what it means. The future of America is secure with such people.
No John, you can't borrow any of ours - you don't need to. You need only support your own in harm's way and bitch-slap your leaders into stopping the insanity of subjecting them to jingoistic PC "standards", both at home and on the battlefield. Flush your officers, if needed, as well as your political leaders, where needed. The people in the crucible deserve your honest best efforts, not hand-wringing or justification of your enemies. Do this, do it well, and you might survive the laxity that has brought you to this moment in time. Fail in this and the slide steepens.
#2
Well said, .com. You're right about the British, as well. It's well within living memory that people from other cultures admired their British officers enough to willingly die simply for their approval (see Fourteenth Army in Burma, for example). Those national character traits can't have disappeared that quickly. I think they've just been hidden under a stultifying blanket of PC idiocy. It's long past time now to get rid of that blanket. No one in the West can afford to be that foolish and obtuse anymore in the face of people who want to kill us simply for existing.
Posted by: mac ||
08/05/2005 5:53
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#3
Hear, hear!
And this was published in the International Herald Tribune no less, newspaper of Ami expats, and recently become NYT-lite -- the audience that most needs to be exposed to these ideas.
I guessed that it probably was posted in a liberal paper as I was reading. To them it was all blah, blah, blah, For all the mistakes in planning that have been made in this war and blah, blah blah.....Now he's gone, like almost 2,000 others.
It was worth it for them to suffer through the rest of it just to hear a soldier talk about mistakes made and precious lives lost.
#7
It's to learn to help others selflessly - your reward being only to see smiles slowly replace fear. It's to inculcate doing the right thing automatically - even when it can get you killed - and being fully aware of the fact. It's to mourn the loss of good people in a worthy effort. It's to step outside oneself and serve a greater and lasting good instead of fleeting self-centered gratification. It's to grow up, take responsibility, show loyalty, defend the good, and fight evil. It's to do all this by deeds, not mere words
it's worthy of being framed! I only wish I had had an opportunity to serve. Sometimes, I think that some people are jealous of the experiences of soldiers and that is why they try to demean the service. While most people, like me, are just grateful for those who were tested, others see it as something they lack.
#9
I agree, CF and 2b! Sometimes, I too, find myself sitting there jealous that I didn't serve like these TRUE heroes. I have coffee club with 2-3 vets each morning here at work (1 served in 'Nam and another served in GWI, the third was in the service, but didn't get deployed). Their comraderie amazes me. Differences in age (1 is about 32, the others in their 50s, black/white, but they share a common bond I'll truly never understand. Though I don't agree with the draft (generally), a call to service could be what the "X/Y" generation needs. After 9/11, though, I find that many young kids (at least in my neck of the woods) are returning to service of the country. Maybe I'm just meant to back the troops here and by speaking up for them whenever I can, but many times I do find myself jealous of their service.
Posted by: BA ||
08/05/2005 9:01
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#10
It's a sign of self-confidence that you can acknowledge that you are proud of the accomplishments of others.
Posted by: in confidence ||
08/05/2005 9:37
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#11
I disagree about the draft. Those who don't want to be there will just get in the way of those who do. The American and British armed forces have real work to do, not like the many armies whose only purpose is to look good in parades and keep the lads off the dole for two years.
#12
Agreed, TW. Wasn't really meaning to back the draft (and I completely agree with your argument), but this upcoming generation is much more spoiled/bratty than any before it. Military service changes that and quick! Don't know the solution (except for parents to be parents, not friends, as I'm quickly learning myself).
Posted by: BA ||
08/05/2005 12:33
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#13
BA, as the parent of two former 4-year olds, I can promise it only gets better... and more complicated... and more frightening... and much more rewarding as they get older. Have fun!
#14
Oh, and spoilt though this generation may be -- and they are -- they've lived through 9/11 and many of them know, better than the parents who spoil them, what is important and what isn't. From what I've seen of them, these children of divorce and two-career households value family and parenting, often more than career or material possessions. They may act like spoilt brats sometimes, but didn't we all at that age? And look how well we turned out! ;-)
A suspected militant blew himself up while planting a landmine on a dirt road in a remote northwestern tribal region near the Afghan border here on Thursday, said a security official. Asking not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, the officials said the incident happened in Miranshah's outskirts and "we believe that this man was planting the land mine for soldiers deployed in the region." He gave no other details. The blast came two days after an army vehicle carrying troops hit a land mine in the same area and wounded four soldiers.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2005
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No matter how bad my day is, these storys always manage to brighten it up...
Or as the local villager would say, "I just painted my house, and now there are red spots all over it. Also, my dog is gnawing on an odd looking bone..."
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.
(you only see it in the pop-up and can't link)
The home of U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., was broken into by a group of suspected illegal immigrants but little damage was done, authorities said. Santa Cruz Sheriff Tony Estrada said a friend of Kolbe's reported the break-in on July 23 when he noticed one of the home's doors was wide open. Sheriff's deputies, Border Patrol agents and Patagonia police responded to the home in Sonoita, which is 25 miles north of the Mexican border.
Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday announced new deportation measures against people who foster hatred and advocate violence following last month's transportation attacks that killed 52 people and four suspected suicide bombers. Clerics who preach hate and Web sites or book shops that sponsor violence would be targeted. Foreign nationals could be deported under the new measures.
France late on Wednesday called for democracy and the "legal institutional framework" to be respected in oil-rich Mauritania after troops seized power in the northwest African country. 
KARACHI: About 26 people, including 22 children and four women, were injured by shooting during a wedding in the densely populated Lines Area on Thursday night. Over 300 people were attending the 'mehndi', a wedding ritual, of Muhammad Ramzan's son Yameen in the Sabzi Wali Gali of the Lines Area when the incident occurred. Brigade police said that the women and children were injured due to shots fired from a 12 bore shotgun. However, the police have failed to ascertain the cause of the incident while all the injured have been discharged from the hospital after first aid. Police said that none of the residents were cooperating in the investigation.
Two people acting suspiciously were arrested outside the US consulate in Lahore and later released in the past week, sources in the police told Daily Times on Thursday. A man was arrested outside the consulate six days ago. He had been writing down the registration numbers of cars visiting the consulate. He was released after interrogation, in which he said he was unemployed and bored and noting down the registration numbers as a hobby. 
Five soldiers including a junior officer of the Pakistan Army were killed in a remote-controlled bomb explosion in North Waziristan on Thursday afternoon, a military official said on Thursday. The improvised explosive device was placed between Dattakhel and Miranshah area to targeted a military convoy, said the official who asked not to be named. The condition of two wounded soldiers is stated to be serious. "Four jawans were killed on the spot. The fifth died on his way to hospital," the source said. He did not say where the convoy was heading. The dead soldiers were a havaldar, a JCO and three sepoys. 
The Iranian government has deployed large numbers of troops in cities in the northwestern region which borders Iraq in an effort to quell three weeks of civil unrest that has left up to 20 people dead and more than 300 wounded, according to reports from dissident groups. They said as many as 100,000 state security forces, backed up by helicopter gunships, had moved into the region to crack down on pro-Kurdish demonstrations.
RAMALLAH: Israeli troops detained the West Bank spokesman of the militant 
Cardiologist 
Switzerland's supreme court on Thursday ordered the country's justice authorities to halt cooperation with a French probe linked to a half brother of Osama bin Laden, Yeslam Binladin.
Pakistan's Supreme Court has declared as unconstitutional a bill passed by a province to introduce what critics describe as a moral policing system. "The governor of the province of North West Frontier Province may not assent to the Hisba (accountability) bill in its present form," the Supreme Court said in its order. 
British police have charged two sisters under anti-terrorism laws for failing to give police information regarding the botched 21 July attempts to bomb London. Police said 
Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister, has highlighted the significant role played by Late King Fahd bin Abdulaziz in the service of the Arab and Muslim causes as well as the international causes. Addressing a press conference here last night, Prince Saud said King Fahd had adopted a realistic oil policy for the service of both oil consumers and producers. He noted that the Kingdom's local and international polices would remain in line with the values and principles laid by Later King Fahd.
An Iraqi delegation led by Saad al Hayani, the Foreign Minister Undersecretary for resource management and technical affairs, has recently visited Damascus for talks with Syrian officials on bilateral relations, Asharq Al Awsat has learnt. A source at the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied the presence of security officials amongst the delegation, revealing two visiting Iraqi officials held talks on Tuesday with Deputy Foreign Minister Walid al Muallem. They are al Hayani and Salah Abdel Salam, director of the consulate section. 
Iyad Jamal al Din, an Iraqi political activist and specialist in Islamic affairs attacked the Shiaa religious authorities for interfering in politics and favoring a particular political group. âIt is dangerous,â he said, âto exploit religious legitimacy in politics. The Shiaa are courting catastrophe when the name of the religious leadership is exploited in politics. The 1,300 year old religious authority is respected throughout Iraq, and not only by the Shiaa community or parts of it.â 
WASHINGTON: An international organisation representing police chiefs has broadened its policy for the use of deadly force by telling officers to shoot suspected suicide bombers in the head, The Washington Post reported on Thursday. The International Association of Chiefs of Police issued new guidelines to its 20,000 members about two weeks before British police shot dead a Brazilian electrician because they mistook him for a suicide bomber, the newspaper said. US law enforcement officers typically had been authorized previously to use deadly force if lives were in imminent danger, the newspaper said.
Hugo Chávez is spending some of his country's oil windfall on buying support abroad. How much of a return is he getting?
LONDON - Britain must withdraw its troops from Iraq in order to prevent further terrorist attacks, London Mayor Ken Livingstone wrote in a British newspaper on Thursday.
NEW YORK â Investigators have concluded that the former chief of the Iraq Oil-for-Food program, 
AMMAN - Jordanâs King Abdullah told Israel on Thursday that its planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip must be followed by a pullout from the West Bank. Officials said the king also told visiting Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz that the withdrawal should open the door to restart negotiations on a US- backed âroad
Indian military sources said on Thursday an investigation has been launched into alleged espionage by a soldier at a major air base near China, in which documents on troop deployments and high-level strategy were stolen. The investigation was prompted after the arrest last month of a corporal who worked in an area of the base with access to computer data. He was found with 100 pages of computer printouts of strategic importance, said a senior army officer who declined to be named. âIt seems (the corporal) last year passed on copious data on missile locations, deployment of infantry battalions at Chinaâs borders, weapons technology upgrades and classified minutes of commander conferences,â the officer said. Some documents, he added, had been stolen and passed on to rival Pakistan, which is a close ally of China.
A suspected militant blew himself up while planting a landmine on a dirt road in a remote northwestern tribal region near the Afghan border here on Thursday, said a security official. Asking not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, the officials said the incident happened in Miranshah's outskirts and "we believe that this man was planting the land mine for soldiers deployed in the region." He gave no other details. The blast came two days after an army vehicle carrying troops hit a land mine in the same area and wounded four soldiers.
