A few days old, but it hit the spot. I hope it's not a dupe, lol.
Kelly gives thanks Golfer spends time with troops in Iraq
It's not likely that Jerry Kelly will ever forget his 40th birthday, which just happened to fall on Thanksgiving Day.
While his family was at home in Madison enjoying turkey with all the trimmings, Kelly was standing atop one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces in Baghdad, where he saw smoke from a car bomb.
Kelly and four other PGA Tour members spent eight days in Iraq as part of the USO's "Operation Links Handshake Tour." The group was organized by Frank Lickliter II and included Donnie Hammond, Howard Twitty and Corey Pavin, who edged Kelly to win the 2006 U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee. "It was a life-changing experience," Kelly said in a telephone interview Friday. "It was the coolest thing I've ever done."
The golfers visited 14 bases in Iraq, entertaining the troops with golf exhibitions and swapping stories with soldiers in conversations that stretched into the early morning hours. "We hit balls off of Saddam's palace, off the back of a tank, off the wing of an Iraqi MIG fighter," Kelly said. "We stopped a soccer game in the Kurd region and hit balls off the field into Turkey. We hit balls in Mosul. "We did a ton of stuff. We wish we could have spent more time with the guys. They were like, 'Thank you so much.' We were like, 'Are you kidding me? We're the ones who are thankful.' "
The group was escorted by soldiers and ferried between bases by Blackhawk helicopters; the golfers had to wear full body armor and helmets, but Kelly said he never feared for his safety. "We saw the smoke from the mortar rounds but we never felt threatened," he said. "We knew danger was there but it wasn't at the bases. These (insurgents) have to run, set up their mortars and run away. They know they're history if they come near the place."
The golfers ate in mess halls and bunked with the soldiers in fortified sleeping quarters. They visited a hospital, where Kelly and Lickliter spent 10 minutes talking to a soldier who had been burned. They visited the governor of a province who two days earlier had survived an assassination attempt.
They visited Camp Patriot on the Persian Gulf, where Hussein's invading army lined up Kuwaitis against a brick wall and gunned them down. "You could still see the (bullet) pock marks in the wall," Kelly said.
Kelly has supported the war effort and couldn't say no when given the opportunity to visit Iraq, even though it meant spending Thanksgiving away from his wife, Carol, and 8-year-old son Cooper.
"If you're going to talk the talk you better be able to walk the walk," he said. "Coop has been saying a prayer for the soldiers every single night. It's part of our lives."
He came away with a new appreciation for what the soldiers are accomplishing and expressed in strong terms his disdain for how the war was being covered by the American media. "Our soldiers are so selfless," he said. "We need to be promoting them and telling people what a great job they're doing. All they're hearing is bashing.
"One guy told me, 'I'm hesitant to do the job I was trained for. I don't want to return fire because I might be on CNN the next day.' That's sad. That's a guy risking his life for us. He doesn't want his family to see him on CNN being portrayed the way those guys are being portrayed."
Kelly said everywhere he went in Iraq, the soldiers were showered with affection. "They're spreading so much goodwill," he said. "All the kids are coming up to them and hugging them and mobbing them. People were waving at us. They want us there. There's a Sunni-Shiite faction that is fighting for power. Both of them want us to leave so they can have their civil war.
"If we left now it would be so bad for those people who want us there and need us there and are getting the freedoms now they never had."
During one emotional late-night conversation, Kelly and a soldier compared notes on how they handled pressure and fear. The soldier wanted to know how Kelly dealt with the pressure of being in contention in a tournament on the PGA Tour. "He said, 'The hardest thing for a soldier to do, despite all his training, is to return fire when he is fired upon,' " Kelly said. "It shows the smallness of the position I'm in, comparably speaking. Fear of failure (in golf) and fear of death, come on, there's no comparison."
He said all five golfers were awed and humbled by the experience and all have vowed to return to Iraq next year.
Kelly spent only a couple days at home before taking his family to Colorado for a ski vacation.
"We're off to Telluride today," he said, then added with a laugh: "I hope I don't get hurt."
The Iraqi Army recently expanded its advanced marksmanship course to give their military a much-needed asset in the battle for the streets of Iraqs cities highly capable and lethal Iraqi snipers.
After nearly seven weeks of training at Besmaya range, 30 kilometers east of Baghdad, seven Iraqi Soldiers graduated from the advanced marksmanship course and sniper training in a ceremony here Dec.1. The students began by learning advanced marksmanship principles using AK-47 rifles before moving into the sniper part of the course, said a Coalition advisor who conducted the training.
More and more attacks by insurgents have been by snipers; now we have the opportunity to send our soldiers out to defeat those threats, said Iraqi Army Sergeant First Class Naim, an Advanced Marksmanship Course instructor and NCO-in-charge of Besmaya Range, through an interpreter. Naim attended the sniper course so he would be able to teach the course in the future. One sniper can stop a battalion. These students are professionals; they are ready for any mission.
The sniper portion of the course is a train-the-trainer session, and graduates take their lessons back to home units to train their own prospective snipers. Several students like Naim were already rated as advanced marksmanship instructors at Besmaya and were taking part in the sniper course to eventually take the program over from the Coalition, the advisor said.
I want to be a professional sniper, said Iraqi Army Sgt. Haida through an interpreter. In my unit we have sniper rifles, but nobody knows how to use them. I really believe this training is going to help me in the future. I want to defend my country.
Adding the sniper portion to the course was an easy decision in the eyes of the installations commander.
This course is so important, said Iraqi Army Col. Abbas, Besmaya Ranges senior officer. This training will give us many new capabilities. When we attack enemies, we need to have a professional sniper on the roof. If we dont have this, we will not have the power that we need.
Before starting the course, the students had to pass physical fitness, reading and eye tests, Naim said. After that, the students attended classroom lectures about the characteristics of their weapons before heading to the range to zero, or adjust the weapons sights to fit each students handling of the weapon. In order to zero, students fired several shots on target to form a group.
Typical of sniper training, many students did not complete the course and were sent home after failing to complete the grouping portion, said a civilian contractor providing instruction here.
After zeroing, students fired at pop-up targets in a series of evaluations. The course culminated with each student completing a predawn 10-kilometer ruck march where they had to find a good shooting position, eliminate a target and leave the area while remaining undetected by advisors.
These soldiers that are left demonstrated the ability to hit targets from ranges of 200 to 600 meters using the Romanian PSL sniper rifle; a version of a Russian sniper rifle, on which many former Soviet Bloc countries based the design of their own weapons systems, the advisor said.
Naim said standards for this course were intentionally high, since these students are critical to the future success of other Iraqi military snipers.
The Iraqi Army really needs this training for snipers, Naim said. The shooters who graduate from this course will go back to their units to work as instructors for those units.
The course differed from a traditional sniper course in that instructors built the training based on situations relevant to what an Iraqi Army sniper would face in combat.
When we started this course, we acknowledged the fact that these snipers would be operating in urban environments, so we did not focus on some of the traditional sniper course techniques such as stalking and the construction of ghillie suits [using elements of the natural terrain to provide natural camouflage for the sniper], the advisor said. We instead focused on establishing a good position, breathing and firing techniques and proficiency with the weapon system.
When the training began, the majority of the students did not have much shooting experience beyond what they had learned in basic combat training. Most of them were your average Joes, the advisor said.
A lot of them used Kentucky windage and Tennessee elevation [terms used by shooters to describe firing based on a shooters tendencies to guess target range by feel rather than by computing the wind direction or elevation prior to engaging the target], the advisor said. We also needed to work with them to establish a tight shot group pattern rather than allowing them to chase their rounds without adjusting their sights, since (forming shot groups) was not something that was focused on in the old Warsaw Pact doctrine.
We fired a lot of rounds, he continued. With just 19 guys going through this program and many of those washing out, we went through more than 1,800 rounds over the past seven weeks.
According to Naim, the students of the class were grateful to have the chance to take part in the training and are looking forward to getting back to their units.
I want to be an instructor, said Staff Sgt. Sajid, prior to his completing the final evaluation before officially graduating the course. I want to protect my country because my country needs me. God willing, I will become one.
this wouldn't be on my to do list as long as our forces are stationed in Iraq. sure as hell a portion of these fuckers will kill some of my countrymen and women.
#3
That was exactly my first thought when I saw that headline too. I sure hope they screened these candidates thoroughly.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/04/2006 22:20
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#4
If they can teach their fellows to aim before shooting it'll save the Iraqi Army a fortune in bullets and gunpowder (or whatever the modern equivalent is).
Posted by: ed ||
12/04/2006 23:12
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#7
Screening is an understatement. They are probably all intensely loyal and connected, the best and the brightest from only the best units. These guys will be the cream of the crop. The odds of them ever shooting at US soldiers is tiny.
However, who knows how well they will screen the second generation?
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US sailor pleaded guilty to espionage after admitting to stealing a laptop from a fast attack submarine and peddling classified information to an unidentified foreign government, a US Navy spokesman said.
Petty officer 3rd Class Ariel Weinmann, 22, entered the guilty plea in Norfolk, Va., before a military judge, who questioned him on each of the charges, including desertion, espionage, failure to obey a general order, larceny and destruction of military property.
"He plead guilty to all charges and specifications with the exception of the espionage charge," said Ted Brown. "He pled guilty to one specification (of espionage) and he pled not guilty to two specifications."
The espionage charge said Weinmann "did ... communicate, deliver or transmit classified confidential and secret information relating to the national defense, to a representative, officer, agent or employee of a foreign government" on October 19, 2005 in Vienna, Austria, Brown said.
Brown said the guilty plea was part of a pre-trial agreement, but it was not known what it entailed.
Weinmann faces a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole.
The charges did not identify the country that Weinmann passed information to, but a defense official said earlier this year that it was believed to be Russia.
Weinmann was accused of making an electronic copy of classified confidential or secret defense information while serving as a fire control technician aboard the USS Albuquerque sometime between May and July 2005.
On July 1, he stole a laptop computer on board the submarine and two days later deserted while the vessel was at a base at New London, Connecticut, according to the charge sheets.
Weinmann pleaded not guilty to an espionage charge that he turned over confidential or secret classified information to foreign agents in Manama, Bahrain in March 2005 and in Mexico City on 19 March 2006.
Weinmann destroyed the laptop's hard drive "by smashing it with a mallet and cutting off the pins" in March 2006, according to the destruction of government property charge that he admitted.
He was arrested 26 March at the Fort Worth/Dallas International Airport by immigration and customs officials after they learned he was listed as a deserter. When are they gonna start shooting these bastards?
#1
Being a Fire Control Specialist, he had some level of access to the weapon systems; this is or could be a big deal. if we cannot hang him, perhaps the other boys in the pen will show him how to drop the soap......
Nah. Just return him to his former command the next time they go out for a cruise. Explain to the crew what he did. Have them give him a tour of the torpedo room while they are submerged. Who knows, he could accidentally get into the tube and Whoosh! Problem solved.
#5
I would suspect that what awaits him is the special federal max prison block at Florence, Colorado. It is reserved for people like Walker, Pollard, and some others.
They wear pajamas, not the regular prison uniform, and sandals with no heels. They are in lockdown in their cells 23 hours a day, and are given 1 hour in a concrete pit in the center of the block to exercise, alone, each day.
Guards are forbidden to speak to them. They are given food in their cells on a paper plate with no implements, to eat by hand. They must return the paper plate. They are not permitted anything else in their cells on a permanent basis. No blankets are allowed and lights are on 24 hours.
They can be issued one book at a time, which is checked when they are done to insure no pages are missing, and then it is destroyed. They are permitted only one visitor per month, which is very difficult, as the prison is located in an isolated place in the Rocky Mountains. No plane traffic is permitted near the prison.
#8
He's under military jurisdiction, which means no Supermax. Servicemembers get more protections, in court and in confinement.
In a typical pre-trial agreement, the accused agrees to plead guilty and the prosecution agrees to a cap on the sentence, usually well below the max possible.
The military judge doesn't know what the cap is, so the accused is sentenced as if no PTA exists, and then the cap will kick in if the judge's sentence exceeds it. I couldn't begin to guess what the cap might be, since it depends on a million things known only to the prosecution and defense.
I would love to know what possessed him to do this. Hard to believe that money is all.
#10
"he turned over confidential or secret classified information to foreign agents in Manama, Bahrain in March 2005 and in Mexico City on 19 March 2006."
-okay, got that part. However, exactly which foreign govt's was he dealing with?
#11
CNN says Russia. As a fire control tech he would have access to info on torpedo, Tomahawk, and decoy capabilities but, hopefully, not submarine sensor capabilities. The USS Albuquerque is an original Los Angeles class, not a 688I.
Posted by: ed ||
12/04/2006 22:39
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CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq Regimental Combat Team 5 Marines patrolling on foot Sunday in Hasa, Iraq, were attacked with small arms fire by insurgents positioned in a residential structure.
The Marines attempted to maneuver on the building but were unable to enter due to the high volume of insurgent fire.
The Marines then fired a shoulder fired, anti-tank rocket at the building, and when the fire continued from the insurgents, the Marines employed precision-guided ordnance to destroy the building.
No additional damage or casualties to civilians or Coalition Forces were reported.
#3
How about "A guided, aerially-employed deconstruction device provided minimal collateral unintentionality, while insuring timely ingress to the vicinity to recover anyone who might require assistance."
#5
What I liked was 'attacked (from) a residential structure ... destroy(ed) the building.' Apply the same rules to mosques and cut out the delay and I'll be satisfied.
Brazil has shown interest in becoming the first foreign nation to procure the 300-km range Brahmos cruise missile.
Commander of the Brazilian army Gen Francisco Roberto De Albuqurque now on a six-day state visit here today visited the Brahmos aerospace complex in Delhi cantonment. He also held discussions with the Brahmos project director S Pillai.
The South American nation has shown interest in acquiring the sea as well as surface to surface version of the Indo-Russian missiles.
While, the sea version of the missile has already entered service with the Indian Navy, the surface to surface version of missile has been cleared for induction early next year.
The Brazilian Chief of Defence Staff held discussion with Chairman Chiefs of staff Committee S P Tyagi, Army Chief J J Singh, Naval Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta and Defence Secretary Shekhar Dutt.
He also called on the Defence Minister AK Antony.
During his stay in India, De Alburqurque will visit counter insurgency warfare school in Mizoram, Eastern Command headquarters, Line of control in Jammu and Kashmir and Agra.
Posted by: john ||
12/04/2006
14:54 ||
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HYDERABAD, India: India's newly tested missile interception system will likely be turned into a weapon and deployed within four years, the head of the country's missiles development program said.
India is also working toward testing a newer and faster missile, Vijay Kumar Saraswat said at a news conference late Sunday.
His comments came a week after India's defense ministry said it had conducted its first successful test interception of a ballistic missile, using a rocket to shoot down an incoming missile. The missile was intercepted at an altitude of 50 kilometers (30 miles).
If the interceptor missile, the medium-range and nuclear-capable Prithvi II, can be transformed into a viable defense system, it would see India join an elite club of nations with working missile shields.
Saraswat said the Defense Research and Development Organization of India plans to add an improved homing device and faster maneuverability to the interceptor missile to shoot down an "enemy" missile at an altitude below 30 kilometers (20 miles).
The upgraded version, which will also be able to target aircraft, will be tested within four months.
"This is being done to increase the killing probability of our intercepting missile and to leave no leakage in the air defense system," Saraswat said.
Six to seven more tests are needed over the next four years before the interception system could be made into a weapon, he added.
The tests will involve firing five intercepting missiles two seconds apart to guarantee that an incoming missile is destroyed. Saraswat expected the success rate in intercepting a missile would be 99.8 percent.
India could produce 200 interceptor missiles a year, at a cost of 60 million rupees (US$1.3 million) each, Saraswat said.
Posted by: john ||
12/04/2006
14:50 ||
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Now that he's leaving, Reuters finds some nice things to say about Darth Bolton. Skilled, effective, fair. Grrr.
The resignation of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations ends an era when the focus of U.S. diplomacy often rested, for better or for worse, on the man himself. Witty, a born litigator and in command of the facts, Bolton was front and center of most issues in the U.N. Security Council -- North Korea, Iran, Somalia, Myanmar, Sudan, among others -- but made enemies among nations in the U.N. General Assembly, responsible for management reforms and the budget.
"He is serious about the American objectives here in reforming the United Nations, and he pushed hard," China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya told reporters. "But of course sometimes in order to achieve the objective you have to work together with others."
"His style is different. He is hard-working," Wang said. "He knows the job."
Bolton also had difficulties with European ambassadors, who should have been his closest allies. But he worked intensively with France on a ceasefire resolution, 1701, to halt the Israeli-Hezbollah war in Lebanon this summer. "I would say we have always respected each other and we were able to work together, especially on 1701," said France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere through clenched teeth.
Unable to overcome Democratic opposition in the Senate to his nomination, the White House announced on Monday that Bolton would resign when his temporary appointment expires within weeks. Bolton's recess appointment last year had allowed him to bypass the U.S. Senate confirmation process. Democrats accused him of being a bully and of pressuring subordinates to align their views with his.
Subordinates are s'posed to support their boss...in this case, POTUS.
Bolton came to the job with a reputation for an abrasive style. But he defied many of his critics by being the only U.N. Security Council ambassador available to the press almost every day, answering countless questions and often delivering punchy sound bites that drowned out staid comments from Washington.
"It is to me really disappointing to see Ambassador Bolton go," said Japan's U.N. Ambassador Kenzo Oshima. "He has been an exceptionally skillful diplomat at the United Nations at a time when it faced very challenging issues like reform."
"In the Security Council John Bolton was spearheading a number of important issues," Oshima said, singling out a resolution to rein in North Korea's nuclear program, where "he really spearheaded this effort to get a Security Council resolution adopted in a very speedy manner."
LESS SUCCESS WITH U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Several diplomats distinguish between Bolton's work in the 15-nation Security Council and that in the 192-member General Assembly, dominated by developing nations.
"In some ways, he seems to have been more an ambassador to the Security Council than to the United Nations as a whole and I think he has done very well there," said Edward Luck, a Columbia University professor and U.N. expert.
But the problem, Luck said, is his actions in the General Assembly, which is increasingly polarized between developing and developed countries over changes to U.N. management practices, finances and a new human rights body.
"He is very good on preaching on reform but not good at doing it" raising the question of "whether he wants to strengthen it or find excuses for abandoning it," said Luck.
Greece's U.N. Ambassador Adamantios Vassilakis, said the United States was correct in the need for reform but "I might say that I personally would pursue the same thing through different tactics, but that is a different story."
But there was no love lost between the U.N. bureaucracy and Bolton, especially the U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown, a Briton, who said in a June speech that the United States worked closely with the world body in many fields but tolerated "too much unchecked U.N.-bashing and stereotyping." In response Bolton called on Secretary General Kofi Annan to repudiate Malloch Brown "personally and publicly," but Annan stood by the "thrust" of the speech, his spokesman said.
#1
"He is very good on preaching on reform but not good at doing it" raising the question of "whether he wants to strengthen it or find excuses for abandoning it," said Luck.
Not much detail in this first report from AP, but it sounds like a major bust. I bet all the perps 'cept the American get out of jail next Eid.
Police have arrested an American, 11 Europeans and several others from Arab countries for allegedly plotting terrorist attacks in Middle Eastern countries including Iraq, the Interior Ministry said Monday. The group was part of an Islamic militant terror cell that had adopted extremist ideas and were living in Egypt under the guise of studying Arabic and Islamic studies, the ministry said in a statement.
Simple if well-armed and -financed students.
Along with the American, police arrested two Belgians, nine French and several others from Egypt and other Arab countries including Tunisia and Syria, the statement said. The ministry did not provide names or say how many Egyptians and Arabs were arrested.
"We can say no more."
"Investigations have confirmed that those elements are related to some terrorist organizations abroad," the ministry said. "They were seeking to recruit others, teach them destructive beliefs, urging them for jihad, traveling to Iraq to carry out operations via other countries in the region."
The U.S. Embassy in Cairo declined to comment about the arrests. Telephone messages left with the Belgium and French embassies were not immediately returned.
"We can say no more, neither."
They were arrested about a week ago, and some had been studying at Al-Azhar University, Sunni Islam's most important seat of learning, police officials said. They spoke on condition on anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. It was not immediately clear if all the arrests took place in Cairo. All of the arrested were in jail pending further investigation, the ministry said.
And the story is not complete without a little editorializing from our betters at AP:
Egypt operates under emergency laws, which gives the government wide powers to detain suspects without charging them. The laws have been in place since the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981 despite a growing chorus of opposition from both inside and outside the country.
#1
Something tells me these guys were a threat to Hosni. Whether they were a threat to anyone else, except Israel, of course, is prolly a toss-up.
Hosni looks after his own ass. He gets paid $2Bn / year not to attack Israel. As far as I can see, that sums it up since he deigned to accept our jizya...
#4
Egypt's al-Azhar University is reputed to be one of the foremost seats of Islamic learning. It speaks volumes that they themselves did not uncover or report these activities to the appropriate authorities.
This breeding ground for Islamic terrorists must be placed upon the target list.
Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian intelligence agent poisoned in London, is to be buried according to Muslim tradition after converting to Islam on his deathbed. The spy's father, Walter Litvinenko, said in an interview published today that his son - who was born an Orthodox Christian but had close links to Islamist rebels in Chechnya - made the request as he lay dying in University College Hospital.
"He said I want to be buried according to Muslim tradition," Mr Litvinenko told Moscow's Kommersant daily. "I said, Well son, as you wish. We already have one Muslim in our family - my daughter is married to a Muslim. The important thing is to believe in the Almighty. God is one."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/04/2006
13:57 ||
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#1
So he was in fact a traitor. Oh well it will give me one more site to visit overseas, and poop on.
#3
This is starting to sound like a 'work accident'. Or maybe an 'on purpose' designed to look like one. What if Litvinenko was actually trying to procure or supply ingredients for a dirty bomb to Chechen terrorists and Pooty found out - what better way to handle damage control?
#4
Litvinenko's affiliation with the Chechen terrorists has been obvious for a long time.
Among other things, he was a conspiracy theorist on the same level as the lunatics who claim that 9-11 was an inside job. He wrote a book claiming that the 1999 Moscow apartment bombings, which set off the latest round of the Chechen war, were in fact the work of the KGB. He also alleged that the 2002 Moscow theatre siege was another false flag operation, despite extensive documentation of the dead terrorists' identitites, most notably by the Chechen jihad itself.
Like the 9-11 conspira-lies, these claims have a following in the west's elite media-culture circles. A Michael Moore style film about the Moscow apartment bombings ("Disbelief") premiered at the Sundance film festival in 2004.
Personally, I don't know who killed him, but conspiracist terror-tools the world over may finally be seeing the chickens come home to roost.
Cause---> effect.
An Islamic militant group responsible for kidnappings and beheadings in Iraq on Monday warned teachers and students to stop attending universities in Baghdad or the insurgents would consider them partners of the government.
Ansar al-Sunnah, which has ties to al-Qaida in Iraq, set a three-day deadline for teachers, students and administrative employees to stop going to universities, saying the group has canceled all studies for the school year according to a video and statements posted on the group's Web site. The Sunni insurgent group did not say how it planned to cancel university classes in Baghdad. "In order to save the blood of our honorable teachers and dear students and after carrying out a detailed study and consultation ... we decided to cancel studies in all universities and institutes and private colleges for the scholastic year 2006-2007 in the capital Baghdad only," the group said in the video and statements, which could not immediately be verified. A man wearing a ski mask said in the video that "there have been several killing and kidnapping of (Sunni) professors and students by the death squads with direct support from the head of the government and the Shiite parties."
"The universities have been turned from landmark institutions that graduate scientists to dark dens shrouded in black and infested by (Shiite) black turban clerics," the unidentified man said in the 30-minute video.
He also referred to last month's kidnapping of some 150 people from the Higher Education ministry in central Baghdad. The mass kidnapping was widely believed to have been the work of the Mahdi Army, the heavily armed militia of Muqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American Shiite cleric. "A big number of university teachers were forced to flee Iraq because they were included in the death lists," the unidentified man said, reading a statement.
In a separate statement issued Sunday, the group said it was launching a "campaign to help our scientists and students in Baghdad universities" who the group claims have suffered under Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-led government.
Ansar al-Sunnah is a radical Sunni group responsible for attacks on U.S. forces, kidnappings and beheadings, including the August 2004 execution of 12 Nepalese hostages and a December 2004 explosion at a U.S. military mess hall in Mosul that killed 22 people.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/04/2006
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#1
Didn't AAS just get its clocked cleaned by the loss of 10 or so of its top management in Iraq?
Facing opposition from key senators, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton will leave office in a matter of days, the White House announced on Monday. Spokeswoman Dana Perino said President George W. Bush had reluctantly accepted Bolton's decision to leave the U.N. post when the current session of the U.S. Congress ends, likely at the end of the week.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/04/2006
13:29 ||
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#1
Thanks, John - a job very very well done. Dunno know you stood it, though...
one more shameful political episode concerning the UN, that the one of our best Americans who tirelessly represented our interests against UN corruption and slime could be betrayed by DemoCrap polititions says it all.
#5
You all know Bolton cant be Christmas appointed a second time. Even if he could Mike wasnt going to get paid and quite frankly working in New York is expensive. With no end in sight (Harry Reid hates him as much as he hates America) dealing with the Dhimmicrats, Bolton said good bye Im out of here.
What is interesting to note is that Boltons number two, Chris Burnham has left also. Partially out of disgust. Donald Trump was in Chriss office telling him it was going to take $700,000,000 to redo the UN building. A figure that Burnham may have thought was high to start out with. Realistically with all the red tape the UN remodel is going to take a $1,000,000,000 (yes folks a billion and we are paying half of it. Burnham not wanting to sit on this pile of BS left with his head held high and has taking a job with a German bank (Deutsche Bank).
#8
No sweat. Next recess appointment for Amnassador Nyet.
Posted by: ed ||
12/04/2006 14:45
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#9
Many of us gnash our teeth around here over many things, most of them serious, but this episode really shakes my basic confidence in many things. The guy was not just an effective rep, he was by far the most articulate and effective spokesman for sanity and the USG on the world stage. He could shut down a silly journalistic line of questioning with one firm, colorful, unanswerable reply. Only Rummy came close in terms of public communication.
He was so much more savvy about the world we live in than 90% of his lightweight Senate detractors that they really couldn't even speak in the same terms. His confirmation hearings were a low-point (no mean feat) in current congressional input to foreign policy (he got mad at people? he was harsh with subordinates? are effing kidding me?). His inability to get a floor vote is greatly under-appreciated in terms of the disastrous and amazing departure it represents from almost all US history of executive-congressional interaction on foreign policy. It's a watershed - of the most perilous, and tawdry, variety.
That such mediocre and unqualified twits (many of my personal acquaintance) could get jobs in the Clinton years - eff them up royally - and now Bolton can't even get a vote on the floor ..... things are really very depressing if you look at them squarely. So I won't, for now .....
#10
The RATs favor a girlie man at that position. They want a weak UN Ambassador that genuflects to the mindless leftist drivel that is the UN lingua franca.
#11
The case for CW-II gets clearer every day. It will accelerate over the next 2 years. Bolton's fate will be a relative minor blip, though it's actually a huge loss for the US - just as Verlaine says.
No one will be acceptable to the Senate that is acceptable to Americans who know the UN is our enemy.
I'd wish for ed to be right: appoint Captain Nyet... but it won't happen.
I wonder what sort of total fucking wormy cheesedick will eventually replace Bolton...
#19
Spot on, Verlaine. There are times I bitch and whine . . . and there are times my stomach turns over and my petty bitching ceases. At those times, I go for a good hard run and thank J.C. I still can, because the future this portends will not be for the weak.
#21
More's the pity that Bush hasn't the courage to feed Bolton a script regarding the impending nuclear decimation of the Middle East that can then be plausibly denied as Bolton's parting shot at the UN. This was a perfect opportunity to read Islam the riot act.
#23
Zenster, Re: #21 - Gawd that is a dumb post. It has nothing to do with courage - and everything to do with the fact that you're just jerking off in the blogosphere for shits & grins - while Bush lives in the real world.
#25
Yes. I watched his interview with Brit Hume today. He's not "embattled" or "in retreat" or any of the other MSM meme-mongering crap. He is who he is and it hasn't changed. That will infuriate many, since he's still not their clone, but there it is. He's still the same guy who says what he means and means what he says. Boggle that.
#28
That's tempting, lol, and would make for some interesting symbolism and Moonbat Meltdown... but we need a placeholder, the Captain Nyet, to torpedo everything that comes down the pike.
Since we can't have a strong voice for the US and sanity in general, then I agree with ed's #8 - I just wonder about the crap that will come down the line during the congressional session. I presume there will still be someone in the delegation who can deliver the Nyets during that period.
#29
He's not "embattled" or "in retreat" or any of the other MSM meme-mongering crap.
And neither have I said anything of the sort. I'm just with OldSpook in wondering why Bush has not used his bully pulpit to more adequately address how the Religion of Peace [spit] is anything but that. Speculations that Rice is behind Olmert's appeasement of the Palestinians certainly do not help but I'm more than willing to attribute that to the Israeli jellyfish all by himself.
I still hope that Bush will have the moral integrity to dismantle Iran's nuclear program. To that extent, I'm still committed to defending Bush in every way possible should he face impeachment or any other sort of prosecution for such an act.
Nonetheless, Bush's ongoing amelioration of Islam's threat continues to concern me and it is not an unknown tactic to employ an end-of-term underling to expound upon speculative policy that is later denied as official.
For Bolton to suggest that the MME (Muslim Middle East) might face nuclear counterattack for continued terrorist activity is nowhere out of the question in light of Ahmadinejad's constant threats of using atomic weapons against America.
Finally, this is Rantburg and it is all about the rants. I'm confident you can sort out those which are based in fact and those which are of a more speculative nature. If not, that might more of your own problem than mine.
#30
If you wanna rant, then use the tags. I'm sure you're capable of doing it. Otherwise, I'll take your comments as posted and make fun of stupidity as I see fit.
#31
In other words, you're completely willing to ignore my previous posts that you've agreed with in order to dispute ones that are easily interpreted as musings. Fine. Duly noted.
#32
You're the most disingenuous ass on Rantburg. Comment Coward. Kanard King.
#21 is a silly stupid post.
#24 is your attempt to distract attention, to move to a nice gray area where you can pontificate - and we'll all forget about #21.
#29 employs:
a) Call on Allies (whether real or not).
b) Suck up to perceived power figure.
c) Associate yourself and gain whatever positive response that generates.
d) Substantiate distraction / keep focus on safe gray point.
e) Post lotsa text. "Wow, he posted more so he must know what he's talking about / be right."
#31 is a Plea for Sympathy / Trash the Critic.
All you had to say was, "Um, yeah, a little over the top. That's what I wish he'd do with his last day." And everyone would've agreed, including me.
You don't use any tags because if it flies, if you get Attaboys, then you're a Star - your whole fucking reason for being here - adulation, recognition, attention. If it flops, you can start spinning and dropping flares, as noted above, hoping no one gets a lock-on.
Pay a therapist and leave the rest of us out of it.
#35
"Um, yeah, a little over the top. That's what I wish he'd do with his last day."
You mean just like when I've said that Bush may well wait until his last five minutes in office before launching an attack against Iran just to avoid any resultant impeachment proceedings? Garsh, what a coinkydink.
#41
Just like mine supposedly is, except that when you threatened to go and pout if everyone didn't fall in with you and claim that I suffered from BDS, NO ONE did.
#42
Boanerges Blitzen, servant of the Queen,
Is a dismal failure -- is a Might-have-been.
In a luckless moment he discovered men
Rise to high position through a ready pen.
#48
Then maybe you should consider trying to find some common ground. You're not obliged to in any sense of the word but you chase a lot of people out of the pup tent with your intolerance.
I arrived at this site calling Bush "Shrub" and disregarding the 2000 election as corrupt (which I still believe it to be). Yet, somehow, I am willing to view Bush as America's legitimate president in 2004. Go figure. If you are not able to grasp that sort of evolution in honorable opponents, the tent you maintain might just not be large enough for a winning congregation.
#49
Your entrance was quite a non-event. Your acceptance of the elections is irrelevant. It's not about you.
If you make statements, you get criticized on their content. That was stupid comment in #21.
Then, because you're fucking incapable of ever backing off, you played a shitty game of propaganda BS on this thread and I called you on it. Everything I said is true. Every fucking word.
Now you're saying I should seek common ground. You say you're an honorable opponent. You imply I need to chill to build a congregation - or whatever the fuck that was supposed to mean. Probably an appeal to Fred to smack me down or something.
I disagree with all of your notions. I have called you out for your crap - and you wanna hudna. Fuck you. You're not honorable, you're a coward who never gives up because your ego is enormous.
If I am harming RB for calling a shithead a shithead, then Fred will stomp my ass - and you can continue being a disingenuous shit who never, ever, comes clean.
PEOPLE wanting to live permanently in Britain will have to prove their proficiency in the English language and demonstrate their knowledge of life in the UK from next year, the government said today. The measures will come into force on April 2, 2007 with only those who pass the tests being given permanent residence status, the Home Office announced.
"It is essential that migrants wishing to live in the United Kingdom permanently recognise that there are responsibilities that go with this," said immigration minister Liam Byrne. "Having a good grasp of English is essential in order for them to play a full role in society and properly integrate into our communities."
Applicants who already possess a good standard of English will take the existing "Life in the UK" exam. Those with poorer English can take a specially developed English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) course with a simplified citizenship course.
The changes bring the requirements for granting permanent residency into line with those introduced in 2004 for immigrants applying for citizenship. In 2005, there were 217,475 applications for citizenship while 179,120 grants of settlement were made, according to official statistics.
In a forthcoming study for the Institute for Counter-Terrorism at Israel's Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, senior researcher Ely Karmon raises the alarming prospect of Hezbollah affiliated groups bringing the Lebanese terrorists' brand of violence to the Americas. While acknowledging that it is too soon to draw clear conclusions about the nature and objectives of these Hezbollah "franchisees," Karmon nonetheless notes that "successful campaigns of proselytism in the heart of poor indigene Indian tribes and populations by both Shi'a and Sunni preachers and activists" have contributed to the growing attraction of Islamist terrorist groups in Latin America. Karmon also observes that "there is a growing trend of solidarity between leftist, Marxist, anti-global and even rightist elements with the Islamists," citing inter alia the September 2004 "strategy conference" of anti-globalization groups hosted by Hezbollah in Beirut. Cf. the efforts made to pain islam as the "indigenous" religion of hispanics (thanks to the al andalous myth), a notion which vas publically voiced by chavez IIRC. Again, islam as the ultimate "in your face" to the Western (white male christian) world order, and/or the vanguard of the "revenge of the downtrodden and oppressed"...
Evidence of this was already available in the Washington Post's front page coverage of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's September 22 mass rally, which mentioned that among those in attendance was a Lebanese expatriate who had flown in from Venezuela for the event and that "[a]t the mention of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, a critic of America, cheers went up."
Interesting, IMO. What is his "appeal"? Electability, and nothing more, methinks. BTW, thanks to A5089 (I think) for pointing to this blog in a comment - it's got some very good stuff, lol. :-)
Obama is the next version of John Edwards: telegenic and somewhat eloquent. Just like Edwards, figuring out exactly what he stands for is a big mystery.
He served two terms in the IL state senate and the only thing it looks like he did was sponsor legislature on an earned income tax credit and insurance coverage of mammograms.
It looks like his record in the US Senate is similarly bland. Living in Chicago, I get plenty sick of hearing about this empty suit.
However, harping on his middle name and quibbling about his agent is pretty weak stuff. The way to fight this character is to force him to take a stand:
Reporter: What is your opinion on abortion?
Obama: There is more that unites us than divides us, and our is a great nation and together--
Reporter: That's great, Senator. How about answering my question?
#3
We've got Governor elect Deval Patrick. Telegenic black guy with nothing to say but feel good phrases. You want a position on an issue? He'll have to look into that. He'll never get back to you, but he'll look into that. Together, we can!
He's got a great Democratic future.
#8
I was a Chicago resident when Barack ran for Congress against lightweight Bobby Rush. Obama had his ass handed to him. It made sense at the time, but I just knew Obama had big things ahead of him.
I was not shocked when he won the Senate seat although he is not infallible. He's tied to Tony Resko, a major player in Illinois' pay-to-play politics and the proud papa of multiple federal indictments.
#9
Obama had the great fortune to run in a state where the Republican party has totally imploded. The guy who won the primary quit the race (Jack Ryan) because of a divorce scandal in which there was no complaint from the -ex (how Republican, eh?).
They couldn't find another Republican in the state to take the race. By this point Obama had been all but coronated in the press, so any other Republican with any pull at all (Topinka? Edgar? Oberweiss?) knew better than to run.
The Repubs tried to get Mike Ditka to run. I would have voted for Da Coach in a second just to see him throw chewing gum at Ted Kennedy on the floor of the Senate. Alas, Mike is more into a good life at this point, getting his money from riverboat ads and football commentary, and decided not to do it.
So the Repubs imported Allan Keyes, who managed to get 23% of the vote. Criminy, I could have done at least that well and it would have been great advertising for Rantburg. Did they ask me? No-o-o-o-o-o!
As Lanny points out, Obama has his dirty side, as do ALL politicans in Illinois. Don't you worry, he'll get his.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/04/2006 19:09
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#11
His career as a pres candidate will track and end just like dean's. He's empty, and will not stand the microscope of the press. Even the liberal MSM's cant help themselves when they see a media feeding frenzy from a candidate doing something dumb. Now while he is a darling in the spotlight, getting the Dems great press, Hillary is slowly building her army for when he falls. Then when he makes an ass of himself she will take the party over and he will be cast out or payed back with a menial position in the dem party.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/04/2006 22:55
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I'm not entirely happy posting this under Home Front - WoT, but it's as good a place as any, I guess, since we're at war today.
Every year for more than a decade, at the height of the season, Morrill Worcester would pack up a truckload of his Christmas wreaths and head down from Maine to Arlington National Cemetery. Without fanfare, he and a dozen or so volunteers would lay red-bowed wreaths on a few thousand headstones of fallen Americans.
There was no publicity. No crowds gathered. The gesture was one man's private duty, born of a trip to Washington he won as a 12-year-old paperboy. Of all the monuments and memorials he saw, it was the visit to Arlington that stuck with him -- the majesty and mystery, the sadness and the pride, the sight of all those neat rows of government-issue white headstones.
Years later, after he had started his Christmas products business, at the crunch point of one season Worcester asked some men who were building his new factory to find some wreaths and buy them for him.
#5
Damnit .com Caught me at work again. My coworkers are going to think I'm stressed out or something...a little warning so I don't get caught with a wet face anymore
I have travelled to all the continents except for one, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said recently, and I know what is going on out there. Everybody is eager to hear the Iranian peoples message. The world is rapidly becoming Ahmadinejadised.
And hes right: Ahmadinejadization is spreading. Its symptoms are clear from his Friday letter to the American people. Addressed to Noble Americans, in the letter Ahmadinejad calls on America to withdraw from Iraq, end support for Israel, and convert to Islam. If we do those three things, peace will ensue: well be Ahmadinejadized.
Now that Iraq has a Constitution and an independent Assembly and Government, he says, would it not be more beneficial to bring the US officers and soldiers home, and to spend the astronomical US military expenditures in Iraq for the welfare and prosperity of the American people? (When Tokyo Rose said things like that, at least she played some catchy pop tunes). Ahmadinejad, of course, has a deep concern for the welfare of the American people, as demonstrated by his earlier statement: I say accomplishment of a world without America and Israel is both possible and feasible. At the UN in September, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez echoed these words, saying: The United States empire is on its way down and it will be finished in the near future, inshallah. Chavez, you see, has been Ahmadinejadized.
Headline is Drudge's... Oscar-winning US actress Gwyneth Paltrow feels dinner talk is far more interesting in her adopted homeland Britain than back in her native country. "I love the English lifestyle, it's not as capitalistic as America. Yasss. Once you've got it, you don't have to worry about it, so why do the little people insist on continuing to talk about it?
"People don't talk about work and money, they talk about interesting things at dinner," she told "NS," the weekend magazine supplement of daily Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias on Saturday. Interesting things like Gwyneth Paltrow, I'm guessing...
"I like living here because I don't fit into the bad side of American psychology. The British are much more intelligent and civilized than the Americans," the 34-year-old added. While there are minor variances from area to area, the average IQ worldwide remains 100. 50 percent of everyone is below average and statistically 80 percent of everyone is middlin'. The fact that you're good looking statistically doesn't protect you from being a dipshit; in fact, statistically, 50 percent of good-looking wimmin are dipshits. That statement is based upon both psychological theory and empirical observation.
Paltrow, who won a best actress Oscar for 1998's "Shakespeare in Love," lives in London with British band Coldplay's frontman Chris Martin whom she wed in 2003. Of course, she could fall into the upper reaches of the bell curve. That's not what I'd really expect, though, she being married to a latter day Nigel Tufnel and all. I'm guessing her dinner conversation is similar to Britney Spears'.
She said having US pop star Madonna, 48, who married British film director Guy Ritchie six years ago, nearby was another advantage to living in London. "She's like an older sister. Everything I have gone through, she went through ten times worse and ten times longer. She gives me good advice about how to say no and take care of myself," said Paltrow. Does she slip you the tongue when she kisses you, too?
Posted by: Fred ||
12/04/2006
11:24 ||
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#1
Perhaps she'd care to visit us , up north .. I can show her some whippet racing , steak n kidney pies , cheap beer . and some fat lasses wandering round town half naked with a bottle of vodka , vomiting in gutters , if shes that way inclined anyways ..
She needs to move out and away from London and that soft twat of a boyfriend , and come up north where the REAL MEN reside
On December 5, 2003, she married Chris Martin of the British rock group Coldplay in a secret wedding ceremony in Southern California. Paltrow gave birth to their first child, Apple Blythe Alison Martin, on May 14, 2004, in London. She explained the unusual first name on Oprah, saying,
Gwyneth Paltrow
It sounded so sweet and it conjured such a lovely picture for me you know, apples are so sweet and they're wholesome and it's biblical and I just thought it sounded so lovely and...clean! And I just thought, "Perfect!"[2]
#3
It's biblical? WTF? Yeah, it may BE biblical, but only in a "bringing evil into the world for the first time" sense. Is that what's she's trying to say about her own daughter?
Posted by: BA ||
12/04/2006 12:02
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#4
It really is time to evacuate the country when vacuos ey-jits like these two start priaisng Blairistan.
#5
That's why I much prefer pr0n starlets to actors and actresses; it's not they're more intelligent or knowledgeable, but when they talk (I won't say "open their mouths", for someone could misinterpret me), no one take them seriously, as it should be. Plus, they're generally better looking, on average.
Movie star.
Marry alleged rock star.
Move to foreign country.
Name kid funny name.
Trash America in foreign paper.
Glad you like interesting people lady, cuz that's about as sterotypically dull as it gets. What's your next move, the "climbing out of the limo" crotch shot?
#7
Got to wonder about the intelligence of an actress insulting 300 million potential fans. Oh well, I hope she enjoys her new career in London theatre.
#13
Doesn't surprise me, the lead singer from cold play has said some pretty stupid things that made me wonder if he hasn't been reading Marx or something.
She's cute but dumb and will provide fun quotes for a long time if we're lucky.
#16
Hmm. A translation problem? Maybe the press got it all wrong. Incredible, I know. But she sounds earnest.
Grom, we Americans care because we don't like other Americans going abroad and trashing us, particularly those who lucked into a life of obscene luxury we made possible.
#20
I read this as an indictment of Hollywood. I suspect her American dining companions are her Hollywood pals: scheming producers and directors, weasly agents and fellow members of the Film Actors Guild. I doubt she is hanging out at the VFW with Bob and Charlie from the local tool & die.
Considering the source, this is more hilarious than insulting.
#21
I'm not convinced, exJAG. She may sound earnest but she is an oscar winning actress, after all. Personally, I'm not a big fan of her work although I've probably only seen 2 or 3 of her films. As chance would have it, I actually had the "honor" of meeting her on one occasion about 10 years ago (she went big time not long thereafter). While she didn't strike me as the sharpest knife in the drawer, she was pleasant enough.
She's your typical limousine liberal. Born into priviledge, educated at an Ivy (Columbia, IIRC), and living the charmed life. Pretty standard, really.
If you ask me, I think somebody close to her with a bit of sense still left gave her some sorely needed career advice. And she had the sense to heed it. After all, she is an American. And if there's one thing we Americans do know, stupid is as stupid does.
#22
I'm with ex-jag. I think she's on the level, and besides, she's speaking socially, NOT politically. This is what I think she's talking about: in the arts world, London is A LOT more fun and A LOT more relaxed than New York or Los Angeles. Also, London is a galaxy away from all the narcissistic Hollywood crap. Actors and actresses can just go about their business like everyone else, without getting mobbed by rabid fans. It's more sane, lifestyle-wise, and some of the best actors, musicians, and so forth, enjoy living there, so there's a strong community of working actors, rather than "stars." SO CALM DOWN, EVERYONE. The fact is, the people she probably hangs out with there, ARE more intelligent than the Hollywood bimbos, and the English are indeed more "civilized," in that they have a social code of conduct that's clear, and for the upper classes, it can be pleasantly polite.
As for her daughter's name being Apple, I think it's cute--"apple of my eye" and all that. Of course I always think of a Mac computer, so it wouldn't work for me.
Gwyn's biggest problem is her relationship with Madonna. Gwyn's kind of simple and straightforward, and somewhat insecure--a lamb, while Madonna is . . . well, don't get me started.
Anyway, I would save the pirahna attacks for the terrorists.
#23
It's considered bad form Grom. Just like you going to your local bar and trashing your family. You can do it, but don't expect others to hold you in high regard. As for Paltrow, I wish her luck in her new residence, working in English movies, earning English wages.
Posted by: ed ||
12/04/2006 23:03
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Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert informed the Knesset foreign affairs and security committee Monday, Dec. 4, that Israel does not intend attacking Syria. Like all its neighbors, Israel is bound to be affected by the turmoil in Lebanon, especially if Hizballahs pro-Syrian coup-by-demonstration succeeds in overthrowing the anti-Syrian government of Fouad Siniora.
DEBKAfiles military sources report that the Olmert government should be doubly concerned by Bashar Asads latest gambit, filtering Al Qaeda operatives from their Syrian sanctuary into Lebanon, there to foment Palestinian support for Hizballahs drive to topple the government in Beirut.
This ploy has surfaced in certain incidents of the past week:
On Nov. 28, Omar Abdullah, leader of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Tawhid and Jihad, was shot dead by Syrian border guards on his way to Lebanon with nine forged identity papers in his pocket.
Our intelligence sources report that Syrian intelligence staged the incident to signal relevant parties in the Middle East and abroad that al Qaeda is bent on a subversive operation in Lebanon akin to its Iraq venture - and it is in Syrias power to regulate the threat. The Lebanese media reporting the incident found no other motive for Omar Abdullahs death since he was a frequent traveler between the two countries and was wont to carry phony documents.
A day earlier, Nov. 27, at the Nahr al Bared camp in the northern Lebanese region of Tripoli, an armed Palestinian faction ceremonially changed its name from Fatah-Intifada to Fatah al-Islam. At the ceremony, its members showed off their new Taliban-style beards and said they had come to realize that the only way to achieve Palestinian goals was by killing all the Jews and their crusader allies.
DEBKAfiles Lebanese sources report the Tripoli region is under the thumb of Syrian military intelligence and its Sunni and Maronite Catholic sympathizers, who could have - but did not - prevent the ceremony taking place.
Then, on Nov. 29, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, Ein al Hilwa near Sidon in the south, saw a conference of the heads of the camps Jund Al-Sham (picture) factions. Jund Al-Sham, like the Islamic Army of Gaza, is an operational and financial dependant of al Qaeda. They discussed whether to grant entry to Palestinian groups from Syria - and other Arab factions, such as al Qaeda, the Islamic Army and Fatah al-Islam.
The consensus they reached was that such groups could not be excluded from the Palestinian refugee camps of the south or from Burj al Barajne, Sabra and Chatila near Beirut, because they were already ensconced in the north.
In an article published in Dar Al Hayat on Nov. 30, the Lebanese journalist Hassan Haydar asked: How is it possible for all these armed groups to cross the Syrian-Lebanese border without being spotted by the security apparatus of both sides?
The question was rhetorical. He knows the answer, as do DEBKAfiles counter-terror sources: As we have reported, Syria is arming sympathetic Lebanese factions in readiness for a showdown with anti-Syrian elements in Beirut. Its next step now is to transplant al Qaeda offshoots and affiliates from Syria into Lebanons Palestinian camps for three objectives:
1. To remove this incriminating terrorist presence from Syria ahead of a possible thaw in relations with Washington.
2. To radicalize the Palestinians of Lebanon so that in a civil showdown they will fight alongside the pro-Syrian forces.
3. To radicalize the Palestinian people at large, and so disarm and isolate the moderates - not only in Lebanon, but also in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as well. Damascus will of course deny deploying these jihadists at strategic points for destabilizing pro-Western governments and defeating peace diplomacy. But Syria also denies a hand in promoting the violence in Iraq by similar infusions
Two years ago, movie director Theo van Goghs throat was cut on a street in Amsterdam in the name of radical Islam. I had partaken in his last work, Submission, where we represented, in the most accurate way possible, the condition of Muslim women: tyranny, humiliations, violence. In this film, we showed Muslim women who had finally rebelled, talking to God in a tone of defiance. It made Imam Fawaz of the Hague scream with hate during the delivery of a vengeful sermon. My friend Theo, the criminal bastard, was subsequently riddled with bullets and stabbed to death with a dagger.
At the beginning of this November, the trial of the members of a violent Islamic network in the Netherlands entered its final phase. And an entire society today asks itself questions about the integration of its immigrants. While I reside in the United States at present--Im well-protected here--the invectives of the Imam still ring in my ear, calling for the punishment of Theo, and promising me a Divine curse in the form of blindness combined with cancer of the tongue and cancer of the brain.
Time has passed. After a bad quarrel regarding my Dutch naturalization and my resignation from the Dutch Parliament, I was rapidly rehabilitated. Here I am, once again a Dutch citizen, an émigrée in the United States. Whatever one may say of it, the United States remains in many regards the greatest champion of liberty. At the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, I have more time and more means to diffuse my ideas.
People ask me incessantly what its like to live with perpetual death threats. This question is most often asked by Westerners, with the naiveté of those who consider life to be naturally peaceful. Born in Somalia, the daughter of an opponent of Siyad Barrés dictatorship, I grew up in my country, then in Saudi-Arabia and in Kenya in an environment in which death invited itself without end. A virus, a bacterium, a parasite, a drought, a famine, a civil war, soldiers, torturers: death could take all forms and hit anyone, anytime. When I had malaria, I got well again. When I was circumcised, my wound transformed into scar tissue, and I survived. When my Quran teacher fractured my skull, doctors saved me. A bandit put the blade of his knife against my throat: Im still alive, and more of a rebel than ever before.
I remember Saudi-Arabia where, under the cover of purity, our most minor gestures were haunted by sin and fear: hangings, the cutting off of hands, women controlled and stoned to death, such was and such remains the everyday life of that country. The respect for the literal words of the Prophet is incompatible with human rights, in contradiction to philosophy of classical liberalism. Submerged in a medieval mentality, numerous Muslim countries profit from Western technological advances, pretending to ignore that these advances find their very origin in Enlightenment-thinking. Its this blindness coupled with hypocrisy that renders the transition towards modernity a most arduous one for the faithful. I quit the world of faith, genital mutilation and forced marriage for that of reason and sexual emancipation. I made the journey towards human rights. At present, I know that one of these two worlds is simply better than the other.
Some, in the West, find such a distinction to be politically incorrect, but its necessary to realize that it is Islam which is most traumatized by fundamentalism, not the Western world. Europe only feels the shock waves because of immigration and globalization. Its by making morality relative and by affirming the equality of cultures that a number of Western intellectuals embark on the path, without realizing it themselves, of self-destruction. Three concepts are at the heart of your culture: 1) freedom of the individual as an end in and of itself, 2) rationality, 3) separation of the scientific and the religious.
Created on a humanist base, your institutions are the expression of the life here on earth, while Islamic philosophy, rejecting individual freedom, submits the individual to God. On Islamic soil, rationality and science enter into a conflict with the Quran: any innovation becomes unacceptable. The government cannot be founded on the thought of man: life on earth, after all, is only temporary. Its necessary to invest in the hereafter. Islam is a cult of the hereafter. Such is the veritable schism with the West: the two world views are incompatible. I, personally, have opted for life in the here and now.
When I was a child in Somalia, under the tree where she braided, my grandmother told us stories and asked us questions, in order to know if we had understood the concept: being able to recognize the enemy, in particular. She told me: Its a very useful instinct. If you dont know what you have to fear, you will not survive. And when she caught me in flagrante delicto of incomprehension, she called me doqon! This word means two things: being foolish and naïve. We said, in Somalia: Stupid like a date palm tree! Dates from that tree are treasures, and the one who loses them is an imbecile.
No, Europe is not traumatized by Islam, but she is like a date palm tree which despoils itself, foolish and naïve. Things fall. She remains inert. Worse, she gives freedom to the enemies of freedom. At the heart of your beautiful West, it is the right-thinking people with a socializing tendency who do this the most, in the spirit of pacifism, voluntary blindness and conformism, when confronted with the rise of fundamentalism, when confronted with the aggressiveness of radicals, when confronted with the dangers of communitarianism. Stupid. Like the data palm tree. Please: dont be doqon.
Arab marauders smashed up a Talmud Torah in the northern city of Acco (Acre) over the Sabbath, painting Arabic graffiti and swastikas on the walls, destroying furniture, and scattering holy books.
The latest and gravest escalation in the struggle between Jews and Arabs in the mixed city of Acco, between Haifa and the Lebanese border on the Mediterranean coast, occurred this past Friday night. Rabbi Avraham Shushan, a rabbi at the school at which the vandalism occurred, told Arutz-7's Shimon Cohen that a worshiper who arrived for early Sabbath morning prayers was the first to discover the destruction:
"He saw the lights on and the windows broken. He went in and the sight shocked him. All the walls had swastikas, and the Arabic words 'Hamas' and 'Allahu Akbar' [Allah is great]. Destruction all over - it looked like Sodom and Gomorrah. The vandals went into the classrooms, dumped out the equipment, turned over the principal's office, and threw the Torah books in all directions. They took expensive equipment worth thousands of shekels. The worshiper went by foot to the police and called them to come, which they did... He told me about it on Saturday night, and I called Rabbi Yashar, the rabbi of Akko. He came and cried out, 'What is this, Nazi Germany here?'"
Rabbi Shushan said that in his 30 years in the city, he had "never experienced an Arab pogrom like this one... I don't know what's going on here."
Several days ago, a band of Arab youths attacked and cruelly beat a Jewish girl. Six months ago, local Arabs burned trees standing at the entrance to the Talmud Torah, and during the recent Simchat Torah holiday, Arabs surrounded students from the local Yeshivat Hesder [who combine Torah study and army service] and threatened them, until one student was forced to fire in the air to disperse them.
Knesset Members of the National Religious Party-National Union visited Acco a month ago, warning of the deterioration in the city. The police claimed at the time that the violence and clashes were of a criminal, not nationalistic nature.
"When we toured the city a month ago," MK Uri Ariel said today, "it was claimed that we are provocateurs and looking for trouble. This pogrom in the Talmud Torah proves that the bitter reality is that in the year 2006, anti-Semitic pogroms take place in sovereign Israel. The police in Acco must give an accounting as to how it is that Arab rioters feel free enough to carry out such a despicable act. We won't allow the police to evade its responsibility."
"We have no illusions," Ariel said. "We know what the Arabs are trying to do. They have composed a new Declaration of Independence, and they want to change the [Israeli] flag and anthem. The Arab citizens understand the trend, and they go out and paint swastikas in yeshivot."
In another city with a large Arab population, Ramle (near Tel Aviv), an Arab organization is renewing its activities for more say in city affairs - and is hoping to similarly encourage Arab populations in other mixed cities such as Jaffa and Lod as well.
Just this past Friday, the Israeli-Arab organization Mossawa presented a position paper demanding recognition as a Palestinian-Arab national minority and the right to return to Arab villages abandoned during the 1948 War of Independence. In what some view as a drive to turn Israel into a bi-national state, Mossawa also demands:
* Allotments for immigration and citizenship
* Educational and religious autonomy
* Changes to the Israeli flag and national anthem
* Appropriate representation in national bodies
* Special division of national resources
* Ties with other Arab countries
"They were overruled, however, by Olmert and Livni, who asserted that there are other considerations. "
Smells like advice/pressure from Rice again, who was just there. This attitude that if you hold hands with these muzzie terrorists, everything will turn out fine is assinine. If they were shooting rockets at her place or The White House I would think their opinions might change. But, who knows, maybe they wouldn't. Maybe they'd just curl up in a fetal position and wait for the end.
#2
One of the few levers I could imagine being used to achieve this result is that the Palestinians are threatening to kill Shalit if the Israelis don't ease up. You'd think this was a hard lesson learned long ago by Israel. NO NEGOTIATING WITH TERRORISTS. What with all the advance phone calls, it appears as though they've gotten back into the habit of doing this.
Shalit must be considered to be already dead. Personally, I cannot even believe that this individual is still alive. Even if Shalit could help them build a nuclear weapon, out of pure hatred, the Palestinians would still kill him.
Olmert, by himself, has shown enough equivocation to have been responsible for this daunting reversal in Israeli prosecution of terrorist activities. With the security barrier in place, rockets represent one of the few solutions that defeat its function. To allow such a blatant breach of national defense to continue unabated is manifestly idiotic. Irrespective of the rockets' effectiveness, they represent a significant psychological boost for the terrorists. The Israelis know well enough to disallow such morale improvements. Concomitantly, the Israelis should also know well enough not to demoralize their own fighters with such half-hearted repsonses.
If, indeed, this is a result of external pressure from Rice or the White House, it bodes very ill for any hopes of an attack against Iran. The Israeli situation is a pimple compared to the tumor that is Iran.
South Africa's most-wanted criminal has been captured two weeks after escaping from a top security jail near Pretoria.
Ananias Mathe, 29, from Mozambique, was detained last December on more than 50 charges, including murder and rape. Rape is pretty mandatory for any self-respecting SA criminal.
He stabbed a security guard in the eye with a screwdriver after being cornered in a house. He was then shot three times in the leg and captured. Police describe him as "the ultimate criminal" and launched a huge manhunt for him when he escaped.
At one point during the hunt, the police shot and wounded a clergyman by mistake after a member of the public identified him as the escaped prisoner. Oops.
National police spokeswoman Sally de Beer said Ananias Mathe stole a car fitted with a tracking device, and the security company that had installed it followed with the help of a helicopter. He abandoned the vehicle near a squatter camp north of Johannesburg in the East Rand. He was found in a house and captured by security guards after a struggle.
Ananias Mathe is the first prisoner to escape from the C-max prison since it opened 36 years ago. He reportedly escaped by covering his body in Vaseline and squeezing through his tiny cell window which measured just 20cm by 60cm (8in by 2ft).
Mr Mathe, who is said to have had extensive military training dating in Mozambique, first escaped from custody in April 2005. Shortly after being returned to the prison, a minister said he would leave again for an urgent operation. Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour said he would be taken to a hospital for an operation to fix the shattered bone in his leg which was wounded during his arrest.
RB Future worthy? Arsonists who enjoy burning down a festive Swedish straw goat may have met their match this year.
In the 40 years since the tradition started, the giant goat of Gavle has often gone up in flames within days.
But this year the 13-metre (43ft) high goat has a coat of flame-resistant chemicals, and the authorities are determined it will see in the New Year.
"No-one is going to get our goat this year," says a local spokeswoman with confidence.
Just 10 of the goats, which are built in the town's central square, have survived beyond Christmas since 1966.
...last year's goat
Some have been burnt down within hours of being erected during the first week of December.
The culprits are seldom caught. However, a 51-year-old American tourist spent 18 days in jail after being convicted of setting it alight in December 2001.
It is not the first time authorities have put their faith in a flame-proof coating - a substance tried before washed off in the rain.
This one is waterproof, says Gavle spokeswoman Anna Oestman, and while its paws could still be singed, a full scale torching would now be "impossible".
Goats have a special place in Swedish tradition, and it was a goat which in earlier centuries delivered festive gifts before Santa Claus took over that role. You know, goats have a special place in muslim tradition too, perhaps there could be a meeting middle ground somewhere... But, on the other hand, muslim do seem fond of torching stuff (cars, embassies, flags, uppity wimmen,...)... hum, I'm very conflicted here.
HT Drudge.
By TERENCE HUNT
AP White House Imaginary Friend Correspondent
WASHINGTON Unable to win Senate confirmation, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton will step down when his temporary appointment expires within weeks, the White House said Monday.
Bolton's nomination has languished in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for more than a year, blocked by Democrats and several Republicans. Sen. Lincoln Chafee, a moderate Republican who lost in the midterm elections Nov. 7 that swept Democrats to power in both houses of Congress, was adamantly opposed to Bolton.
Critics have questioned Bolton's brusque style and whether he could be an effective public servant who could help bring reform to the U.N.
President Bush, in a statement, said he was "deeply disappointed that a handful of United States senators prevented Ambassador Bolton from receiving the up or down vote he deserved in the Senate."
#1
Here's a hint George. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is going to make the Donks happy except your own resignation. Save us all the heartburn of wasting our time making excuses for you, if all you're going to do for the next two years is drop good people because the powermongers in Congress make noise. Face it. The next two years are going to be a fight [because you decided the border, spending, half hearted efforts in the ME, etc weren't worth paying the political capital to do it right - that's called leadership] or you can surrender and roll over. If all you're going to do is the latter, just resign today and let Chaney finish the last two years. It will be interesting times.
(Note: you do know, doncha, that you're supposed to Blame Bush, not Chafee, et al. Fuck the Constitution thingy, where the Senate Dhimmidonks and RINOs rule over such affairs - that's not personally satisfying or therapeutic for the raving fuckwits who need an icon for their frustrations. So, in their need for assigning blame, they've joined the BDS Krowd - Bush is Toast anyway. In essence, it's Fuck Reality, it sucks ass... Lol.)
#6
George Mitchell said to be 'on short list' for UN ambassador...
That's great, GW. New blood, not the same old hack face. What year is this?
Here's an idea. Don't appoint anybody. For all the good the place does, what the hell's the difference?
#7
Why is the Monty Python song, "look on the brighter side of life" going thru my head right now?
#define Black_Thought
I 'spose I should be looking up how to convert to islam now, and avoid the rush.
#undefine Black_Thought
Posted by: N guard ||
12/04/2006 14:59
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Normally, I would simply link to the fisking below of what passes for Democratic foreign policy -- an uncreative, insecure and envious stew -- and suggest you go read it for yourself. However, I know that many of you (we are soul brothers/sisters, after all) are as lazy as I am. Not to mention that its hard to believe you havent read this all somewhere else already. Which is true, but you havent seen it put together so succinctly. Im a sucker for spine-tingling bullet points. Thus, I am going to save you the trouble of clicking on yet another link by the cut and paste job I will execute below.
This list is not pleasant reading, but it is essential truth and Sunday morning is an especially good time for essential truth reading.
The article has already been widely linked; I picked up the first reference at One Cosmos, who had this to say on our fight to survive:
Suna Erdem, Istanbul
When Hakan Tastan wanted to amend the religion on his Turkish identity card, his enthusiastic championing of Christianity exasperated the official barring his way. Eventually, the official gave up trying to oppose the controversial change. Change this heathens religion and make him go away, the devout Muslim told his clerks.
More than ten years later, the missionary zeal of Mr Tastan and his fellow Christian convert, Turan Topal, has led to much graver things than being called names.
They face up to nine years jail after going on trial last week for insulting Turkishness during their religious work, under the notorious Article 301 of the Turkish penal code. It is the same law that put Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel literature laureate, in the dock, and which the European Union wants amended.
The case against two members of the tiny Turkish Protestant community has attracted criticism from the EUand cast a shadow over Pope Benedict XVIs visit this week.
Mr Topal and Mr Tastan, who are charged with illegally gathering information on people and insulting Islam, have faced public anger in Turkey, where a mistrust of Christians has been growing, fuelled by the Iraq war, the EUs critical attitude, the Popes comments linking Islam with violence and the Danish cartoons row.
At last weeks hearing, a friend was punched and bystanders told them to leave the country if they didnt like it.
Where are we supposed to go? We are Turkish. I am a patriot. I hang out the Turkish flag on national days and have a picture of Atatürk (the founder of modern Turkey) in my office, says Mr Tastan, 37.
There is a lot of misunderstanding about us here, said Mr Topal, 45. They think that missionary work is part of a foreign-financed effort to split the country.
Turkey is home to about 100,000 Christians, most from ethnic communities such as Greek Orthodox, Armenians and Syriac Christians, whose status is legally defined.
For Turkish Protestants, a community of about 4,000, that came into existence 20 years ago, there is no recognisable role. Mr Topal was one of the first converts 17 years ago. Mr Tastan, the son of an atheist and grandson of an Alevi Muslim, said that he read the Koran and then was given the Bible by a friend.
He converted during his mandatory military service. The pair and their lawyer, Haydar Polat, think that their indictment is part of a plot.
The three plaintiffs, young men aged 16, 17 and 23, contacted them through a friend saying that they wanted to find out more about Christianity. After two meetings, charges were filed.
The two missionaries were accused of calling Islam a backward religion and claiming that Turks would never become civilised unless they converted. They were also accused of trying to sell women and of possessing guns.
I dont mind going on trial for my religion. We expected to be accused and imprisoned for that the Bible says so, Mr Topal said, adding that Saint Paul was stoned for preaching in the Roman city of Ephesus, where the Pope held a Mass on Wednesday.
But some of those accusations are so revolting its upsetting it just shows the mentality behind the case. They have this idea that we are rich and get a lot of money from abroad, Among the accusing lawyers is Kemal Kerincsiz, an ultra- nationalist campaigner behind many of the high-profile 301 trials that have embarrassed the Turkish Government.
Mr Topal and Mr Tastan have forgiven their accusers. We have a woman in our group who puts up with so much from her husband who is a Muslim. But even she has to love him because the Bible says so, Mr Tastan says.
#3
The case against two members of the tiny Turkish Protestant community has attracted criticism from the EUand cast a shadow over Pope Benedict XVIs visit this week.
WTF? Only the Times could spin this this way. A rational human would see that this case PROVES the Pope's point and his arguments are true.
Posted by: BA ||
12/04/2006 12:14
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#4
What an unexpected equation:
Insulting Turkishness = Insulting Islam
Turkey's "secular" status is an oil slick of civility on a ocean of Islamic camelshit.
A Marine helicopter carrying 16 people made an emergency landing in a lake in a volatile province west of Baghdad, killing one and leaving three missing, the military said Monday.
Twelve passengers survived the crash Sunday in Anbar province, according to a statement. The military said a Marine was pulled from the water but attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, while three other service members were listed as "duty status unknown."
The military said the incident did not appear to be due to enemy action but was still being investigated.
#4
The CH 47 is use today is the D model. It does not leak or come apart at the seams like the old A and B models. It is the only aircraft that can operate at 14,000 feet with any cargo or pax.
The 46 is still a troubled aircraft. Its replacement, CV 22, is even worse.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/04/2006 22:21
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DAMASCUS (Rooters) - Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday to discuss efforts to form a unity government, the official SANA news agency said.
"The meeting affirmed the need to support the Palestinian people fully and work on breaking the siege imposed on them," the agency said. "Shoring up Palestinian national unity is also paramount in delicate circumstances such as these."
Haniyeh, of the ruling Hamas movement, is in Damascus on a regional tour, the first since he took office in March.
Hamas' exiled leader Khaled Meshaal lives in Syria along with several high-level members of the group, which is locked in a dispute with the minority Fatah faction over forming a new government.
Palestinian politicians say Syria has been gently pushing Hamas to compromise on the government issue, but Hamas leaders say the group is entitled to key positions in the government that reflect its dominance in parliament.
Haniyeh said in Cairo last week that talks on a government of national unity would not run into a dead end.
Haniyeh arrived in Damascus on Sunday from Qatar, which agreed to pay salaries of 40,000 Palestinian education workers for several months, helping to ease an economic crisis caused by Western sanctions.
Western countries imposed the sanctions to force the Hamas government to recognize Israel, renounce armed struggle and accept peace accords with Israel struck by the Palestinian Liberation Organization, which does not include Hamas.
Bubbling to the surface is increased open discussion of Iranian arming, training and funding of Shia militias in Iraq, namely al-Sadrs Mahdi Army band of thugs and the Badr Brigades that are more dominant in and around the Basra area of southern Iraq. The latest evidence being cited are weapons with Iranian manufacturer labels with 2006 date-stamps. Included are anti-tank rockets and precision-milled and shaped IEDs. But the IED moniker is a misnomer in this instance, because the armor-piercing molten copper explosives are designed specifically to defeat the armor on M1 Abrams tanks and retrofitted HMMVs. Theres nothing improvised about these explosive devices. And they are Iranian-made, Iranian-delivered and designed to kill American and British troops in their armored vehicles.
The existence of evidence is not new, though the specific evidence of Iranian manufacturing labels on anti-tank rockets may well be. Iran has been suspected of shipping the milled molten-copper explosives since at least October 2005. In fact, entire shipments of the Iranian bombs have been captured near the Iran-Iraq border earlier this year and reported on as early as March.
I think the evidence is strong that the Iranian government is making these IEDs, and the Iranian government is sending them across the border and they are killing U.S. troops once they get there, says Richard Clarke, former White House counterterrorism chief and an ABC News consultant. I think its very hard to escape the conclusion that, in all probability, the Iranian government is knowingly killing U.S. troops.
Iraq's national security adviser says he is shocked by UN head Kofi Annan's suggestion that the average Iraqi is worse off than under Saddam Hussein. Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie also accused the UN of shying away from its responsibility towards the Iraqi people.
The UN secretary general, who leaves office after 10 years on 31 December, told the BBC that the situation in Iraq was now "much worse" than a civil war. He also expressed his sadness at being unable to prevent the invasion in 2003.
Mr Annan told the BBC's Lyse Doucet that the current situation in Iraq was "extremely dangerous", and that he sympathised with the plight of ordinary Iraqis. "If I were an average Iraqi, obviously I would make the same comparison, that they had a dictator who was brutal but they had their streets, they could go out, their kids could go to school and come back home without a mother or father worrying: 'Am I going to see my child again?' Of course, back then a man watching his daughter being married had to worry about whether Uday would show up at the reception.
"The society needs security and a secure environment for it to get on. Without security, not much can be done - not recovery or reconstruction."
Mr Rubaie rejected Mr Annan's comments, asking: "Doesn't Kofi Annan differentiate between the mass killing of Iraqis by the security and intelligence apparatus of Saddam Hussein and the present indiscriminate killings of civilians, Iraqi civilians, by the al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq?"
He added: "I'm shocked and stunned by what Kofi Annan alluded to, that the condition was better under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein."
Asked whether the situation in Iraq could now be classified as a civil war, Mr Annan pointed to the level of "killing and bitterness", and the way forces in Iraq were now ranged against each other. "A few years ago, when we had the strife in Lebanon and other places, we called that a civil war. This is much worse.
"We have a very worrisome situation in the broader Middle East," Mr Annan said, linking the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Lebanon with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and tensions over Iran.
He admitted that the failure to prevent the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a major blow to the UN, one from which the organisation was only beginning to recover. "It's healing but we are not there yet, it hasn't healed yet, and we feel the tension still in this organisation as a result of that."
Referring to the invasion, Mr Rubaie said: "The UN, I believe, shied away from the responsibilities towards the Iraqi people in 2003."
#4
Saddam wasn't so bad - he made the trains ran on time. Or was that a different fascist?
And Iraqis weren't subject to kidnappings by Shia death squads - it was by Baathist death squads.
And they weren't subject to random roadside bombs and mortar attacks - it was focussed attacks resulting in mass graves for whole villages.
Yep, Iraqis were better off under Hussein.
#7
"If I were an average Iraqi, obviously I would make the same comparison, that they had a dictator who was brutal but they had their streets, they could go out, their kids could go to school and come back home without a mother or father worrying: 'Am I going to see my child again?'
There, fixed that for ya, coffee. Methinks it'd be a great week/month for Kofi to be carted off-stage (27 days and counting), both Carter and Castro to become stable, and for the MMs to dismiss Ahmadinijad in a surprising show of rationality. Of course, some call me an optimist.
Posted by: BA ||
12/04/2006 12:08
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#8
I hope five minutes after he leaves office, someone explodes an IED in Koffee's face. He has been the absolute worst person ever to serve in the UN in any capacity. The death toll attributable to his actions must be in the tens of millions, ranging from the Congo to Rwanda to Darfur to Somalia. I hate to think how many little girls have been raped by UN "observers" on his watch, but that must be a huge number, too. Justice demands this man's blood, violently and with malice of forethought.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/04/2006 13:06
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#9
Last year I went to Iraq. Before Team America showed up, it was a happy place. They had flowery meadows and rainbow skies, and rivers made of chocolate, where the children danced and laughed and played with gumdrop smiles.
Posted by: Sean Penn ||
12/04/2006 13:50
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#10
If you replace the term Iraqi with Sunni what he says is correct. But you know the Sunni aided and abbetted both Saddam and Al Queda so if they're having a tough time of it now, they can just bite me.
(via The Radio Equalizer)
Would you buy a bankrupt, three- year- old radio network that has already burned through enough cash to make a circa- 1999 Seattle dot-com run by teenagers look downright frugal? How about one that has generated mountains of bad press, is rapidly dropping affiliates and may soon lose its primary star?
Fine, we'll go ahead and scratch your name off the list, but any assumption that others aren't interested in one of broadcasting's biggest- ever boondoggles would be quite mistaken. What are the odds the network can survive?
Given the less- than- rosy outlook for Air America Radio's liberal talk operations, just why would serious buyers emerge, anyway? We can think of only one reason: a stubborn and partisan inability to admit defeat in the ongoing media wars. Beyond a handful of shows, so- called "progressive" talk just hasn't caught on with the public.
For weeks, Air America's remaining executives have been able to convince the network's bankruptcy judge to grant extensions to its court- imposed sale deadline.
#3
Jerry Springer: one of the world's most famous individuals...
Really? I wasn't aware of that.
Don't do it, Jerry. Chairs flying across the room and bull dykes duking it out over preteen hookers don't really come across to well on the radio...
#7
Dubbed/subtitled Jerry Springer re-runs feature on at least one channel in just about every foreign country. I know many, many Europeans who seriously think that most Americans are just like that. The few of us who are not illiterate hayseeds live like Baywatch, or some other stupid TV show, like JAG (I got that a lot).
"Ihre Beruf?"
"Ich bin militarische staatsanwaltin."
"Oooooooh! Wie JAG?!?! Toll! Geil!"
"O ja, ja, genau wie JAG." Sigh.
So yeah, it seems Jerry Springer is among the world's most famous individuals, along with hmm, lessee, David Hasselhoff, Fran Drescher, and David James Eliot. Depressing, isn't it?
#8
..Typical leftieliberal mindset - "It didn't work the last time because the right people weren't in charge..."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/04/2006 10:28
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#9
exJAG, you're aware of that, but I wonder how many americans know how prevalent and widely available is the US pop culture, especially when it comes to "music" and movies/tv shows? Us pop culture is in fact the mainstream of most of the western world, name a show, and odds are any given european will have seen it (now in original undubbed version thanks to cable, the New Jersey's linguo of the Sopranos cracks me up every time), and diffused pretty much elsewhere... much to the chagrin of the Elites, who nonetheless tell us that the "USA are a Nation without culture". And, yes, the vision of the USA is molded by hollyweird (tv), a mix between their liberal worldview, their mercnatilism (cheesecake, cheap gunfights,...), and PCness (if one judges from cop shows, most of the US criminals are white-collars white males).
#11
A5089, I don't think most Americans are aware of how much damage the export of our crapulence has done to perceptions abroad -- least of all the people who produce it.
Nor do most know how freaking hilarious Dutch commercials are. For example:
#12
along with hmm, lessee, David Hasselhoff, Fran Drescher, and David James Eliot.
As kids/teens, my sisters were big fans of Fan Frescher, can't fathom why; I, for one, was a devout follower of "Married with children", even with the poorly done dubbing; that, and the Simpsons, explains much about the wreck I am.
#13
Re: the "the export of our crapulence ", ExJAG, I used to absolutely cringe when I could hear the theme music from "Dynasty" coming from my Greek landlords' apartment, when I lived in Athens; just what Greeks needed to know about Americans --- we were all rich, violent and immoral. IIRC, someone pointed this out decades ago, in an editorial in TV guide. All people knew about Americans the world over was what they saw in our exported TV shows and movies, and what that showed wasn't a terribly realistic OR attractive picture.
#14
just what Greeks needed to know about Americans --- we were all rich, violent and immoral
IIRC, the "french" communist party used good ol' "Dallas" in their propaganda, hé hé... back in the post-WWII olden days, they spear-headed a campaign against coca-cola, IE the fear of "cultural imperialism" as a political lever.
#15
You DO know, of course, that "Ponderosa" is still BIG in Germany. When people learned that I lived in Denver, they kept asking me if I had a horse, and drove a stagecoach. Yeah, the world's perception of the United States is VERY warped.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/04/2006 15:36
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#16
When people learned that I lived in Denver, they kept asking me if I had a horse, and drove a stagecoach.
#18
Hell, when I went to Boston, as it's pretty obvious I'm from the South the second I say a word, people would not believe I was not a member of the KKK, DID wear shoes, and DID have heat in my house in the Winter. EVERYBODY from Alabama is a member of the KKK. And also I have never eaten possum.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/04/2006 20:31
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#19
Remember all that it is a proud American tradition to lie your fool head off when talking to gullible Europeans. Even H.L. Mencken bragged to some German friends that he had been given an alligator on a leash to take on a "pickaninny hunt" in Florida.
In the minds of many Europeans, American men are James Dean-types, and American women are Marilyn Monroe-types. With tommygun-toting gangsters, cowboys and indians abounding.
#20
Deacon, lol, not in Alabama, but while driving through Kentucky on my way back from Virginia I laughed my head off at the serious radio station broadcasting various squirrel recipe's and how it was a bumper crop year for them. It was a sad moment for me when I drove out of range.
Posted by: Jan ||
12/04/2006 21:00
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#21
Jan, off topic here but you haven't lived until you've had braised squirrel.
With Al Frankenless moving back to Minnesota, I'm hoping to ask him for donations to the local Boys and Girls club. Let's see if the prick finds that funny.
I see they took Franken's video down off google. He was admitting to calling up a reporter and challenging him to a fight. Franken said, "he was smaller so I knew I could beat him". Talk about a real fake man.
#22
lol, Jan. I always loved the time I met a girl at summer camp in N.M. (just outside of Santa Fe). She was from Arkansas (I was born and raised outside Atlanta), and she got all her friends to gather round me and asked me to talk. Jeebus, as if I was the one with the funny accent?
Posted by: BA ||
12/04/2006 22:23
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Faced with long-term increases in the segregation of its buildings, Seattle Public Schools goes before the U.S. Supreme Court this morning to protect the value of diverse learning communities.
We hope the justices uphold an appeals court decision allowing schools to use race as a small factor to break some ties in the school assignment plan. U.S. children of all backgrounds benefit from learning, playing and relating to one another in classrooms that are as similar as possible to the communities in which they live.
The Bush administration is joining in the attack on the schools' racial tiebreaker, which has been in disuse while the suit by some families has been in court. In a perfect world, we'd agree with ignoring race. Unfortunately, the country has a long history of conscious, legal discrimination once justified by the pseudoscience of racial classification. The hateful, comprehensive U.S. apartheid system continues to affect how communities are organized, where families live and what schools children attend. Some Americans think that, because most apartheid laws were gone by 1970, the issue is closed. Ironically, at the same time, U.S. troops are at risk daily over issues dating from the Crusades.
Biblical, Algonquin and other spiritual traditions speak of delivery from inequities after many generations. We trust legal remedies for segregation can end sooner. But with minority children still subjected to inferior schools, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund rightly warns a decision against desegregation in Seattle and Louisville, Ky., would abandon the Brown v. Board of Education ruling's demands for equal education.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/04/2006 9:13
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#2
Yeah, let's defeat racism by institutionalizing it.
The left loves its program but they hope you don't notice that none of their programs can be advanced without either lying about the likely results or without expressing it in contradictions.
#4
Geeez, something crawl out of the American Communist Party circa 1950?
You know if you build it, they will come. It - an effective disciplined public education system which focuses upon superior academic results as determined by employers and admissions offices which do not employ exemption criteria but hard-line results. Apartheid occurs because successful white, black, Asian and Hispanic families will spend their own hard earned monies to send their kids to proper private schools which the public schools are not. It is a separation created by opportunity through hard work and commitment to the idea that good uncompromised education is foundation of success for generations. Fix the public schools and the issue goes away, because they will come.
#5
Ya know, fellow Rantburgundians, Mount Rainier is a high eruption risk (50% probability/225 years), with God's own mudslide to result. Nature will cure most ills, given enough time.
Reality check: You wouldn't know REAL apartheid (or fascism or Nazism) if it jumped up and bit you.
On the other hand, if it closed your annoying little newspaper and carted you off to a long unpleasant meeting with some gentlemen in trenchcoats and truncheons (which REAL apartheid, fascism and Nazism WOULD do in a freaking heartbeat)you'd know it....right befor you soiled yourselves in screaming, stark, absolute terror.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/04/2006 10:44
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#10
Ironically, at the same time, U.S. troops are at risk daily over issues dating from the Crusades.
Biblical, Algonquin and other spiritual traditions speak of delivery from inequities after many generations
#11
"Apartheid" is very trendy this year, apparently.
First we had Jimmah's oh-so-brilliant analysis of the Palis self-inflicted predicament, and now the razor-sharp wits of the P-I have revealed that we have apartheid in the great state of Washington.
#14
Before you cheerfully condemn us to death by lava, ash, and mudflow, I'd like to remind you of a few installations in this area that would share our fate if Mt. Rainier blows:
Ft. Lewis
Whidbey Island NAS
McChord AFB
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
Jackson Park Naval Reservation
Camp Wesley Harris Naval Reservation
Bangor Naval Reservation
USNS Everett
Yakima Training Center
Believe it or not, there are actually a few of us out here who don't subscribe to the P-I's liberal pap.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/04/2006 13:50
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#15
Before you cheerfully condemn us to death by lava, ash, and mudflow
I may be wrong, but from what I've seen in various media, the Washington state is just plain beautiful.
#16
Yes it is beautiful, and we are just now winding down the 2006 Western Washington Rain Festival, Jan 1- Dec 31.
Nothing like watching an eagle come in over the Sound and snare a salmon; truly majestic.
#21
LOL--Well, if you put it that way, I guess I'm willing to sacrifice myself for the greater good!
Posted by: Dar ||
12/04/2006 14:55
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#22
McChord would be a total loss, but most of those installations are on the far side of Puget Sound, and will be relatively safe. The aircraft from McChord can divert to Fairchild (Spokane). The navy can divert to San Diego. Besides, the Seattle Light Rail disaster will stop most of the mudflow. Seattle DOES need a thorough housecleaning, though.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/04/2006 15:06
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#23
McChord and Ft. Lewis are right next to each other and in the likely mudflow/lehar path, and the Yakima TC is right in the path of prevailing winds, so they'd both likely be shut down and/or severely damaged. Admittedly, the other areas are probably somewhat safer, being farther away and north, but the entire Puget Sound area would be crippled for some time with all Seattle and Tacoma air traffic and shipping diverted elsewhere.
I'd expect, given Mt. Rainier to the south, Puget Sound to the west, and the prevailing winds carrying the ash east, that supplies and evacuations for Seattle would be routed north via Vancouver if trucked in and via Everett if shipped in. That's my 2¢ anyway...
*sigh* The P-I homepage has a poll on Bolton's resignation, and naturally 72% of respondents say he shouldn't have been nominated. I chose "the country is losing a great representative", which got 11%. Actually, I'm surprised it even got 11%.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/04/2006 16:52
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#24
OK, Dar, Sodom would have been saved for the sake of just 10 righteous men and 11% of Seattle is more than that, so I'll re-task our Halliburton Shake n'Bake Mk3TM earthquake/tsunami/eruption generator to Berkeley.
A volcano in the middle of the UC campus will look mighty suspicious, but probably less so than at UW-Madison. We can always blame it on global warming though.
AZ - If your idea of a sporting event is riding the tail of a slowpoke on the highway, think again.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety is bringing a new device to the game in an attempt to take out tailgaters. Call the ploy laser tag.
Using a new laser device that measures the distance between two moving vehicles, officers are citing hundreds of motorists with tailgating tickets that can run more than $100. And they are promising more to come.
"Tailgating accounts for most of the collisions in the Valley," said DPS Officer Michael Beaudoin, who has written about 100 tickets using the laser in the past year.
"The majority of the reactions I get from drivers are that they don't realize they are tailgating."
Tailgating is not only a cause of accidents, it is also a factor in many road-rage incidents.
Beaudoin said the new device is virtually argument-proof. With it he can show drivers exactly how close they were following another vehicle.
"I love it. It seems to be a great tool," he said. "It seems to be educating the people I do stop."
The device is sure to please people fed up with aggressive drivers whose cars fill the rearview mirrors.
But it also rankles some who think officers have better things to do.
"That's dumb," said Mia Hillery a 28-year-old event planner who drives daily between north Scottsdale and Chandler.
"It seems like they could spend money on so many different things. . . . They need to catch speeders more than tailgaters."
The Arizona driver's license manual cautions motorists to keep at least two seconds between their vehicle and the one in front of them. That's supposed to allow enough time to react if the front driver slams on the brakes.
Beaudoin said he regularly targets cars with less than a second of distance between them.
"I've seen people at 0.04 seconds. That is less than half a second," he said.
The tickets are based on a state law that prohibits "following too closely." It doesn't define tailgating beyond "more closely than is reasonable and prudent."
For Beaudoin, that means two seconds in typical driving conditions.
Beaudoin, who is assigned to the East Valley, said the laser is most effective just before rush hour, when traffic is beginning to get heavy but is still moving fast. Typically, Beaudoin sets up on Loop 101.
The laser is similar to a radar speed gun except it also can measure distance between vehicles.
Beaudoin said he sets the gun to measure the distance from his position to the center of a traffic lane. When two cars pass that location, he uses the gun to track the speed of both vehicles and calculate the distance between them.
The laser device, called a Lidar, is manufactured by Laser Technology Inc. of Colorado, which invented the radar speed gun. The Lidar is being used extensively in Australia, Canada and Hong Kong. The device also has proved popular among several police departments in Oregon.
Unlike radar units for tracking speeders, the Lidar laser is much more accurate. For instance, a radar typically shoots a beam that is 12 feet wide at 100 feet. By comparison, the laser beam is only 3 feet wide at 1,000 feet.
In addition to detecting tailgating, the Lidar device also can be used for speed detection and accident reconstruction.
The cost of a tailgating ticket varies in each Arizona jurisdiction, state Motor Vehicle Division spokeswoman Cydney DeModica said. Fines for following too closely in Phoenix are $115 plus any court fees.
DPS has nine Lidar units, all being used in the Phoenix area. But the department is looking at purchasing 19 more.
Sgt. Tim Bolger of the Highway Patrol Division said the DPS has an $80,000 grant that probably will be used to buy the guns, which cost about $3,995 each.
But he said there is one drawback: repairs. If a gun gets damaged, the department has no choice but to send it back to the manufacturer.
Bolger said the DPS is hoping the manufacturer will train and certify officers to do standard repairs on the device to reduce costs.
"We have the grant, and we are moving forward with the process," Bolger said.
Lydon Fitzgerald, 19, who drives daily between Mesa and Tempe, said the thought of a tailgating gun will make him more careful.
"I'm going to watch my tailgating. I'll be going, 'One 1,000, two 1,000.'" Arizona cities are on the cutting edge of using motorist citations to raise revenues. Abandoning accident prevention as the real motive, the effort is now to punish bad driving like they punish smoking, with "sin taxes". But the bottom line of more money has already encouraged things like shortening "yellow light" time at intersections, to catch more red light runners.
#3
The debate is already on in Oregon about these devices and the so-called enforcement behind them. Anybody with any common sense at all can imagine how impossible it is to maintain 160 feet between cars during even a 'mild' rush hour. I can't help but chuckle at the local debate when these are introduced to lefty California locales...
Posted by: Ike ||
12/04/2006 10:09
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#4
...They do that here in SC and ain't nobody gonna be driving...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/04/2006 10:48
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#5
More accidents are caused by tailgating than most people realize. It is dangerous, illegal and irresponsible. I drove professionally (Trucker) for about a year in the 02/03 timeframe. I witnessed more accidents caused by idiots tailgating than I care to think of. About half of them involved serious injuries or fatalities.
I would like to see the fine tripled for first offences and vehicle impounding (45 days) for subsequent offences. Remember, most accidents usually aren't...accidents.
#6
Okay Mick, I'm driving down the highway at 65 with a 2 second cushion...someone moves into the space, I slow down to reopen the cushion, someone else moves into the space....the guy behind me closes up cause I keep slowing down.....Why is this a safe alternative?
True tailgating is very dangerous, but, initiating a situation where people are weaving in and out is not a good solution.
For real life examples commute up and down I84 in CT.
#7
"I've seen people at 0.04 seconds. That is less than half a second," he said.
Cue John Kerry and how those "dumb" policemen are stuck in a dead-end job because of Bush. Seriously, why'd they have to put this quote in this article, except to make this policeman appear dumb?
And, Ike nails it. At 60mph, 2 seconds equals 176 feet distance. Not that I'm in favor of those who follow you like a NASCAR driver, but 180' of distance between the two only asks you to get cut off in urban driving areas. Plus, this probably just a ploy to make money for the cities anyways.
Posted by: BA ||
12/04/2006 11:10
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#8
Someday we'll all look back on this, laugh congenially, and plow into a parked car.
#12
Leaving reasonable separations on California freeways only results in three cars diving into the gap from lanes on either side of you. If semis leave a safety margin, six or eight cars jump in. So, this tactic is out in Kaleeforneeah. But, they have become greatly enamored of red light cameras. And fines are generally $300-400 each infraction. Cities love it. Really pumps the treasury.
#13
Agreed, SpecOp. I'd be willing to venture that's the standard SOP of drivers in any major metro area. I know it is here in Atlanta. Everyone thinks they're a NASCAR driver. You leave even 2 car lengths and, whammo, someone's jumping in in front of you.
Posted by: BA ||
12/04/2006 13:02
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#14
Arizona cities are on the cutting edge of using motorist citations to raise revenues
Hey, just like in France! See? There IS a common ground, culture-wise!
#15
I'm on Mick's side on this one. I stopped with no problem when I crested an overpass to find a sea of brake lights from an accident ahead. The semi adjacent/behind me did not. I snuggled over to the divider as his jack-knifed rig slid past me and peeled off my front right quarter. I got out and kissed the ground.
I'll leave my space in front of me even if people keep filling it; just because they want to take risks is no reason for me to.
And it is not strictly true that riding with a smaller gap increases the capacity of the road - it is only true if 1) there are no additional accidents resulting, and 2) it does not change the flow regime (effectively, from 'laminar' to 'turbulent' if you are dealing with fluids, which is a good approximation to traffic.) At a certain traffic density the lack of gaps to accomodate normal and necessary lane changes and slight speed changes results in conversion to 'stop and go' flow, which is far less efficient than even fairly slow but smooth flow.
#19
I spent a total of ten years in Germany between 1971 and 1990. If you ever left a "2-second gap" between you and the next vehicle, you'd be run over, literally. My reaction time isn't what it was then, but it's still pretty good. I haven't had a serious accident (except when I was hit by someone else) in 35 years. I do like to keep at least 35-40 feet between me and the next vehicle, when I can. Sometimes that's just not possible.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/04/2006 16:07
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#20
I once drove eastbound on route 80 during New Jersey rush hour for about 9 years. A space of about 23 feet in the left lane is an open invitation for any vehicle in the middle lane to take it without the courtesy of a signal. If you do allow repeated middle laners to take your front, the guy behind you pulls a gun.
There is just not enough road in many crowded roadways at rush hours to allow a buffer. Drivers coming from such competative driving into more relaxed country driving, will continue to grab every opening like they can't afford a second of delay.
My opinion is that the police should stick to crime and stay the fuck out of drivers wallets.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/04/2006 17:23
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#22
Another thing. Here we are at the brink of total war against Islam in about one third of the world, and to illustrate just how pie-in-the-sky off target our leadership is, they give a shit about tailgating.
Lunacy, cradle to grave, full court press lunacy.
#24
Tailgating is not only a cause of accidents, it is also a factor in many road-rage incidents.
Accidents and road rage are only the (admittedly mayhem-laden) beginning. There is a host of other extremely detrimental societal impacts (literally) that can be directly attributed to tailgating.
More accidents are caused by tailgating than most people realize. It is dangerous, illegal and irresponsible. I drove professionally (Trucker) for about a year in the 02/03 timeframe. I witnessed more accidents caused by idiots tailgating than I care to think of. About half of them involved serious injuries or fatalities.
This is closer to the point.
I'll leave my space in front of me even if people keep filling it; just because they want to take risks is no reason for me to.
And it is not strictly true that riding with a smaller gap increases the capacity of the road - it is only true if 1) there are no additional accidents resulting, and 2) it does not change the flow regime (effectively, from 'laminar' to 'turbulent' if you are dealing with fluids, which is a good approximation to traffic.) At a certain traffic density the lack of gaps to accomodate normal and necessary lane changes and slight speed changes results in conversion to 'stop and go' flow, which is far less efficient than even fairly slow but smooth flow.
Glenmore nails a huge portion of the problem with his superb analogy to fluid dynamics.
First, let's review ALL of the negative ramifications caused by tailgating:
1.) Vastly increased loss of life. Insufficient following distance is one of the leading causes of automobile accidents. DUI and excessive speed are some of the only other factors that figure more prominently.
2.) Greater damage caused per accident. Not just greater loss of life but also greater destruction of property. This has financial impact upon all of us in the form of increased insurance premiums to cover claims generated by uninsured drivers.
3.) Escalated vehicle count at accident scenes. Insufficient following distance is the prime contributor to much larger and destructive chain reaction or "boxcar" collisions. These massive accidents can result in geometrically increased loss of life and also result in huge traffic delays, another deleterious byprodut with immense ramifications.
4.) Injury and accidents due to road rage. While impatient tailgaters probably constitute a large number of those drivers that experience road rage, people who are needlessly endangered by those who follow too closely often can experience similar feelings of anger.
Retaliation frequently comes in the form of a lead car decreasing its speed in order to discourage the tailgating driver from endangering all parties. This can escalate into both violence, collisions and general congestion. Drivers who slow down are not to be blamed for the wrongs of those who deliberately endanger the lives of innocent people.
Furthermore, road rage tends to increase blood pressure, release adrenaline (and norepinepherine, a very damaging compound) and thereby cause a host of other related medical problems and costs while general decreasing the quality of life.
5.) Longer periods of heavier commute congestion. Tailgaters are among the very worst contributors to commuter traffic delays. They are more likely to obstruct or prevent smooth lane changes. The vast majority of needless changes in freeway speed occur at merges and interchanges. Tailgating drivers are frequently found in all lanes of traffic due to their impatience with cars in front of them. Just as often, they will not allow other vehicles to make necessary lane changes when merging onto or off of the freeway. This is a direct cause of traffic jams.
A quick examination will find that traffic tends to lose five to ten miles per hour in speed at or near merges and interchanges. Unavailable space to change lanes is a major cause of this.
A German computer study found that even just a few drivers making slight changes in speed can cause phase changes in traffic flow. The fluid dynamic model is exceptionally appropriate in demonstrating this.
" ...most accidents on freeways have to do with changes in speed.
... on a packed highway, their random speed changes can accumulate and ripple back to slow the speeds of vehicles miles behind."
6.) Heavily magnified environmental impact. Even well-tuned internal combustion engines tend to be least efficient at idling speeds. The congestion caused by tailgaters inhibiting smooth traffic flow plus the accidents these individuals more frequently cause both contribute to immense increases in vehicle emissions. The end result is many extra tons of pollutants being spewn into the atmosphere.
Fluctuating vehicle speeds have another disastrous side effect. Start and stop traffic represents one of the single worst driving conditions in terms of mechanical wear upon a vehicle. Needless commute congestion caused by tailgaters costs the American driving public untold billions in avoidable car repairs.
Another byproduct of this is depletion of resources required to replace all of these prematurely worn out spare parts.
Another form of extremely damaging environmental pollution comes from excessive tire wear. The rubber vulcanization process relies upon heavy metals, cadmium amongst them. This heavy metal is released in greater quantities during the additional friction of start and stop driving. Additionally, the rubber granules are a leading contributor to loss of traction during wet driving conditions. They act as micro-ball bearings that interfere with tire grip.
Traffic at reduced speeds also tends to deposit more oil on the roadway from engine and driveline lubricant leakage. This combines with the rubber granules to create another layer of traffic accidents, all of which can be traced back to congestion cuased by tailgating drivers.
Smog and air pollution have another costly consequence as well.
7.) Increased incidence of pollution-related pulmonary disease. Emphysema, asthma, allergies and a host of other serious and lesser medical conditions are all caused or exacerbated by atmospheric pollution. During the worst era of Los Angels' air pollution, the exposure caused by living near certain heavily congested roadways equated to smoking a pack of cigarettes per day.
Add in the health care costs and increase medical insurance premiums and tailgating begins to take a massive toll upon the public's welfare.
8.) Decreased workplace productivity. Commute related delays in arrival cost corporate America untold billions of dollars per year. It is not just individuals that undergo less productive labor. Entire meetings can be delayed due to the absence of a single person. The ripple effect of tardiness is incalculable.
This assessment ignores another dramatic impact upon corporate productivity. Traffic congestion also delays the delivery of materials. Ordering well ahead of time to circumvent delivery delays represents needlessly held inventory and decreased holding capacity for other goods.
9.) Accelerated wear to roadway infrastructure. Extended residency of vehicles on loadbearing road surfaces increases fatigue, cracking of tarmac and a host of other unnecessary strain related wear, including potholes which cause costly damage and wear to vehicle tires and suspension. This in turn exacerbates needless repairs, their cost plus the resource drain and pollution that accompany such destructive conditions.
10.) Over consumption of petroleum products. If you are concerned about America's over-dependence upon imported Middle Eastern oil, be sure to give tailgaters their share of the blame. Slow traffic and idling engines consume massively increased amounts of both gasoline and lubricants.
This in turn not only increases our dependence upon terrorism sponsoring countries for their oil but also drives up the cost of gasoline by needlessly taxing refinery capactiy. The additional expenditure for purchasing wasted gasoline also represents a very negative impact upon the quality of life for those who drive vehicles.
11.) Diversion of tax revenues for unnecessary remediation. Huge sums of tax dollars are directed towards the remediation of air pollution, fouling of the waterways by leaked or spilled petroleum from vehicles and accidents.
The cost of having tow-trucks stationed at the ready to facilitate rapid removal of wrecks and rendering motorist assistance during commute hours must be calculated as well. Factor in the cost of diamond lanes, on-ramp timing lights and all the enforecement of HOV (High Occupancy Vehicles) lane usage and another tremendous tax burden becomes apparent.
Much of the above pales in comparison to a final and most insidious sort of damage being done to our society from the commute delays caused by tailgating related traffic.
12.) Increased divore rates. You read correctly. Imagine the impact upon homes where the arrival each workday evening of one or both spouses is impacted by extended commute times. Ignore the additional cost of prolonged childcare while parents wend their way home but do not underestimate the damage being done by the lessening of quality time spent by parents with their children or even just their spouses. Marriages and families depend upon the presence of both partners. Even a stay-at-home mother or father still needs the moral support and simple time off of having their partner there to assist them.
Total up all of the lost hours of bread winners coming home late from work because they were tardy that morning or simply were delayed in traffic. All of this compounds what is already a precarious situation for many marriages and families. Neglected children are much more likely to engage in anti-social behavior or juvenile delinquency.
All of the societal impacts have caused a dramatic decrease in the quality of urban American life. I defy you to argue how tailgating drivers are not to blame for a huge percentage of the above listed problems.
Properly calculated, tailgating probably consitutes ten times the damage to our world that drunk driving causes. Due to its supposedly more benign profile (I give you the dismissive replies in this thread as evidence), tailgating is disregarded despite mountains of evidence indicating just how damaging it is to everyday life.
I support any and all law enforcement attempts to put a halt to this obnoxious and dangerous practice. Practicing a safe following distance adds less than one minute to your arrival time and performs a host of beneficial services to the world around you. Think about it.
#28
Zenster.
I'm a Master Mechanic, your list of reasons in #23 is good for the first five reasons.
The list from #6 om down is pure bullshit.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/04/2006 19:30
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#29
The list from #6 om down is pure bullshit.
Too bad they're true. I'm not saying that tailgating is the sole cause of all the items I've listed. Nonetheless, it can be attributed as a causal factor in all of them.
I'll freely admit, there are situations where I tailgate. However, in a majority of roadway circumstances, I DON'T. I've timed myself and see little to no difference in arrival time between good driving practices and bad ones.
I can show you an insurance form of mine that says "ultra-safe driver" as evidence.
Redneck Jim, if, as you've already posted, you accept premise number five then all the remaining points logically devolve from it. I'd be more than happy to see you or anyone else disprove it. Do you maintain that an idling engine is not in one of its most fuel inefficient states? Are you willing to assert that stop and go driving is not one of the most harmful common operating modes for an automotive vehicle? Are you going to argue that subjecting roadbed structures to needlessly extended periods of loadbearing activity doesn't prematurely weaken them? Do you dispute the link between reduced gas mileage experienced during commute congestion and increased gasoline consumption?
The commute congestion caused by tailgating acts as a force multiplier upon all of the other impacting factors resulting from traffic jams.
I was a big advocate of staking out the 101 around Sherman Oaks in CA, and shooting the first person who hit their brakes before 0600.
You're on the money, Phineter Thraviger. For some reason, most motorists are entirely unable to differentiate between braking and TAKING THEIR FOOT OFF OF THE ACCELERATOR. More than likely, the main cause is because, they're following too close!
Gently decelerating WITHOUT telegraphing your speed decrease to the following driver is one of the best ways to help prevent traffic jams. As I mentioned, due to most people following too closely, few people can actually practice this excellent driving habit.
Watching the roadbed from a friend's picture window, I have watched a single flurry of brakelights completely stall a six lane freeway.
#30
I have quite the commute driving HWY 285 into Denver from the mountains with the changing weather conditions and elevation. I just plan on a few hours time to get there.
I would like to see that folks have decent tread on their tires, walking into the local Safeway and seeing some of the sad tires on the cars in the parking lot scare the hell out of me. Also folks that feel a 4 wheel drive is good on ice is nuts, give me good studded snow tires and front wheel drive anytime. These 4 wheelers slide all over the road, it's interesting trying to avoid them and keep distance from everyone.
While tailgating isn't right, the righteous folks driving slow in the passing lane, are probably the ones causing alot of the drivers to do so.
and yes, I do have a radar detector, my bad.
Posted by: Jan ||
12/04/2006 20:25
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#31
...I'm driving down the highway at 65 with a 2 second cushion...someone moves into the space, I slow down to reopen the cushion, someone else moves into the space... Ya've been driving in Germany haven'tcha, Alan?
#32
Ticketing less than a two second margin is just taxation. #10 has it exactly right, you can never keep that kind of space in any kind of traffic.
Unless there is a collision ahead, what is important is can your car stop faster than the one ahead but not much faster than the one behind. If so, any interval more than your reaction time (less than a quarter of a second) is fine. Otherwise you need more; so, get as much as you can given the traffic around you.
If there is a collision ahead on the highway, get out of the trafficked lanes immediately and safely get ahead of the mess, before even thinking about anything else.
If that's too complicated for you, then follow a very large truck with as much safety margin as the traffic will allow without cutting in. Its momentum will keep you safe from anything that gets in its, and therefore your, way.
However many seconds behind another car often is meaningless due to traffic conditions. Look at the speed laws. Going ten miles an hour over the speed limit is permissible if traffic conditions merit it.
What I want to see is the highway patrol nailing EVERY SINGLE BASTARD who thinks it's hunky dory to hang 24" off of your bumper at 60 MPH. Even more important is citing violations of disproportionate vehicle weight following distance. By this I mean that an SUV trying to crawl up the tailpipe of a sub-compact should be nailed just like a sub-compact that hangs off the rear mudflap of a Harley. Both are intentionally endangering another driver's life for no reason at all.
Such morons would provide an endless supply of steady revenue for even the most depleted of municipal coffers. Cities that establish impossible to comply with traffic laws (as in shortening yellow lights) should be boycotted by all tourism and local business wherever possible.
#34
If that's too complicated for you, then follow a very large truck with as much safety margin as the traffic will allow without cutting in. Its momentum will keep you safe from anything that gets in its, and therefore your, way.
This is exceptionally good advice. Truckers (per my own observations about maintaining vehicle momentum) absolutely depend upon keeping their rigs rolling at whatever speed. The sad part is watching idiots jam the "no zone" behind big rigs. Truckers most definitely DO NOT deserve that.
#1
I figger the ten "Islamic Scholars" who said this are now on somebody's hit list. Can't be flying in the face of all the other fatwas amd tradition and stuff like that there.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/04/2006 8:50
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#2
The only way this will have any value is if they get buy-in from Islamic political organizations around the world. That is, having organizations from the Muslim Brotherhood to the Islamic Courts of Somalia endorsing this decision.
#4
As a result, the custom can no longer be practiced by Muslims. Now awareness of
this decision has to be spread in the 33 affected countries.
In other words, it will be going on until I become a grandmother. Maybe a great-grandma. The 3458th most high ranking imam will declare it a zionist plot and we're back to square one.
Next step would be for several heads of State to make a speech using the new fatwa.
Once that's done, the world needs to request a similar fatwa on honor killings (another even nastier aspect of modern Islamic culture which is not mentioned in the Koran nor in any of the strong hadiths but derives from the general anti female tone of many other Koranic verses as well as support in the Hadiths, Sharia, etc.).
Copenhagen 4 December 2006 Last night some people protested against the construction of Mosques on European soil by defiling a proposed site with pigs blood. A video of the act - showing the men pouring a red liquid on the ground, and speaking in English, was released to the media, anonymously. Until now the Muslim community has not allowed itself to be provoked to over reaction.
Scotland Yard detectives are now trying to discover if Litvinenko had any secret links with Islamic extremist terror groups, the London Sunday Express is reporting.
Their biggest fear, the paper reports, is that Litvinenko, who died of polonium-210 poisoning in a London hospital, may have been helping al-Qaida or other extremist groups get hold of radioactive material to be used in a devastating "dirty" atom bomb.
#3
Yeah it's an interesting theory. It's also plausible that Putin's thugs (KGB) planted the story of the conversion to misdirect
MI5 and MI6 in order to divert attention away from Moscow.
The only thing I know for sure is that until this story broke I had never heard of polonium - 210 and didn't know how deadly dangerous it can be.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
12/04/2006 8:11
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#4
It's a good Cold War conspiracy theory. Ludlum, Le Carre and the like would love it.
#5
That's what I was thinking too MZ -- it would be awfully convenient for Pootie & Co. if Litvinenko could be linked to Chechen/AQ thugs, discrediting him and alienating his sympathizers.
I am familiar with radioisotopes, having handled some in my research, so I'd add one other thing for sure: if I was trying to construct a dirty bomb, alpha emitters like 210-Po would be last on my list of goodies to add to the mix. External exposure to a bottle of Drano would do more damage.
#6
ExJAG - is that because alpha-emmitters are so weak they hafta be inside of you?
My physics is a bit dated.....
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/04/2006 8:45
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#7
Yep. Alpha particles are big, fat, and slow (2p + 2n). A piece of paper or skin can stop them, so you literally have to eat them before they'll do much damage. An organic chemist has an excellent discussion of the internal effects here.
#11
It is far too convenient to have Putin himself involved in this assassination. While an Islamic link to this plot might be compelling, the question remains: Who benefits most from damaged relations between Russia and the West, which includes torpedoing the Russian WTO ascension?
Let's look at what I define as the core problem: What is China doing if it is not preparing to go head-to-head with the US militarily (which is being hotly debated)? The Chinese have far more resources available than is being put into their buildup. Simple logic dictates that the smart Chinese play be a sideways (asymmetric) move, one meant to remove the US from the world stage as a dominant power. The same would be true of its biggest regional threat: Russia. My .02.
Posted by: Ike ||
12/04/2006 10:28
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#12
I checked out the link provided by exJAG. It's a very good explanation for those of us that have no knowledge of the subject.
Also, one of the commentors put forth a theory that I have not heard before. It states that he could have been killed by the Brits in return for Putin taking it easy on some Brit spies being held in Russia for treason. It seems very plausible to me.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
12/04/2006 11:14
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#13
The only theory I haven't yet encountered about the Litvenko assassination is that the Jooos did it. Po-210 is inherently hard to understand: Needs a sophisticated support network to generate a fatal dose, easily shielded from outside detection in transit, and in sufficient dose quite fatal and irretrievably so (no real treatment once ingested).
IIRC, the theory that Israel is behind the assassination has already been suggested by Pat Buchanan, perhaps most recently in a column he writes for...? Buchanan's theory was addressed last week here at RB.
Buchanan is alleged to be anti-semitic given the positions he has taken for the past 30 years relative to US support for Israel. I can offer no evidence to suggest Buchanan is anything but anti-semitic. Buchanan is a Catholic. So am I. Buchanan is an extreme embarrassment to me insofar as we are co-religionists.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
12/04/2006 11:54
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#16
A deathbed conversion seems pointless, but that was his business I guess. As for the ties to Chechen rebels they surely have more to do with anti-Putin then pro-Islam. I'm not biting the "He was building a dirty bomb and accidentally swallowed some." theory.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
12/04/2006 12:33
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#17
Whether or not he was a muslim, to me, seems like yet another red herring, just like all the news items last week about how you could mail-order polonium 210 from Bob Lazar (although the fact that the dosage used in the poisoning was four or five orders of magnitude larger than that was buried deep in the article, if it was present at all, after a couple thousand words devoted to laughing at the silly conspiracy theorists).
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
12/04/2006 12:40
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Also : "... Scotland Yard, which has been investigating Litvinenkos poisoning says it was unexplained death. It is worth mentioning that one of the first condoling letters was published by Maskhadovs family. At a web-site owned by Chechen separatists Litvinenko was called their brother, Muslim, famous human rights activist."
I owe you an apology (and to the RB folk). It just dawned on me that I've made a terrible mistake. Buchanan did not suggest the death of Litvinenko was the work of Mossad. It was the Christian gentlemen in Lebanon recently assassinated that Buchanan suggested was the work of Mossad. I am sorry.
(but I don't take back anything else I said about Buchanan despite my cred being shot out of the water by my own gun!)
Posted by: Mark Z ||
12/04/2006 13:55
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#22
.com,
Not sure if I am willing to beleive that he would make that kind of mistake. And why Polonium? Does it work well as a dirty bomb? Water supply?
I still think this is just another Pooty hit job.
I think the last guy was Dioxin, so they couldn't use that again.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
12/04/2006 13:58
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#23
Mike N - actually, I just thought it was funny, given the new bit about his Muzzinessiosityism.
A deathbed conversion to islam might not seem pointless to a former KGB agent guilty of unspeakable deeds who wished to guarantee himself a special place in Hell to better serve his Dark Master. Makes sense in an islamic sort of way...
Posted by: Mark Z ||
12/04/2006 14:07
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#25
So if nothing else the prick is a traitor to the west and his grave will be one other site for my to visit overseas, to poop on.
#26
The nice thing about his conversion is that I will never have to meet him post worm food.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
12/04/2006 14:56
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#27
You tend to find that people in eastern Europe who are anti-Putin, are also very pro-Chechnya. This is similar to the observation that people who are anti-Israel are also anti-US, for the most part.
Go to any one of many pro-Chechnya protests and you'll discover that a lot of those people are anti-Putin (or Russia in the broader sense) and they call Chechens their brothers. It isn't surprising then that anyone who fits in with this group would take it one step further and convert.
Such is life and you can't have it all. Anti-Putin and pro-Chechnya and pro-Muslim, or pro-Putin and anti-Chechnya and anti-Muslim (as far as that part of the world goes).
#30
Do the rest of you really think the fact that some of his victims, or indeed, some of the Soviet Tradition's millions of victims, were Moslems going to make up for the fact that the regime there is currently enabling Iran's attempt to obtain nuclear weapons?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
12/04/2006 15:39
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#31
Who made that claim, Phil?
Putty is our enemy. Livinenko was probably (certainly?) no friend.
It's the whole situation that the discussion thread's going to be a bunch of people standing around discussing whether he converted and whether that means he deserved it as if it were materially relevant to the case.
As I said earlier, the first "wave" of stories was about how Polonium-210 was really readily available, except, well, when you look at the details, it isn't.
The "Litvinenko was a Moslem" story just looks like the second layer of an onion.
The "work accident" bit looks like the third layer. Of course, you need to ignore that you need a reactor and significant facilities to manufacture and extract significant amounts of the stuff.
I wonder if the West isn't being subtly told... "you have to support the Mubaraks, the Musharrafs, all the dictators, both with what they want to do to their citizens at home, AND their citizens in the west, OR... there's going to be another 'incident' where 'those darn jihadi extremists' will get their hands on anthrax, or polonium, and it winds up someplace where it could cause a lot more than one death, or a couple dozen casualties in mailrooms..."
"Nice Biosphere, be a shame if something happened to it."
And everyone wants to concentrate, 33 messages strong, on whether or not Litvinenko was a Moslem and therefore a traitor to the west or something.
It's all useless.
Master of Obvious: If it's an alpha emitter, it's easily shielded.
And although it was on the other thread, Glenmore talked about the "work accident" theory. So what are the chances that Al Qaeda gets its hands on a lethal amount of radioactive material and only manages to kill a disgruntled former KGB agent?
Finally: If terrorism is a game of "let's you and him fight" then who benefits from the current battle between Islam and the West?
Who benefits from the Arab/Israeli conflict?
Who benefits from a western view that the Moslem world is a unified bloc behind the dictators that rule them (except, of course, for those extremists who think the dictator is a weakling and try to blow him up, but upon closer examination always seem to be in a group they sponsor indirectly. Like Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia... they're attacking us, killing our civilians, because we supposedly support the corrupt Saud Dynasty. When was the last time they actually attacked someone in the Saud Dynasty?)
That particular pattern, BTW, goes back to the Boxer Rebellion in China.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
12/04/2006 19:06
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#36
The comments discuss the article topic: Radioactive spy Islam convert?
You're throwing a shit fit for no reason other than you have an excess of straw and feel like a snort.
Britains oldest chain of Christian bookstores, SPCK Bookshops has announced it is to stop selling the Koran as it is inimical to Christianity, the Sunday Times has reported. The bookshop, which was established formerly as part of the 308-year-old Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, has made the decision to stop selling all books which are non-Christian.
The rethink in policy follows the societys sale of a majority stake to the St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust, in November 2006.
St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust is linked to the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Mark Brewer, the Texan lawyer who chairs the trust said, Stocking books which are inimical to Christianity, which without question the Koran is, could well create the wrong impression among some that we endorse the belief systems of other religions as equal or viable alternatives, according to the Sunday Times.
The trust will aim to bring about a return to the missionary roots of SPCK, and hopes to reverse the advance of Islam and secularism. However, it is believed that the move will offend a number within the Church of England who are working towards an easing of relationships with Muslim leaders.
However, the move seems to follow calls by the second-most senior clergyman in the Church of England, Archbishop of York, Rev Dr John Sentamu, and the Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali of Rochester to recover Christian values.
The trust says on its website that Britain has become secularised in recent years and witnessed an explosion of Islam. The site added that it intends to re- establish Christianity in areas where it has been driven out.
The organisation has also claimed, according to the Sunday Times, that England was an Orthodox country before the Norman invasion in 1066, and now plans to take over unused Church of England buildings to promote Orthodoxy across Britain.
The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, however, remains tightly linked to the Church of England and has kept a minority stake in the bookshops and two Anglicans sit on the board, one of whom has already stated his disagreement with the decision of SPCK.
Michael Perham, Bishop of Gloucester, said: If I were in charge I would not have issued this instruction.
Ibrahim Mogra, chair of the inter-faith committee of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: Islam is currently under the spotlight. It is misunderstood and has been abused by some who have carried out violence in its name. Now is the time for people to have access to the Koran and the writings of Islam. This will help people understand the faith and what makes Muslims tick, according to the Sunday Times.
#2
All of Christianity was Orthodox until the split, based as much on differences in language use between the Greek-speakers centered in Constantinople and the Latin-speakers led by the Bishop of Rome, whom his followers called the Pope, as on theological differences. An interesting reminder of the history of the development of Christianity, though. But it is appropriate that the chief books of competing religions not be sold by Christian bookshops.
#5
Ibrahim Mogra, chair of the inter-faith committee of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: Islam is currently under the spotlight. It is misunderstood and has been abused by some who have carried out violence in its name.
I repeat DO NOT try to understand what is making a muslim tick. If armed I recommend doing your best imitation of that scene in Jaws where Capt. Brody shoots the oxygen tank in the sharks mouth.
Shoot at the web gear and watch 'em turn inside out.
I fear that we are watching an ostentation of neo-Neville Chamberlains peacocking their way around the world these days, seeking new Munich Agreements that will promise "peace in our time," agreements that, if made, will be repudiated, or simply ignored, by the neo-Hitlers and neo-Mussolinis of neo-Nazi Jihadism with whom we shall make them. Like Chamberlain and the Members of Parliament who shouted down Churchill, our leadership seems to be desperately seeking refuge, however temporary and illusory, from the thunderstorms of war gathering on the near horizon. Groveling for peace, the national leaders of America and Israel seem to be begging their enemies for "peace in our time," rather than acknowledging and acting upon the obvious, or what should be the obvious, that "peace in our time" can only be secured by maintaining - and asserting - both the ability and the will to inflict a decisive and devastating defeat on any enemy.
Why do Americans, Europeans, Israelis, keep electing to high office these apparently altruistic people who seem to suffer the Neville Chamberlain syndrome, the willful delusion that the leaders of the Jihadist world, like us, want peace? Why does our leadership seem to assume that that everyone wants peace? That because we want peace, America, Israel, Europe, therefore Abbas and Ahmadinejad must also want peace? It is an immutable law of history that wars begin when one country or alliance wants war, conquest, and the countries in their cross-hairs fail and refuse to acknowledge that no matter how badly they want peace, the dogs of war will find them.
#2
The President must go to the United Nations General Assembly, before all the world's cameras, and give a speech, the essence of which should be this:
Islam.............F.O.A.D.
#3
The President must go to the United Nations General Assembly, before all the world's cameras, and give a speech, the essence of which should be this:
I have just signed legislation that will outlaw Russia Islam forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.
#5
"It is an immutable law of history that wars begin when one country or alliance wants war"
Not quite. War results when two parties want control over the same people or place, and they don't know for sure which one would win. It is a matter of uncertainty and communication. And the uncertainty part is of WILL, since the material of war is relatively easily predicted.
The WILL to win is created by communication/leadership. The West lacks sufficient leadership to generate the necessary WILL, and that lack is being communicated very clearly to our enemy.
Why is the West so apathetic, so blind? I suspect it is because to so many 'it's all about me'; that there is no faith in a personal future and thus no regard for any moral or ethical 'absolutes'. Islam does not have this problem.
#6
This is exactly what the Pope is arguing for in his reciprocity speeches. Maybe not as non-P.C. or succinct, but the same message.
I do wish that President Bush would use the 'bully pulpit' more, a'la Reagan. I know he has in the past, and we're better off for it, and he has used VERY direct language before too. Of course, I also realize that part of this equation is the MSM who seem to be stuck on stupid Vietnam era reporting. I won't be a handwringer yet on the Prez, for I've gotta believe that when he says "We will NOT allow Iran to get nuclear weapons," he means it. His track record proves that.
And, classer, forgive me, but what is FOAD? I know I've seen it before, but maybe not spelled out. Is there a page within the 'burg here explaining all of our internet shorthand. Most of the other acronyms I understand but haven't figured out FOAD (I think I know the first two letters).
Posted by: BA ||
12/04/2006 11:23
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#12
America, Europe, Israel, want peace, and we are busy trying to convince ourselves that the Muslims of Iran and Syria and the Palestinian peoples, at least the activist Muslims who matter, do too. But they don't. They want war, Jihad, conquest, empire, supremacy. This is no secret. It doesn't require a Masters degree in diplomacy, or years of service in the State Department, to see. It isn't rocket science. One needs only to take their word for it. They aren't at all bashful or shy about saying so, we need only assume they mean what they say. Death to Israel. Death to the West. Death to America.
Peace in our time = Hudna
As I have said repeatedly, we must take these bastards at their word. They spout about doing us great harm. Believe them and act upon that belief. Our superior weapons are useless without the will to deploy them and the determination to survive.
Our world is being thrown into the slavering jaws of a ravenous beast solely because no one in power can bring themselves to shoot the damn thing.
He lost me after that bullshit sentence.
Likewise, Icerigger. Islam has NOTHING to do with peace and continuing to utter such flagrant horseshit only emboldens our enemies with the notion that they have successfully pulled the wool over our eyes. The sooner Islam is stripped of its status as a religion, the quicker we can go about dismantling it part and parcel.
WE ARE TOTALLY INSANE IN THINKING THAT ISLAM IS NOT ATTEMPTING TO DO THE EXACT SAME THING TO ALL OTHER RELIGIONS AND WESTERN CULTURE IN GENERAL.
Islam must be put on notice that all further atrocities will be met with overwhelmingly disproportionate retaliation, be it conventional or nuclear matters not. Another spate of train or nightclub bombings must see an entire MME (Muslim Middle East) city reduced to ashes.
Islam has been allowed to act without being held to any serious consequences. The threat of spreading democracy throughout the MME would be all well and fine if we had SEVERAL DECADES TO ACHIEVE SAME. We have no such luxury. The clock is ticking down to midnight and our leaders are fiddling about with individual moral purity while Rome burns.
The civilized world must inform Islam that their fate is in their own hands. Turn those hands to war and be rewarded with the same in much greater measure. Islam must be placed under such gigantic threat whereby it finally begins to clean its own house out of sheer survival. Anything less will be used as a hudna to accumulate the strength needed for further assaults upon our freedom.
#15
We must regain our ethical basis --- the Golden Rule, Zenster.
In the days before weapons of mass destruction, it was all right to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Those days are long gone. Now, the rule of survival is:
I agree, destroy the enemy before they kill our families. Or didn't you get the koran's "convert or kill them all" motto? Cause if that doesn't bother you then pack up and move to mecca now before we set it aglow.
Ranting off. Let's get something straight here liberal, Islam's call for violence and enslavement of kafirs applies to you too.
#19
"Do into others as they would do into you. But do it first."
Have you ever heard of "pay forward"? Yes, amongst those who are worthy, youalways give the benefit of the doubt first.
Against those who have declared open war against you, give them the back of your hand if not a "free launch". Remember, there is no such thing as a "free launch".
A bit long, but I think registration is required, so I give you the whole thing.
OSLO -- Two months after he helped kidnap a Muslim cleric in Italy, records show, an undercover CIA officer boarded a flight to Norway on another secret mission. Two other U.S. spies followed a few weeks later and checked into the same hotel.
Shortly after the agents arrived in the spring of 2003, an Islamic militant living in Oslo known as Mullah Krekar received a warning from an anonymous Norwegian official, according to Krekar's lawyer. The message: Krekar, then head of a Kurdish insurgent group, was a CIA target and should watch his back.
The spies left Norway by the end of the summer, according to records of their travels compiled by European investigators. If the CIA was planning to abduct Krekar, like other Islamic radicals it had secretly apprehended in Europe after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, those plans were quietly abandoned.
But it would not be the first or last time that the U.S. government had sought to push Krekar out of Norway. For more than a decade, the Kurdish cleric had enjoyed protection in the Nordic country as a political refugee, even as he frequently slipped back into his homeland in northern Iraq to lead an armed separatist movement called Ansar al-Islam, which has carried out attacks on civilians and U.S. troops.
The case shows how the United States has struggled to deal with Islamic militants who are allowed to live freely in Europe despite being labeled serious security risks. Others have included radical clerics in London and supporters of the Hamburg cell responsible for the Sept. 11 hijackings.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/04/2006
06:39 ||
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#1
Why not bring back the Old West's "Dead or Alive" concept?
I'm sure a a reasonable sum would have bounty hunters chasing his ar*e all over Norway and back into the "safety" of his minions in Iraq. He wouldn't be suck a smart ar*e then.
#2
tipper - That's an idea whose time has come back around. But something tells me it would be more effective and efficient to start right here in the US -- say with WaPo...
#5
Garrot him and leave him hanging in the doorway of his mosque. Sends a nice, firm message. I doubt the CIA was behind this, unless they've gone so far downhill they're pathetic.
Another favorite trick is a large syringe full of air directly into the heart. Does wonders.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/04/2006 12:54
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#6
Maybe it is time to send the Provolone brothers - Vitobjorg and Guidostrom - to talk with the mad mullah. No violence, just a friendly chat about the cold, inhospitible Norwegian climate from two private citizens acting as goodwill ambassadors for their country. Uncle Sam would be grateful.
Following Pope Benedict's remarks on the relationship between faith and violence, a quiet conversation emerged. It highlighted a central question as the West increasingly attempts to engage the Muslim world: Is Islam especially prone to violence? So far, much of the conversation has focused on the violent reactions of some Muslims to the pope's previous comments. But, there's disturbing proof that a far deeper culture of violence pervades much of the Islamic world.
In a recent survey on global conflict, Monty Marshall and Ted Burr of the Center for International Development and Conflict Management found that of the 24 major armed conflicts taking place worldwide in 2005, more than half (13) involved Muslim governments or paramilitary groups on one or both sides of the fighting. What's more, among six countries with "emerging armed conflicts," four are predominantly Muslim and another, Thailand, involves a Muslim separatist movement.
Messrs. Marshall and Burr also rated 161 countries according to their capacity to avoid outbreaks of armed conflicts. Whereas 63 percent of non-Muslim countries were categorized as "enjoy[ing] the strongest prospects for successful management of new challenges," just 18 percent of the 50 Muslim nations included were similarly designated. In addition, Muslim nations (those with at least 40 percent Muslim population) were two-and-a-half times more likely than non-Muslim nations to be considered "at the greatest risk of neglecting or mismanaging emerging societal crises such that these conflicts escalate to serious violence and/or government instability."
#4
This is why islam needs to be destroyed - it's nothing but a hate cult that demands 100% total obedience from every single living person. There can be no freedom, no independence, under islam. Crush it like we did the same type of cults in Germany and Japan. It has no socially redeeming qualities.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/04/2006 15:49
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#13
While I truly don't wish death on anyone, this does make me chuckle. Imagine all of use conservatives spitting on his grave, while the lefties flock to it like John Lennon's grave (or the other Lenin, for that matter).
Posted by: BA ||
12/04/2006 11:58
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#14
BA, not that many lefties. Clinton, yeah, I could see them flocking to his grave, but not Jimmah.
#18
Imagine the dignitaries at dhimmi carter's funeral: Castro, Chavez, kim jong il, akmididmyjob, a whose-who list of paleo terrorists and the smoldering spirits of arafat and khomeni.
Some day the history books will chronicle dhimmis carter's version of Sherman's "march to the sea". It can never be said of carter that he did not do his part in laying waste to Western Civilization.
#1
That's why Global Warming is just the 21st Century's first religion. Facts be damn whether of Galileo or Lomborg.
"You will have no God but mine" isn't something just confined to Rome [circa 1400] or Mecca [today]. Just remember this when the Universities scream academic freedom. In practice, they have no defense. It has been and always will be about power.
Long article. Mods, please send folks to the link instead of posting the whole thing if it's better.
Perhaps a better title would be "Don't get caught by the US if you're a terrorist or you may end up like Padilla". I'll bet everything I own that he would prefer death to the life he's living now.
Good.
One spring day during his three and a half years as an enemy combatant, Jose Padilla experienced a break from the monotony of his solitary confinement in a bare cell in the brig at the Naval Weapons Station in Charleston, S.C.
That day, Mr. Padilla, a Brooklyn-born Muslim convert whom the Bush administration had accused of plotting a dirty bomb attack and had detained without charges, got to go to the dentist.
Today is May 21, a naval official declared to a camera videotaping the event. Right now were ready to do a root canal treatment on Jose Padilla, our enemy combatant. Hopefully sans anesthetic.
Several guards in camouflage and riot gear approached cell No. 103. They unlocked a rectangular panel at the bottom of the door and Mr. Padillas bare feet slid through, eerily disembodied. As one guard held down a foot with his black boot, the others shackled Mr. Padillas legs. Next, his hands emerged through another hole to be manacled.
Wordlessly, the guards, pushing into the cell, chained Mr. Padillas cuffed hands to a metal belt. Briefly, his expressionless eyes met the camera before he lowered his head submissively in expectation of what came next: noise-blocking headphones over his ears and blacked-out goggles over his eyes. Then the guards, whose faces were hidden behind plastic visors, marched their masked, clanking prisoner down the hall to his root canal. Woohoo! Something to do today!
#3
That traitor was preparing to murder fellow Americans indiscriminatly on a large scale. He ought to be recieving a daily beating before his execution.
#6
BP - that's a macro zoom shot of a destroyed nanoviolin. It would be invisible of shown 1:1.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/04/2006 12:29
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#7
But the defense lawyers questions often echo the questions interrogators have asked Mr. Padilla, and when that happens, he gets jumpy and shuts down, the lawyers said.
Ooh, nice technique! Wonder if they can round up some interrogators who look like the defense team, too? Heh, heh, heh!!
"His first major scrape with the law came when he was just 14 when he and six other youths attacked and robbed two members of a rival gang. One of the young gangstas was stabbed in the melee. He died, and Padilla, who had kicked the wounded victim in the head during the robbery, was convicted of the juvenile equivalent of aggravated assault and armed robbery."
#9
The NYT is trying to gin up support for this career criminal turned terrorist. The people behind this story are open enemies of our republic. They should be treated as such.
I read this before I went to bed. This is not unusual treatment. Mostly with a few small differences this is how high risk inmates are handled in many State and Federal Prisions. Nothing unususal or shocking here. Nothing to see move along.
Big eye opener for punks who think thy are bad ass.
#10
Well, I do agree this has gone on way too long. The proper way to treat captured unlawful enemy combatants is to interrogate them, give them a cigarette, then shoot them.
#4
Not me. I don't do call-ins anyway, and I wouldn't pollute myself by so much as sharing electrons with that man. I'd be less uncomfortable letting one of the trailing daughters work directly for former President Clinton (if only because the poor man would find it a true learning experience).
#6
..Dinner for whoever did it is on me.
That oughta get us an answer right quick. :)
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/04/2006 10:24
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#7
His goal, "to bring peace to the people of Israel", doesn't mean what most C-Span viewers think it means... He has a different "peace" in mind - for Israelis and for everyone in the West.
His grand claim to fame - peace with Egypt - came not from a cessation (or even moderation) of hatred or hostility, but from our pockets - he bought 'em off with our hard-earned taxes. A never-ending jizya.
#8
Goober is actually pretty easy to understand. If he can prove that America is wrong about everything, then America MUST have been wrong to kick his cracker ass out of office.
#9
Hmmm! I notice Barbara isn't rushing to deny the charge!
Goober is actually pretty easy to understand. If he can prove that America is wrong about everything, then America MUST have been wrong to kick his cracker ass out of office.
I disagree. He was like that back then, too. I think he's entirely motivated by a warped sense of piety. Sort of a "strength through weakness" thing. The weakest, the meekest, is also the most Christ-like. Baring our throats to be cut a) shows our spiritual superiority and b) will really convince the throat-cutters of our desire for peace and harmony.
This is the mark of a man more concerned with his image than with his deeds. For him there is no downside to his dictator-hugging act. The very, very worst that can happen to such a man is that he is remembered as well-intentioned but naive. When you, personally, are untouchable there is no way you can go wrong by being too supine.
Not that I've made a study of it, but I don't remember him taking a hard line toward Israel in the '70s. His stance there speaks of some disappointment. Perhaps he expected the Jews to be more Christian.
I wish I could recall where I read it for you but there was a recent scathing article on Carter's relations with not just Israelis (he and PM Begin loathed each other while JC thought the sun shone out of Sadat's ass) but with American Jews. Apparently, Dem Big Wig Bob Shrum quit because he thought Carter disliked Jews. Several other Dems got the same vibe.
Unlike crotchety ol' paranoid Nixon, Carter never did a thing for Jews and that ptoves his Juden Hass is heartfelt.
#11
I don't necessarily want jimmah dead, just crushed between a concrete wall and an M1 in a slide. Six to eight hours of suffering before he croaks would be just a meager partial payback for all the sh$$ he put the 1970's military through.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/04/2006 14:45
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#12
I would like to see Jimmuh Cahtuh disembowled and strangled with his own entrails. Not to put too fine a point on it.
I wouldn't have been nearly as polite to that festering boil on America's ass.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/04/2006 19:44
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#17
So it wasn't any of the "Prominent Womyn Of Rantburg"... all props anyway. There must be hundreds of thousands of us who despise his pseudo-pious, poor-mouthing, dictator-embracing, worthless ass.
#20
lol, dot! I just love it that our "Prominent Womyn of Rantburg" have more testosterone coursing through their veins than Jimmuh does, and can serve tea and crumpets (in TW's case) with the best of 'em, to boot! What a place....hear, hear for the 'burg!
Posted by: BA ||
12/04/2006 22:42
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#21
And they all look better 'n Ava Gardner to boot, w00t!
Brains, Beauty, Bawdy, Bruising, Blogoriffic - you know it when the "bring on the love", lol.
Hat tip Gateway Pundit. The link is to him; I can't find the AP link.
Japan's Satoko Urata, left, stands by as Iraq's Lida Agasi spikes the ball during the 15th Asian Games beach volleyball competition in Doha Saturday, Dec. 2, 2006.
Beach volleyball's penchant for bikinis has touched off a bit of a cultural clash in this conservative Muslim city, which by hosting the Asian Games, is trying to bolster its bid to bring the 2016 Summer Olympics to the Middle East. Though 16 Muslim nations are represented at the Asian Games, only one, Iraq, is competing in women's beach volleyball. And its team, sisters Lisa and Lida Agasi, are Christians. (AP Photo/Han Guan Ng)
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/04/2006
00:02 ||
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#1
Congratulations to the Iraqi girls on their achievement, and the normalcy in which it occurs!
Two Australian men arrested in Yemen in October have been released without charge. The two brothers - Mohammed and Abdullah Ayub, aged 19 and 21 - were alleged to have been involved in smuggling weapons to Islamist militia in Somalia.
The Ayub brothers are the sons of Abdul Rahim Ayub, a man allegedly linked to Jemaah Islamiah (JI). The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) overnight confirmed that the pair have been released unconditionally.
But a third Australian, Marek Samulski from Sydney, remains in custody. Mr Samulski's lawyer, Stephen Hopper, says it is just a matter of processing before his client is released. Mr Hopper says there is no inference to be drawn from the fact his client remains in custody. "All that means that the processes in relation to those boys finished before my client. That's the only conclusion that can be drawn at this stage," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/04/2006
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#1
My old cobbers Mohammed and Abdullah? Of course they're innocent!! Struth!! And their Mum is a real laugh. Crikey, I was sayin' to me old mate Bruce, over a vegimite sandwich, that we oughtta look up our old mates Abdullah and Mohammed. Probly see em next week. At Cronulla. Should be a riot. Struth.
Nato forces in southern Afghanistan say they have killed about 70 Taleban fighters following an ambush. Troops fought a four-hour battle after a large-scale insurgent attack near the town of Musa Qala in Helmand Province, the alliance says.
British troops recently brokered a truce with rebels to allow local forces in Musa Qala to police the area. The attack happened outside the area of Musa Qala covered by the deal struck in October between British forces, Taleban fighters and local elders. The attack may fuel suspicions the Taleban use Musa Qala as a safe haven, a BBC correspondent in Kabul says. Why yes, it just might.
A Danish patrol serving alongside British troops came under fire outside Musa Qala and called in air support, a Nato spokesman said. Between 70 and 80 suspected Taleban died in the battle and no Nato troops were killed, he added. There's an excellent kill ratio -- 80 to 0!
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/04/2006
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#2
WORLDNEWS.com/OTHERS > SAUDIS + IRANIANS PREPARE FOR WAR, wid each other iff and when Amer milfors pullout or "re-deploy". Ironically, the Iranians are almost thanking = saluting America for destroying the Taliban and Saddam. Guess this means to expect FLOWERS + TEARS OD SADNESS FROM IRAN AT OUR FUNERAL(S) AFTER IRAN KILLS US!?
#3
British troops recently brokered a truce with rebels to allow local forces in Musa Qala to police the area.
Hopefully British Officers will get it into their thick heads that you can't broker deals with these chimps. Back into Musa Qala we go...
Posted by: Howard UK ||
12/04/2006 4:04
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#4
The MSM will report, "Dozens of peaceful Muslim terrorist die after NATO attacks a mass gay Islamic wedding ceremony".
Cause we know the Islamic PR MSM victimhood news services never report Muslim terrorists being killed. I'd look like we might be winning and the Dhimmicrats can't stand that.
#5
The press release from NATO does NOT specify any Talibs killed numbers. My worry is that these numbers are the result of a follow up call in which some PAO guesstimates the killed just to answer the questions. At this point, I'm not using the number in my totals.
NATO is really sloppy compared to Central Command or MNF-Iraq with its reports. The Brits themselves never report enemy losses, only their own.
Yeah, elections, that's just what Haiti needs, they'll get everything straightened out right after they have elections.
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Four Haitians were killed during voting in municipal elections Sunday, while UN peacekeepers fired tear gas to quell a disturbance at one polling station.
The voting for mayors and local representatives showed a weak turnout amid a handful of disruptive incidents, mainly scuffles between Haitians and local authorities, according to reports and AFP reporters, but officials were pleased.
The voting went well generally, said Jacques Bernard, director of the election council. "Except for the dead guys; things didn't go well for them."
Among the four people killed by gunshots around the country was an off-duty police officer in the capital of the impoverished Caribbean nation.
One person was killed when a polling station in northern Limonade came under fire by unknown assailants. The men first set fire to the polling place with a Molotov cocktail. One of them was wounded by a joint response of Haitian police and UN forces. Election council president Max Mathurin blamed the incidents on partisan zealots looking to sway the vote.
Some 29,000 candidates were vying for 1,420 positions in the vote, according to Bernard. More than 6,500 UN soldiers, 1,900 international police and 4,500 Haitian police officers provided security for some 3.5 million Haitians eligible to vote.
The first results of the elections are not expected before December 9 and the final results not until the second week in January, Bernard told AFP. The elections will complete a series of polls that began last February.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - An election monitor in Bahrain said on Sunday there was circumstantial evidence that pro-government Sunni Muslims used fraud to win a majority of seats in the US allys parliament. The island kingdoms incoming legislature is dominated by religious hardliners who are split between Islams Sunni and Shia sects.
Abdulla Al Derazi of the Bahrain Human Rights society said it appeared that at least three liberal opposition candidates in this kingdom were defeated by fraudulent means in Saturdays runoff election. The opposition, led by the countrys majority Shias, won just two of 11 runoff races, leaving them three seats short of a majority in parliaments elected lower house.
Calls made to a pair of government spokesmen went unanswered on Sunday, but Minister of Information Mohammed Abdel Ghaffar has downplayed previous reports of irregularities, saying the vote was largely fair and problems were minor.
Al Derazi, whose organization was tasked by the government to monitor the balloting in this Gulf island nation, said there were widespread reports of soldiers being ordered to vote for pro-government candidates, as well as some 8,000 floating Chicago voters without addresses who were reportedly sent to tip the balance in the tightest races.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
Jee, sounds just like Nuu Joisey! Whats wrong wid dat????
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/04/2006 14:14
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See! See what happens when you don't hire Jimmy Carter to shill for your election! You get caught!
If him and Desmond Tutu and Bianca Jagger were around to keep an eye on things, they would've went fine. But noooooooooooooooo!
At least you never would've heard about this shit.
From the editor of the Boston Herald:
When a company defrauds its customers, or delivers shoddy goods, the customers sooner or later are going to take their business elsewhere. But if that company has a virtual monopoly, and offers something its customers must have, they may have no choice but to keep taking it. Thats when the customers, en masse, need to raise a stink. Thats when someone else with the resources needs to seriously consider whether the time is ripe to compete.
The Associated Press is embroiled in a scandal. Conservative bloggers, the new media watchdogs, lifted a rock at the AP. The AP is making up war crimes. But the resulting stink in the blogosphere has barely wrinkled a nose in the mainstream press. The ethics-obsessed Poynter Institute seems to be oblivious to it.
It has to do with the APs Iraqi stringers and an oft-quoted Iraqi police captain named Jamil Hussein. Problem is, the Iraqi police say Capt. Hussein does not exist. When the AP was forced to acknowledge this situation, it did so in a story about a new Interior Ministry policy regarding false reports. The AP buried the fact that its own false report prompted this new policy. The AP stands by its reporting.. The AP has cast Capt. Jamil Hussein simply as someone not authorized to speak, and AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll has sniffed morally: Good reporting relies on more than government-approved sources.
The AP has another Iraqi stringer problem. Photographer Bilal Hussein is in U.S. custody, and the AP has been clamoring indignantly for his release. AP reports have buried the U.S. explanation that Hussein is being held without charge because - quite aside from producing photos that showed him to be overly intimate with terrorists in Fallujah - he was in an al-Qaeda bomb factory, with an al-Qaeda bombmaker, with traces of explosives on his person when he was arrested.
The AP, once a just-the-facts news delivery service, has lost its rudder. It has become a partisan, anti-American news agency that seeks to undercut a wartime president and American soldiers in the field. It is providing fraudulent, shoddy goods. It doesnt even recognize it has a problem.
This is the point at which, another big American industry learned, people start buying Japanese. But as an American newspaper, if you want to provide your readers with affordable regional, national and international news, you have to deal with the AP.
If newspapers dont have an alternative, readers do. Its called the Internet. Thats why newspapers, if they dont want to be dragged further into irrelevance and disrepute, have to tell The Associated Press they are dissatisfied with its product.
#2
That last sentence would be good advice if there was a shred of evidence newspapers really were dissatisfied with AP. Or Reuters. Or cared about "irrelevance and disrepute" or indeed anything except their own corrosive agenda.
#3
The AP, once a just-the-facts news delivery service, has lost its rudder. It has become a partisan, anti-American news agency that seeks to undercut a wartime president and American soldiers in the field. It is providing fraudulent, shoddy goods. It doesnt even recognize it has a problem.
Wow. The pot calling the kettle ... a pot.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/04/2006 5:59
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If newspapers dont have an alternative, readers do. Its called the Internet. Thats why newspapers, if they dont want to be dragged further into irrelevance and disrepute, have to tell The Associated Press they are dissatisfied with its product.
Demographics are catching up as well. The average age of the dead tree and open broadcast MSM is sailing above 50 years without any sign of change of direction. Meanwhile, each new generation is more and more adept and comfortable with this new fangled technology. To paraphrase Darwin - adapt or die. However, to adapt means you compete on a level playing field with the competition which could be some nerd or nerdette with just the basic equipment and no overhead. Couldn't happen to a nicer group of people. Heh.
#1
WHITE GUILT??? See TONY BROWN'S JOURNAL on PBS > Activist > USA [and only USA?] can answer to its alleged PAST, RECENT + ON-GOING horrific crimes = "crimes agz humanity" agz African-Americans, Muslims + Indians by:
1. PUBLICLY ADMITTING + APOLOGIZING to horrific ethnic crimes, including WILFUL GENOCIDE + LANDS THEFT.
2. After (1), US GOVT to unilater put up WIDESPREAD, NATION-WIDE PUBLIC MEMORIALS to said Crimes + past.
3. MASSIVE PUBLIC INFORMATION + INTEGRATED PUBLIC EDUCATION CAMPAIGN - from kiddie schools to University-level.
4. UNIVERSAL LIFETIME ENTITLEMENTS, including but not limited to FREE EDUCATION, JOBS, LIFETIME PUBLIC ASSISTANCE, SPECIAL/UNIQUE CITIZEN STATUS, and SELF-GOVT = LANDS "SET-ASIDES" where US Fed-State Laws have no say or effect.
Weirdly and mysteriously, but only co-incidentally and PCorrectly, America is the only nation that has to do these things - Blacks, Muslims, and Indians whom killed = enslaved 00K's-Milyuuhns of their own, EVEN BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF WHITE EUROS, don't have to do any of same. *MEL GIBSON'S "APOCALYPTO" > WHITEY, and only Whitey, is per se, de facto, undeniably and unequivocally responsible for Other Indians wiping out the Maya before any Euros even set foot in the Americas. D *** YOU, CORTEZ and PIZARRO!?
#2
It's worse in Australia, both the government money and special rights assigned to Aboriginals.
Having said that, the lot of remote aboriginals is dismal. I've worked with them and had several conversations with one of the last wild aboriginals in Australia. His family group lived in a remote area without contact with white people until missionaries found them when he was 10 years old. An extremely nice man BTW. And as a comment on the advantages of civilization, both his sons were over foot taller than him.
Scotland Yard officers are to fly to Russia to interview three businessmen among the last people to have seen Alexander Litvinenko alive before he was given a huge dose of radioactive poison.
Detectives of the newly-formed counter-terrorism command may arrive in Moscow as early as today to question the trio, as well as two other men who may have met Mr Litvinenko during a visit to London. They have already interviewed Boris Berezovsky, the oligarch who employed Mr Litvinenko after they fled to Britain from Russia six years ago. Mr Berezovsky is convinced that his friend was assassinated on the orders of the Kremlin. "Alexander was my friend," he said. "I don't want to comment any more until after the police investigation."
Police are understood to be interested in the movements of at least two visiting Russians whose names have not emerged in public.
Detectives are also said to have travelled to Washington last week to interview a former KGB agent, Yuri Shvets, who said he had vital information on the case. He told the Observer that Mr Litvinenko had claimed to possess a dossier containing damaging revelations about the Kremlin.
John Reid, the home secretary, said yesterday the investigation would expand wherever necessary. "The police will follow wherever this investigation leads inside or outside of Britain." He declined to comment on motives for the poisoning. "The worst thing we can do is speculate," he said. "This isn't a game of Cluedo."
(KUNA) -- Sheikh Yassin Al-Harab, a Muslim cleric at Martyr Mohammad Sadiq Al-Sadr office, was assassinated Sunday by the hands of masked gunmen, said a security source. I'm guessing this was the origin of the rumor that Tater was bumped off yesterday...
The source told KUNA that the victim was shot dead in front of his house in Al-Askari neighborhood northern Najaf. According to the source the murderers fled the scene and the investigations were still conducted to determine who was behind this crime. Despite local, regional, and international calls to stop the Pandemonium here, Iraq still witnesses daily images of chaos.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/04/2006
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#1
Sunni? Shia? Unitarian? Methodist? Buddist?
Anybody care?
Oh, in Sadr's office? Guess that makes him a Shia. So near, and yet so far.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/04/2006 6:02
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They missed Tater? I knew it was to good to be true but at least it will put the Simian for Sharia spinning in his diaper hat.
#3
Omar at IraqtheModel emailed to say that the source of the Sadr's Dead rumor, albasrah.net, is not trustworthy and probably insurgent (Sunni, I presume) propaganda.
#4
Keep whacking any reasonably competent subordinates of Tater. Help promote the weakest - in the long run it will be the most effective way to weaken the whole organization. Sort of the reverse process of 'culling the herd.'
#7
Help promote the weakest
That's what hereditary leaderships like Tater's already do. Can't wait to learn what idiocy the third generation of Kims will reveal.
Posted by: ed ||
12/04/2006 22:44
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TOKYO (AP) - Four ex-employees of a Japanese company admitted illegally exporting measuring devices that can be converted for use in producing nuclear weapons, a company spokesman said Monday.
Former Mitutoyo Corp. President Kazusaku Tezuka and three other men admitted the prosecutors' charges against them on the opening day of their trial, Mitutoyo spokesman Kazutoshi Sato said. Mitutoyo issued a statement last month admitting the company broke export and foreign exchange laws in the case, which involves the alleged export of three-dimensional measuring devices without proper government authorization.
The company, which is also a defendant in the trial, said it would not contest the charges and pledged to cooperate fully with the investigation. ``We deeply regret the inconvenience and problems this matter has caused,'' Sato said. ``We are continuing our restructuring efforts to prevent it from happening again.''
Prosecutors suspect the company of exporting two of the devices illegally to its subsidiary in Malaysia via Singapore in 2001. The devices measure cylinders with great precision and can be used on centrifuges employed in uranium enrichment, a process that can produce civilian nuclear fuel or fissile material for a nuclear weapon, government officials say. Malaysia being part of the Khan conspiracy.
Though Malaysia is not on Japan's export blacklist, Japanese laws still require companies to get government authorization for sensitive exports valued at over $8,500 regardless of the country.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
Anything for a buck, I guess.
Wasn't it Mitsubishi who sold some high precision milling equipment to the USSR that allowed them to create quiet propellers for their subs?
#5
Most people think of Mitsubishi as a car manufacturer, not a submarine-propeller milling machine outfit. I remember them as the manufacturer of the well-known Japanese fighter of WW II, the Zero.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/04/2006 7:03
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Fears? The only one with any fear might be Castro himself. And maybe those on the take from him.
With fireworks over Havana harbour and the first military parade of this century, hundreds of thousands of Cubans turned out yesterday for Fidel Castro's belated 80th birthday party, but the veteran leader did not appear.
No one had said he would, but there had been hints, including one from vice-president Carlos Lage, who said in advance that "we will have him among us" but left it open as to whether he meant yesterday or simply for ever. The Comandante's absence strongly suggested that his illness was serious, possibly even terminal, and that he was unlikely to grasp the reins of power again.
Most of those on the streets were pro-Castro Cubans, some bussed in by local communist groups, who had hoped the Comandante would make a surprise appearance, which would have been his first in public since intestinal surgery in July. His opponents, including the so-called Ladies in White, wives and mothers of imprisoned dissidents, had also hoped he would show himself, just so they could check on his condition - indeed, whether he was still alive.
European diplomats said Mr Castro would have loved nothing more than to appear at such an occasion, beamed around the world, with leftist leaders such as Evo Morales of Colombia and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, as well as old friend Gabriel García Márquez among the dignitaries. (His closest regional ally, Hugo Chávez, was kept away by today's election.)
As ageing Soviet-made tanks, MiG jet fighters and anti-missile launchers trundled through Havana's Revolution Square, it was a bit like the old days of Kremlin-watching to see who would be on the podium, in which order, and who would take the salute. In the end, it was Mr Castro's younger brother Raul, acting president since Fidel's illness, who played the role of Jefe Máximo, or Maximum Chief.
Fidel was said to be watching on TV under medical supervision at home. Hence, it was seen as significant when Raul, 75, said in his speech: "We are willing to resolve at the negotiating table the long-standing dispute between the United States and Cuba, so long as this is based on the principle of equality, reciprocity, non-interference and mutual respect."
In his nearly 48 years in power, Fidel Castro always used such rallies to slam the superpower 90 miles to the north. For Raul to offer an olive branch suggested either that Fidel had used his brother to push a softer line, or that the younger brother was asserting himself. Either way, it was seen as heralding a possible turning point in US-Cuban relations.
#5
Cuba has no "anti-missile" launchers. It has missile launchers. Just when you think the MSM couldn't get any more stupid, they surprise you. Fidel is as good as dead. Even if he recovered, I don't think Raul would be willing to give up power. Formalize the vulture-watch - it's only a matter of time (months, maybe even days, not years).
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/04/2006 14:29
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Evo Morales is the communist president of BOLIVIA not Colombia! Can't the leftstream media get anything right?
At least eight people were killed in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Sunday in a suicide car bombing against NATO troops and subsequent gunfire by soldiers, police and witnesses said. Three civilians died when the bomber struck a military convoy and five more were shot by troops afterwards, they said. NATO said three of its soldiers were wounded in the attack for which the Taliban claimed responsibility. Asked about the accounts of troops shooting civilians, NATO spokesman Major Luke Knittig said: We will establish the facts. It is still unclear in what way the troops reacted. Another Afghan civilian was killed and six others were injured as NATO troops opened fire on a civilian car, fearing it might be a second bombing attempt after the early morning attack in the Dorahi area of Kandahar, they said.
Meanwhile, the Taliban said on Sunday they had shot down a US civilian helicopter chartered by NATO that crashed in bad weather in southern Afghanistan. The chopper has crashed and there have been mortalities. We do not know how many, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said, adding that the cause of Saturdays crash in a remote area of southern Kandahar province was not known. Asked about a Taliban spokesmans claim of responsibility, he said: I cannot deny or confirm that.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The Indian government is seriously concerned over Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed using territory and elements in Bangladesh and Nepal for movement of terrorists and finances. The modus operandi is recruitment of Indian youths by LeT and Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJAI-BD) for training in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir and then sending them back to India for sabotage and subversive activities. These outfits are well organised, interlinked and have the latest hardware and communication equipment, according to a paper prepared by the Union Home Ministry on internal security situation.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
You created Bangladesh, India, so I guess it's your mess to clean up. Wipe the whole place out and start over, or annex it as a province of India. Either solution is ok with me.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/04/2006 13:01
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#2
Wipe the whole place out and start over, or annex it as a province of India.
Islamic Jihad said Sunday the week-old Gaza Strip cease-fire is on the verge of collapse, due to what it called repeated Israeli violations. "The calm is on the edge of collapse due to the continued Zionist violations and the attacks against our Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza," Abu Ahmed, a Gaza-based spokesman for the group's armed wing, said in a statement. "Nobody should blame [Islamic Jihad] for any reaction its brigades take in the coming hours in response to the violations by the Zionist occupation," he said.
Abu Ahmed called on the Palestinian factions to "reconsider the tahadiyeh [short-term cease-fire] given the violations of the Israeli occupation and the declarations of [Defense Minister[ Amir Peretz." Peretz told a cabinet meeting on Sunday that security forces will continue to operate in the West Bank. Islamic Jihad accused Israel of "more than 70 violations" of the ceasefire but did not specify what they were.
Hamas announced Sunday it is pulling out of Palestinian faction talks on extending the cease-fire with Israel to the West Bank. "The comprehensive tahadiyeh must come as a part of a comprehensive national plan, and at this time, the talks on a cease-fire are being held at the expense of talks on internal Palestinian issues," Hamas said in a statement, hinting at the freezing of talks on the formation of a Palestinian unity government.
Also Sunday, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh arrived for talks with Syrian officials and the leaders of Damascus-based Palestinian factions on faltering efforts toward forming a unity government. Haniyeh, who is on his first tour abroad since his Hamas-led government took office in March, was greeted at the airport by Syrian Justice Minister Mohammed al-Ghafari. In brief comments to reporters upon arrival, Haniyeh said his discussions would include "the siege imposed on the Palestinian people."
Asked to comment on the demand by PLO leaders that his government resign over the failure to form a moderate coalition acceptable to the West, Haniyeh said, "it is too early to talk about it."
Posted by: Fred ||
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CARACAS, Venezuela Officials identifying themselves as members of a state regulatory agency forced the U.S.-based Spanish-language TV network Telemundo to halt transmission Sunday of its presidential election coverage.
Telemundo Communications Group is owned by NBC Universal Inc., which is controlled by General Electric Co. It claims to reach about 93 percent of Hispanic households in the U.S. and also has viewers in Mexico.
Tony Blair will promise today to cut by a fifth the operational nuclear warheads on Britain's Trident submarines, from 200 to 160, the Guardian understands. The cut is part of the prime minister's campaign to persuade MPs that the government must start work almost immediately on plans detailed in a white paper to build a replacement fleet.
The white paper will also say the new Trident system will cost less than £25bn. But it will say this figure represents 5% of the annual defence budget, and about 0.1% of GDP, Whitehall sources said yesterday. Ministers have rejected claims Britain no longer needs nuclear weapons to deter a potential enemy and have embraced the "insurance policy" argument that it is impossible to predict the shape of threats in 20 years. Who knows, you might be fighting the French Muslims in 20 years.
The promised reduction in Trident, whose warheads will have been halved from 300 since 1997 when Labour came to power, is unlikely to appease critics of nuclear weapons or MPs in all parties who challenge Downing Street's view that Trident must not only be renewed, but that a decision is urgent.
With a public debate and then a Commons vote in February set to follow the white paper, ministers hope they will win the vote comfortably. But they accept they will need Conservative support to push it through.
Up to 40 Labour MPs oppose nuclear weapons, but the key group Mr Blair seeks to persuade are those, including the Liberal Democrats, who think there is no need to take an early decision. The Tories remain pro-deterrent, but their defence spokesman, Dr Liam Fox, said yesterday they would only "replace it [Trident] when necessary".
One Labour minister seemed confident the government would prevail: "There will be some trouble in the parliamentary party. My activists will not want it, but they will not object to it."
The white paper will also reject arguments urging a delay on a decision to commission new submarines by at least five years, as the Lib Dem leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, and many independent analysts have proposed. Given the long lead times before operational availability - 14 years between the Trident decision and the day it replaced Polaris - it would be too risky. Delay would also not be cost effective, mainly because the nuclear reactors that propel the present boats need replacing soon. I think they mean that the fuel needs to be replaced; as I understand it that's a costly and time-consuming business.
The white paper will say that a sea-based system is the only "credible" nuclear deterrent, rejecting arguments for land-based cruise missiles. The government has also rejected the argument that a Trident submarine need not be continuously at sea. Instead it will suggest that advances in technology may allow Britain to manage on three rather than four submarines, which would save up to £2bn, one minister said last night.
Anti-nuclear campaigners will step up their protest today. CND and a number of MPs will hand an alternative white paper to No 10 and express concern over the short amount of time being given to discuss the issue. The ArchDruid Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is also expected today to signal his opposition to replacing the nuclear deterrent. Is he a religious leader or something?
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
They'll be down to the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch before long.
#4
See also NAVY TIMES > US House Armed Services Cmte Members WANTS NEW CONGRESS TO BUILD MORE SHIPS, ESPEC NUKE-POWERED CGN's =CGN(X)'s. America's ACHILLES HEEL = FUEL, thus desire for nuke power. ZEE NEWS > CHINA [pro-Chicom Nations/Neutral Trading Partners]SHAPE MARITIME BATTLEFIELD [in ASIA-PACIFIC]; + CHINA WILL NOT ENGAGE IN ARMS RACE WITH USA > Xperts claim will put a drag on China's pace of national-econ development and modernization. SUNDAYTIMES.UK > Proposal for Britain's TRIDENT Subs to Be built overseas [i.e. SSSSSSSHHHHH, in America?].
#5
In a way, this is a welcome development. With little indication that they intend to resist being conquered by their Islamist "guests," I'm no longer real comfortable with France and Britain being nuclear powers (the only two in Europe, no less).
Even in a worst-case scenario, I'm sure that getting operational control over a Trident sub armed with nuclear missiles would have to be accomplished over the crew's dead bodies. However, generally speaking, if European leaders aren't gonna get off the dime and fight for what's theirs, reducing the loot is the next best option. I'd appreciate it if they'd at least make sure they don't take the rest of us down with 'em.
#6
The BBC and the TRNAZIs that it represents are hammer and tongs agaist anything nuclear, weapons, power, whatever. The Trident program is a hard thing to sell due to the fifth column of the BBC and "new labor" back benchers of Blair's own party.
#7
Does anyone else get the feeling that, in the midst of Iran trying to come online with nuclear bombs, such a roll-back in atomic weapons inventory is nothing short of silly?
I agree with exJAG that, so long as Europe is acting like they're going to roll over for their Islamic colonizers, a reduction in whatever arms that can fall into Muslim hands can only be a good thing. Still, the timing seems a little off.
It's pretty damn clear that the free world is heading into a perfect storm. With Russia and China (not to mention France) colluding with Islam and triangulating against Western interests at every turn, keeping whatever existing nuclear weapons inventories functional without any voluntary reduction in head-count would certainly seem like the wisest option.
#9
Does anyone else get the feeling that, in the midst of Iran trying to come online with nuclear bombs, such a roll-back in atomic weapons inventory is nothing short of silly?
Not here. What good do nukes do Britain? It's not as if Britain will launch a nuclear attack and the U. S. won't. And if the U. S. does any UK nukes would probably only contribute to fratricide.
And in order to use them, you have to have the will to use them. Britain clearly does not. I'd rather see the budget used to properly equip the squaddies so that they can fight on the same battlefield as the Americans rather than squandered on systems that will never be used.
#11
While I sympathize with Nimble Spemble I feel obligated to point out these weapons are and always have been intended as a deterrent to France. The need for such deterrence is greater than ever.
#14
Interesting point, Excalibur. So France and Britain have invested all these decades in the grand project of European integration ("ever closer union") . . . yet still need a nuclear deterrent against each other.
Like the historically bitter rivals, Texas and North Dakota. ;)
#16
That's right, Mac. Only at the 'burg could you discuss the Holy Handgrenade of Antioch in the same serious discussions of nuclear diarmament, lol!
Posted by: BA ||
12/04/2006 11:51
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#17
Why cut at all? The British Tridents are already way underarmed (3x100kT warheads, US 8x475kT). The US is upgrading Trident missile guidance systems and extending it's service life. I suspect the British will get those for free or little money because all the Tridents come from a common pool. If the British really want to save money, instead of being no nukes ninnies, they should buy into the successor of the Ohio class and build it in their shipyards if they choose.
Posted by: ed ||
12/04/2006 13:19
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#18
What good do nukes do Britain? It's not as if Britain will launch a nuclear attack and the U. S. won't. And if the U. S. does any UK nukes would probably only contribute to fratricide.
The same good they've always done her. I also think that any launch would be sufficiently coordinated whereby there would be staggered arrival of inbound vehicles to avoid fratricide. It would be a critical message for Europe to send by launching a first wave of retaliation for any nuclear assault from the MME (Muslim Middle East). It is also of great importance that the best of our allies not huddle beneath America's nuclear umbrella. They must be seen as having strength of their own so as to distribute the threat of deterrence and maintain a significantly wide dispersion of weapons basing. To do otherwise would focus undue attention solely upon America and is most definitely NOT in our national interest.
these weapons are and always have been intended as a deterrent to France. The need for such deterrence is greater than ever.
Not so. The placement of nuclear weapons in Britain was always, first and foremost, a Cold War deterrent. By comparison, France was much further down the list. However, it is agreed that their continued need for the purposes of deterrence remains unchanged.
And yes, exJAG, it bodes not at all well for the nascent EU that one member might actually require a nuclear deterrent against another. Then again, France is rapidly assuming the proportions of a special case due to its EAD (European-Arab Dialogue) and quantity of Muslim colonizers.
#20
I would expect to see the UK navy come to Canada or the United States if the muzzies ever took control in Great Britain. I doubt the subbies would allow those weapons to fall into islamic hands. As for replacing their existing Trident subs, I think we have a few older boats we could refurbish and sell them, cheap, and then recondition their existing vessels while they're using the replacements for "deterrence". I would love to see a British/Canadian/US consortium building much of Britain's future warfighting equipment. Canada NEEDS a couple of Arleigh Burke class DDs, and the Brits might like to buy the JFK when it's retired. Saves a bundle building a new ship.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/04/2006 14:25
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KYLIE Minogue's Ummm... Heard of her. Vaguely. A singer?
partner, Olivier Martinez, Never heard of him...
has been photographed out on the town in Paris with model, actress and author Sarai Givati, Who?
a British newspaper reported today. Why would it do that?
The Sunday Mirror said 24-year-old Givati spent three days in Paris with the Frenchman, who has not been seen in public with Minogue since October 13. So they're shacked up at a 2-star hotel, frequenting dives where the clientele speaks funny French, the wine tastes like horse whizz, and the entertainment consists of smutty baggy pants comedians, Apache dancers, and torch singers with lipstick on their teeth and withered cleavage displayed to declining advantage in cheap evening gowns. And I'm concerned with this because...?
The Australian pop princess is performing in her homeland on her comeback tour following her recovery from breast cancer. Oh, I see. Ollie lacks both class and discretion. In precisely which way does that make him unique? Or even interesting?
A spokesman for Minogue said the pop star and Martinez were still a couple. Just not a very close couple. In a month or so he'll be double dating with Fed-Ex. It remains to be seen whether Kylie will be running around with no underpants with the likes of Paris Hilton.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/04/2006
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and torch singers with lipstick on their teeth and withered cleavage displayed to declining advantage in cheap evening gowns.
Wow -- I couldn't be that catty even if I strained to the utmost! I'm going to steal that, Fred, and I promise to be very careful upon whom I use it. That's a lethal weapon, that is!
#4
While i agree with the inlines, anybody that is a cancer survivor deserves to celebrate each and every day. I am 2 for 3 in the lost family members to it and Mrs. RET is having tests for a lump soon.
but again: I agree with the inlines.
FIJIAN soldiers have taken over a police tactical response unit's headquarters, local television has reported, as fears grow that the South Pacific nation is about to suffer its fourth coup in 20 years. The television report has said police have been locked out of their premises on the outskirts of the capital Suva. The report has said no shots have been fired.
The disbanding of the police unit was one of the demands of military chief Commodore Frank Bainimarama, who is threatening to overthrow Fiji's government.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/04/2006
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The bullet-ridden body of the Sunni Arab chairman of one of Iraq's leading soccer clubs was found Sunday, nearly three days after he was kidnapped by gunmen in the capital, police said. Hadib Majhoul, the head of the popular Talaba club and a member of the Iraqi Soccer Federation, was the latest in a series of fatal attacks on sports figures amid Iraq's spiraling sectarian violence.
Majhoul was seized late Thursday by gunmen in two cars who intercepted him while he was going to work, said Tariq Ahmed, an official with the federation. At the time, police confirmed that Majhoul was kidnapped in northern Baghdad but did not elaborate, citing concerns for his safety. On Sunday police recovered the chairman's body in a neighborhood of western Baghdad and brought it to a morgue where it was identified by relatives, said police 1st Lt. Ali Muhsin.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/04/2006
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This is a shame, really.
The Iraqi National Team had a big win over Oman in trying to qualify for the Asian Games. Sports victories can help in bringing countries together under a national identity.
(somaliNet) The supreme leader of the Islamic Courts Union in Somalia, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys reiterated his call on the Somali people to be unite for repelling any aggression from what he ascribed outside invaders citing the Ethiopian troops.
In an interview with Shabelle Radio in Mogadishu, Sheik Aweys condemned the US proposal at the UN to deploy African peace keepers in the country and saw it as exacerbating the tension. Sheik Aweys, who is believed to be the Godfather of the Islamic Courts, said that US government does not to see an Islamic state in Somalia. It is not a surprise but common [knowledge] that the current Bush administration is known to be the enemy of Muslims in the world,
Sheik Aweys, former military colonel, made it clear that his Islamist movement was formed to restore peace and stability in the country. He welcomed any efforts of reviving the reconciliation and peace process but he cast doubt the mediation role of the Kenyan government as partial accusing Nairobi of installing the stand off between the interim government and Islamic Courts. We do suspect the Kenyan government because it is tending to one side, that is the government in Baidoa so we could not rely on them as real mediator, Sheik Aweys said adding that later there have been ongoing negotiations between the Kenyan government and Islamic Courts after sending delegations in a bid to calm the situation. Now we are hopeful that the negotiations will end in success before Khartoum talks with the government. Earlier, Kenyan government certified that it is playing a neutral role in the political match in Somalia.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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Philippine rescuers shoveled away mud and boulders yesterday to recover bodies from mudslides that smothered mountainside villages. Officials feared the death toll from a powerful typhoon could double to 600. Seas of thick black mud made the going tough for rescue workers, who were not believed to have pulled any survivors from the muck since the first hours after Typhoon Durian blasted ashore Thursday. The storm affected 800,000 people, officials said. The official death toll hit 303, with another 300 people missing.
The Disaster Coordinating Council of worst-hit Albay province reported 285 dead, including 165 in the town of Guinobatan, swamped by floodwaters in the Mayon volcano's foothills. Three towns on Mayon's slopes, overwhelmed by mudslides of volcanic ash and boulders, each reported at least 22 dead. Four other provinces reported fatalities, but accurate casualty figures were hard to come by, with the disaster's devastation so widespread and power and phone lines down. In some places, rescue workers found only parts of bodies.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/04/2006
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US airstrikes destroyed two foreign fighter safe houses west of Baghdad on Saturday night, killing five insurgents, two women and a child, the US military said on Sunday. Residents put the death toll in the village of al-Lihaib near the town of Garma much higher, saying as many as 24 people had been killed and some buildings levelled. The figures could not be independently confirmed.
Recent intelligence reports indicated the targeted building was being used to harbour foreign fighters. Intelligence reports also verified that several men were present at the targeted building during the time of the raid, the military said in a statement. After the air strike destroyed the building, coalition forces were able to determine that five terrorists, along with two women and one child, were killed, it said. It said a sixth insurgent had been killed and three detained by ground forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A Lebanese man was killed on Sunday in clashes that broke out between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in a predominantly Sunni neighborhood in West Beirut, police officials said. Ahmed Ali Mahmoud, a 20-year-old Shiite Muslim, was shot during the clash in the Tarik Jdideh neighborhood. It was not clear where the gunfire came from, the officials said. The gunfire was directed at pro-Hezbollah Shiite protesters.
In a separate clash in another West Beirut neighborhood, a fist fight and stone-throwing clash erupted between groups of Shiites and Sunnis, and several shops were set on fire and the windows of at least one car smashed. Army troops fired smoke bombs to disperse the crowd, and at least 20 people were lightly injured in the stone-throwing.
Tensions have been high in the Lebanese capital as Hezbollah and other pro-Syrian groups have held mass protests calling on Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government to resign. The mounting crisis threatening the Siniora government in Lebanon, and the specter of a Hezbollah takeover, have spurred senior Israeli government officials in Jerusalem to raise several proposals in recent days aimed at strengthening Siniora, who faces street protests that Hezbollah has launched against his government. The goal is to prove that Siniora can obtain more through peaceful diplomacy than Hezbollah, which has accused him of a "defeatist policy" toward Israel, was able to gain through violence.
Israel and several Arab states, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, are increasingly concerned that Siniora's government will fall, resulting in a Hezbollah takeover that would turn the country into what an Israeli government source termed "the first Arab state to become an Iranian protectorate." Former chief of Israel Defense Forces Army Intelligence Corps, Major General (res.) Aharon Ze'evi Farkash, said Sunday the chances of another war in Lebanon would increase should Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora choose to resign.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/04/2006
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#1
Just one? I guess they're not letting Paleos out of their camps yet.
(KUNA) -- Three Iraqis were killed and 10 others were injured when a booby-trapped car exploded in Cairo neighborhood north of the capital, said a security source Sunday. The source told KUNA that the explosion destroyed nearby cars and properties.
Elsewhere, a joint Iraqi-US patrol was targeted by a road-side bomb which resulted in the injury of six Iraqi civilians and damages to the military vehicles. No details about any casualties among the servicemen were given to the security source.
On counter terrorism operations, the Iraqi defense ministry killed an insurgent and arrested 90 others in several military operations conducted all over Iraq. Back in Baghdad, seven Iraqi students were injured when their school was targeted by mortar shells in Bab Al-Muaddam area. Insurgents also had their share when they abducted an adviser for the Iraqi Minister of Electricity in Al-Sha'ab area Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/04/2006
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Many of us have a certain disdain for the MSM and journalists in general. Some of that comes from the fact that the journalists and editors at the NYT, etc., risk little and understand little about the hard facts of life. Here's a group of journalists who deserve our support.
Staff at a major Fijian newspaper have been warned they will be the first people shot after an army coup. The verbal threats -- by army officers -- and other bomb threats against the Fiji Daily Post have led the newspaper to seek political asylum in Australia for its entire staff.
Weve had death threats, bomb threats and our publisher is in and out of hiding after being named by Commander Bainimarama on Friday, said Editor-in-Chief Robert Wolfgramm in an exclusive interview with ninemsn. Were in a state of meltdown and the publisher has suggested we all ask for asylum. The army is moving on certain police buildings as we speak, including the Tactical Response Group headquarters.
The Fiji Daily Post is owned by the SDL party, headed by Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase. It has written a number of strongly worded editorials backing constitutional rule in Fiji.
Mr Wolfgramm said his newspaper was sick of the intimidation by certain elements of the army and had to take the threats of violence seriously. Over the past year weve had, at regular intervals, calls from army personnel saying when we take over you are the first people well shoot.
It has been escalating with bomb threats as well and then last Friday the Commander named our publisher. Weve just had enough. The situation has led the publisher, Mr Alan Hinkling, to recommend asking the Australian High Commission to support applications by staff for asylum.
In its editorials, The Fiji Daily Post has stridently supported the legitimacy of the Qarase government. In an open letter to Commander Bainimarama and his supporters the Post wrote: You will have a torrid time getting legitimate acceptance of your newfound role from both local and indigenous peoples, and from the international community. Indigenous Fijians are not ethno-nationalists they are ordinary citizens who made a choice for the government they wanted ruling Fiji back in May this year. An overwhelming 80 percent of these ordinary Fijians chose the SDL party and its parliamentary candidates for national leadership. Because we are a democracy, they had every right to expect that their choice the Qarase government would be honoured by all peoples and every key institution that comprises the nation.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/04/2006
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The problem in Fidji is that the colonizers brought Indian workers until these outnumbered the locals (sounds familiar?) and now prime miniter is most of the time an Indian. That doesn't fit weel with then Fijians who control the Army.
Also there is a culture shock because Indian teachers teach soccer to their Fijian pupils while their fathers would have them learning Rugby.
Now don't miss an opportunity to see the Fijians playing Rugby (specially 7 Ruby where they are best in world), they have an amazing creativiy, rarely kick the ball out of the field (that comes because as child they played barefooted with coconuts) and often pass the ball one handed like football quaterbacks but with the far bigger and heavier rugby ball.
In 1987 they came close to eliminate France (the hand slipped from the hands of half fly Koroduadua who had an open highway for the try but was holding tha ball one handed) in quarter finals and in 1999 or 2003 (don't remember) only partial refereeing impeded them from eliminating the French.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/04/2006 10:21
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#4
JFM him say:
Division II Fiji nearly took out top 10 France but for a fumble towards the end of the game.
/
Posted by: Leg Bowler Jones ||
12/04/2006 13:50
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#5
My money sez 3:1 on rugby players wailing on soccer players during any coup or civil war.
Posted by: ed ||
12/04/2006 14:40
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#6
JFM - all too true, but you left out one important part. Many of the Indians the British brought to Fiji were muslims. Today, 80% of the businesses are owned by Indians, and the majority of the government is Indian. The Fijians have little problems with the Hindus, but there are major problems with other groups. There is also little industry other than tourism. Fiji is not on anyone's beaten path, so even that is hampered. There are some other major problems, too. The Fijians still maintain control of the military, but the police is mostly Indian. There is no love lost, especially when the non-Fijians out-breed the natives by about seven to two.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/04/2006 14:41
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#7
Time and again genius of French three quarters has dazzled their British and to a far lessser degree, Southern hemisphere opponents but in this day of 1987 they looked like teenagers facing the Harlem Globe Trotters (that is if the Trotters played serious) completely outbrained.
But that idiot Koro Dua Dua, he was at fifteen yards of the French line, there was no French betwen him and the line and he had a ten yards lead over his nearest pursuer but instead of running with the ball clutched to his chest like every other rugby player in history, he was holding it like athetes hold the baton in relay races: in one hand and moving this in synchro with his legs. Then the ball slipped from his hand.
But I have never seen such pure wizardry in a rugby field like the one displayed by the Fijians this day.
Stumbles? She agreed with every word. The French at best despise the Israelis, and the French socialists would be pleased as punch to see Israel extirpated.
Ségolène Royal, the French presidential candidate, was embroiled in a damaging row on a visit to the Middle East yesterday after appearing to condone a Hezbollah MP who denounced US insanity and compared Israel to the Nazis.
Ms Royal, the first woman with a realistic chance of winning the French presidency, was struggling to extricate herself from the controversy sparked by a meeting in Beirut with MPs, including Ali Ammar of Hezbollah.
There's your first mistake, Ms. Royal: you're meeting with a known terrorist organization.
In a 20-minute tirade Mr Ammar attacked unlimited American insanity for sending troops into Afghanistan and Iraq. He then said that Israeli Nazism was no better than Hitlers Third Reich.
Ms Royal, who is on her first overseas trip since winning the Socialist Party primary, replied: Thank you for being so frank. I agree with a lot of the things you have said, notably your analysis of the US.
She agreed with all the important parts.
Her remark provoked a furore in France, where Philippe Douste-Blazy, the Foreign Minister, said that she had a simplistic vision of the Middle East. François Goulard, the Research Minister, said: Ségolène Royal obviously doesnt know what shes talking about.
To the contrary. She agreed with what was said. Take a poll in France, and a majority of Frenchmen would have agreed with what Ammar said.
Ms Royal was trying to limit the damage last night. She said that her interpreter had failed to translate Mr Ammars comparison between Israel and the Nazis. If he had, she would have walked out, she said.
That dog won't hunt.
Ms Royal went on to claim that she had not meant to attack Americans in general for insanity but only the Bush Administration over the war in Iraq.
Euros rather miss the point that we in America don't separate our government from our people. Even in the Clinton years the man was my president. Insult our government and you insult us.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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To the contrary. She agreed with what was said.
Not sure. Her IQ is in the range of a comfortable root temperature. Not in Fahrenheit but in Celsius grades.
#5
JFM, you are the without a doubt the funniest Frenchman of all time!
I realize that doesn't mean much considering French fondness for Jerry Lewis. Maybe I can think of a better compliment later.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
12/04/2006 19:25
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(SomaliNet) Police in Puntland state in northern Somalia raided a house in Bosaso town overnight picking up and arrest a well known Islamist cleric named Sheik Nadir. It is not yet clear so far where the Sheik was arrested. He was charged that he had recently called on the people in Puntland to join the Jihad war against Ethiopian troops in the region.
Relatives asked Puntland authority the release of Sheik Nadir sooner. There has been no word from Puntland government on the arrest of the cleric. Officials in Puntland threatened to take tough step against any one who is suspected to involve in extremism activities putting them on trail.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, Abdi Aziz Guled, a journalist working for Radio of peace in Galkaayo city and also was correspondent for Radio Simba in Mogadishu was arrested by the Puntland police. He was accused of airing reports that he supported the Islamic Courts in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. The semi autonomous region of Puntland in northern Somalia which came its existence in 1998 introduces restrictions on religious men and also journalists.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/04/2006
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Oh, two guys. I thought they were one and the same.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/04/2006 5:49
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Troops have arrested a key member of a radical group of Christian converts to Islam, which has collaborated with the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror network, officials said Saturday. Feliciano de los Reyes, a founding member of the small group called the Rajah Solaiman Movement or RSM, had been seeking refuge in Lamitan town on the southern island of Basilan when he was captured on Thursday, said Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Ariel Caculitan. Caculitan said de los Reyes was arrested in a 2002 raid in northern Pangasinan province and was imprisoned for six months, then jumped bail.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A police official was killed and another was injured when a foreigner, believed to be an Uzbek national, detonated explosives tied around his body when the police tried to search him in the Domail area in Bannu, police said on Sunday. The police surrounded the Persian-speaking mans car, a private taxi, when he refused a body search and fired at a constable deployed at a check post on the Kohat-Bannu road, Bannu DIG Abid Ali told reporters. Ali said that platoon commander Ahmad Khan attempted to remove the explosives fixed around the suspects body when he exploded. Khan was seriously injured in the explosion and later died.
Police arrested the taxi driver who was driving the suspected militant from Kohat to Bannu the home district of NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani Ali said. The Bannu DIG said that police were informed that some militants would attempt to smuggle explosives from Kohat to Bannu following which three pickets were set up at the entry points of the district. He said that police tried to check a private taxi entering Bannu from Domail when the Persian-speaking foreigner travelling in the car refused a body search, adding that when police insisted, the foreigner opened fire on a constable and ran away from the car. Ali said that the police chased the suspect and managed to get a hold of him after a kilometre. He added that platoon commander Ahmad Khan tried to remove the explosives from the suspects body when he blew himself up.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Bangkok - Terrorists Insurgents shot a school director Friday afternoon in southern Thailand then set his vehicle on fire killing him in the flames, the English-language Bangkok Post newspaper website reported.
Police said the director of a school in Pattani province, 750 kilometres south of Bangkok, was shot in his pickup truck while driving out of school. He was wounded but not killed in the shooting before insurgents set his pickup truck on fire. He was burned alive inside the truck. That's the religion of peace in operation there. This time it's Muslims versus Buddhists.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/04/2006
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Teachers' unions throughout the World in protest in 5..4..3..
The head of the Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq, Sheikh Harith al-Dhari, arrived in Sana'a on Sunday for talks on ways to end violence in his war-torn country, Yemen's official news agency Saba reported.
The agency quoted al-Dhari, who is one of Iraq's most prominent Sunni figures, as saying upon arrival that he would hold talks with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on the 'tragic situation that the Iraqi people is passing through.' He said his meeting with Saleh aims at 'discussing a way-out from this dangerous impasse.'
Yemen officials told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that al-Dhari's talks with Yemeni officials would also touch on a Yemeni plan to host Iraq's political rivals for reconciliation talks. Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu-Bakr al-Qerbi said last week his country was negotiating with the Iraqi government and its opponents to convince them to attend a reconciliation conference in Yemen. The minister said the Arab League and Iraq's neighbours were also involved in the discussions but gave no date for the proposed conference.
Al-Dhari has rejected an arrest warrant issued last month against him by Iraq's Shiite-dominated government for allegedly provoking sectarian violence through his public remarks backing insurgents. How do you "reject" a warrant for your arrest? Isn't such an action usually followed by a warning to stop or somebody'll shoot?
Posted by: Fred ||
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LAWYERS for Saddam Hussein and two former aides sentenced to death lodged appeals today, the Iraqi prosecutor said, following a trial slammed by some rights experts as unfair and fundamentally flawed.
The defence had been given until Tuesday to submit their appeals. The case is already with the appeals court, which will decide whether the hangings should be carried out. Meanwhile, Saddam is still on a trial for genocide against Kurds.
Chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi said he had witnessed the handing over of the documents, although Saddam's chief lawyer said it had not yet happened.
"Lawyers for Saddam Hussein and two others sentenced to death came to the court today and presented their appeals," chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi said. He said he had witnessed the handing over of the documents, although Saddam's chief lawyer said it had not yet happened.
Saddam was sentenced to hang a month ago for crimes against humanity over the killings of 148 Shi'ites from the town of Dujail after he escaped assassination there in 1982. His half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and former judge Awad al-Bander also received the death penalty for their part in the killing, torturing and deporting of hundreds of Dujailis.
The nine-judge Appellate Chamber, which could amend both the verdict and the sentence, has unlimited time to make a ruling, but if the appeal fails, then Iraqi High Tribunal rules say the execution must follow a final decision within 30 days. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a member of the Shi'ite majority persecuted under Saddam's Sunni minority rule, has said he wants the execution carried out this year. Legal experts, however, have said appeals could yet take months and there is ambiguity about what constitutes the "final decision".
New York-based Human Rights Watch condemned the verdict as unsound, saying the court had been guilty of so many shortcomings that a fair trial had been impossible.
The tribunal has still to make public the reasoning for the November 5 death sentences, although it has promised to publish them on its website. The lengthy ruling is eagerly awaited by international jurists keen to assess how the court performed. But in a comprehensive report last month, New York-based Human Rights Watch condemned the verdict as unsound, saying the court had been guilty of so many shortcomings that a fair trial had been impossible. It said the court lacked the expertise for such a complex trial, had failed to give the defence advance notice of key documents, while statements by government officials had undermined its independence and perceived impartiality.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Notice the nice "conclusions before evidence" approach of HRW? Typical. They don't have the written judgment, but they're ruling on the trial's quality.
Every one of their objections is either based on inacurrate or incomplete info, or is disingenuous, applying standards or approaches they know are not relevant in a civil (inquisitorial) trial system.
The trial was not complex; advance notice is not as important in an inquisitorial system because the panel can take the manner of introduction into account - not to mention the fact that the defense had literally months and months to challenge or interpret the evidence due to delays; any fair-minded observer of the process, day in and day out, knows the defense had ample opportunity to do anything it wanted.
The court has problems, but one can safely disregard HRW's perspective.
#2
By lodging appealsin the proper manner, Mr. Hussein and his lawyers implicitely accept the court's right to impose judgement, thus accepting the legitimacy of the entire endeavor.
#3
Damn the order, the troop should'a just tossed the grenades down the hole. Probably would have saved a lot of people killed by his loyalists since and sent their old command structure into an early turf war making their identification that much easier for clean up.
#3
Moud = Hillary = NOT RESPONSIBLE for anything, everything and nothing becuz same IS NOT IN OFFICE = NO LONGER IN OFFICE when nuclear Mushroom Clouds officially start occurring. OOOOOPPPPPSIES.
#4
Not so sure Jo. Quite a few mullahs consider what they have in Iran a racket to die for, but they prefer not to die for it. They don't mind a regular Reza schmuck to take a bullet, if needs to be, but there is not that many that subscribe to the apocalyptic mahdi lunacy. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that if Ahmadinutjob will be in power when the nuke program may be completed, it would spell trouble. They don't care about others, but do about themselves. The presiding Nutjob has to go before becoming more dangerous.
Not that Rafsanjani is not an anti-semite spitting venom, he is. But he knows what a nice scapegoat Jews make and would milk it to what it is worth, this constant Nutjob's rhetoric about wiping out Jews is too much and may get many people killed.
#5
One of the reasons cited in the proposal for bringing the two elections together is cutting the costs brought on by a double election.
I'm sure that was the reason! The Persians need to work on their spin so it's not quite so obvious.
Opponents to the bill claimed that cutting the president's term is unconstitutional and that parliament's term should be extended to meet the original date for the presidential election.
In other words, "If we're gonna be unconstitutional, my way is better than your way."
I would not have guessed something from Iran would've brightened my morning!
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/04/2006 6:22
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#6
Most constitutions allow terms of office to end when the office holder dies. Slip Ahmad some Po-210 in his halvah.
#8
I would much rather have Amadinenutjob shortened - about 12 inches, starting from the top down. Sharp sword, nice follow-through, step back to keep from getting splattered. Problem solved. May take three minutes, max.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/04/2006 14:48
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#9
3 minutes, OP? You allowing for "warm up" time in the "on-deck circle"?
Posted by: BA ||
12/04/2006 15:12
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While President George W. Bush acknowledges the need for major changes in Iraq, he will not use this week's Iraq Study Group report as political cover for bringing US troops home, his national security adviser said. "We have not failed in Iraq," Stephen Hadley said as he made the Sunday TV talk show rounds. "We will fail in Iraq if we pull out our troops before we're in a position to help the Iraqis succeed. The president understands that we need to have a way forward in Iraq that is more successful."
The White House readied for an important week in the debate over Iraq: Bush planned a meeting Monday with Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the Shiite leader of the largest bloc in Iraq's parliament, and awaited the recommendations Wednesday from the bipartisan commission. Yet his administration, hoping to find a new way ahead in Iraq, found itself on the defensive from the second recent leak of an insider's memo on Iraq in a week.
The latest, first reported in Sunday's New York Times, showed that Donald H. Rumsfeld called for a "major adjustment" in US tactics on Nov. 6 - the day before an election that cost Republicans the US Congress and Rumsfeld his job as defense secretary. Hadley appeared on ABC's "This Week," NBC's "Meet the Press," and `Face the Nation" on CBS. Warner and Levin were on NBC, Biden was on "Fox News Sunday" while Feinstein appeared on "Late Edition" on CNN.
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12/04/2006
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#1
Shows to me again Dubya means to stay in Iraq-MEast, EVEN IFF IT MEANS HIS LIFE, i.e. becomes a PC/Deniable target for Amer Hiroshimas/new 9-11's. STAY ARMED, BOYZ, becuz you know the Waffle-happy, ERROR/FAILURE = SOCIALISM, ISOLATIONISM = SOCIALISM, EMPIRE = SOCIALISM, etc. Lefties + Blamecrats, are gonna PC accuse Dubya of being a selfish, insane/irrational Leader = NON-SECULARIST who'd put Iraqi-specific lives, Security, Nationalism and Democracy, even his own life + family, at risk/higher priority over Americans. As said before, 'tis reason(s) why the RINO CINO Left are RINO CINO > LEFTIST-SOCIALIST = GLOBALIST POLITICAL POWER HAS PRIORITY OVER EVERYTHING, EVEN THE SAFETY + CREDIBILITY OF THEIR OWN NATION + PEOPLES. The Failed and Failine, Angry Left don't just wanna hurt the USA, they wanna DESTROY the USA; they want the USA under OWG + Socialism AT ANY PRICE! 9-11 > ITS NOT "POLITICS/POLITIX AS USUAL". IFF THE LEFTIES DON'T RULE, THEY WANNA TAKE THE WHOLE WORLD WID THEM TO HELL!
AUGUSTO PINOCHET has been given the last rites after a massive heart attack left the former Chilean strongman clinging to life. His fate is in the hands of God and his doctors, the former dictators son Marco Antonio Pinochet Hiriart said yesterday as his father remained conscious and in a stable condition. Juan Ignacio Vergara, a doctor treating the retired general, said 91-year-old Pinochets life was in danger. State television later reported that doctors had decided to carry out heart bypass surgery. A family spokesman, Guillermo Garin, said that a Catholic priest had given Pinochet the last rites.
#4
Let's remember that Castro has killed between 6 and 10 times more people thahn Pinochet, lined his pockets MUUUCH more than Pinochet, ruined the country and didn't step down from power. But the MSM are lamneting that Pinochet not Castro will die unpunished.
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.
Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian intelligence agent poisoned in London, is to be buried according to Muslim tradition after converting to Islam on his deathbed. The spy's father, Walter Litvinenko, said in an interview published today that his son - who was born an Orthodox Christian but had close links to Islamist rebels in Chechnya - made the request as he lay dying in University College Hospital.
An Islamic militant group responsible for kidnappings and beheadings in Iraq on Monday warned teachers and students to stop attending universities in Baghdad or the insurgents would consider them partners of the government. 
Facing opposition from key senators, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton will leave office in a matter of days, the White House announced on Monday. Spokeswoman Dana Perino said President George W. Bush had reluctantly accepted Bolton's decision to leave the U.N. post when the current session of the U.S. Congress ends, likely at the end of the week.
By Robert Spencer
Oscar-winning US actress Gwyneth Paltrow feels dinner talk is far more interesting in her adopted homeland Britain than back in her native country. "I love the English lifestyle, it's not as capitalistic as America. 
Chris Martin whom she wed in 2003. 
Two years ago, movie director Theo van Goghs throat was cut on a street in Amsterdam in the name of radical Islam. I had partaken in his last work, Submission, where we represented, in the most accurate way possible, the condition of Muslim women: tyranny, humiliations, violence. In this film, we showed Muslim women who had finally rebelled, talking to God in a tone of defiance. It made Imam Fawaz of the Hague scream with hate during the delivery of a vengeful sermon. My friend Theo, the criminal bastard, was subsequently riddled with bullets and stabbed to death with a dagger.
by Hillel Fendel
South Africa's most-wanted criminal has been captured two weeks after escaping from a top security jail near Pretoria. 
Arsonists who enjoy burning down a festive Swedish straw goat may have met their match this year. 
Suna Erdem, Istanbul
"The meeting affirmed the need to support the Palestinian people fully and work on breaking the siege imposed on them," the agency said. "Shoring up Palestinian national unity is also paramount in delicate circumstances such as these."
Iraq's national security adviser says he is shocked by UN head Kofi Annan's suggestion that the average Iraqi is worse off than under Saddam Hussein. 
Two Australian men arrested in Yemen in October have been released without charge. The two brothers - 
Nato forces in southern Afghanistan say they have killed about 70 Taleban fighters following an ambush. Troops fought a four-hour battle after a large-scale insurgent attack near the town of Musa Qala in Helmand Province, the alliance says.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - An election monitor in Bahrain said on Sunday there was circumstantial evidence that pro-government Sunni Muslims used fraud to win a majority of seats in the US allys parliament. The island kingdoms incoming legislature is dominated by religious hardliners who are split between Islams Sunni and Shia sects.
(KUNA) -- Sheikh 
At least eight people were killed in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Sunday in a suicide car bombing against NATO troops and subsequent gunfire by soldiers, police and witnesses said. Three civilians died when the bomber struck a military convoy and five more were shot by troops afterwards, they said. NATO said three of its soldiers were wounded in the attack for which the Taliban claimed responsibility. Asked about the accounts of troops shooting civilians, NATO spokesman Major Luke Knittig said: We will establish the facts. It is still unclear in what way the troops reacted. Another Afghan civilian was killed and six others were injured as NATO troops opened fire on a civilian car, fearing it might be a second bombing attempt after the early morning attack in the Dorahi area of Kandahar, they said. 
Islamic Jihad said Sunday the week-old Gaza Strip cease-fire is on the verge of collapse, due to what it called repeated Israeli violations. "The calm is on the edge of collapse due to the continued Zionist violations and the attacks against our Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza," Abu Ahmed, a Gaza-based spokesman for the group's armed wing, said in a statement. "Nobody should blame [Islamic Jihad] for any reaction its brigades take in the coming hours in response to the violations by the Zionist occupation," he said.
CARACAS, Venezuela Officials identifying themselves as members of a state regulatory agency forced the U.S.-based Spanish-language TV network Telemundo to halt transmission Sunday of its presidential election coverage.
Tony Blair will promise today to cut by a fifth the operational nuclear warheads on Britain's Trident submarines, from 200 to 160, the Guardian understands. The cut is part of the prime minister's campaign to persuade MPs that the government must start work almost immediately on plans detailed in a white paper to build a replacement fleet.
KYLIE Minogue's 
FIJIAN soldiers have taken over a police tactical response unit's headquarters, local television has reported, as fears grow that the South Pacific nation is about to suffer its fourth coup in 20 years. The television report has said police have been locked out of their premises on the outskirts of the capital Suva. The report has said no shots have been fired. 
The bullet-ridden body of the Sunni Arab chairman of one of Iraq's leading soccer clubs was found Sunday, nearly three days after he was kidnapped by gunmen in the capital, police said. Hadib Majhoul, the head of the popular Talaba club and a member of the Iraqi Soccer Federation, was the latest in a series of fatal attacks on sports figures amid Iraq's spiraling sectarian violence. 
US airstrikes destroyed two foreign fighter safe houses west of Baghdad on Saturday night, killing five insurgents, two women and a child, the US military said on Sunday. Residents put the death toll in the village of al-Lihaib near the town of Garma much higher, saying as many as 24 people had been killed and some buildings levelled. The figures could not be independently confirmed. 
A Lebanese man was killed on Sunday in clashes that broke out between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in a predominantly Sunni neighborhood in West Beirut, police officials said. Ahmed Ali Mahmoud, a 20-year-old Shiite Muslim, was shot during the clash in the Tarik Jdideh neighborhood. It was not clear where the gunfire came from, the officials said. The gunfire was directed at pro-Hezbollah Shiite protesters.
(KUNA) -- Three Iraqis were killed and 10 others were injured when a booby-trapped car exploded in Cairo neighborhood north of the capital, said a security source Sunday. The source told KUNA that the explosion destroyed nearby cars and properties.
(SomaliNet) Police in Puntland state in northern Somalia raided a house in Bosaso town overnight picking up and arrest a well known Islamist cleric named Sheik Nadir. It is not yet clear so far where the Sheik was arrested. He was charged that he had recently called on the people in Puntland to join the Jihad war against Ethiopian troops in the region. 
Troops have arrested a key member of a radical group of Christian converts to Islam, which has collaborated with the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror network, officials said Saturday. 
A police official was killed and another was injured when a foreigner, believed to be an Uzbek national, detonated explosives tied around his body when the police tried to search him in the Domail area in Bannu, police said on Sunday. The police surrounded the Persian-speaking mans car, a private taxi, when he refused a body search and fired at a constable deployed at a check post on the Kohat-Bannu road, Bannu DIG Abid Ali told reporters. Ali said that platoon commander Ahmad Khan attempted to remove the explosives fixed around the suspects body when he exploded. Khan was seriously injured in the explosion and later died. 
Bangkok - 
The head of the Sunni 
LAWYERS for Saddam Hussein and two former aides sentenced to death lodged appeals today, the Iraqi prosecutor said, following a trial slammed by some rights experts as unfair and fundamentally flawed.
