#2
Buck up, be of good cheer, there is always voter fraud allegations, Jesse Jackson, every vote didn't count....all the other distortions to glum onto.
Posted by: Capt America ||
12/15/2004 1:01 Comments ||
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#3
Yes, Moonbats, you had a dream.....
.....then the basement lights came on and your mom told you to get your ass up and look for a job.
#9
After reflection, that vid + comments there and at the JuliusBlog where it was created, are actually very disturbing. This is wholesale dementia. They don't some hand-holding therapist and a Daily Soma, they need a size 12 boot up their collective ass. Wow, a significant fraction of America is insane...
#17
The best medecine. I came back from hospital last night and was'nt feeling so well this morniing. I laughed so much, all of a sudden I felt better. Thank you Atomic Conspiracy.
#18
I'm sitting here at work watching this, and about a 1/3 of the way in you get to picture of the bored looking woman holding the "We Love Kerry" sign and I nearly snorted coffee through my nose!
The Republicans need to re-cycle this video 4 years from now and play it at the start of the campaign season. As it fades out an announcer would come on and say: "Remember how crummy it felt to lose last time? Give up now and spare yourself the pain"
#20
Hysterical! This is a superb illustration of the vanity, silliness, the sheer triviality of today's dem activists. If the defeat of a turkey like Kerry moves you to tears, how the hell can anyone expect you to be a stalwart in the war against islamist fascism?
#22
D'ya remember how John Kerry showed real class by going out in the cold Boston rain on Election Night to thank all his supporters for their hard work?
#23
I feel your pain... and it tickles! Bwahahahahahahahahaha!
Posted by: Dar ||
12/15/2004 11:23 Comments ||
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#24
I'm going to have to remember that one, Dar.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
12/15/2004 11:34 Comments ||
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#25
Comments have disappeared on her site.
This morning I suggested that they had more important things to do than wish away reality (Darfur, Zimbabwe, that kind of thing), in contrast to all the bwahahahaha's some others posted, and I guess she didn't like any of it.
#27
Some random comments:
1) I would have preferred Barber's Adagio for Strings (MP3)
2) Nice flip-flops!
3) Some good pics of Edwards, which brings to mind:
Where is Thumbkin?
Where is Thumbkin?
Here I am.
Here I am...
(Thanks to Laura Ingraham for that association...)
#29
#3 Yes, Moonbats, you had a dream..... .....then the basement lights came on and your mom told you to get your ass up and look for a job.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-12-15 1:11:37 AM
#32
The site is down. They've now exceeded their traffic allotment for the month. Poor darlings! I'm positively ashamed of my Schadenfreude, really I am.
Al Qaeda's attack on the U.S. consulate in Saudi Arabia this month is a sign of the group's "despair" after an 18-month crackdown by security forces, a senior Saudi official said on Monday. "It was unfortunate but expected. It's a form of despair and (militants) want to prove they exist," Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to Britain Prince Turki al-Faisal told the Arab Strategy Forum in Dubai. Prince Turki, a former Saudi spy chief, said his country was committed to fighting al Qaeda but the group had not yet been defeated. "It's still not over. Many (people) have been brainwashed...by these evil cults...and are willing to sacrifice their lives for this twisted ideology," he said.
Ya know what? What he's sellin', I ain't buyin'. Prince Turki is no friend of the West, and he was talking to the "Arab Strategy Forum." He's feeling sorry for himself 'cuz the op was botched, with zero dead Merkins and the attackers killed or captured.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/15/2004 9:43:47 AM ||
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#1
I just want to be loved! Is that so wrong!
Posted by: Al Qaeda ||
12/15/2004 13:04 Comments ||
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#2
Debka, FWIW, had an article saying it was nothing like the failure portrayed by the Saudis.
Posted by: DO ||
12/15/2004 15:26 Comments ||
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Seven jailed Saudi militants have made a televised appeal to al Qaeda sympathisers in the kingdom to surrender, denying reports of torture in captivity and saying prison guards treated them like family. The apparently repentant militants appeared on state television to persuade the fighters behind an 18-month wave of violence they will not be mistreated if they turn themselves in. Cameras were allowed into a Riyadh prison for the television programme, which aired late Tuesday, to show gleaming corridors, rows of colourful beds and books piled on bedside tables.
"Anyone who has experienced the reality finds a big difference between the many cases of torture we heard about and what we found," prisoner Abdulrahman al-Ahmari said.
"The Swedish meatballs and lingonberry sauce are exceptional. Really first rate."
The dealings with the prison administration, the sympathy for the prisoners' wishes ... I can call it a family connection," Ahmari told the programme.
"The House of Sod Department of Corrections...It's A Family Affair!"
Well, everyone there seems to be related.
Saudi television has previously broadcast footage of jailed militants calling on their former comrades to surrender, but the glowing portrayal of prison marks a new tactic in the state media drive to undermine support for al Qaeda. "We heard about torture, about mistreatment ... I found that al-Hayer (prison) was not like that," said Ahmari, referring to the detention centre near the Saudi capital where he was held.
"Truly, more like a finishing school for wayward hard boyz. And the corrections officers are so friendly, ya know? They really try hard to get to know you...always asking questions 'n' stuff..."
Abdullah al-Silmi said he surrendered after hearing Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz say that militants who gave themselves up would be treated more leniently and those who were just sympathisers had nothing to fear. "If I had known I would have had this reception, by God I would have surrendered a long time ago," he said. "...I advise the wanted brothers who harbour these thoughts to give themselves up". Khaled al-Harbi, who appeared in a videotape with Saudi-born al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden praising the Sept. 2001 attacks on U.S. cities, told the television programme he surrendered after hearing about the June amnesty on the radio. Othman al-Amri, who was number 19 on a list of Saudi Arabia's 26 most wanted militants before he gave himself up in June, praised the treatment he received. "After I came and saw these peoples' situation, I swear to God it's better than our family," he said.
Sounds swell. Has the International Red Moon-Shaped Thingy Crescent Society inspected their cells yet?
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/15/2004 9:50:53 AM ||
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#1
I've started, and abandoned, a reply to this story 4 times. There is something in this article that illuminates a fundamental difference between Arab-think and Western-think (at least the rational / logical variety I consider "normal"), but I am having a hell of a time expressing it satisfactorily.
I'll say this: Yagoub Average Saudi will prolly believe what he sees if the context is "right" - i.e. fits with what he would expect to see were it true. The correct staging, hitting the right visual symbolic cues, will, indeed, succeed in bringing some of these guys in. It's a lot like the memes that have driven most of us semi-crazy for the last year. They buy memes in a heartbeat, by the bucket - it's why they're such big fans of conspiracy shit. Create and present your meme well, hitting the right buttons, and the context will fall away presently and they'll follow it anywhere. This is, of course, unacceptable in Western-style logic and rational / critical thinking for the validity depends upon the context of the idea. (Exception: "c" - the speed of light, heh...) Think about how OBL uses "Crusader" or how CP Abdullah can simply blame it on the Jooos, almost utterly devoid of context - because the listener, with his vast cultural store of what-to-think info, not how-to-think tools, will just parrot the pre-digested meme subtext and fill in whatever is needed to justify the meme... and now you can fill in some of the gaps I'm leaving with this perfectly rotten explanation, lol!
I don't want to write a book, so I surrender, lol! Contribute your own explanation, expats, but don't nit-pick - I've already admitted failure and will curse your ancestry for being petty and gutless!
#5
I'm with .com. This is a bit difficult for my western mind to absorb, especially if it works.
Posted by: Tom ||
12/15/2004 19:18 Comments ||
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#6
Heh, we're terminally suspicious - Madison Ave has been trying to sell us "New!" and "Improved!" for more than a generation, now. That has made many of us (approx 51% in last national polling cycle, heh) very tough-minded tough-sells. This silly sappy shit wouldn't get to first base with any real TV-fed American, lol!
The chief executive of the British Red Thingy Cross has warned that the international movement's neutrality is fast becoming a casualty of the global "war on terror".
Sir Nicholas Young told the Guardian that the US-led coalition's defiance of international law in Iraq threatened to obliterate the capacity of the Red Thingy Cross and Red Moon-Shaped Thingy Crescent movement to operate in areas of conflict. In an interview in today's Society Guardian, he says: "The respect the Red Thingy Cross relied on, the sense that when we're wearing our emblem and doing our work we are protected, we are sacrosanct, is under threat.
"We are able to work across the frontline for only as long as we are seen as neutral. The moment that sense of impartiality is lost, our mission is lost.
"We might as well pack up and go home. We'll be seen as part of the war machine and we'll be unable to operate."
I recall we at Rantburg have been making this very point to you for quite a while now.
Driving through the streets of Baghdad in a clearly marked Red Thingy Cross vehicle last year, Sir Nicholas says, he was acutely aware that local people did not recognise the agency's neutrality. "I had a very strong sense that we were regarded as Saddam's collaborators the occupying powers," he says. "And this was something I hadn't felt before."
He adds that the Red Thingy's Cross's mission was severely jeopardised when Colin Powell, the former US secretary of state, called humanitarian aid "an important part of our combat force" in Iraq. "The humanitarian space that we operate in has been narrowed; on one side by the sense that the white guys in the white Land Rover must be part of the coalition force because we seem to be doing the same kind of job as them; on the other by the sense that the non-state groups don't understand international humanitarian law, don't understand the role of NGOs in the region."
Last month the US forces breached international law when they publicly snubbed the Iraqi Red Moon-Shaped Thingy Crescent by denying it access to Falluja after weeks of heavy bombardment. It was a "hugely significant" gesture, Sir Nicholas says. "It sets a dangerous precedent. The Red Thingy Cross had a mandate [under the Geneva convention] to meet the needs of the local population facing a huge crisis and, given their neutrality, they should have been allowed to meet those needs."
The Moon-Shaped Thingy guys have a credibility problem. Something about ambulances in Paleostine.
The International Federation of Red Thingy Cross and Red Moon-Shaped Thingy Crescent Societies incorporates national societies in more than 180 countries, with almost 300,000 staff.
The worst prospect for the Red Thingy Cross is having to pull out of an increasing number of conflict zones round the world, Sir Nicholas says. "We pride ourselves on building a more civilised world, yet are we doing that if we allow this sense of help to people in vulnerable situations to just disappear? "It's an incredibly dangerous situation for the Red Thingy Cross Red Moon-Shaped Thingy Crescent to be in."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/15/2004 12:26:31 AM ||
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#1
..."neutrality is fast becoming a casualty of the global "war on terror."
That assumes there was neutrality before -- I suggest there wasn't.
Posted by: Capt America ||
12/15/2004 0:52 Comments ||
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#2
(1)Start packing.
(2)Loading guns and rpgs into ambulances and leaving wounded and dieing. Facilitating the movement of terrorists they have "shattered the image of nutrality."
(3)When civilization and societies are the victims to terrorism the Red Cross Sides with the terrorists. How many hostages has the Red Cross visited and insured the saftey of? Have they once demanded it? They demand access to prisoners held by the US every day then violate the confidentality they are supposed to maintain after they do.
#3
First, I'm not sure there isn't a jurisdictional problem here. While all humanitarian organizations need to be regarded as neutral in combat zones, it's the ICRC, not a national federation like that in Iraq, that's specially connected to the Geneva Conventions. Local Red Thingy/Moon-shaped Thingy types probably don't even have training in the Conventions or laws of war.
How ironic, though, that this guy would lament the loss of neutrality, and how that will gut the Red Thingy's mission. Actually, the abandonment of key principles by the ICRC over the last several years has been one of the most shocking elements of A World Gone Stupid With Anti-Americanism (TM). The ICRC has conspicuously violated its own principle of discretion in several high-profile instances involving the US, both times leaking confidential reports or parts thereof (pertaining to Camp X-Ray and Iraqi detention centers) and then TALKING ABOUT IT on the record. Amazing. (same stuff you're talking about, Sock Puppet)
Having worked with the ICRC in some grim places and seen their professionalism, the spread of anti-US insanity to Geneva shocked me (not easy to do, especially since 9/11). But it's probably just a version of the instinctual anti-Americanism one finds in most (not all) humanitarian NGOs and their personnel. All so fitting, since in so many cases they rely on US financial support and -- of course -- US military logistics support or security to perform their missions.
The IFRC is of most interest for 'burgers because of their refusal to recognize the Israeli chapter's symbol (Red Star of David). Especially nice, that -- an organization snubbing an exemplary chapter at the behest of chapters often beset by corruption and gross violation of humanitarian and neutrality principles (others have referred to those above).
#5
SPo'D - Make sure the Red Thingy you whack is the International Red Thingy - The American Red Cross is totally independent and does not share funds nor do they coordinate. I have no direct experience with the Int'l version, but the American org does exactly what it's always done, just not as cost-effectively as we'd like, I'm sure - although you can specify what your donation is to be used for - and they apparently honor it.
#6
But it's probably just a version of the instinctual anti-Americanism one finds in most (not all) humanitarian NGOs and their personnel. All so fitting, since in so many cases they rely on US financial support and -- of course -- US military logistics support or security to perform their missions.
we need to seriously rethink how we do things.
Such a shame too. One of the biggest casualties in this war has been the loss of confidence over contributing to charities...all charities world wide. Too often they fund the creation of the victims they then support.
#7
"...Colin Powell, the former US secretary of state, called humanitarian aid "an important part of our combat force" in Iraq. "The humanitarian space that we operate in has been narrowed; on one side by the sense that the white guys in the white Land Rover must be part of the coalition force because we seem to be doing the same kind of job as them;..."
Sounds to me like he complaining about the competition coming from U.S. cov humanitarian aid.
#9
neutrality is fast becoming a casualty of the global "war on terror".
Neutrality? What neutrality? There are no neutrals in this war.
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
12/15/2004 9:16 Comments ||
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#10
Let's see. Representatives of the US Gov drive around in white SUVs, handing out food and aid. Representatives of the ICRC drive around in white SUVs, handing out food and aid. So, which is his beef?
1) The Iraqis can't tell the good food givers (the ICRC) from the evil food givers (US gov), and so attack the good food givers?
2) The Iraqis can't be allowed to think that the US government is not 100% evil?
3) The "Iraqi" "insurgents", who want Iraq to turn into a giant shithole, don't understand the role of humanitarian aid in furthering their goal, and so attack the ICRC?
4) The Thingy on the side of our trucks offends the local nutzis?
#11
complaining about the competition coming from U.S. cov humanitarian aid.
good point! That, combined, with their ties to terrorism and their propensity to focus on rough treatment (rather than torture) by the US, has had to put a massive dent in their fundraising efforts. I'm sure they were hoping for massive refugees and starvation in order to increase their coffers. It's just not happening. Looks like they are begininng to understand the consequences of their actions. Tough luck guys. I hear they are hiring in the jungles of Africa.
#12
on one side by the sense that the white guys in the white Land Rover must be part of the coalition force because we seem to be doing the same kind of job as them; on the other by the sense that the non-state groups don't understand international humanitarian law, don't understand the role of NGOs in the region."
Ok Red Cross, the real problem is the latter, blame the insurgents instead, not the US military, dipsh*ts!
Posted by: GI JOE ||
12/15/2004 11:00 Comments ||
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#13
what the red thingy havent figgered out yet is that non-muslims who are not actively siding with the house of war (dat's us!) are Dhimmis! Either they genuinely don't undersand the implications of what they are doing, or haven't glommed on to the fact there is NO neutrality unless BOTH sides agree on it.
And guess who declared first that there is no neutrality (it wasn't the U.S.).
Posted by: N Guard ||
12/15/2004 11:05 Comments ||
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#14
They're pissed since we are encroaching on their business. What, 5 or 6 million refugees have returned home just from Afghanistan and Iraq. Stats like that and they will soon be out of business. Then how will Swedish and Belgian ner-do-wells ride around in SUVs like the Great White Hunters of yore and whore around with the underage natives.
Posted by: ed ||
12/15/2004 11:11 Comments ||
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#15
the non-state groups don't understand international humanitarian law, don't understand the role of NGOs in the region
"Non-state groups" - LOL.
Care to be a bit more precise, St Nick? Surely you mean the fascist neck-sawers and ba'athist assassins, right? They understand perfectly well your role. They're trying to crush you and your role, the same way they're trying to destroy every other humane and liberal value in Iraq.
Wake up, fool: There is no moral equivalence between us and the fascists. Yes, the Red Cross must choose a side here. If you can't do so then the people of Iraq are better off without you.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/15/2004 13:02 Comments ||
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#18
I've been reading Townhall, National Review, and a dozen papers today, and everything I read makes me want to reach for an axehandle. The world is full of idiots that have no idea what's going on, but want their fair share of opportunity to expound upon every subject known to man. A lot of these nutcases need a full cup of STFU, followed by an axehandle firmly emplanted between the eyes with as much force as a human being can muster. These idiots are taking up valuable space, consuming resources best left to others, and spewing idiocy that just makes it harder to get the job done. As the Lord High Executioner said, "I've got a little list...", only mine is reaching unmanageable proportions. I need to trim it down a bit. Can someone lend me a nuke or three? Mine are all in the shop, being upgraded.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/15/2004 15:53 Comments ||
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Attackers raided a regional branch of the Federal Drug Control Service in the Kabardino-Balkaria republic [NB: this is just north of North Ossetia and east of Georgia, see area #5 on this map. AoS] before dawn Tuesday, shot and killed four employees, looted an arsenal and set the office ablaze, police said.
The assailants stole 36 Kalashnikov automatic rifles, 136 pistols and 1,500 rifle cartridges, said Alexei Polyansky, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry's branch in Rostov-on-Don. Six to 10 attackers were involved in the raid on the drug service building in Nalchik, the republic's capital, according to a preliminary investigation. It was not immediately clear who they were.
We have to get tough with those Esquimaux.
Interfax quoted Natalya Marshenkulova, spokeswoman for the drug agency's regional office, as saying the attackers handcuffed the four employees -- three officers and a driver -- and led them into a basement, where they shot them.
The m.o. sounds rather suspiciously like the Lions of Islam, doesn't it?
Polyansky said it was unclear how the attackers had gained entry to the building, which they apparently entered without firing a shot.
Carded the door latch with a Pakistani passport?
The first that law enforcement agencies heard of the attack was a telephone call around 5 a.m. from a man who reported he saw smoke pouring out of the drug agency office's windows, Itar-Tass reported.
Investigators were considering two motives for the attack: revenge by a drug baron or a hunt for weapons. State television said the agency had interrupted a key drug route through Kabardino-Balkaria in the last month, but officials played down that version. "According to a preliminary scenario, the reason for the attack was an attempt to seize a large cache of weapons. In my opinion, such an amount was seized not for sale but for arming some bands," said Alexander Mikhailov, spokesman for the Federal Drug Control Service. "I don't rule out the possibility that some former employees took part [in the raid] or that those who were inside the building knew someone among the attackers."
Itar-Tass quoted unidentified Federal Security Service officers in Kabardino-Balkaria as saying the attackers could be members of Yarmuk, a radical Islamic group loyal to Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev, which has been targeted by law enforcement agencies in the republic.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/15/2004 3:39:39 AM ||
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Edited for brevity.
South and North Korea commemorated a production milestone at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex... located just north of the border dividing the two sides. The first products to roll off an assembly line in the special zone were kitchenware... which were quickly delivered across the border to reach South Korean consumers. At around 2 p.m, Wednesday... 1-thousand sets of pots were transported across the heavily fortified border... to be put on shelves at a department store in downtown Seoul. The 'Made in Gaeseong' kitchenware came with a reasonable pricetag of around 19-thousand won... or about 19 U.S. dollars... which is 40 to 50 percent cheaper than South Korean rival products. But consumers say... it's not the price or quality that's making them line up. [Says one customer:] "I'm not purchasing this product for its quality, but because it's meaningful that we can get products here in the South that were made earlier today in the North. I'm really emotional, because I think we have taken a step closer to reunification." How about letting the South export some goods to the Workers' Paradise in return, like cell phones, radios, and TVs? Or is undercutting free labor with grass-and-bark-eating slave labor the whole purpose?
Posted by: Dar ||
12/15/2004 3:51:16 PM ||
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Our readers demanded it (see comment #8), so here you go. DPRK Stand on Japanese Ultra Right Forces-Proposed Sanctions against DPRK Clarified
Pyongyang, December 14 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea issued a statement Tuesday denouncing the ultra-right forces of Japan for kicking up a racket against the DPRK. As we have already declared, we will seriously reconsider the issue of taking part in the six-party talks together with Japan as long as such premeditated and provocative campaign of the ultra-right forces against the DPRK goes on, the statement said, and continued: If sanctions are applied against the DPRK due to the moves of the ultra-right forces, we will regard it as a declaration of war against our country and promptly react to the action by an effective physical method.
Then the ultra-right forces of Japan will be held entirely responsible for the catastrophic impact it will have on the DPRK-Japan relations and the regional situation. On Dec. 8 the chief cabinet secretary of Japan announced that a DNA examination of the remains of Japanese woman Megumi Yokota confirmed they were "bones of two others different from hers." Ultra-right forces from ruling and opposition parties and anti-communist organizations of Japan, as if they had been waiting for the chance to occur, cried out for immediately applying economic sanctions against the DPRK and are now busy with the renewed campaign against it. It was against this background that the Japanese government officially clarified the stand of freezing the humanitarian aid including food upon which it had agreed with us.
As far as the remains of Megumi Yokota are concerned, her husband directly handed them to the head of the delegation of the Japanese government, which came to Pyongyang for the DPRK-Japan inter-governmental working contact held in November last, free from the interference from the third party at the repeated earnest request of the Japanese side. It is unimaginable that her husband handed the remains of other persons to the Japanese side. Let's suppose he handed the remains of other person to the Japanese side, as claimed by it, then what did he expect from doing so? The "results of the examination" announced by Japan, in the final analysis, make us suspect that they were cooked up according to the political script carefully prearranged to serve a particular purpose.
We sent Japanese abductees and their children to Japan and formed a state fact-finding committee to confirm the whereabouts of those persons whose fate the Japanese side claimed unknown, according to the agreement reached at the DPRK-Japan summit. Since then an earnest investigation has been under way.
We arranged meetings with many witnesses and handed the discovered materials, the articles left by the deceased and their remains to the Japanese side as they were with a view to testifying to the fact that those persons whose fate are unknown died.
Japan abducted at least 8.4 million Koreans, massacred more than one million others and violated the chastity of 200,000 Korean women in the past but it has not yet made any moral and material compensation for these crimes. This has lashed our servicepersons and people into towering national hatred for Japan. It was hard to organize such a thing under this situation. We, however, have approached everything with utmost patience from the stand of respecting the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration.
But such ultra-right forces of Japan as acting Secretary General of the Liberal Democratic Party Abe behaved otherwise. They have long taken a double-faced approach towards us. In quest of the top post in state power they cited the issue of abduction to perform a "feat." When their intention proved futile, they came out to malignantly slander the DPRK in a bid to completely hamstring the implementation of the agreement reached at the summit.
They are making so desperate efforts to renew the row over the issue of abduction which has already found a solution because they needed a subterfuge to justify Japan's militarization, hold in check any improvement in the bilateral relations and step up their political and military interference in regional issues.
It is none other than the present Bush administration that supports and encourages these forces behind the scene because it is keen to provoke a new war on the Korean Peninsula and maintain its permanent supremacy in the region on the basis of the U.S.-Japan alliance.
No sooner had the "results of the examination" of the remains been made public than the U.S. declared through a deputy spokesman for the State Department that it fully supports Japan's stand and will use every opportunity and means to help Japan find a solution to such crucial human rights issue as abduction.
Whether the ultra-right forces of Japan decide on the sanctions against us and whether the Japanese government suspends its food aid to us under the U.S. manipulation, this will be nothing surprising for us.
There are also "people's sentiment" and option for us and we will do what we should do, when necessary.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/15/2004 12:04:45 PM ||
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Knock off that racket, Japan, or I'm calling the cops!
Posted by: Kim Jong Il ||
12/15/2004 12:36 Comments ||
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#2
Lol. Engrish never had it so goodbadgoodbadgoodbad... aw hell, lol!
#5
The moptops in Korea have short, selective memories. They should find someone in their late 80's, early 90's, who can still remember what life was like under the Japanese, and how the Japanese behaved back then. The Koreans do NOT want to force the Japanese into becoming physically agressive again. The DPRK needs to do some hard thinking - do they want to act as a legitimate member of world society, or do they want to continue to starve, live on grass and tree bark, and work 16 hours a day for a small cup of rice beer? We need to move forward with the plan to distribute radios and palm-pockets to the NORK population, so they can learn just how far from the "mainstream" their government and nation actually are. In the meantime, can we distribute a few hundred pounds of exlax to the NORK government? It sounds like they need it.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/15/2004 16:03 Comments ||
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From Foreign Affairs magazine, an article by Selig S. Harrison, Director of the Asia Program, Chairman of the Task Force on U.S. Korea Policy at the Center for International Policy, Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the author of Korean Endgame. On October 4, 2002, the United States suddenly confronted North Korea with a damning accusation: that it was secretly developing a program to enrich uranium to weapons grade, in violation of the 1994 agreement that Pyongyang had signed with Washington to freeze its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Since North Korea had cheated, the Bush administration declared, the United States was no longer bound by its side of the deal. Accordingly, on November 14, 2002, the United States and its allies suspended the oil shipments they had been providing North Korea under the 1994 agreement. Pyongyang retaliated by expelling international inspectors and resuming the reprocessing of plutonium, which it had stopped under the 1994 accord (known as the Agreed Framework). The confrontation between North Korea and the United States once more reached a crisis level.
Much has been written about the North Korean nuclear danger, but one crucial issue has been ignored: just how much credible evidence is there to back up Washington's uranium accusation? Although it is now widely recognized that the Bush administration misrepresented and distorted the intelligence data it used to justify the invasion of Iraq, most observers have accepted at face value the assessments the administration has used to reverse the previously established U.S. policy toward North Korea.
But what if those assessments were exaggerated and blurred the important distinction between weapons-grade uranium enrichment (which would clearly violate the 1994 Agreed Framework) and lower levels of enrichment (which were technically forbidden by the 1994 accord but are permitted by the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty [NPT] and do not produce uranium suitable for nuclear weapons)?
A review of the available evidence suggests that this is just what happened. Relying on sketchy data, the Bush administration presented a worst-case scenario as an incontrovertible truth and distorted its intelligence on North Korea (much as it did on Iraq), seriously exaggerating the danger that Pyongyang is secretly making uranium-based nuclear weapons. This failure to distinguish between civilian and military uranium-enrichment capabilities has greatly complicated what would, in any case, have been difficult negotiations to end all existing North Korean nuclear weapons programs and to prevent any future efforts through rigorous inspection. On June 24, 2004, the United States proposed a new, detailed denuclearization agreement with North Korea at six-party negotiations (including the United States, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and North Korea) in Beijing. Before discussions could even start, however, the Bush administration insisted that North Korea first admit to the existence of the alleged uranium-enrichment facilities and specify where they are located. Pyongyang has so far refused to confirm or deny whether it has such facilities; predictably, the U.S. precondition has precluded any new talks.
If it turns out that North Korea did not cheat after all, the prospects for a new denuclearization agreement would improve, because the Bush administration could no longer argue that Pyongyang is an inherently untrustworthy negotiating partner. At any rate, to break the diplomatic deadlock, the United States urgently needs a new strategy. Washington should deal first with the very real and immediate threat posed by the extant stockpile of weapons-usable plutonium that Pyongyang has reprocessed since the breakdown of the Agreed Framework. Measures to locate and eliminate any enrichment facilities that can produce weapons-grade uranium are essential but should come in the final stages of a step-by-step denuclearization process. Above all, Washington must not once more become embroiled in a military conflict on the basis of a worst-case assessment built on limited, inconclusive intelligence. There is a real danger that military and other pressures on North Korea, designed to bolster a failing diplomatic process, could escalate into a full-scale war that none of North Korea's neighbors would support. The article continues at great length.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
12/15/2004 12:27:05 AM ||
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Point of order - North Korea was discovered violating the Pyongyang agreement long before 2002, and by the Clinton admins, NOT Dubya's, and the only thing the NorKor Commies want, as Commies thoughout the Cold War did, is accomodation and appeasement. Goes to show, AGAIN, that the Clintons, Commies, and the BETTY CROCKER-CRATS of America, i.e. the anti-USA = Saving the USA Dems, are not to blamed for anything and everything, even when they themselves admit or infer to doing wrong.
#2
NKOR is another fine country that is systematically starving its people, threatening its neighbors, firing missiles over the Japanese main Islands, working a deal that Jimmy Carter penned - of course, they're not cheating. It is just business as usual.
Hello? Wake up does it take a mushroom cloud in LA?
"...how much credible evidence is there to back up Washingtonâs uranium accusation?..."
"But what if those assessments were exaggerated..."
"If it turns out that North Korea did not cheat..."
Bring us some news next time, not just devil's advocate speculation.
Posted by: Tom ||
12/15/2004 8:41 Comments ||
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#4
Mikey's picture is in the dictionary under "gullible".
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
12/15/2004 9:30 Comments ||
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#5
Bring us some news next time, not just devil's advocate speculation.
#6
Foreign Affairs used to be a solid, balanced, magazine. Sometime after the war in Iraq I noticed a shift in the number of conservative vs liberal pieces the magazine covered. Not sure why the shift occured but the lack of balance made the magazine unreadable to me.
The main competition, Foreign Policy slants left as well, always has as far as I can tell. They have more pretty pictures but less depth to their articles.
#7
Right on, rjs. Back in the distant past, when trees died for me, I used to subscribe to FA - excellent stuff, just damned expensive... Now - not a chance, heh.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/15/2004 13:24 Comments ||
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#11
But what if those assessments were exaggerated and blurred the important distinction between weapons-grade uranium enrichment (which would clearly violate the 1994 Agreed Framework) and lower levels of enrichment (which were technically forbidden by the 1994 accord but are permitted by the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty [NPT] and do not produce uranium suitable for nuclear weapons)?
seems hes admitting that they DID cheat on the Agreed Framework. Thats the point, I thought.
#12
Iraq fell scaring Libya into rolling on their WMD program equipped by AQKhan of Pakistan who was caught 'red-handed' in the nuclear proliferation business.
He says North Korea developed 5 Nukes DURING the Clinton(D) administration's American-taxpayer-subsidized program that provided unranium 'lite'...
Which, when consumed, provides weapons grade plutonium.
So Clinton/Carter/Albright provided the means, AQKhan/Pakistan provided the technology and NorthKorea now has nukes.
#14
There are three or four different ways you can verify uranium enrichment and plutonium extraction from aerial surveillance. I can't go into details, but the evidence is concrete. There is NO way to confuse low-grade and high-grade uranium extraction - they rely on different processes. While low-grade enrichment is the first step toward high-grade enrichment, the extra steps for the latter are discenrible and concrete. Plutonium extraction can ONLY be done in a specific facility designed for that process, and that process alone. There are no intelligence mistakes. The NORKS are cheating, as all communist governments (and islamofascists, for that matter) cheat. Making deals with the other side is a well-used and commonly-abused process that has a long track record in communist states. You cannot trust people to keep an agreement when their very philosophy expresses the use of agreements as just another tactic to be used in the war of conquest.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/15/2004 16:13 Comments ||
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Exactly, Doc. Shouldn't the bear be seated in a stall, perhaps perusing L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO?
SEOUL - North Korea warned on Wednesday that it would regard any sanctions imposed on it by Japan as a declaration of war and would hit back with an "effective physical" response.
That's all? No sea of fire? I think the previous KCNA guy starved to death and was eaten by others.
It also said it would reconsider its participation in six-nation talks aimed at ending the nuclear stand-off if a "provocative campaign" under way in Japan against the country continued, a foreign ministry spokesman said.
The insane outburst came after Japan said it would halt aid shipments to the impoverished Stalinist state in a dispute over the fate of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents during the Cold war. "If sanctions are applied against the DPRK (North Korea)..., we will regard it as a declaration of war against our country and promptly react to the action by an effective physical method," the unidentified spokesman said in a statement carried by the official Koran Central News Agency news agency.
"Yeah! We'll murderlize youse!"
More than two-thirds of Japanese support sanctions against the Stalinist state, according to a newspaper poll, after Pyongyang provided the wrong ashes to Japan to support its claim that two Japanese whom it kidnapped during the Cold War had since died. The finding reignited anger in Japan against North Korea and Tokyo froze shipments of food aid to the destitute country. However, the North Korean foreign ministry spokesman insisted that the human remains were those of Yokota and said Pyongyang suspected the test results were "cooked up" to serve a political purpose.
Yum. Freshly cooked test results. Bet they go great with a cup of pine needle tea.
The remains had been handed to Japanese authorities by Yokota's husband and it was "unimaginable" he would give them the ashes of anyone else, the North Korean spokesman said.
Unless of course he was hungry as hell and had a gun to his head, and those of his children.
Instead, elements in Japan were trying to revive a long-standing row over the abductions "because they needed a subterfuge to justify Japan's militarisation, hold in check any improvement in the bilateral relations and step up their political and military interference in regional issues," he said. He accused the United States of supporting this because it wanted to provoke a war on the Korean Peninsula.
We're the Great Satan, donchaknow? We don't need to provoke anything. Just ask the Taliban.
A Japanese official said Tuesday the United States had warned Japan to be cautious about imposing sanctions on North Korea because the unpredictable regime could "out-manoeuvre" such a move.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/15/2004 12:12:55 AM ||
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#1
Message to Kim:
Don't threaten to nuke the Japanese. They've been down that road before. Have you?
#2
Another declaration of war - must be the 4th one this year! NORKOR will be a SOLYENT GREEN-state soon enough, with CUBA following right behind it. WAR(S) is coming, as the power-mad Failed Left >if the USA doe NOT attack or wage war, the US will be attacked and warred against. Hillary will not run for per se POTUS unless these various Internat Rogue crises are resolved or mostly resolved by the time she does - she, as did Bill, want easy street with little to no hard work or controversy. For the time being, until 2020, the Left prefers US-destabilizing CONVENTIONAL LIMITED WAR(S), or NWT REGION-SPECIFIC LIMITED NUCLEAR WAR(S) - just for bonus, they are calling for investigations into Dubya's and the GOP's role in 9-11 and 2004 elex fraud, ...et al. where controversial resignation = pol assassination!? THE FAILED LEFT WILL NOT TOLERATE THE USA NOT WARRING FOR, OR BEING WARRED AGAINST, FOR GLOBAL EMPIRE!
#5
This is no fun -- where's the North Korean version of this news? We need some Jueche today!
Posted by: Tom ||
12/15/2004 8:34 Comments ||
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The interesting thing about this is that the Norks are equating stopping aid shipments with sanctions. In other words, it's a shakedown. Pay us off or we'll whack you! Can anyone doubt that Kimmie and co. are just gangsters? Let's see, drug running, check; prostitution, check; extortion, check. Hey, what about gambling? Do you know who's running your internet gambling site?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/15/2004 8:45 Comments ||
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#8
Yawn.
Today is threaten Japan day. Tomorrow's threaten South Korea day. Friday is threaten the US day. Saturday is Amazing New DPRK Invention day. Sunday's an off day. Monday is Kim Jong Il Visit's NKPA Unit day. Tuesday is Floral Gift to Kim Jong Il Day.
Rinse and repeat.
#20
No, we don't want them to do it. At least, not until we feel reasonably good about our ABMs in the Sea of Japan. The only "effective physical" means the Norks have to harm Japan are missiles and smuggled nukes.
The Hezbollah-run Lebanese TV station slammed the French order to ban its programs, saying that the decision was politically motivated.
Most countries are run by people who make political decisions.
Al Manar TV officials also promised that they will pursue the case to have their programs broadcasted again. On Monday, the French Council of State, the country's highest administrative court, ordered the French satellite company, Eutelsat, to end the broadcasts by Al Manar TV in France and Europe within 48 hours, claiming that the channel violated a ban on hate speech.
In response, Al Manar TV said Tuesday that the decision was taken under pressures from Israeli and Jewish lobbies.
... thereby proving their point.
Head of news at Al Manar, Hassan Fadlallah, said that it was unfair to halt programs by a channel because of one incident.
Okay, then. What's the cutoff?
In November, one guest at Al Manar said while on air that Israel is trying to spread dangerous diseases such as AIDS in Arab countries, comments that prompted the French court order. "This is a political decision, not a legal decision," Fadlallah said. "How is it possible in a country that proclaims freedom and says its laws and constitution uphold the right to free speech, that they shut a TV station on the basis of one person speaking on the telephone?" he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2004 6:34:53 PM ||
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The Hezbollah-run Lebanese TV station slammed the French order to ban its programs, saying that the decision was politically motivated.
#2
Whats more the French are taking this to the Council of Europe to get all broadcasts into Europe blocked.
I guess the French are bad Dhimmi now and will be punished by bombs and seething.
#3
In response, Al Manar TV said Tuesday that the decision was taken under pressures from Israeli and Jewish lobbies.
No. No. No. The correct term is Zionist Entities. Say it with me. "ZZZZZZZZZZZiiiiiiiiiiiiiionist Ennnnnnnnnnnnnnntities".
Bet that gets me in good with the overseers.
Dutch police are investigating a possible Belgian link to the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh, it was reported on Tuesday. Two Belgian newspapers said the Dutch inquiries are focused on a Belgian-Moroccan, identified as Abdelkader Hakimi. A delegation of Dutch police officers travelled to Brussels on Tuesday.
"Woohoo, Hans! We're going to Belgium. First round of waffles on me!"
"Thanks, Willem. I like mine with Nutella."
Hakimi is alleged to have had the telephone number of Ismael A. in his address book, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported. A. was arrested with another terror suspect after a 14-hour stand-off in The Hague on 10 November. The Amsterdam Moroccan is accused of planning to murder Dutch MPs Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Geert Wilders. He was also in contact with Dutch-Moroccan Mohammed B., the man suspected of killing Van Gogh. Besides Mohammed B., six other men are currently being detained in connection with Van Gogh's murder last month. They have all been linked to the suspected terror network, Hofstadgroep (Main City Group). In total 12 people have been arrested as investigations into the network continue.
Is that the same as the GSPC, Salifist Group for Preaching and Combat?
No, but it's an easy mistake to make.
The terrorist group is believed to have links to al-Qaeda and is suspected of being involved in the Casablanca and Madrid bombings. Hakimi was sentenced to death in absentia in Morocco in 1985. After returning from Afghanistan, he has worked in a snack bar in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek in Belgium. He was arrested in Belgium in March on terrorism charges.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
12/15/2004 12:30:05 AM ||
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The Moroccan Islamist Combatant Group (GICM) is an off-shoot of Salafi Jihad, the Moroccan analogue to the Algerian GSPC. They're all very closely inter-linked and coordinated through al-Qaeda though, so it's quite easy to make a mistake between the two.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/15/2004 3:44 Comments ||
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#2
Well, pahdnah, the Rantburg Group for Kvetching and Snarking, "EATME" after translation into, er, something, will take 'em on!
#3
I remember Holland: I got lost there one night while driving back to Belgium from Germany. It took me an extra 20 minutes to get home. Actually, I found living in Brussels to be a strange experience: we were informed that by law, residents were only required to allow the police in M-F 9:00-17:00. It was explained that the police were so corrupt that they weren't to be trusted outside those hours. Certainly they were not effective at stopping the child abduction rings (it was strongly suspected that those were being run out of the Security dept. for the pleasure of Dutch pedophiles and pornographers). I kept my children always within arm's reach in those days. Lots of strange things occurred behind closed doors in that country, without the neighbors or the police paying any attention. Not to mention the regular theft of unknown numbers of blank Belgian passports from village registration offices.
Really. Via Drudge:
LAGOS, Nigeria, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Insert Nigerian scam e-mail joke here!
The son of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Kojo, calls the inquiries into Iraq's oil-for-food program a U.S. Republican "witchhunt," CNN said Tuesday. 'Lies! All lies!!'
In a written statement to the network, the 31-year-old said: "I have never participated directly or indirectly in any business related to the United Nations." Would you like to make this statement under oath, Kojo?
The oil-for-food program, administered by the United Nations, was designed to allow Iraq to sell oil and use the proceeds to buy food and medicine to offset the sanctions' impact on the Iraqi people. Slight design flaw, like that tunnel they just built here in Boston.
The younger Annan once worked for Cotecna, a Swiss company that inspects commercial freight shipments. It was hired by the United Nations in 1998 to verify paperwork on imports purchased by Iraq with revenues from its oil exports. There's the first lie - 'indirectly in any business related to the United Nations.' Double or nothing, Kojo?
Both Annans have denied any collusion, favoritism or profit-taking. "I mean, all's I did was cash cheques!"
"I feel the whole issue has been a witchhunt from day one as part of a broader Republican political agenda," the younger Annan said in his statement to CNN. Mr. Rather? Ms. Pelosi? Mr. Schumer? Is anyone missing a playbook?
A group of Republican legislators has called for Kofi Annan to quit his U.N. post, although the Bush administration has expressed support in his leadership of the 191-nation body. I'd say more than a few citizens agree with that sentiment.
The general manager of Jakarta's Hilton Hotel says he believes there is no need to pass an Australian terrorism warning on to his guests. Australians are being warned to avoid international hotels in Indonesia, particularly the Hilton chain, with intelligence pointing to a imminent terrorist attack. Australia's ambassador to Indonesia, David Ritchie, delivered the travel advice to the Hilton chain within minutes of its release yesterday.
He then sought the names of Australians among the Jakarta Hilton's 1,000 guests so the embassy could contact them. But the hotel's general manager says there is no need to panic guests with a warning which he says is lacking in specific detail. Security officials in Jakarta have also played down the Australian warning, saying there is no intelligence to back the claim. Indonesian police say they have not received any information about an attack on a Hilton hotel, nor any other specific target, although government officials say there is always a danger as extremists blamed for previous strikes remain at large. Australian embassy staff are also contacting other hotels based on fears that any planned attack could be switched to another target. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says Australians in Indonesia should avoid all international hotels and other places where foreigners gather. "Terrorists can move targets very quickly," Mr Downer said.
Mr Downer says the information is based on credible intelligence. "We have had advice of a possible terrorist attack on Hilton hotels or possibly other Western hotels so we would urge Australians over the next period to keep well clear of these sorts of establishments," he said. "We wouldn't be passing it on if we weren't particularly concerned about the information." Defence Minister Robert Hill has not changed his plans to visit Jakarta from today. He plans to stay in a hotel in the capital. The Government warns Australians to avoid non-essential travel to Indonesia and says those already there who are concerned for their safety should consider leaving. The British Foreign Office has also warned Britons travelling to Indonesia over Christmas and the new year that they face a heightened risk of terrorist attacks. A Foreign Office spokeswoman says attacks could occur at any time anywhere in Indonesia and could be directed against locations frequented by tourists. Japan's Foreign Ministry also issued a warning to Japanese nationals planning to visit or stay in Indonesia, saying it has obtained information a foreign hotel has become a likely terrorism target. The Ministry has urged Japanese tourists to keep away from American and European hotels, or facilities where many people gather. US embassy spokesman Max Kwak says the mission in Jakarta has issued no warning of a possible attack.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
12/15/2004 4:53:36 PM ||
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Iran's former conservative foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, now a top adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has announced he will compete in the presidential elections scheduled for mid-2005, the student news agency ISNA reported yesterday. "I believe it is my duty to enter the electoral competition and the voters can evaluate each candidate's capabilities", Velayati said. "Well-known figures will be competing in the next election and there is no room for the unknown," he added. Late in November, Velayati had said he was "completely ready to run for presidency though (his) candidacy is not finalized yet." Velayati headed the country's diplomacy from 1981 to 1997. He now advises Khamenei on international affairs and is a member of the Expediency Council, the Islamic Republic's top arbitration body.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2004 6:44:54 PM ||
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Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Al Hariri yesterday blasted the West for its approach to the Palestinian problem and affirmed that comprehensive peace in the Middle East hinges on Israeli withdrawal from Syrian and Lebanese territories. Addressing the Arab Strategy Forum, Hariri ridiculed what he described as efforts by Western powers to link statehood for Palestinians with "good behavior." "A Palestinian state should not be a prize for good behavior," Hariri told the conference. "A state is not a piece of chocolate or the promise to take a child to picnic if he behaves well. Arabs are ready for a just peace. I hear that the US and Europe are convinced of a Palestinian state. But Palestinians should have a country today and not tomorrow."
If they adhered to the agreements they made, and they weren't in the habit of exploding without warning, they'd have one by now...
Even if the Palestinian problem was addressed, he said, Israel would have to withdraw its army from Lebanese and Syrian territories in order to achieve comprehensive and just peace in the region. Speaking on the theme of "Arab World in 2020," Hariri said that he is provisionally optimistic. The world has to exert efforts and end the Arab-Israeli conflict. "We have to achieve just peace. We have to end Israeli occupation. This is a focal point that will define our future," said Hariri.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2004 6:43:43 PM ||
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#1
blah, blah, blah.
We have to end Israeli occupation. This is a focal point that will define our future,â said Hariri. At least he got that right, but probably not in the context he imagines.
#2
Fred, you forgot to mention how Hariri's lips kept falling off with every sentance he spoke.
If Lebanon had any interest in "achieving just peace", they could start by letting local "Palestinian" "refugees" out of the UN camps, and integrating them into society.
Posted by: Sheik Abu Bin Ali Al-Yahood ||
12/15/2004 20:41 Comments ||
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#3
Blasts? Little bit better choice of words there the next time, okay Rafik?
"Feh! An empty vessel, the contents depleted, to be discarded at any time!"
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator said on Wednesday that Tehran doesn't care whether Mohammad ElBaradei remains head of the UN atomic watchdog. Asked whether ElBaradei's re-election would affect Tehran's nuclear file, Hassan Rohani, said, "We are not cooperating with the people of the IAEA but rather we are cooperating with an international agency. It does not matter to us who the secretary-general is." Rohani's statement followed a Washington Post report that the Bush administration has tapped phone calls between ElBaradei and Iranian officials, seeking evidence to remove the IAEA chief. The Post quoted three unidentified U.S. officials as saying; "The intercepted calls have not produced any evidence of nefarious conduct by El Baradei." ElBaradei said that he was planning to stand for re-election next year for a third term as secretary-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is currently investigating Iran's nuclear activities. The Bush administration opposes his winning a third term.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2004 6:15:56 PM ||
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#1
Ungrateful bastards!
I warn you! Because of this, your next reprimand will be extremely stern! Feel my wrath!
Posted by: Mohammad ElBaradei ||
12/15/2004 21:39 Comments ||
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#2
No worse friend, no better enemy.
Posted by: Matt ||
12/15/2004 21:53 Comments ||
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#1
A week-long combined air and ground maneuver has just concluded in five of the southern and western provinces of Iran, mesmerizing foreign observers, who have described as "spectacular" the massive display of high-tech, mobile operations
No doubt mesmerized by the spectacle of seeing untrained boys march into minefields as human sweepers.
#2
DN - Lol! Prolly the sparkling rainbow glitter effect as the blood mist fell - backlit by the setting sun and secondaries. Almost brings tears to my eyes...
#4
The ruse of power, however, is that it is often blind to the opposite momentum that it generates, as has been the case of the Cuban people's half a century of heroics vis-a-vis a ruthless regime of economic blockade, Algerian nationalists fighting against French colonialism in the 1950s and 1960s, and, at present, the Iranian people finding themselves in the unenviable situation of contemplating how to survive against the coming avalanche of a US power led entirely by hawkish politicians donning the costumes of multilateralism on Iran's nuclear program. Yet few inside Iran actually believe that this is more than pseudo-multilateralism geared to satisfy the United States' unilateralist militarism down the road. One hopes that the road will not wind down any time soon, but just in case, the "Third World" Iranians are doing what they can to prepare for the nightmare scenario.
The whole situation calls for prudent crisis management and security confidence-building by both sides, and, hopefully, the ugly experience of repeated warfare in the oil-rich region can itself act as adeterrent.
Tipper, you been getting tips from Mikey?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/15/2004 17:58 Comments ||
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This is from Scrappleface, right?
"Almost all the Arab states possess one or another kind of advanced missile system, eg, . . . Iraq's Frog-7."
The Frog-7 is sophisticated? Amazingly funny stuff.
Posted by: Tibor ||
12/15/2004 18:05 Comments ||
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#6
This professor either:
A) Smokes some good pot
B) Was in the half of the class that made the top
half possible.
C) Both A and B.
#9
They're using Atlantic Monthly for strategy -- good enough to beat the French, but we're not the French.
Posted by: Tom ||
12/15/2004 20:06 Comments ||
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#10
IRAQ = IRAN = NORKOR = CUBA....... etc. it'll be ASYMMETRIC WARFARE, more popularly known as INSURGENCY, GUERILLA WAR, or PEOPLE'S WAR, be these Conventional or Nuclearized. The US- and International Lefts know America's concepts of maintaining absolute BATTLEPSACE/MILTECH DOMINANCE > America's enemies need GROUPS-MASSES of nations, societies, regions and governments just to attain military-specific warfighting parity or sufficiency of scale ags US or US-led Allied milfors. It is a major rationale for the anti-USA agendists working to induce the world community and UNO against alleged, "illegal" or "immoral", American and only American
"imperialism" and "international
aggression(s)", etc. The Failed Left in reality will NOT accept or tolerate America NOT warring for new global empire!
#11
The Lefts have to do something ags America, to rsetrict or stop her or destroy her before America/Western democracies starts deploying DEATH STAR(S), BATTLESTAR(S) GALACTICAS, WAR PLANETS or MOON BASES, et al.
#13
Okay, Schwarzkopf had a damned hard time searching the scud box, with next to nothing to show for it. But that was then--how many scuds did Saddam launch in 2003? How many FROGs? Planes? Anything? We've been tracking Iran's mobile target sets for a looonnnggg time, all I can say is that they'll be gone in about the same amount of time it took us to take out all of Saddam's mobile missiles.
Iran acknowledged for the first time Sunday it has convicted some Iranian nationals of supporting al-Qaida, saying the number was fewer than five. "A few pro-al-Qaida Iranian nationals have been tried and convicted," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters at his weekly press briefing.
Note that "Iranian nationals" is stressed. To me that means locals who they suspected were more loyal to al-Qaida than to Iran. Or just anti-Black Turban types they are pretending are al-Qaida. Plus, all of the senior al-Qaida members suspected of being in Iran are Sunni Arab, rather than Iranian Shiite.
Their number, he said, is less than "the fingers on one's hand," he was quoted by the official Islamic Republic News Agency as saying. He did not say when they were convicted, what sentences they had received, what sort of support they had provided Osama bin Laden's terror network or give any other details.
"I can say no more"
Asefi said cases of foreign nationals in Iran with alleged links to al-Qaida are still under investigation and no trial dates have been set, IRNA reported.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/15/2004 3:35:39 AM ||
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The UN envoy for the Middle East peace process, Terje Roed-Larsen, will take on an additional task of monitoring the implementation of a resolution that calls on Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon, a spokesman said yesterday. Roed-Larsen was appointed a United Nations undersecretary-general by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to monitor the implementation of Resolution 1559 adopted by the United Nations Security Council in October to demand the Syrian withdrawal, said Fred Eckhard. Roed-Larsen will begin his work on January 3.Â
Yeah, great. Good luck and file those per diem reimbursements on time, y'hear?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/15/2004 12:25:03 AM ||
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The UN listening post in Cyprus is nice this time of year.
#2
That would be Terje Roed-Larsen the antisemite, famous for administrating the Palestinian refugee camps for the U.N.? The one who objected to the IDF inspecting his ambulances, and sees no problem with acknowledged Hamas operatives working in his offices? Yes indeedy, he'll def'nitely be an unbiased observer.
#3
Why do I either giggle or spit my coffee out when I start laughing when I read the words "UN to do (insert something here)".
Posted by: Jim K ||
12/15/2004 8:25 Comments ||
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"UN monitoring". Maybe that's how the UN hopes to eventually install an international tax to support the UN. They'll start with taxes on smuggling. First "Oil for food", and now whatever smugglers in Syria and Lebanon want to smuggle.
A group of Arab businessmen visiting Afghanistan on a rare bird hunt have been detained by US troops and ordered to leave the country. The men, including at least nine Qataris, were arrested at the town of Spin Boldak near the Pakistani border. They were held for two days by US troops, who released them on Sunday without charge.
The group were visiting Afghanistan to hunt the rare houbara bustard, considered an aphrodisiac in the Gulf. According to a border police official in Spin Boldak, Abdul Raziq, the group was ordered to leave Afghanistan on Monday. US forces found nothing against the men, but told them they would not be allowed to hunt protected species, reports said.
The men had planned to travel to the Helmand province of southern Afghanistan to hunt the houbara bustard with falcons. Falconry is a traditional pursuit for wealthy Arabs, who once set out on horseback for expeditions but now usually travel by off-road vehicle. The houbara bustard has been hunted almost to extinction in the Gulf states.
Just months after falling out with the United States and being written off by his rivals as politically washed up, Ahmad Chalabi is back in from the cold. The leader of the Iraqi National Congress, which grouped Saddam Hussein's enemies in exile, has emerged as a power broker in the main election list for the country's Shiite majority, which could dominate the Jan. 30 ballot. Chalabi used his connections with influential Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani to help draw up a mostly Shiite list backed by the Iranian-born scholar, people familiar with the list said. "This list is not about a theocracy or an Islamic Republic of Iraq. It is about democracy and representation of the Iraqi people," Chalabi told Reuters in an interview. Under the postwar election system, Iraq will be treated as a single electoral district. The electorate will vote for lists of candidates. The number of votes received will determine how many people on the list get into the 275-seat National Assembly. Names high on the list therefore have the best chance of being elected. Chalabi is 10th on the Shiite list.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2004 6:41:13 PM ||
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The defense team of imprisoned former president Saddam Hussein yesterday denounced as "invalid" plans by Iraq's interim government to start next week trying members of the country's ousted regime. "The interrogation (of detainees) in the absence of their lawyers is invalid and the accusations made against them are also invalid according to legal rules," the spokesman for the Jordan-based team Ziad Khassawhen said. "We have written to international organizations and the concerned parties over the past year-and-a-half but have been unsuccessful so far in meeting president Saddam Hussein or any of his companions," he added. Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said that the "symbols" of Saddam's toppled regime would start going on trial as early as next week. "The trial will begin next week of the symbols of the former regime who will appear in succession to ensure that justice is done in Iraq," Allawi told the interim national assembly in Baghdad. Allawi made it clear that he was referring to Saddam and the 11 top members of his former ruling Baathist regime who are being held in US custody awaiting trial on charges of crimes against humanity.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2004 6:40:15 PM ||
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The National Democratic Institute (NDI), a U.S.-funded nonprofit organization that works to improve democracy worldwide, will oversee the upcoming Palestinian presidential election, planned for January 9, a spokeswoman for the group said. "We are going to be observing," said NDI spokeswoman, Jean Freedberg, adding that NDI was "working on putting together a delegation" and deciding on methods of how the organization will observe the voting process. The group is expected to release a formal announcement next week about its planned activities, including a list of monitors. NDI has observed over 50 elections,
... but never one like this is gonna be...
including the recent elections in Ukraine, where it reported several irregularities. NDI, which is funded by the U.S. government through the National Endowment for Democracy, already operates in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip through its political party development program, a long-term mission that aims at creating awareness of the role and duties of political factions in the democratic political process.
It'd prob'ly make more sense for the RNC and the DNC to open offices there. The Paleodefinition of "political party" isn't quite what we're used to...
Also, a team of 260 European Union election monitors will be observing the PA elections. A task force led by the former French Prime Minister, Michel Rocard, who is a European Parliament member, has already arrived in the occupied territories to oversee preparations for the poll.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2004 6:03:43 PM ||
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Khaled Meshaal, Hamas' political leader, said on Tuesday that the movement is having contacts with the United States and the European Union.
"Yeah, we sent 'em Christmas cards. We're expecting one back any time now..."
Meshaal said in an interview with the BBC's Newsnight program that the "The European Union, which puts Hamas on a list of terrorist organizations, is still continuing communications and meetings." He added that Europe "recognize[s] Hamas' authority and that there can be no understanding or stability in Palestine without talks with Hamas."
Sounds like the position the Euros would take.
Meshaal also said that the U.S. had contacted the group in recent months. "The American authorities, who have also put us on a list of terrorist organizations and criticize us, have also contacted us in recent months." He said. Meshaal added that "The Arab countries are continuing meetings with Hamas despite pressure from the American administration."
So the Merkin contacts weren't what you'd call friendly, eh?
On other hand, Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, denied Meshaal's statements and said that there were no contacts between the EU and Hamas.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2004 6:07:42 PM ||
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I am in favor of more contacts between U.S. and Hamass people. But only if those contacts involve us contacting them with a missile or bomb. Don't even try to put lipstick on this pig, we learned our lesson with Arafart. Maybe we 'contact' them when they hold a joint meeting with the Hezbullshit people? He is trying to gain some legitimacy for his terrorists organization.
Political factions in Iraq started their official campaign for the upcoming national elections, planned for January 30. Voters will elect a 275-member assembly that will select a government and formulate the country's constitution. Election officials said that about 80 blocs have registered to participate in the elections, including Sunni Muslim groups who have previously threatened to boycott the poll. There are strong fears that the voting process might be disrupted by the ongoing violence in the war-torn country. Many Iraqis also fear that the campaigning period will be targeted by rebels opposed to the polls.
I'd call that a pretty realistic expectation...
Up to 230 parties and groups, gathered into about 80 blocs or alliances must start campaigning amid the current chaos and the electoral authorities must establish voting centers across the country, including areas where violence is extremely high.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2004 5:47:14 PM ||
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..." including areas where violence is extremely high"
Also including areas where violence is pretty much non-existant. But that is unlikely to be mentioned.
The United Nations is taking the first baby steps to expand its presence in Iraq outside Baghdad to the cities of Basra and Irbil but is planning to have only about 25 electoral experts in the entire country ahead of the scheduled Jan. 30 elections, a U.N. spokesman said Wednesday. The announcement came on the eve of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's meeting in Washington with outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell and his successor, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
The two U.S. officials and the Iraqi government have been pressing the United Nations to expand its electoral team and its presence in the country. While deploying just 25 U.N. election experts is unlikely to satisfy the Iraqis or Americans, U.S. Ambassador John Danforth said Monday the United Nations was "moving in the right direction" and expressed hope it would put personnel in northern and southern Iraq.
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Wednesday that Annan "intends to proceed with further expansion" of the U.N. mission in Iraq and that a first step was sending security experts to the Shiite-dominated southern city of Basra and the mainly Kurdish northern city of Irbil. They will assess security conditions in order to establish U.N. offices "as soon as practicable," Eckhard said. Both cities have been relatively quiet, with British troops headquartered in Basra and 3,600 South Korean troops deployed in Irbil.
The security experts' mission will coincide with the arrival in Iraq of about 130 Fijian troops who will provide close protection for U.N. international staffers. The U.S.-led multinational force, in cooperation with the United Nations, is currently recruiting a special contingent to protect U.N. facilities and U.N. staff traveling outside the heavily guarded Green Zone in Baghdad. "The Fijians are completing a training exercise and are in the process of being deployed," Eckhard said. In August, the secretary-general allowed a small U.N. contingent to return to Baghdad and imposed a ceiling of 35 international staffers. The upper limit was recently raised to 59 and Eckhard said Wednesday the number of staffers currently in Iraq is "in that neighborhood." With the arrival of the Fijians, who will be on the U.N. payroll, the ceiling will rise to about 200, Eckhard said. This would allow for a small increase in the international staff, presumably to staff new offices in Basra and Irbil.
Iraq's interim defense minister accused neighbors Iran and Syria on Wednesday of aiding al Qaeda Islamist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and former agents of Saddam Hussein to promote a "terrorist" insurgency in Iraq.
Hazim al-Shaalan poured scorn on Iran in a speech to U.S., British, Iraqi and other military officers and derided alleged links to Iran of Hussain al-Shahristani, a senior figure in a Shi'ite bloc expected to do well in next month's Iraqi election.
"Iran runs a major terrorist ring inside Iraq," Shaalan said, repeating accusations frequently made by himself and his ally interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a fellow secular Shi'ite who unveiled a rival electoral list on Wednesday.
"I have already said that this state (Iran) is the prime enemy of Iraq, an enemy of Iraq since before Islam, because it helped the enemies of the Arabs and humanity."
"Syrian, Iranian and former Iraqi intelligence are cooperating with the Zarqawi group," Shaalan said, referring to the Jordanian's al Qaeda in Iraq group, which has claimed some of the bloodiest bombings and kidnappings since the war.
"We want democracy and they want the dictatorship of Islam and clerical rule," he said at the opening of two days of talks on the role of Iraq's new National Guard security force.
Iran and Syria deny any links with Iraq's guerrillas.
"It seems he (Shaalan) has a mission to say such things," Iran's Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari told reporters.
"I have always thought his remarks were because he was young, inexperienced and immature. But now I believe he has been ordered by his masters to say such things," he said.
Shahristani, a nuclear scientist jailed for opposing Saddam, is a leading figure in the United Iraqi Alliance electoral bloc, which has the backing of Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
The defense minister described the alliance as "the Iranian list" and made veiled accusations about Shahristani's relationship with Iran.
"Shahristan is a city in Iran," he said. "He went to Iran. Today he returns to become Iraq's prime minister."
Returning to the charge against Iran's clerical leaders, Shaalan said: "They want to liquidate you. This black horde."
Addressing Iraqi officers in the room, he said: "They shall not pass but over our dead bodies. I wish you success -- we want more courage and sacrifice from you."
Speaking to reporters afterwards Shaalan described Iraq's insurgency as a four-way coalition: "We have former Iraqi intelligence, we have Iranian intelligence, we have Syrian intelligence and we have Zarqawi and his followers," he said.
Shaalan himself held senior intelligence posts under Saddam.
Asked whether he was confident the new Iraqi forces could maintain order during the Jan. 30 election, he complained that funding remained tight because other ministers in the coalition were taking too big a share of funds, despite pressure from Allawi to bolster defense spending.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/15/2004 9:45:48 AM ||
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I am hoping for some "blasting" in a more literal sense.
Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi and his terrorists in Iraq may be moving around Iraq with impunity because they spend hours in front of the mirror making up their faces, according to intelligence services quoted by the Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel. In a story released before publication Tuesday, it said the services claimed the Jordanian Islamist's group were major buyers of rich theatrical make-up, and used the cosmetics to drastically change their appearance. The false appearance would explain why the terrorists were not being recognised, despite widespread wanted posters. The United States has posted a 25-million-dollar reward for his capture. "He is like a phantom," said one intelligence operator quoted by the newspaper. Al-Zarqawi, who this year declared his loyalty to al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, is blamed for many of the bombings, hostage-takings and beheadings that have made Iraq unsafe.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/15/2004 9:52:22 AM ||
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#1
The makeup is for camoflage... the nylons are to make his legs shapely.
#4
The SOB is limping .... he only has one leg.
Anybody limping should be checked thoroughly.
( I know thats a large majority of people considering the years of violence )
Ali Hassan al-Majid, widely known as "Chemical Ali", will be the first of Saddam Hussein's top aides to be tried, Iraqi's interim government has said. The trial could begin as early as next week, Defence Minister Hazim al-Shalaan told reporters in Baghdad. Mr al-Majid is accused of some of the worst crimes committed by the regime, including the gassing of Iraqi Kurds. There is no indication of when Saddam Hussein will face trial. He and 11 top regime figures are in US custody.
Starting with Ali because they've got the most evidence against him? After all the bugs are worked out of the trial process, and after elections are over, they'll put Saddam in the dock.
"In the next few days, we will have the trial of Ali Hassan al-Majid, one of the close followers of Saddam Hussein," Mr al-Shalaan said. However, he did not specify exactly when, saying only that it would be held "next week, maybe, or in the middle of next month", Reuters reported. Lawyers representing members of the old regime have said their clients will not recognise the legitimacy of any courts established under US occupation.
Too bad
Saddam Hussein's Jordan-based lawyers say they have not even seen him. "The Iraqi court will be in violation of the basic rights of the defendants, which is to have access to legal counsel while being interrogated and indicted," Ziad al-Khasawneh told the Associated Press.
He hasn't seen a lawyer because they haven't filed the paperwork to represent him.
International legal experts have also voiced concern that the trials are being rushed and that defendants will not get a fair hearing. Mr al-Majid, the Iraqi president's cousin, was a top powerbroker in the Baathist government. He earned his nickname after leading the chemical attack on Kurds in Halabja during an offensive in 1987. He is also accused of masterminding the killing of hundreds of thousands in the wake of the big uprisings against Saddam Hussein in 1991 after the first Gulf War. In April 2003, it was initially thought he had been killed in a coalition air strike in the southern city of Basra, but in August that year he was captured by the US military.
A public trial is much better, followed by a public hanging.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/15/2004 9:25:46 AM ||
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This one deserves a gas chamber. I'd keep a loaded shotgun aimed at him just in case there's any security breech, but that's just me and it would probably violate his "basic rights" or "international law" or "French sensibilities" or something.
Posted by: Tom ||
12/15/2004 9:49 Comments ||
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I wonder if they'll recognize the "legitimacy" of the worms that eat him.
#3
Reading a book by Robin Moore(author of"The Green Beret")called "Hunting Down Sadam".It is pretty good,it has a long section featuring our old friend LTC.Steve Russel.Mr.Moore is a impressive guy,78 years old,has Parkinson's disease and was running around doing interviews and reasearch for this book.
#4
fine, does he recognize the Kurds? We'll let them have him...
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/15/2004 10:22 Comments ||
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Or the Marsh Arabs, or the southern Shi'a where he ruled, or... Hell, he has so many "constituencies" it's not fair that all shouldn't get a piece of him... The William Wallace treatment?
Frank, .com, come up with one more properly aggrieved group (how about the Kuwatis?) add 4 ropes and have a tug of war. The winner gets to have their way, in the case of a tie whoever has the biggest piece wins.
#13
They should try him in the Kurd province, in an open place, with no protection. The trial would be over so quickly, it would save public money and take bread and butter from the MSM.
A company of 150 soldiers from Niger has brought the war on terrorism to a new frontier, carrying out a three-week hunt for armed bandits linked to an Algerian terror group in the inhospitable terrain of the Sahara desert and the Sahel region. "It was tough," said Major Moussa Salaou Barmou, whose unit was the first US-trained group to go out on a mission in the arid region. "We managed to get a couple of them, but the rest escaped into Algeria. As soon as we got close, they just moved on -- we couldn't keep pace."
They can't outrun an airplane, and I think we ought to teach the Niger air force how to do this; a few leftover Skyraiders would do nicely.
The tally from the three skirmishes last month around Mount Tamgak, about 600 miles northeast of Niamey, Niger's capital, was relatively modest: seven bandits killed, two Niger soldiers lightly injured, according to Moussa. But senior US military officials say the message sent by the mission is critical in West Africa. For the first time, the armed forces of four nations -- Niger, Mali, Chad, and Mauritania -- will patrol what had been a 3,000-mile wide no-man's land as vast as the continental United States.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/15/2004 3:41:59 AM ||
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If the US has some soldiers to spare, why do not they send them to Iraq to control the chaos there?
#2
That's not chaos, that's post-invasion mopping up. Go read the Iraqi bloggers to find out what's really going on, rather than demonstrate your ignorance.
#3
Aside from that, Goher, they're not US troops, they're US trained troops. And just because we're in Iraq doesn't mean we need to suck our resources out of the rest of the world and put them all in Iraq. Come back when you can read and think.
Posted by: Tom ||
12/15/2004 8:22 Comments ||
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...they're not US troops, they're US trained troops.
Yeah. What's up with the misleading title, Dan? The Globe's headline was correct.
#5
Angie is being sarcastic?
USA trains folks all over the place...
the concept (us-trained = american) does not really make sense.. though I kinda wish it was that easy to instill our values :-p
#6
No, Dcreeper, the title originally read "US troops patrolling the Sahara". That would have been Biggish News to me. Then I read the article and found that they were only US-trained troops, which for me is Not News, though others might find it interesting. Title's been fixed now.
#7
only chaos if you consider the sunni areas being iraq in total - the rest of the country (80%) is progressing along.. Goher - need to stop taking the msm line as gospel...
Posted by: Dan ||
12/15/2004 13:48 Comments ||
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TW - did you actually read the last couple of posts on Healing Iraq?
the country may not be in chaos (as Dan said, the Shia and Kurd areas are ok) but Baghdad is seriously snafued, or at least the part that Healing Iraq lives in.
#9
Actually, I haven't LH, but that's the one Fred has a link to. Still, its got to be more accurate than anything Mr. Goher is getting his news from, and the blogger has links to many of the other Iraqi sites. My latest news comes from a Kurdish aquaintance -- Saturday evening over dinner we discussed what his family back home has been saying recently. (His brother is so excited by the opportunities that he is becoming a collector of cars, his sister enjoys not fearing the late night knock on the door, but worries about terrorists who occasionally toss a grenade into the market where she shops. Both are eager to vote in January, and know young men who've joined the Iraqi police or National Guard.)
Terrorism analysts here are examining the biography and teachings of a Palestinian religious figure as a factor in the simultaneous Oct. 7 bombings of a hotel in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and two other resorts farther south on the peninsula's Red Sea coast.
They suspect the attacks marked the start of an effort to extend al Qaeda's operations to this part of the Middle East, and ultimately to Israeli territory.
The most credible claim of responsibility came from a group calling itself the Brigades of the Martyr Abdullah Azzam.
The name offers a hint of the group's motivation and goals.
Abdullah Azzam, who grew up in a village on the West Bank of the Jordan River now occupied by Israel, was a leading al Qaeda theorist, said Mordechai Kedar, a lecturer in the Arabic Department of Israel's Bar-Ilan University.
The two groups suspected of perpetrating the Sinai attacks are Egyptian extremists opposed to the government of President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo and Bedouin Arab allies in the Sinai inspired by Azzam's teachings. They are believed to have been recruited by Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.
The consensus in Israel's intelligence establishment is that al Qaeda is intensifying its campaign against Arab states that have close ties to the United States. Al Qaeda's long-term goal, according to the intelligence establishment, is to rid the Middle East of perceived Western implants, including the Jewish state.
Bin Laden confirmed that view 21 months ago.
Accusing the moderate Arab regimes of backing the Bush administration in the impending U.S. invasion of Iraq, he described them as "Jahiliya" heathens — the Arabic term for paganism practiced on the Arabian peninsula before the advent of Islam.
In March 2003, Al Jazeera television and some Arabic Web sites carried bin Laden's "will," in which he said that "getting rid of the Arab regimes is an Islamic commandment because they are heretical and cooperate with America."
In fact, the "will" was a speech he recorded two years earlier. Arab reports called it his "will" because it was delivered while he was besieged by U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan.
Israel's military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, contended five days after the Sinai bombings killed 34 persons, a third of them Israelis, that "we regard international terrorism as a threat to Israelis abroad as well as at home." Gen. Yaalon said al Qaeda had made several unsuccessful attempts to infiltrate the West Bank and Gaza Strip but that its personnel were intercepted by Israeli troops.
"We are deployed in such a way as to deal with al Qaeda's threat, and this matter requires international cooperation," he said. Military intelligence officers refused to elaborate, but well-informed sources said the incidents occurred over the past six years.
The deputy head of the research branch of Israeli military intelligence, Col. Zohar Alfi, said Worldwide Jihad, the group that sponsored the Sinai bombings, comprises separate cells in dozens of countries whose epicenter is al Qaeda. One of the cells is named after Azzam, who was born 63 years ago in a West Bank village near Jenin. He is regarded by Palestinians as a national hero, said Maher al-Alami, a senior editor of the daily al-Quds (Jerusalem).
Mr. Kedar and Reuven Paz, director of Project for the Research of Islamic Movements, agree al Qaeda's main objective is to overthrow all Arab regimes that are linked to the West.
This view is supported in an article by Abu Abbas al Aedhi, a Saudi scholar whose writing has appeared in several online outlets. In a piece titled "From Riyadh/East to Sinai," a reference to the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Mr. al Aedhi wrote: "The blessed attack in Sinai had long-term dimensions, the same as the attack in Riyadh. Egyptians carried out the Sinai attack, but with the support and experience of their brothers in [Saudi] Arabia and elsewhere."
In February, Mr. Paz said bin Laden preferred to let Palestinian militants engage the Israelis while his disciples fought the United States. The Sinai attacks led him to revise this assessment.
"The return of al Qaeda to the Arab homeland," he wrote in a newly published article, "ended a seven-year-long hiatus in terrorist operations on Egyptian soil." The term "Arab homeland" includes Israel and extends south to the Sinai Peninsula and west to the Nile Delta.
Mr. al Alami, the editor at al-Quds, also cited the overthrow of Egypt's pro-Western regime as one of al Qaeda's primary objectives. "It relies on Egyptian dissidents to topple Mubarak and end the Cairo regime's alignment with the West, and especially the U.S.," he said.
Cairo's effort to counter the idea that Egyptians linked to al Qaeda were responsible for the Sinai bombings was echoed by Al-Gumhuriya (the Republic), a pro-government daily.
Its columnist Adli Barhum wrote: "The U.S. is the main culprit in all acts of violence. It takes advantage of the call to fight terrorism in order to conceal what it is doing — terrorism from a powerful country by means of invasion, economics and brainwashing."
Responsibility for the Sinai bombings was claimed by the brigades, whose members detonated l,000 pounds of explosives at the Taba Hilton. The explosives were obtained by Sinai Bedouin. They announced their involvement on their Internet outlet.
Azzam's slogan, "The Way to Liberate Jerusalem Passes Through Cairo," implies that the downfall of Egypt's pro-U.S. regime will lead to Israel's elimination from the Middle East.
"His writings brim with hatred of the West and the Jews, ideas which still motivate al Qaeda," Roni Shaked wrote in the daily Yediot Ahronot. Azzam was killed by an explosion that went off as he headed for a mosque on Nov. 24, 1989.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/15/2004 3:33:02 AM ||
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Mr. Kedar and Reuven Paz, director of Project for the Research of Islamic Movements, agree al Qaedaâs main objective is to overthrow all Arab regimes that are linked to the West.
US is tough, so now they want to go back to eating their own. Divide and conquer doesn't work when the parts are massively greater than your whole. Wanting to overthrow Arab regimes will, however, divide and conquer Arab support, so it seems a poor strategy for Al Qaeda to me.
#1
Whoa - a jerk-off betwixt jerks sans shame or a grasp of reality. This time, tipper, I don't care which one "wins" since they're both so off-target and irrelevant as to be laughable wankers making no difference whatsoever, lol! Strawman BS.
#2
Isn't this the same magazine that had the piece yesterday, with a few holes in it" proposing 7 steps leaps from Atta to Anthrax? It did have some interesting ideas in it though, including possible reasons why Dim Senators might have been targeted by Islamics.
From The Council on Foreign Relations, an interview with Laith Kubba, an Iraqi-American who is a specialist on Iraqi politics at the National Endowment for Democracy.
There has been considerable publicity about the so-called Shiite slate of candidates. Are there similar major slates representing Kurds and Sunnis?
The slate which is known as the Shiite slate is actually a national slate. But it has a Shiite identity because it has been fashioned, defined, and the candidates selected, more or less, by a committee exclusively of predominantly religious Shiites. That slate [also] has on it Christians, Sunnis, and Kurds. But the identity of the slate is Shiite.
There is another slate that has been put forward by the two main Kurdish parties in northern Iraq. It is not a national list. It has only Kurds, and that slate is a Kurdish slate aimed at winning every single Kurdish vote in the country and increasing the number of Kurdish delegates in the parliament. There are likely to be other ethnic-based slates. [The Iraqi Islamic Party, made up of religious Sunnis, quietly submitted a slate of 275 candidates on December 9.]
Considering the continuing violence and turmoil in the largely Sunni area of central Iraq, will any significant Sunni personalities stand for election?
There are Sunni personalities participating in other slates. The biggest question that faces the middle [of the country], broadly speaking, is whether to include not only Sunnis, but also nationalists and other secular currents in the country. Can they put forward a slate that would have an overall identity that would represent the middle, Baghdad, as well as convey a national outlook?
Amongst the figures who can draw such slates are the [interim] president of Iraq, Ghazi Ajil al-Yawar, [interim] Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, [former Foreign Minister] Adnan Pachachi, and others. They are Shiites and Sunnis. They have among them religious and secular elements. They have people from rural and urban areas. And, more or else, they have the same outlook. They have failed to put themselves together so far in one slate, and I think they will miss out in giving the country an option that the country needs badly.
Pachachi has registered a party, but is that different from forming a slate?
All the people I named have registered parties. They are political entities entitled either to stand by themselves and put forward their own slates, or collectively agree to form one slate, as the Kurd and the Shiite Islamic parties have done. They have not done that so far, so we are still waiting. If it is not done today, they have to run separately. [Iraq on December 10 extended the registration deadline to December 15.] What that means is that while they will still capture votes, they will capture far fewer votes because the country does not have a clear third alternative. Many Shiites would be happy to vote for that third slate if it were offered to them in a cohesive way. If it is offered them in a scattered way, most likely they will vote for the Shiite slate. ....
Many Sunnis met recently and debated extensively [whether] to put forward a predominantly Sunni slate. The overall majority are refusing to play the ethnic game and prefer to be integrated into a national slate. That leaves the door very much open for a national figure or group to unify these scattered voices and present them to the country. .....
If you had to guess, who would you say will be the next president?
I will not be surprised if he is going to be a person agreed upon by the Shiite slate. [Perhaps] Hussein Shahrastani, a nuclear scientist who was initially suggested by Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations envoy, to be prime minister of the interim government. He was pushed aside and the interim government decided to appoint Ayad Allawi instead. ....
He, I assume, would be well-received by the more secular population. He is a religious person, but with a democratic and secular outlook, so to speak.
The real politics will start after delegates get together after the elections at the end of January. There will be a lot of horse trading. Many candidates will shift their positions depending on the issue. Deals will emerge. And post-election politics will be just as important as pre-election politics. ....
Will Prime Minister Allawi run for office?
He has registered a party, and I was told last week, "Wait until the last hour before you speak." I am speaking now before the last week, but we should know by the end of the day. I don't expect one slate representing the middle, but at least two or three. But even those two or three are important.
A few months ago, leading Sunni religious leaders called for a boycott of the elections. Has that boycott idea been moderated?
It's slightly moderated, but, in effect, there will be a low Sunni turnout for a combination of reasons. The impact of this low turnout on a national constitutional assembly will be dramatic. This assembly is meant to negotiate a new social contract for the country. It is possible it will have been negotiated with the absence of one of the strongest communities in Iraq. If this issue is not contained politically by the forthcoming national assembly, then it will feed strongly into political violence and ultimately it might lead to the breakdown of the country. ....
Should the elections be postponed?
There is a way of heading it off. Not through postponing the elections. What needs to be done is to amend the electoral system in a way that will preserve the relative weight of each province in the country to the national assembly. Currently, provinces that have significant populations but low turnout will be under-represented in the assembly. Provinces that have security and perhaps political parties in charge of the ballot boxes will have 120 percent turnout and will be over-represented in the assembly. In particular, this is relevant to the Kurds and, of course, to the Shiites and will lead to the under-representation of the Sunni provinces.
The way to fix this is not to put seats aside for Sunnis, not to institutionalize these ethnic differences, but to acknowledge that the elective population weight in these provinces must be preserved in the national assembly. That way, at least, you would send a message to the Sunnis that, although there was a low turnout in their areas, their overall representation in the assembly has been preserved.
The whole battle has been about ethnicity in Iraq because people do not know the actual percentages. But people do know the population in provinces, in a quite accurate way. For instance, we do know how many people are in Mosul, but we don't know the actual percentages of Arabs and Kurds. The 20 or 25 seats for Mosul should be preserved, even if there is a low turnout. ....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
12/15/2004 12:37:19 AM ||
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#1
then it will feed strongly into political violence and ultimately it might lead to the breakdown of the country
I agree it might lead to frustration by not feeling represented, and thus violence might ensue, but that's a big step from breakdown of the country. It would be better if the Sunnis got it together and participated, but ultimately it will be their loss if they don't.
#2
this womans comments are insightful and helpful, but oddly, she, or her transcriber, confused the offices of President and Prime Minister. Allawi did NOT push Sharistani aside for President, but for PM. Yawer is the President.
#3
Very sensible; excellent analysis and suggestions. Much better to provide geographic weighting than ethnic weighting (ie reserve 20% for the sunnis), as that jackass Juan Cole keeps proposing.
#5
I'm impressed how many liberals are coming to that conclusion. I wonder when NPR will.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/15/2004 11:39 Comments ||
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#6
Appalling that that shithead is president-elect of the Middle East Studies Assn.
Not to hijack the thread but I've been stirring the shit with my alma mater over juanito's latest act of idiocy, his ludicrous libel of the Iraq The Model brothers as "Pentagon trolls". No response yet (except from one of the regents, who happens to be a woman, a law prof and an Army reserve captain) from the exec officers, dean, provost, chair of U-M History Dept.
Here are their addresses, if you're interested:
taylorsm@umich.edu, marysuec@umich.edu, omaynard@umich.edu, richner@umich.edu, rjscott@umich.edu, rmcgowan@umich.edu, kewhite@wayne.edu
Also editors at the Detroit News:
nfinley@detnews.com, rfrench@detnews.com
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