July 18, 2006: In a clever "info ops" move, the Somali Council of Islamic Courts has made a public appeal for international aid in providing humanitarian assistance, reconstruction, and "retraining" for demobilized warlord militias. The appeal comes with a promise of "complete freedom of movement" and protection for anyone who is helping provide assistance to Somalia.
In reality, not all of the warlord militias have surrendered to the Islamic Courts, and the UN is still having trouble obtaining security for its aid convoys. The UN is quietly trying to get a peacekeeping force into Somalia, something the Transitional Government would like. But the Islamic Courts, and Islamic nations, are opposed to peacekeepers, unless they are from Moslem countries. But no Moslem country, or any other country for that matter, wants to send peacekeepers to Somalia. That's because, despite the recent string of victories by the Islamic Courts militias, there is still no law & order throughout the country. There are still many clan based militias that oppose the Islamic Courts, and have the clout and firepower to make that opposition work.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Courts are trying to pitch themselves as a worthy recipient of foreign aid. That won't last long, even if the current information war campaigns attracts some donors. Many of the Islamic Courts leaders are simply warlords that got religion, and not much religion according to the way some of them are acting. Any foreign aid going through the Islamic Courts will get pilfered before it gets to the "suffering Somalis" it was intended for.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/18/2006 11:27 ||
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...I swear I have often though that IF I were President I'd issue an Executive Order cutting foreign aid completely for 1 year (with very few exceptions - Israel, UK, Japan, Australia, for example). There'd be an announcement about this that'd go something like "Okay, kiddies, you're all cut off - Oh, Kofi, that includes you too - for one full year. By the end of that year, an evaluation will be made as to who deserves American taxpayers dollars more than Americans do. If the United States is not happy with your performance during the year, no foreign aid will be issued for at least one more year. The cutoff will continue on a yearly basis until the point at which you are either no longer a problem or we are satisfied with your behavior. Thank you, have a nice year."
I know somebody else around here said essentially the same thing not too long ago. I just wish the US could really do it and follow through.
None of these idiots deserves the amounts of money we end up sending to them.
How do you alienate a Muslim? Show him the part of the Koran that says "Do not take Jews and Christians as friends."
UK Muslims blame Islamophobia on the portrayal of their religion in the media, a survey has revealed. The research found that 40% of Muslims blamed anti-Islamic feelings on the media, while 74% of non-Muslims blamed Islamophobia on the 9/11 bombings. The internet survey of 1,360 people was carried out by Global Market Insite, Muslim Voice UK, Queens University in Belfast and the University of Liverpool.
The report by Shaista Gohir, from online forum Muslim Voice UK, stated: "The Muslim-West relations have become increasingly strained due to a string of events such as the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Afghanistan war in 2002, the Iraq war, the London bombings in 2005 and the Danish cartoon row. In this current climate, it is essential to gauge Muslim and non-Muslim attitudes with a view to resolving differences."
The research found that both sides agree that Muslims and non-Muslims "don't understand each other" but have different concerns about the cause of the culture clash. She sets out recommendations including action by the Muslim community and police; breaking down barriers to integration and misunderstandings; tackling discrimination and Islamophobia; measures to deal with extremism; reviewing foreign policy; protecting human rights and more responsible reporting by the media.
She said: "It was striking that Muslims feel more strongly about international issues than say, their treatment by police or discrimination in the UK. "It also appears that Islamophobia, Western foreign policy and human rights abuses of Muslims are contributing substantially to the alienation of UK Muslims...
#1
"It also appears that Islamophobia, Western foreign policy and human rights abuses of Muslims are contributing substantially to the alienation of UK Muslims... "
I am truly stunned. *Sniffles* Profound empathy.
Perhaps the failure as well as unwillingness of largely Pakistani Muslims of rural backgrounds to assimilate to their "adopted" homeland explains the problems they face more so than paranoid persecution delusions.
#3
The British are exactly the same way about violent criminals. Call it "violentcriminalophobia", in which when confronted by a violent criminal armed with a weapon, they irrationally want to attack the violent criminal back, though the authorities strongly discourage them from doing so, and even prosecute them for their anti-social defensive behavior.
After all, it is oppressive to the culture of violent criminals to ask them to quit behaving as their beliefs demand of them and try to integrate into society.
#5
In a strange way the muzzies are correct. The media has contributed to islamophobia, just not in the way muzzies think it has. Merely by reading sites like RB, LGF, MEMRI, JW/DW on the internet (a form of media) et al since Sept., 2001, sites which report objectively on muzzie activity/actions and muzzie speech/ideology ( in the muzzie's own words and scripture) throughout the world, I've come to know the enemy. I didn't pay attention to the enemy before Sept. 2001. I do now. Read the true history of muslim relations with the world at large since the mid 600's. It make me wonder: why has this ideology pretending to be a religion been permitted to exist so long?
Posted by: Mark Z ||
07/18/2006 10:34 Comments ||
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No, muzzies' accurately described actions are the cause of islamophobia. If the muzzies are really looking for the reason everyone else hates and despises them, they can find the answer by a)looking into their Koran, and b)looking into the nearest mirror.
Posted by: mac ||
07/18/2006 10:48 Comments ||
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#7
Muzzies are victims. Victims of inherent stupidity. Victims of psychotic hatred. Victims of belief in gun-sex moon god death cults. Let's add the category "victims of well placed shots".
Some unidentified people attacked a leader of the Balochistan National Party (BNP), Sanaullah Baloch, while he was speaking at a seminar in London Sunday, According to a BNP spokesperson Monday.
Abdul Hammed Baloch, who is a spokesperson of the BNP, told Daily Times, "Sanaullah Baloch was speaking at a seminar Sunday when some unidentified people attacked him with a glass bottle filled with poisonous gas. The bottle exploded on his body that could have destroyed his face, specially his eyes." The seminar on "Third World Solidarity" was organized by the Baloch community. The spokesperson said that eggs and tomatoes were also thrown at Sanaullah, Dr Ishaq Baloch as well as other Baloch politicians.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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He must have made some very offensive statements, which obviously greatly pissed off the members of the audience.
SEOUL, South Korea - The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise arrived in South Korea Tuesday for a routine port call, officials said, amid heightened tensions in the region over North Korea's missile launches. The Carrier Strike Group 12 led by the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier arrived at the southern port of Busan, the U.S. Navy in South Korea said in a statement. The vessel's visit "has been previously scheduled and it is not in response to any specific event," the statement said.
No, no, certainly not ...
It wasn't clear how long the vessel will stay at the port. It is the first time in 17 years for the Norfolk, Virginia-based Enterprise to travel to Pacific waters. The carrier's deployment to the Asia-Pacific region is "part of a regular rotation of vessels in support of U.S. commitments to around the world," the Navy said. Nothing to see here. Yet...
First, the Big E isn't that exposed, because there's a couple of Ticos and/or Burkes with her, and I'd bet the rent one of them is ABM capable. Secondly, Kimmie knows that Enterprise is Atlantic Fleet, and probably figures we don't move CVs around without a reason. (We do it all the time, but what the hell, let him worry.) Third - and quite possibly most important of all - is the psychological effect. Even the 40-year old Enterprise is one BIG ship, and the spies that are on the waterfront there are getting that punch up close and personal. I saw the effect the JFK had on some visiting Soviet sailors in the late 80s, and those guys looked like they'd been poleaxed. In addition, this is the Enterprise, one of the most legendary names in USN history. That is getting their attention too.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/18/2006 12:23 Comments ||
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In real terms, carriers also have a very real defensive "bubble" around them of a minimum of 200 miles, maximum ?, and it doesn't matter if land is part of that bubble.
So, in effect, they make an excellent temporary ABM shield for southern Korea. By running one of their guided missile ships up either coast, they could provide effective coverage for most US forces in the South.
I would propose that this means that our layered long-range missile defenses from Nork are complete, so we are able to commit temporary ABM support for the South. This means that they can't hit the US, or Japan, or now US forces in Skor.
(KCNA) -- The Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea issued today the following statement vehemently denouncing and totally refuting the "resolution" of the UN Security Council against the DPRK, a product of the U.S. hostile policy toward it: The vicious hostile policy of the United States towards the DPRK and the irresponsibility of the UN Security Council have created an extremely dangerous situation on the Korean Peninsula where the sovereignty of the Korean nation and the security of the state have been seriously infringed.
The U.S. has recently kicked up much row after bringing the issue of the missile launches conducted by our army as part of the routine military training for self-defence to the UN under the motto of reacting to it in one voice. It was against this backdrop that the U.S. forced the UN to adopt a UN Security Council resolution taking a serious note of our exercise of its right to self-defence on July 15. The U.S. sponsored "resolution" called for an international pressure for disarming the DPRK and stifling it, terming the missile launches pertaining to its right to self-defence "a threat to international peace and security". By doing so the U.S. sought to describe the issue between the DPRK and the U.S. as an issue between the DPRK and the UN and form an international alliance against the DPRK.
This has brought such serious consequences as gravely violating the dignity and sovereignty of the DPRK and driving the situation to an extreme pitch of tension, thereby seriously disturbing peace and security on the peninsula and in Northeast Asia. It was an entirely unreasonable and brigandish act that the U.S. brought to the UN the DPRK's missile launches nothing contradictory to any international law after branding them as a violation.
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Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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What, no mention of juche? I'm disappointed. I give it a 2 out of 5 stars.
Posted by: BA ||
07/18/2006 10:40 Comments ||
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Sigh... look, it isn't a geometrical proof. You can't "refute" the resolution of a deliberative body. You can denounce it, defy it, rebuke the deliberative body, threaten it, ignore it, or defecate upon its decision. But you can't define it out of existence by refutation. You can't make it not happen, not so long as you haven't control over the history books.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/18/2006 12:52 Comments ||
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#7
Wonder what they'll say after Vandenburg torches one off tomorrow morning (scheduled for between 1am and 7am PDT) in a test that's reportedly been scheduled for more than a month?
Hundreds of people, many of them holding Lebanese flags, marched Monday night in Rome to protest the escalation of fighting in the Middle East, while a few blocks away, a rally near the capital's main synagogue was organized to show support for Israel. Shortly after sunset, the marchers set out from near Piazza Venezia and lit candles as they headed toward the Colosseum. Italian communist parties, pacifist groups and other organizations participated in the march. "It is a complicated situation," said Otello Coccia, a 21-year-old university student in the march. "I think the solution would be to help the Palestinian people and favor coexistence between the Israeli people and Palestinians."
Hezbollah's not a Paleostinian organization. It's Lebanese, owned and operated by the Medes and Persians. Otello's right on top of things, isn't he?
Well sure, he's our intellectual and moral better. He's a Y'urp-peon progressive.
Wrapped in a U.S. flag was marcher Patrick Boylan, a Los Angeles native who teaches English in Rome. "We want to stop all the aggression and all the retaliation," Boylan said. "I would not get into who started this, but they need to stop the conflict."
Yeah, peace, dude.
A five-minute stroll away from Piazza Venezia was the gathering point for a rally later Monday night along the Tiber, outside the synagogue, organized by the tiny Jewish community in Italy to show solidarity for Israel. "What we must hope for is that the causes of this conflict are eliminated," Renzo Gattegna, the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, told Sky TG24 news in an interview. "The events of these days are very painful, also because they involve civilian populations in a heavy way." He said the gathering was called to rally Italian and European opinion in favor of "guaranteeing the security of Israel."
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
While listening to radio yesterday, I heard an invitation to send money for helping the victims of the shellings in this crisis. Frankly, I'd be very surprized if that aid was intended at helping *israeli* victims as well...
Btw, french teevee is in full eurabian mode, counting only the 200 so far civilian lebanese casualties, and totally (and willingly) passing any mention of the effect of the strikes on the hezbollah. That's because joooos bombs are powerless against the Lions Of Islam, and only kill innocents, y'know.
#2
I'm on the mailing list for the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Today I received an email about the goings-on in Europe. The key quote for me was this:
Jewish communities are especially apprehensive at the dangers awaiting the post-summer vacations and their security for the forthcoming High Holiday worship. Even the most assimilated Jews are realizing that the old mantra of "keeping the Middle East out of Europe" is a non-starter.
The Middle East is very much in Europe. A dramatic expression - born in France two years ago - is gaining currency among Jews in Europe: "la valise ou le cercueil" - "the suitcase or the coffin."
European antisemites may soon enough get their desire: their continent to be Judenfrei... although with a surfeit of other Semites.
Turkey's President Ahmet Necdet Sezer has promulgated a new anti-terror law that expands the scope of crimes punishable as "terrorist" acts and introduces restrictions on the media, his office said. Sezer nevertheless deferred the controversial bill to the constitutional court in order to cancel several clauses, the brief statement said without specifying which measures would be removed.
Turkey's parliament approved the law on June 29 despite objections from human rights and press groups. They have accused the government of back-tracking on democracy reforms that were introduced in recent years, including measures that eased restrictions on the press, in a bid to boost Turkey's European Union membership bid.
The legislation was proposed following a sharp increase in violence over the past two years by the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), considered a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community. The amendments make a wide range of criminal offences -- from drug- and human-trafficking to hijacking of transport vehicles and forgery -- punishable as terrorist acts if they are committed with the aim of supporting terrorism.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
There is already a de facto state of emergency (OHAL) imposed on Kurdistan, the same as it was in the 1990's. The good thing about approving this law is that we can use it against the Europeans. They were the originators of fascism anyway.
If anyone understands anything about Turkish law and how it is interpreted, then you will understand exactly what I mean.
HPG already sees this signing as an act of war, while Turkey is getting ready to invade South Kurdistan--which is very good news. They still haven't figured out how to read a map, so they still don't realize how far Qandîl is from the Turkish border.
And you can only get there on foot.
The Turks didn't learn how hard it was for them when they invaded South Kurdistan in the 1990s. PKK/HPG dogged them, tearing little pieces out of their front and flanks the whole time.
This time, if TSK and Ozel Timler murder Southern Kurds along the route, like they did last time, I feel pretty certain that KDP is going to encourage reprisals in gerîla style.
If Ankara thought last week was bad, let them wait. It will be really good to see a LOT of dead Turks again.
Posted by: Azad ||
07/18/2006 15:16 Comments ||
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#2
Europe doesn't want or need turkey, its just a group of half million desperate, welfare grasping, parasitic, ignorant, arrogant, muslim, barbarians whose realpolitik value died at the end of the cold war.
A nation of trailer park economists and egotistical don quixote's. The kurds in turkey are fucked! the concept of ethnic cleansing does not have to be CNN explained to their children.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Times Co. plans to narrow the size of its flagship newspaper and close a printing plant, resulting in the loss of 250 jobs, the company said in a story posted on its Web site late on Monday. I guess we'll need to get smaller birdcages.
#10
It was long ago pointed out that newspapers in NYC are incapable of publishing local news that doesn't solely revolve around the editors tight clique of cocktail party friends that nobody else cares about.
After the last major newspaper folded, a panel interview with four of their top reporters had them all agreeing that their readers just didn't appreciate what they published, that all the hoi polloi cared about were their own mundane little lives, not the lives and opinions of those that mattered in the city.
Even after five minutes of listening to those arrogant SOBs, you wanted to slap them across the face.
#12
Since I wouldn't knowingly shake the hand of anyone who worked for the NYT (anymore than I would anyone who worked for the Democratic Party), as far as I'm concerned the sooner they go under the better. Sympathy meter needle welded on zero.
Posted by: mac ||
07/18/2006 10:23 Comments ||
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#13
So, with a smaller paper they will have fewer ads? Less news? Less Opinions? or just smaller print?
#16
I'm looking forward to reading the front-page expose of how closing the printing plant will destroy the lives of those 250 employees, leaving children unfed, retirements in ruins, a community in ashes, and a mob demanding that legislators "do something," while a cabal of capitalist pigs counts their gold in a polished boardroom overlooking Central Park.
#1
When you click on the link, the magazine logo on the top of the left rail kinda tells you all you need to know about George Galloway and his admirers. It's made up of a hammer, sickle, and fascine bundle.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/18/2006 7:36 Comments ||
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#8
Well, until Fred starts putting the occasional bit of vintage beefcake into the front page, this may be as good as it gets for the straight female and gay male demographic, here at the 'Burg.
Tis a sad thing, a wartime shortage such as this, but we all have to make sacrifices.
Farhat Hashmi, founder of the ultra-conservative Al-Huda centres, who moved to Canada nearly two years ago with her family has been told by Canadian immigration officials to leave the country but so far has failed to do so. A letter sent to Hashmi and her family by a Canadian immigration official as far back as 30 September 2005 says, We regret to inform you that we are unable to approve your request. You are required to leave Canada immediately. Failure to depart Canada may result in enforcement action being initiated against you.
"Pack your shit and get out!"
According to an exclusive report in Macleans, a popular Canadian magazine, Days after that stern letter, which has yet to be followed up by a removal order that would permit the federal government to force her from Canada, Lorne Waldman, a high-profile Toronto immigration lawyer ... filed an application for leave and for judicial review on Hashmis behalf. That application, should it succeed, would lead to a review of the case. Yet the legal gambit does not supersede the officials request that Hashmi and her family leave Canada, where she continues to live and to teach. Hashmi is operating classes attended by upscale, generally idle and mostly affluent Pakistani women and impressionable teenagers. Her reactionary teachings, which many see as bordering on retrogressive interpretations of Islam, have set a challenge to liberal sections in the Muslim Canadian community in Toronto, which is already trying to cope with increasing difficulties triggered by the recent arrest of 17 youngsters, almost all Pakistanis, on terrorism charges.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
She's dangerous. Get off the dime and gather her & the crack pot attorney and give them a free ride out of the country, no tickees require. By the way, isn't this the bitch who has been robbing banks in Toronto and surrounding areas ?
What is wrong with you? Why are we blaming someone for something without proof. Where's the proof the Dr. Hashmi is teaching terrorism or extremism? Where is it? She is only teaching the Word of God, revealed as is. We should at least think for ourselves once in a while and not be deceived by the media.
Better yet, we should all go and for once read the Message the God ourselves to really see what is it that God wants from us and what is in the Message of His that makes people terrorists. Does God really want mischief in the land? Does God really command bloodshed? We should ask ourselves, "How honest have we been to ourselves?"
I urge everyone reading this to go and read the Qur'aan for once at least and see what is it that God really says, for it is only that what Dr. Hashmi teaches.
#4
All that's required to be called a media "legend" , at least among the media, is to spew your vitriolic America hating BS, and to do it for a long time. Time to break out the walker.
#6
are all the pages colored in, or did she leave a few as "homework" for her fervent fans?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 15:24 Comments ||
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#7
I watched that presser. Tony is great! He finally cut one guy off with saying, "Good try, but you're still wrong," and pointed his finger toward another person.
Perhaps, but H. is equally obnoxious and belligerent on all topics over too long a time span.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/18/2006 18:48 Comments ||
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#11
Thanks for the tip on the video, CF.
What I love best about Snow is the way he kept his sense of humor in dealing with the old bat, which is the only way to do it. He kept smiling and laughing at her while trying to explain what was going on, and why a ceasefire wouldn't work. That can't be easy.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/18/2006 19:01 Comments ||
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#12
Great vid. Snow is light years ahead of of the last press sec. or another that I can think of. Great command of facts, sense of humor, wicked wit and a stilleto aimed at the press' pomposity. The new paradigm, press secretaries as court jesters to the news media royalty.
Posted by: ed ||
07/18/2006 23:37 Comments ||
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Speaking at a large demonstration in support of Israel in Manhattan on Monday, United States Senator Hillary Clinton expressed unreserved support for Israel and commended President George Bush for his stance in the present crisis.
Clinton said on Monday that all Americans, whether Democrats or Republicans, stood behind Israel at this time. The demonstration, which drew an estimated 5,000 people, was described as one of the largest Jewish events in recent years.
Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel also spoke at the gathering, which ended in a call to free the captured soldiers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
I look forward to your flip-flop quotes after November elections, biiiatch!!
#3
oh - you mean the demonstration that I would not have heard about if I did not read the internet. And I also don't think we'll be seeing/hearing any of those clips of Hillary being booed either.
#4
Supporting the troops + good fight, while demanding [the GOP-Right.] to be attacked, and "occupied" America = Amerikka "liberated' ala Mother Cindy.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/18/2006 6:48 Comments ||
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#6
except a lot of Americans are either:
- ANSWER type jihad apologists
- real Jihadists
- deranged leftists of the Chomsky variety
- empty headed moonbats of the Sheehan variety
- sophisticated jihad enablers of the Juan Cole variety
#8
Hillary was elected in good part with the support of the large, tight Chasidic Jewish community at Kiryas Joel, plus the secular jewish community in NYC. She's quite sincere in her support of whatever they want to reelect her.
#9
Many of the moonbats over at DU are not happy with Hillary or any one else supporting Israel:
"Why defend Israels actions? Completely disproportionate response...this is the beginning of a back-door war against Syria and Iran, and ANYONE that stands up and defends this bullshit had better be prepared to get called to account when it all goes pear-shaped..."
"I'm sick to death of the undying support our government has given the Israeli goverment. A terrorist organization with the same resume as Hezbollah and Hamas. Only a higher body count."
"I bitched about Feingold and I'll bitch about her. Holding Israel blameless is as asinine as holding the repugs blameless for the war. I won't go to the poles for her."
"I will never vote for Hillary,I had to hold my nose when voting for Kerry,it will not happen again."
"Hillary's so full of it. It's all about triangulation with Hillary--everything that comes out of her mouth. I can't believe people fall for the crap Hillary spews."
"So, what is her reward? Jewish voters to vote for her in her bid for the presidency? Or the reasonable assumption that she is allied with the neo-cons and fully believes the US is on the right course outlined by the PNAC? I believe she is fully on course with the notion that the United States of America is so powerful that invading and occupying and killing and slaughtering children and other innocents, is the way for the US to go. I fully believe she is on the side of the neo-cons and is so because her politics are indiciative of her beliefs that pre-emption, war and killing is a way to establish and empire. She has been playing this game, beginning with her war vote. She will NOT listen to her base, but instead hires Peter Daou to tell her how to seduce the base. She has turned her coat or at the least in this stage of the game, revealed the lining of her coat.
I will never ever vote for Hillary Clinton should she run. Hear that Peter? You will lose one vote and I am not alone."
Posted by: Steve ||
07/18/2006 9:07 Comments ||
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#10
Steve, you *did* shower before you came back here, right?
#11
I think shes sincere, as much about this as about anything.
The dilemma is for the nutroots movement. Somebody as smart as Markos Zuniga is, knows that going hard against Israel is a losing proposition, if his goal is to take the commanding heights of the Democratic party. But enough of his base is pure moonbat, to them support for Israel is as bad as support for the war in Iraq. His best bet is too lie low till this blows over, I suspect.
#12
liberalhawk: I don't think that "sincerity" is ever at issue with Hillary. It goes against her utter pragmatism, to hold *anything* as a sincere belief.
It is a bizarre concept, that the purpose of power is to get power and to keep power; but at the same time, indifference to what should be done with that power, except to strive to keep it. Call it "The General Zod" paradox.
Bill was the same way, he never stopped campaigning for office, even after elected. But he loathed paperwork and the actual duties of the office. That is why his accomplishments rate at zero, yet why he still ranks as the guy everyone wants at parties.
But Hillary lacks Bill's joy and elan with campaigning. She does want power, but only so she can force through what she wants. Not with discussion or debate--those are the tools of her enemies. She wants to order, and to have those orders carried out.
#16
Israel - "To all of you standing behind us, thanks for the support. As for Mrs. Clinton, out in front and keep your hands where we can see them..."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/18/2006 12:07 Comments ||
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#17
Israel - count the silverware after she's gone
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 12:20 Comments ||
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#18
"All Americans"? What a laughable statement. The vast amjority on the left are silent right now, because their feelings are hurt by big bad Isreal. Once they get their bearings, story after story of the poor suffering Lebanese will bombard us, just as they have been already on CNN. Hillary, are you that unaware of your own party?
#19
Support is a good start. I'd like to see SUPPORT in terms of a carrier group lending a hand. I suspect there are reasons why we don't want to get involved on that level. The Israeli public is at least in some part upset by the fact that we aren't more visibly at their side. Why don't we get involved more?
#20
because Israel is doing fine, contrary to NS's "quagmire". We have sold them the F16I and F15I and sold them the howitzers currently in use as well as the bunker busters they are using on Hezb bunkers. Our entrance would cause the donk caucus to squeal like stuck pigs, and require enforcement of ROE that Israel doesn't want to/have to obey
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 14:58 Comments ||
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#21
Quagmire? I don't think so, Frank. I just think it will take boots on the ground to finish the job. Not to occupy, just to make sure all the i's are dotted and the t's crossed then get out.
#22
What, she took a poll and decided this is her best policy stance? (This week.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/18/2006 15:13 Comments ||
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#23
I don't disagree, I just think the current ops are for encirclement, punishment. disrupt resupply and killing before th ebround ops ever begin. Israel knows they won't be able to do this war on the cheap ($ or lives) and appears to have decided the cost is acceptable when the other alternative is slower death by rockets and infiltration. Give them the time to do the op in the least costly/most successful manner.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 15:22 Comments ||
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#24
Israel seems to be giving civilians plenty of time to bug out while they prepare the battlespace. That will probably help keep civilian casualties minimized, and give them a freer hand to shoot in self-defense when the situation warrants it. Anybody hanging out just to watch the proceedings probably deserves to be removed from the gene pool, anyway.
#25
In another article, we're told Hizb'Allah has blockaded the villagers in, not even allowing the UN troops to evacuate them. Such heros! Such Lions of Islam!
#27
"Somebody as smart as Markos Zuniga is, knows that going hard against Israel is a losing proposition, if his goal is to take the commanding heights of the Democratic party."
Au contraire. Markos Moulitsas lumps both Israel and Hezb'Allah together:
I grew up in a war zone. And there was one clear lesson I learned there will never be peace unless both sides get tired of the fighting and start seeking an alternative...considering that they obviously have no interest in getting over them, were stuck with a war that will not end in any forseable future... And I, for one, sure as heck have no desire to get sucked into that no-win situation. I just hope that war-fatigue sets in at some point.
The last line says it all: ''We were rulers here for 800 years. Inshaallah, we shall return to power here once again''
Using a rostrum overlooking the majestic Red Fort, the Shahi Imam of Delhi's grand old Jama Masjid today hit out at the principal political rivals of the United Democratic Front (UDF) he has floated ahead of Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh while challenging the charge that Islam breeds terrorists.
''I can say with authority that it is not any Muslim but the Shiv Sena, the RSS and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad who are responsible for the serial blasts in Mumbai,'' Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari told a gathering inside the historic mosque.
He cited the recent Sena backlash against the defilement of a statue of the late wife of the party chief as evidence that the Saffron forces were desperate to politically revive themselves in Maharashtra.
The Imam was of the opinion that Muslim men were being blamed for ''every'' terrorist outrage as part of a deep rooted conspiracy.
Community members were being harassed by law enforcing agencies in Mumbai in the wake of the serial blasts even though they had ''no role in the anti-Islamic outrages'', he said, slamming the Congress Governments in Maharashtra and at the Centre.
''Why is it that security forces blame the Lashkar-e-Toiba within ten minutes of a blast. If they already know who did it, why don't they go ahead and arrest the culprits well before the crime is done,'' he asked.
He said he was willing to visit Pakistan and ''talk'' to the LeT commanders if he was given proof of its involvement in terrorist incidents in India. ''If they are responsible then we will talk to them, tell them that they do more harm to the cause of Islam and to Muslims in India through their actions''.
Imam Bukhari said he was worried that while real culprits went scot free and trigerred more blasts, ordinary Muslims were becoming terror suspects in the eyes of the people and the police. ''Every bearded man becomes a suspect'', he said.
Charging the security forces with perpetrating excesses on Muslims, he said terrorism could not be wiped out in such a manner.
''If you want to end terrorism, then you would also have to end State terrorism''.
''The Government should handle the issue of terrorism tactfully.
We want equality before the law'', he said, alleging that the ''yardstick'' was different when it concerned violence perpetrated by Maoists and insurgent groups in the North-East.
He hit out at the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, saying these ''so-called secular parties'' were to blame for all the ills afflicting Muslims today.
''When Muslims get targeted under these so called secular parties, it is time we teach them a lesson. It is time Shias, Sunnis, Ansaris, Saifis, Barelvis, Qureshis and all else stand up as one -- as Muslims -- and snatch back our collective rights and dignity,'' the Imam said, asking the community to stand up to the political challenge.
''We were rulers here for 800 years. Inshaallah, we shall return to power here once again'', he said to loud approval by the nearly 200 assembled men.
Posted by: john ||
07/18/2006 18:05 ||
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Imam Bukhari said he was worried that while real culprits went scot free and trigerred more blasts, ordinary Muslims were becoming terror suspects in the eyes of the people and the police. ''Every bearded man becomes a suspect'', he said.
Investigators are looking for a Seraiki-speaking family they believe had a possible hand in last Friday's suicide killing of Shia scholar, Allama Hasan Turabi. Police officials are on the hunt for this family, which they say has been missing since after the attack.
On Monday, a high-level investigation team, which included a senior army officer, visited Turabi's residence to collect evidence of Friday's attack. Turabi family sources said that the main suspect is the Seraiki family, which they said was living in the house right in front of Turrabi's residence. They also helped police point out several other Southern Punjab-based families and individuals they believe might have had a hand in the deadly plot. Police visited the houses of these families and took facsimile copies of their ID cards for any future investigations.
However, the main suspect remains Turabi's neighbours who were living in front of his house. Family sources also said that police found an unexploded hand grenade in front of the main gate of this house. They also said that the main gate of the house was found unusually open on the day of the attack. They said that the family usually used the small gate, hardly opening the big one.
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07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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The Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl), the two major components of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), have failed to reach agreement on the issue of mass resignations from parliament.
The matter was discussed in an MMA Supreme Council meeting chaired by MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed, who is also chief of the JI, at Markaz-e-Islami on Monday. "Every effort by the JI and JUI to convince each other over the issue failed," sources said. JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman reportedly opposed Qazi Hussain's stance on the mass resignation on opposition parliamentarians, saying this was not an "appropriate time".
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has urged India to keep intact a two-year-old peace process between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. His comments underlined concern in Islamabad at being drawn in to the political fallout from Mumbai train blasts. Indian leaders have said the attacks were led by bombers who had support from people operating inside Pakistan. "We should carry on," Aziz told Financial Times. Aziz said India had not responded to Pakistan's offer of co-operation with the investigations into the blasts.
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07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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" We see no undue cause for concern. Certainly not to the point of disrupting important peace talks. We find it normal that people explode in Mooselimb areas. It happens frequently."
TOKYO - The last batch of Japanese troops touched down in Kuwait from southern Iraq on Monday, winding down Japans biggest and most dangerous overseas mission since World War II. About 220 troops arrived at Kuwaits Ali Al Salem Air Base from Samawah, the provincial capital of Muthanna, on C-130 transport air planes, the Defense Agency said in a statement. The contingent was the last of about 600 non-combat soldiers previously stationed in Samawah to distribute water and assist in other humanitarian tasks.
Our ground forces have bravely completed their mission and have now safely withdrawn to Kuwait, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters at the Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. We carried out our humanitarian and reconstruction tasks without firing a single shot -- in fact, without pointing a gun at anyone, Koizumi said. Our mission was very highly rated by the Iraqi people.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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Domo arrigato and sayonara. Catch ya on the flip side.
#2
Those of us hoping for a banzai charge or two were a bit disappointed...one presumes the Japanese realize that North Koreans might necessitate a bit more militaristic stance. "Our mission was very highly rated..." sounds either like Nielson TV polling or LBJ style wartime pollstering.
So, she hasn't packed her makeup yet!
.....
Elsewhere in Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said any cease-fire in Mideast fighting ought to be based on fundamental changes that could lead to a lasting impact.
"We all want a cessation of violence. We all want the protection of civilians. We have to make certain that anything that we do is going to be of lasting value," Rice said.
"We all agree that [a cease-fire] should happen as soon as possible, when conditions are conducive to do so.
But Rice said there should be a "conducive environment" for a cease-fire. That, she said, would involve implementation of a standing U.N. Security Council resolution and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the borders as well as the introduction of a strong peacekeeping operation.
The Council resolution in 2004 led to withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon. But its call for disarming militant guerrillas has not been heeded.
Rice, at a joint news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, also indicated she would not be going to the troubled region immediately. She said she was primed to take the trip when it will be "helpful and necessary."
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Israel's past experience with international peacekeeping missions in Lebanon has been unsatisfactory, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Tuesday. However, she did not rule out a peacekeeping force as part of the solution to the current crisis with Lebanon.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair want to send an international force to southern Lebanon to prevent Hizballah from rebuilding its forces there. The United Nations already has a force of some 2,000 international troops deployed in southern Lebanon. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was sent there in 1978 as a result of a U.N. Security Council resolution. "Past experience with UNIFIL was not satisfactory," Livni said on Tuesday following a meeting with a United Nations team.
But Annan said on Tuesday that he envisioned a much larger and more powerful international force to "stabilize the situation" in Lebanon. "Details will have to be worked out, including the concept and the size. I would expect a force, which is considerably larger than the 2,000 force that is there," Annan said after a meeting with European Union Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. But Livni said that Israel would decide what would work for them. "We shall examine what solutions are suitable for us. The criteria are: the implementation of [U.N. Resolution] 1559 and the Lebanese Army deployed in the South," Livni said.
Among other things, Resolution 1559, passed in 2004, calls for "the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias" (a veiled reference to Hizballah), and it supports "the extension of the control of the Government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory." The question many people are asking is whether the Lebanese government is strong enough or even willing to deploy its army in place of Hizballah, which has the backing of Syria and Iran.
According to UNIFIL's 1978 mandate, the U.N. interim force went to southern Lebanon "for the purpose of confirming the withdrawal of Israeli forces, restoring international peace and security, and assisting the Government of Lebanon." In May 2000, Hizballah filled the vacuum created by Israel's unilateral withdrawal from the buffer zone it had maintained in southern Lebanon for 18 years. Hizballah claimed victory when Israel decided to withdraw.
UNIFIL failed to prevent Hizballah's rise to power in southern Lebanon, and the Lebanese government never deployed its army there, as it was supposed to do. In fact, Hizballah -- a Lebanese Islamic fundamentalist terrorist organization - established outposts next to UNIFIL installations near the Israeli border after Israel withdrew. In October 2000, a UNIFIL spokesman told Cybercast News Service that his soldiers had watched as Hizballah carried out a cross-border attack and snatched three Israeli soldiers. Their bodies were returned (along with one live Israeli businessman) in January 2004 -- in exchange for 435 "security prisoners" held in Israeli prisons.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/18/2006 10:50 ||
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What nation is going to send its troops to Lebanon, to stand between those shooting off missiles and their targets? Utter madness.
(KUNA) -- Jordanian Interior Minister Eid Al-Fayez urged on Monday boosting regional and international efforts to battle money laundering as a source for funding terrorism. At the opening of a forum regarding money laundering and terrorism's financial sources, Al-Fayez said money laundering jeopardized the world economy, social norms and security, noting that money laundering was part of organized crime that aimed legitimizing money that was obtained through illegal means.
People involved in money laundering are not interested in building an economy or maintaining its growth, they simply want to achieve personal benefits at the expense of others, he said. He said there have been many technological breakthroughs that have made discovering money laundering operations quite difficult, that means productive counter measures, as well as proper legislations and accords, have to be developed.
The first of its kind four-day forum will include discussing global cooperation in battling money laundering, probing this form of crime and how to train money laundering investigators.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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This will be followed by seemingly endless hours of backslapping, commenting on the totally obvious, drafting resolutions that will never be enforced, posturing for the cameras, and the worlds slowest buffet line that will stretch clear around the corner.
#2
Jim, I hope you are wrong, and I further hope that Jordan is correctly focused on controls that can channge their world toward an honest existence with high moral standards. I know this can be boring, but it's the opposite karma of the more common splodydope mentality prevalent in the Middle east.
With the situation of war-by-proxy heating up in Lebanon and Gaza, DID thought our readers might be interested in some of the military technologies being featured. Indeed we are. Good article with many, many links, look about half way down the page.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/18/2006 10:56 ||
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Lebanon mother names newborn after Raad rocket
18 July 2006
BEIRUT - Raad is born -- not the long-range missile which Hezbollah is firing at Israel but a Lebanese baby boy whose mother wants to honor the Shia militant groups showdown with the Jewish state.
After a difficult Caesarean delivery, Kawkab Al Akli gave birth to a boy at the Labib medical hospital in the southern coastal city of Sidon, her husband Mohammed Al Khaled told AFP.
We had sought refuge at a school in Sidon after running away from our village of Marwahine in the south because a lot of people were killed in Israeli attacks, he said.
This morning, my wife gave birth to a boy. She wanted to name him Raad to honor the resistance, Hezbollah and (its leader) Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, he said.
Still in pain, his wife, a mother of seven already, added: I will also bring Raad 2 and Raad 3.
Hezbollah has since last week for the first time fired Iranian-made Raad missiles, extending the reach of the militant group up to the northern Israeli city of Haifa.
The missile attacks come amid a fierce Israeli aerial assault on Lebanon triggered by Hezbollahs capture of two Israeli soldiers on July 12. The battle has so far cost 230 lives in Lebanon, all but some two dozen of them civilians.
Hezbollahs relentless barrage of rocket fire on northern Israel has killed 12 civilians and wounded dozens more.
I suppose Raad is better than...... "Lance."
July 18, 2006: The leader of Hizbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, is being declared another Nasser (the Egyptian leader that took the Arab world into several wars with Israel). This comparison is not seen as flattering. In retrospect, Nasser's pugnaciousness is seen as a disaster for the Arab world. The last war Nasser participated in, was in 1967. It lasted six days, and the armed forces of Egypt, Syria and Jordan were shattered by the Israelis. It's called the Six Day War because six days was all Israel needed to accomplish this. Arabs blame Nasser for this disaster, and many now believe that Nasrallah is playing the same game. It has become conventional wisdom that Israel will only be defeated in the long term. It will take generations, perhaps over a century to overwhelm Israel.
Nasrallah sounds like a brave, bold and heroic figure now, as Hizbollah fires rockets into Israel. But at the same time, Israeli bombs, missiles and shells destroy Lebanon, inflicting far more damage on Arabs than Hisbollah on Israel. Worse yet, Nasrallah is doing the bidding of Iran, a radical, and too most Moslems, heretical, nation that has never looked after the best interests of Arabs. Thus when an Arab calls Hassan Nasrallah, "another Nasser," there's good reason why this is done without a smile.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/18/2006 11:29 ||
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The Law of Diminishing Returns.
Careful, Naz. You could end up laid out like Zark and it won't even necessarily be the Israeli's that do the deed. Might even be your butt buddies in Iran that give you up.
#3
Nasser was a fool. I believe he could easily have taken over Sudan and/or Libya and gotten oil revenue to support further adventures. Hell he probably would have gotten credit from the world if he'd conquered Sudan, but intead he went for the one state in the region with a real military.
#6
It has become conventional wisdom that Israel will only be defeated in the long term. It will take generations, perhaps over a century to overwhelm Israel.
They mistakenly liken Israel to the Crusader kingdoms that lasted a hundred years and were then overwhelmed.
In their view Israel is an alien entity that survives by local military superiority that will eventually degrade.
Gynnne Dyer and other UK reporters have written on this.
Posted by: john ||
07/18/2006 19:21 Comments ||
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Mr. Wife told of seeing Egyptian soldiers standing guard in Cairo, their sandles and guns both held together by duct tape and hope. This was about 1987. They haven't fought a war since, and the economy is sinking as fast as the hope of Mubarek ever giving over his emergency controls -- what odds either sandles or weapons are in better shape now?
July 18, 2006: Chinese C-802 ("Silkworm") anti-ship missiles were fired at an Israeli Saar class corvette off the Lebanese coast recently. Four of the crew were killed after the 20 foot long, 360mm, 1,500 pound missile hit the rear of the ship, destroying the helicopter pad, and starting a fire that took hours to extinguish. The C-802 has a 360 pound warhead, which must have been defective or detonated prematurely. That's because the Saars displace only 1,100 tons, are 281 feet long and have a crew of 61. The Saar carries dozens of missiles, and lots of fuel for its turbine engine, so it is unlikely that the S-802 scored a direct hit. This would have destroyed a ship the size of a Saar 5.
The Saar 5s carry a 20mm Phalanx auto cannon for knocking down anti-ship missiles, and, in this case, the Phalanx may have only been partially successful. A second C-802, fired at the same time, locked onto a near by Egyptian freighter, and sank it. Both ships were about 60 kilometers off the coast. The C-820 has a max range of 120 kilometers, and moves along at about 250 meters a second. Phalanx is supposed to be turned on whenever the ship is likely to have an anti-ship missile fired at it. The radar can spot incoming missiles out to about 5,000 meters, and the 20mm cannon is effective out to about 2,000 meters. With incoming missiles moving a 250 meters a second, you can see why Phalanx is set to automatic. There's not much time for human intervention. The Israelis are not releasing any information about how their defenses (including the electronic ones) handled the incoming C-802s.
Iran bought 150 C-802s from China in the early 1990s, but shipments were halted in 1995 because of diplomatic pressure from the United States. Iran is believed to be building its own version of the C-802, which is 30 year old technology. Several years ago, it was reported that C-802s had been shipped to Hizbollah. The C-802 needs a radar to spot the target at long distance, and guide the C-802 to the general vicinity of the target. In this case, the Lebanese government coastal radar apparently was used. As a result, Israel destroyed the Lebanese coastal radars after the use of these two C-802 missiles.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/18/2006 11:25 ||
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One would imagine that the Israeli Navy has an institutional memory concerning anti-ship missiles. So the idea that the ship's captain wasn't using his defense systems onboard is to me unimaginable. Whether the systems worked is another matter. But note the second part of the story. The Eqyptian flagged freighter that was sunk may of just been in the wrong place at the wrong time but to Hizbollah it doesn't matter one bit.
#2
I think the Phalanx was used, but did not completely destroy the warhead before slamming into the Saar 5 (1200 tons). Or the warhead did not penetrate the hull and detonate properly. Compare this to the damage (and hole size) caused by the Exocets against the frigate USS Stark (3600 tons) or the HMS Sheffield (5300 tons).
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07/18/2006 13:07 Comments ||
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Report I saw said systems were shut down for dear of friendly fire. Probably a lot of disinformation being put out.
July 18, 2006: It's been no secret that, for years, Iran has been shipping, through Syria, thousands of unguided rockets to Hizbollah in Lebanon. As far back as 2001, there were reports of 240mm Fadjr rockets arriving in Hizbollah controlled territory in southern Lebanon. Both 240mm and 333mm Fadjr rockets are normally mounted on modified Mercedes-Benz 2624 15 ton trucks (10 wheels on 6 axles). There are either twelve 240mm (900 pound) rockets or four 333mm (one ton) rockets. About a third of the weight of rockets like this are the explosive charge in the warhead. The 240mm rocket has a range of 43 kilometers, the 333mm one, 75 kilometers. The Fadjr rockets brought into Lebanon are believed to have come individually, to be fired from locally built launchers. If enough care were taken in the construction of these launchers, the Fadjrs stood a good chance of hitting large urban areas within Israel.
It the last five years, constant reports of Iranian rocket deliveries to Hizbollah indicate that over 10,000 such missiles were brought into southern Lebanon. Most of these rockers are the smaller 107mm and 122mm models. The B-12 is a 107mm, 42 pound, 107mm, 33 inch long, Russian designed rocket that is very popular with terrorists. This rocket has a range of about six kilometers and three pounds of explosives in its warhead. Normally fired, from a launcher, in salvoes of dozens at a time, when used individually, it is more accurate the closer it is to the target. This 107mm design has been copied by many nations, and is very popular with guerillas and terrorists because of its small size and portability.
The 122mm BM-21s weigh 150 pounds and are nine feet long. These have 45 pound warheads, but not much better accuracy than the 107mm model. However, these larger rockets have a maximum range of 20 kilometers. Again, because they are unguided, they are only effective if fired in salvos, or at large targets (like cities, or large military bases or industrial complexes.)
It is believed that fewer than a hundred of the 240mm or 333mm rockets arrived in Lebanon. There may be more of intermediate caliber weapons (160mm), but little has been said about those. Thus it appears that the majority of Hizbollah rockets are the smaller ones. This is important because Hizbollah has to hide these rockets from constant Israeli aerial and satellite surveillance. Moreover, once hostilities begin (as they have now), it's going to be difficult to move large rockets around. Even the 122mm rockets are nine feet long, and not easy to conceal.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/18/2006 11:20 ||
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The longer this goes on, the more likely Iran is the big loser in this. The comments coming out Europe may indicate they also want Iran to get a bloody nose.
I'd say it's 50-50 as to whether Iran miscalculates (or someone in the IRG believes their rhetoric and acts) and Iran gets attacked.
#2
That was actually a pretty rational piece right up to the point where he said, "However, the unacknowledged object of Israels campaign is none of the highly rational goals outlined by officials. It is to satisfy Washington that Tehran has been given a bloody nose and is ready to pull back from its deepening political, military and intelligence interference in Iraq." The idea that Israel's primary goal is to keep the US happy seems quite a stretch to me.
Are there any independent sources for the bit about The Abu al Fadal al Abas Brigades being an Iranian sleeper outfit?
#4
Everybody wants Hez to get a bloody nose. Even the Soddies and Egyptians. Unlike the western media, they know Hez is a creature of Iran and don't like them projecting power to the Med any more than the Israelis do. Israel needs to get on with it. They need to decapitate and humiliate Hez at minimum. I think a lot of us here would prefer they open up on Syria too. That would further humiliate Iran and probably compel them to do something foolish in response.
Of course, Iran can hurt us pretty bad in Iraq right now, so settling for banging Nasrallah and decimating Hez while Syria pretends to be neutral will be a pretty good ending for July.
#5
Even the Arab League has hung those assholes out to dry. Nobody wants their country torn apart by Israel over those cockroaches. Arab loyalties seem to be a complex jungle of paybacks,bet hedging secular issues, and enlightened self-interest.
#6
Call it "mutual interest". Remember that we are both in a delicate balancing act with Iran, in which Israel has to protect its tactical interests, but the US does not want them to use their nukes in their strategic conflict.
As long as Israel whups Syria in a proxy war, they won't be inclined to use their nukes, and the US is there to beat seven bells out of Iran if they try to attack Israel in the process.
If Iran does attack Israel with anything short of nukes, the US owns them. They will have started an "aggressive war" in the worst possible way, and about the only thing they can do is launch missiles that have to pass through both US and Israeli defenses.
Russia, France and China would all have to back off, by pre-existing rules, and we could make Iran squeal like a pig.
#7
I'm with AzCat on this one. I thought the Joooos ran the U.S., not the other way around? I'm so confused.
Posted by: BA ||
07/18/2006 10:43 Comments ||
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Cute, a bloody nose. Let's get real. The proper pursuit for the USA now is to force Iran to play their hand, and engage them to the death.
That's right, Bushy, pounce on Iran and rip them apart with proper furosity.
Let's roll, damnit !
The State Department has hired the cruise ship Orient Queen to evacuate U.S. citizens from Beirut starting Tuesday, according to the Pentagon. The Orient Queen can carry about 750 passengers for the approximate five-hour crossing from Beirut to Cyprus, according to Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman. An American Navy destroyer, the USS Gonzales will escort the ship for security reasons.
At least 8,000 of the estimated 25,000 American citizens in Lebanon registered with the American embassy prior to the war between Israel and the terrorist group Hezbollah. Several hundred have expressed interest in being evacuated.
USS Gonzalez is named after Medal of Honor winner Marine Sergeant Freddy Gonzalez. Here are links to photos of the cruise ship. Note the helicopter pad on the ship.
#2
Because the US has a very large and wealthy Lebanese Christian population. Example, Danny and Marlo Thomas. Also, most of those 25 thousand have dual American and Lebanese citizenship - sort of like all of the Hong Kong Chinese who were smart had Canadian citizenship as backup. When Lebanon gets too bad, they can flash the US passport and have the US Marines pull their collective butts out of the trap.
Ali Khreiss, a 46-year-old man said he wished to stay behind and fight alongside Hezbollah but his wife was begging to leave.
"I want to be part of this. This is the first time an Arab country bombs Haifa," he said, referring to the Israel's third-largest city targeted by Hezbollah rockets for the first time this week.
"I will drop them off in Sweden and return," he added.
I have a feeling there are a lot of Ali's among the 40,000 Lebanese-Canadians we're supposed to collect as well. Free shuttle service for the fighters' families. Might want to do some ID checks on the departing ex-pats as well for the same reason.
#7
Wife heard that the US will be charging for the evac. (heh) Something about putting yourself in a danger zone. Hope its in the $25K+ range for the little trip.
#10
Can anyone tell me why in hell there are 25,000 US citizens in this shithole to begin with ?
Well first, it wasn't always a shithole. In fact, it was the garden spot of the Middle East until Syria took over, bring their gun-sexing death cultists with them. Now the Iranian Hezzies are doing their dead level best to meet their shit deposit quota as well. Answer: Annihilation of the Hezzies. Airstrikes on Syria, eliminating the few remaining old and broken down MIG's they have left. And then, as Ironic as it sounds, helping the democratically elected Christian Lebanese government rebuild their country, and military capability. Oh, and I wouldn't mind the US mixing in a few airstrikes on Iran as well.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called on Monday for a "cessation of hostilities" between Israel and Hezbollah in order to buy valuable "time and space" to put a well-armed "stabilisation force" along the Lebanon-Israel border.
Too bad they couldn't get one in there before Hezbollah went nutz... Oh. I forgot. There used to be one there, made up of Frenchies and U.S. Marines. Hezbollah blew them up.
There's another one there now called UNIFIL. It's working well, huh?
"We need to get the parties to agree as soon as practicable to a cessation of hostilities to give us time and space to work" on the multinational force, said Annan after talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the G8 summit. Referring at least twice to "a stabilisation force", he said the UN needs "time and space ... to make sure we have the troops well-trained, well-equipped troops to go in quite quickly."
That'd be Americans, Brits, and Frenchies. Hassan must be licking his chops.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is opposed to the deployment of international forces in Lebanon in an effort to end bloodshed in the region, senior officials said, countering a call by Britain and the UN.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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Man, that's cold. "Stabilizing" an entire country like that. Ol' Yasser's gonna be pissed.
#8
Boy, this calling for all parties to be calm and trying to initiate a cease fire sure builds up an appetite! Who's catering lunch, and where do we go?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/18/2006 2:01 Comments ||
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#14
C'mon, Kofi still rests easy after Rwanda. He honestly thinks there was nothing the UN could do, even though the UN commander there was begging him (literally) to allow him to do something to save people who were later slaughtered.
What makes you think that more dead Africans would bother him one damn bit?
#15
TW - that was pretty damn funny - now a monitor cleaning is in order
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 10:18 Comments ||
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Well, this here Protestant says a thorough house cleaning is in order if'n Kofi's a protestant. None of the Protestants I'm aware of would back Hezbollah (or the janjaweed in Darfur, for that matter), except the ones infiltrated by the LLL moonbats (think: the Methodists who called for repeal of all funding sources from Israel).
Posted by: BA ||
07/18/2006 10:33 Comments ||
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#17
Hey, I've got a time-saving idea. Just name the IDF the UN's pacification force! They are ready to go in any day now!
#18
UN Planning means that a pre-meeting may be organized to study the need to plan a meeting with the conference room scheduler to see if suitible space needs could be arranged so that they can meet with the audio visual staff to see if they can requisition the use of the InFocus projector that the head of the North Korean delegation "borrowed" last month for use at a non UN commissioned stag party...
#21
So Kofi wants a "robust" UN force. Har. What does that mean, slingshots instead of peashooters? They're only watchdogs. We all know what will happen if they somehow manage to get in the way of Iran reorganizing its "war-by-proxy" efforts. They're just an excuse for the faint of heart to sit on their thumbs and say "See, we're doing something! We have the United Nations involved! What more could any reasonable person ask for?"
What, they don't have enough children to pimp and rape in the other places they've inflicted themselves on?
Anyway, there's already a "UN force" in Lebanon. What they hell good have they done except for helping the terrorists?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/18/2006 15:10 Comments ||
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#23
AP - ROFL! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/18/2006 15:12 Comments ||
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#24
Kofi wants... Kofi Wants.... sickening. The bovine kak meister. Sergio Vieria de Mello wants a US guard force at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad. Oooops, a bit too late on that one.
Just wait and he'll speak out of the other side of his mouth; he's trained that way ...
Iran called on Monday for a ceasefire followed by a prisoner exchange to end the confrontation between its Lebanese Hezbollah guerrilla allies and Israel. "A reasonable and just solution must be found to end this crisis. A ceasefire and then a swap is achievable," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said after meetings with senior Syrian officials in Damascus.
Hezbollah wants to exchange two Israeli soldiers it captured on Wednesday in a cross-border raid for several Lebanese prisoners of war Israel has held for years and a number of the estimated 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails.
Iran's foreign minister arrived in Syria for talks with its government Monday on the crisis in neighboring Lebanon. Mottaki did not speak to reporters on arrival in Damascus, but went headed straight for talks with President Bashar Assad and Foreign Minister Walid Moallem.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Which part of "Put up or Die" did you fail to understand?
Iran has said that it was still counting on support from Russia and China over its disputed nuclear programme, and warned the referral of the issue back to the UN Security Council would derail any possible negotiations.
"If the case goes to the United Nations Security Council, regardless of the kind of resolution adopted, the negotiations will be derailed," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters Sunday. "The Security Council path is not constructive," he added. "We expect Russia and China to defend our legitimate stances. Defending the rights of the Islamic republic means backing up international treaties and the Non-Proliferation Treaty."
Asefi said Iran was also awaiting the outcome of a G8 summit in Russia, where the mounting nuclear crisis is set to be discussed. "We hope the G8 chooses the reasonable path. In this case, the Islamic republic is ready for any cooperation and negotiation," he said. Last week Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States decided to send Iran's case back to the Security Council after Tehran failed to respond to demands it freeze sensitive uranium enrichment work.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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The Mullahs must be wondering if Russia and China will stay bought.
According to a source close to a high-ranking official in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Teheran has supplied Hezbollah with approximately 11,500 missiles and projectiles. The source said more than 3,000 Hezbollah members have undergone training in Iran, which included guerilla warfare, firing missiles and artillery, operating unmanned drones, marine warfare and conventional war operations. He said they have also trained 50 pilots for the past two years. According to the source, Hezbollah currently possesses four types of surface-to-surface missiles, some of which extend to a distance of 150 kilometers.
Katyusha missiles hit Tiberias, on the Lake of Galilee, for the first time on Saturday, while today Hezbollah fired rockets, which killed eight people in the Israeli city of Haifa, and bombs shook Beirut as Israel pursued a five-day-old assault in Lebanon aimed at crippling the Shi'ite Muslim group. It was Hezbollah's deadliest rocket strike on Israel in at least 10 years and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said it would have "far-reaching" consequences for Lebanon. Hezbollah said the attack was retaliation for Israel's killing of civilians and destruction of Lebanese infrastructure.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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Thanks to the anonymous source who is able to confirm what everyone else already knew.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/18/2006 1:18 Comments ||
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News yes. Scoop, no.
CIA Confident Iran Behind Jet Bombing
By David B. Ottaway and Laura Parker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 11, 1989; Page A01
A Central Intelligence Agency assessment of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing has concluded that Iran hired a Damascus-based radical Palestinian faction to carry out the operation. But the Federal Bureau of Investigation does not have sufficient evidence to seek an indictment, according to sources.
The sources also said the FBI is investigating the possiblity that one of two female American college students who had Arab boyfriends may have unwittingly carried the bomb aboard the flight. The Dec. 21 explosion over Lockerbie, Scotland killed 270 people.
A State Department official said the CIA is "confident" of its assessment that Iran in effect "hired" elements belonging to Ahmed Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command to carry out the bombing. But, officials said, they do not have sufficient evidence to even brief other governments on their findings. A CIA spokesman declined to comment.
Jibril and senior aides had at least one meeting with Iranian officials in Tehran last fall and possibly an earlier one immediately after the USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian Airbus over the Persian Gulf last July 3, according to these sources.
"They're fairly confident of their information," said one U.S. official familar with the interagency deliberations over the bombing.
"But they apparently don't have enough information to satisfy everybody inside the administration," he added. "The FBI has to deal with evidence they can present in court."
"Intelligence work and criminal work are two different things. You have to be able to present evidence to a grand jury for an indictment," explained one FBI official. "We're not at that stage now."
The West German magazine Quick reported Monday that Iran's Ayatolloh Ruhollah Khomeini had met with his advisers last July after the downing of the Airbus, which resulted in the death of 290 people, to plot revenge. Quick gave no indication which of the many rival Iranian factions attended the alleged meeting, or whether Iran's powerful Parliament speaker Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was present.
The magazine, which said it had obtained secret minutes of that meeting, said Iran had paid $1.3 million to Jibril to carry out the bombing of an American airliner.
A State Department official said "we don't have anything hard on that." But he added that Iran was always "in the background" of various assumptions and assessments of which country might have been responsible for the Pan Am bombing.
"Everybody is pretty much convinced it was the PFLP, but they don't have the definitive proof about it," the official added.
Quick magazine also quoted Oliver B. Revell, deputy FBI director, as saying that "our investigating officials believe the explosive came into the plane in Frankfurt." Revell added, "That does not mean that the bomb could not have been on a connecting flight to Frankfurt."
FBI spokesman William Carter confirmed that this was "the gist" of what Revell had said during an interview about Western efforts to combat terrorism.
In the interview, Revell also said: "I am quite sure that in the end we will know for sure how the bomb got onto the plane and who put it there and we can start criminal proceedings against them."
The two American college students being studied as possible unwitting couriers had been attending a university "in a neutral country," one source said, and were headed home for the Christmas holidays.
On Dec. 21, the students traveled to Frankfurt where they boarded Flight 103 for its first leg to London. In previous bombings and bombing attempts, terrorists have sought out Western women to serve as unsuspecting carriers. Often, the woman becomes romantically involved and then is used by her boyfriend to carry a bomb without being aware of it. Investigators now think the Pan Am bomb weighed 1 1/2 pounds.
The 1986 apprehension of an Irish woman traveling alone to Tel Aviv on El Al, the Israeli airline, has become a classic case. She had become pregnant by a Jordanian-born Palestinian and was flying to Tel Aviv purportedly to meet his family. Her suitcase had been lined with plastic explosives.
#3
Ghadaffi paid damages and accepted responsibility to the PanAm 103 families as part of his get out of jail deal. I can't believe he was taking a fall for Iran, Syria and Hesb.
Lebanon's government should play a role to bring peace to the nation which has been crippled by violence between Israel and Hezbollah, said the chief of a United Nations delegation in Beirut on Monday. The head of the delegation, Vijay Nambier, spoke with Lebanon's parliament speaker and prime minister, and said more diplomacy is needed to come up with a solution to the conflict, which has entered its sixth day.
The Lebanese government was marginalized by the Hezbollah decision to unilaterally begin this latest round in the conflict. And many fear that any Lebanese government effort to stop Hezbollah would result in the Lebanese military splintering, bringing another Lebanese Civil War. So, with these comments, the UN is apparently trying to give the Lebanese government a place at the table.
Nambier issued assurances that strides have been made to address the hostilities, where the number of dead in Lebanon and Israel is approaching 200 -- 165 in Lebanon and 24 in Israel. "We have made many efforts to improve the situation, and our teams have discussed these issues with the Lebanese government, and we will continue to discuss these suggestions and ideas, and we will come back to Lebanon to develop and explore these ideas further," Nambier said.
Continued on Page 49
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(KCNA) -- The Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea issued today the following statement vehemently denouncing and totally refuting the "resolution" of the UN Security Council against the DPRK, a product of the U.S. hostile policy toward it: The vicious hostile policy of the United States towards the DPRK and the irresponsibility of the UN Security Council have created an extremely dangerous situation on the Korean Peninsula where the sovereignty of the Korean nation and the security of the state have been seriously infringed.
Turkey's President 
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Times Co. plans to narrow the size of its flagship newspaper and close a printing plant, resulting in the loss of 250 jobs, the company said in a story posted on its Web site late on Monday.
Speaking at a large demonstration in support of Israel in Manhattan on Monday, United States Senator Hillary Clinton expressed unreserved support for Israel and commended President George Bush for his stance in the present crisis. 
Investigators are looking for a Seraiki-speaking family they believe had a possible hand in last Friday's suicide killing of Shia scholar, Allama Hasan Turabi. Police officials are on the hunt for this family, which they say has been missing since after the attack.
The Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl), the two major components of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), have failed to reach agreement on the issue of mass resignations from parliament. 
(KUNA) -- Jordanian Interior Minister Eid Al-Fayez urged on Monday boosting regional and international efforts to battle money laundering as a source for funding terrorism. At the opening of a forum regarding money laundering and terrorism's financial sources, Al-Fayez said money laundering jeopardized the world economy, social norms and security, noting that money laundering was part of organized crime that aimed legitimizing money that was obtained through illegal means.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called on Monday for a "cessation of hostilities" between Israel and Hezbollah in order to buy valuable "time and space" to put a well-armed "stabilisation force" along the Lebanon-Israel border.
According to a source close to a high-ranking official in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Teheran has supplied Hezbollah with approximately 11,500 missiles and projectiles. The source said more than 3,000 Hezbollah members have undergone training in Iran, which included guerilla warfare, firing missiles and artillery, operating unmanned drones, marine warfare and conventional war operations. He said they have also trained 50 pilots for the past two years. According to the source, Hezbollah currently possesses four types of surface-to-surface missiles, some of which extend to a distance of 150 kilometers.
