Saudi Arabia told the U.N. General Assembly on Monday it would host an international conference on terrorism in its capital Riyadh Feb. 5-8, the first by the oil-rich nation. "The purpose is to exchange information and experience in the field of combating terrorism and to see how we can cooperate with other countries in the fight toward this universal threat," said Nizar Obaid Madani, the Saudi foreign ministry undersecretary. He said such a conference, which would include international organizations, could also review techniques for money laundering, drug smuggling and gun-running. But he gave no details on who was invited or who would attend. But Madani made clear Israel would not be asked, accusing the Jewish state of drawing its own boundaries, conducting aerial bombardments and assassinations of Palestinians. "The setback in the peace process and the mounting wave of violence and extremism in the region are largely attributable to the pursuit by the Israeli government of policies that are totally incompatible with the fundamental principles of the peace process," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2004 8:32:48 PM ||
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They hope to find the Holy Grail or Cameljockeys "The Zionist link to Terror". I expect nothing good to come out of this. They might just pass on the information gleaned to their pets.
#2
Man! These Saudis just cannot let go of the "Israel as Boogy Man" concept. They will never solve their problems until they get by that one, and my schematic of their brain wiring sez that it is impossible for them to do so. It's burned in their EPROMs.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/27/2004 21:04 Comments ||
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Roughly equivalent to Nazi Germany hoisting a conference on how to combat anti-semitism.
The brutality and meticulous planning of the school hostage-taking and other recent terror attacks in Russia have focused new attention on the growing influence of Islamic extremists over Chechen rebels and raised suspicions of a global terror connection.
Doing the same thing with a maternity hospital ten years ago apparently didn't. Or wasn't the attention span long enough?
The conflict in Chechnya, which began a decade ago as a secular fight for independence from Moscow, has steadily evolved into what local and foreign militants have described as jihad, or "holy war" against Russia. "Over time, a growing number of people in Chechnya have identified themselves with global jihad," said Alexei Malashenko, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment's Moscow office. Fundamentalist Islamic groups have methodically recruited followers among Russia's 20 million Muslims since the 1990s, often driving mainstream Muslim clerics from their mosques in such Caucasus regions as Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkariya, both near Chechnya. "Extremist groups have turned many mosques into their headquarters," said Alexander Sharavin, the director of the Institute for Political and Military Analysis.
Probably you should go and kill the new proprietors. The old proprietors might even be grateful.
Along with radical Islamic doctrines, Arab fighters and instructors also have brought new tactics to Chechnya, such as suicide bombings. "They act as a catalyst and give an international dimension to these attacks ... as part of global jihad," Malashenko said. Russian officials claimed that about 30 militants who seized the school in the southern city of Beslan included Arabs, and President Vladimir Putin said that international terrorism has unleashed a war against Russia.
Russia most parts of it, anyway being a part of the civilized world, they're by definition on the list.
Many analysts believe that foreign terror groups likely played a role in twin Russian plane bombings, a suicide attack near a Moscow subway station and the school seizure, which together killed more than 430 people. "Al-Qaida and other international terror groups view Russia as a part of Western civilization that must be broken and forced to its knees," said Sergei Arutyunov, a prominent expert on the North Caucasus with Russia's Academy of Sciences.
That's what I said...
Shamil Basayev, a Chechen warlord who claimed responsibility for the latest attacks, said his militants who seized the school included two Arabs, but he sought to downplay connections to global terror, including Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida organization. In a letter posted recently on a rebel Web site, Basayev claimed he had received less than $20,000 in foreign donations this year. "I am not acquainted with bin Laden," Basayev wrote. "I don't receive money from him but would not refuse it."
... and if you can't trust the word of Shamil Basayev, whose word can you trust?
Basayev, who gained notoriety for cruel attacks against civilians since a 1995 hostage-taking raid on a hospital in southern Russia, was declared a threat to the United States last year by the U.S. State Department, which pointed to his alleged al-Qaida links. A U.S. counterterrorism official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it isn't clear yet whether al-Qaida was involved in recent attacks in Russia. Previous indications were that al-Qaida's assistance to the Chechen rebels revolved around financial support, logistical support and fighters, rather than operational guidance or direction, the official said.
Hmmm... Financial support, logistical support, and fighters, to include an international brigade. Lemme put on this funny hat a CIA guy gave me when we were running guns back in the Spanish Civil War. You had the Fascists on one side, and you had the "Liberal" on the other side. The Fascists received financial support, logistical support and fighters, rather than operational guidance or direction, from Italy and Germany, but really they weren't tied to international fascism. The "Liberals" received financial support, logistical support and fighters, rather than operational guidance or direction, from the Soviet Union, but really they weren't tied to international Communism. Don't these guys ever read anything? This is the sort of thing that happens when "history" becomes "social studies."
In his public statements, bin Laden has cited Chechnya as a region where war should be waged, and al-Qaida-associated militants still are thought to be fighting in Chechnya. "Chechnya is a jihad that al-Qaida supports with rhetoric and money," the U.S. official said.
Just like Stalin supported the Spanish Civil War. I'll bet the Chechens even have their own local equivalent of La Passionara. They've probably even got some minor Islamist sect marked to be read out of the party, like the POUM in Spain...
Russian officials said yet another Saudi, Mohammed Abu Omar al-Seif, likely had played a role in plotting the school seizure and the other recent terror attacks in Russia. He is considered al-Qaida's emissary in Chechnya. Alexander Ignatenko, the head of the Institute for Religion and Politics, a Moscow-based independent think-tank, said that al-Seif, a radical Islamic theologian, had acted as a top spiritual counselor for rebels in Chechnya, issuing fatwas, or religious edicts, to approve specific attacks. According to some accounts, Arab counselors were appointed co-leaders of even small rebel units, forming a separate chain of command controlled by al-Seif.
Analogous to the Commies practice of putting political officers in every unit...
Many of the Arab fighters who joined Basayev's group, which calls itself by an Arabic name, Riyadus Salikhin, later moved to fight in Iraq and other areas, Ignatenko said. "The people who fought in Chechnya come back to Saudi Arabia and stage terror attacks there," Ignatenko said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Such 'Chechen Arabs' are spreading now throughout the Arab world, one example being Morocco." Dia'a Rashwan, a leading terror researcher in Egypt, said that while Arab militants fought in Chechnya, close coordination between different Islamic militant groups was unlikely. "There is probably a copycat tactic," he said. "These groups are using tactics that are used elsewhere, without direct instructions from a single centralized command."
Since it isn't required at this point...
The Saudi-based Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, which U.S. authorities accused of diverting donations to support terrorist activities, has financed rebels in Chechnya, Ignatenko said. Al-Haramain and other Arab charities also have financed a web of fundamentalist Islamic groups in other mostly Muslim provinces across Russia's North Caucasus. "Foreigners act as spiritual leaders in such radical groups as Yarmuk, Tabuk and Dzhannat," Ignatenko said. Facing the rising tide of radical Islam at home, Saudi authorities recently have turned a more sympathetic ear to Russian requests to curb the flow of funds from Saudi charities to rebels in Chechnya.
At least in public...
Putin's critics say that massive poverty and unemployment in the Caucasus, along with the continuing military abuses in Chechnya and the Kremlin's refusal to negotiate peace with the rebels, were helping bolster support base for radical groups with links to al-Qaida. "They have talked so much about combating international terrorism in the Caucasus that it has become a self-fulfilling prophecy," said Andrei Piontkovsky, the head of the Center for Strategic Studies, an independent think-tank. "Warlords who were pursuing separatist goals have given way to those who are part of global fundamentalist network." Valery Tishkov, a leading expert on Chechnya, said that foreign terror networks had attacked Russia because official negligence and corruption make it easy prey. "They have chosen a target that can be hit more easily," Tishkov said. "The United States is far less vulnerable, and Israel has never been a soft target."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/27/2004 2:47:21 AM ||
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Hmmm... Financial support, logistical support, and fighters, to include an international brigade. Lemme put on this funny hat a CIA guy gave me when we were running guns back in the Spanish Civil War
Sorry, Dan, but only Old Patriot has what it takes to say that with a straight face or a better than even chance of being believed...
French and German government officials say they will not significantly increase military assistance in Iraq even if John Kerry, the Democratic presidential challenger, is elected on November 2. Mr Kerry, who has attacked President George W. Bush for failing to broaden the US-led alliance in Iraq, has pledged to improve relations with European allies and increase international military assistance in Iraq. "I cannot imagine that there will be any change in our decision not to send troops, whoever becomes president," Gert Weisskirchen, member of parliament and foreign policy expert for Germany's ruling Social Democratic Party, said in an interview.
"Mr. Howell! Mr. Howell!"
"What is it, Gilligan?"
"The Frenchies and the Fritzies say they won't cooperate even if you're elected, sir!"
"Well! We'll just see about that! Lovey! Speak French to them!"
#1
All along, the promise to "rebuild our alliances" has been contingent upon the will of others to rebuild those alliances. Much of Europe is disinclined to lift its own weight in a military sense and feels free of any obligation to help the US. Kerry's promise should have been recognized by everyone long ago as a boast.
#2
Wrong century, Kerry. Face facts: France is not an ally in the middle east. NATO is next to useless to us beyond Afghanistan, and even there its utility's limited.
I'm extremely uncomfortable with the thought that one of our two major party's foreign policy heavies are so completely clueless on the fact that the world is no longer spinning on a European axis.
Holbrooke's a smart guy. Surely he must realize that Musharraf and Putin and the Indians and Chinese at least as important to us re Iran and the next phase of this war than Jack Straw and his fellow dwarves?
#5
Thanks France and Germany (sincerely) for destroying one of Kerry's main arguments.
Posted by: V is for Victory ||
09/27/2004 13:12 Comments ||
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And even more importantly, lex, have the French and Germans changed their minds WRT the anti-war stance of their governments? If not, it doesn't matter if Chirac, Schroeder, or whoever gets in, it's simply voting for the same position (no action) with a different leader.
#7
lex, tough call... Stoiber is back in the race (and I'm backing him).
But lets face it, any German candidate would commit instant suicide telling his electorate that he's willing to send trops to Iraq. But there are lots of other ways to help. And of course the German obstructionist politics would end immediately. Stoiber is definitely pro U.S. and lukewarm to France.
And his record in Bavaria is impressive. Highest economic growth, lowest unemployment rates, heavy investing in future technology.
#8
TGA, This is no longer just about Chiraq and Schroeder. They are doing a good job of representing the wishes of their constituents as they have been formed by the establishment media over there. The Americans are too hardheaded (and correct) to change their position of the issues that divide us. The Europeans are going to have to do a whole lot of self reflection and changing before things are repaired, and I don't think there's enough of 'em like you over there to make it happen.
The Bush election is only going to solidify positions. Too bad for the good guys there, but there just aren't enough of you and the rest seem too busy worrying about their personal job or retirement dole from the state to change.
#9
A6682... Let's not forget that (unfortunately) a lot will change in the WOT as well... things WILL happen in Europe and attitudes will change after they happen.
#10
That's not the way I'd like them to come back in the fold. It's just a GD shame.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/27/2004 13:39 Comments ||
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But when those things happen, TGQ, isn't it more likely that more EUros than not will opt for appeasement, tilting toward the jihadists/pan-arabs et al? Certainly the Spanish have. The French probably would; perhaps the Italians as well. Germany?
I'm not sure that terror's so terrible anymore. Even in this country we have a large and growing number of idiots who want to dismiss the significance of 9/11.
#13
lex, that's hope these things never happen.
But should they happen, it will be better to have real leader in place.
I don't want to imagine 9/11 with Al Gore or John Kerry as president.
I seem to recall Warren Buffett, he of insurance company and probability analysis fame, saying recently that his insurance companies are factoring in a 75% probability of a nuclear attack on US soil during the next two decades.
#16
I wonder how different the world would be if the plot to fly a plane into the Eiffel Towel had happened before the World Trade Center was attacked.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/27/2004 21:59 Comments ||
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It's telling that she has had to go into exile once and now has to have police protection from "tollearant" islam for telling the truth. If a religion isn't about truth it's crap.
This is second link in 2 days from expatica.com that doesn't work or that is so slow loading it's not worth waiting for. It's the first from Rantburg.
#2
time to get another hamster on the wheel at Expastica's Server?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/27/2004 8:49 Comments ||
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Time to lift an excerpt when we post articles from there.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2004 8:59 Comments ||
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from the dimmitude watch site:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/
People who object to her criticism of Islam should take her to court rather than take the law into their own hands, Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells Abi Daruvalla. Hirsi Ali has been moved to a safe house following new death threats and the publication of her private address on an Islamic website just four days after her controversial film 'Submission' was screened on Dutch TV. Somali-born Hirsi Ali, 34, is herself a former Muslim and an outspoken critic of Islam's treatment of women. Her film 'Submission' which depicts the text of the Koran on the naked flesh of Muslim women, is provoking a furore in the Netherlands.
With the assassination of right-wing political leader Pim Fortuyn in May 2002 still horribly fresh in peopleâs minds, the Dutch security services are clearly taking no chances and have mounted round-the-clock protection.
But Hirsi Ali is undaunted: "Reactions to my film have been varied and I accept some people are offended, that's legitimate, but in a democracy it is not legitimate to intimidate and threaten someone for expressing her views. I made the film to publicise an injustice that is being ignored not only in Holland but throughout the world."
Hirsi Ali reflects the spirit of today's Dutch society with her conviction that 'tolerance' means Muslims in the Netherlands â almost one million in a total population of 16 million â must accept Western values.
"That means people from non-Western countries need to be educated about democratic values which include the freedom of expression," said Hirsi Ali. If people feel she has gone too far with her film they must take her to court and not take the law into their own hands, she said defiantly. "Otherwise the rule of the jungle will prevail," she added. ...
'Submission' is written and narrated in English by Hirsi Ali. The 11-minute film takes the form of four monologues by women praying to Allah: one has been whipped for having an illicit love affair; another faces an arranged marriage to a man she finds sexually repulsive, a third was beaten by her husband and the last is pregnant after being raped by her uncle. Their injuries are clearly visible through their transparent chador.
Hirsi Ali claims more than 60 percent of those fleeing domestic violence in Dutch womenâs shelters are Muslim. But Muslim organisations say 'Submission' contributes nothing towards a solution.
This is a good one: the link at the extremely useful RealClear Politics takes you to a PDF file that represents JFK's 11/9/97 speech on the Senate floor that details why the USA should remove Saddam from power. I'm posting some clipped excerpts from the PDF file below (no background color). As the Professor would say, heh.
The UNSCOM inspection team, that is, the United Nations Special Commission team, has been refused access to its inspection targets throughout the week and once again today because it has Americans as team members. While it is not certain, it is not unreasonable to assume that Saddam's action may have been precipitated by the fear that the U.N. inspectors were getting uncomfortably close to discovering
some caches of reprehensible weapons of mass destruction, or facilities to manufacture them, that many have long feared he is doing everything in his power to build, hide, and hoard.
You mean Saddam had WMD?
The reality, Mr. President, is that Saddam Hussein has intentionally or inadvertently set up a test which the entire world will be watching, and if he gets away with this arrogant ploy, he will have terminated a most important multilateral effort to defuse a legitimate threat to global security—to defuse it by tying the hands of a rogue who thinks nothing of ordering widespread, indiscriminate death and destruction in pursuit of power.
If he succeeds, he also will have overwhelmed the willingness of the world's leading nations to enforce a principle on which all agree: that a nation should not be permitted to grossly violate even rudimentary standards of national behavior in ways that threaten the sovereignty and well-being of other nations and their people.
Wonder how the French feel about that?
We must recognize that there is no indication that Saddam Hussein has any intention of relenting. So we have an obligation of enormous consequence, an obligation to guarantee
that Saddam Hussein cannot ignore the United Nations. He cannot be permitted to go unobserved and unimpeded toward his horrific objective of amassing a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. This is not a matter about which there should be any debate whatsoever in the Security Council, or, certainly, in this Nation.
Preach it, brother John!
Finally, we must consider the ultimate nightmare. Surely, if Saddam's efforts are permitted to continue unabated, we will eventually face more aggression by Saddam, quite conceivably including an attack on Israel, or on other nations in the region as he seeks predominance within the Arab community. If he has such weapons, his attack is likely to employ weapons of unspeakable and indiscriminate destructiveness and torturous effects on civilians and military alike. What that would unleash is simply too horrendous to contemplate, but the United States inevitably would be drawn into that conflict.
So if Saddam had WMD, he would use them. But I'm sure JFK's 'nuance' between this and GWB's stated reasons for removing Saddam is finely honed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/27/2004 5:08:45 PM ||
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WHo cares what this bore ass had to say. It is clear that he is a man who does not know his own mind. It is equally clear that a vote for Kerry is a vote al Qaeda.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
09/27/2004 19:06 Comments ||
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Douglas De Bono, "man who does not know his own mind".
Are you sure that is the case?
Thought Kerry != mind. Missing. Zipo. Nada.
He always reminded me of an android. Badly made. Low quality. Damaged goods. Spagetti code.
HAT TIP DRUDGE
The Bush administration's failure to shut down al-Qaida and rebuild Iraq have fueled the insurgency and made the United States more vulnerable to a nuclear attack by terrorists, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy said Sunday. Oh, Teddy, you mean your man "John Neville Chamberlin Kerry" aka the Appeaser will get us less likely. Gotta be deleriums from that Tequila with the larvae at the bottom of the bottle.
In a speech prepared for delivery at George Washington University on Monday, Kennedy said that by shifting attention from Osama bin Laden to Iraq, Bush has increased the danger of a ''nuclear 9/11.''
Ohfergawdsake.
''The war in Iraq has made the mushroom cloud more likely, not less likely,'' he said in the remarks released late Sunday. Now I know for sure he's confusing that mushroom with the bottle Tequila with the larvae he was consuming at lunch.
Expanding on earlier suggestions that Iraq is Bush's Vietnam, Kennedy said U.S. soldiers are bogged down in a quagmire with no end in sight. Talking Poins from the Kerry Camp # 302.1A4 - Use the word QUAGMIRE any time you can.
He said it was a good thing Bush was not in charge during the Cuban missile crisis, one of the darker periods of his late brother's John Kennedy's time as president. Yes, especially since GWB was only 13 years old at the time.
Posted by: BigEd ||
09/27/2004 11:40:14 AM ||
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...whereas Ted Kennedy is more likely to glow from the rosy hue of burst capillaries.
#2
I saw the interview with him on television yesterday. It was supposed to be an equal portion of the Democrats' views and the Republicans' views. Teddy got about 10 minutes to spew his "Bush lied, quagmire, destroyed all alliances, insulted allies, Bush lied" meme and the Republican got maybe 3 minutes. Oh, yes, "Alawi is a puppet".
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/27/2004 12:09 Comments ||
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I was just thinking how Ted Kennedy is the perfect metaphor for the Democrats. Once handsome and idealistic - if not misguided - he has self destructed into a hideous blob. His continued downward spiral is almost too grotesque to watch.
#12
We should sign Kennedy up for a speaking tour. Like Kerry everytime he speaks Kerry slips in the polls. Couple of good rants and Bush will sail into a second term.
#14
Kalle, they don't, that's the problem. Water? Undetected epidemy of softening of brain tissues?
Mind control experiment going awry? Excessive repressed flatulence that makes the residents full of hot air? Who knows. Perhaps the same factors that are present in localities like Berserkley.
#15
Without the War in Iraq, would Khan's operation have been shut down? Wasn't Sadaam's capture vital to turning Mumar?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/27/2004 22:01 Comments ||
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Kalle, I lived in Boston for two years, 1991 and 1992. The people I asked that question of said yes, they know Teddy is a sonofabitch but he got a lot of Government money spent in Mass. Just look at the Big Dig project. That lined a whole lot of pockets at taxpayer expense. On an aside, I just watched CBS news for the first time in over a year (I have satellite and local channels have just become available) and the negative spin on everything to do with the Bush administration was unbelievable! The corker was a statement by a reporter on a segment "Iraq, the Real Story" when she said "Only 15 out of Iraq's 18 provinces are safe enough for people to vote". What should have been said was "Only 3 of Iraq's provinces are considered usafe for people who want to vote". She made it sound as though 15 out of 18 was somehow really bad. I'll go back to blogs. There is nothing worth watching on network television. I wasn't missing anything.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/27/2004 22:18 Comments ||
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#17
Only 99 our of 100 nutwork "journalists" give the rest a bad name.
#18
One U.S. state, Florida, can't figure out how to vote, so let's call the election off until they get it right.
Posted by: Tom ||
09/27/2004 22:43 Comments ||
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#19
Ted and the other devils are hedging their bets, conditioning their disciples to blame the administration when the big mushroom comes, so their agenda of control and elitist rule can benefit from nuclear terrorism as it does from garden variety barbarism.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2004 1:23:53 PM ||
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...I remember saying something to the effect that when the preliminary hearing was done, she would be sitting there wondering what the hell happened while her lawyers sent her polite notes reminding her about their bill. My fearless prediction - she will do a deal against Spec. Graner and/or Sgt Frederick, and only end up doing a year or so in the stockade.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
09/27/2004 14:18 Comments ||
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In civilian court the "getting pregnant" gambit would have helped for sentencing. I don't think that type of play is effective in a Court Marshal.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/27/2004 17:09 Comments ||
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especially when the father is another defendant and married to someone else ...
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/27/2004 17:18 Comments ||
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It's a f**k of a deal, mon......
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/27/2004 17:22 Comments ||
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#5
Was he also involved in "prisoner lingerie fittings"?
Actually, I don't know the actual charges against her. In the spectrum of abuses of prisoners, did England commit the worst offenses? She seems to be getting an awful lot of attention. I heard of some deaths in custody and sodomy charges-is that what she is being charged with?
#6
Don't take this the wrong way, but who gives a shit?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/27/2004 22:54 Comments ||
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#7
Compared to what the insurgents are doing to our people when they are kidnapped and 'imprisoned', Lyndie England at the most, should be slapped on the wrist, demoted one rank and reassigned to the US at a desk job. The 'psy-ops' program she was involved with will be in the back minds of the bad Iraqis for quite some time; giving them pause. Even Zarqawi would shudder over the thought of bearing his buttucks and 'jewels' before all...I'm sure!
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/27/2004 09:38 ||
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Seems like there should be tighter and more periodic medical screenings on the NG/Reserve side. Might be more expensive up front, but there won't be as many problems come mobilization.
A friend writes: "I find that reading the news these days, with hostage beheadings front and centre, is quite depressing. You have to keep up with all of the horrors; doesn't it drive you nuts?"
The repeated imagery of hostages taken, their pleas broadcast internationally on Al Jazeera so that we can fully appreciate their humanity, then videos released in which we can watch the victim scream out his horror, while a hooded man uses a knife to saw through his neck, and other hooded men stand by, shouting, "Allahu akhbar," which means, "God is great!"
Or the imagery of the little Christian children in Beslan, trying to run away from the school in which they were held captive, in which they had drunk their own pee to survive dehydration, running from the bombs set off in the gymnasium, some running with their mothers, and being machine-gunned in the back, by more men shouting, "Allahu akhbar!"
#2
Good post. The media have no right to do away with a perfectly valid word in order to remain on the 'good' side of terrorists for the sake of the story. I don't see why people should have to first decode the news in order to understand it.
However, 'terrorist' did creep briefly back into the media following the horror in Beslan, popping up in the strangest places - like CNN for example. Beslan shook the media awake. But I'm afraid they've gone back to sleep again.
#5
He doesn't have the wit that you do, Fred. Will you ever see "curly toed slippers, don't fail me now!" in one of his columns? N0000000000! One needs more than declaritive sentences. You da man. Carry on.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/27/2004 11:19 Comments ||
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Yes Fred, listen to AP, and please don't forget the snippets that make Rantburg (tm) a bolthole of sanity in this weird weird world (any other Heinlein fans think we're living through the "Crazy Times"?)
Mind you, that was a storming column though...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
09/27/2004 12:05 Comments ||
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#7
I bet Warren also has no "Ethel, bring me my pills, quick!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/27/2004 12:14 Comments ||
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#8
If they ain't got the Fat Lady, they don't stand a chance.
Just as Mel Brooks insists upon riduculing the Nazis, Fred and the Rantburgers give terrorists their daily dose of salts. Pretty hard to beat when you compare it to the pap being pumped out by mainstream media.
EFL - boiler plate about Japan & South Korea but these interesting details at the end:
The command is taking concrete steps to improve deployment capabilities. "We're co-locating Stryker brigades with high-speed vessels and C-17 airlift in Hawaii and Alaska," Fargo said. "We're deploying rotational bomber elements to Guam. We're stationing, once again, submarines in Guam. And we've proposed home- porting an additional carrier strike group forward in the Pacific." The command is looking more for access now than bases. "A network of cooperative security locations -- places, not bases -- will provide avenues of critical access for contingency operations, expand special operations force presence and continue, through our security cooperation efforts, to strengthen the capacity of our allies and partners in the region," he said.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/27/2004 9:35:45 AM ||
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Weâre stationing, once again, submarines in Guam.
!
Transit time to the East China Sea cut in half.
Oct. 4 issue - Deep in the Pentagon, admirals and generals are updating plans for possible U.S. military action in Syria and Iran. Concurrently, I hope. The military action, that is.
The Defense Department unit responsible for military planning for the two troublesome countries is "busier than ever," an administration official says. In what can only be characterized as a political leak for everybody, Kerry, voters, Chiraq, Baby Assad, Mulahs, Iranian students.
Some Bush advisers characterize the work as merely an effort to revise routine plans the Pentagon maintains for all contingencies in light of the Iraq war. Other Bush advisers say the countdown clock is more accurate than the one on 60 minutes.
More skittish bureaucrats say the updates are accompanied by a revived campaign by administration conservatives and neocons for more hard-line U.S. policies toward the countries. (Syria is regarded as a major route for jihadis entering Iraq, and Iran appears to be actively pursuing nuclear weapons.) Appears to be?! What do they want, a mushroom cloud?
Even hard-liners acknowledge that given the U.S. military commitment in Iraq, a U.S. attack on either country would be an unlikely last resort; covert action of some kind is the favored route for Washington hard-liners who want regime change in Damascus and Tehran. That's the ticket mullahs, relax. Get ready for a really Merry Ramadan.
—Mark Hosenball
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/27/2004 6:33:29 PM ||
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The most obvious and most straightforward parts of the war have been done with: Afghanistan (had to be taken care of, and quickly) and Iraq (establishing a base of operations for the coming phase). Neither involved much uncertainty; the "what" was obvious to all, and only the "when" and the "exactly how" were kept obscured from our enemies-- and from us.
But from here on out, it's ALL going to be murky; and at times it's going to seem like we're not doing a damn thing at all-- and it may seem like we're not ever going to, either.
That's bad for our enemies, and it's also bad for our nerves. My nerves, especially: I've got a kid over there who's very likely going to be in the thick of it if it starts before about next March.
Hang in there, people. These things take a lot of preparation, and very little of it is evident from our point of view. And it shouldn't be.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
09/27/2004 20:00 Comments ||
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#2
I am sure that we are revising plans and making new ones for military ops in Syria. However, there are things going on in Syria right now that may indicate change. Like a boom on a hamas biggie, like some troops being pulled back out of Lebanon. Maybe Hamas and Hisb'allah are becoming more like liabilities to Syria than assets. Time will tell if we have a trend. The thing that I keep thinking about is if we can change Syria by quiet diplomacy, coupled with covert means, it will be more possible to do something similar with Iran. I do not think, however, that diplomacy is going to really help the Iran case, except for some pressure. Syria peacefully exiting the camp of Iran would be a tremendous blow to the Black Turbans.
It will be very interesting to see what happens in Syria during the coming 3 months.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/27/2004 20:00 Comments ||
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#3
Why can't we pull large numbers of troops from Europe and Japan and send them to the middle east?
Syria certainly has it's share of sins to pay for, but it seems to me that Iran would be the more pressing issue.
Posted by: RJB in JC MO ||
09/27/2004 20:00 Comments ||
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#4
I vote for Iran first. Once it's gone, Syria will cave jig-time.
#5
Agreed. An Iran decap strike, if serious and successful, is a three-fer with Iran, Syria, and Lebanon all falling into the chaotic Missing-Paymaster-Mullah-Vacuum.
#6
I'm voting for Bush, but here's the painful paradox that makes me consider voting for Kerry: it is going to be almost impossible for Bush to take out Iran. The opposition, externally from other countries, and internally from democrats (and a lot of republicans), if he started down that track will make Iraq look like a cakewalk. I just don't think he will be able to manage it. Fewer allies would join, and it might be asking too much from the US people, who are pretty wary of another war at this point. Kerry would have more credibility to take out the Mullah's--only-Nixon-could-go-to-China kind of a deal. But I don't see Kerry having the nerve or long-term vision to do it. If he did, I would be even more perplexed, because I think we need a president who can take on the Mullahs in the next four years.
#7
Being an absolute dictator, Assad is considerably more flexible than are the mullahs. The effort for the time being, more than anything else, will be to convince him that the status quo of the middle east has changed, and he must change with it. However, he sits under the sword of Damocles, and he is painfully aware of the fact. So even under the best of circumstances, it will take a long time for him to "get his ducks in a row", to prevent an utter collapse of his regime. Another factor pushing him towards instability is Egypt, a nation becoming dangerously imbalanced. They are the wild card in this entire process. Iran, on the other hand, has begun to resemble Japan before the Pacific War. Theirs is a aggression based on machismo as much as ignorance, and this lust for their "place in the sun" must be utterly broken. They will either strike first in an ill-conceived assault, just to show they can; or they will be attacked pre-emtively by Israel, and the US will see to it that their response is neutralized and ineffective. From that point on, they are at the tip of the bayonet. If nuclear weapons become an issue, the best thing the US could do would be to issue a "death list" of their leaders and scientists, by name and face, to let the Iranian people know that these people MUST die for their to be peace.
#9
Interesting this leaks the same day Bush says Iran will not get the bomb. The same week of the first presidential debate on foreign affairs. Bush is staking out the hawkish territory to force Kerry to either look weak or alienate his base.
And by focusing the first debate on foreign policy Bush is setting himself up to have a foreign policy mandate if he wins big. His second "first hundred days" could be more interesting in the ME than domestically. Australia will also have an election behind it with a hawkish victory.
If you're an islamofascist, you're starting to get squeezed.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/27/2004 20:49 Comments ||
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#10
Military action against Iran would not be a full blown invasion.
My take would be a simultaneous full force aerial attack on any known nuke site plus a massive decapitation strike that can possibly jeopardize the Iranian chain of command. Both must be complete surprise attacks. Professional hit squads should take care of any ranking mullah they can find.
Allow for a maximum chaos situation, then give any possible help to the anti-mullah forces.
Most Iranians are U.S. friendly (more so than the Iraqis in 2002) and they want the mullahs gone.
Then offer Baby Assad the Ghadaffi option. Remnain the strongman but cough up the WMD and vacate Lebanon.
I'd be less happy about Syria falling into anarchy... they don't have the progressive forces that can take over like in Iran.
#13
TGA, Unlike WWII where the strategy was Germany First this one is Iran last. Syria goes next so that we don't have to watch our backside in Iraq when it's Iran's turn. I agree, no land forces into Iran, but we would send them into Syria if BA wond play Ghadaffi to secure Iraq personnel and weapons shipped there. We will also need to de-Baathify Syria or the job will not be done. This is the last regime with fascist heritage, and it must be rooted out.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/27/2004 20:58 Comments ||
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#14
TGA, agree 100%.
SPoD, that's a given. It is also possible that in the ensuing chaos, being a foreigner (majority) RG would be like having painted the bullseye on the back. On the front too.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/27/2004 21:01 Comments ||
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#17
Mrs Davis
I'm not sure if time's on our side with Iran. I don't know how close they REALLY are to have the bomb (although there is some German intelligence on the matter).
Syria is even easier to defeat than Iraq but might be difficult to control after that. Who would be in charge after taking out the Baathists?
Baby Assad isn't nearly hated as much as Hafis, and Syrians would probably go into guerilla mode. A messy situation that would bind too many U.S. forces.
Syrians are annoying, terrorist sponsoring... but Iran is the big picture. If the tanks had just rolled on to Damascus in March 2003 in "hot pursuit" of the Iraqi WMD's, that would be different. But now?
Israel could always handle Syria alone if need to.
#18
I don't think that our decap strikes worked very well in Iraq. Even Chemical Ali returned from the dead. I would think that the target ought to be the Revolutionary Guard. If we can damage them, maybe the populous will take care of business.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/27/2004 22:08 Comments ||
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#19
From an armchair generals view point I have a tough time seeing much hope for a change of regime in Iran any time soon. There is just too many Revolutionary Guards answering directly to the mullahs who have the money. The regular army is keep on a short leash for weapons and money, and the RG watches them real closely. The small student demonstrations are just a small pressure relief mechanism that will not be allow to boil over.
We don't have the troops to make a solid effort via invasion. With the rotations in and out of Iraq and Afganistan and having a presence in South Korea leaves little or no slack. Our conventional decapitation strikes haven't been a resounding success and if we tried and failed, the mullahs would have no restraint on nuclear attack.
Unless we have a very large rabbit in the hat I think we will have to wait at least two to three years before Iran is ripe to pick.
Posted by: Old Fogey ||
09/27/2004 22:42 Comments ||
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#20
Dja ya'll ever consdier that perhaps Russia may want a piece of Iran; they may want to help? The mullahs have been funding regional Islamic groups since they have been in business, they have been sabre rattling the last few years. Perhaps Beslan is the motivation Putin needs to remove this sore from the buttocks of the earth: Th Mullahs.
A rare pro-democracy protest in Tehran gained momentum late on Sunday with hundreds of cars pouring onto the streets, blaring horns and provoking an appearance from hardline vigilantes, witnesses said. Local residents said Persian-language television channels from the United States had been broadcasting callers throughout the day who had exhorted Iranians to turn out for demonstrations. Two hundred riot police were drafted into central Tehran earlier in the day when more than 2,000 people started milling round the streets after a minor protest inspired by the U.S.-based channels, witnesses said. "There have been callers from all over the place, even from places like Montreal, telling people to go out onto the streets," said one with access to satellite television.
Spontaneous protests demanding greater social freedoms are rare in the Islamic Republic. A Reuters witness saw dozens of cars near Valiasr Avenue, the tree-lined street that cuts the city north to south, repeatedly honking their horns. Another witness on a footbridge further down Valiasr saw more than 300 cars. A group of volunteer militiamen arrived on motorbikes but there was no sign of any fighting. Hardline vigilantes crushed demonstrations by student activists last summer. Eyewitnesses saw a further 300 cars driving up and down Jordan Boulevard, a boutique-lined street popular with the young and wealthy. The occupants made victory signs through the windows and blared their horns. Earlier in the day, motorists tooted horns in support of what they perceived as a demonstration. A witness said scores of people had been chanting "freedom," clapping and handing out pastries. He said police had used their batons to push people from the scene but added there had been no fighting.
The ILNA labor news agency labeled the protesters monarchists, loyal to the shah toppled in the 1979 Islamic revolution. Some of the crowd said they had turned out because of a call by the mystic Ahura Pirouz Khalegi Yazdi, who has predicted the fall of Iran's government on Oct. 1. He broadcasts on a California-based channel and promised to charter aircraft to bring home the Iranian diaspora from the United States.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/27/2004 3:08:00 AM ||
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#1
That is all pretty interesting. Well except for the kookie bit at the end.
The "hardline vigilantes" ride "motorbikes" and the protesters drive cars. That tell me the protester weild the ecconomic power. They need to learn how to wield pipes and chains out their car windows to take out the hardline thugs, even a calvary sword. It would be nice not to have to attack Iran as it will unite the populace and set them back another 20 years. Pray for a new Iranian revolution.
#3
B-a-r - Need you ask? Lol! Wanna bet that Bush's confidence regards the Mad Mullahs and his flat statements about them acquiring nukes isn't based on some very good and very hard intel?
#4
Well except for the kookie bit at the end.
The "hardline vigilantes" ride "motorbikes" and the protesters drive cars. That tell me the protester weild the ecconomic power.
Methinks the motorbikes are more a tactical than an economic choice. That said, if the protestors ever figure out how to coordinate and use their power, it'll get real interesting.
An Israeli security source has told the BBC Israel was involved in the killing of a Hamas activist in Syria on Sunday. Officially Israel has neither confirmed nor denied being behind the attack on Izz El-Deen Sheikh Khalil, whose car was destroyed by a bomb in Damascus. Israel described him as a point man for the Palestinian Islamist movement's military actions in Gaza Strip. Syria said Israel's attack showed its "intention to shake regional security and stability". The Israelis had vowed to hit Hamas leaders "wherever they are" after suicide bomb attacks in August in Beersheba left 16 people dead. Witnesses said they saw Mr Khalil get into his car and answer his mobile phone moments when the vehicle blew up. Three passers-by were injured.
Warning to Syria
Mr Khalil, 39, was a senior figure in Hamas' military wing and a member of the generation that set the group up. He was based in Damascus along with other senior Hamas figures, including the overall leader, Khaled Meshaal. He was among about 400 Palestinian militants deported by Israel to Lebanon in the early 1990s. Israel has killed dozens of Hamas members in the last three years, including its two most senior leaders earlier in 2004. Analysts say this latest Israeli assassination is intended to send a message to Syria's government that it will pay a high price for supporting Palestinian militant groups in the occupied territories. Syria insists its support is political and not military. BBC correspondent Barbara Plett says Syria's dilemma is how to respond. Damascus cannot risk direct military confrontation with Israel, while indirect retaliation, through Hamas or another militant group, will only confirm Israel's accusations against Syria. Our correspondent says Damascus will probably mount diplomatic protests, which are unlikely to do much to thwart Israeli action against it. Good riddance of bad rubbish. I hope they have a difficult time finding enough pieces to give his coffin any noticeable weight.
US President George W. Bush says "all options are on the table" for making sure Iran dismantles its nuclear program, and that Washington will never let Tehran acquire atomic weapons.
"All options" includes paving...
"My hope is that we can solve this diplomatically," Bush said in a three-part interview with Fox News Channel's "O'Reilly Factor" program, excerpts of which were made public on yesterday. "Let me try to solve it diplomatically first. All options are on the table, of course, in any situation. But diplomacy is the first option."
"If they're stoopid, they'll reject that option and act like they've been acting."
The Bush administration has charged that oil-rich Iran does not need a civilian nuclear program for energy and that Tehran is actually seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. Asked whether the United States would let Iran develop that capability, Bush replied: "No, we've made it clear, our position is that they won't have a nuclear weapon."
"What part about 'won't' don't you get?"
"We are working our hearts out so that they don't develop a nuclear weapon, and the best way to do so is to continue to keep international pressure on them," the president said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2004 1:18:20 PM ||
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#1
It's my belief that we're going to end up letting Israel do the dirty work on this one.
Washington will never let Tehran acquire atomic weapons
From George's lips to the bomber pilot's God's ear.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/27/2004 13:41 Comments ||
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#3
It's my belief we're going to be beaten to the punch by the Israelis on this one, but there will be plenty of dirty work. Don't forget the sale of JDAMS last week.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/27/2004 13:41 Comments ||
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#5
wonder where those Israeli subs are right now? Persian Gulf must be pinging like crazy
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/27/2004 13:46 Comments ||
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#6
I don't think the Bush administration intends to let Israel "do the dirty work" if Bush is re-elected; but I do think the JDAMs sale was to give the Israelis some insurance against a Kerry victory this November.
If Kerry wins, don't be surprised to wake up on the morning of November 3rd to find nothing but big, smoking holes in the ground where Iran's nuclear facilities used to be.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
09/27/2004 14:04 Comments ||
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#7
Sounds like a plan.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/27/2004 14:11 Comments ||
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#8
Dave D.'s analysis has the ring of truth. Besides, to let Israel do the "dirty work", they'd have to overfly Iraq and it would be a hard sell to convince the world that the USAF was not in control of the airspace. So, even if Israeli jets did the bombing, the US would be complicit in the attack and we might as well do it ourselves. Another possible scenario is a series of "work accidents" at Iranian nuclear sites.
#9
lex - You sure were barking up a different tree 2 weeks ago.
No waffling or quayling in Dubya's statement I can see.
Damned good thing Gore isn't Prez. And here's hoping we won't get an even more fucked up wanker in Skeery. In that case it would, indeed, be Israel Against The World. I wonder if they'd survive the 4 years it would take to undo such a catastrophe.
#10
At a yom kippur break the fast this weekend, i had the honor of talking with a Jewish woman of Iranian birth, who goes back regularly to see her immediate family.
Items to share
1. Everybody hates the Mullahs - "vote for Bush, lady, so he can drive out the mullahs" (the muslims, not just the jews - although she was only in Teheran, and probably in the more upscale part)
2. Taxidriver - pointing to a tower at the airport - thats where we'll hang the mullahs (but maybe he just wanted a better tip?)
3. Jews however are scared - rumour - the minute the Iranian nuke facilities are attacked, the mullahs will round up the Jews (of whom there are still over 25,000 there, IIUC)
At this point, I have to say that's being EXTREMELY charitable: John Kerry is an utter dolt, and if we're foolish enough to elect him our president, we will richly deserve every last bit of the mountain of contempt which will be heaped on us by the rest of the world.
If he wins the election expect all hell to break loose, everywhere, almost immediately: Israel/Iran, China/Taiwan, NKor/SKor/Japan, Pakistan/India, you name it-- Kerry's going to be confronted by so many explosive situations he won't know whether to shit or go blind.
The only possible upside to a Kerry victory is that very likely, he'll fuck things up so spectacularly that he will be the last Democratic Party president we have, EVER.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
09/27/2004 14:34 Comments ||
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#12
lex - You sure were barking up a different tree 2 weeks ago.
A gentleman's prerogative to change his mind, .com.
Seriously, that was before the bunker-buster sale. Made me re-visit my assumptions.
#13
If he wins the election expect all hell to break loose, everywhere, almost immediately: Israel/Iran, China/Taiwan, NKor/SKor/Japan, Pakistan/India, you name it-- Kerry's going to be confronted by so many explosive situations he won't know whether to shit or go blind.
Quite possibly. Dissing Allawi? Beyond shamelessness. I'm beginning to think Kerry is emotionally disturbed. In his warped mind Iraq is beginning to trigger Vietnam flashback loops that pit the "war hero" vs "war criminal" memes.
#14
Dave - Sorry, you're right, of course - on the entire lot of serious consequences. "Amok" is the word that springs to my mind.
Lex - No sweat, but the key here is doubting Bush, thinking him just another politician. I think the Taleban and Saddam should've convinced people, by now.
As for today's Troll-du-jour, Poision Retard, he's either a disingenuous lying sack of shit - or one of those who expects perfection from everyone but himself. Bush must act within reality, fantacists and wankers do not. Warts (read: budget deficits, IMHO) and all, Dubya will do what needs doing, just not at my preferred rate or in my preferred ("fry 'em up") manner.
#15
"I'm beginning to think Kerry is emotionally disturbed."
I dunno. I've been wrestling with that myself, and am more inclined to think "really, REALLY stupid, and dishonest to boot."
I mean, how in the HELL could he have possibly thought that very many people would fall for his "Vietnam War Hero" crap? That's just plain DUMB.
OTOH, it's also crazy...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
09/27/2004 14:45 Comments ||
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#16
Given also what the Massachusetts Dems say about him-- heavy "Do you know who I am?!" syndrome-- the guy appears to be self-absorbed more than anything else. To the point of believing his own legends. Whatever you think of W, the guy clearly is comfortable with who he is and knows his limitations, which is the first condition of effective leadership. Kerry is beginning to scare me sh*tless.
#17
"Bush must act within reality, fantacists and wankers do not."
And one aspect of that reality is that our overall, long-term strategy is most assuredly **NOT** something that he would lay out, chapter and verse, before the enemies we are seeking to defeat. A smart boxer isn't going to telegraph his punches, and neither are we.
I have little patience for people who expect to have everything spelled out for them in black and white-- what we aim to do, how we intend to go about doing it, and when and where we'll act next-- and then go into a hysterical fit of belligerent hand-wringing when they can't discern but vague signs and portents.
Iraq was a prerequisite for going after bigger prey; we needed a land base close to the dark, beating heart of Mordor, and a secure oil supply for the West that couldn't be shut off by pissed-off oil sheikhs.
The next four years will be very interesting if Bush wins re-election. If Kerry wins, on the other hand, they'll be even more interesting-- but not in a good way.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
09/27/2004 14:59 Comments ||
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#18
liberalhawk,
I second you on that.
My mother owns a small flat in a distant provincial city in iran, and the painter who was doing some repair work and knew she was part time living in France, told her that he feared that when the american will push the mulhas out, chirac would act the same as for irak.
The anti mullha sentiment is NOT RESTRICTED in up sacle teheran;it is well spread in the country.
Having said that, i think iran doesn't need any invasion, but a firm push-over. We won't see iraki style general anarchy, or looting.
Why don't you learn how to spell, you illiterate bastard? Have you heard of Hooked on Phonics? Since you do not expect perfection from a president, I bet you voted for Clinton. Admit it, you are a closet Clinton lover. I bet you sent Clinton flowers, after the operation.
I am not going to be patient, I want the terrorists dead now, you moron or get someone else that have the guts to do it. It may or maybe not be Kerry, but I donât give a damn. I am getting tired of this nation building bulls***.
#26
Fuck off, Poison Drone. IIRC, you posted similar drivel, different nym, just a few days ago. BFD, asshole. Yap, yap.
You sound like the entire lot of down/twisted dickheads who come here for Bushwhacking and/or Therapy for your Hatred. Who cares, fuckwit, what you think, eh? You've said nothing interesting or illuminating or thought-provoking. You've been nowhere, done nothing, have nothing to offer. Why don't you try something relatively interesting, like eating Drano?
If you're tired, it's from sitting on your fat unintelligent ass and criticizing - you do nothing else, you offer nothing else.
#27
youre talking PR vs Dot com, are you not TGA - if so, my thoughts exactly. He dont know what he's getting into, poor fool.
PR - dot com is one of our toughest minded hawks here, and has himself expressed frustration at the slow pace of military activities in Iraq. I have spent oodles of electrons defending a hearts and minds approach to him = only rarely with success. He is NO softy in this. He is like many here, (and unlike myself) pretty loyal to Bush. I myself have sometimes quarreled with him on that, but to argue from that that he is a closet Clinton fan is absurd. I myself voted for Clinton twice - i rather doubt dot com ever voted for Clinton.
Dot com does sometimes (often) post in a rather belligerent manner. His regular contributions however have to some degree earned him the right to do so. Yours have not earned you a similar right. I suggest you cease and desist.
#28
Let's be honest PR you're not going to be patient because of course you are a patient. I advise listening closely to the big blonde nurse with the saddle.
#31
PR: I am not going to be patient, I want the terrorists dead now, you moron or get someone else that have the guts to do it. It may or maybe not be Kerry, but I donât give a damn. I am getting tired of this nation building bulls***.
Kerry's instinct is to help America's enemies at every opportunity. He was pro-Sandinista in Nicaragua, anti-Grenada invasion and pretty much anything that was pro-American national security interests.
Kerry adamantly opposed President Reaganâs policy of preventing a communist takeover of Central America. Evidence showed that communist Cuba and the then-Soviet Union were coordinating a massive assault on the Western hemisphere. Reagan had set them back with the liberation of Grenada and the overthrow of a communist gang there. He was also supporting a resistance movement, known as the Contras, opposing the communist Sandinistas who had taken control of Nicaragua.
In an article in the American Spectator, entitled, âThe Bolshevik in Kerry,â George Neumayr wrote, âKerryâs limousine liberation theology led him into one of the most embarrassing moments of his early Senate careerâhis disastrous Neville Chamberlain-style diplomacy with Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega. Shortly after becoming a Senator, Kerry took off for Nicaragua with Tom Harkin on a free-lancing fact-finding tour, the purpose of which was to stymie congressional support for the Contras by âfindingâ that the Sandinistas weren't such bad guys after all.â
Kerry said at the time, âWe believe this is a wonderful opening for a peaceful settlement without having to militarize the region. The real issue is: Is this administration going to overthrow the government of the Sandinistas no matter what they do?â Neumayr notes that Reagan Secretary of State George Shultz âwas so flabbergasted by Kerryâs shilling for Ortega that he denounced Kerry publicly for âdealing with the communistsâ and letting himself be âused.ââ
But thatâs not how Glenn Kessler of the Post saw it. âOver the years,â he wrote, âKerry has pushed engagement with the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, the communists in Vietnam and the mullahs who run Iran.â Kessler wrote that, âEarly in his Senate career, in 1985, he riled the Reagan administration by traveling to Nicaragua to meet with the Sandinista government, saying that âwe've got to create a climate of trust.ââ Kessler said that Kerry had âquestioned U.S. support for the contras in Nicaragua in the 1980s.â
Thatâs how Kessler sanitized a Kerry policy of appeasing the communists in Nicaragua. If we had followed Kerryâs advice, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and perhaps even Mexico might be communist today. But no thanks to Kerry, pressure from the Contras forced the Sandinistas to hold free elections, which they lost. As a result, the communist insurgency in El Salvador collapsed and assumed the role of a political opposition party. On March 21, that party, led by veteran communist Schafik Handal, lost an election for the presidency. He got about 34 percent of the vote, compared to 58 percent for the conservative. Reagan was right, Kerry was wrong.
#33
LH - *sniff snif* That just about the sweetest (though backhanded and waaay over-qualified, heh) compliment I've ever had! From you. I think I might cry!
Lol - I'm not mellowing. Post-Beslan, it's just the opposite, in fact. I don't post much anymore because I have little new to add to "fry 'em up" - so I mostly STFU until someone wiggles the worm just right.
But I read you guys almost every day -- and my heart is with you - even LH's more nuancedtouch-feely shit approach. He's got a valid POV and I respect it, as long as he doesn't cross my line of sight during the trigger squeeze, heh.
People like PR are, IMO, fools. Brain as smooth as a cue ball. When it grows up, having had to compromise 5 or 6 million times, then it will "get it" about what Dubya faces.
#34
"Dot com does sometimes (often) post in a rather belligerent manner. His regular contributions however have to some degree earned him the right to do so. Yours have not earned you a similar right. I suggest you cease and desist."
LH,
I have been coming to this site for many many months, I just now started blogging. I love this site and I am not going away. I have offered plenty, but people like .com want to shut down people that does agree with Rush or Fox. I am not trying to convince .com of anything, I don't give a damn what he believes. I am not infringing on his beliefs but do not infringe on mine, by cussing me out for no reason.
I made the Clinton accusation to let people know, I don't appreciate being called a troll. If the Clinton accusation is false, then me being a troll, is false. I am a hawk myself, not chicken hawk like Cheney.
#36
then me being a troll, is false. I am a hawk myself, not chicken hawk like Cheney.
If youve been here awhile, you know the 'chickenhawk' meme is gonna do nothing but start a flamewar. Posting with the intent to start a flamewar is trolling. Its got nothing to do with whether youre a dove or a hawk - Aris Katsaris, though a hawk in some respects is dovish on Iraq - he is not a troll, as he does not post simply to provoke. You may be a hawk and still be a troll here.
#38
LH,
At the end of the day, except Gentle, we all want the same thing--when it comes to terrorism. This is a true pro-Israel blog site and I love it. I am very pro-Israel, period. My comments were meant to show my fustration because I think we are going in circles when it comes to terrorism, not become a troll.
#39
I wonder if you wouldnt prefer LGF, PR?. Theyre more inclined to kill em all posts, and are less interested in strategic discussion. This is also a smaller community, and its wise to be a tad more polite to valued contributors.
#40
LGF, or perhaps the Emporer Misha's place (www.nicedoggie.net). Both are as pro-Israel as Rantburg, and Misha indulges in enough spittle-flecked Bush-bashing (mostly for his perceived lack of bloodthirstiness) to satisfy even the most revenous appetite for that sort of thing. Though I wouldn't want to be caught using the term "chickenhawk" over there, not for a million bucks.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
09/27/2004 17:10 Comments ||
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#41
Many, many months. Right. So, um, how many? 2? 3? You think I'm a Clintonite, lol, so you definitely wildly exaggerate - a hallmark of lying disingenuous bullshitters who think anonymity gives them license to lie like dogs and no one will know otherwise or catch on.
Wrong. This is a community - and I've become a fringe guy cuz I want to fry all of Islam. I started near the fringe, jackoff, because of my up close experience with Islam. I think it's time to take off the gloves and fire 'em up. I'd happily toss you in for tinder, asshole. I've lost all tolerance - the reservoir is dry. You have a classic case of bad timing and your lie is obvious, pretender. You have no idea who I am.
The problem is that old fucker reality. What a BITCH it is. I live within it - and though pissed off most of the time, recognize that everything else is fantasy. Bush does what he can, will do much more, has done more than any other Prez ever, and is worth a googleplex of jerkoff second-guessing fools like you. No - it's not enough to make me happy, but it's far more than you or your gutless turd multiculti UN-sucking Chirac-sucking traitor Skeery could or would do.
You started blogging prematurely. Come back when you grow up. Of course, there's still the Drano option. I'm thinking of the gene-pool here. Nix on having children, dood. Those precious bodily fluids must be protected.
#42
"Wrong. This is a community - and I've become a fringe guy cuz I want to fry all of Islam. I started near the fringe, jackoff, because of my up close experience with Islam. I think it's time to take off the gloves and fire 'em up."
.com,
So we are in agreement, besides the jackoff part. I have been coming to Rantburg for about 4 months now.
"has done more than any other Prez ever"
More than Reagan, give me a break, you lost your marbles.
#43
"The problem is that old fucker reality. What a BITCH it is. I live within it - and though pissed off most of the time, recognize that everything else is fantasy."
D'ya ever wonder what might have happened-- how much more we might have been able to do by this point in the WoT-- if the Dems hadn't gone all 1960's on us over Iraq? I do; and I suspect that the main reason we haven't gone beyond Iraq yet is because the administration have concluded that with the Dems acting the way they are, doing anything beyond Iraq would be foolish until after the election.
I really wouldn't have predicted, back in 2002, that the Dems would have utterly turned traitor by this point; and I don't think the Bush people were predicting it, either.
Just ruminating...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
09/27/2004 17:35 Comments ||
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#44
Wotta load of diversion. You're lame, weak, and still disingenuous.
"More than Reagan, give me a break, you lost your marbles."
Regards Islam and Terrorism? That was the topic, at least for everyone ELSE here. Reagan fought commies until their stronghold and state-backing folded. Massive kudos to him and every swinging dick who carried water during that long long duel. I was one of them and I am very happy I had the chance to be part of it. Why do I get the feeling you were MIA? Because you can't stay within the framework of reality, perhaps? Asshat.
Post-communism we are faced with fascist socialism and Islam. The gutless socialists, your Skeery pals, are undermining us from within. They must be defeated at the polling booth. You are an asshole ABBer. Your reasoning, what little there is, doesn't make sense. Voting for Skeery cuz Bush isn't tough enough in the WoT? That's incredibly stupid, indefensible, and definitely trolling bullshit. Skeery would slap on his favorite knee-pads and fellate the lot of 'em. Wanker.
Islam - the Terror Enablers and Apologists are the other direct threat, today. NO ONE has done more than Bush - you disingenuous obfuscating fucktard. Get on topic. No, better yet, just eat the fucking Drano. You have no marbles to lose if you conclude voting for Skeery does anything, anything at all, beneficial for freedom. You're a trolling whore - and not one of the brightest we've seen, either. Fuck off.
#46
PR,I have read RB on a daily basis for a couple of years now.If you shut-up and listen you can learn a hell of alot from folks like .com,old spook,jfm,etc(sorry folks to damn many wise,brillant minds to list here)they call this Rantburg U for a reason.While not the smartest person here(thats why I listen more than I comment)I like to think of have earned a modicom of respect from these highly experienced,well educated folks.
My Grandpa use to tell me"Make sure your brain is running before you throw your mouth in gear".
#55
With repect to the original topic, I thnk that the Shiite bomb cannot be stopped. Isn't it time to reevaluate our strategy in the area? Personnally, I don't understand how Iran intends to pull off a nuclear strike on Israel without killing a host of Moslems, but then again that would require rational thinking.
If we assuem that the EU, UN, Russia and China will thwart our attempt to prevent nuclear proliferation into Iran, shouldn't we be looking at signing mutual protection treaties with Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Israel? Shouldn't we look at removing all American forces from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar? At what point do we eliminate Iranian missile sites? The logistics of escorting merchant shipping through the straits of Hormuz needs to be looked at as well as blockading the Gulf of Oman and the remainder of the of the Iranian coast. Even a strike against known Iranian facilities won't do more than delay the process.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/27/2004 21:22 Comments ||
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#56
#47 PR, I was once like you...I thought I could take .com....I have yet to recover. Take my advice: do NOT mess with .com!
Rafael,
Other than all the cursing, .com have not made a credible point yet, to me. I HAVE NO ISSUES WITH ANYONE ELSE ON THIS SITE. (.com = brain aneurism)
"And we all know fuckwit will be back, prolly under yet another nym and continue to troll"
.com
I am not going away and I will stay as Poison Reverse. So get hands out of your pants and go have a ding dong or something. In fact, go and get a real job. How is it that you have time to blog, all day and night long? Go and get yourself a plastic girlfriend. When I get some time, I will blog. Otherwise I have better things to do. BTW, get your head out of Bush's rear end.
#57
I don't understand how Iran intends to pull off a nuclear strike on Israel without killing a host of Moslems
Iran will not use nuclear weapons in a direct strike on any country. I think suicide is a concept even they understand. However, I think they wouldn't hesitate to sell a few of their nuclear bombs to terrorists for use as blackmail or indeed as an attack weapon. Sub-humans like OBL have their own logic as to who deserves death or not, so a few thousand Muslims would not stand in the way.
It has become clear as a result of 9/11 that we have entered a stage where rogue states will use proxies to fight their battles. That is the real threat. That is why every aspiring nuclear mullah has to go down.
Posted by: Rafael ||
09/27/2004 22:31 Comments ||
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#58
Poison Reverse: I'm one of the editors here. We welcome informed commentary and snarkiness. We don't condone idiotarian insults, and we don't permit trolling. You've been here a day and all you've done is pick fights.
I'm not going to tolerate it. If you can't play nice I'll just dump your comments into the sink trap.
This might be the only warning you get. Consider carefully.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/27/2004 22:47 Comments ||
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#59
Steve,
I have been very courteous, in my other postings. Nevertheless, point taken. I will do as you say. See below and judge for yourself.
Also, here is an unprovoked statement from .com above #14
"As for today's Troll-du-jour, Poision Retard, he's either a disingenuous lying sack of shit"
If someone said this about you for no reason whatsoever, would you take it. I am not a liberal, French, or a troll, I just want what's best for my country. That's it, plain and simple.
#60
Oh Shit! Dr Steve is here already! Damn!
So I'll have to rewrite my post...
Pussy Retard - You've earned that moniker and you are, indeed, a troll. You've exaggerated and/or lied about your stay here and you have zero credibility. As for my schedule, lol, I don't have to explain myself to you - cuz, gee whiz, you've been here so long and all!
I answered you, pussy-boy, and you ducked and whined and continued to obfuscate and distract - the normal response from jerkoff trolls. Same as your lame excuse for a candidate.
Everything you've stated regards Bush is pure blind ABB bullshit... and has zip zilch nada to do with Skeery's fitness to change a bed pan, much less be the CINC and prosecute the WoT. All evidence is that Skeery is utterly Unfit for Command, in fact, as asserted by MY brothers in arms, the Swift Vets.
While Bush has actually done many things, extraordinary things, such as removing the Taleban and Saddam, your boy has done nothing but wiggle all over the board trying to figure out how to "position" himself. Skeery's the most transparent political whore I've ever seen - and that includes his murderous drunk butt-buddy, the pride of the Kennedy Clan... and that's really saying something.
According to Lebanese sources, a few days ago, the Lebanese security forces thwarted a terror attack against the Italian embassy in the heart of Beirut, near the Lebanese Parliament building. Five members of the terrorist cell that planned the attack have been wanted by the Lebanese security forces since 1999. The cell is headed by Ahmed Al Mikati, a member of Usbat al-Ansar, a Lebanese Islamic organizations affiliated with Al Qaida,.
According to the sources, the terrorists had intended to place a car bomb containing approximately 300 kilograms of explosives near the embassy building. The cell members were arrested while preparing the car bomb, and found to be in possession of forged papers, including entry passes which would have allowed them to bring the car into the Parliament compound. The leader of the cell, Ahmed Al Mikati had apparently undergone plastic surgery in order to change his appearance. He also held a forged passport and was in disguise when he was arrested.
Ahmed Al Mikati was one of a group of Usbat al-Ansar fighters who settled in northern Lebanon after returning from Afghanistan. In 1999, the group was involved in clashes with the Lebanese army in the village of Dinneyeh. Ahmed Al Mikati fled to the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near Zidon. His name has been associated with several terror attacks and attempted attacks in Lebanon over the past two years.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/27/2004 3:15:50 AM ||
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Syria did not interfere in Lebanon's recent presidential elections and has no interest in controlling its smaller neighbor, Syria's foreign minister said Sunday. "We do not want to control Lebanon. We are afraid that others will control Lebanon and seek to control Syria through Lebanon. This is the real Syrian-Lebanese fear," Farouk al-Sharaa said in an interview from New York with the Lebanese satellite station Al Hayat-LBC.
Al-Sharaa, who was participating in the U.N. General Assembly, said a recent Security Council resolution that demanded Syrian troops leave Lebanon was a service to Israel. "None of the speakers at the U.N. General Assembly mentioned Resolution 1559 except for the Israeli foreign minister ... This proves that the resolution was a service to Israel, and definitely not a service to Lebanon. "Even those who adopted this resolution are reconsidering it now," he said, without specifying which countries he was referring to as having second thoughts. The United States and France drafted the resolution, which was co-sponsored by Britain and Germany. It called on Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon, stop influencing politics in the country and allow Lebanon to hold presidential elections as scheduled. Lebanon defied the Sept. 2 resolution, and Parliament, apparently on Syria's nod, voted to amend the constitution to extend pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud's soon-to-expire term by another three years. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is due to report to the Security Council early next month on Lebanon.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
09/27/2004 12:59:05 AM ||
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#1
"We are afraid that others will control Lebanon and seek to control Syria through Lebanon."
Preemptive puppetization?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/27/2004 19:08 Comments ||
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SH - ROFL!!!
This is seriously rich in unintended irony, cognitive dissonance, and Arab hypocrisy, just in case anyone is worried about getting their MDA, lol! W00t!
A perfect (Syrian-Assad spin-word) for the upcoming smash best seller 'The Middle-Eastern Lexicon of Proper Geostrategic Terms' :) Arabic version of course.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
09/27/2004 19:17 Comments ||
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#5
A U.N. resolution that is a "service to Israel" -- that would be a first for recent history.
Posted by: Tom ||
09/27/2004 19:21 Comments ||
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Authorities have made little progress worldwide in defeating Islamic extremists affiliated with Al Qaeda despite thwarting attacks and arresting high-profile figures, according to interviews with intelligence and law enforcement officials and outside experts.
Even before the Sept. 11 attacks, Al Qaeda was a loosely organized network, but core leaders exercised considerable control over its operations. Since the loss of its base in Afghanistan and many of those leaders, the organization has dispersed its operatives and reemerged as a lethal ideological movement.
Osama bin Laden may now serve more as an inspirational figure than a CEO, and the war in Iraq is helping focus militants' anger, according to dozens of interviews in recent weeks on several continents. European and moderate Islamic countries have become targets. And instead of undergoing lengthy training at camps in Afghanistan, recruits have been quickly indoctrinated at home and deployed on attacks.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/27/2004 2:32:20 AM ||
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In a video image posted on the Internet last week, a quivering, blindfolded American kneels on the floor of an empty room as five hooded men stand behind him, dressed in black. After reading a speech from a sheaf of white papers, the leader of the group pulls a long knife from his shirt and slices off the captive's head in a well-practiced manner.
The killer is wearing a mask, but he is identified in a statement accompanying the video as Abu Musab Zarqawi. He is the most wanted man in Iraq and at the vanguard of a new generation of Islamic radicals who have confronted the United States and its allies since the invasion of Iraq 18 months ago.
While Zarqawi has assembled temporary alliances with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network over the years, evidence shows that he has always sought to forge his own path with a largely distinct, if occasionally overlapping agenda.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/27/2004 12:53:32 AM ||
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#1
This has been obvious for a while. Like it or not, Iran is a real country that knows how to hide stuff. It must be brought down from within and we must be willing to exploit any instability that might erupt there. Otherwise, we'll have to incinerate them someday, though the Israelis can do that as well.
#3
Bombing won't do it. Sure we can destroy the reactors and known research and enrichment facilities, but bet the US and Isreal don't know where most of the facilities are hidden.
Posted by: ed ||
09/27/2004 22:01 Comments ||
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#4
Ok then a lot fo bombing will improve the chances of hitting something worthwile. Just keep the press out of it, or another reporter may catch it where the sun dont shine
#6
Haha I see the Arabs have accepted my advice and started smoking Hashish as evidenced by comment # 5. Smoke some more 007 and you will be able to see the 72 virgins too.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink ...... but you can sure as hell make him wish he had ..."
In my book, Iran has had a long-overdue ass-kicking coming ever since November 1979. The nukes are just an excuse to bring that hammer down, as far as I'm convcerned (it's "Hammer time"!).
Opening scenario: US TLAM's take out every radar dish, radio transmitter, bridge, airport, parked aircraft, and C3 building on our traget list.
Scene 2 - Isreal brings the "wrath of god" down on everything standing within 100 km of Iran's nuke activity center.
Third scene - A succession of about six Arclight strikes carpet bomb all land routes into and out of the region,to mnake sure that no commuters escaped the wrath of god. Also, to take out any journalists headed out to survey the carnage - let them write from the first-person standpoint.
Closing scene - US sends another wave of Tomahawks to level anything that the first three sequences missed.
#8
Does anyone here honestly doubt that we have had a KH-11 parked over Iran for the last year? We have satellites that use ground-penetrating radar to search for water and oil deposits. Do you really think these remote probes cannot detect rebar and airspace buried in earth? Every nuclear science production facility gives off tremendous amounts of detectable waste heat and requires huge infrastructure augments like high tension energy feeds, observable transportation corridors and massive environmental control systems.
If Iran has buried some of their labs deep inside of mountains, we may only be able to collapse their entrances. Everything else is going to pulverized into rubble or smaller.
I said this a long time ago. DO NOT think that we have shared all of our intelligence with Israel. America DOES NOT need to tip its true capabilities to ANYBODY, not even Israel. We probably have information on Israeli facilities that Israel hasn't even told us about.
Although some of the Iranian sites are undoubtly hardened, I doubt they will be able to resist the sort of firepower we can unleash upon them. FAE bombs could be used to suck the air out of underground bunkers. Our cruise missiles can play "follow-the-leader" where a second missile flies through the hole a previous one made.
WE WILL neutralize Iran's nuclear capabilities. It WILL NOT require nuclear weapons to do so. I doubt it will even take any boots on the ground to do it. Of equal importance is that we kill every single nuclear scientist and technician foolish enough to be on site when we arrive. Air raid shelters will not protect them, nor any perimeter defenses.
With security a paramount concern for Iraq's January election, authorities have had to be creative in devising a way to register voters. They are using a Saddam Hussein-era database for food-rationing to create an initial voter roll, the top U.N. election expert in Iraq said.
When household heads collect their 2005 ration cards from 548 distribution centers around the country in November, voter registration clerks will be waiting with fact sheets on each family, Carlos Valenzuela said Sunday. If there are errors, the voter role will be changed accordingly. The modified voter lists will then be exhibited publicly in mid-January.
While less than ideal and not entirely risk-free, this method significantly reduces the danger of voter registration being disrupted by violence. It also provides a convincing cover for Iraqis who wish to vote but are afraid of being targeted by insurgents fighting to drive American and other foreign troops out of Iraq. ``Instead of having 9,000 voter registration centers opened throughout Iraq for eight or 10 weeks, you are talking about nearly 550 centers open for six weeks and not everyone has to go,'' Valenzuela said in an interview.
The alternative method of registering voters also arose from the need to complete election preparations in a relatively short time. Already the tight January deadline threatens to keep 2 million to 4 million Iraqis living abroad from voting, the U.N. official said.
The much bigger task, however, will be to provide security on election day, when about 13 million Iraqis will head to an estimated 20,000 polling stations to elect a 275-seat assembly. The assembly is to draft a permanent constitution for a nationwide referendum by next Oct. 15. If the constitution is adopted, a second general election will be held two months later and a democratic government would take control by Jan. 15, 2006.
The January vote was agreed to earlier this year by the United States, the United Nations and Iraq's now defunct Governing Council after opposition by Iraq's top Shiite cleric forced Washington to drop a plan for a legislature selected from regional caucuses. That chamber was to have been formed by last July 1. Valenzuela said there have been no problems so far in recruiting electoral staff across Iraq. However a member of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq resigned in July after he received threats and has not been replaced.
Iraq's food-ration system was created after the United Nations slapped sanctions on this Arab nation for invading Kuwait in 1990. The Ministry of Trade issues the cards in the name of household heads but they include details on each member of the family. The electoral commission obtained copies of the database supporting the system and used it to draw up an initial voter roll. U.N. experts, meanwhile, checked it for accuracy, and were satisfied with the results. The database ``was very well-developed and maintained,'' Valenzuela said. ``We estimate that the information...is at least 85 percent accurate.''
He said that if the process of amending the voter role in November is disrupted by violence, the initial one will be used.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/27/2004 2:49:42 AM ||
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#1
Sounds like the Iraqi election might be perceived as fair. Better get Jimmy Carter over there pronto to cast doubt on the election months in advance like he is doing in Florida. The jihadis need some talking points to discredit the election.
Mebbe Carter will volunteer to be "kidnapped" and held hostage to "force" Allawi to make sure the jihadis get the Muslim version of a polling advantage. Then we could all shed a tear when they beheaded the moron.
The Arab media has presented the latest hostage crisis in Iraq as just another element in the bloody and chaotic pattern of violence in the country. The latest developments have been reported and often broken on Arab television channels, but they have soon been superseded by bloodshed elsewhere in Iraq or in the Palestinian territories and Israel. There has been little sign of the outrage that greeted the kidnapping of two French hostages last month and none of the soul-searching prompted by the Beslan siege.
The issue of foreign hostages in Iraq was examined this week on the most heated discussion programme on the Middle East's most-watched television station, al-Jazeera. In the programme The Opposite Direction a fiercely anti-American political analyst, Talat Rumayh, faced off against an Iraqi politician, Karim Badr. Mr Rumayh claimed that the kidnappers were Iraqi resistance fighters and compared the number of their victims to the thousands of Iraqis, who had been killed: "Two thousand people have been killed since the beginning of the attack on Falluja, which was dismissed in one report, one line or just a couple of words... while we keep hearing about the hostages. It's the hostages and the terrorists, always the terrorists," he said.
Karim Badr responded by saying all Iraq was disgraced by the beheadings. "We have to prove our humanity. I am addressing my brethren in Iraq: These are masked creatures that resemble humans, who I am certain are uglier than their deeds," he said. "Is the killing of people and exploding cars in the streets an act of resistance? Is the kidnapping and murder of people in this manner an act of resistance? I am certain they do not represent the Iraqi conscience in any way at all."
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/27/2004 3:01:56 AM ||
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#1
Then, many Arab commentators warned that the kidnappersâ actions could irrevocably tarnish the image of Islam and the Arab world.
Understatement of the day. It is already irrevocably tarnished. Infidels have learned that Islam says that it's OK to lie, murder, etc. if it is for the cause, yada yada yada......
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/27/2004 18:37 Comments ||
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#2
The beginning of the end for Islam:
translating the qu'uran into English, German, etc.
They had long ago decided to spread Islam by any means available.
#4
Let's face it - we don't really know how the polling was done. Look at how the liberal media in this country produces poll results that erroneously but consistently favor Democrats and liberal issues. Think about the biases of a government-controlled Arab media that endorses the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and think about how they may be distorting their polls as well. The Arab media are like the liberal media, but worse by orders of magnitude. Anything they say needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
#6
Note also that Iraqi polls taken during Saddam's reign overwhelmingly opposed the US and an invasion. Post-invasion, perhaps 20,000 guerrillas are fighting US troops, out of a population of 2m people. This is why polls sponsored by the Arab government media are not to be trusted. And where do Western media companies go to for expertise on how to conduct polls in Muslim countries? You guessed it.
#8
The misinformation coming of the press is just Orwellian. Just about every aspect of war coverage is so contaminated with ideological bias that you have to read the coverage with the kind of care that Russians used to reserve for Soviet-era Pravda and Isveztia.
Further evidence emerged Monday of the direct link between the armed wing of Fatah, Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and the Palestinian Authority.
Obituary notices distributed in the West Bank town of Salfit by Fatah and the PA's General Intelligence Force revealed that the local commander of the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, who was killed on Sunday when his M-16 rifle exploded, had doubled as a security officer.
Jihad Hassan, who is also known as Abu Naaim, was the commander of the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Salfit and has been wanted by Israel for the past two years.
Residents said Hassan purchased two days ago from an arms dealer an M-16 rifle that had been apparently booby-trapped by Israel's Shin Bet. They said the rifle exploded on Sunday while Hassan was carrying it, amputating his right arm. they immediately began calling him "Lefty." (for a short while though . . . read on)
Hassan was rushed unconscious to a hospital in Ramallah, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Doctors said he had lost a lot of blood before arriving at the hospital. oops
Palestinian sources told The Jerusalem Post that Hassan was not the first fugitive to double as a security officer. They said other members of the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank and Gaza Strip had been recruited to various branches of the PA security forces.
In some cases, the sources added, PA security officers were "moonlighting" as members of the armed wing of Fatah in order to earn extra money. fyi, valet parking at bar mitzvah's is a safer moonlighting gig. nicer uniforms, too.
Members of the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have in the past told the Post that they were receiving monthly salaries from the PA. However, following pressure from the US and European donors, the PA last year halted the payments, drawing severe criticism from the gunmen.
Egypt, which is acting as a mediator between the different Palestinian factions, recently urged PA Chairman Yasser Arafat to dismantle the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and other top officials have voiced support for the Egyptian demand.
But Arafat is said to be opposed to the dismantlement of the group and wants to incorporate its members, who are all staunch Arafat loyalists, into the PA security forces.
#1
Old Soviet ad for the AK-47 stressing reliability factor: "WORKS FIRST TIME - WORKS EVERYTIME!"
_________________borgboy sez they shoulda used one...
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/27/2004 19:55 Comments ||
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#3
Once again, the Arafish and his minions fall further and further behind the power curve. Why get rid of the Arafish when his buddies are doing it for him.
For the Arafish,
From here on up,
it's downhill all the way.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/27/2004 20:03 Comments ||
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The White House says it considered secretly backing pro-U.S. candidates in the upcoming Iraqi election, but decided against it even though the Bush administration suspects other nations are working to influence the voting. "There have been and will continue to be concerns about efforts by outsiders to influence the outcome of the Iraqi elections, including money flowing from Iran," White House spokesman Allen Abney said Sunday. "This raises concerns about whether there will be a level playing field for the Iraqi election. The situation has posed difficult dilemmas about what action, if any, the U.S. should take in response. And in the final analysis, we have adopted a policy that we will not try to influence the outcome of the upcoming Iraqi election by covertly helping individual candidates for office."
A senior administration official said that deciding whether to covertly support certain candidates in the election scheduled for January was a "hard call." The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the White House consulted lawmakers before deciding against the idea, which was first reported by Time. Secretary of State Colin Powell told CNN's "Late Edition" that the United States has a history of "overtly" supporting candidates for office in governments that are making a transition to democracy. "I don't discuss covert programs, but I will say that we do have overt programs, and everybody knows about them," Powell said. "We will be providing assistance for capacity building in parties so that we can see a political system come alive, in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and we'll be doing it overtly."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/27/2004 3:05:10 AM ||
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Again, Syria & iraqi WMDs
Lt. Gen. Michael DeLong (USMC Ret.), who until last September was the No. 2 in command of the Iraq war under Gen. Tommy Franks, revealed Sunday that U.S. military intelligence had determined that weapons of mass destruction were being smuggled out of the country as the U.S. prepared to invade. "I do know for a fact that some of those weapons went into Syria, Lebanon and Iran," Gen. DeLong told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg, while discussing his new book, "Inside CENTCOM: The Unvarnished Truth About the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq." "Two days before the war, on March 17 [2003], we saw through multiple intelligence channels - both human intelligence and technical intelligence - large caravans of people and things, including some of the top 55 [most wanted] Iraqis, going to Syria," Gen. DeLong explained. "We also know that before then, they buried some of the weapons of mass destruction," he added. "There are also some in Lebanon and probably a small amount in Iran."
The WMD smuggling operation didn't require large vehicles, the ex-general explained. "In order to transport their biological weapons, they could take their entire experimental weapons system in one or two suitcases - pretty easy to hide," he told Malzberg. As for Saddam's chemical weapons cache, his deputies could have fit them into "a van - probably one van or two vans and either bury it or drive it across one of the borders," the former No. 2 CENTCOM chief said. Human intelligence, said DeLong, indicated that Saddam's deputies also "took billions of dollars with them when they went into Syria." It's no surprise that weapons buried in Iraq have yet to be uncovered. "Seven-eighths of the country is arid desert and it's the size of California. You could probably bury 100 Empire State Buildings in Iraq and not find them," the former Marine said.
Posted by: Anonymous5089 ||
09/27/2004 11:23:41 AM ||
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#1
Bush Lied! Bush Lied! umm....oh..nevermind...let's talk healthcare.
#3
After the "failure" of intel preceding the Iraq invasion, those calling for some sort of TQM Zero-Defect war won't believe any intel again. Nothing short of a mushroom or toxic cloud will convince them of danger.
#7
Look at the map of Syria. It looks like a pressure cooker if you squint your eyes, sort of. Well, it does look like that now to Baby Ass-ad, I reckon.
smokeysinse, major media? They started to scale into minor media this month. Not that it's voluntary, but inevitable.
The militant Palestinian group Hamas said Monday an Arab country might have helped Israel assassinate one of its leaders in Damascus, an act it called "treason." uh huh. and they call terrorists "freedom fighters."
A car bomb killed Izz el-Deen al-Sheikh Khalil, 42, and wounded three others Sunday in the Az-Zahera district of Syria's capital. Israeli television quoted unidentified security sources as saying Israel was responsible. "We can say no more"
The killing, if carried out by Israel, would be its second foray into Syria in the last year. It was the latest blow to the leadership of an Islamist group responsible for many suicide bombings against Israel and committed to the destruction of the Jewish state. they might wanna think about re-examining their commitments, seems to me.
"We were not convinced initially, this would be treason for an Arab security apparatus to be involved in this," Hamas Lebanon head Osama Hamdan said of a report in the Al-Hayat daily. The Arabic daily said an Arab country had given the Israeli spy agency Mossad information about the movements and habits of Hamas leaders abroad. "Now, because of what happened yesterday or through other information, (i.e., precision application of a cluebat)
there are indications that this may be case," he said. Syria accused Israel of "terrorism" after the car bomb and Hamas vowed to retaliate. Attacking the head of the military wing is not terrorism. It's a battle in a war. Attacking children on a bus or a pizza shop is terrorism. Get it straight.
Palestinian sources in Gaza said Khalil, who Israel deported to Lebanon in 1992, was believed to be in charge of the group's military wing outside the Palestinian territories. Hamas sources in Beirut said he was a mid-level official. these days, mid-level officials become high-ranking ones quickly, and with alarming regularity!
A spokesman in Gaza for Hamas said the killing was "a cowardly crime by the Zionist Mossad." cowardly? as opposed to targeting the aforementioned children in pizza shops and buses?
Israeli security officials vowed to renew an assassination campaign against Hamas leaders in Palestinian areas and abroad in response to twin bus bombings on Aug. 31 that killed 16 people in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba. Israel sent warplanes to bomb a suspected Palestinian militant training base in Syria nearly a year ago after a suicide bombing in Israel. Syria's support of anti-Israeli militant factions, both Palestinian and Lebanese, was a key reason for the imposition of U.S. economic sanctions against Damascus in May. Palestinian activists said last week all Palestinian factions with offices in Syria had decided to close to avoid pissing off embarrassing their hosts in view of the increased U.S. pressure on Damascus. In March, Israel killed Hamas's co-founder and spiritual head, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, in a missile strike as he left a mosque in Gaza. His successor, Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, was killed a month later in a similar Israeli attack in Gaza City. tick tick tick
Posted by: PlanetDan ||
09/27/2004 11:13:38 AM ||
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#1
so who was the Arab nation? Go ahead Hamas - strike them too. We can only hope that the Arabs start fighting each other. Divide and conquer.
#6
Actually, the US and Iraq's new government may be piecing together some of the old Iraqi government's records. And, of course, the terrs may have a strong desire to blame the new Iraqi government, so they can legitimize attacking it.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/27/2004 12:41 Comments ||
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Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
09/27/2004 12:44 Comments ||
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#8
Haaretz says this is so much bunk - Jordan and Egypt may have been giving background help to Israel, but not the specific info this article says. Alternatively somebody could be spreading this deliberately, to get the Syrians to watch their backs.
#9
As long as Hamas thinks it's true, and hopefully acts on it with their usual tact and subtlety...
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2004 13:47 Comments ||
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#10
Any thought that it might be Syria, itself? They seem to have gotten puckered anuses lately. Perhaps a case of sacrifice a minor pawn and get some points with the US, while you still keep your main line of attack (collusion with Iran) going.
#11
"Palestinian activists said last week all Palestinian factions with offices in Syria had decided to close.... " More bluff and bullshit - they'll just close and re-open next door. Unless the Syrians are really getting worried enough to act and are putting pressure on the Paleos - pressure being edging them out of their offices and facillitating the killing of the odd Hamas leader.
Probably not Syria. If they wanted to get rid of someone they would have done it quietly. The way the operation was carried out creates shame for Syria and shame is something a dictator wants to avoid at all costs.
September 26, 2004: The "war" in Iraq is a low key affair. In the last two weeks, there have been about 70 "hostile incidents" a day, resulting in one or two friendly casualties (nearly 90 percent of the them Iraqi) per incident. The U.S. Department of Defense still refuses to release any official numbers on enemy casualties (although data on this is carefully compiled), but the enemy losses are believed to be 3-4 times higher. Even Iraqi troops, benefiting from superior training (particularly in marksmanship and tactics) are giving much better than they are getting. Increasingly, the fighting is occurring around the towns and neighborhoods that the anti-government forces call home. Increasing amounts of information from pro-government informers in these areas has led to daily smart bomb and artillery attacks on specific houses or compounds being used by anti-government fighters. Fallujah has been particularly hard hit, and the al Qaeda men operating in that town are taking heavy losses. American and Iraqi troops are also moving closer to Fallujah, with raids being conducted to take prisoners and capture documents and weapons.
Posted by: ed ||
09/27/2004 2:46:24 AM ||
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#1
If the 'hostile incidents per day' metric was the best index to use, it would show the US/Iraqi govt. losing since the hipd was only a dozen or so immediately after the fall of Baghdad.
The only other indexes I know about are fatalities per month.
A good index could be 'street cost of RPG' with the higher the index the best for the US/Iraqi govt. but its hard to get real numbers on this.
One could also create an index based on the number of successful ING/IP operations.
I love sophistry. It makes me feel so... sophisticated. Unfortunately, this doesn't even rise to the level of sophistry.
Dr. Khaled M. Batarfi, kbatarfi@al-madina.com.sa
An American friend asked me what I meant when I claimed in a previous article (Double Talk, Double Standards) that Evangelists collect billions to support Christian revolts in the Muslim world. I gave him three examples: East Timor, South Sudan and Darfur. He seemed to recognize the first two but not the last. I had to explain:
Pray do so. And trace the money that funded the revolts, please.
In many wild parts of the globe there have been continuous struggles among various groups for racial, economic and religious reasons. Darfur is a huge countryside, the size of France. It has all kinds of tough terrains: Jungles, deserts and mountains. Most of its inhabitants, if not all, are Muslims. They come from Arab and African origins. The Arabs are mostly nomads and Africans farmers. In dry seasons, nomads move to farming areas to feed their camels and sheep. They fight over rights. This is an ancient, global phenomenon.
"So why should we change it now? It's not like any government has a responsibility to act as referee or something..."
It was worse when central governments were weaker, like before the present government took over. In recent years the nomads got stronger because they joined the state in fighting the southern revolt. After the peace accords, they returned home veterans and well-armed. In their absence, some Africans revolted with foreign help.
Sounds like a Dark Conspiracy to me. Maybe even a Deep Laid Plot...
Support comes from the same sources that sustained the southerners Evangelical organizations, neighboring countries and Israel.
Ahah! Zionists, is it? Working hand in glove with Baptists!
The goal is to cut off the Arab Muslim Sudan from the rest of Africa. The state called on the Arab nomads again, this time against their old rivals. Another war ensued. Like in the southern war, the Western world took notice only when the government forces seemed to be winning.
Actually, we've been following it from the beginning. The mainstream press noticed when the corpse count started getting astronomical...
No one is denying that the situation is bad. Five thousand people were killed or died from both sides, more from the insurgents.
That's a tenth of the numbers reported elsewhere. And if you were to bump off even just 2500 Americans we'd want to flatten you. But I guess Africans are cheaper, huh?
Both rivals committed atrocities.
"They do it, too! So we should be allowed to! It ain't our fault we're more methodical than they are!"
The government should stop supporting the nomads, and the foreign powers must cut off arms to the separatists.
Good idea. You go first this time.
Terrible as is, the situation has not reached the level of genocide, and the government cannot alone improve the situation.
And now we'll quickly change the subject. You, the reader, aren't going to notice...
"Look! Over there! It's William Shatner!"
More than 2,500 Iraqis were killed in a month, half the number of people killed in Darfur in 18 months.
The 2500 Iraqis were mostly killed by eye-rolling nutball Islamists. The reported figures for Darfur, as I've mentioned, are ten times higher...
Close to a million (and counting) of Hutus and Tutsis were killed lately in similar conflicts in Rwanda and Burundi.
Another argument in favor of disbanding the UN, but irrelevant to Darfur except as a warning not to leave the area to the mercies of the United Nations...
The situation is worsening there, as well as in Iraq, Afghanistan, the occupied Palestinian territories, Chechnya, Kashmir, Muslim parts of China and Philippines.
Now we're literally all over the map...
No one is calling this genocide or charging the US and the concerned governments of responsibility.
The U.S. is calling it genocide and demanding the UN act. The UN is refusing to call it genocide to avoid having to act.
Why only Sudan is the focus of all attention and actions?
Start with the piles of corpses. Then move on to systematic rape. Then add in slavery, which has been virtually wiped out in the civilized world.
Is it because in most other cases Muslims are the victims?
In this case the victims are as Muslim as the perpetrators...
Or is it because all the right ingredients are present here: Oil, Islam, Arab, Israel and the Bush-Blair crusade?! You tell me, my American friend!
The truth is out there. This isn't it.
Posted by: ed ||
09/27/2004 08:39 ||
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#1
The despicable Sudanese riverain Arabs, fresh from their involvement in a genocide in South Sudan that killed more than two million people in the years 1983-present, are now committing untold depredations in Darfur. This time it is the Muslim Fur, Zaghawa, Berti and Messalit tribes that are targeted as Khartoum arms the Arab camel and cattle nomad tribes. It is a classic example of core (Khartoum and the execrable river Arabs who dominate politics) against the periphery. Not only has the South and West (Darfur) suffered, so have the tribes of East Sudan (Hadendowa) and North (Nubians). Sudan President al-Bashir leads an outlaw nation and nothing (expecially the UN) is about to change that.
#3
The goal is to cut off the Arab Muslim Sudan from the rest of Africa
The situation is worsening there, as well as in . . .
because, of course, the key to western world domination is to eliminate the Sudanese threat.
Once again, the hackneyed arab tactics of:
-blaming others, especially Zionists for a conjuring a complex conspiracy to control
-minimizing arab responsiblity, even though all these horrible places where atrocities occur and "the situation is worsening" are places where muslims are the perpetrators!
What's hilarious is that by resorting to these explainations, he seemingly is anxious to admit that muslims are sooooo easily led, and soooo stupid as to fall for this trap.
#4
If there IS such a plot (which unfortunately there isn't) I would say: GO CRUSADERS!
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
09/27/2004 10:48 Comments ||
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#5
The Arabs are mostly nomads and Africans farmers. In dry seasons, nomads move to farming areas to feed their camels and sheep. They fight over rights. This is an ancient, global phenomenon.
Right. That explains the Arab Sudanese women cheering on the Arab janjaweed by insulting the black Sudanese being raped. Neat explanation there, Dr. Batarfi.
#6
Well, jules, I guess that rape and genocide are an ancient, global phenomenon. Especially in those portions of the globe where folks pray towards Mecca five times a day....
#7
thought kofi said this was 'all being settled peacefully' and that 'The Sudanese goverment and Arab Janjaweed are not to blame' next he'll be waving his hands lowly infront of us saying 'Sudan, it was all just a dream,just a dream,dream dream....' and it'll all be forgotten. Lets go invade Ghana and eat the Ghana'ns and Kofis family, see how quick he moves then eh.
Posted by: Shep UK ||
09/27/2004 14:37 Comments ||
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US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said the conflict between US forces and insurgents in Iraq is getting worse. He told US TV networks that militants wanted to disrupt elections in January - but the US would increase efforts to defeat them. However, he added that Washington remained determined to hold elections across the whole country. This comes after Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggested that violence could prevent voting in some areas. On Thursday Mr Rumsfeld told a Senate committee that a partial election - leaving out the most troublesome regions - would be "better than not having an election".
Mr Powell on Sunday recognised that the US was "fighting an intense insurgency". "Yes it's getting worse and the reason it's getting worse is that they are determined to disrupt the election," he told ABC's This Week programme. Mr Powell said polling stations may be shot at, but added that Washington's aim remained "to give everybody the opportunity to vote... to make the election fully credible".
Meanwhile, the commander of US troops in the Middle East, Gen John Abizaid echoed Mr Rumsfeld in an interview with NBC's Meet the Press programme, saying Iraqis may not be able to go to the polls in some places. But he predicted voting would take place in the "vast majority of the country".
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fawad ||
09/27/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Build up the 80% that is peaceful. If the Sunnis don't want to deal with the assholes among them, then invite the Shia and Kurds to to do unto the Sunnis as was done unto them and take their homes and land. See, triangulation is fun.
Posted by: ed ||
09/27/2004 1:54 Comments ||
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#2
Mr Zarqawi's least favorite time of the day is 626.
#5
for every Iraqi they kill, more stand up..It's getting out of hand, at least that's the impression I've got. I hope they don't manage to totally disrupt the election proces, if not, the US could find it impossible to reverse the negative trend.
#6
You all are missing the point that is Happy Flower & its benifits. Imagine Zarqawi walking into a US patrol when he is completely stoned and getting knocked out.
#7
Amen Fawad! Hashish is a great way to pacify a people. Air drop some cubes and pipes, wait an hour, and then walk in unopposed. HEck we could send some hash 'speicalists' from the Bay area to help the get started on their drug habit!
#8
Yup, go for the Dutch big bud and watch 'em stumble zombie-like toward the American lines.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
09/27/2004 8:33 Comments ||
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#9
Hey Old Spook: Task Force 626 is on the hunt. They are very capable I understand. However, the intelligence on the ground is shaky in Iraq. What do you think their chances are of bagging Zarqawi soon?
Posted by: The Ol Prof ||
09/27/2004 9:16 Comments ||
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#11
Iraqis may not be able to go to the polls in some places.
bwahhhaaaa. Talk about win-win for the Iraqis. The ones they don't want to vote won't get to, unless they clean out the bad guys first. What's not to like about that?
#12
Waitaminnit, didn't Marx say something about religion being the opiate of the masses? What if we were to, like, get them into some really heavy duty religion or something. Maybe a religion that emphasized peace and brotherhood (but no pork!) would help calm them down.
#14
Why not have rolling elections as districts become reasonably secure enough to hold them? This would create a powerful disincentive to violence, esp by ba'athists and other sunnis, due to the huge electoral head start the kurdish and most shi'a-dominated districts would have.
You bomb, you lose. The bad boyz could well end up facing an elected parliament covering 85% of the country and dominated by shi'a and kurds.
#17
lex that would work with single member districts. But the geniuses at State decided that Iraq should vote as a single district, national proportional representation. So the week (or whatever) after the election you count up all the votes and allocate ALL the seats. If say Ramadi votes later, and that changes the allocation, youd have to toss someone already seated in parliament.
So it won't work, unfortunately. If just some guys in Ramadi and Fallujah dont vote, then to hell with it, just seat the reps and let Ramadi and Fallujah wait till the next scheduled election for their say. If, OTOH, you cant hold elections ANYWHERE in the Sunni triangle (not that i think thats likely) then youve got a major problem. A parliament of Shia and Kurds would be fine with me, but will play VERY badly in KSA, Jordan, Egypt, etc.
#19
Allawi is a transitional PM, legitimized by a UNSC res. He doesnt have the legitimacy to force through an alternative election scheme against the UN, especially without the support of the US. And for the US to support a shift NOW, with a few months to go, would look like an admission of defeat. Expect a huge blowup at the UN and elsewhere.
Also there may be a struggle between State/CIA and DoD on this. A national PR vote weakens local leaders, some of whom in the Shia areas have close ties to DoD, IIUC. (not that that PROVES anything mind you;) )
Playing badly in the Arab neighbors of Iraq is NOT a good thing. We've been exerting diplomatic pressure to get Syria to cooperate in closing the border. If we suddenly have Jordan and KSA supporting the insurgents, or even if we have them plus Egypt undermining diplo pressure on Syria, the whole job gets harder. Not to mention we still need to make friends in the Sunni Arab world to fight AQ. I dont agree with the Kerry line that Iraq is a diversion, but trying to win in Iraq by alienating all Sunni Arabs would quickly hurt us in the larger war.
Should I also mention that this would hurt us in (non-arab) Pakistan as well?
#21
We've been exerting diplomatic pressure to get Syria to cooperate in closing the border.
And yet we keep finding Syrians planting bombs in Iraq.
Perhaps the problem is that our "diplomatic pressure" isn't enough pressure or is too diplomatic?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/27/2004 12:52 Comments ||
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#22
hate to annoy you all but i and i think many others actually fight better when stoned,sounds fuckin absurd i know but get this,hey stop laughing, you can hear things twice as good and see in the dark so much better,senses are improved alot trust me, but on the flip side i wouldnt wanna be sat in an M1A1 or Bradely in a firefight and start giggling as the driver forgets which lever does what and the gunner forgets how to operate his gun. Be fun to blast whacked out Raqi's though :)
Posted by: Shep UK ||
09/27/2004 13:00 Comments ||
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#23
long as we don't have to tangle with no Tigers, I'm down.
(WOT) BTW those where Yugoslve T-34s in the movie.
#26
Mike? Owner of Curb Records? Howya doing, pal?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/27/2004 15:56 Comments ||
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#27
Umm, guys? Surely you remember that the original Assassins were hopped up on hashish? And, they were muslims, too. Do we want to start that all over again? Maybe we could turn them on to marijuana or extasy (sp?) -- something happy-making instead?
#28
Marijuana is the same as Hashish, same effects same every thing. I must say that Hashish is smoked in a more ceremonial manner in Sesha, marijuana is of course rolled and smoked in very irreverant way.
Assisins were given a lot of Hashish and then shown some Gr8 Egyptian Babes women. With promise that they can bonk them I mean be intimate with them if they carry out their mission. While carrying out the mission they were very sober.
Beleive me even if they wannah fight, they wont be able to take aim, (laughing makes it impossible to even point ur finger at something let alone a 11 lb rifle). And when the thunder thighs baghdad babes will be high too who would wannah tangle with Americans, it is much more fun being alive even if the chicks are damn ugly.
#29
Quite a lot of heroin and used syringes have been found during the fighting, especially in Falludja. Lessens nerves, fear, pain. Might also explain their lack of combat judgement.
Posted by: ed ||
09/27/2004 21:57 Comments ||
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#30
Actually "lack of combat judgement" is exactly what the soviets found out in Afghanistan when their guys started taking Heroin.
Imagine what hash will do, laughing while trying to sneak up on a partol??
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