THREATS of terrorism attacks by a masked man with an Australian accent shown on Arab television are being examined by Australian intelligence officers. A videotape of the man wearing a balaclava and speaking English with an Australian accent was aired on the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya satellite channel and reshown on Australian TV this morning. The videotaped message warned that more terrorist attacks would be launched on the West.
They've been warning us about that. We fastened our seatbelts for Sully a couple years ago, remember? Haven't heard from him lately.
A spokeswoman at the attorney-general's office today said ASIO had made the department aware of the footage and was taking the matter seriously. "We've been advised that ASIO is looking at the footage very carefully and will keep us informed of any developments," she said.
The masked man, wearing combat gear and holding an automatic rifle, boasted about a recent attack that killed United States troops in Afghanistan. He slammed US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair over their involvement in Iraq.
Ooooh! It's a psychoceramic with combat gear!
The video also featured blurred footage said to be of a rocket attack on a helicopter that killed 16 US soldiers in June. The man, shown against a backdrop of trees, claimed a group of al-Qaeda fighters carried out the operation. "The animals under Islam will not just let you kill our families in Palestine, Afghanistan, Kashmir and the Balkans, Indonesia, the Caucuses and elsewhere," the masked man said. "It is time for us to be equals. As you kill us, you'll be killed. As you bomb us, you will be bombed."
"The animals under Islam," is it? Interesting turn of phrase there. I've often thought of the adherents of Islam as animals. Part of them as sheep, part of them as lemmings, and part of them as vicious vermin fit for nothing but extermination. But maybe that's just me. So far.
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
08/09/2005
21:30 ||
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The four-star general who headed the U.S. Army's training program has been fired after an investigation into sexual misconduct, officials said on Tuesday.
In a rare punishment of a four-star officer -- the highest rank in the military -- Gen. Kevin Byrnes was fired as commanding general of the Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe in Virginia, the Army said in a statement.
Army officials did not rule out the possibility of criminal charges or additional administration discipline.
"The investigation upon which this relief is based is undergoing further review to determine the appropriate final disposition of this matter," the Army said.
"He was relieved for matters of personal conduct," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman.
An Army official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the disciplinary action followed an investigation by the Defense Department inspector general's office into "allegations of personal misconduct of a sexual nature."
The official offered no further details of the allegations against Byrnes, who is married.
As head of the Army Training and Doctrine Command, Byrnes was in charge of Army training programs, creating war-fighting guidelines and recruiting new soldiers. He oversaw 50,000 people in 33 schools and centers at 16 Army installations.
Byrnes, a New York native who held the post since 2002, was relieved of his duties on Monday, Army spokesman Paul Boyce said.
Lt. Gen. Anthony Jones has been installed as acting head of the Army Training and Doctrine Command commander, Boyce said. The Defense Department in April announced Lt. Gen. William Wallace was nominated to become a four-star general to head the command, but the Senate has not yet confirmed him to the post.
Boyce said the investigation into Byrnes had been going on for "a couple of months" but could not say whether it began before Wallace was nominated to replace him. Boyce said he knew of no one else who was investigated for possible misconduct along with Byrnes, adding that any potential further action against Byrnes would be taken by Army officials.
"He has not been charged with anything," Boyce said, adding that Byrnes already had been expected to retire from the military at the time of the investigation.
"Obviously any time there is an allegation against a general officer of personal conduct, it's taken very seriously. It is looked into and examined and acted upon as appropriate," Boyce said.
Cases in which four-star U.S. military officers are relieved of their duties are extremely unusual, and the Army was not immediately able to cite another recent example within that branch of the military.
Another request in my in-box, asking if I'll be interviewed about Iraq for a piece "dealing with how writers and intellectuals are dealing with the state of the war, whether it's causing depression of any sort, if people are rethinking their positions or if they simply aren't talking about it." I suppose that I'll keep on being asked this until I give the right answer, which I suspect is "Uncle."
There is a sort of unspoken feeling, underlying the entire debate on the war, that if you favored it or favor it, you stress the good news, and if you opposed or oppose it you stress the bad. I do not find myself on either side of this false dichotomy. I think that those who supported regime change should confront the idea of defeat, and what it would mean for Iraq and America and the world, every day. It is a combat defined very much by the nature of the enemy, which one might think was so obviously and palpably evil that the very thought of its victory would make any decent person shudder. It is, moreover, a critical front in a much wider struggle against a vicious and totalitarian ideology.
It never seemed to me that there was any alternative to confronting the reality of Iraq, which was already on the verge of implosion and might, if left to rot and crash, have become to the region what the Congo is to Central Africa: a vortex of chaos and misery that would draw in opportunistic interventions from Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. Bad as Iraq may look now, it is nothing to what it would have become without the steadying influence of coalition forces. None of the many blunders in postwar planning make any essential difference to that conclusion. Indeed, by drawing attention to the ruined condition of the Iraqi society and its infrastructure, they serve to reinforce the point.
Shahin: Our enemies weave many lies about us, which we are not necessarily aware of. For example: One day, we awoke to the crime of 9/11, which hit the tallest buildings in New York, the Empire State BuildingHAHA! Moron (sic). There is no doubt that not a single Arab or Muslim had anything to do with these events. The incident was fabricated as a pretext to attack Islam and Muslims. The plan was to take over the worldâs energy sources, and to achieve this control by force and not by agreement or negotiations, by interests, free trade, or anything like that. This is what they wanted.
So this incident was fabricated - and Allah knows that the Arabs and Muslims are innocent of it - in order to serve as a pretext to attack Islam and the Muslims.
All of a sudden, after we were used to consider America to be a rational and balanced country... All of a sudden, it violates international conventions, cancels treaties, ignores the U.N., acts on its own accord, attacks nations, kills innocent people, and claims it has the right to do so - and all this is based on lies. These were lies from beginning to end, and we were not used to lying - not in policy, not in our discourse, and not in the media. Imagine what crisis the Arab and Islam nation finds itself in, in the midst of these peculiar events, which we cannot explain or believe. All of a sudden, we were framed for an international crime, on the basis of lies.
I believe a dirty Zionist hand carried out this act. Zionism has taken the opportunity to escalate the war in Palestine, killing hundreds of thousands so far, while we watch from the sidelines in astonishment and ask: Whatâs going on?
Hat tip, LGF As Charles points out, To make the point plain, this is not a spokesman for the âtiny minority of religious extremists.â This is a man at the very pinnacle of Islam.
#6
If we wanted to assault Islam and grab the oil methinks we would have gone after Saudi Arabia instead of Afghanistan and Iraq. Underpopulated, full of oil, holy land ready to be dispoiled and we had troops on the ground already.
We could have given Mecca to Israel or the Hindus for added insult.
#7
Is this the Arabic way of saying that Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda are not true muslims?
No. It's their way of saying it was a wonderful blow for Islam against the Zionist oppressors, but since the consequences have been bad for the Ummah, it had to have been pulled off by the Zionists themselves.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/09/2005 20:21
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#8
We could have given Mecca to Israel or the Hindus for added insult.
Pig farms.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/09/2005 20:21
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#9
We could have given Mecca to Israel or the Hindus for added insult.
Many hindus believe that the Kaaba was a pre-islamic shrine to Shiva and that the black stone originally was a lingam.
Posted by: john ||
08/09/2005 20:35
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#10
That's a great theory Sherlock, except for the fact that OBL was on tape claiming credit and musing about how it turned out better than he expected. So other than that I think you may be on to something.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday declined to discuss in detail reports that a large cache of manufactured explosives had been found on the Iraq side of the Iraq-Iran border. But he did say during a Pentagon briefing that it was "notably unhelpful for the Iranians to be allowing weapons of those types to cross the border." "It is true that weapons, clearly, unambiguously from Iran have been found in Iraq," Rumsfeld said in answer to a question. But he declined to answer additional questions about the reported find, including the exact types of weapons found, and whether they were linked to the Iranian government or to terrorist organizations in Iran. Asked if he knew how many such weapons were in Iraq, Rumsfeld said, "Oh, no. Goodness, how can you know? You only know what you know. That is a big border."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2005
16:15 ||
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#1
"notably unhelpful for the Iranians..."
Why is Rumsfeld sweet talking, glove slapping, and tip toeing around Irans involvment in Iraq?? Either he's being 'muzzled' by the administration, or something BIG is being brewed in the works, during this appeasement. In any event, it's irritating and smacks of uncertainty in the remedy!!
#2
This is Rumsfeld talking, not Hugo Chavez; not his style to spout hot air. When Rumsfeld says you've been 'unhelpful', it is rather like Darth Vader saying he finds your lack of faith 'disturbing'.
#6
causus belli for closing the border and hot pursuit
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2005 20:19
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#7
Priorities. Constitution first.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/09/2005 20:57
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#8
security first - a constitution for a country under attack from within and without will be a warped document
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2005 21:01
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#9
It will be difficult for us (OS excepted, heh heh) to find out what under-the-table stuff is going on with respect to Iran's and Syria's Unhelpfulness⢠in allowing terrorist movements and resupply into Iraq.
I would hope that we are putting the heat and the hurt on these governments (read, dictatorships) for pursuing their dirty little business. There has to be serious consequences for enabling terrorist to attack and kill our troops and Iraqis, especially civilians.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/09/2005 22:11
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#10
If you have a chance look at his eyes when he says this. I am not sure what to make of that bit.
However I am sure he has an idea what might occur in the near term to people who are "Notably unhelpful."
hat tip: Michelle Malkin
NEW HAVEN â A two-hour animal rights demonstration on the Green Monday sparked outrage instead of sympathy from the public. "This is the most racist thing Iâve ever seen on the Green. How dare you," roared Philip Goldson, 43, of New Haven at the protest organizers at Church and Chapel streets.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a national animal rights group, posted giant photographs of people, mostly black Americans, being tortured, sold and killed, next to photographs of animals, including cattle and sheep, being tortured, sold and killed. "I think it is an apt comparison," said Josh Warchol, 26, of Wallingford, president of the Southern Connecticut Vegetarian Society, which is aligned with PETA.
PETA officials said they had hoped to generate dialogue with the shocking photographs.
'cause everyone knows that shocking people is the best way to talk with 'em ...
"We realize these images are hurtful. Itâs hard for me to imagine the hurt the animals go through. We should be treating animals according to their own best interests, not to the best interests of people," said Dawn Carr, PETAâs director of special projects. Special Project: Piss off the NAACP...
PETA wants people to stop eating animals, stop using them for clothing, stop forcing animals to entertain people (as in a circus) and stop animal experimentation. Carr said she doesnât want animals sold or treated as property either. I wonder what she thinks of that horse in Seattle....
The controversial display, which is on a national tour, is intended to drive home PETAâs point.
However, critics said the organizationâs demonstration backfired. One man demanded that the NAACP get involved immediately. Five minutes later, Scot X. Esdaile, president of the state and Greater New Haven chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, arrived at the scene, surveyed the photos and blasted the organizers. "Once again, black people are being pimped. You used us. You have used us enough," Esdaile said. "Take it down immediately."
I would have paid money to watch this ...
"I am a black man! I canât compare the suffering of these black human beings to the suffering of this cow," said Michael Perkins, 47, of New Haven. He stood in front of a photo of butchered livestock hung next to the photo of two lynched black men dangling before a white mob.
"You canât compare me to a freaking cow," shouted John Darryl Thompson, 46, of New Haven, inches from Carrâs face. "We donât care about PETA. You are playing a dangerous game."
Paul Tomaselli, 46, of North Branford took exception to an exhibit that included a photo of a black man being beaten to the ground by a white man with a stick while a white mob gathers. Next to that photo was one of a man chasing a seal across the snow with a club. "I think heâs right," said Tomaselli, who is white, in support of Thompson. "To compare people to animals is an unfairness to people."
The display, "Are Animals the New Slaves?" is on a 10-week, 42-city tour that started in early July. Todayâs stop: Scranton, Pa., then on to Baltimore and Washington, D.C. "This is the most hostile audience weâve had," said PETA volunteer Ben Godwin.
Light slowly dawns in the east ...
At one point, police hovered at the edge of the Green, across from the demonstration.
Eight of the 12 banners compared the suffering of black Americans to the suffering of cattle, sheep, an elephant, a seal and a rooster. Other banners showed Native Americans exiled from their homes, children in a factory and men in a counter-demonstration against womenâs rights.
A photo showing a concentration camp inmate with a number tattooed across his emaciated chest was juxtaposed against a shot of a monkey in a laboratory with a number branded across its chest. "I have relatives who were in concentration camps," said Alex Reznikoff, 47, of Newtown. "I think this detracts from PETAâs message. It doesnât make me think about animals at all." One might say Peta screwed the pooch on this one.....
#3
This is about par for these freaks. They have absolutely no sense.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/09/2005 14:15
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#4
My grandfather was one of the last whites to leave the Newhallville area of New Haven. That after two firebombings and an attempt to strangle him. These PETA morons should know better then to wander into the hood. (most of NewHaven is that). Real idiots.
#5
Hey, the PETAns have a "winning streak". Remember last week the noodle who wore a chicken suit in front of KFC, and that KFC's business increased because many folks thought the chicken suited protestor was an advertising gimmick?...
#7
Todayâs stop: Scranton, Pa., then on to Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
Special Project: Getting F**cking Killed is what they mean. Man, I've lived in those places. Being dumb and well meaning is not going to save these people in Baltimore.
#16
I'd like them to take their "show" to Fort Worth - the same weekend the Texans hold their annual longhorn drive through town. I'm sure there would be some "bonding" taking place.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/09/2005 21:23
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#17
We need video of the comming debacle.
PETA on the barbie...
#18
Don't forget, catching a fish is like lynching a black man. Shooting a deer is like raping a black woman. Shooting a turkey is like, like, well, I don't know, but pretty bad.
#3
Some guy in Seattle held off the entire Seattle Police Department for about 6-8 hours (this is during rush hour - Downtown Seattle street) with only a sword a while back. Finally the Fire Department manged to hold him down with a ladder so the cops could rush him.....
#5
After reading the statement, he was wearing mail, that's a mesh of chain.
The Taser barbs went through the links and into skin. That works well, there's no shorting when the metal is not touching both contacts.
Plate armor would have been a good defense, no penetration, and solid plate would short the taser's current.
That said, what an idiot, this jerk must have been high on something.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/09/2005 17:30
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#6
Last week a drug dealer in Kenosha WI got Pepper Sprayed and Tazered at the same time. The jolt from the Tazer set the pepper spray on fire. Lets hear it for the Law of Unintended Consequences
The Army, in a rare disciplinary act against a four-star officer, said Tuesday it relieved Gen. Kevin P. Byrnes of his command in the midst of an investigation into unspecified "personal conduct."
Byrnes, a native of New York City, was relieved as commander of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command on Monday by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker, according to a brief statement issued by Army headquarters at the Pentagon. In that post, Byrnes oversaw all Army training programs and the development of war-fighting guidelines. It operates 33 training schools and centers on 16 Army installations and is headquartered at Fort Monroe, Va. Adultery or gay?
#2
JackA., I guess you also have the "got-drunk-and-went-cruising-the-rest-stops-for-gay-adultery" angle covered...
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
08/09/2005 13:21
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As an aside, it took the new CNO, Admiral Mullen, less than 24 hours to dump one of the most disliked officers among the Navy's top brass. Vice-Admiral Joe Sestak, an arrogant and obnoxious "bully-boy," who delighted in being rude and unreasonable and getting away with it, found he was expendable the minute his mentor went out the door.
#4
The officer, Gen. Kevin P. Byrnes, was forced into retirement about two months before he was to step down as head of the Training and Doctrine Command.
It must be bad if they are busting him with only two months to go.
A spokesman for Mr. Rumsfeld, Bryan Whitman, told The Associated Press that the investigation involved "matters of personal conduct," but he declined to elaborate. A question yet to be answered is whether General Byrnes will be allowed to retire at full rank, or be demoted and reprimanded as well.
Really, really bad. A DUI you could sweep under the rug for two months. Maybe a sexual harrassment case, maybe he suppressed charges or claims by female soldiers at one of the training commands. That would do it after the AF Academy fiasco.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/09/2005 15:08
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More: An Army official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the disciplinary action followed an investigation by the Defense Department inspector general's office into "allegations of personal misconduct of a sexual nature." The official offered no further details of the allegations against Byrnes, who is married.
Boyce said the investigation into Byrnes had been going on for "a couple of months" but could not say whether it began before Wallace was nominated to replace him. Boyce said he knew of no one else who was investigated for possible misconduct along with Byrnes, adding that any potential further action against Byrnes would be taken by Army officials. "He has not been charged with anything," Boyce said, adding that Byrnes already had been expected to retire from the military at the time of the investigation.
No charges yet may mean nothing illegal, just bad press for the Army.
"Obviously any time there is an allegation against a general officer of personal conduct, it's taken very seriously. It is looked into and examined and acted upon as appropriate," Boyce said. Cases in which four-star U.S. military officers are relieved of their duties are extremely unusual, and the Army was not immediately able to cite another recent example within that branch of the military.
In 1995, Navy Adm. Richard Macke was replaced as the head of U.S. Pacific Command after making an offensive remark about the rape of a 12-year-old Japanese girl, suggesting to reporters that Marines charged in the case would have been better off spending their money on a prostitute.
Searched, but can't find a hint of anything.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/09/2005 15:19
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#6
Sure hope this guy weasn't with the Cavalry in Seattle.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/09/2005 15:29
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#7
Its probably either sexual misconduct with a subordinate [how many female peers are there at that rank?] or with someone's spouse. The Gay community doesn't like you to know that hetros are prosecuted for their sexual behavior as well [remember Kelly Flynn - oh, and her lawyer tried to play the 'victim' card as well only to be shot down by real info days later on the number of male officers who'd face courts martial charges for adultry in the prior year]. And yes it does effect discipline and morale when 'team' members screw other members' spouses and significant others. People stop looking out for their buddy's back, thus putting everyone in more danger than is necessary. The gays want to have immunity for their behavior while straights will continue to be disciplined and separated from the service for their sexual activity.
#8
Byrnes, a native of New York City, was relieved as commander of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command
Ummm, didn't I read something about deaths in "Boot Camp" a few months ago, bunch of DI"s and their Officers cashiered, and so on?
"Training Command" is Militariese for "Boot"
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/09/2005 17:54
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#9
Sestak may have been unpopular because he overworked everyone, but he had done lots of good work towards modernizing the Navy for the future. The guy was extremely smart and he didn't just shoot from the hip - he did his homework. His work, and the hard work of others approved by the previous CNO, was just dumped out with the trash to "improve moral".
#2
Thanks, Chuck. Now the mooselimbs are going to claim they "invented" the cell phone back in the 7th century during the "enlightenment" period of Moooohamad.
Posted by: BA ||
08/09/2005 13:12
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#3
And this is the main flaw in the Islamist "victimhood" about the crusades: The crusades were there to TAKE BACK land that Mohammed stole by force of the sword from Christianity. Islam destroyed the Church of the "Desert Fathers" by killing the holy men and womne, burning their churches (and setting up thiers on the site), and "converting" the worshipers at the point of a sword.
#3
What's the world coming to when you can't hide from your family even on deployment in a war zone? Is it no longer enough to just show up for the conception? Is that not duty enough? What's next? Required conjugal cyber chat from the war zone? Whatever happened to stern, grim-faced, uninterested, disconnected, disciplinarian, never-home dads? Why in my day, I remember my boss deliberately dodging his family on the pier after a 75 day deployment so he could first visit the squadron repair officer, then get in 9 holes followed by happy hour/night at the club. I say bring back The Great Santini!
#7
This brings to the table what multi-tasking is all about. To be able to do your job, but also stay in tune with your family and your job as a parent don't you think? The only worry being not to expose your family placing them in danger. It's nice that if you want you can choose to bottom line.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/09/2005 15:09
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#8
Gonna get that book Zpaz.... I want to read about Trieste at the end of WWII. Nearly set off another round a couple of times from what I read.
#9
Jan. I have been an instafather for 2 months now. It is sooooo messy in the emotional sense. It has given me a whole new level of respect for mothers. Now I also understand why my old man loves golf. I can not wait to get back on the road.
#10
Zpaz,
hang in there and congrats to you too. Parenting is one of the most important jobs. They just grow up too fast. It's the "messy in the emotional sense" that make it all worth while.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/09/2005 23:58
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SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) -- A South Korean man who played computer games for 50 hours almost non-stop died of heart failure minutes after finishing his mammoth session in an Internet cafe, authorities said on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old man, identified only by his family name Lee, had been playing online battle simulation games at the cybercafe in the southeastern city of Taegu, police said. Lee had planted himself in front of a computer monitor to play on-line games on August 3. He only left the spot over the next three days to go to the toilet and take brief naps on a makeshift bed, they said. "We presume the cause of death was heart failure stemming from exhaustion," a Taegu provincial police official said by telephone.
Lee had recently quit his job to spend more time playing games, the daily JoongAng Ilbo reported after interviewing former work colleagues and staff at the Internet cafe. After he failed to return home, Lee's mother asked his former colleagues to find him. When they reached the cafe, Lee said he would finish the game and then go home, the paper reported. He died a few minutes later, it said.
South Korea, one of the most wired countries in the world, has a large and highly developed game industry.
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
08/09/2005
11:00 ||
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#1
Lee had recently quit his job to spend more time playing games, the daily JoongAng Ilbo reported after interviewing former work colleagues and staff at the Internet cafe.
Now somebody will blame games, but people that are this messed up would have found something else to be a lunatic over.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
08/09/2005 11:24
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#2
I heard of a similar case some time back. They really need to start teaching kids at school to be wary of computer games just as they are of drugs, alcohol, gambling and some of the other vices out there. The guy's parents must be mortified.
ROME, Italy (CNN) -- One of the suspects in the July 21 failed bomb attacks in London told British investigators Tuesday in Rome the blasts were meant to "make noise" but not harm anyone, according to his lawyer.
Hamdi Issac is suspected of being the fourth man to carry an explosive-laden backpack onto the London transit system two weeks after four bombers killed 52 commuters and themselves on three subway trains and a bus. The bombs that Issac and the others allegedly carried failed to fully detonate. He told Italian investigators after his arrest in Rome that the bomb he carried was meant scare people and not to kill.
Scotland Yard, however, says the bombs were meant to kill but misfired. Britain has requested Issac's extradition to face charges in connection with the July 21 botched attacks.
Issac's attorney, Antonietta Sonnessa, who was present during Tuesday's interrogation, told reporters that her client again said the bomb was meant to "make noise" and demonstrate his opposition to the Iraq war. "There were some nails (in the backpack)," she said, "but the explosive was not meant to kill."
Bombs don't kill people. It's the blast wave and shrapnel that kill people.
The other three men suspected of carrying the bombs -- Ibrahim Muktar Said, Yassin Omar and Ramzi Mohamed -- along with Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, suspected of abandoning his backpack in a London park, have been charged in London with conspiracy to murder. Said, Omar and Mohamed have also been charged with attempted murder. Nine people have been charged in Britain with aiding Issac's escape or failing to disclose information about him to police. All of them are in custody in Britain.
Sonnessa told reporters that Judge Domenico Massimo Miceli and four or five British officers, including a translator, were present during the two-hour questioning at Rome's Regina Coeli prison. Issac, she said, answered questions in Italian. She also said British investigators showed Issac several photographs, including some of the other suspects, and that he recognized several. It was not clear, however, which of the other suspects were included in the photographs and who he recognized.
Issac repeated his claim that he did not prepare the backpack himself, but that one of the other suspects gave it to him, his lawyer said. Sonnessa told reporters she is still waiting to see the report on the type of explosive her client was alleged to be carrying.
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
08/09/2005
10:59 ||
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#1
I've met guys on crack that make more sense than this asshole.
#3
Remember John Howard's comment about "not being able to get into the mind of a successful suicide bomber"?
We'll, here we have a very unsuccessful suicide bomber. He appears to be an incompetent clown or an Al Qaida poster boy for the left wing MSM: experts at turning a perp into a victim.
Posted by: john ||
08/09/2005 14:20
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#4
Wow. This is exactley what I would do if I wanted my cause heard. Plant a bomb that won't hurt anybody to make myself heard, then skip the country without telling anybody what it was I wanted them to hear.
I would be mbarrassed as a lawyer to even say that.
#9
This crap is right out of the handbook, deny, deny, deny. He has to be a fool as there is CCTV footage of one of his fellow suicide bombers spread eagled on a bomb. Don't worry though, TRANZI European justice assures this guy a Life sentence (seven years max.)
#11
My inner paki tells me that the Boomer's Oath is something akin to "Boomer boom thyself." I'm waiting for more esteemed Egyptian scholars to log on with the entertaining conspiracy theories about the 7/7 and 7/21 terrorist attacks.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/09/2005 16:27
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#14
If the bombs were really meant to "make noise" and not harm anyone (they must have used LOUD nails), then I'm sure this clown won't mind sitting next to one of the bombs as it explodes.
Just him. No one else nearby. We'll even supply the earplugs so the "noise" won't cause hearing damage.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/09/2005 16:31
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#15
the Joos planted the NAILS. Joos are into nails, you know? Youve never heard of Hechingers? Yup, before Home Depot (may peace be upon its lumber) was everywhere, a Jewish family owned a huge northeastern hardware chain.
#16
Apparently we infidel are not only unclean but unbelievably stupid as well. Everytime these asswads open their mouths, my self-esteem goes waaaay up. /sarc
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/09/2005 17:11
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#19
"bombers killed 52 commuters"
I sure hate to see a perfectly good box of nails go to waste....Hey, I just thought of 52 reasons to place 52 nails in 52 places on each of these 'pranksters'.
Posted by: Marine Dad ||
08/09/2005 17:25
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#20
Hey Hamdi - you're just the person for our brand new production of "Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot". And guess what - you get the starring role.
CHICAGO, IL, United States (UPI) -- Normally content in woods and forest preserves, wild raccoons are seeking food and water in Illinois cities and villages because of the Midwest drought.
Conservationists say a combination of an early spring frost that killed buds on wild fruit trees and drought now in its fourth month has stressed raccoons, forcing more of them into inhabited areas to live off garbage, worms, turtles and stolen cat and dog food.
Some have become dependent on food and water left by immigrant rights groups discarded fast-food leftovers, Robert Frazee, a natural resources educator at the University of Illinois Extension Service told the Chicago Tribune Monday.
The nocturnal critters gravitate to permanent water sources such as water sprinklers on lawns during drought. The raccoons also compete for habitat with their more urban cousins who live around humans year-round.
Animal control officials in northeastern Illinois relocate only a fraction of thousands of animals considered nuisance wildlife. Most are euthanized. Humans - why do they hate us?
Posted by: Matt ||
08/09/2005 11:39
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#3
I don't have a problem with raccoons her at the Palace, I have a problem with coyotes. They walk within 40 or 50 feet of me and aren't the least bit afraid. They ate my ducks, the bastards.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/09/2005 12:16
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#4
Coyotes do make excellent targets though and are always in season. Good hunting, Deacon.
#5
Matt, you remind me of the last time I was down on the farm (chicken). The farmer cracked me up as he was describing what "'em city folk" want for "free range." Said the FDA/Dept. of Ag. defined free range in such a way that all the local farmers allowed their chickens to be put in big pens for a set amount of time before putting them into the houses for feeding/growth. That "definition" allowed for it and the city folk now pay $2-3 more per pound for "free range" chicken.
Posted by: BA ||
08/09/2005 13:08
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#6
reminds me of the Far Side cartoon: Boneless Chicken Ranch...
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2005 14:24
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#7
lol, Frank. Even better. I really love the time I was talking to an environmental guy down in Florida. He said they'd had a public meeting about some dairies moving in to north central FL. Locals showed up, and 1 woman even said "We don't need any dairies here! I can get my milk at the grocery store!" Those city folk, I tell ya.
Posted by: BA ||
08/09/2005 14:29
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#8
BA, Frank, LOL - that's about what I expect when I see "free range" chicken next to the Chilean sea bass on the menu.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/09/2005 14:29
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#9
"PETA is worried about cows in Connecticut, and here we are in Chicago, and we are the ones really suffering! More liberal B S."
#12
I captured 40 one summer in the hills of California. They are mean little critters. They are not nearly as big as they look, either. I would spray them with water first thing in the morning before animal control picked them up for relocation. They shrank to nothing as the fur got wet. They also went crazy. I was hoping that would discourage them from returning.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/09/2005 15:55
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#13
AAAAAWWWwwwwwww.....
#9 is CUTE! Wuddent you just luv to take him/her home?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/09/2005 16:25
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#14
For nearly a year I had a healthy live and let live relationship with one of them at my new home. Yes, I tagged him with the hose a few times and verbally demeaned his species numerous times. One morning I walked outside to find the little thugeen had chewed through the tops of a few heavy duty garbage cans he couldn't tumble over because I had put about 35 lbs of old mortar in each to spite him. That day I declared jeeehad on old nasty furball and caged him only 2 hours after dark with a little peanut butter. Had two Jamison's to celebrate then went out to interrogate and digiphoto him for identification purposes (well, on second thought I was probably just torturing him). He was a hateful little guy once trapped. Summary execution was considered but I didn't want to be bothered cleaning up afterward. Animal control was called to do with him as they saw fit but when they came to transport him they found their racoon cage wasn't big enough for my badboy! When the control guys returned with the big cage one of them actually reached into my cage and transferred old nasty by grabbing him by the scruff of the neck! Don't try that one at home.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/09/2005 16:51
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#16
My first wife had a racoon brought to her as a baby in a rural area outside Toronto. Man, was that thing cute. It loved to climb on people and sit on their shoulder or even head. We used to take it down to the creek behind the house, where it would scamper through the water turning over rocks to see what it could find. Its hands were incredibly human like. It got pretty big (I think they get bigger the further north you go) and a bit aggressive. Her (big) dog was afraid of it. Released it into the wild at 4 or 5 months and it succesfully adapted and even had a litter.
#17
The best raccoon story I've heard concerned this couple who noticed them rooting through their garbage. "How cute!" said the wife, and told her husband to buy and give them some cat food. It didn't take much, and soon they had a "gaze" (large herd) of raccoons. They then decided they had better stop, before things got out of hand. But things had already gotten out of hand. The husband, the giver of cat food, soon had the eerie feeling of being watched any time he went outside. "Stalked" would be a better word for it. Unlucky for him, he only lived a few blocks from the store where he worked, a store soon visited by raccoons. Lots of them. All at the same time. The last tale was of how they were attending Sunday mass at their nearby church, when a great hue and cry came up from the rear pews. "Raccoons! Eek!" (I have no idea whatever happened after that, though.)
Posted by: Matt ||
08/09/2005 18:31
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#20
Lived around them all my life and I have this to say: if one out of every ten of them had a little tool belt filled withy tiny tools, we would have much bigger probelms than the ROP.
#21
We're infested with them here in Colorado Springs. There are at least ten or twelve that live near my home. The only problem I have with them is they eat my cat and dog food, and have been known to kill a kitten or two. My next-door neighbor has a fish pond. He loses two or three of his goldfish every year to the marauders. They're not as bad a threat as the blue heron that found his pond a couple of years ago. Luckily a slingshot does a good job of 'dispersuading' all animals from staying around - except the fox that visits about twice a month.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/09/2005 21:37
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#22
Lived around them all my life and I have this to say: if one out of every ten of them had a little tool belt filled withy tiny tools, we would have much bigger probelms than the ROP.
Damned Moties.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/09/2005 21:55
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WaPo. Registration required, I think, so posted in full.
ALEXANDRIA BAY, N.Y. -- Security officials gathered Monday at a Canadian border crossing to mark the first test of a radio frequency identification system to be used by foreign visitors.
If successful, radio "tags" carried by travelers will be the focus of a lawsuit by the ACLU and Human Rights Watch part of the standard registration process for those entering the United States.
The technology is like that used to speed passage at toll booths on many highways, said P.T. Wright, the operations director for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's US-VISIT Program.
Testing began last week at the Thousand Islands Bridge crossing from Canada. It also is being done at the Peace Arch and Pacific Highway crossings in Blaine, Wash., and two crossings in Nogales, Ariz.
The new technology could help relieve congestion at border crossings, while also helping authorities weed out potential terrorists, drug dealers and other criminals, officials say.
This is the second phase of US-VISIT, the screening system launched in 2004 at busy airports, sea ports and land crossings. The system requires scanning fingerprints and photographs of the visitor's face into a computer when someone who wants to enter the U.S. applies for a visa.
All foreign travelers using visas will also obtain their radio tags from U.S. Customs officials when they first register to enter the United States. The tag is embedded into their foreheads and runs at 666 MHz a document, which the traveler presents to enter or leave the United States.
The crossing points are equipped with antennas that read the tags for a secured and coded serial number linked to a database with the information provided by the traveler.
The antennas can read the tags up to 30 feet away and recognize many tags simultaneously, Wright said. Ideally, travelers will be able to flash them going by at highway speeds, he said.
The first phase of testing will have a simple focus - to make sure the antennas can read each chip, that the system correctly relays that information and successfully matches it with the government's databases.
In the second phase, which will begin next spring, border agents will use the system at their checkpoints to identify travelers.
#1
And the best part is that they only use 40-bit encryption, which means that with a good PC and the right hacker software, you can generate phony ones at a rate of about 1 to 5 a day. Within a year or two, pros should get that up to 200-500 a day per computer. Maybe the hackers should play up the "Haxors vs. The Antichrist" bit. Imagine trying to seat a jury after asking everybody if they believed in the Antichrist?
#2
Sounds like stealing real tags would be ideal. No telling who or what is in the car as travelers will be able to flash them going by at highway speeds.
Posted by: john ||
08/09/2005 16:21
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#3
Them ear-tags they use on cattle would work about as well too.
Afghanistan's famous Bamiyan Buddhas are due to be recreated by multicoloured laser images projected onto the cliffs where they once stood. The 1,600-year-old statues, which stood on the Silk Road in the Bamiyan Valley, were destroyed by the Taleban in 2001.
Artist Hiro Yamagata will use solar and wind power to project a series of images onto four miles of clay cliffs. So, will the Islamic terrorists blow them up as "idols," or will environmental terrorists blow up the windmills because they kill birds?
Afghan government officials, who approached the Japanese artist in 2003, are awaiting approval from Unesco. Fourteen laser systems would project 140 faceless images, standing up to 175ft tall, onto the cliff-face for four hours every Sunday night.
United Nations cultural organisation Unesco must assess whether the laser beams could damage the cliffs more than the Taliban's dynamite did.
Yamagata estimated the project would cost $9m and that it would be completed by June 2007. Afghan Airways is planning a tourist package.
The California-based artist, who visited Bamiyan in 2003, hoped his artwork would give something back to the war-torn region by using the imported windmills to provide power for surrounding villages. Good. A little electricity and perhaps some clean water would do wonders for child mortality.
He also planned to employ local workers to build the foundations for the windmills. "Many people say, 'My art will heal the people,'" said Yamagata. "Of course I help people, but it's more about not harming people."
"I'm doing a fine art piece. That's my purpose - not for human rights, or for supporting religion or a political statement."
Zahir Aziz, Afghan ambassador to Unesco, confirmed that an earlier Swiss plan to rebuild the Buddhas at the cost of $30m per statue had been discarded. Seriously, I like it.
An email that implicates the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, in the scandal over the UN's Iraqi oil-for- food contracts appears to be authentic, according to the latest report from the inquiry into corruption in the program. The email, recently disclosed by Cotecna, the Swiss company that paid Mr Annan's son Kojo $US370,000 between 1996 and 2005 - says the company's vice-president, Michael Wilson had brief talks with the Secretary-General and his entourage about the status of negotiations for a contract gained by Cotecna. In the email, Mr Wilson says the collective advice was "we could count on their support".
The third interim report on the $US65 billion oil-for-food program, an inquiry headed by the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker, says that despite denials from Mr Wilson, the email appears authentic and most of its content is accurate. The report does not make any findings about Mr Annan's involvement in the contract won by Cotecna. But the email, if proven, would contradict Mr Annan's testimony and put him at the centre of the scandal. An earlier report from Mr Volcker had found no evidence that Mr Annan influenced the awarding of the contract to Cotecna, though it did rebuke him for not doing more to avoid a possible conflict of interest.
The latest report, released on Monday, says the head of the UN program, Benon Sevan, corruptly solicited oil allocations from Iraq, which were funnelled through an oil company and back to him. It also says a UN procurement officer, Alexander Yakovlev, in concert with a French businessman, solicited a bribe from a company bidding for an oil inspection contract. However, the inquiry had no evidence the company agreed to pay the bribe. Mr Yakovlev has pleaded guilty to fraud and money-laundering charges brought by the US Attorney in New York. The charges involve taking several hundred thousand dollars from foreign companies.
Mr Annan's chief of staff, Mark Malloch Brown, said Mr Annan was "deeply concerned" by the findings against Mr Sevan and Mr Yakovlev. He has waived immunity from prosecution for both men. Mr Annan was disappointed that the email implicating him in the Cotecna contract was raised but not answered in the report, Mr Malloch Brown said. The email only raised questions about Mr Annan's knowledge of Cotecna, he said and in any case, the Secretary-General and his entourage denied that a meeting with the email's author ever took place.
Both the Manhattan District Attorney and the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York are investigating the scandal. Mr Malloch-Brown said the UN was looking at ways to strengthen its oversight of contracts and had commissioned an review of procurement practices by the US National Institute of Governmental Purchasing. He said the major report, due a few days before a summit of world leaders next month, might help persuade countries to support administrative reform of the UN.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/09/2005
10:21 ||
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#1
There is no doubt that Annon is up to his ass in OFF. However, he is playing out the clock. By the time they catch up with him, his term will be up anyway.
Now, what and where he is kept in retirement is the real question.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/09/2005 17:19
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#2
But the email, if proven, would contradict Mr Annan's testimony and put him at the centre of the scandal.
Ha ha, Goo-fi was already at the center of the scandal a long time ago. It doesn't require an e-mail to prove it.
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. â The Space Shuttle Discovery touched down safely in California Tuesday after spending two weeks in space, making it the first and final successful shuttle landing since Columbia broke apart over two-and-a-half years ago.
The shuttle landed as scheduled at 8:12 a.m. EDT, which was 5:12 a.m. PDT â well before sunrise in California. A friend said the booms woke her up and got all the dogs barking. A NASA news conference to ask for more money to accomplish nothing is expected later today.
After thunderstorms in Florida prevented the spacecraft from returning to its home base, NASA officials rerouted the shuttle to Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert.
Mission managers said they were confident that the thermal protection system would protect the orbitor during re-entry and anticipated a smooth landing.
The inherently dangerous ride down through the atmosphere â more anxiety-ridden than normal because of what happened to Columbia 21/2 years ago â skipped most of the continental United States this time.
Discovery followed a course that took it over the Pacific and into Southern California. NASA officials had said they would adjust the flight path so the shuttle would skirt Los Angeles, because of new public safety considerations by NASA in the wake of the Columbia accident.
"It's going to be a new beginning for the space shuttle program," NASA's spaceflight chief, Bill Readdy, said from the Cape Canaveral landing strip. Some religions say death is a New Beginning.
With its launch on July 26, Discovery became the first shuttle to fly since Columbia's catastrophic re-entry in 2003. But its flight to the international space station could be the last ever for a long while.
NASA grounded the shuttle fleet after a nearly 1-pound chunk of insulating foam after the original kind was rejected by the Clinton administration's political appointees broke off Discovery's external fuel tank during liftoff â the very thing that doomed Columbia and was supposed to have been corrected.
Discovery spent nine days hitched to the space station, where astronauts resupplied the orbiting lab and removed broken equipment and trash â one of the main goals of the mission. That included an extra day that was added following the cancellation suspension of future flights, so the astronauts could do more work at the station. Discovery was the first shuttle to visit the orbiting outpost since 2002.
As a result of Columbia, Discovery's crew performed intense inspections of their ship on five different days. Astronauts also did a spacewalk to test new repair techniques and replaced a failed gyroscope on the station during another spacewalk.
In a third, unprecedented spacewalk, two protruding thermal tile fillers were removed from Discovery's belly. Engineers feared the material could cause dangerous overheating during re-entry.
Shut down NASA and RIF every single employee, down to the janitors. Then start over.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
08/09/2005 12:24
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#2
Consolidate the funding and instead offer it as a 'prize' to independent developers and businesses which will accomplished specially achieved goals. Only need a small committee to validate the accomplishment before presenting the award monies.
#4
If we have to rely on NASA the future in space is I think bleak at best. The ISS is in an orbit that was chosen more to make the Russians happy than anything else. It's high inclination severely reduces the payload the shuttle can carry to orbit if it is headed there. For transporting crews to and from orbit a simpler vehicle is needed but I don't think we should throw the baby out with the bath water. The shuttle launch stack holds the core of an extremely capable Heavy Lift Vehicle that with expansion could be capable of placing up to 200 tons in LEO. The loss of Challenger can be traced directly to the forced decesion of NASA to go with the low bidder for the original SRB design (thanks to Congress). The original field joints of the casings on the Thiokol SRB desigh had the recieving portion of the joint on the bottom casing. Water could collet and freeze in the field joint causing the joint to unseat. The brittleness of the original O-Ring material at low temps didn't help either. The re-design featured joints that had both casings nesting inside deep groves cut into each section. The foam problem that caused Columbias loss can be traced to several issues IMO. One is the CFC foam issue. The other is the whole issue of using foam on a surface being subjected to high speed airflow in the first goddamn place. This is something that never would of been allowed in a comercial application. Some of this foam is hand applied for Chrit's sake. Take a look at films of the Saturn V being launched. Large amounts of ice are falling off the vehicle at launch. If you are going to use cyrogenic fuels and oxidizers then you are going to a) either put up with debris at launch and allow for it or b) insulate the tanks better. If I were king I'd remove the shuttle operations from NASA'a control and transfer the responsibility to either the Air Force or the Navy. The shuttle itself would only be flown when the mission required it. The operating budget of NASA for the shuttle would be tranfered to either the DARPA or a similiar organization for the development of X-type vehicles as envisioned by people such as Dr. Jerry Pournelle who helped the SDI office get funding for the DC-X test vehicle that flew sucessfully until NASA took it over and they crashed first time out. There have been too damn many studies of how to do it cheaper and easier. What has been lacking is the will in Washington to see that we do it. And don't rely on privte investment to do the job for you. The only way that will work is if you offer a contract to operate supply and ferrying services to say the ISS or something similiar. And while such an operation may not be government run it would be government funded
#5
If we have to rely on NASA the future in space is I think bleak at best. The ISS is in an orbit that was chosen more to make the Russians happy than anything else. It's high inclination severely reduces the payload the shuttle can carry to orbit if it is headed there. For transporting crews to and from orbit a simpler vehicle is needed but I don't think we should throw the baby out with the bath water. The shuttle launch stack holds the core of an extremely capable Heavy Lift Vehicle that with expansion could be capable of placing up to 200 tons in LEO. The loss of Challenger can be traced directly to the forced decesion of NASA to go with the low bidder for the original SRB design (thanks to Congress). The original field joints of the casings on the Thiokol SRB desigh had the recieving portion of the joint on the bottom casing. Water could collet and freeze in the field joint causing the joint to unseat. The brittleness of the original O-Ring material at low temps didn't help either. The re-design featured joints that had both casings nesting inside deep groves cut into each section. The foam problem that caused Columbias loss can be traced to several issues IMO. One is the CFC foam issue. The other is the whole issue of using foam on a surface being subjected to high speed airflow in the first goddamn place. This is something that never would of been allowed in a comercial application. Some of this foam is hand applied for Chrit's sake. Take a look at films of the Saturn V being launched. Large amounts of ice are falling off the vehicle at launch. If you are going to use cyrogenic fuels and oxidizers then you are going to a) either put up with debris at launch and allow for it or b) insulate the tanks better. If I were king I'd remove the shuttle operations from NASA'a control and transfer the responsibility to either the Air Force or the Navy. The shuttle itself would only be flown when the mission required it. The operating budget of NASA for the shuttle would be tranfered to either the DARPA or a similiar organization for the development of X-type vehicles as envisioned by people such as Dr. Jerry Pournelle who helped the SDI office get funding for the DC-X test vehicle that flew sucessfully until NASA took it over and they crashed first time out. There have been too damn many studies of how to do it cheaper and easier. What has been lacking is the will in Washington to see that we do it. And don't rely on privte investment to do the job for you. The only way that will work is if you offer a contract to operate supply and ferrying services to say the ISS or something similiar. And while such an operation may not be government run it would be government funded
#7
Simplest solution is to re-explore the methods fo getting manned craft to orbit - and make them passenger-only craft. Let this out for bid and do it liek we do fighter aircraft. Get 2-3 competitive consortiums, have a bake-off, and whoever loses gets to subcontract form the winners. And unlike military programs, have the contractors bid out the launch and recovery systems, and bid out operations as well. All NASA would be is a management arm - set the direction, put out hte specs, accept bids, and manage how the winners work with the government. Put profit there and we will get humans into space.
As for the big satellites (that DoD needs): Leave the heavy lift to a purpose designed lifter. Be easy enough to use the SRBs, and the Shuttle main engines and control systems and come up with a reliable booster system for heavy throw weights to LEO, and be easy to implement quickly since it need not be man-rated.
As for an immediate manned solution: Go with Soyuz type system (Russians will sell it cheap) to get the crew on station until we can come up with a better one ourselves.
In the meanwhile for heavy lift, you could go back and restart the production lines for the one-shot launch vehicles the USAF was using to loft spy satellites: big fragile loads, lifted to wierd orbits = bigger loads lifted to more normal orbits. FYI, the orbit required dominates the energy needed which sets the amount of payload available. Spy satellite LEOs are at unusual inclinations and perogee/apogee, so take a lot more to loft into orbit.
Pretty simple eh? But NASA as it exists now will not go for it; not enough pork in it for Congress to pass it.
#8
Just Google Chaos Manor. I'd post the link but it is about a gazillion characters long and I can never remember that trick to shrink 'em down. Claims to be the original Blog and might be. Some interesting commentary that pops up from time to time about everything from education to space to Iraq. In the last year I saw someone else using his system to map out just where a person stands in the political spectrum something I first saw in the late '70s or early '80s
#11
I very much like the "Spaceship One" piggyback concept, it's not as "New" as folks think, the idea was bypassed when the concept of a "Shuttle" was first being designed, it's much cheaper when you start from 30 angels and up than from a dead stop on the ground and straight up from there.
But the idea fell by the wayside in favor of the "Brute Force" concept, poor decision in light of the results.
Another workable concept was to use helium gasbags to lift as high as possible, then light 'er off, several experiments proved the idea workable, including shooting the rocket directly through the lifting gasbag at max altitude.
Maybe next generation?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/09/2005 18:05
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So don't cancel those welfare checks just yet...
Omar Bakri Mohammed, a Muslim cleric who fled Britain amid possible treason charges, says he plans to return to the UK. Syrian-born Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, who has lived in Britain for 20 years, left for Lebanon on Saturday and associates said he would not come back. But he'd be losing money. Serious no heavy lifting money...
Bakri said on Tuesday he had decided to take a short break from Britain because he feared the government was using clerics like him as an excuse to rush in new laws and "put pressure on the Muslim community". That's right, poster boy.
"I decided myself to go on holiday, which is for four or five weeks and stay with my mother back home," he said. ...and leech off of her for awhile.
"I am going to return ... unless this government says you are not welcome." You're not welcome. Do the British a favor and send for your family. They might be able to balance the national debt.
Bakri, who used to live in Lebanon and holds Lebanese citizenship, had already said he might leave Britain to avoid retroactive charges under new anti-terrorism measures planned following last month's attacks on London's transport system. Prime Minister Tony Blair unveiled sweeping measures last Friday to silence or deport extremists even if it meant overriding human rights laws, and said Britain would ban two radical groups from operating in the country. One of them was the British branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which Bakri was involved with. The other was a successor to al Muhajiroun, to which the cleric was closely linked. That group won notoriety for celebrating the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Just keeping his thumb on the pulse of the community...
Bakri has said he is no longer involved with either organisation. He has denied having broken British laws in his sermons, which have included praise for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Bakri said he knew of no future planned attacks but that even if he did, Islamic law would forbid him from informing the police. We'll see about that.
"I did condemn the bombings," he said. But did you really, really mean it, holy man?
#5
Look at this rat run as soon as things got a bit hot. UK could have booted this mofo years ago. It was from lack of nerve they let this Muslim welfare bum leach off the British taxpayer for two decades.
#7
seems like MI5 could just comb the welfare roles for extremists. All the little cowardly bastards are apparently sucking on the public teat while trying to destroy it. Maybe if they got, like..., a JOB?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2005 10:38
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#8
Frank:
Their job is read their Koran and spread Islam and get the British taxpayer to support them. Lately it's also become to kill Britons on UK soil. All while the dole pays for them and their families and wives (Bakri claimed wives) to have nice food, housing and even special transport for this gimpy legged Bakri
#10
For him to return, the British will actually have to *invite* him back, that is, issue him a visa. Since he is a foreign national, this is only done as a courtesy to foreign nationals, and Britain is under absolutely no obligation to do so. The US regularly excludes tens of thousands of foreigners that it just doesn't care for. No need to even give a reason.
#11
NO shit Frank, if they had a full-time job they wouldn't feel like handing out pamphlets or conspiring against British society as much, they'd be too tired. However, these guys pobably cant act enough like a human to hold a job, how would you like to flip burgers next to a guy who was always telling you about the end of civilization and the return of the caliphate?
#15
"I decided myself to go on holiday, which is for four or five weeks and stay with my mother back home," he said.
Broadcast this far and wide. This kuffr has capriciously set up a "holiday". I just assumed there'd have to be some fatwa issued setting up any new holidays. Looking forward to getting "al Bakri" day off in the future...any one else?
Posted by: BA ||
08/09/2005 14:27
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#16
BA -- "holiday" is just the Britishm for "vacation".
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/09/2005 14:29
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#17
Oops, my bad! Maybe we can set up a UK vs. USA English translator here at the 'burg?
Posted by: BA ||
08/09/2005 14:32
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#18
just to clarify, muslim welfare? Aren't the clerics supported by the congregation of the rest of the muslims? I guess I just assumed that was how it was
Posted by: Jan ||
08/09/2005 14:37
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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- A pilot for national airline Garuda Indonesia went on trial Tuesday over the alleged murder of a prominent human rights activist who was poisoned last year on a flight to Amsterdam. The high-profile case is seen as a crucial test of the government's willingness to crack down on rogue elements within Indonesia's powerful security forces, who for years have operated with impunity. Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, 44, has been identified by government-appointed prosecutors as the sole suspect in Munir Said Thalib's murder -- despite a fact-finding team's report that intelligence agency officials may have been involved.
Prosecutor Domu Sihite told judges at the Central Jakarta District Court the off-duty pilot arranged for Munir to be upgraded from economy to business class on the Sept. 7, 2004, flight, and then ordered two flight attendants to put arsenic into his orange juice.
"Coffee, tea, poison?"
Pollycarpus, who has denied the charge, faces the death sentence if convicted. The trial was adjourned until Aug. 16, when he will be given a chance to respond.
Munir's supporters chanted "Killer! Killer! Killer!" as Pollycarpus entered and left the small but crowded courtroom. But they insisted the Garuda pilot did not act alone and accused the government of failing to look for the masterminds. Munir was Indonesia's top human rights campaigner and regularly spoke out for justice in the face of intimidation, including death threats. He was an especially vocal critic of Indonesia's military, accusing it of numerous human rights violations in East Timor and the troubled provinces of Papua and Aceh. The 38-year-old activist also accused them of running a criminal network involved in illegal logging and drug smuggling. Analysts said the case shows that Indonesia's security forces -- which were used by ex-dictator Suharto to silence critics -- remain powerful today.
A government-authorized fact-finding team in June said the intelligence agency may have been involved in Munir's death -- but prosecutors made no effort to investigate that link, said Asmara Nababan, one of the team's members. "According to our investigation, Pollycarpus was part of the plot -- but he wasn't the mastermind," he said. "It looks like the government thinks 'if we get Pollycarpus that's enough, we've done our job'," he said.
That's what it looks like from here.
A Dutch police report said Munir consumed more than 500 milligrams of arsenic -- four times the lethal dose -- while on a flight to the Netherlands, where he was about to begin a master's program in law.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/09/2005
09:29 ||
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I thought you couldn't take enough arsenic in a single dose to kill you, that you had to take smaller amounts over a period of time. Can any of you MD or scientist types give an answer to that?
#2
Smaller doses over long periods of time builds up a tolerance to it. Happens all the time in poisoning cases ( or so CSI tells me). One massive dose will do the trick. Arsenic is one of the more easily detected poisons, this sounds like a amature operation. Giving it to him on the plane cut down on the number of possible suspects. I'd have taken him out after he'd been in the Netherlands for awhile. Botched "mugging" or a car accident.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/09/2005 11:21
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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told thousands of visiting students that if U.S. forces were to invade the South American country, they would be soundly defeated. The U.S. government has strongly denied Chavez's claims that it is considering military action against Cuba's closest ally in the Americas. But Chavez said late Monday that the U.S. government, which "won't stop caressing the idea of invading Cuba or invading Venezuela," should be warned of the consequences. "If someday they get the crazy idea of coming to invade us, we'll make them bite the dust defending the freedom of our land," Chavez said to applause. He spoke during the opening ceremony of a world youth festival bringing together student delegations from across the world and convened under the slogan "Against Imperialism and War."
Chavez called the United States the "most savage, cruel and murderous empire that has existed in the history of the world." The Venezuelan leader said "socialism is the only path," and told the students the collective goal is to "save a world threatened by the voracity of U.S. imperialism." Earlier, the students waved flags, danced in traditional dress, and held signs praising socialism, Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Ernesto "Che" Guevara. More than 300 students from the United States shouted out their disapproval of U.S. President George W. Bush, chanting "Get out Bush!" Other students chanted: "Bush, fascist -- you're a terrorist!" Some 15,000 youths from 144 countries traveled to Venezuela for the weeklong festival and conference, organizers said.
Chavez wore a red shirt like many of the students, and embraced delegation leaders as their groups marched past.
The ceremony was held in Venezuela's military headquarters in Caracas. Troops looked on while students passed carrying colored flags and shouting: "We will overcome!" This year's World Festival of Students and Youth is the 16th. The first, in 1947, was held in Czechoslovakia, and during the Cold War most host countries were aligned with the Soviet bloc. Apart from the former Soviet Union, other host countries have included Romania, Poland, Finland, Cuba, the former East Germany and North Korea. The weeklong gathering will include musical performances, panel discussions and an "Anti-imperialist Court," which in past years has condemned the U.S. government's actions.
While tensions have grown between Chavez and Washington, the Venezuelan leader has built close ties with countries from Iran to China. Chavez expressed his support Monday for Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, saying he expects to continue strengthening relations. Chavez said like Venezuela, Iran is a country that has been "attacked" for many years by "the hand of imperialism." Chavez, whose country remains a major supplier of oil to the United States, also is sharply critical of the U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/09/2005
09:22 ||
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#1
Words fail me. This would be funny if it weren't for the 25 million Venezuelans in this clown's captive audience.
#5
I don't buy the premise that he is delusional. He knows exactly what he is doing and we need to take him seriously. Chavez is trying to set us up, so that world opinion will be against a future precision attack. Why am I saying this? It's in the bottom of this article.
"the Venezuelan leader has built close ties with countries from Iran...is a country that has been "attacked" for many years by "the hand of imperialism."
Our intelligence agencies knows fully well that Iran is setting up terrorist bases in Venezeula to attack the U.S. using homicide bombers. If we were to execute preemptive strikes to destroy the bases, Chavez will cry "imperialism." He will cry, "not only does the U.S. want to rule the Middle East, they also want to rule South America." In reality, we just want to destroy the terrorist bases. Chavez's propaganda machine will be in full swing so that we won't be able to strike in a manner we would like.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/09/2005 11:36
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I think it is pretty safe to assume that somewhere deep in the recesses of the five sided funny farm there exists a contingency plan to invade Chavezland (along with Botswana, Canada, the UK, France and Lower Slobovia). After all that's part of what staff and planning officers do. But as to whether such a plan would ever be employed the chances of that are only slightly higher than me taking a stroll on the surface of the sun. Hugo is just trying to steal a page from Fidel's notebook and keep the populace wound up.
#12
Not Fidel, cause Fidel can stand before a sea of people and rant for hours on end. Chavez Boy is a wanabe Manuel Noriega. He's started to supply rebels in Columbia who are in tight with the drug business. That will be his Noriega ticket and an adjoining room is being prepared.
#14
Actually, what he needs to fear is that the U.S. will be able to shrug off criticism of such a precision strike - from enemies, both foreign and domestic.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
08/09/2005 12:17
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Any smart dictator knows to wait til Bush is out of power. There are two mind sets in the U.S. on how to handle terrorism.
1. Military Action (GOP)
2. Law Enforcement Method (Dems)
It really depends on who our president is, at the time of action. Law enforcement method was used against the Cole attack.
#16
More than 300 students from the United States shouted out their disapproval of U.S. President George W. Bush, chanting "Get out Bush!
Where are these kids parents! Probable dropouts I suspect.
Strange bedfellows to say the least. Isn't Venezuela mostly christian, while as we all know Iran and those types are muslims? Or has Venezuela had a muslim onslaught too.
Sad to hear how charasmatic this Chavez must be to have such a following.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/09/2005 16:23
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#17
In addition to any precision bombing of Venezuela, a total deforesting of the country would be in order. Remember that in Vietnam, the US carpet bombed, but realized years later that their lattice network of tunnels aptly supported the guerrilla movements. Our eyes in the sky will need unfettered access to ground 'movements' by the enemy in support of an invasion.
#19
BTW SMN are you maybe familiar with Agent Grape? It was secretly dropped by multi-colored C-130HM, the people in the know will deny it, but I'll bet you've seen it in action. I'm with 'ya.
#20
'Mods please erase last comment I'm still in deep cover about Agent Grape. This one too, matter of fact, put Agent Grape on the To Kill List. Yes, it's the right thing to do.
#21
Shipman,
did you not hear me say: "...aptly supported..."? Now for your lower intelligence consideration, answer this question; if you had your choice of fighting an opponent in a room on a wood floor or a glass floor, which would you choose? Think about it and tell me tomorrow!
#22
Ship is gone from this thread, in fact he was never here, OK???
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2005 18:49
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#23
These are not the Shipmans you are looking for (waves hand).
Personally, if I were a Station Chief in, say somewhere upwind of Caracas, I would be launching swarms of mylar helium ballons. Or maybe those radar reflector kites used on life rafts. Not that I'm trying to cause widespread panic or an international incident or anything. I just like balloons.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2005 20:11
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#25
1. Military Action (GOP)
2. Law Enforcement Method (Dems)
This thinking is so 9/10. If the Dems ever get into the WH again and they wuss out after an attack, they can kiss the party good bye at the national level for ever. They know it and that is why, if anybody attacks during the next dem administration they will get womped good. My fear would be that the Democrats are so bad at managing the military (Somalia) that they would let the military run open loop in responding and events would run away from them, leading to widespread war.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/09/2005 20:24
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Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2005 20:34
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#27
Not to mention that their Secretary of Defense would not be cut from Rumsfeld cloth. More like Jimmy Carter. No worry about "open-loop" or "run away", Mrs. Davis, except for "run away" as in a French retreat.
August 9, 2005: One of the most important battles in Iraq gets little coverage. This is the struggle to train new Iraqi police and military forces. After Saddam was overthrown, his police force and army were disbanded. This attracted a lot of criticism from people who did not know how things worked in Saddamâs Iraq. There, the police and military were recruited on the basis of loyalty to Saddam. The higher up you went in the ranks, the more thorough the background investigation. You could not afford to keep such organizations around once Saddam was gone, you had to start from scratch. The United States thought it was well prepared for this sort of thing. American troops had been training foreigners, including Arabs, for generations. The U.S. Army Special Forces, in particular, were very good at this. But the Special Forces were much in demand for counter-terrorism chores. So the Department of Defense had to improvise. This resulted in younger, and less experienced, troops being assigned to training duties. Civilians (usually former or retired military) were also brought in. Experienced trainers were put in charge, and a training program for the trainers was put together for all those assigned to work with Iraqis. The purpose of the âtrainer trainingâ was to avoid âcultural insensitivityâ issues (things that would offend Iraqis because of cultural differences.) This program worked, as far as it went. But it turned out that the trainer training, and selection, missed some important items.
-- Many of the personnel selected as trainers were not among the best troops available. Some of them had not themselves been properly trained to teach combat and police skills. As a result, training sessions are sometimes one-way activities, with the trainees never being asked to display their skills. Even though the American military had adopted a highly effective "show me how you do it" training program, this very useful technique was often skipped with the Iraqis (who really needed it.)
-- The common use of profanity is a particular problem, and trainers have often "lost" a class because they used terms like "Mother Focker!" This was one aspect of the cultural sensitivity training that did not catch on as well as it should.
-- A lot of the trainees, especially officers and NCOs, were veterans of Saddam's Army. Some U.S. trainers would openly denigrate the skills of their Iraqi trainees. Worse, trainers sometimes fail to accord Iraqis the respect due their rank, causing them to lose face. This was poor training practices, not just cultural insensitivity.
-- Because of a lack of language skills, many training classes are conducted in English, with a hired translator providing running translation. While some of the translators had a military background (e.g., retired Egyptian officers, etc.), most did not. Moreover, some of the translators didn't actually speak the Iraqi dialect. Egyptian Arabic, for example, sounds to Iraqis much like an upper class British accent would to an American. So the troops often don't get things because of the use of strange pronunciation and terms. The common solution they have is to ask their buddy, so there's often a lot of side conversations going on during a training session. Hence the "Mother Focker!" from the trainer who perceives a lack of discipline.
-- In many bases the US personnel and the Iraqi personnel are pretty much living in segregated environments. Some observers have commented that the training appears to be most effective when there's a relatively high degree of integration among the troops and their trainers. A few small bases with combined mess halls, for example, reportedly have a much higher success rate and the Iraqis have much higher morale, than at larger bases where the two sides are pretty much never in contact. Living conditions are also a factor here. U.S. personnel almost always have much better quarters, bathing facilities, etc.
-- Too many trainers are no older than the Iraqi troops whom they're training. This is a cultural thing, reflecting respect for age. One commentator observed that the two most effective trainers at one base were a very senior Army Warrant and a former Egyptian colonel, both of whom were in their 40s or more, and had gray hair.
While things like this are not the norm, they occur often enough to cause problems, which are at least partially at the root of the very uneven performance of Iraqi units when they're committed to action. Overall, however, the training program seems to be headed in the right direction. Efforts are being made to root out the bad apples. Over all, U.S. training is much better than that provided by the old Army under Saddam. For example, the troops actually get to the firing range regularly. One veteran of eight years service for Saddam had never been to the firing range! A further problem is that the Iraqi Ministry of Defense is very inept. A lot of money just disappears. Even basic supplies, like soap, are hard to come by. Pay is often in arrears, and is still distributed through unit commanders, so skimming is a problem.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/09/2005
09:20 ||
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#1
One commentator observed that the two most effective trainers at one base were a very senior Army Warrant
#2
Now, compare this with any other training they might have received, and it is still head over heels better. In the US, the expectation is that the vast majority of the class will at least learn the basic fundamentals well enough to function. In most of the rest of the world, instruction is either just identifying what the subject is and trying to motivate the class into going "rah! rah!" about it, literally; or it is empty memorization, such as memorizing the names of all the parts in a rifle--the best students being the best memorizers. Neither of which skills make you in any way capable of using whatever it is you have been taught.
#3
Pay is often in arrears, and is still distributed through unit commanders, so skimming is a problem.
So DO something about it then. The ingrained cultural problems may take some time to overcome, but stuff like skimming should be relatively easy to discourage or eliminate. If there is to be a new mindset, the "old ways" have to be eliminated. ALL the old ways.
#4
interesting how age and language are an issue. Maybe using some grey hair dye and rather than using well known terms like MF'er, and the like, you can just not give a rip. The latter terms just not expressing or making your point as well.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/09/2005 14:46
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August 9, 2005: Do you want to be a suicide bomber? There is one country that allows open recruiting for such adventurers. The Iranian armed forces has established an organization called the "Lovers of Martyrdom Garrison," which will recruit, screen and train suicide bombers, âfor attacks on Western targets.â The application form, and an English translation, can be seen here . This offer is apparently only open to Iranian citizens.
The effort, which has less than two months old, has already attracted over 50,000 applicants. Openly using these fanatics in attacks against Western targets could result in some unpleasant counterattacks against Iran. The Iranians know that if they turn a lot of these volunteers loose outside the country, their origins will be found out. Some of the volunteers will be captured alive, and the Iranians are now aware of how effective Western forensic capabilities are (you can identify an Iranian from DNA analysis body parts.) Itâs more likely that these fanatical volunteers will be used against internal enemies. Not necessarily as suicide bombers, but as true believers who will do anything for the cause.
The Iranians are not the only ones recruiting suicide bombers. In Sri Lanka, the Hindu Tamil Tigers (also known as the LTTE) recruit suicide bombers from among their existing troops (many of whom are kidnapped and brainwashed teenagers). The LTTE were the first to use suicide bombers, and were the most active users until the Palestinian terrorists and al Qaeda began using the tactic more widely after September 11, 2001. The Palestinian terrorists and al Qaeda also recruit suicide bombers, via a network of recruiters. Arab media, in general, tends to speak highly of suicide bombers (calling them martyrs), thus making it easier to recruit more.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/09/2005
09:17 ||
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It should be noted that for the forces of the martyrdom-seeking division from each province, the training and preparations for martyrdom-seeking operations will be implemented in that province.
So unless you gotta terr training facility in your neighboorhood, ya needn't worry about suicide boomers in your neighboorhood! It's only for provincial actions; against local apostates.
Well, that's what it says.....
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/09/2005 16:12
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#2
Perhaps I just have a twisted mind.
But what an opportunity to unearth all the sickos, just sign here to be a fanatic, we'll visit your house as soon as the applications slow down indicating we got most of the idiot's addresses and names registered.
Then you quietly vanish in the night.
It'll only work to cull the stupid from the herd, then you're left with the smart, sneaky/careful sickos.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/09/2005 17:09
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#3
The ultimate result of this type of idiocy is the death of a lot of innocent civilians. When war really gets hot and comes down to either losing soldiers or killing anyone even likely of being a suicide bomber the troops will win.
#4
BillH - correct, except: the troops will win live and have to deal with the emotional consequences....better to take the fight to the Mullahs than have to kill their fodder. Qom should be the first target
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2005 19:02
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August 9, 2005: The government believes that a group of GSPC terrorists has moved from the south of the country to the rural areas outside the capital, with the intention of making more attacks. American trainers in the Sahel region, to the south of Algeria, have increased the effectiveness of the troops down there, making life uncomfortable for the Algerian terrorists who had moved south. Only a few GSPC terrorist gangs remain, all of them led by resourceful, and lucky, master terrorists. However, the most common form of GSPC terror is mass killings of civilians, or ambushing police or army patrols. This is often followed by a pursuit through the hills and forests of coastal Algeria. Eventually, the terrorist groups are caught, and most of the members killed in a violent last stand.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/09/2005
09:10 ||
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One U.S. service member and at least 16 suspected Taliban rebels were killed in fighting in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said Tuesday. The American was killed when Afghan and U.S. forces came under attack during a patrol Monday in southern Zabul province's Day Chopan district, triggering a firefight, the U.S. military said in a statement. U.S. and coalition aircraft provided air support during the clash, it said. Initial estimates showed that at least 16 suspected insurgents were killed, according to the statement.
Posted by: ed ||
08/09/2005
09:02 ||
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#1
I suspect that the remaining terrs in Afghanistan cannot operate individually or in small groups owing to a lack of support in the country. Therefore they have to band together in what I call "brigand groups". These make great targets for conventional destruction, and I think the largest of them have already been wiped out. Note that a few weeks ago, battallion sized groups were destroyed. Then a week or two ago, company-sized groups were obliterated. Now what is left are down to platoon sized and smaller. Once these are scratched, there will be a point when squad sized elements can no longer sustain themselves against irate locals and the enemy will be effectively annihilated, with little or no replenishment from outside the country.
#3
Much less so. The Pakistanis are too divided to do anything about them in their country. However, el Presidente has come up with a marvelous solution: no foreigners allowed. Not as residents, and not attending madrassas. By kicking them out of Pak, they are no longer their problem, and nobody will lose face if they are exterminated. However, once kicked out, they really have no place to go. On their own or in small groups, the Afghans will eat them for lunch, or if they're lucky, turn them over to the US for a reward. In larger groups, well, let us say that we prefer them that way.
#4
However, el Presidente has come up with a marvelous solution: no foreigners allowed.
That'll help with all the domestic nutjobs and whackos. I mean, Christ, do you think the foreigners are at the root of Pakistan's problems? Or are they just the mayo on a massive nutjob sandwich?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/09/2005 13:49
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The latter. It's a matter of psychology. Remember that the vast majority of troublemakers just can't work up the brazos to leave their own 'hood, much less their own country. However, in this case, if you take a foreigner, say a Chechen, an Uzbek, or somebody from a developed country, they have already proven that they have the intestinal fortitude to leave their nest to defile someone else's. They are 10 times more dangerous than some Paki who just makes trouble in Pakistan. On top of that, the instigator madrassas made the big money off of foreigners--this hits them in the pocketbook. On top of everything else, el Presidente must truly enjoy the prospect of reasserting government authority in the obnoxious enclaves North and South. If the really badass Waziris want to travel to the Iranian part of Waziristan and make severe trouble there again, driving the Iranians bonkers, I'm sure it would be no problem as far as the Pakis are concerned. Last but not least, the new requirement that madrassas have to be licensed much just drive them up the wall. Cockroaches and Imams just hate it when the kitchen light is turned on.
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Iran has manufactured about 4,000 centrifuges capable of enriching uranium to weapons grade, an exiled Iranian dissident who helped uncover nearly two decades of covert nuclear activity in 2002 said Tuesday. Alireza Jafarzadeh told The Associated Press the centrifuges - which he said are unknown to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency - are ready to be installed at Iran's nuclear facility in Natanz. Jafarzadeh, who runs Strategic Policy Consulting, a Washington-based think tank focusing on Iran and Iraq, said the information - which he described as "very recent" - came from sources within the Tehran regime who have proven accurate in the past. None of Jafarzadeh's claims could be independently verified immediately. The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, which was convening an emergency meeting on Iran later Tuesday, did not immediately comment on the centrifuge allegations. The agency previously had said it was aware of the existence of 164 centrifuges at Natanz, 300 miles south of Tehran. Iran also did not immediately comment on the Jafarzadeh's claims.
Under an agreement with the IAEA, Iran had pledged to stop building centrifuges, which can be used to enrich uranium to levels high enough to fuel a nuclear weapon. Centrifuges also can be used for the peaceful generation of nuclear energy, which Iran insists is its only intention. The United States contends the country is running a covert effort to produce nuclear weapons. "These 4,000 centrifuge machines have not been declared to the IAEA, and the regime has kept the production of these machines hidden from the inspectors while the negotiations with the European Union have been going on over the past 21 months," Jafarzadeh said in a telephone interview.
Iran on Saturday rejected a package of EU incentives presented by envoys from Britain, France and Germany, and on Monday, it announced it had resumed uranium conversion activities at its nuclear facility at Isfahan. Jafarzadeh said the centrifuges were manufactured in Isfahan and Tehran, and that construction of buildings, concrete foundations and other work needed to prepare the Natanz facility for centrifuge installation has continued in recent months. The IAEA's 35-nation board of governors was meeting to assess Iran's latest nuclear activities, and diplomats said it could issue a formal warning to Tehran. The board, however, appeared unlikely to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council, which has the authority to impose economic or political sanctions on the regime.
Jafarzadeh said Iran was making "extensive" use of front organizations or companies for the production and testing of centrifuge parts. He identified the companies as Pars Tarash, Kala Electric and Energy Novin, and said all had office space in the downtown Tehran building that houses Iran's Atomic Energy Organization. Pars Tarash, which has been mentioned in IAEA reports, is using subcontractors to make some centrifuge components, Jafarzadeh alleged. He said Malek Ashtar University in Isfahan also allegedly was involved in producing centrifuge parts. Those companies "don't know what they're building - they're just given specifications for some parts - but the Pars Tarash company knows what it's building: centrifuges," he said.
In 2002, Jafarzadeh - then a member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an exiled opposition group - disclosed information about two hidden nuclear sites that helped uncover nearly two decades of covert Iranian atomic activity and sparked present fears that Tehran wants to build a bomb. The council is the political arm of the Mujahedeen Khalq, a group that Washington and the European Union list as a terrorist organization. Jafarzadeh identified the top two engineers allegedly working on centrifuge parts as Morteza Behzad, who works for Iran's atomic agency and heads Pars Tarash, and Ali Karimi, a Defense Ministry engineer with experience in more advanced P2 centrifuges. "This clearly shows that contrary to Iran's claim that it is transparent and cooperating with the IAEA, it hasn't stopped being deceitful, hasn't stopped lying and hiding its program," Jafarzadeh said by telephone from Washington, D.C.
In June 2004, diplomats told AP in Vienna that Iran had acknowledged inquiring about 4,000 magnets needed for uranium enrichment equipment with a European black-market supplier and had dangled the possibility of buying a "higher number." It was unclear whether the magnets were intended for use in the 4,000 centrifuges Jafarzadeh cited. A month later, in July 2004, Iran confirmed it had resumed building centrifuges, although it said it had not restarted uranium enrichment.
Britain, France and Germany called Tuesday's emergency IAEA meeting after Tehran announced plans to resume conversion, the process preceding enrichment. Highly enriched uranium can be used to make weapons; uranium enriched to lower levels is used to produce electricity.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/09/2005
09:00 ||
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In the district of Kashmore the two martial tribes the Bijaranis and the Mazaris stand against each other to secure the coveted office of the District Governor. Mazaris belong to the Rojhan area of Punjab province where as the bijaranis migrated to khangarh from Aleppo , Syria. Bijaranis enjoy the chieftainship of 37 balouch and non-balouch tribes whereas the Mazaris command only one tribe. However they are being supported by the Musharraf regime. Sardar Balakh Sher Mazari, Sardar Sher Baz Mazari and Sardar Saleem Jan Mazari are the famous MP's and Sardar Mehran Khan Bijarani, Sardar Sher Mohammad Khan Bijarani, Sardar Hazar Khan Bijarani and Sardar Imran Khan Bijarani are the Veteran Politicians of Kashmore District of Sindh Province.
It is feared that due to Mazari/Bijarani stand-off the elections could end up in bloodshed. It is now upto the Chief Election commissioner of Pakistan to take precautionary measures to prevent such a situation.
The independant observers are of the view that regardless of the governments support for Mazaris the Bijaranis will secure the Governorship of the district.
Four suspected Taleban militants have attacked a medical clinic killing a doctor and a bystander in central Afghanistan, Afghan officials say. Police reached the area and arrested two of the militants who were injured in the clash, according to Ghazni province governor Haji Sher Allam. A man claiming to speak for the Taleban said they carried out Monday's attack in Andar district. There has been a rise in violence ahead of September's parliamentary elections. "We killed the doctor, Mohammed Hashim, because he was a former communist and he was also spying for the Americans," said Abdul Latif Hakimi, who says he is a Taleban spokesman. Mr Hakimi also told the AFP news agency that the doctor was a candidate in the parliamentary elections.
The UN-supported Joint Electoral Management Body and the interior ministry both deny this. Afghanistan suffers from a severe brain drain and a lack of specialists after decades of unrest. The country is said to have only one doctor per 50,000 inhabitants.
Meanwhile, the US military said in a statement on Tuesday that they had discovered three separate weapons caches in eastern Afghanistan. One cache, discovered near Nangarhar province, included an anti-aircraft gun and hundreds of anti-aircraft rounds. The ammunition was destroyed by explosives experts, the statement said.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/09/2005
08:56 ||
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Police reached the area and arrested two of the militants who were injured in the clash.
Unquote
And what now dumbasses, you killed the person who could treat you.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/09/2005 16:02
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#2
they should've gutshot both of them
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2005 22:26
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An Egyptian chemist held in Cairo after the 7 July London bombs has been freed after being cleared of any links with the attacks, a security source says.
Cleared by who, his imam?
Magdi al-Nashar, 33, who recently completed a chemistry PhD at Leeds University, had denied any involvement.
"Nope, nope, wasn't me"
He told the Egyptian authorities he had returned to Egypt shortly before the bombings for a holiday, after which he intended go back to England.
I thought you went to Egypt to pick up a wife?
Three of the four 7 July London bombers came from Leeds.
There's something missing in this story. My guess is that he works for the good guys. If so, he just retired from it, since they won't be able to use him again...
Additional: Thirty-three-year-old Magdi El-Nashar has been cleared by Egyptian authorities of having any links with the 7 July London bombings that killed 56 people. El-Nashar -- who has been at the centre of much-publicised investigations since last Thursday -- remained in custody late Wednesday, until the paper went to press. While authorities in the UK did not formally name the Egyptian chemist a "suspect", his name surfaced as part of investigations into the identities of three of the alleged bombers. A link was made between one of them, 18-year-old Hasib Hussain from Leeds, and El-Nashar, who obtained his PhD in biochemistry from Leeds University. Even though El-Nashar admitted to having known Husain, a British-Pakistani, the chemist insisted that he had no role whatsoever in the attacks. By then, however, he had already become something of a household name worldwide, and especially in three of the places where he had lived: North Carolina in the United States; Leeds in the UK; and the Bassatin area of Cairo where he grew up. In Bassatin, his neighbours expressed their disbelief that such "an intelligent, well-educated and refined scholar" could be the subject of suspicion. Many of his neighbours interviewed by Al-Ahram Weekly opined that El-Nashar must have been mistakenly arrested.
Reportedly, El-Nashar told investigators that he had met Husain, whose name appeared in El-Nashar's personal organiser, at a mosque and helped him to rent an apartment in Leeds that belonged to an Iraqi doctor. Further, El-Nashar denied having visited Husain in his flat -- where the British police say they found traces of ingredients used in manufacturing explosives similar to those used in the attacks -- and challenged any evidence of his involvement or knowledge of the blasts.
El-Nashar also denounced the attacks, and explained that he had returned to Egypt on 30 June for a holiday, and was planning to go back to Britain following his release to resume his studies. All his belongings are still in his flat in Leeds, he said.
Asked by interrogators about his religious affiliations and frequent visits to a local Leeds mosque, El-Nashar reportedly said that, "visiting the mosque and being a devout Muslim who prays is not a crime to be taken against me, and does not make me an extremist or a terrorist." Much the same sentiment was echoed by El-Nashar's neighbours in Bassatin. "He performed his prayers at the mosque and so what? All Muslims are required to pray, does that brand us all as terrorists?" one asked. The day following El-Nashar's arrest, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said he had no links with Al-Qaeda network, describing reports linking him to the group as "groundless" and based on hasty conclusions.
"He's innocent, regardless of the evidence"
Despite these denials, speculation about the possibility of extraditing the chemist to the UK continued throughout the week. These rumours were based on a long- standing and well-known Egyptian campaign to bring UK-based militants who had been sentenced by Cairo military courts in absentia back home to serve their time. The possibility was thus dangled that the wanted chemist might be exchanged for them. The prosecutor-general's office, however, appeared to quickly close the door on that possibility, when it issued a statement denying any likelihood of El-Nashar being extradited. If there proved to be valid charges against him, it said, he would be tried and held in Egypt. In any case, there is no extradition treaty between Egypt and Britain.
Meanwhile, in the UK press, allegations continued to be bandied about regarding El-Nashar possibly providing answers about how the bombs were detonated. The extent to which British police were involved in the questioning of El-Nashar in Cairo also remained up in the air. According to British press reports quoting a security source, officers from Scotland Yard had flown out to Cairo shortly after El-Nashar's arrest, and were liaising closely with the Egyptian authorities, although they were not allowed to pose direct questions. At the same time, Egyptian security sources denied that Britain had requested or sent any of its security bodies to take part in the interrogation process, adding that the British police said the questioning carried out by their Egyptian counterparts was "transparent and reliable". Until the paper went to press, there was no comment from the British police confirming or denying such reports.
The British never comment on these things
"There is complete security cooperation with the British side, which is convinced from the questioning carried out by Egypt that El-Nashar has no role in these explosions," a senior security source was quoted as saying.
This is the Egyptian source again
Pending further questioning, added the source, the chemist "will not be released at present".
On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul- Gheit said that he would be meeting with the British ambassador in Cairo to discuss the latest developments in El-Nashar's case. A British Embassy spokesperson, however, declined to comment on the matter, saying the embassy never discussed ongoing investigations. At the National Research Centre (NRC) where El-Nashar worked for 10 years, his professors were incredulous that such a bright academic personality would become entwined -- even incorrectly -- in a terrorist-related incident. According to NRC head Hani El-Nazer, the "intelligent and clever" chemist started working on his masters in biochemistry in 1996 and finished in 1998. In 2000 El-Nashar applied for a grant at the North Carolina State University for his PhD, where his application was accepted. There, his professor said he needed to update his masters before he could move on to the PhD. Seeing that as a waste of time, he applied for a PhD grant at Leeds University and was accepted. El-Nashar obtained his PhD this year, and returned to Egypt to present his certificate to the NRC for accreditation. He then requested to continue his post- doctoral studies at Leeds where he was due to start in August, which "shows that Leeds University and his professors there encouraged him to continue," El-Nazer said. While not knowing him personally, El-Nazer noted that El-Nashar's reputation is that of a man committed to hard work and academia. El-Nashar, who is currently single, got married in 2000, and divorced a year later. He has a three-year-old daughter, Noha, who lives with her mother in Cairo. According to the imam of the mosque in the neighbourhood where El-Nashar grew up, he used to help high school students with free chemistry lessons.
Like he helped his "students" in Leeds?
Mohamed, El-Nashar's younger brother, described their family as being beloved by his neighbours, for its "decent and tolerant" manners.
OK, possibilities: 1 - He's really innocent. 2 - Still a suspect, but not enough evidence to charge him. 3 - Guilty, but turned States evidence. 4 - Guilty, but Egypt won't extradite, let him go. British knew this ahead of time, didn't show their full hand. Perhaps even playing this hand with the Egyptians. Waiting quietly, watching him closely, hoping he is cocky enough to return to Britian to pick up his stuff. Then they bust him without having to involve the Egyptians in it.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/09/2005
08:49 ||
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"Chemist quizzed over London bombs freed"
The job he did is going to require multiple interviews. As they say, the pop quiz is over. Now it's time for the real interrogation test.
A few days old, but the writer makes a nice point, though it's redundant for most RB readers.
When a Jewish terrorist kills Arabs - and let's be clear, this one's a terrorist - Jews condemn him for it. When an Arab terrorist kills Jews, Arabs celebrate.
When an Arab mob savagely lynches a Jew for killing Arabs, the world yawns. When highly trained and disciplined Israeli operatives target a Palestinian terrorist who is literally in the act of terrorism, it's highly "controversial".
After a horrific terrorist attack committed by a Jew, it's just kind of expected that Arabs will violently riot. When Arabs commit the most unthinkable crimes, bombing civilians and then the medical personnel who come to help them, Israelis are urged to consider the day after.
Mired in their own victim-hood, Israeli Arab organizations are of course calling for a full strike. In far more serious situations - with civilian murders sanctioned at the highest Palestinian levels - Israelis were always urged to make one more painful concession for peace.
And of course, the biggest difference is that when a Jewish terrorist kills Arabs, Jews call him a terrorist. When an Arab terrorist kills Jews, he's something else.
[Cross-posted on IsraPundit]
UPDATE: It's also worth noting, as emailer Hillel does, that this guy was a loner and not acting on behalf of any organization - let alone an organization recognized by (or worse, who negotiates with) the international community.
ANOTHER UPDATE: It looks like Natan-Zada was a member of Kach. Maybe not a lone, deranged lunatic after all. Something to keep an eye on, either way.
#2
true - this is more a commentary on teh lowered expectations placed on Arabs/Paleos/Muslims. They are excused from any and all atrocities for all the BS reasons we've noted here at RB. Seething? Rioting? Honor Killing? Why, of course, they do that
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2005 18:59
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Some more news of Britain's favorite benefit receiver. I recon this is the first time in History that a Nation's invaders are actually paid by their target.
By the Insight team
While London reeled under attack, the teachers of extremism were celebrating â and a Sunday Times reporter was recording every word
On a Friday evening late in July a small group of young Asian men gathered secretly in the grounds of a Victorian manor house on the edge of Epping Forest, east of London, to listen to their master.
Debden House, a property run as a bed-and-breakfast and campsite by Newham borough council, was chosen because they were running scared.
Earlier that day police had arrested the remaining three suspects for the failed 21/7 London bombing. While millions of Britons watched the dramatic final siege on television, members of the Saviour Sect had come to hear a different interpretation of the dayâs events.
Among them was an undercover reporter from The Sunday Times. He joined a football kickabout as they waited for their leader. Others practised kick-boxing.
As they chatted the reporter was asked if he would be willing to wear a âstrapâ â slang for a suicide bomb belt. He laughed the suggestion off nervously and was relieved when everyone smiled.
At 8pm a bulky figure with a long beard and flowing white robe picked his way across the open field in the twilight with the aid of a walking stick. Two hours late, Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed had finally arrived.
A Syrian with seven children who has lived on benefits for 18 years, this extremist cleric has been investigated by police for using inflammatory language but he has never been prosecuted.
Now, sitting cross-legged and picking at a bag of fried chicken and chips donated by one of the group, Bakri addressed his followers. He was perturbed by the dayâs events.
Rather than express relief that the bomb suspects were in custody, he was disgusted that two of the men, arrested in Notting Hill in west London, had been made to strip down to their underwear.
There was, however, some consolation. Referring to the capture of the first bomb suspect in Birmingham two days earlier, he suggested the freak tornado in the city that followed was divine retribution for the police action. âIt was so close to the area of arrest,â he said with a flicker of glee.
The meeting then took a more serious â and revealing â turn.
Referring to the speed with which police issued closed-circuit television pictures of the suspects in the London attacks, Bakri suggested that they should have covered their faces to conceal their identity from prying CCTV cameras. This sparked a discussion with his right-hand man, Anjem Choudhury, which was taped by our reporter.
Choudhury: âItâs CCTV, sheikh; thatâs the killer. You canât go anywhere without them monitoring you now: down the street; out the station.â
Bakri: âThere is million of pictures on CCTV. None of them said this man or this man . . . but when somebody speak, saying my son is this, my son is that, they will take picture of son and they will look at CCTV.â
Choudhury: âOh yeah, when somebody gives them a picture, then they can follow them around . . .â
Bakri: âPeople got big mouths. Thatâs why the link to the family is not going to help. These people should be completely rootless. Thatâs why Sheikh Osama (Bin Laden), he build all people young. He train the youth.â
Bakri suggested that people were pointing the finger of blame for the attacks at his group.
Choudhury replied: âSheikh, theyâre looking for the planners and the eggers-on. We fall into the later (sic) category. Weâre not planning anything.â
DURING a two-month undercover investigation The Sunday Times has amassed hours of taped evidence and pages of transcripts which show how Bakri and his acolytes promote hatred of ânon-believersâ and âeggâ their followers on to commit acts of violence, including suicide bombings.
The evidence details how his group, the Saviour Sect, preaches a racist creed of Muslim supremacy which, in the words of Bakri, aims at one day âflying the Islamic flag over Downing Streetâ.
In his two months with the sect, our reporter witnessed a gang of Bakriâs followers brutally beating up a Muslim who challenged their views. He listened as a succession of âreligious leadersâ ridiculed moderate Muslims and repeatedly justified war against the âkuffarâ â non-Muslims.
He discovered that the core of the group consisted of about 40 young men guided by a handful of spiritual mentors. Many are of Bangladeshi origin, jobless and living in council flats in east London. They use aliases, taking the names of the prophet Muhammadâs companions.
At their meetings â which often included school-age teenagers â they were fed a constant diet of propaganda warning that the kuffar are out to destroy them.
Integration with British society is scorned, as is any form of democratic process. Followers are encouraged to exploit the benefits system. They avoid jobs which could bring them into contact with western women or might lead them to contribute to the economy of a nation they are taught to despise.
In regular lectures and sermons it is instilled into them that Islam is a religion of violence. While publicly they did not defend the London attacks, they speak differently in private.
Bakri, who faces possible deportation with the introduction of new terror laws announced by Tony Blair on Friday, was taped saying that he had been âvery happyâ since the July 7 London bombings, which killed 52 people. After the second attacks, he described the bombers as the âfantastic fourâ. Four parts piece, rest at link.
A former senior UN official has pleaded guilty to accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. Alexander Yakovlev is the first UN official to face criminal charges over the oil-for-food programme. The US attorney's office said he had pleaded guilty to conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering and had been released on bail.
The money was paid to Mr Yakovlev, who worked in procurement, by foreign companies trying to win UN contracts. His actions were uncovered by the inquiry into the oil-for-food programme, although only one charge related to that operation. Mr Yakovlev resigned from the UN earlier this year.
The investigators into the oil-for-food programme also found that the former director, Benon Sevan, was given money by an oil company in return for helping them to win lucrative contracts. Mr Sevan, who's being investigated by the Manhattan district attorney, is currently in Cyprus. He resigned from the UN on Sunday, saying that he'd been made a scapegoat.
The oil-for-food programme was set up in 1996 to allow the then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to sell limited amounts of oil to buy humanitarian goods and ease the effects of sanctions. But since his overthrow in April 2003, the programme has been hit by allegations that the Iraqi government, politicians and UN officials from several countries illegally profited from the programme.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/09/2005
08:44 ||
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Is this the "leave me alone because everyone's doing it defense"? Last night I heard one of the UN's damage controllers trying to spin it all as the fault of the member countries who did not properly oversee the oil for food program. He went on to say poor Kofi was impotent to do anything because he didn't know and these matters were delgated. I had to put down my beer and the masonry hammer before vomiting.
Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald discusses the vexing problem of Muslim integration in Western countries:
Islam itself is entirely responsible for the failure of Muslims in Infidel lands to integrate.
And here is why:
1) Islam itself teaches Muslims to be suspicious of, to hate, to refuse to trust, to offer only feigned friendship to, all non-Muslims. There are passages all over the Qur'an and Hadith about this. "Take not the Christians and Jews for friends, for they are friends only with each other." "Smite the Unbelievers wherever you find them." Not much room for nuance there. The stories in the Hadith about the triumph over, and the killing of, and the seizure of women and property from, non-Muslims whom Muhammad believed he and his men were entitled to attack (even if those in question had done nothing to them) further encourages such an attitude.
Then there are all the stories about Muhammad himself. What does it mean to someone to learn that Muhammad watched with satisfaction as 600-800 members of the Banu Qurayza, bound and helpless, were decapitated one by one? Does that encourage peaceful co-existence, or that famous "convivencia" that supposedly was such a heart-warming feature of Islamic Spain -- which for some has become the model of what they apparently see as an inevitably-islamized Europe? If so, they should read a little more deeply into the history of Islamic Spain (hint: do not believe a word from that sentimentalist Maria Rosa Menocal, "Director of the Whitney Center for the Humanities" at Yale University -- ca en dit long about the state of American education).
It may be quite hard to work for Infidel employers, or to get along well with Infidel fellow-workers, if one is constantly offering only ill-concealed -- or at times well-concealed -- hostility. Nor does the Muslim sense of Muslim entitlement make it easy for Muslims to endure, or to endure with good grace, such an arrangement: Islam by right should dominate, Muslims should rule, it is contra naturam, against all that is right and just, for Muslims to have to accommodate themselves to non-Muslim customs and laws and ways of behaving. If they must, they should only do so temporarily -- until Muslims are sufficiently powerful, which can happen long before they are an absolute majority. Just look at all the demands made constantly, so that Infidels begin to behave, even when they need not, as dhimmis: willing to placate, to make excuses for, to bend over backwards for, Muslim outrages in deed or in word or in attitude â outrages that may be obvious to all those who have kept their wits about them.
2) Inshallah-fatalism. The deep belief in the will of Allah, of Allah ta'ala (Allah Knows Best), of references in every greeting, paragraph, sentence,
3) The habit of submission -- of mental submission -- does not encourage skepticism, liveliness, "thinking outside the silly box" and so on. The habit of mental submission encourages -- the habit of mental submission. This can limit entrepreneurial activity, just as the sullen dislike of one's status, of the status of Muslims who do not lord it over non-Muslims but must adjust, can help to explain the difficulty of employing Muslims in a non-Muslim workplace.
4) Why should Infidels wish to employ Muslims? Why should they wish to create an unpleasant work environment for themselves? Fetish-worshippers of diversity may wish to do so: a newspaper, say, that thinks the "best way" to cover Muslims is to hire a Muslim (which is, in fact, probably the worst way, if it amounts to the usual apologetics and misinformation). Sometimes, of course, one is dealing with those who either hide very well, or may in fact not feel -- as "Muslim-for-identification-purposes-only" Muslims -- the hostility toward non-Muslims that Islam inculcates. But even those who never go to a mosque may at times engage in a sudden flaring-up, a sudden note of hysteria, when the subject of Islam is even tangentially raised -- as if it is simply a subject completely off-limits for Infidels. And nowadays, how can one discuss anything in the world's news without discussing Islam? One sees this reaction even in some of the seemingly most Westernized, most sophisticated, and suavest of Muslims -- a sudden rage, a sudden rush of furious defensiveness that overcomes the truth, that makes even someone who a minute ago was so calm, so rational, so seemingly part of the smae moral and intellectual universe -- and who a minute before might have been attacking aspects of Islam himself -- will, if an Infidel agrees with the attack, or dares to add his own two-cents' worth to the discussion, will withdraw into a circling-the-wagons mode.
5) Muslims through time and space lived in the lands they conquered through the loot acquired from non-Muslims, and they continued to exploit those non-Muslims thorugh the jizyah, and in other ways. As historians of India well know, the Hindus were initially subject to mass execution and mass enslavement. Some of those enslaved converted. Others did not wait to be enslaved, but converted after witnessing the realities of life under Muslim rule. But the Mughal -- and even the earliest Muslim rulers from the initial conquests -- realized that if the only possible choices open to Hindus -- as non-People of the Book (ahl al-kitab), they were not permitted to live and practice openly their religion -- were death or conversion, then there would ultimately be no non-Muslims left to be exploited economically for the purposes of the Muslim state. This could end the fabled Mughal luxury, the famed Mughal magnificence that so entrances certain writers (as the upscale, and more scholarly, Barbara Cartland of Mughal India, William Dalrymple). Hindus were accorded "honorary" status as dhimmis, not because of Muslim mercy, but because by so doing, the ruling Muslims could economically exploit them through the jizyah (which the tolerant, syncretistic Akbar managed to temporarily suspend -- one more reason why Akbar is remembered fondly by Hindus, and despised by Muslims).
Another way of finding loot, or slaves to exploit, were the constant series of slaving raids. Islam created slave societies -- slaves on horseback, slaves in the harem, slaves to build the palace of Moulay Hasan or the Taj Mahal. Everywhere, slaves from non-Muslim lands -- from black Africa by the tens of millions, slaves from the Slavic lands and Georgia and Circassia, by the many millions, and slaves taken over centuries by raiding parties that landed, destroyed villages, and seized villagers up and down the coasts of Western Europe. This too was a source of wealth, and in fact the corsairs that left ports in North Africa, especially Algiers, continued to raid Christian shipping until two things -- the American military response to the Barbary Pirates, and then the seizure, by the exasperated French, of Algiers in 1830, which put an end to the corsairs and their officially-sanctioned raids on Christian cargoes and enslavement of Infidel sailors.
The corsair-piracy has stopped, or found new means of expression, but the jizyah, in disguised forms, has continued. Arab and Muslim states have economies that depend heavily on one of two things:
1. The oil and gas-rich Muslim states depend on this manna from Allah -- which is exactly how they see it. They do not regard this accident of geology as an accident of geology, but as a sign of Allah's favor -- why else should so much of the oil lie under the lands of dar al-Islam?
2. The Arab and Muslim states that do not possess oil wealth, instead of having the oil-rich Muslim states share that wealth, have managed to get on the Infidel list of countries deserving of foreign aid. Suddenly that supposed loyalty of the umma al-islamiyya seems to disappear when it comes to oil money, save for the sums given to reward suicide bombers among the "Palestinians," and of course for any significant arms projects. No matter how corrupt, how full of anti-Americanism and antisemitism these societies may be, Western money keeps pouring in: to Egypt ($60 billion from America alone), to Pakistan, to Jordan, and to the shock troops of the Jihad against Israel, the local Arabs who after 1967 were carefully renamed as the "Palestinian people" so as to disguise the essential nature, and ultimate aims (not exactly concealed, by the way) of the Arab war on Israel, an Infidel sovereign state in the midst of dar al-Islam that must, in Arab and Muslim eyes, go -- sooner or later. It is a matter of pride. It is a matter of self-esteem. It is a matter of how the Arabs and the Muslims see themselves. What else could possibly matter?
The $9 billion pledged by the G-8 at Gleneagles to keep afloat a non-viable state, or a state that will only be viable at the expense of tiny Israel, because for some reason everyone has ignored the real history of that area, the demographics, the nature of land ownership, and as well has decided to apply rules about territory either captured from an aggressor, or if not captured directly, assigned to one of the winning members in a coalition -- rules that have been applied after every war. For how else did Italy acquire the Alto Adige, which when it was handed over had a population that was 97% German-speaking and ethnically part of Deutschtum? Yet who among us thinks Italy was not entitled to, and should return to Austria, the Sudtirol it possesses? And what of all the changes in borders after World War II, and the expulsion of ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia (3 million Sudeteners), from Poland, and elsewhere, not to mention land taken (Kaliningrad was once Kant's Koenigsberg)?
Yet the Americans and Europeans pay the jizyah to the "Palestinians" and are fearful of stopping, just as they continue to pay Pakistan, the supporter and promoter of the Taliban, the supporter and promoter of Dr. A. Q. Khan (without whom North Korea would not be the problem it is today). We continue to engage in bribery instead of reading Pakistan the riot-act, threatening to destroy not only its military (withholding all parts, all future deliveries) but also its economy (no one has to buy the child-labor textiles and rugs of Pakistan, and while that economy -- that is, while its zamindars -- are prospering, that can be ended in a minute).
Within Europe, the Muslims have the same attitude. The property and women of the Infidels belongs to them. There is nothing wrong with taking Infidel property. There is nothing wrong with raping Infidel women. It is not an accident that 70% of the prison population in France is Muslim; that 70% of the rapes of women in Scandinavia are by Muslims; that the drug traffickers in Holland, and the spacciatori di droga in Italy, are Muslims -- no, this should not surprise.
What does surprise is the failure of the non-Musli world to understand that this all fits into, and can be explained by, a coherent ideology that makes it virtually impossible for Muslims -- to the extent that they remain full believers, or turn into full believers -- to ever comfortably fit into, or ever accept, Western or other non-Muslim societies, mores, manners, laws, or ever to accept the idea of living in a society where the Infidel ways, the Infidel understandings, are to be permanent. This rankles Muslims. This is not right. The world belongs in the end to Allah, and to his people. It is to them that the property and women of others belongs. Not every Believer feels this, but in the canonical texts, and the tenets logically derived from them, and in the attitudes and atmospherics to which those tenets and the whole system of Islam gives rise, these views are not strange but natural and familiar.
And then there is another problem: the problem of the "moderate" Muslim -- which is to say, the relaxed, or unobservant Muslim, the Muslim who may not act according to the tenets of Islam today, but may suddenly acquire a deep psychic need to return to Islam, for whatever reasons. When one is in mental disarray, and happens to be a Muslim, provided with a Total Explanation of the Universe, and a Complete Regulation of existence, one can quite easily come to view the universe through the prism of islam.
And it need be nothing political -- nothing in the newspapers -- that sets one off. A death in the family, the loss of a job, the failure to get into a certain school, the perception that others do not share one's worldview and see no reason to accommodate themselves, and of course the depression that can come upon so many of us, Muslim and non-Muslim, at any time -- are all cause for alarm. But non-Muslims provide their own answers, their own home remedies, as they can, and those answers, and their affixing of blame for their problems, can be as various as their parents, their spouses, their children, their siblings, their employer, The System, the stars, Fate, their cholesterol level, their serotonin level, even -- at times -- themselves. Muslims have only to look to the one thing that always presents itself to be blamed: the Infidels. Their wiles, their whisperings of Shaytan, their decadence, their indifference, their whateveritis of which Infidels are guilty. And once a non-Muslim Muslim, a "Muslim-for-identification-purposes-only" Muslim, begins to redsicover Islam, to return to Islam, he can turn into that other thing -- a Muslim Muslim. And that is the problem, the permanent problem for Infidels, who have done nothing to deserve this ever-ready, this omnipresent blame.
There is no solution. Reducing Muslim numbers, and Muslim power, and ensuring that the Infidel lands do not engage in some kind of attempt to win Muslims by changing their own laws and customs, but remain implacably themselves, or perhaps deliberately Islam-hostile rather than Islam-friendly, so that those who now claim that they are "thinking of leaving" really do leave -- would anyone wish to stop them -- should be the goal of Infidels, engaged only in defending themselves against the carriers of Jihad, all over the world.
#1
If you look at Muslem "countries", you'll see that Muslims do not get along with each other either. You can't really have a society (above the level of a few dozen's members band) organized on the basis of kin selection (rather than reciprocity as our own).
#2
Not entirely fair. Most Moslems in the west are 1st and 2nd generation. As is typical with immigrants, the 1st generation still live in the old world, and want what it offered. 2nd generation are neither here nor there, and frequently go bad, forming gangs and mafias. In this case, the vast majority of the 2nd generation Moslem immigrants only give lip service to their religion, selectively choosing the parts they like, such as thinking they can do what they want to other people, and if other people fight back, then they are "oppressing" them. Only a tiny minority embrace the fanatical kind of Islam, that is, if it expects them to do something they wouldn't otherwise want to do. Like kill themselves or get thrown in prison for life.
N.B.: British prisons are filled with nominal Moslem young men, who really don't know squat about their religion. Toughs who drink, do drugs, and like the idea of having more than one girlfriend at a time. That, to them, is Islam.
The following are excerpts from a report about Al-Qaeda's anti-American military activities in Afghanistan. Al-Arabiya TV aired this report on August 5, 2005
Al-Arabiya reporter: In a film by the Al-Qaeda organization, excerpts of which are shown here in an Al-Arabiya exclusive, Al-Qaeda presents an ambush followed by an attack on an American army base in Kunar District in Afghanistan.
The film shows that the commander of the squad that carried out the operation is Abd Al-Hadi Al-Iraqi, who is also known as the Emir of the Arab Mujahideen in Afghanistan. He prepares a plan, using special squads from a number of countries. It is noteworthy that Al-Qaeda fighters from Britain, Ireland, France, and Pakistan, in addition to Arabs, speak in the film before the military operation.
Jihad fighter #1: [English] Oh people of the West, don't be fooled by the lies of Blair and Bush that you are free nations, for the only freedom that you have is the freedom to be slaves of your whims and desires.
Jihad fighter #2: [French] We the mujahideen swear, to all Muslims, the victims of unlimited and endless barbarism, that we will avenge their martyrs, and that we will slit the throats of the Americans and the Jews.
Jihad fighter #3: Come and join us. Join this blessed jihad. Come for the sake of Allah. Join us in this blessed jihad, with Mullah Omar and Sheik Osama bin Laden.
Al-Arabiya reporter: The film shows Al-Qaeda's military capabilities in producing explosives which were used in this operation. Then the Al-Qaeda fighters manage to break into the American army base, after American planes evacuated the wounded and the dead. The film shows documents the fighters took from a soldier's computer. In this computer were documents, military plans, and maps belonging to the military command of the American forces in Afghanistan.
#3
I second anymouse - come on down to Virginia and try that shit.
Here's one senior citizen that will gladly kick your collective asses.
Worthless losers.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/09/2005 14:13
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#4
Barbara, you remind me of that old e-mail joke (I wish I could find it for here)that went around several times about sending in the not so old mother's into Iraq, that we'd kick some insurgents butts, just give us a chance to.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/09/2005 15:29
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#5
The scenes in the video for this production seems a little questionable at best. They need to work on the acting and oratory skills before prime time I'd say. Better editing would make it more believable but then again the target audience they wish to inspire are largely idiot nutters ready to believe any lie that fits.
British police have begun questioning a man held in Italy on suspicion of trying to blow up a Tube train at Shepherd's Bush in London on 21 July. Osman Hussain, 27, also known as Hamdi Isaac, is in custody in Rome, following his arrest there on 16 July. British police have been allowed access to him after more than a week of negotiations with Italian officials. An inquiry is also under way into whether he should face international terrorism charges in Italy.
Hussain fled to Italy by train after allegedly being seen at the scene of the failed bombing at Shepherd's Bush underground station. He is being questioned by UK police at Rome's Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven) prison. The "international rogatory" interrogation is the first time British police have had access to the suspect. The judge leading the separate Italian investigation, Rome's chief prosecutor and Hussain's lawyer are present at the interview. Hussain has been held in isolation at the jail since he was arrested at an apartment belonging to one of his brothers on the outskirts of the city last month.
According to legal sources, Ethiopian-born Hussain, who has British citizenship, has the right to refuse to answer questions put to him by the British interrogators. Before the interview, his Italian lawyer Antonietta Sonnessa said she was looking forward to seeing the British police report on the explosive he was alleged to be carrying when he was spotted leaving Shepherd's Bush Tube station. She said he had told her he had had no intention of killing anyone in London.
Britain's extradition request will be considered at a hearing in Rome next week. Hussain is also being investigated by the Italian authorities in connection with possible terrorism charges he may face in Italy. BBC Rome correspondent David Willey says the extradition process is expected to take some weeks, if not months. He said: "The Italian judiciary have got some charges which they may be bringing against the suspect for international terrorism committed on Italian territory and of course that will have precedence over anything the British police do." He added that, as Hussain had been arrested under a European arrest warrant, the extradition process should not take more than three months.
Bomb suspects Ibrahim Muktar Said, 27, Yassin Hassan Omar, 24, and Ramzi Mohamed, 23, appeared before magistrates on Bow Street magistrates sitting at Belmarsh high security prison in south-east London, on Monday. They are charged with attempted murder and possessing explosives. One charge faced by Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 32, relates to an unexploded device found two days after the bomb attempts.
The four men - who are also charged with conspiracy to murder - were remanded in custody for three months and will next appear in court on 14 November. The failed 21 July attacks took place two weeks to the day after four suicide bombers killed 52 passengers on the London transport network.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/09/2005
08:19 ||
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"international rogatory"
Not bad.... ThugBurg's better tho.
Page forward to Page 16 at the link. Reprinted in its entirety.
When Teddy Roosevelt helped assemble a bunch of cowboys and others to fight in the Spanish American War, they did not get called the Cowardly Cusses or the Horseback Hobos. The name that stuck was the Rough Riders, and we all know why, donât we? The name suggested toughness and heroism, the qualities that Roosevelt, other military men and the public hoped the soldiers would exemplify on the battlefield.
Sports teams operate the same way. When organizers pick a nickname, a logo and a mascot, they are not aiming to insult the team. They are usually seeking out a symbolic way of suggesting the virtues they hope will be manifested in the games the team plays. That intention is one reason it is so incredibly silly that the NCAA is going to war against the use â by some university teams â of American Indian nicknames, logos and mascots that it considers racially âhostileâ and âabusive.â
You are soon going to have to get those nicknames off uniforms in post season tournaments, the NCAA says. You wonât be allowed to show the logos. Let one of those mascots prance across a basketball court on such an occasion, and there will be serious penalties to contemplate. The ban doesnât apply to the regular season, itâs reported, because the NCAA doesnât think it has the authority to enforce it Is that a clue? and it doesnât apply to football games because there is no post season NCAA football tournament. But a committee that recommended the changes would like to see all American Indian nicknames disappear in all NCAA competition. What? The wool blankets didn't go far enough? Now the names hafta go, too?
According to an Associated Press story, the committee says schools should imitate Wisconsin and Iowa by shunning games with teams that call themselves Seminoles, Chippewas, Braves, Indians, Fighting Sioux and the like. Whatâs that? A sarcastic chuckle? One is due because Wisconsin and Iowa are among those states â almost half the total â that are named after Indian words and sometimes tribes. If you are going to say the University of Utah cannot have âUtesâ on uniforms in future NCAA tournaments, as the NCAA does, why allow âUtah?â Both words refer just as surely to the same Indian tribe. And why would the simple use of a tribeâs name be regarded as hostile or abusive, anyway?
I will grant there might be a couple of team names that are objectionable, such as the Southeastern Oklahoma State Savages, and that some mascots may overdo it. Yet most of these names, logos and mascots are no more disrespectful than references to America as the land of the free and the home of the brave. What we have are simply romantic, adulatory generalizations, which are not so horrible. Even when the mascots seem warlike, the evocation isnât of bloodshed, but of daring, defiance and valiance. Holding these images in mind is not a way of saying a whole people is thus summed up. It is a way of referring to a strong, positive impression out of our history. Florida State, which wants to keep its Seminole name in all games, is said to be considering a suit against the NCAA.
I donât blame the university, but canât help thinking that here we Americans go again, nicking ourselves to enfeeblement over petty matters. It too often seems that somewhere, in the vast social change of recent decades, we Americans have misplaced our common sense, thereby opening the doors to would be morality dictators who consistently make false analogies to real issues. There are indeed real issues facing Indians in America today and there are real solutions. Cracking down on nicknames is not one of them.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/09/2005
08:09 ||
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Here in Wisconsin we recently saw a major tempest in a teapot when Marquette went through a name changing episode. We continually see this issue come up with Illinios and Chief what'shsiname. There are a lot more things to worry about than this kind of crap. IIRC Florida State actually has the permission of the Seminole tribe to use the name so just WTF business is it of anybody else?
But the best take on the whole thing was the intermural basketball team at North Dakota (?) that called them selves the Fighting Whites/Whities
#2
"The fightin' Whities" were a group of non-white students trying to make a political point. Of course, no one cared about the supposed negative connotations, and instead started buying merchandise. And, of course, capitalism suddenly seemed to be more important to our young world changers than their original point.
#3
Florida State, which wants to keep its Seminole name in all games, is said to be considering a suit against the NCAA.
Actually, Florida has two Senators and 23 Representatives in Congress. Wonder how many the NCAA has? Hope they already have their travel and hotel reservations [heh] made for Washington. This could be far more entertaining than the Roberts nomination.
#7
Wetherell says - quote - "This university will forever be associated with the "unconquered" spirit of the Seminole Tribe of Florida."
Hmmmm... Ya think anybody at NCAA knows the Seminole Nation was never defeated? Maybe that's why FSU likes the name, and the Seminoles don't mind!
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/09/2005 16:30
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Seminoles were beaten in battle - but never defeated as a "nation". The tribe itself has voted to support the name of the FSU mascot associateion with thier tribe. Maybe its because they never surrendered that the Seminole nation doesn't play the "Victim" card.
The PC idiots at the NCAA just bit off more than they coudl chew on this one. FSU and the Seminole tribe will chew the NCAA up.
And I still got my "Fightin Whities" T-Shirt from the last bout of PC-ness in mascots.
The attack came almost as soon as our two Humvees pulled off the road and rolled to a stop.
We found ourselves assailed not by bullets or rocket-propelled grenades, nor improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and mortar rounds, but by a swirling, squealing, smiling mass of petitioners, all under 4-feet tall. Three or four children had stood on the road just 10 seconds earlier, yet by the time I climbed from my seat in the lead vehicle at least 40 of them swarmed between my vehicle and the next.
Six of us dismounted, the drivers and gunners staying in the vehicles. I walked to the rear of gun-truck No.2 where another man opened the hatch. The mass and press against my legs and back as I reached in for the box of food made me feel like I was at a Rolling Stones concert, Warning! Beverage alert! albeit one given exclusively for very, very short people. Snicker! I could barely move as I turned to try and carry the food over to a parent, hanging back at the edge of the village. Pressed in on every side, I called upon my remaining secret weapon.
The gunners in their turrets tried to focus on any potential distant threat, but when I gave the pre-arranged signal the gunner of truck #2 shifted. We had planned for this contingency. We plan for almost every contingency, even the happy ones.
Back at our base, we had separated the hard candy from the more substantial food and toiletries. We placed this 'ammo' in a separate box. That box was with the gunner, "Wingnut." On my order he let fly handful after handful of hard candy, throwing it well away and to the side of my location, a sugary "covering fire" which shifted progressively further from my position. My howling "opposition" melted away, streaming in a shrilly joyous mass off and to the side, diving for luxuries strewn in the dirt.
I accomplished my mission, handing to two now-smiling women great boxes of food and toiletries. Thirty seconds later, we were remounted and on the road again, just in case, because we were a long way from friendly forces and our convoy of two was very small.
Not long ago, just a few kilometers from where I sit now inside Baghdad's Green Zone, another group of American soldiers was doing much the same. They were passing out candy to children, as American soldiers have been doing for decades. The children were playing near the parked Humvees, and if my experiences are any guide, the kids were probably yelling and begging for yet more sweets, surrounding the Americans, when a suicide bomber drove straight into the pack of children and detonated his lethal cargo among them.
This cannot stand. I agree, but am not sure what the writer is advocating....
(Robert Bateman is an author and historian. He is a regular D.C. Examiner columnist. For the next year, his byline will appear from Baghdad, Iraq, and various other points throughout the Middle East.)
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/09/2005
08:09 ||
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If this guy wants any future in journalism, he needs to quickly retitle this piece "American Troops Torment Iraqi Children, Cause Cavities".
Enjoyable post, Bobby.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/09/2005 12:18
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Two people have died in the struggle to put out forest fires which are ravaging parts of Spain. Francisco Javier Tirado Rodriguez, 29, died on Saturday helping to fight a blaze started that day in Casavieja in Ãvila. Rodriguez, who is well-known in his home town for his work protecting the environment, was hit by rocks which became loose during the fire.
On Monday, officials said the fire had destroyed an estimated 800 hectares of forest and was believed to have been started deliberately.
On Sunday, in Galicia, in Orense, Antonio Diaz, 50, died as he piloted a plane spraying water over an area engulfed in flames.
On Monday, more than 27 fires were still burning throughout the country, many started during the weekend which experts had warned would be especially hot and dry.
Fire fighters in the province Castilla y Leon were tackling 11 fires which had destroyed some 4,100 hectares, with the most serious being highlighted as that at Avila and a second in La Cabrera in Leon, which had destroyed 3,100 hectares. The farming and fishing minister Elena Espinosa, who visited the family of Rodriguez to give her condolences, called for people to behave responsibly. She pointed out that the vast majority of the forest fires this summer have been started deliberately and stressed "the majority of the burnt woods will be difficult to restore".
"C'mon guys, quit it! I'm serious!"
For her part, the environment minister Cristina Narbora admitted that the government needed to do more to tackle forest fires. "The government isn't satisfied with how it has acted," she said. "However, it isn't resigned; it's committed."
There were "many faults to be addressed," she added. However, the minister said the conservatives were wrong to accuse the socialist government of "letting people die" and "little short of involuntary homicide".
"There hasn't been a single year in history when there has been so little rain," she said, adding that those circumstances made exceptional measures necessary. The minister said she would consider vetting local festivals which used fireworks and bonfires, in addition to the ban the government has already introduced on smoking and lighting bonfires in certain zones.
Narbora said she still felt bitterness, anxiety and powerlessness when she thought of the 11 volunteer firefighters who lost their lives in the Guadalajara fire last month. She pointed out that during the conservative PP government's eight years in power, more than a million hectares were destroyed in forest fires and 32 people died.
Posted by: leader of the pack ||
08/09/2005
07:19 ||
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There are many fires each year in France too, and most of them are deliberate.
I'm certainly bigoted in thinking that, but I can't help having the (probably at least partially unjustified) impression that a disproportionnate part of theses fires are lighted by yobs of north-african background.
Some of the arsonist caught are voluntary firefighters of farmers, but from last year I recall having a few infos about for example a serial arsonist near Marseilles who was a "youth" (coded word for muslim "juvenile", up to 35 years old and counting), or how firebombs were used to set several fires at once in several locations.
There seems to be a tropism of such "youths" with fire, from church, school, gymnasium,... arsons to garbage cans, cars (tens of thousand each years, over 400 in Paris area on this 14th july alone) fire... not to mention horrific cases of people being assaulted with flammable materials, like this nurse set on fire by a "maniac" on Xmas day two years ago IIRC (she lost her two hands), to a young muslim girl being burnt alive for refusing herself to a suitor (who was hailed as a hero by the crowd of his pals when police brang him back for re-enactement), or to that mall cop disfigured and maimed by a firebomb when the mall was swarmed by an aggressive revenge-seeking gang of homeboys.
I can't help thinking perhaps there is a quasi-terrorist touch to this, a bit like the forest arsons in Israel (wasn't there a claim about Us fires being terrorist too?), probably not even organized by a "mastermind", but as a general symptom of contempt and hatred for the country, or sheer badness.
But then again, I'm probably just paranoid.
#2
Yes, last year several groups boasted that they had set some of the wildfires in the US southwest. Difficult to verify, since there are large tracts of undeveloped land there and lightening strikes are common.
As I recall they were al-Qaeda affiliates and boasted that Allah was giving them helpful conditions (a relative drought) for the 'attacks'.
Posted by: leader of the pack ||
08/09/2005 9:33
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I won't absolutely rule it out, but we've had local idiots starting fires out here for decades.
Worse, our area is becoming more susceptable to fire, as non-native invasive species come in. The Sonoran desert never used to burn, as there was too little fuel spaced too far apart. Now things like African Bufflegrass (thanks, Mexico) in filling in the areas, so it can burn, killing the native vegetation (Saguaros explode like a jihadi), and being the only thing that grows back after a fire.
The CIA asked the Netherlands not to detain Pakistani scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan for stealing nuclear secrets from a Dutch facility, former Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers has claimed.
Speaking on Dutch radio programme Argos on Tuesday morning, Lubbers said the Dutch authorities held off from taking action against Khan in 1975 and 1986 because the US security agency wanted to gain more information about the scientist's activities.
Khan was hailed a national hero in Pakistan in 1997 when the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif announced that the country possessed nuclear weapons.
It emerged later that Khan also headed a clandestine network that sold on nuclear know-how to Libya, North Korea and Iran. Although there was mounting evidence of Khan's illicit activities by 2001, this was only made public in 2004.
Born in Bhopal, Khan trained as a metallurgist in Germany. From May 1972 to December 1975 he was employed by Physics Dynamic Research Laboratory (also known as FDO), an engineering firm based in Amsterdam and a subcontractor to the URENCO consortium specialising in the manufacture of nuclear equipment.
Urenco's primary enrichment facility was in Dutch city of Almelo, near the German border. Khan had an office there by late 1974, the website of globalsecurity.org says.
In early 1976, Khan left the Netherlands with secret Urenco blueprints for an uranium centrifuge. He was convicted in absentia by a court in the Netherlands in 1983 for stealing the designs. The conviction was later overturned on a technicality.
Lubbers was the longest serving prime minister in the Netherlands (1982 - 1994). He was appointed UN High Commissioner for Refugees in 2001 but resigned last February due to sexual harassment allegations. see, I was a good guy. those women ... a trivial matter.
He told the radio station that when Minister of Economic Affairs in 1975 he discussed the Khan case with US officials. The Americans, Lubbers said, suggested blocking Khan's access to Urenco would be sufficient.
As Prime Minister in the mid 1980s Lubbers again raised the issue as the CIA had been monitoring Khan for 10 years, without any obvious breakthrough in the investigation. Again the Americans did not want action taken against Khan, Lubbers said.
Posted by: leader of the pack ||
08/09/2005
07:16 ||
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The CIA!
And now they leak intel suggesting that Iran is still 10 years away from the bomb.
MOre fool those who continue being misled by that bunch.
German Defence Minister Peter Struck left Berlin on Sunday for talks with senior U.N. officials in New York on a peace force in Sudan that has been long planned but has still not been set up. and if we keep dragging our feet maybe the problem will go away. how many survivors are holding on in southern Sudan, anyway? can't be too many. a few more consultations should stretch things out sufficiently
He was to meet with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday to review plans to provide up to 75 German military observers to a force intended to supervise a ceasefire between the Sudan government and rebels. Four German armed forces officers have reached Sudan.
The Germans have been demanding to know if the force will be formed at all in the face of objections so far from Khartoum.
Officials in Berlin said Stuck would also ask how more security responsibility could be transferred to Afghan authorities from a German peace force in Kabul. Germany has taken part in 31 international peace missions since 1992.
Posted by: leader of the pack ||
08/09/2005
07:13 ||
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can anyone tell me if the UN is involved in any reef efforts in Niger? O r is it just private organizations?
#3
The UN World Food program is "coordinating" relief in Niger. That basically means asking countries for money or emergency food, skimming 40% off the top, marking it "UN," and handing it out. If the US is going to contribute, I hope we cut out the middleman.
Iran's determination to resume uranium conversion after rejecting European incentives to halt a nuclear fuel project risks sparking a major global crisis, German officials warned Monday.
Gernot Erler, a foreign policy expert in Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democratic Party (SPD), said there was no longer any doubt that Iran was determined to produce nuclear weapons. wow - who'd a thunk it?
"We are now standing just one step away from a serious international crisis," said Erler in an ARD TV interview.
Germany, Britain and France - which are leading European Union (E.U.) efforts to defuse the standoff with Tehran - say they will recommend putting Iran in the dock at the United
Nations Security Council if it restarts work at a uranium conversion plant in Isfahan.
Erler said this could result in U.N. sanctions aimed at Iran.
Karsten Voigt, who coordinates Schroeder's ties with the United States, expressed gloom over chances for a diplomatic deal to defuse the crisis.
Voigt said he doubted Iran would back down on the nuclear issue.
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Charrasi said at the weekend that uranium conversion would resume Monday.
Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes and denies it is seeking to build a bomb.
An emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been called for Tuesday by Berlin, Paris and London.
Posted by: leader of the pack ||
08/09/2005
07:11 ||
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they will recommend putting Iran in the dock at the United Nations Security Council
My pills Ethel, I smell a sternly-worded memo cooking!
#2
These people won't get it until some European city goes up in Islamic nuclear smoke. Then, just maybe, they'll do something, like probably blame Bush...
The Belgian immigration service (DVZ) will be strengthened with 15 'expulsion public servants' from 1 September to uncover the identity and nationality of detained foreigners.
The new DVZ recruits will be entrusted with accelerating deportation procedures and boosting the number of people voluntarily returning to their land of origin.
"Someone can only be ejected from our country if he or she has been identified," the private secretary of Interior Minister Pattrick Dewael said.
However, there are also asylum seekers who wish to hide their identity and nationality in order to stay in Belgium. While their land of origin remains unknown, Belgium cannot deport them. well you could but I understand the difficulty
On 1 September, a detainee identification service will be established with a staff of 15 focused on identifying detained foreigners.
A DVZ spokeswoman said the ex-detainees are not popular with the regular residents of asylum seeker shelters either. a bit much to take, huh She said they sometimes stay up to two months in a centre prior to repatriation.
The task of the new expulsion officials will be to reduce that time period, newspaper 'De Morgen' reported on Tuesday.
Posted by: leader of the pack ||
08/09/2005
07:08 ||
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May I suggest an airlock?
Posted by: Steven ||
08/09/2005 10:27
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"Well, your DNA test says you are Egyptian. Do you not wish to be deported to Egypt?" "Arrrgghhh! No! They will shoot me if I go back to Egypt!" "Ah, then Egypt it is."
Evidence continues to mount that the Madrid train bombings on 11 March 2004 were planned in Belgium by a group of terrorists who were under surveillance at the time by security service agents. and who did nothing about it. big whoop
When Spanish police said shortly after the attacks that the video claiming responsibility for the attacks had been made in Brussels, the Belgium government angrily said there was no evidence to support this. deny it all and then demand that a committee be formed ... classis Belgian / Eurocrat behavior
The attacks were claimed by a man called Abu Dujan, but Spanish and Belgian justice officials now suspect the name was an alias for Youssef Belhadj, a Moroccan man living in the Belgian town of Sint-Jans-Molenbeek since 2000. Spanish justice authorities are increasingly convinced Belhadj was the key figure behind the attacks. They claim an analysis of his mobile phone indicates he knew the date of the Madrid attacks some five months before the bombings took place. Belhadj bought a mobile phone in Brussels in October 2003 and gave as his date of birth 11 March 1921.
"Legume! My saxophone! Note, if you will that the suspect claimed he was 82 years old! Yet he had not only a full head of black hair but a full, bushy beard of the same color!"
Inspector Camembert paused to blow the first few bars of "Saint James Infirmary," then set the instrument aside.
"Come!" he cried. "The game's afoot! We shall find the merchant who sells him his Grecian Formula!"
The date 11 March was when the bombings took place and the 21 could refer to a chapter in the Koran in which non-Muslims are cursed.
Or it could have been the date on the driver's license he stole...
The Moroccan was arrested after the Madrid attacks and extradited to Spain, while his brother, Mimoun, 34, was arrested in January this year on the Syrian-Iraqi border and extradited to Morocco for alleged involvement in the Casablanca bombings on 16 May 2003. Both men lived together in Molenbeek prior to their arrests. Along with 17 others, they are accused in Belgium of membership of a terrorist group and passport fraud. Brussels Court will decide on 19 August if they should stand trial.
The 19 suspects were arrested in Maaseik and Brussels in two police operations; one before and one after the Madrid attacks. Various suspects are allegedly linked to attacks in Madrid, Casablanca and Saudi Arabia and are suspected members of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM). Meanwhile, an alleged member of the GICM arrested in France last week has said all of the European GICM leaders met in the Limburg town of Maaseik in November 2003. GICM is believed to have planned the Madrid bombings and it is considered likely the plans for the attack would have been discussed at the Belgium meeting.
Posted by: leader of the pack ||
08/09/2005
07:05 ||
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Belgium - one of the original members of the Axis of Weasels.
The Pakistani community in France and elsewhere in Europe is now, more than ever, being watched by intelligence services concerned about its role as a breeding ground for Islamic extremism that could give rise to attacks like those seen in London last month, French experts say.
The daily Le Figaro said Monday that a confidential report by France's intelligence service that was finalised days before the July 7 London bombings pointed to the threat of an al-Qaeda attack on Britain. days before! See, we're way ahead of les Anges ...
It said the report by the DCRG intelligence agency also highlighted the need to closely observe France's 40,000-strong Pakistani community with a view to preventing an attack on French soil.
An interior ministry official confirmed the existence of the report, but cautioned that it was "a very technical study on the Pakistani community in France."
He said it was not aimed at lecturing Britain on what might happen on its own soil.
According to the report quoted by Le Figaro, those plotting an attack could count on the "support of jihadists within the large Pakistani community in Britain" and warned: "France is not immune from this kind of violent group."
The report pointed to "the multiplication of passages through France by Pakistani activists from south Asia or London and the setting up of underground or official representations of the main extremist groups".
Louis Caprioli, a former anti-terrorism officer with France's DST counter-espionage agency who is now a consultant with the private security firm Geos, told AFP that the Pakistani community in France "insofar as it has elements practising Islamic fundamentalism, has always attracted the attention of the (intelligence) services".
"That started in the 1990s, when it emerged that Pakistan was a transit point for jihad training in Afghanistan," he said.
Richard Reid, the British 'shoe bomber' who failed in a bid to bring down a Paris-Miami flight in December 2001, notably had connections with Pakistanis in France, he said.
Dominique Thomas, a specialist in radical Islam, also raised the case of Reid. "He went to a certain number of cybercafes in Paris and in the suburbs that are run by Pakistanis, so it's logical that since that time, the RG (the domestic intelligence service) has interested itself in that milieu of small shops and movements established in France."
He added that Pakistanis living in France were "very dynamic economically speaking" and said that "it is completely plausible that Pakistanis in France might be close to movements in Pakistan which has ideologies founded on political Islam".
Pakistan, Thomas said, "is one of the major sources of Islamic thought, it's the country of the movement that was at the origin of the Taliban. There are several very powerful organisations there. It's not surprising that the Pakistanis in France are close to those organisations".
But, he cautioned: "That doesn't necessarily make them al-Qaeda activists'.
For Mariam Abu Zahab, an expert on Pakistan at France's Centre of International Studies and Research, it was important to highlight a difference in the makeup of the Pakistani communities in Britain and in France.
Britain has many Pakistani Kashmiris who she said were influenced by Islamic extremism because of the separatist insurrection against India that has raged in their home region since 1989.
"In France there are a majority of Punjabi, who are here mainly to do business and make money. You will find a few dozen youths ready to mobilise or go to summer camps in Kashmir to show off to their friends when they return. ... But I've never met any myself," she said.
As a result, the Pakistani community in France "is nothing like the British one," she said. mais non!
Posted by: leader of the pack ||
08/09/2005
07:03 ||
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This is a brilliant deception by Karl Rove, to take attention away from the Saudi's.
Seriously,
A simple plan called "Proxy Terrorism".
1. Require every Muslim to take the Haj.
2. Upon arrival, indoctrinate with Sharia.
3. Go back to home country to do Allah's will.
4. Any Saudi implication activates assassination procedures.
The lack of snark suggests they're beginning to think the negotiations just might not pan out after all
The United States has "enormous scepticism" over Europe's approach to Iran's nuclear programme, even if it has publicly backed the efforts, a French diplomat said Friday.
"I have to say that the United States has followed our negotiations with enormous scepticism, thinking that it will lead nowhere and that we are being duped by the Iranians," said the diplomat, who was briefing journalists on condition of anonymity Britain, France and Germany welcomed US President George W Bush's reserved support earlier this year of the EU initiative to have Iran drop parts of its nuclear programme that could be used for military purposes in exchange for trade and security cooperation deals.
"That made our job easier and allowed us to show the Iranians that we had not a backing of the Americans but an understanding of the task," the diplomat said.
"That hasn't stopped the Americans continuing to watch us with deep scepticism. We don't consult them as such, but we are telling the Americans what direction we're going in without providing details on all of our positions," he said.
The officials was speaking after Britain, France and Germany made a package of offers to Iran promising accords in various areas if it agreed to limits that would guarantee its nuclear programme could be used for exclusively civilian ends.
Posted by: leader of the pack ||
08/09/2005
06:58 ||
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"We don't consult them as such, but we are telling the Americans what direction we're going in without providing details on all of our positions,"
Now you cornered us. We absolutely, without EU spoon-feeding, will never know the details. We are dooooomed!!!!!
#2
"I have to say that the United States has followed our negotiations with enormous scepticism, thinking that it will lead nowhere and that we are being duped by the Iranians,"
Even now they don't realize that they have been led nowhere and have been duped...
#3
Looks like our scepticism has proven correct. More appropriately, Frenchie is trying to back fill now that the E-3 has been shown to be windbags of hot air.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/09/2005 22:54
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THERE is growing concern about the mysterious beheading of more than a dozen kangaroos in Melbourne's northeast in the past three weeks. The decapitated carcases of 15 kangaroos have been found in the suburbs of Yarrambat, Research and Hurstbridge since the middle of July, but authorities are at a loss as to who or what is the culprit. The lack of intact remains â most have been badly decomposed or burnt â has hampered investigations by the RSPCA, Parks Victoria and the Department of Sustainability and Environment.
Twelve of the deaths have been on the Yarrambat Park golf course, which has a kangaroo population of between 200 and 300, while three have been found along the side of roads in Research and Hurstbridge.
Nillumbik Shire official Deb Ganderton said all of the kangaroos had been decapitated â but none of the heads had been found. She said both mature and young roos had been killed, with the most recent report last week. "We're calling on the public and neighbours to keep their eye out," Ms Ganderton said. "We need a carcass so we can take it to the RSPCA or a vet so we can find out more about the decapitations.
"Is it dogs, or is it someone shooting them?"
There have been no reports by neighbours of gun shots near where any of the dead kangaroos have been found.
RSPCA senior inspector Catherine Smith appealed for anyone with information about the decapitations to come forward. She said the bodies of the dead kangaroos had been destroyed each time before they could be inspected for evidence gathering.
Ms Smith said anyone who killed kangaroos without a licence could be prosecuted under the Wildlife Act or Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, which each have maximum penalties of $12,000 and 12 months imprisonment.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
08/09/2005
04:53 ||
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#1
I have to wonder if this is just practice on somebodies part for when Sharia becomes the Law of the Land in Oz
An Australian who survived last month's bombings in London has criticised the political rhetoric that has followed them.
John Tulloch, who was a professor of media studies at Charles Sturt University in New South Wales, now lives in London.
He was hurt in the July 7 attacks on London's transport network and is still recovering from his injuries.
Professor Tulloch is convinced the London bombers were motivated by the war in Iraq and the perception of injustice.
But he says the arguments have been over-simplified.
"Iraq is not simply something that happened that generates terrorists, it's a whole rhetorical set of meanings that won't go away," he said.
"The Prime Minister might want us to move on, it's too symbolic, it's deep in our consciousness."
Condolences
Meanwhile, Prime Minister John Howard has used the first sitting of Parliament after the winter recess to express sympathy for the Australians injured and killed in the attacks.
Mr Howard says he was impressed by the spirit shown by Australians Gillian Hicks and Louise Barry, who he visited in hospital during his trip to London.
He has also expressed condolences to the family of Melbourne man Sam Ly, who died in the attacks.
Mr Howard has congratulated British emergency services for their response.
"I would like to pay tribute to the resolve and the resilience and the strength of the British people and the Londoners who responded in such characteristically gutsy fashion to this terrible attack," he said.
Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley has also paid tribute to the stoicism of the British and sympathised with the Australians affected.
Mr Beazley says he is determined to see that Australia gets its responses to the threat of terrorism right.
"We're battened down for a long conflict, this is nothing that's going to be resolved any time soon," he said.
"But because it is long it doesn't excuse mistakes.
"We've got to get everything right and events like that just renew our determination to do that."
Posted by: God Save The World ||
08/09/2005
02:10 ||
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I heard this asstard giving the interview on the radio. Very articulate, well spoken, then all of a sudden revealed his moronic tendencies. Doesn't seem to realise that the police and intelligence services havd been thwarting attempted terror attacks in London, by Muslims, since long before the war in Iraq. Just because a couple of cells get their inevitable lucky break now doesn't mean it's all about Iraq.
BBC Radio: all propaganda, all the time. They find the one complete tool who gets blown up and blames anyone except the bombers, and give him all the airtime he wants.
Australia's Foreign Minister says the diplomatic relationship with South-East Asia is at an historic high.
Alexander Downer says the invitation to attend the East Asia Summit in December means Australia will be present at the birth of a dynamic East Asia community.
Mr Downer has told Parliament the summit will involve China, Japan, South Korea, the 10 ASEAN countries, India, Australia and New Zealand.
"This East Asia Summit brings together the most dynamic economies in the world - 49 per cent of the world's population and 21 per cent of global trade," he said.
"So it is an enormous step forward for this country."
Mr Downer says Australia will use the opportunity to upgrade its links with the region.
" I know the Government as a whole is particularly delighted that Australia has been invited by ASEAN to participate in the East Asia summit," he said.
He says negotiations are under way for a free trade agreement linking Australia and New Zealand with the 10 countries of ASEAN.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
08/09/2005
02:05 ||
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GUNMEN have killed a Buddhist mechanic in the latest violence in Thailand's mainly Muslim south, where more than 840 people have died in nearly daily attacks since January last year.
The gunmen followed Pra-oth Rattanakornpitak, 46, as he was returning from work in Muang district in Yala province late yesterday and shot him three times, police said.
Police and his wife, Rattana, said they believed he was killed by Islamic militants. The Government blames militants for much of the unrest that has roiled the region along the Malaysian border for 19 months.
"The motive of killing was likely connected to the unrest by Muslim militants, since he had no known personal conflicts," said Colonel Chaithat Inthanuchit, superintendent of Yala's Muang police station.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
08/09/2005
02:01 ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2005 10:56
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#7
"Unrest by Muslim militants". I'm really tired of hearing how violent acts like these are the result of Muslim unrest. These people are nothing more than murdering bastards. Unrest my ass. Shipman, you should be getting a package any day now.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/09/2005 11:55
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Oh FFS! - I'm getting really tired of this. Some poor sod comes home from a hard days slog to his family and gets offed by some RoP shitheads. Why? well why not? He's not in the RoP, a filthy Buddhist in fact, and everyone knows what kind of shit they've done to the RoP over the years - so that makes him fair game for a spot of target practice.
840 people since January '04 is 47/month. The population of Thailand is 65 Million, so we're looking at a roughly a London event every 5 weeks - for 18 months, in a concentrated area.
My patience with all this is wearing very thin. I wonder what the Thais feel about it all.
I know I'm probably going over the top, because this is just one poor guy and we're used to seeing numbers like 13, 52, 200+, 3000+ getting killed, but there's something about the fact that he's just going home from work, minding his own business and some fucktards just kill him - for no other possible reason than he wasn't in their religion.
Damn them to Hell.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/09/2005 13:46
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#9
That's a first-class rant, Tony.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/09/2005 13:56
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#10
Hear, hear, Tony! Well said. I pay homage to you and .com's rants as of late!
Posted by: BA ||
08/09/2005 14:15
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#11
Sorry, I can't help it, but I immediately thought of "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance."
Posted by: BA ||
08/09/2005 14:18
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#12
there is unrest and poverty a plenty but there are alternatives...www.3pfoundation.org
Posted by: bk ||
08/09/2005 14:41
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#13
Tony, spot on, and the others they beheaded last month, probably because they went down the wrong street. This religion turns them into ruthless killers, there is no bargaining with these people, their hearts and minds are corrupted beyond repair. Shot on site is the only solution......
#17
In the mid-70s there was a small Thai grocery in Lincoln NE. I asked the owner why he was located in Lincoln. His response. In Thailand if anybody had an accident involving a Muslim or their car in any way, they would try to kill you and your family. It didn't matter whom was at fault.
A muslim guy had T-Boned him at a red light. Kept trying to kill him and his family so he moved to the center of the US where he figured none of that guys kin would find him. BTW... nobody was hurt. Just a totaled car.
#18
answer for that - return the favor, if your morality can handle it
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2005 20:10
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Tony (UK):
History answers your question nicely: don't forget that the Thais are the only people in SouthEast Asia who let the Japanese in without any sort of fight, and in fact treated them like heroes when they arrived, served willingly as their slaves, etc.
Thailand is a fine country, but it is an INVERTEBRATE country. No spine required.
A British soccer club has apologized for an incident in which its members taunted supporters of a rival London-based club by chanting: "You're just a town full of bombers." Referring to the July 7 attacks that killed 52 subway and bus riders, as well as four suicide bombers, the Hull City fans also yelled at the Queens Park Rangers fans: "Too many lived and not enough died." Them's fightin' words. Seriously.
Hull City chairman Adam Pearson said the team has footage of the chanting at Saturday's game, and intends to ban those involved from its stadium for life. "On behalf of the club I would like to unreservedly apologize to all Queens Park Rangers supporters who were subjected to this unbelievably ignorant and distressing chant," said Pearson. "The group of youths who were involved with this chant will be identified and will be dealt with in the most swingeing [severe] manner possible." One Hull City fan was charged with "racial chanting" after the game, and police said more charges could be laid. Some supporters of the Queens Park Rangers walked out of the stadium when the chanting began. Others tried to rip down a fence separating them from the Hull City fans.
Posted by: Rafael ||
08/09/2005
01:34 ||
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#1
5'll get ya 10 that more soccer fans are hailed into court for taunting than mullahs for the actual inciting to violence.
#4
You probably have not been told the full story. I imagine QPR fans were waving bunches of twenty poundnotes at their impoverished northern cousins or calling them 'northern monkeys'.
Personally, I'm looking forward to the Leeds and Luton fixtures with a certain amount of glee. Look out for the Templar flag at Derby County games this season.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/09/2005 6:35
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#5
Oh, I think the lads are just angry about this. :-)
Posted by: Matt ||
08/09/2005 12:06
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Oh dear, it could all go horribly wrong now, the US is 4th and England 6th - gawd help us!
All joking aside - this is standard fare for football fans here. The taunts are 'colourful' to say the least, and let's not even consider what happens at 'Old Firm' matches (Celtic vs Rangers). But it does seem to help let off steam...
However, if a splodeydope goes up at a football match, I think all bets will be off - and the fallout will be horrific.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/09/2005 13:23
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I bet the security due to the "regular" fans antics have put off bombers from matches. Too hard to get in, probably.
There was more security at the last college football game I attended than any train/bus I've ever seen.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
08/09/2005 14:47
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No surrender, No surrender, No surrender to the Muzzie slags or something like that.
TUCSON - Researchers studying the wildlife of the Sonoran Desert are increasingly becoming targets of smugglers and desperate border crossers, leading to more safety precautions for the scientists.
Researchers are drawn to the long-protected desert wildlife, but they face growing fears as assaults on Border Patrol agents become more common and they find themselves the victims of crime, including stolen cars and trailers. One University of Arizona student was robbed at gunpoint. Recreational users of public lands are allowed to visit without restriction and are responsible for their own safety, but scientists visit under special permits from land managers.
The researchers face more danger, too, because they often work in isolated areas at night. To combat the risk, researchers in most parks along the border must be accompanied by park personnel or agree to a buddy system. They must check in with park officials daily and must clear out of dangerous areas if necessary.
At Organ Pipe National Monument, researchers must have armed law enforcement officers in some places closest to the border. Scientists say they are spending more time on paperwork, applying for multiple grants so they can hire more workers to avoid working alone. The result: less focus on protected species...
Staff biologists at Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge are now told to wear nondescript T-shirts rather than uniforms when they are doing field research so they don't get mistaken for law enforcement and become a target, said manager Mitch Ellis. He asks visiting researchers to check in with law enforcement and advises them to let their vehicles go if border crossers try to steal them.
Violent crime along the border seems to be increasing. In the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, which covers most of Arizona, 216 assaults against officers have been documented since October. That's up from 118 in all the previous year.
Some of the increase is the result of more officers, but the numbers are still worrisome, said Border Patrol spokesman Jose Garza.
"The assaults are also going up in severity," he said. "In the outskirts, they're using the vehicles to try to ram our agents, shooting our agents in an attempt to avoid arrest."
And the "yes, but" ending:
Still, some researchers say they've had few problems with border crossers. James Cain, a UA doctoral student who studies desert bighorn sheep, said he has met crossers just three times in four years. He's never had any problems.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/09/2005 1:14
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The "yes but" ending is the norm. It bears repeating that the overwhelming majority of folks who cross the border are looking for nothing more than the opportunity to work hard and build a better life. I'd rather live in a town full of illegal immigrants than a town full of the northern California moonbats I deal with on a daily basis.
#3
It bears repeating that the overwhelming majority of folks who cross the border are looking for nothing more than the opportunity to work hard and build a better life.
They could start their better lives by obeying laws.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/09/2005 7:48
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#4
There was a talk at our local herp (reptile) society from somebody looking for the rare stuff that comes over the border area from Mexico. He had some run ins with the Border Patrol over what he was up to. The main thing that sticks in my mind was all the discarded backpacks he found littering the desert from all the drug smugglers.
Posted by: bruce ||
08/09/2005 8:12
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#5
It bears repeating that the overwhelming majority of folks who cross the border are looking for nothing more than the opportunity to work hard and build a better life.
The "better life" claptrap is simply an excuse for the greedy, the vote whores, and the special-interest apologists. It should be self-evident why the US does not grant asylum based on economic hardships. The losers are the legitimate applicants, the victims of torture, ethnic cleansing, and terror. And, of course, the real losers are the legal citizens who face the inevitable violence from unsecured borders as well as the huge economic burden.
What bears repeating is they are here ILLEAGALLY.
#6
It bears repeating that the overwhelming majority of folks who cross the border are looking for nothing more than the opportunity to work hard and build a better life.
That's just pure transnationalism. Why not several million Chinese who want to come here or a quarter of the rest of the world, but who do not border the continental US?
Ok then, lets make it better for even more. Annex Mexico, shoot the drug lords and their corrupt political call boys, open the market up and create jobs and opportunity south of the 'old' border. Oh, horrors, that's imperalism. Critics want it both ways, the official Mexican government imperialism is good, but any American imperialism is evil. So America must surrender its sovereign borders in the name of the poor of the world. Sounds a hell of lot like Transnationist as it gets.
#7
I'd rather live in a town full of illegal immigrants than a town full of the northern California moonbats I deal with on a daily basis.
Neither offers any advantage over the other. A fair number of Mexican immigrants (largely illegal) live in my apartment complex, and it's no picnic. Shopping carts constantly have to be taken off the property to the curb every damn day, a bunch of kids making all kinds of damned noise, POS cars occupying unmarked (read: unreserved) parking slots for weeks or months at a time, overcrowded apartment units, and general stupidity, such as their buddies honking the horn repeatedly instead of knocking at the door, putting household waste in the recycling bins (can't they read?), and overloading garbage bins, even to the point of either tossing in sofas or couches, or shoving them off to the side in the expectation that the garbageman will pick them up. (never mind that the apartment rules prohibit dumping of furniture in that manner)
Seeing this behavior is absolutely infuriating, and it happens almost DAILY.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/09/2005 17:51
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AzCat - these are the "peaceful immigrants looking to better themselves"? Bullshit. They broke laws coming in and they and their coyote guides are stealing cars/B&E homes. I say kick their asses out and shut the border. San Diego, et al face HUGE prison costs for these "immigrant workers" who're here preying on your fellow citizens. Wanna get me in Rant mode? Let's go...
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2005 19:42
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KOTA KINABALU, Aug 8 (Bernama) -- The joint venture High Speed Vessel (HSV-XI), a leased commercial ship, arrived in Labuan, Monday for a three-day port visit, followed by a three-day visit to the state capital.
According to a statement issued by the press office of the US Embassy, the US Pacific Command was testing the HSV-XI as a military support vessel designed to transport personnel and equipment. It said the vessel was the sister ship of HVS-2 Swift. The Swift was part of the US Navy emergency relief operations in Aceh, Indonesia, in the aftermath of the tsunami catastrophe. It played an important role in helping to transport supplies to isolated areas in the tsunami-devastated province.
The vessel is scheduled for a variety of exercises, security cooperation events and port visits in the region.
The statement said US vessels routinely transit through international waters, participated in bilateral exercises and stopped at ports for friendly visits, rest and resupply.
The Radio Equalizer has all your one-stop shopping needs on the unfolding Air America scandals (note the plural). It's a blog so I've put this into 'Opinion'.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2005
00:24 ||
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I've worked for a few months as a payroll person for a company like this. In my case, it worked like this: The owner (my boss) was a boy toy for a rich woman. She sent him off to run this swankly little chic hotel, probably to get him out of her hair. He'd buy expensive $80,000 rugs and lease a jaguar "company car" for his new salesman (read his hunky new boy toy with zero skills) but when payroll would come around he was more often than not a little short. The excuses were ..um creative. But what can you do? Quit? It's not always that easy. So you wait a few days extra for your check to arrive and then when it does, you deposit it quick and hope it doesn't bounce. But eventually it clears. Better than no check at all, right? Besides, it always worked out in the end, cause eventually the Mrs. would pony up a forty grand or so influx to save the day.
He was embezzeling from the Mrs. too. Who knows if she knew or cared.
But the bottom line was that the staff was willing to roll the dice for one or two pay periods cause it was all that they had going on for the moment. The owner went through staff like kleenex at a funeral. But, like Franken, there was a few key players that always got paid first, got bonuses and stuck around for years. Everyone else could easily be replaced for some other sap in need of a paycheck.
#2
Franken says he's been working without pay for a while. Since his is a political show, does that mean he's been making contributions to the Democrats?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/09/2005 14:20
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Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has ruled out holding talks with the main opposition party despite international pressure to do so.
South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki has reportedly offered to help Zimbabwe repay some of its foreign debts on condition that talks are held. Mr Mugabe said he would rather talk with the UK than the opposition MDC. "Today we tell all those calling for such ill-conceived talks to please stop their misdirected efforts," Mr Mugabe said in a speech in the capital, Harare, to remember those who died in Zimbabwe's 1970s war of independence on Heroes Day.
"The man who needs to be spoken to in order to see reason resides at No 10 Downing Street [UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's residence]... That's the man to speak to," he said. "Those in Harvest House, Harare, [headquarters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)] are no more than his stooges and puppets. We would rather speak to the principal who manipulates the puppets."
I think he's getting political advice from North Korea ...
Mr Mugabe has blamed Zimbabwe's problems on a UK-led Western plot designed to oust him because of his seizure of white-owned land. His critics say the land reform programme has ruined what used to be one of Africa's most productive economies.
"Only someone with his head firmly buried in the sand would not understand why there are calls for dialogue," said MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi.
Separately, South African and Zimbabwean officials have started talks over a possible loan - Zimbabwe needs $300m or it faces expulsion from the IMF. Mr Mbeki reportedly wants to use the loan to get Zimbabwe's rival politicians to talk to each other and possibly form a government of national unity to resolve the country's economic and political problems.
So Mbeki wants to do the right thing, he's just acting .. European ....
In his Heroes Day speech, Mr Mugabe also justified the demolition of thousands of homes, which the government says were built without planning permission. "Let those loud hypocrites who speak in defence of slums that brutalise our people tell us what they have done for our people in the area of housing," he said.
Um, they haven't flattened any lately?
A recent United Nations report said 700,000 Zimbabweans had been left homeless by Operation Drive Out Rubbish.
Meanwhile, a consignment of 37 tonnes of food aid sent by South African church groups to Zimbabwe is being held up at the border because Zimbabwe officials want proof that it is not genetically modified.
Turn the trucks around, I'm sure there are folks in South Africa who are hungry.
"We just wanted to get the food there as fast as possible. But we are appealing to everyone to speed up the process so that the food can arrive in Zimbabwe in the next couple of days," said South Africa Council of Churches spokesman Ron Steel.
After visiting Zimbabwe, the SACC said those left homeless were living in "shocking conditions". Mr Mugabe says new houses will be built for those made homeless.
Just as soon as that Chinese loan comes through.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2005
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Pretty soon he won't have to worry about talks with the opposition as they will all be dead.
In a small house outside the city of Peshawar, a 25-year-old man from the suburbs of London chronicled his personal holy war in the pages of a diary, reported The New York Times.
March 10, 2005, âAll alone in a strange land,â the report quoted him to have written. âI can trust no-one except Allah.â
March 26. Questions how fellow Muslims can live peacefully in London when the âkufrâ, non-believers, have turned every corner of the globe into âa battlefield for the Muslims.â Calls London the âvital organ of the minions of the devil,â the report quoted him.
April 5 Vows to make âan all out immense effortâ to ârejoin my contingent.â
What specific operation the man, Zeeshan Siddique, was preparing for is unclear, the report said. One month later, Pakistan security forces arrested him at the house after receiving reports that he was acting suspiciously. Inside, according to a Pakistani security official, investigators found an electrical circuit that could be used as a bomb detonator; a desktop computer that contained aeronautical mapping; and the cryptic 35-page diary, typed in English, with nearly daily entries from March 2 to April 6, 2005. The report quoted the Pakistani official as saying that he believed that Mr Siddique was waiting to be dispatched as a suicide bomber. Phone numbers found with Mr Siddique have been traced to known members of Al Qaeda, as well as British extremists involved in a failed plot to detonate bombs in London in 2004, the investigator said.
The British police are also investigating whether Mr Siddique, who was reared in Britain, had ties to the terrorist attacks in London on July 7, officials said. In particular, they are trying to determine whether a diary entry on March 13, in which Mr Siddique says he has learned that âwagon is now called off,â refers to the July 7 bombing plot. Mr Siddique denied having played any role in the failed 2004 plot or the recent London attacks, the report quoted the Pakistani security official. Still, his diary offers a chilling, if fragmented, self-portrait of a young Muslim man not only disaffected with Western society, but with other Muslims unwilling to join in jihad.
Printed on sheets of paper from Mr Siddiqueâs computer, in mostly capital letters, its 35 pages are sprinkled with British slang, profanities and verses from the Holy Quran. Entries from the diary were shared with The New York Times by a Pakistani security official who insisted on anonymity because of the delicacy of the investigation. Across the top of its first page is a quote from the Holy Quran: âThe greatest tests are truly to be soon alleviated,â the report said.
Based on the diary entries, he quickly grew uncomfortable, even contemptuous, of those around him after arriving at the house near Peshawar in early March. âI canât live in filth unlike u animalsâ he writes on March 8, calling a group of Pakistani neighbours âdirty geezersâ and a Pakistani store owner a âmonkey con artist.â He suffers bouts of diarrhoea and is unhappy with his hideaway, which has no running water. In the same entry he also notes that a person he contacted over the Internet âseemed 2 be chickening out.â He fears he is being âconned,â and is running out of money, the report said. On March 10 he complains of isolation and not speaking the local language. âIâm constantly laughed at and ridiculed,â he wrote.
Mr Siddique has told investigators that he is from the London suburb of Hounslow and is a Muslim of Indian descent. Efforts to locate his family in Hounslow were unsuccessful. The only traces of his former life are school records and a single clipping from a Hounslow area newspaper. The article, from November 1997, quotes the police as saying that the then 17-year-old Mr Siddique âran off to join the mujahedeenâ in Lebanon. He returned to his âfrantic parentsâ one month later, the article says. It says Mr Sidddique suffered from âa depressive illness.â
The report said that after the British press reported his possible link to the London bombings last month, officials in Hounslow issued a statement saying he was an âordinary, averageâ student at Cranford Community College there from September 1992 to July 1997. But officials also say they believe that he befriended another student at Cranford, Asid Muhammad Hanif, who blew himself up in the suicide bombing of a Tel Aviv nightclub in 2003. âWe think they were friends,â said Philip Sutcliffe, a Hounslow government spokesman.
Mr Siddique has told interrogators that he first travelled to Pakistan in February 2003 with a British Muslim who was one of eight men later arrested on suspicion of having a role in the failed 2004 London plot. He also said he had spent two and a half months in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore with Muhammad Junaid Babar, a Pakistani-American computer programmer from Queens, according to the Pakistani security official. Mr Babar pleaded guilty last year to charges of supplying military equipment to an Al Qaeda training camp and working to aid the failed 2004 London plot.
While denying involvement in the two plots, Mr Siddique has told interrogators that he spent the last two years fighting in Afghanistan and Kashmir. His diary offers little sense of what initially drove him to extremism, but abounds with examples of how he views the world through a radical lens. He rails about Pakistanis who âclaim 2 b Muslimâ but âdonât get it thru their thick headsâ that it is their âfard,â or religious duty, to help him wage his holy war, the report said. On March 11, he visits people whom he identifies by code-name and learns âbad news.â âThe relaxing place was done over,â he writes, and â7-8 of the guys taken whilst asleep.â âTold guys need to make a move soon,â he writes. âCant stick round.â
On March 15 Mr Siddique is told âthe situation is really badâ and he should âjust sit tight and wait it out until things get a bit better.â Over the next week he gardens, listens to BBC radio news broadcasts and rejoices at the death of âYankee pigsâ in Iraq and Afghanistan. The report said that he sees himself as a valiant defender of a faith under siege. âIndeed the kafrs do possess everything at the moment but for how long,â he writes on March 23. âIndeed the armies of Islam are coming.â
The report said that on April 5 he complains about endless news coverage of the death of Pope John Paul II and predicts that âAllah will throw him in hell.â On April 6 he celebrates the deaths of Prince Rainier of III Monaco and the American Nobel laureate Saul Bellow, whom he called a âJew boy writer friend of Herzl,â apparently a reference to Theodor Herzl, the founder of the Zionist political movement, who died in 1904, the report said. âExcellent news,â he writes. âMay Allah curse them.â He seethes the most at Muslims he sees as aiding the West, calling them hypocrites. The report quoted him that General Musharraf, is Satan. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari of Iraq is âthe dog of the hell fire.â When his spirits flag, Mr Siddique bolsters his morale by watching âvids,â apparently videos or DVDâs from the âbrosâ in Iraq.
Mr Siddique has told interrogators that he misses his parents in Britain, according to the Pakistani security official. But he believes that the only way he can spend eternity with them is by becoming a martyr. âDo not waver or become weak,â he writes in one of his last diary entries. âThis is the only way I can be reunited with Mummy and Daddy.â
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2005
00:00 ||
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Printed on sheets of paper from Mr Siddiqueâs computer, in mostly capital letters, its 35 pages are sprinkled with British slang, profanities and verses from the Holy Quran.
A team of US aviation experts has arrived in Kenya and will soon travel to Sudan to assist in the probe of last monthâs helicopter crash that killed Sudanese Vice President John Garang, the US Embassy here said yesterday. The five-strong team from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) arrived in Nairobi on Sunday and is expected to depart shortly to join the investigation being conducted jointly by the Sudanese government and Garangâs ex-rebel Sudan Peopleâs Liberation Movement (SPLM), it said.
âThe group is here, they arrived on Sunday, but they havenât worked out a final schedule yet,â an embassy official told AFP. âThey will be investigating the crash as the NTSB does and has done in other incidents like this.â The team is headed by senior investigator Dennis Jones, who has participated in accident investigations in Sudan twice before, the Washington-based NTSB said, adding that its findings would be made public by Sudanese officials. âAll information on the progress of the investigation will be released by (Sudanâs) Government of National Unity,â it said in a statement issued last week.
Garang and 13 others were killed in a helicopter crash on July 30. Khartoum, the SPLM, Garangâs widow and foreign diplomats have all said the crash was an accident due most likely to poor weather and visibility and possible pilot error. But on Friday, Museveni said the cause was unclear and could have been the result of âan external factor,â suggesting for the first time that the crash might have been due to foul play.
"I mean, it's my personal helicopter and it's never killed me! Kinda coincidental that it killed poor John, ain't it?"
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2005
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Great. Who did we piss off?
Posted by: The five-strong team from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) ||
08/09/2005 15:57
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WASHINGTON â Recent al-Qaida attacks using primitive bombs and inflicting relatively small numbers of casualties have persuaded some that Osama bin Laden's terrorist network has been unable to secure weapons of mass destruction or has been unable to smuggle them into the U.S. and other key target countries.
In the wake of a series of reports from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin about the nuclear terrorism threat, some skeptics of al-Qaida's ability to detonate nuclear weapons inside the U.S. most often suggest the problems with maintenance and technical attention.
Others suggest Osama bin Laden may have purchased duds on the black market. Others point out that the triggers on suitcase nukes decay rapidly and have short half lives. The nuclear cores, after a time, fall below the critical mass threshold, say the optimists. Even the shells are subject to contamination over time if not properly maintained, they say.
Unfortunately, finds Paul Williams, author of the upcoming book, "The Al Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime and the Coming Apocalypse," there's little point in assessing the possibilities with rose-colored glasses.
[...]
#1
That was kind of scary reading that full article... I'm only a young male, didn't really learn much about the cold war or how the Russians supposedly fowarded these nukes into the U.S.. This may sound strange but I enjoyed reading that article, even if it did send a shiver down my spine... Now im going to do some google searches and learn some more about the cold war. Any links people have concerning this would be greatly appreciated as i can never seem to find what i am searching for! EVER !
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
08/09/2005 10:44
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#2
Man, this meme just will not die.
The nuclear cores, after a time, fall below the critical mass threshold, say the optimists. Even the shells are subject to contamination over time if not properly maintained, they say.
Only problem with that statement is the they in question aren't a bunch of armchair pundits, they're the guys who know this stuff (scientists, technicians, military). I'm not one of them, but I sure trust them more than some guys trying to sell an alarmist book.
#5
Followed by: Making a Mint in the Depression of 2010. In the works are The Era of Low Gravity is Almost Here. I explain why the skeptics can't measure low gravity in Bell Bottoms of the Ancients.
#6
Paul Williams? Wasn't he in "Phantom of the Paradise"?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/09/2005 15:44
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#7
This is excellent niche marketing on these guys behalf. The old let's build a bunker for Y2K crowd needed another reason to prepare for the worst,a and now they have it.
Far fetched, yes, impossible, no, provable-never, now there's the ingredients for a delicious conspiracy casserole.
#9
Oztralian,
Try http://www.childrenofthemanhattanproject.org/ for starters.
http://www.strategypage.com/ is good for newer military information. A particularly good site for cold war (and modern) weapons is http://www.fas.org/nuke/ - eg you'll find out what the missile capacity of a Trident submarine is (hint: a lot)
Also, ask questions here, but make sure you've done some initial research - noone likes a leech! :) - there are some very very knowledgeable people here. You'll obviously not get any classified information, but they may be able to put some special context around any questions you may have.
Also, there's an interesting movie called 'Trinity, and Beyond' AKA 'The Atomic Bomb Movie' which details nuke testing from 1945 until about 1963. Gives you some perspective on just how completely devastating these weapons are.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/09/2005 17:32
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President Gen Pervez Musharraf has said stated the decision to register madrassas was âfinalâ and cautioned people that âno hindrance whatsoever would be tolerated in the registration processâ.
"Don't even think about it!"
âThe registration of madrassas is imperative. Modern scientific education should be imparted in seminaries so that students who graduate from them can play their part in all walks of life,â he told NWFP Governor Khalilur Rehman, who called on him at Army House on Monday.
"... or at least know how to read and write. Maybe not believe in djinns and efrits and stuff like that..."
The president said that the ongoing campaign against terrorists in Waziristan would be âstepped upâ. He hailed the ongoing development projects in tribal areas and said that emphasis should be made to develop these underdeveloped and backward areas. âWe must create employment opportunities in these areas to bring them at par with other parts of the country. Education and healthcare facilities should be provided to tribesmen and basic infrastructure should be improved,â he said.
"We're thinking that with time and a little patience and maybe some foreign aid we could coax them into the Neolithic..."
He said that antisocial elements were opposed to development. âWe will take stern action against them,â said the president. About the upcoming local bodies elections, he said that the code of conduct announced by the Election Commission should be upheld and no one should be allowed to violate the code.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2005
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The best way to enforce your will. Prev, is to flatten a few indiscriminately.
Oops, there goes another one. Registration line forms here.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/09/2005 1:06
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#2
"I wonât tolerate any hindrance"
Kind of like, when you ran for President. Oh! I forgot, you are a dictator. Please accept my sincere apologies.
#3
Maybe not believe in djinns and efrits and stuff like that...
Not very likely.
A pakistani nuclear physicist, PhD from USA, with years of experience working on reactors, has written a paper on solving the pak energy problem by harnessing the energy of Jinns.
Other scientists have written about calcultaing the "angle of God" and "the speed at which Heaven was departing from Earth"
If Pak PhD believe this rubbish, what for the madrassa head bobbing graduate?
Posted by: john ||
08/09/2005 20:57
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Radical Islamic group Hizb ul-Tahrir will be banned in Australia if intelligence authorities judge it a terrorist threat, the prime minister said Monday.
It's a threat. Ban it and lock 'em up.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organization - the countryâs top spy agency - is investigating Hizb ul-Tahrir, which was banned in Britain last week. The group operates in Sydney. Prime Minister John Howard told Macquarie Radio that, âif ASIO tells us that an organization like this ... does represent a threat, then weâll take action to ban it.â
It doesn't take much. Read some of their literature.
Hizb ul-Tahrir Australian spokesman Wassim Doureihi said the group will cooperate fully with investigators. âIf there are facts established and ASIO wish to talk to us, then they know where we are and they can obviously take it from there,â he told Nine Network television. ASIO had been in contact with the group for several years, Doureihi said. âWe talk to ASIO when they request access and what we say in private is what we say in public,â he said. âWhat is disturbing is that the party is being portrayed as a secretive cell when in reality we have been very open,â he added. Doureihi confirmed the groupâs support for the insurgency against coalition troops in Iraq and said he did not condemn suicide bombings. âItâs unfair to condemn the reaction when we do not condemn unreservedly the conditions which gave rise to those reactions,â he said. âIf we talk about occupied land, then we have to expect the people to resist the occupation,â he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2005
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Go for it, Howard!
[opinion]
The Tipping Point is here, if Blair has the stones. It's all sitting in his lap, IMHO.
If Blair follows through and really does get tough by deporting the inciters, recruiters, facilitators, financiers - per the story of MI5's "list" yesterday - and their lieutenants (followers to come soon after, I hope), it will provide shade for Howard to follow suit, although there's been no strike on Ozzie soil, and a whole chain of events will likely follow...
If he doesn't. If he wimps out on attacking those who wish to destroy his country, we'll be set back a year or two in the War on Islamofascism. They'll have to untangle their feet and hit someone, again, to wake everyone up, again.
Isn't it odd how people think? Since the toolfools of Islamofascism finally struck on UK soil, Blair's freed to act - although he'd better get started before the wankers drag him back to the inactive status quo per public opinion. Without that actual act, he couldn't do dick, no matter that almost 60x as many people died in the WTC / Pentagon attacks. The second London attempt, though failed, certainly should've put it over the top - for good. But it won't happen that way. After awhile the sentiment will backslide into complacency and some sort of weird and misguided sympathy. Galloway and Livingston are already working on it. The attack on the US seems to carry almost no weight with the majority of UK citizens - and maybe only marginally more Ozzies citizens.
That they openly declare they wish to kill kafrs, their words and even the written word of Islam isn't enough to get the West off its ass. It takes dead bodies. And almost 3,000 of them in the US is viewed by the toolfools as, well, not relevant. Though the killers are all part of the same twisted vision, it's not relevant. This is where the MSM memery, such as "Well, you asked for it!" comes into play. They have effectively negated almost 3,000 dead Americans with their subversive self-hate Tranzi demagoguery. Don't ask me what I think about Peter Jennings. You will not like my response. Those that have worried about speaking ill of him should spend a hour with someone who lost a family member on 9/11, methinks. I'll bet they aren't tied up in PC BS knots. Sigh.
In Ozzieland, they have Bali to motivate them, but nothing on Ozzie soil. So what has happened since? Not much, other than Howard being re-elected. But Bali + London (and that small percentage that even remembers the WTC is part of the same thingy) takes Howard right up to the brink, but not over, apparently. He's rattling the cages and running up the flag to see who salutes, but this only proves the point: he's not free to act without something else to push the public over the rim. If Blair acts, it will give Howard almost the same freedom to do something - before Ozzie soil is bloodied. He will be able to look straight into the TV camera and say "We act in your defense. These people are killers and should not be allowed to exist in our civilized land. So we are going to protect our citizens, our way of life, and deport them where we can and attack them where they hide from authority." And then the gates will open - all over the West.
Please, Blair, follow through. The iron is hot, baby. Put the UK's citizens ahead of your politics. It will allow everyone else in the West to get off the dime, too. Howard will provide the next needed push - and so on.
In the US - we've already been hit - about 10x harder than any other Western nation. Yet it's clear that still only about, what, 40-50% of us "get it" about Islam? The tipping point is so close. If Blair will act, it will have a salutary effect in all Western states, I believe. No one seems willing to take that first step to discard the PC BS and take this seriously with effective actions in their own country. Bush had the stones to go to Afghanistan and Iraq to oust dangerous asshats, opening the door for those that can buy a clue to act also, but none of them (yet) are willing to make the tough calls at home. Boggles, no? I believe NYC's Mayor Bloomberg, far more like Red Ken than not, should be impeached for his stupidity and PC statements. Wotta chump.
Blair has become a linchpin, IMHO. That he has become so is of his own doing - Good On Ya Tony for taking the step to put it at the top of the domestic agenda and threaten something effective... Now - do it, Tony. Show you're not a chump, but the man who decided to get tough at home. You've taken the lead. Do it, man. Do it now.
Only Israel has shown real balls and adapted as they learned how to deal with these haters. Someday soon, all in the West will be mimicking their security methods. Blair can move the process a huge step forward. C'mon Tony, you're right on target, do it.
I liked this part: the group will cooperate fully with investigators. âIf there are facts established and ASIO wish to talk to us, then they know where we are and they can obviously take it from there,â
That's right, you little arrogant DS, talk. You got nothing to hide right? Let's have a chat. *snicker*
#6
Well spoken, PD. The UK bombings are a golden opportunity to get things moving and boot out the cancer before it really attacks the host. I hope that the opportunity is seized. This proposed action of Tony Blair will save literally thousands of lives worldwide.
It is really close to the tipping point. I am not optimistic, maybe cautiously optimistic. But we can hope.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/09/2005 11:53
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#9
I wish you'd cut back on the PC bullsh*t, PD, and tell us what you really think ;-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2005 15:18
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#10
"No one seems willing to take that first step to discard the PC BS and take this seriously with effective actions in their own country."
That's exactly it, .com. Which is the dominant tendency right now: a Britain indifferent to the its own suicide (at least a Britain any of us would recognize as such) or a Britain with a strong self-preservation instinct? Push come to shove, will the safety of Brits be sacrificed to Islamic jihadis because of a fawning and hypervigilant British fear of a Muslim backlash? Will the country's culture become extinct?
So few Brits have seen the face of evil in their lives; they don't believe in it. It is laughed at as a quaint notion of primitives. They prefer to be sophisticatedly witty, mocking it and passing off any truce with Islam as brilliant. Until a few bombs go off in the tunnels and a few more people realize there is no justification for terror.
#11
That's the 64000 dollar question, Jules. What will it take for Britain to do what she must do to survive as a nation? Hey, this applies to us Yanks, too. Civilization is intimidated by a bunch of LLL and Tranzi blowhards. We try to live by laws. The LLL and Tranzis use the laws to intimidate and get their way. A STFU backed up by a big stick is what is needed. At what point are we willing to do that? Time is of the essence.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/09/2005 23:40
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Maulana Fazlur Rehman, leader of the opposition in the National Assembly and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal secretary general, on Monday denied that he accused the government of training terrorists and sending them to Afghanistan. Fazl said that a news published in an English language daily, quoting him as saying that the Pakistani government was training terrorists to send them to Afghanistan, had no connection with his press conference in Lahore on Sunday.
"Nope. Nope. Never said it. Besides, I was drunk..."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2005
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I see the ISI have paid a visit.
Mullah Diesel may yet suffer a stroke or heart attack
Posted by: john ||
08/09/2005 6:28
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#2
Yow! In that pic he looks suspiciously like my brother-in-law with a bad curtain wrapped around his head.
BERLIN - German intelligence fears terrorism is âradiatingâ from Iraq around the Middle East and expects further attacks across the region, its spy chief said on Monday. âWe fear developments in Iraq are radiating outwards,â foreign intelligence chief August Hanning said in brief comments to Reuters.
Dang he's good.
He said it was possible that an intensification of insurgent attacks on Iraqi security forces and the US-led coalition was encouraging like-minded militants to step up attacks in the wider region as well.
Hanning cited bombings that killed 64 people last month in Egyptâs Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, and security alerts in recent days forcing cruise liners carrying Israeli tourists to divert from Turkey to Cyprus.
Yep, it was the evil war in Iraq, never mind all the plans and plots and happenings the last 30 years ...
Asked earlier at a news conference if Germany had its own intelligence on a threat to the kingdom, Hanning said: âWe see the situation in Saudi Arabia in connection with developments in Iraq, Egypt, and not least Pakistan and Afghanistan.â He added: âThere are no grounds to give the all clear. On the contrary ... we are reckoning with an intensification of the situation in the region as far as terrorism is concerned.â
Please tell me that this guy is a figurehead and that the #2 guy really runs things ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2005
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Actually, the guy is probably correct, just not in the way that he thinks he is. The most dangerous terrorists over the past decade-plus have been trained, financed or supplied by Iraq. There is hardly a major al Qaeda action that did not have Iraqi involvement at some stage. Generally speaking, the more serious the attack, the more involved the Iraqis were. Bush choses to be very vague, and at times downright deceptive, about Iraq, al Qaeda, and WMDs. So unfortunately support for the war is degrading, and some of our allies are lamentably uninformed about the true nature of the remaining threats. The Brits allowing Omar Bakri Mohammed egress is an example of this.
#4
Look. Herrless, why don't you do some skunk huntin' in Iraq so you cut down the radiation.
These fu+kballs are defenseless and spineless.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/09/2005 1:12
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#5
If terrorism is 'radiating out' from Iraq as a result of the Iraq war we should have seen an upsurge in terrorism in neighbouring countries. With the notable exception of the failed truck bombings in Jordan which originated in Syria, we have seen no such upsurge. The contention is simply false. A much stronger case could be made for democracy and respect for civil liberties radiating out from Iraq.
#6
To be fair Phil, we have seen quite an upsurge in Saudi Arabia over the past couple of years as well though, IMHO, that has more to do with our cutting off the jihadi export pipeline than anything else.
#8
Either he's as dumb as a brick and just doesn't get it (the flypaper effect has been obvious even to small children and fools with room temperature IQ's for at least the last 18 months) or he's a fool who can only think in absolutes. On / off. 100% effective or quagmire! Sheesh, wotta 'tard.
Yo, Hanning, the fact that you haven't had 5 or 10 bombings in Berlin and Bonn by now is testament to the fact that the jihadis realize how crucial Iraq is in the Big Picture thingy and have focused much / most of their assets and recourses there. Were that not the case, sonny, you'd be running your ass off trying to catch bombers at home - or you would've been forced to resign, by now. Give that Ozzie ex Intel Chief a call - you guys need to go fishing and leave this terr thingy to folks who have a clue. Ungrateful Jackass.
#9
The best thing Germany can do now, is to continue the reparations to the Jews for their atrocities 60 years ago! Anything short of providing "Boots On The Ground" in Iraq and or Afghanistan or bank rolling some of the operations for the Coalition requires keeping the F*** out of the US's way! And why the hell do we have even ONE soldier in Germany anyway?!
#10
Most Germans are so full of their medias anti-americanism and seeing everything in shades of gray instead of the actual black and white they are clueless. Count this fool in that crowd. The facts are he can say anything he wants, it doesn't matter. Germany can't project much more power in the world than it does currently. That being the case what ever he says irreverent. I really do want to know was this guy's claim to fame that of a book store clerk as their foreign minsters was?
#11
Of course, I'd personally count Israel to be the nearest neighbor in Iraq's neighborhood, and look what's happened there...built the wall, and suicide bombings have dropped tremendously. Doesn't mean they're zero (.com's on/off argument), but they are declining and rapidly. Bush's sidelining of Arafish was one of the best things we could do. Of course, if it's Jooooos that're being blown up, it doesn't count in terrorist attacks "in the neighborhood" I guess.
Posted by: BA ||
08/09/2005 13:33
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#12
"Here we were in March 2003 all sitting around drinking lattes with our Muslim brethren when all of a sudden BushHitler for no reason goes off and attacks the peaceful nation of Iraq. This gets the Muslims really angry and then all hell breaks loose."
Not exactly the way I remember it.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/09/2005 13:36
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Osama Bin Yousaf, arrested from Faisalabad on Sunday, is said to be an important Al Qaeda operative, a close aide of Abu Faraj Al Libby and Amjad Hussain Farooqi and was in contact with other Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan and Europe, intelligence officials told Daily Times on Monday.
"We got a winnneeeerrrrr!"
âBin Yousaf confessed to being part of the Al Qaeda network and to have provided logistic support to militants,â officials added. His cell phone numbers were found in Al Libbyâs telephone index after which American and Pakistani intelligence agencies put him on their watch list, intelligence officials said, adding that he was arrested after the Cellular Call Tracking System (CCTS) that was installed in several locations countrywide phone calls made by him to Italy, Germany and the UK. âHe called someone in the UK on Thursday, called someone else in Italy on Friday and made two long phone calls to somebody in Germany on Saturday,â officials said.
"Hello? Ma? Hey! It's me, Sonny! How ya like DÃŒsseldorf?"
He would put his cell phone off after making calls due to which intelligence agencies could not trace his exact location, officials added. However, the CCTS traced his location while he was calling overseas after which a team arrived in Faisalabad to hunt him down, they said. âHe made a phone call to Peshawar on Sunday and was arrested after that. Law enforcement agents were onto him as soon as he finished his call,â officials added.
"Ma? Hey, I gotta hang up now! The cops have the place surrounded, and they're gonna set fire to it if I don't come out! Talk to you later, okay? Love to Aunt Fatimah!... Right. I'll give your regards to Pinto Face as soon as I see him..."
He told his interrogators that he went to Afghanistan in 1992 and got guerrilla training, officials said, adding that he was injured combating rivals in Afghanistan in 1993 and returned to Pakistan. He again went to Afghanistan in 1995 where he was introduced to Al Qaeda leaders, officials added. Maps of Italy, Germany, Pakistan and the UK, three credits cards, a computer, dozens of CDs, three grenades, two AK-47s and hundreds of bullets were seized from his possession, officials added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2005
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Close buds with Libby and the gang. Let's soften him up first with a rendition of Harry Potter, followed by an injection of sodium
pentathol.
Now, where are those fillings?
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/09/2005 0:57
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RIYADH - Saudi Arabiaâs new king Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz pardoned on Monday two Libyans accused of plotting to assassinate him, according to an official statement. âKing Abdullah has informed government ministers that he has pardoned the two detained Libyans,â said a statement by Information Minister Ayad Madani.
It's not like they were Jooooos, ya know.
The two will be pardoned despite that âevidence has showed that they were involved in a plot against the stability and security of the kingdom,â he said after the first cabinet session since Abdullah became king on the death of his older brother last week. King Abdullah âhoped that the move would be a constructive step toward closing the ranks of the Arab nation,â he said.
As many as 13 people, both Saudi nationals and Libyans, had been held in custody over the plot which was uncovered in November 2003 when Abdullah was crown prince and de facto leader of the kingdom, according to press reports.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2005
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Go, and kill no more
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/09/2005 1:09
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#2
Let the Lybians go. But kill my nephew instead, since he ordered the hit.
United States and Iraqi forces continued Monday Operation Quick Strike, targeting insurgency groups in Haditha town, located in the western Iraqi province of Anbar. The joint US-Iraqi forces tightened their grip on Haditha town and Al-Khafajiya village after having total control on the towns of Al-Haqlaniay, Barwana and Al-Hawaija, a Multinational Forces (MNF) source told reporters today.
Eyewitnesses told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) today that MNF wrecked Barwana Bridge over the Euphrates to isolate the gunmen in Haditha. American warplanes, the eyewitnesses added, intensely bombarded the gunmen's locations in Al-Khafajiya village, which has been cut of power and water for three days. MNF sources said that Operation Quick Strike aimed to surround the gunmen to hit them without allowing them to infiltrate to nearby villages.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2005
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MNF sources said that Operation Quick Strike aimed to surround the gunmen to hit them without allowing them to infiltrate to nearby villages.
Good. Now please, no captures. Find them, and KILL THEM.
#2
Yes, yes the Roach Motel manuver. May I suggest, kill them then find them?
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/09/2005 1:03
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#3
Time to cordone off, let the baby ducks, kiddies and the ladies out and then kill every male who won't pledge his allegiance to America with his hand on the Bible!
#5
Phil_ b, the next US soldier that dies because his men let a smiling waving insurgent pass through the dragnet; I'll think of you and your brilliant thoughts on the remedy!! In your case, smn means: Stupidity aMounts to Nothing!
#6
This type of operation needs executing in every target rich town. I hope this not a case where we strike a town and then wait around for 20-50 Marines to die. Every town in Iraq needs to operated on, with no anesthesia.
smn,
What are you talking about? Pres. Bush never ordered all the mosque's to be destroyed and be replaced with church's. Leftists have a problem with the concept of "Freedom of Religion." It is not "Freedom from Religion."
Since, you mentioned the Bible, are you aware of the parable of the seed. To summarize the parable, the seed "Word of God/Jesus" falls on rocks, between thorn bushes, or soil. The seed will fall everywhere but it is up to the individual to choose. Hence, the concept of "Freedom of Religion." Also, dictators (including Leftists) doesn't have right to stop the seed from falling. Hence the concept of "Freedom from Religion."
Yes, you guessed it, it is the "Bible" that promotes the freedom to choose any religion. If this was not true, the Christians and Jews have the the military power to force the whole world into Christianity/Judiasm. Got it!!!
#7
Phil_b, obviously I was being facetious in the second part of my #3 statement, however I am very serious on my intention that the US needs an allegiance 'test' for war capable males. If I were an insurgent and I knew I could escape by dropping my weapon, changing clothes, and mingling into the populus for another day fight; I would go for it!!
#12
Given the concept of taqiyyah, the necessary lie told by Muslims to protect the religion from the infidels, a loyalty test of any sort would not work. The Qur'an demands that they make the sworn oath in order to be able to continue the fight unsuspected.
smn, we don't know you well enough yet to know when you are joking. Please note that some way in your posts (a smiley face will do) so as not to trigger annoyed/angry responses. Thanks!
#13
I hope "smn" was only semi-kidding, and then only about the type of screening process.
How about this:
-1- every male must be vouched for by someone in the town.
-2- the dwelling and family of those doing the vouching is entered into a database
-3- those being vouched FOR are tattooed showing they took the loyalty oath, and WHO EXACTLY vouched for them
Prior to this process beginning we annouce VERY clearly that if one of the vouched-for males is EVER caught of killed on a battlefield fighting against coalition or Iraqi troops, we will return to the village and destroy the dwelling in question and ARREST ALL family members.
There will be LOTS of un-vouched-for males left over. We kill them...period.
#18
Thanks PR. I'm sure that my son Ryan would say 'you are most welcome'.
Posted by: Marine Dad ||
08/09/2005 18:02
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#19
smn:
While it is true that the Quran requires the faithful to be deceptive when captured, so as to fight another day, the same Quran also sets the penalty for apostasy as Death, Without Virgins.
So, the answer is simple. when we parole an islamic fighter, we videotape his apostasy, and when needed, we beam the tape over to Al-jizz, or whoever might be the current conduit to Binny and his Jets.
At the very least, the arguments within the islamic mullahcracy will help tear the mullahs asunder within their own ranks.
A Bosnian Serb fugitive sentenced for crimes committed during the Bosnian war and wanted by a UN war crimes court has been arrested in Argentina. Police say Milan Lukic, who has been on the run for more than five years, was arrested in Buenos Aires.
Gee, what a familiar theme, European Fascists scuttling off to Argentina ...
He was indicted by the UN's war crimes tribunal for crimes said to have been carried out during the Bosnian war. He is also wanted in Serbia, where he was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison for war crimes.
In 2003, a court in Belgrade found Lukic and three other men guilty of torturing and murdering 16 Muslim civilians whom they abducted from a bus travelling from Serbia to Bosnia in 1992. Yugoslav officials say Lukic headed a paramilitary group believed to be responsible for abducting, torturing and killing the victims, all Yugoslav nationals. The incident - known as the Sjeverin case after the town where the victims were kidnapped - was the most serious crime to take place on Serbian territory during the Balkan wars in the early 1990s.
In the indictment from the tribunal at The Hague, Lukic is accused of forming a paramilitary group in 1992 which worked with local police and military units to exact a "reign of terror" against Bosnian Muslims in the Bosnian city of Visegrad.
Lukic is being held in a Buenos Aires jail and is expected to appear in court for questioning before a federal judge in the coming days.
If he's extradited he goes to somewhere in Europe for a trial before the Euro Court of Summthin' or Other and at most fifteen years, with time off for good behavior and sporting holidays. Wonder if he could have an accident instead?
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2005
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I thought that war ended after Clinton left office.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/09/2005 1:21
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What Mucki said yesterday, hoping it was California. LOL
GILGIT: Two retired Pakistan Army soldiers Abdul Karim and Asghar Ali were killed on Monday around 10:am at Bargo Village, sources told Daily Times. Sources said unidentified men gunned down the former soldiers. They said the attack seemed to be sectarian in nature, adding that police were investigating the incident. Separately, three people were killed in a road incident at Misgher Village near Hunza, said sources. They said that Sher Ghazi, Sher Azam and Javeed were returning to their village from Central Hunza when their vehicle fell into a deep ditch. They died instantly.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2005
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GANEI TAL, Gaza Strip - A group of Jewish settlers surrendered their guns to the Israeli army in occupied Gaza on Monday, part of a weapons handover aimed at minimising the risk of armed clashes during a planned Israeli pullout.
In Ganei Tal, a religious farming community in the Jewish settlement bloc of Gush Katif, settlers handed a local security official more than 20 assault rifles used for guard duty. An orange ribbon was wrapped around each weapon, marking the symbolic colour of the settlersâ protest against Israelâs planned evacuation beginning Aug. 17 from land they see as a biblical birthright.
Effi Slotsky, 55, was bitter as he turned in his gun. âWe do not want to give the authorities any room for confrontation,â he said. âI have no confidence in the establishment, and the pullout will bring a disaster for the country. But it is up to them (the Israeli army) to protect us now.â
Personal handguns owned by Ganei Tal settlers have yet to be collected.
Military sources said the army was discussing a larger-scale collection of settler weapons before Israel evacuates all 21 Gaza settlements and four of 120 in the West Bank in a plan billed as âdisengagementâ from conflict with the Palestinians.
Ami Shaked, head of security in the Gush Katif bloc, said efforts were being made to collect many of the hundreds of handguns still held by the 8,500 Gaza settlers who live among 1.4 million Palestinians. âThe idea is to collect all the weapons. I hope all firearms will be handed over to the authorities,â Shaked said.
Return the weapons when the settlers finish leaving Gaza and get to their new homes. I really don't want to see any blue-on-blue violence.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2005
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This is proving to be a horrendous few weeks.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/09/2005 1:12
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#2
I still don't like this disengagement.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/09/2005 1:19
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Like the guy says, it's up to the army now. I think it's a bad idea, but maybe it IS easier to just fence out the savages, and let them stew in their own juices.
#4
circle the wagons. I know it's unpopular, but I think it's a good strategy. And at the very least, it's a strategy. You can fight for thousands of years over a patch of land or you can do something bold and move forward.
Do I think that the Paleos will stop at Gaza? No. Do I think they will stop short of anything short of trying to push the Jews into the sea? No. But with this move, Sharon is circling the wagons and can concentrate on keeping the savages out.
In some ways, it's like our own Western experience. I have no problem with settlers who want to stay - except it's become clear that the calvary can't protect them. So they have a choice, get inside the fort or take your chances. If they want to take their chances, more power to them, but only if they don't expect the members of the calvary to risk their lives in a battle they can't win.
The thought comes to mind of surfers in Hawaii who go out to surf big waves during a hurricane or storm. Fine. But then don't go calling 911 and asking someone else to rescue you. You made your choice - now deal with it.
While we are it, let's give up Mexifornia, MexiTexas, and Mexizona when the illegals wear bomb vests in our malls, looking for land. We will give up the land, build a wall and live in absolute nirvana.
The "let them stew in their own juices" theory is not going to ever work.
1. Bush is not going to be President forever.
2. Sharon is not going to be PM forever.
3. The land give away for security has already been tried and failed. The sellout Ehud Barak, gave away the Golan Heights and now there is proxy attack after proxy attack by the Iranians. Israel can't retaliate like they want to because of 1. UN Peace keepers 2. world condemnation.
After the Gaza pullout, the UN Peacekeepers will line up on the Gaza border as human shield preventing the Israeli's from retaliating to the attacks from inside the "pullout zone."
Bottomline, the pullout will be an utter disaster.
#6
Disagree - defensible borders/walls/along with massive retaliation to any mortar, rockets. Let the Paleos have their hellhole, and bring hell to the violators
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2005 10:53
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btw - the Paleo civil war is on, and will break out openly once the settlers leave. Pass the popcorn
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2005 10:55
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Frank,
Just one question. How do you explain the Golan debacle?
I am referring to the 3rd statement on thread #5. Please read before responding. Ehud's recent give in to the terrs away. You may have to Google to get more details.
Ehud pullout of the Golan Heights, similar to the now "Gaza pullout for peace outcry," has already been tried. The end result as you can witness realtime.....
....the Sheba Farms gets shelled constantly by Hizb and the pullout got plenty of Lebenase Christians killed. The Lebanese Christians once provided with Israel with valuable intel on the Hizb. movements. Ehud stabbed them in the back by pulling out.
The more land Israel gives away, the more they get shelled in return.
In the H.G Wells novel and subsequent film, "The Invisible Man," the main character takes a dangerous drug and slowly disappears.
That is a metaphor for what is happening to Israel as it plans its latest unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, which it once "occupied" for security purposes. Israel is slowly disappearing, and the twin drugs of appeasement and self-delusion are responsible.
The "disengagement" later this month (which is actually a retreat and is seen that way by Israel's enemies) will not be the end, anymore than previous retreats, concessions, "good will" gestures and written documents have produced security or peace in the region.
Only after Israel is destroyed will the West realize what it did and failed to do, but it will find convenient and comforting explanations to absolve itself from any blame. Jews, you see, are always responsible not only for the world's problems, but for bringing destruction upon themselves by virtue of their being Jews.
Some Israelis are placing faith in a formal "letter of assurance" that President Bush addressed to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on April 14, 2004, in which the president assured Sharon that the United States would back Israel's claim for defensible borders, which Israelis take to mean the West Bank. The Palestinian and Arab sides have not agreed to any borders.
Israel trusts the word of the president, even as the State Department continues its pro-Arab ways and pressures Israel into real concessions while accepting as gospel empty promises from the Palestinian side, a side that has lived up to only one pledge: to eradicate the Jewish state.
Does anyone doubt that the moment (or even before the moment) the last Jewish "settler" is dislodged from Gaza and the last thriving business closed, that Hamas and its legion of demons will rush into Gaza, expand their terror operation and begin close-up attacks on Israel?
Who will stop them? It won't be the Europeans, or the Palestinians, or any Arab state that helps subsidize them. When the next formal war is launched against Israel, will the United States send troops and planes? With so little land left to defend, it is likely such a war will be over soon after it starts with Israeli cities reduced to rubble and casualties running to perhaps tens of thousands, or more.
No responsible business owner would give something to his customers without receiving something in return, or he would not remain in business for long. Why should Israel be required to do all the giving and none of the receiving?
Have we forgotten what produced the Israeli "occupation" of the Gaza Strip? In May, 1967, the armies of Egypt, Jordan and Syria gathered on Israel's borders in another attempt to eradicate Israel. These armies enjoyed backing from several other Arab countries, much as Hitler's "final solution" enjoyed similar support from some of the same Arab states. Israel's pre-emptive strike allowed it to gain control of Gaza and the West Bank.
Has anything changed in the Palestinian and Arab world? Has the rhetoric in mosques, schools and media cooled toward Israel or the objective of eliminating it? It has not. If anything, the rhetoric has become even more volatile. The Israelis are held in such contempt that they must dig up their dead from cemeteries in Gush Katif, including six graves of area residents murdered by terrorists, to avoid the desecration they've experienced in the past. Not a single Jew, living or dead, will be allowed to remain.
Based on past performance, once Israel's retreat is finished, the Palestinian-Arab side may digest its latest prey like a giant boa constrictor swallowing a large mouse. But after swallowing, it will want more. Look for another intifada and then look for the State Department and the rest of the administration to again pressure Israel to "do more."
The formula is wrong. Just as the character in "The Invisible Man" was unable to find an antidote and restore what he had lost, Israel's slow disappearance from the region cannot now be reversed. Assurances, agreements, promises and documents will not be able to bring her back.
The West, having failed 60 years ago to save millions of Jews from the murderous ways of the Third Reich, will have new blood on its hands which history will not, and should not, allow it ever to wipe clean.
#15
yeah, that Golan debacle is set in the future, isn't it? Israel hasn't IIUC ceded any Golan strategic hts back, and in any vent, reserves the right to reduce Damascus to rubble. It's tougher when you face fish that swim in not-so-innocent-schools of "civilians" fodder
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2005 20:08
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Ship,
I didn't mean political debacle. But, the debacle created by the pullout. Hence, the constant shelling and exponential growth in Hizb rocket placement. I believe due to the pullout, there are about 10,000 to 30,000 rockets pointed at Israel which was never there before the pullout. This article was written in 2002, imagine how many rockets they have now. Not a total debacle yet, but the environment is rich for it to happen. Before the pullout, the situation was controlled. But, now sooner or later, Israel will forced to risk a great deal to get a handle on the threat when they could have been prevented in the first place by NOT pulling out.
My whole point in this, is not to play word games, but that Israel already tried the pullout experiment. Capitulation under the threat of terror is not answer. The Muslims have millions and millions acres of land all over. Why is that Israel is always the one that have to give up land?
BOOKS about boy wizard Harry Potter have become favorite reading material among Islamic terror suspects at the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to reports.
Citing a librarian working at the center, the newspaper said J.K. Rowling's tales about the boy and the school of wizardry are on top of the request list for the camp's 520 Al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects, followed by Agatha Christie novels. "We've got a few who are kind of hooked on it. A couple have asked if they can see the movie," the librarian identified only as Lori is quoted by The Times as saying.
Lori said she is compiling a list to provide to various lawmakers in Washington, who recently visited the prison at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay as part of a congressional delegation investigating unfounded accusations of torture, according to the report.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
08/09/2005
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hmmm, do I see an angle to persuade these guys? Yeah let's have Harry Potter show the terrorists in a bad light
Posted by: Jan ||
08/09/2005 1:00
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Keep them wanting more, as long as they spill the beans.
#5
I have a better idea. Take pictures (yes, I said take pictures) of them holding a Harry Potter book and threaten mass distribution. Apostasy is not a silent killer.
BTW, don't even come to me with that Genital Convention nonsense.
#8
"Yeah let's have Harry Potter show the terrorists in a bad light"
Have you read the book? I dont think im spoilering to say that JK Rowlings is quite aware of the WOT, and seems to be a something of a liberal hawk - Quite insistent on the importance of continuing the fight against this evil, while dissappointed that the Ministry hasnt caught Bin La- Voldemort, and that some innocents have been sent to Git - Azkaban, by a rightly tough, but excessively publicity conscious, ministry. Oh, and the Ministry has a tendency to distribute fairly useless leaflets about how to protect your family from dark forces. And of course there are plenty of Slytherins whose true loyalties are deeply unclear.
#12
This could be a good thing. Get them all liquored up on Harry Potter and send then back to whence they came to infect others.
Reminds me of what Picard did to the Borg.
'course it probably won't really work becase the folks back home will just kill them on arrival.
Posted by: Michael ||
08/09/2005 10:52
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I didn't know many of them could read. What language are the Potter books written in? I think this is great to expose them to other ideas, such as libraries that have more than the Koran on the shelves.
#14
I re-read the end of Book 4 right after 9/11/01...the part where Dumbledore tells the head of the Ministry of Magic, "The only one against whom I intend to fight is Lord Voldemort. If you agree, Cornelius, then we remain on the same side."
Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says he will personally consider any requests to stop foreign soldiers being prosecuted in Australian courts. Two US marines recently escaped prosecution for stabbing a man in north Queensland when their case was transferred to the United States. A bureaucratic delegation approved the transfer on the condition the men would be vigorously pursued in American courts.
Mr Ruddock says he stands by that decision but has since disbanded the panel of bureaucrats that approved the transfer and will make future rulings himself. He says it is unfortunate the Australian victim was unable to give evidence but it would not have changed the outcome. "He was not called because it was believed the evidence was not helpful," Mr Ruddock said. "He has been debriefed by the American officials since then. My concern was it didn't happen in a timely way."
Posted by: God Save The World ||
08/09/2005
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#1
Usually it means the boys were before a courts martial, not the most enjoyable experience in one's military career and usually the last, just after Leavenworth. So does the piece say what the CM outcome was? Or is this another case of ignoring that process cause it doesn't fit the 'evil American military' bias of MSM?
LAHORE: The UK's decision to deport 500 Muslim leaders, teachers and owners of Islamic bookshops is hasty, undemocratic and unjust, said a Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) official on Monday. Talking to a group of Pakistani students studying in Britain and the USA at Mansoorah, Hafiz Mohammad Idrees, JI naib ameer, said Islam had nothing to do with terrorism, but the Western media had been implicating Muslims in every terrorist activity without any proof. He said that Islamabad could not take a stand against the UK's decision to deport Muslims because General Pervez Musharraf himself was bent on deporting foreign students from Pakistan.
It's almost tiresome to comment on anything anybody from JI says. To me, what was unjust was that killed 52 and maimed I don't know how many others, people who'd done nothing more threatening to Islam than getting up in the morning and going to work or shopping. Those being dumped aren't 500 innocents picked at random, but 500 loud-mouthed holy men who've been egging on the rubes toward mass murder. I guess it's natural that they'll get lots of sympathy from like-minded loud-mouthed holy men in Pakistan, which swarms with such moral cockroaches, and no doubt they'll all be able to get together and sympathize when Britain ships the refuse back there.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2005
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Scary to think that UK may have waited too many years in doing this, that the muslims have become strongly established and have a loud voice as they are demonstrating now. I hope UK stands strong and continues with the decision to deport them. If they stop in any way the battle is lost with their weakness.
I just hope that we don't have similar problems here stateside.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/09/2005 0:13
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UK's decision to deport 500 Muslims unjust
I agree.
It should be 5,000.
For starters.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/09/2005 0:52
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Shame they won't can't do it the old fashioned way. Take 'em to Dover, strip 'em and tell 'em to start swimming.
...then release the sharks...
Posted by: DanNY ||
08/09/2005 5:16
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Now the immediacy of the bombings has faded the UK Muslim community has reverted to type: weasel words / contrived hysteria / bathos. We really should deport any who have a modicum of ambivalence regarding the terrorist threat, born here or not. While 5,000 will do for starters - 5,000 per week could really make the country feel like home again.
Posted by: Joseph Merrick ||
08/09/2005 6:24
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#5
I see. So, it begins.
Look at the bright side, now you get to legally commit honor killings and rape little boys and girls in the name of Mohahahammed.
#6
the Western media had been implicating Muslims in every terrorist activity without any proof.
The claims of responsibility and expressions of pride in the murders seem sufficient proof to me.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/09/2005 7:18
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#7
He said that Islamabad could not take a stand against the UK's decision to deport Muslims because General Pervez Musharraf himself was bent on deporting foreign students from Pakistan.
If we're lucky, maybe the planes will crash into each other...
#9
The only thing unjust about the decision is that it wasn't 50,000/week. 150 jumbo flights/week, 22/day, about one an hour - Heathrow can do that easily ;)
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/09/2005 11:26
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#10
Get Slobo from Gagging, knight 'im, and appoint 'im queen's commishioner on British Moslems
#11
tu and Raj: If plane A takes off from London-Heathrow, heading S/SE at 500 mph (oops, I mean 1500 meters/hr) and plane B takes off from Lahore Int'l airport...awww, forget it, as long as they "meet in the middle," I'm o.k. with however long it takes.
Posted by: BA ||
08/09/2005 13:26
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Palestinian militants briefly abducted two UN workers and their driver in Gaza yesterday, before they were freed by security forces in a gunfight. The gunmen, believed to be loyal to Farouk Kaddoumi, a rival of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, stopped a UN vehicle driving through Khan Younis and kidnapped the workers and driver. Soon after, security officers broke into a building where the three were being held and escorted the freed hostages to a police vehicle amid a hail of gunfire that erupted between Palestinian security forces and the kidnappers.
"Idjits! You're threatening our meal ticket!"
Palestinian security officials blamed the kidnapping on a group loyal to Mr Kaddoumi, the most senior member of Mr Abbas's ruling Fatah party.
On Sunday, Mr Kaddoumi's spokesman in Gaza, Suleiman al-Farra, released a statement saying the leader - who skulks about lives in Tunisia - had ordered the creation of an army of 1,500 soldiers to help the Palestinian Authority maintain law and order during Israel's withdrawal from Gaza next week.
"Youse guys need my help! No, no, I'm fine here in Tunis, but you'd better listen to what I say!"
Mr Farra was later arrested by Palestinian security officers. No official reason was given for his ar rest, and Mr Kaddoumi threatened in a handwritten statement harsh punishment if he was not immediately released.
"Har! Youse going to get it! I got plenty o' mouthpieces!"
The incidents were the latest sign of lawlessness and Palestinian infighting in Gaza as government rivals and militants seek to show their power, and clash with security forces trying to consolidate their authority.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2005
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these jokers can't even maintain a cease fire for a few days
Posted by: Jan ||
08/09/2005 1:17
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"stopped a UN vehicle driving through Khan Younis and kidnapped the workers and driver"
You're here too early, morons!! For the last time, wait til the pullout then line up on the "new" border. That way, when we launch bigger and bigger rockets, the stupid Jooos won't be able to strike back. You know, just like Golan Heights.
DAMASCUS - US and Iraqi forces are preventing hundreds of Syrian trucks from entering Syrian territories through a crossing northeast of the country, creating a backlog of transit trucks stranded on the Syrian-Iraqi Yaaroubiya border crossing, a Syrian customs official said on Monday.
Shehadeh Al Hussein said more than 700 Syrian trucks were stopped from returning to Syria after unloaded produce and other merchandise in Iraq. He said Iraqi authorities allowed non-Syrian trucks to pass but banned those with Syrian license plates from entering, while often directing insults at their drivers.
"Hey Hassan, I don't they like us no more."
Al Hussein, who is director of the Customs Authority in the northeastern province of Hassakeh, told The Associated Press by telephone that some of the drivers have been stranded for up to 18 days on the Yaaroubiya crossing, some 780 kilometers (485 miles) northeast of Damascus. Many had little or no food, he said.
He said some trucks passed but only after paying around US$100 (81 euros) to bribe Iraqi officials. âThis puts economic pressure on Syria,â al-Hussein said. A meeting was held Monday with Iraqi customs officials to find a solution, he said, âbut none seemed forthcoming.â
"Wait 'til we get a government elected, then we'll get back to you."
There was no immediate comment from Iraqi officials.
"Need we say more?"
A human rights group said Monday that US and Iraqi forces have for days prevented about 700 Syrian trucks from entering Syrian territory. The Arab Organization for Human Rights called on all international human rights organizations to exert pressure on US-led coalition forces in Iraq to abide by international laws.
An Arab organization demanding that people respect human rights? There's a first. Where were you guys a few years back?
In a statement it said the âexceptionalâ measures on the Syrian-Iraqi border were an encroachment on the rights of Syrian citizens inside Iraq and called on Iraqi authorities to facilitate the return of Syrian trucks and provide the drivers with food and water.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Ya, these are the same "human rights" folks who toe danced while Saddam killed millions.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/09/2005 1:18
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A very nice move! The Syrians will immediately realize that a mounting loss of mechanized assets will bring incoming (Iraq)trouble to a stand still!
#5
My guess? This is something to do with the occupation of the smuggling quarter along the Anbar/Syria border. The Syrians are yelping because their bribe income just dried up.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/09/2005 11:41
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It's just the Iraqis way of saying "Truck you!" to Syria.
#7
How about stopping trucks from Syria from coming INTO Iraq? Whatever Syria has that Iraq needs, can be gotten from someplace else or through secure channels in the meantime.
Lawyers for a Guantanamo detainee asked the Supreme Court on Monday to consider blocking military tribunals for terror suspects, and overturn what they called an extreme ruling by high-court nominee John Roberts and two other judges on the panel. Roberts was on a three-judge federal appeals court panel that last month ruled against Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who once was al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden's driver. Hamdan's attorneys told justices that the appeals court gave the White House authority ``to circumvent the federal courts and time-tested limits on the executive.'' ``No decision, by any court, in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has gone this far,'' wrote Hamdan attorney Neal Katyal, a law professor at Georgetown University.
Gee, the Court of Appeals didn't think so.
The Pentagon maintains it has the authority to hold military commissions, or tribunals, for terror suspects like Hamdan who were captured overseas and are now being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. A lower-court judge ruled against the government, but Roberts and two other judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit disagreed. The appeals court said last month that the 1949 Geneva Conventions governing prisoners of war does not apply to the al-Qaida network and its members. Katyal maintained that the decision ``radically extended legal precedents set during conventional wars.''
Seeing as the Geneva Convention applied to conventional wars, it's not much of a stretch to say that it applies only to conventional wars, now does it?
The court ``held that the president has the power to decide how a detainee is classified, ... how he is treated, what criminal process he will face, what rights he will have, who will judge him, how he will be judged, upon what crimes he will be sentenced, and how the sentence will be carried out,'' Katyal wrote. Hamdan ``asks simply for a trial that comports with this nation's traditions, Constitution, and commitment to the laws of war, such as a court-martial,'' Katyal said in the appeal.
Not that he'd ever comply with the Geneva Conventions, even as he begs for its protection.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2005
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I seriously doubt the supremes would take this case, with or without Roberts.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/09/2005 1:00
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I'm not so sure about that. The last opinion of the DC Cir. in Hamdan's case finished with a rather glib assumption that the president was a "competnent authority" under the relevant statute and a 2/1 split on whether Article 3 of the latest Geneva Convention applies to al Qaeda. Those are *exactly* the sorts of questions the Supreme Court exists to clarify.
#3
The last Geneva convention the US adopted was right after WW2 I thought AzCat? Lots of those "conventions" that the EU and left get on about we never signed. So they don't apply, Doesn't stop the TRANZIs from getting a frothed up about it.
I don't think this guy has a rats chance in hell of getting the SCOTUS to take up his case, but we will see.
#5
Can anyone remember a case where a judge promoted to the USSC got to issue an opinion on the same case he had previously faced at the circuit level? Because the main argument in front of the Supremes would be that the lower court erred in it's ruling. I would think the Dems would be grabbing this story and running.
Posted by: john ||
08/09/2005 15:23
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The supremes seldom take up a case decided on appeal from the 3rd district.
Should they run to the loony side, and Roberts sits on the court, he would well have to be recused from the case.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/09/2005 16:59
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PESHAWAR: Candidates vying for nazim and naib nazim seats in various union councils of Mardan and Charsadda districts have reached an agreement on stopping women from voting.
"Who knows who the crazy bitches are gonna vote for? Better we look out for their interests for them..."
Four contesting candidates belonging to the Muttahida Group, Taraqi Pasand Group, Watan Dost Group and Tangi Awami Mahaz in Tangi Union Council, Charsadda district, have reached an agreement to keep women voters out of the local council elections schedule for August 18.
"Now, you might call us primitive for doing that, but really we're... ummm... primitive."
Both evolution and intelligent design passed them by ...
Mufti Gauhar Ali of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl-backed Muttahida Group told reporters on Monday that all four candidates had signed a written agreement, which had bound them not to allow women to vote. He said the candidates had agreed that the agreementâs violators would be fined Rs 500,000. He said the decision was made on the demands of the local people who wanted women out of the election process.
"Yeah! Votin's fer men! Havin' a passle o' brats is fer wimmin!"
In Sikandarey Purdilabad Union Council, Mardan district, the contesting candidates swore on the Quran to ban women from taking part in the election process. A meeting between area elders and candidates also decided not to allow women to vote.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2005
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what primates
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/09/2005 1:04
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The French now have so much free time that they cannot afford to enjoy it, tourism professionals said yesterday, blaming a sharp fall in summer hotel and restaurant revenues on the average Gallic tourist's newfound parsimony.
35 hour work week, 11% unemployment, private sector hasn't grown in 20 years, yep, some belt-tightening just might be in order ...
With many employees entitled to up to 11 weeks annual leave, thanks to the 35-hour-week laws introduced four years ago, the French are taking more breaks. However, they tend to be shorter and holidaymakers have less cash to spend when they are away.
The Union of Hotel and Restaurant Owners said its members have complained that holidaymakers now rarely take aperitifs, that they drink water rather than wine, eat sandwiches at lunchtime, order just one course at dinner and refuse even a post-prandial coffee.
Barbarians!
Overall, it estimates that takings this summer are down by 15-20%. "One of the effects of so much more time off is that people are spending so much more through the year on planes and trains that that they have to economise when they are actually away," said Brigitte Lenfant of the tourist office at Meditterranean resort of La Grande Motte.
Next year they'll stay home and putter 'round the house ...
Official statistics appear to confirm the trend away from the traditional month-long summer vacation. A French government agency said last week that the average summer break now lasted a fortnight.
France's faltering economy and unemployment rate is not helping either. A recent survey by Ipsos polling group found that 52% of French people planned to spend less than â¬1,500 (£1,038) of their budget on holidays this year. The proportion taking at least one break away from home is also falling. Nearly 16% of the population have never been away and half of all French holidaymakers now stay with friends or family.
The trend is being particularly keenly felt along the Mediterranean and south-western Atlantic coast, where most of the year's income is earned in July and August. "It's really getting problematic," said one Nice hotelier and restaurateur. "People are having a snack at lunchtime and avoiding anything that resembles a restuarant.
"Often they'll go out for a full three-course meal in a decent establishment just once in their whole holiday. We're no longer a nation of bon vivants, it seems."
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2005
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#5
In fact low wage people were/are against the 35 hour week. They wanted to work longer work and toget higher pay. It was the syndicates (very weak in France, except unfortunately at a couple key chokepoints like train and electricity) and specially the bobos (I think the american term is yuppies) who were for it
#8
Yup, JFM has hit it right on the head - the poor sods that really need the money and are willing to work for it, are not allowed to because the bobos (brilliant term by the way) find it reprehensible that people have to work for a living.
I'm currently reading a fascinating book 'The Power of Productivity' by William Lewis that is very illuminating - one key point;
Most people consider 'social objectives' to be 'good.' Import tariffs, subsidized loans for small businesses, government disallowance of layoffs, and high minimum wages are all examples of economic policies designed to achieve social objectives. We can't have it both ways. These measures distort markets severely and limit productivity growth, slow overall economic growth, and cause unemployment. Rather than support these measures, it is better to level the playing field, create a bigger economic pie, and manage the distribution of that pie through the tax code for individuals.
And one other key point on productivity;
It is tempting to conclude that if productivity increases, then employment must go down. After all, if the workforce works more efficiently, then fewer workers are needed. This line of thought stops too soon. It fails to consider what happens after productivity is improved and workers are available to be redeployed somewhere else in the economy. It assumes incorrectly that the amount of business activity in an economy is fixed. In fact, if workers are available, entrepreneurs can match them with new business ideas and investment capital and thus increase the total amount of business activity in an economy. The production of goods and services thus increases, along with the productivity increase, and employment levels do not have to decrease.
Which is one of the most succinct descriptions I've read of the benefits of increased productivity.
I'm hardly a third of the way through it and finding nuggets on every page - great book!
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/09/2005 16:45
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Carl in NH asked for online resources about tourism in France.
This line of thought stops too soon. It fails to consider what happens after productivity is improved and workers are available to be redeployed somewhere else in the economy
So simple, yet SO HARD FOR HAMMERHEADS TO UNDERSTAND, IT'S SIMPLE. Help me Joe.
Pakistan and Britain will soon sign a treaty providing for the extradition of criminals wanted by the two governments, officials on Monday said. âThe extradition treaty will be ready for signing as soon as the two countries finalize procedural formalities,â foreign ministry spokesman Naeem Khan told a press briefing in Islamabad. He said the two countries are finalising the treaty at the initiative taken by Pakistan a few years ago. The spokesman said Pakistan also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UK, which will substantially reduce deportation of Pakistanis, particularly students, from Britain.
That's a step in the wrong direction.
âThe MoU on managed migration will also help regulate visas for Pakistani nationals wishing to travel to the UK,â he said.
Any regulation on the number of passports at one time?
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Any regulation on the number of passports at one time?
Well, this is Pakland - how many passports are going to be genuine?
The Federal Government has announced Australia will formally open negotiations on a nuclear cooperation agreement with China. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says the agreement will establish safeguards to ensure Australian uranium supplied to China is used "exclusively for peaceful purposes".
Mr Downer says Australian and Chinese officials have already held exploratory talks on the issue. He says China's rapidly growing demand for energy will see a four-fold increase in nuclear energy production by 2020. "Diversifying from fossil fuels will result in lower greenhouse gas and particulate emissions," Mr Downer said in a statement.
But Greens Senator Kerry Nettle has condemned the Government's decision to begin talks. Senator Nettle says the international community still has not been able to develop satisfactory ways to dispose of nuclear waste and Australia should export uranium at all. "The Australian Government is not looking at the concerns in Australia and elsewhere that we need to remove ourselves from this destructive industry," she said.
"It doesn't provide any answers to greenhouse gas emissions, it simply creates another problem."
That's pretty darned dumb. Generate electricity with a nuclear generating plant and you don't burn the requisite amount of coal or oil. I don't know what's difficult about understanding that, but then I'm not a Green.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
08/09/2005
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Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says the agreement will establish safeguards to ensure Australian uranium supplied to China is used "exclusively for peaceful purposes".
Unless the Aussies intend to have their people involved in all aspects of the material's use and full control of its handling, there's no guarantees the Commies won't divert some of it into "non-peaceful" uses.
#2
You said it Bomb-a-rama! Chinese hegemony will require the Russians to "grab the ankles" in the future; I hope that doesn't frighten the Aussies into anything hasty. China knows It can't take Indonesia without subduing Australia and it's influences (US) in their strategic designs on the region.
#3
Actually can be EXTREMELY difficult if accurate auditing is done and you taint the uranium mixture. Weaponized enriched uranium is 98-99% pure U-235 (or plutonium which is a whole nother ball game). For generating electricity this rarely goes over 7% purity. Anyway all I'm saying is the main problem occurs in successful auditing and making sure the other guys (china in this case) return the spent uranium rather than try to process it.
NEW YORK - US authorities on Monday formally outlined terrorist charges against Haroon Rashid Aswat, a Briton who was detained in London at the weekend after being deported from Zambia.
Your day went from bad to worse, eh Rashid?
A charge filed before a New York court accuses the 30-year-old Aswat, whose family is of Indian origin, of seeking to establish a terrorist training camp in the remote spot of Bly in Oregon. Aswat has been named in US and British media reports as the alleged mastermind behind the July 7 suicide bomb attacks in London, ciated with a Muslim preacher, who was not named in the charge, in the plan to set up the training camp in the northwestern US state which was to prepare volunteers to fight in Afghanistan. Plans for the Bly camp revolved around âbringing people from London and from the United States to the property for âjihadâ training.â The charge said that Aswat had training at a camp for militants in Afghanistan where he had once seen Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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The most fugly bloke I ever did see.
Posted by: Joseph Merrick ||
08/09/2005 3:50
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Another bloke who needs to suck on the business end of a shotgun.
Posted by: DanNY ||
08/09/2005 5:19
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Mr. Purty Mouth looks like he's had expierience sucking the business end of... something.
By Khalid Hasan
While Muslim community leaders, most of them self-styled with questionable, if any, followings of late have been making statements distancing themselves from jihadist interpretations of Islam, the average Muslim is not so persuaded.
We haven't thought they were since we saw the jubilation after 9-11...
Every conversation on the subject produces the standard observation of the West being at war with Islam. There is openly-expressed admiration for those who are seen to be committing daring acts of sacrifice for the âgreater gloryâ of the cause. When pressed, the response remains nebulous. The average sermon in the average mosque is either utterly unrelated to the problems of today or full of pious and simplistic solutions for the challenges facing Muslims today. The most common explanation offered is that since Muslims have âturned their back on Islamâ and moved away from the âcorrect path,â they are being punished for their transgressions. Little attempt is made to offer practical advice on how to face the present challenges and what to do. Instead of stepping out, Muslims are tending to withdraw into themselves, which can only increase their isolation and stand between them and a realistic understanding of the problems that they face.
Hmmm... Not a lot of substance to that paragraph. I'm not even sure it applies to "all Muslims" or only to the author's circle of friends and acquaintances. I kinda sorta get the idea that if they were real leaders they wouldn't be distancing themselves from jihad...
However, according to a report run by the Washington Post on Monday, âalarmed by the London subway bombings, US Muslim activists are taking a series of steps aimed at preventing young people here from embracing extremist ideas.â
Not wanting to get dumped might provide an incentive...
The article speaks of âsoul-searching in mosques and in Muslim groups since the London attacks. The writer claims that Muslims in America are better educated and more assimilated than their European counterparts. The report quotes Mahdi Bray, a âsenior figure in the Washington-based Muslim American Societyâ, as saying, âWe donât want to give the opportunity to extremists to get a hold of our kids.â Brayâs group, according to the report, has started working with psychologists to design a pamphlet on how to identify young people who could be susceptible to violent extremism.
Try this simple test. If the child posses at least three of the following, he's susceptible to violent extremism: 1. a turban 2. curly-toed slippers 3. an automatic weapon 4. a scraggly-assed beard 5. bomb making materials 6. a burnoose
The pamphlet will be distributed to Muslim parents, mosque leaders and others. What good that will do, only Bray can tell. He told the Post that the Muslim American Society will encourage mosques to sponsor more Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops. The report goes on to quote one Bano Makhdoom, âa Muslim activist in Montgomery County,â who considers the idea that Muslim youngsters could become Islamic extremists âremote.â
Either Bano doesn't read the papers or he's part of the problem...
The report recalls that one group from the Washington suburbs was convicted of attending a training camp run by Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan. Last week, a 30-year-old D.C. taxi driver living near Baltimore, Mahmud Faruq Brent, was charged in a similar case. In an even more dramatic case, a 24-year-old who grew up in Falls Church, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, has been accused in an Al Qaeda plot to assassinate President Bush. He has pleaded not guilty. The Muslim American Society has vigorously defended Abu Ali.
"Frisk 'em for automatic weapons, Danno!"
"Just the guys with the burnooses, McGarrett?"
Asked by the Post correspondent whether that contradicted his groupâs new campaign against extremism, Bray replied in the negative.
"We're Muslims. We're not long on logical consistency..."
His group he said, was concerned that Abu Aliâs rights had been violated since he had been held in a Saudi prison for more than a year without charges.
"He's really lucky he didn't get incinerated!"
Several area Muslim leaders told the newspaper that since the London bombings, they are warning youngsters âeven more explicitlyâ about any ideologies that glorify violence or portray non-Muslims as âinfidels.â A Ghanian Muslim, the Post reported, had recently lectured to a small group gathered for a Quranic lesson at the Dulles Islamic Centre that hating people âis not part of our religion.â
Then his lips fell off, of course...
According to the report, âOne major group, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), is planning a special session on fighting terrorism and extremism at its annual convention in Chicago next month. The issue is also a central theme at a parallel youth conference, expected to draw thousands of people.â ISNA and its affiliated organisations, which are well financed and well organised with large memberships are also conservative in their views. It is rare to see a woman at their conferences who is not wearing a hijab.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2005
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He told the Post that the Muslim American Society will encourage mosques to sponsor more Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops.
yeah those are the guys I want influencing my kids. Girl scouts too? hmmm I thought to be a Boy Scout you had to believe in God. This will be interesting.
they seem more concerned about Abu Aliâs situation than all of the terror that recently occurred in London.
Bano Makhdoom, âa Muslim activist in Montgomery County
strange language, is being an activist similar to terrorist? What exactly is being a muslim activist?
Posted by: Jan ||
08/09/2005 0:34
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He told the Post that the Muslim American Society will encourage mosques to sponsor more Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops.
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
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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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.
THREATS of terrorism attacks by a masked man with an Australian accent shown on Arab television are being examined by Australian intelligence officers. A videotape of the man wearing a balaclava and speaking English with an Australian accent was aired on the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya satellite channel and reshown on Australian TV this morning. The videotaped message warned that more terrorist attacks would be launched on the West.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday declined to discuss in detail reports that a large cache of manufactured explosives had been found on the Iraq side of the Iraq-Iran border. But he did say during a Pentagon briefing that it was "notably unhelpful for the Iranians to be allowing weapons of those types to cross the border." "It is true that weapons, clearly, unambiguously from Iran have been found in Iraq," Rumsfeld said in answer to a question. But he declined to answer additional questions about the reported find, including the exact types of weapons found, and whether they were linked to the Iranian government or to terrorist organizations in Iran. Asked if he knew how many such weapons were in Iraq, Rumsfeld said, "Oh, no. Goodness, how can you know? You only know what you know. That is a big border."
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Four suspected Taleban militants have attacked a medical clinic killing a doctor and a bystander in central Afghanistan, Afghan officials say. Police reached the area and arrested two of the militants who were injured in the clash, according to Ghazni province governor Haji Sher Allam. A man claiming to speak for the Taleban said they carried out Monday's attack in Andar district. There has been a rise in violence ahead of September's parliamentary elections. "We killed the doctor, Mohammed Hashim, because he was a former communist and he was also spying for the Americans," said 
Evidence continues to mount that the Madrid train bombings on 11 March 2004 were planned in Belgium by a group of terrorists who were under surveillance at the time by security service agents. 
A team of US aviation experts has arrived in Kenya and will soon travel to Sudan to assist in the probe of last monthâs helicopter crash that killed Sudanese Vice President John Garang, the US Embassy here said yesterday. The five-strong team from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) arrived in Nairobi on Sunday and is expected to depart shortly to join the investigation being conducted jointly by the Sudanese government and Garangâs ex-rebel Sudan Peopleâs Liberation Movement (SPLM), it said. 
President Gen Pervez Musharraf has said stated the decision to register madrassas was âfinalâ and cautioned people that âno hindrance whatsoever would be tolerated in the registration processâ. 
Radical Islamic group Hizb ul-Tahrir will be banned in Australia if intelligence authorities judge it a terrorist threat, the prime minister said Monday. 
Maulana Fazlur Rehman, leader of the opposition in the National Assembly and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal secretary general, on Monday denied that he accused the government of training terrorists and sending them to Afghanistan. Fazl said that a news published in an English language daily, quoting him as saying that the Pakistani government was training terrorists to send them to Afghanistan, had no connection with his press conference in Lahore on Sunday. 
BERLIN - German intelligence fears terrorism is âradiatingâ from Iraq around the Middle East and expects further attacks across the region, its spy chief said on Monday. âWe fear developments in Iraq are radiating outwards,â foreign intelligence chief August Hanning said in brief comments to Reuters.
United States and Iraqi forces continued Monday Operation Quick Strike, targeting insurgency groups in Haditha town, located in the western Iraqi province of Anbar. The joint US-Iraqi forces tightened their grip on Haditha town and Al-Khafajiya village after having total control on the towns of Al-Haqlaniay, Barwana and Al-Hawaija, a Multinational Forces (MNF) source told reporters today.
GILGIT: Two retired Pakistan Army soldiers Abdul Karim and Asghar Ali were killed on Monday around 10:am at Bargo Village, sources told Daily Times. Sources said unidentified men gunned down the former soldiers. They said the attack seemed to be sectarian in nature, adding that police were investigating the incident. Separately, three people were killed in a road incident at Misgher Village near Hunza, said sources. They said that Sher Ghazi, Sher Azam and Javeed were returning to their village from Central Hunza when their vehicle fell into a deep ditch. They died instantly.
LAHORE: The UK's decision to deport 500 Muslim leaders, teachers and owners of Islamic bookshops is hasty, undemocratic and unjust, said a Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) official on Monday. Talking to a group of Pakistani students studying in Britain and the USA at Mansoorah, Hafiz Mohammad Idrees, JI naib ameer, said Islam had nothing to do with terrorism, but the Western media had been implicating Muslims in every terrorist activity without any proof. He said that Islamabad could not take a stand against the UK's decision to deport Muslims because General Pervez Musharraf himself was bent on deporting foreign students from Pakistan. 
Lawyers for a Guantanamo detainee asked the Supreme Court on Monday to consider blocking military tribunals for terror suspects, and overturn what they called an extreme ruling by high-court nominee John Roberts 
PESHAWAR: Candidates vying for nazim and naib nazim seats in various union councils of Mardan and Charsadda districts have reached an agreement on stopping women from voting.
The French now have so much free time that they cannot afford to enjoy it, tourism professionals said yesterday, blaming a sharp fall in summer hotel and restaurant revenues on the average Gallic tourist's newfound parsimony.
NEW YORK - US authorities on Monday formally outlined terrorist charges against 
