Hundreds of Taliban captured a remote district in Afghanistan overnight, killing two policemen and driving out the rest, officials said, in a new show of force in an intensifying insurgency.
The rebels attacked the Ajristan district centre in the province of Ghazni, about 200 kilometres southwest of Kabul, with artillery and rocket fire, the interior ministry said. They torched the main government building, Ghazni police chief General Alishah Ahmadzai said.
Police ran awayfled pulled out in a "tactical move" following heavy attacks, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said. Two policemen were killed, he said. "We have sent reinforcements and will retake the district."
In another attack, militants on motorbikes shot dead two employees of the National Directorate of Security - Afghanistan's intelligence agency - in the eastern city of Khost, said the provincial deputy head of intelligence, named only Mirajan.
And a suicide attacker detonated a car bomb in close to an International Security Assistance Force convoy in central town of Tirin Kot caused only a bump to the head of an ISAF soldier, an alliance spokesman said. The attack in the province of Uruzgan comes a day after a suicide attack on a police bus in the capital yesterday killed 13 people.
#1
surround and kill any Talibasshole - look for the beards
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/03/2007 20:34 Comments ||
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#2
Curse the taliban, now and forever. That brutal misrepresentation of all things that are good. The Taliban are all evil and need to be dispatched with no GTMO privilliges. Pure evil must be wrought from this planet. No matter where.
Bad angels must be dealt a final blow this year. There is no need nor negotiations to be had with evil. Scan your sector and fire at will.
A case was filed in Rajshahi against 34 BNP and Jamaat leaders on Monday for torture and extortion and patronage of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) -- a banned Islamist outfit.
Ibrahim Ali of Kismat Bihanali village in Bagmara upazila lodged the case with a Rajshahi magistrate court, accusing, among others, Bagmara's Maria UP chairman and Jama'at leader Rezaul Karim Bacchhu and his predecessor and BNP leader Ismail Hossain.
The complainant in his case statement said the accused tried to pressurise him into joining the JMB and demanded Tk 1 lakh in toll for the terror outfit on December 14, 2006. As he could not pay the money, the Jamaat and BNP men attacked his house and damaged his property, the complainant said adding that he was later tortured into paying Tk 30 thousand. Ibrahim alleged that he was also made to commit to paying the rest at a later date.
The court ordered the officer-in-charge (OC) of Bagmara Police Station to investigate into the allegations. When contacted, Ismail Hossain -- the BNP leader -- described the case as a bid to harass him politically and socially.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
AUSTRALIA is preparing to send hundreds more troops to Afghanistan's southern Oruzgan province, where deadly contacts with Taliban fighters have escalated in recent months. By the middle of next year, Australia - whether under a Labor or Coalition government - will have more troops on the ground in Afghanistan than it does in Iraq.
You can always count on the Australians.
A commitment for a slight increase in the number of Australian troops based at Tarin Kowt as part of a reconstruction force is expected before the election because of a withdrawal of troops from The Netherlands. In addition to an increase in troops to replace the Dutch soldiers, a mortar team has just been dispatched, 110 crew and support staff for two Chinook helicopters are preparing to go and there are plans for increased RAAF surveillance over southern Afghanistan.
Australia has about 970 military in Afghanistan, including infantry and special forces as well as an RAAF air traffic control group based at Kandahar. The final figure next year will depend on how many troops the Dutch withdraw, and to what extent Australians fill the gap.
Australian ministers have held discussions with NATO and Dutch ministers in the past two weeks as the Dutch cabinet prepares to finalise a partial withdrawal from Kamp Holland, where there are about 700 Australian troops. The need to "backfill" any Dutch vacancy with other NATO and Australian troops comes as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday promised to bring 1000 troops home from Iraq by Christmas.
Responding to a survey by Sydney University's US Studies Centre on the American alliance and the commitments to Iraq and Afghanistan, John Howard said yesterday he understood the deployments were not popular. "This inevitably happens if a military commitment goes on for a long period of time - even if, thankfully, to date our casualties have been minimal - people after a time grow weary of it and think because it's not quickly concluded, it must be wrong," the Prime Minister told Southern Cross Broadcasting.
"I understand why people feel that way but it really does present our society with a huge challenge because that is exactly what the terrorists calculate."
In relation to the British drawdown of forces in Iraq, Mr Howard said: "We will take our forces out as conditions improve. Over time I see our forces (in Iraq) taking on an even greater role, relatively speaking, in relation to training."
In contrast, Labor is committed to cut and run a "phased withdrawal" of Australia's 550 combat troops in southern Iraq by May next year.
The Howard Government has said the military commitment to Afghanistan would peak at 1000 troops in the middle of next year. Kevin Rudd has declared that as prime minister he would increase the deployment.
So far the Government has not received a formal request from The Netherlands and has not lifted its ceiling, but the Dutch have been considering withdrawing some of their 1300 troops in Afghanistan for some time. The Dutch coalition cabinet has had to move slowly, but a decision is expected soon.
Defence Minister Brendan Nelson warned a Dutch parliamentary committee in Kabul two months ago that a withdrawal of key elements, such as Apache helicopters, without replacement by other NATO forces would mean Australia would withdraw its 370 engineers working on reconstruction near Tarin Kowt. Dr Nelson told the Dutch MPs that Australian troops, including special forces patrolling in Oruzgan, owed their lives to Dutch air cover, which had been called in during a firefight late last month between an Australian patrol and 50 Taliban, during which a young Australian soldier was hit twice but was saved by his body armour.
Dr Nelson said yesterday the British plan to send 1000 soldiers in Iraq home by Christmas, leaving 4500 based at the main airport on the fringe of the southern city of Basra, was in line with British and US planning.
Australian Defence Force spokesman Brigadier Andrew Nikolic said the British announcement had no bearing on the Australian commitment.
Austrian authorities said Tuesday they arrested a second suspect in an attempted bombing of the US Embassy in Vienna.
Officials said they were treating him as a possible accomplice of a Bosnian arrested Monday after trying to enter the embassy with a backpack containing explosives. The 42-year-old unemployed Bosnian was arrested after his bag - packed with at least two grenades and several handfuls of nails and screws apparently intended to serve as shrapnel - set off a metal detector at the entrance to the heavily fortified embassy guarded by US Marines. The nationality of the second suspect was not immediately released.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Europe
#1
a Bosnian arrested Monday after trying to enter the embassy with a backpack containing explosives
DETROIT -- A federal grand jury indicted a high-ranking Detroit immigration official of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, and four other metro Detroit men on multiple counts of bribery, conspiracy and extortion. WHEN OUR INSTITUTIONS GO CORRUPT FROM WITHIN WE ARE GONERS U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy said the multiyear investigation into the corruption activities at the Detroit offices of INS and DHS-ICE has led to the indictment of Roy M. Bailey, 54, of Romulus. Romulus slew Remus our confidence in the Law
The indictment states that Bailey misused his position as the assistant district director with the INS by accepting large sums of money and other property in return for granting immigration benefits, including the release of several people who were in INS and DHS-ICE custody. Jesus H Christ!! and No Shit he misused his position, plz one hour and a baseball bat!
This article starring:
Roy M. Bailey
U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
10/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11131 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
My bid is: 45 minutes, with a ball-peen hammer. Or - 20 minutes with an acetylene torch.
#4
What's with this 20 minute nonsense? 6 swings is all I need. Left knee, right knee. Groin. Left hand, right hand, Adam's apple. Then let him live.
Posted by: A Very Reasonable Man ||
10/03/2007 1:00 Comments ||
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#5
If our country prohibited all immigration from Muslim majority nations, the treasonous acts of traitors like these would have far fewer repercussions.
My bid is: 45 minutes, with a ball-peen hammer. Or - 20 minutes with an acetylene torch.
I'll see your acetylene torch and raise with ten seconds holding a nine.
#8
Thank you so much for posting the link, Sea. This goes beyond all belief:
the U.S. Attorney--Stephen Murphy III, the Justice Department's top official in Eastern Michigan--delayed indictment for FOUR Years(!), while he quietly allowed the Hezbollah criminals involved to flee the country.
#9
Easy on my man Roy, it's DEEtroit remember. Probably just some bling dollars. No one was hurt. He's a gummit worker, he's entitled to some make up! As a bonifide USCIT, having just gone through an hour long US Customs line in Atlanta I must say I'm honored to be paying his wages with my tax dollars. I feel much, much safer. I hope you can....feel the love as well.
#10
this is standard procedure for pan-Islamist U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy III a/k/a "Abu Pr0no." Murphy sat for two years on an indictment of Hezbollah cigarette smugglers from the Hammoud family and waited until most of them fled the country before unsealing the indictment and getting the fanfare for pushing meaningless paper (which indictments against fugitives in Lebanon are--meaningless).
I seem to recall that we just sent Lebanon MILLIONS OF DOLLARS in armaments that played a crucial role in fighting the Fatah al-Islam terrorists. If Lebanon cannot extradite these Hezbollah maggots then the next time their tit's in the Bendix, they can go whistle.
#11
And U.S. Attorney Murphy continued to allow Bailey to draw four years of $140,000 annual salary and full benefits while he vacationed at home. Why? Because Murphy had to wait until his friend Chahine left the country.
Penalties had damn well better include some $560,000 worth of fines!
The questions is: Is Murphy really the United State's of America's Attorney or Hezbollah's? I know the answer. And it isn't the former. Incredibly, the Bush Administration continues to pimp this man for Federal Court of Appeals Judge.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
10/03/2007 6:07 Comments ||
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#15
What the hell is your problem, Dawg? Did you even bother to read Seafarious' link to Debbie Schlussel? How the f*ck do my comments constitute hijacking this thread? Feel free to explain yourself in detail so that everyone gets a solid glimpse of your own bent cogitations.
Federal charges were unsealed today in Detroit against Talal Khalil Chahine, 51, of Dearborn Heights, Michigan and the owner of the La Shish restaurant chain, and Elfat El Aouar.... upshot using a double set of computerized financial records Talal Khalil Chahine hid at least $16 Million
*The undisclosed cash was converted into cashier's checks, which were taken to Lebanon, the indictment says. It does not say who allegedly received the money.
AND Talal Khalil Chahine leaves right after to Lebanon...
Honor Killing Cristian Arab Murdererd by Khalil Chahine (left)Convicted, Indicted Tax Evader Talal Chahine (second from rt), Hezbollah/Iran Agent Imam Mohammed Ali Elahi
@ the Hezbollah Mosque
Not long ago, that same son, Khalil, was convicted of murder. He murdered Paul Hallis, a Maronite Christian Arab here in the states, for the crime of daring to become engaged to a Muslim woman--a woman who reportedly dated the younger Chahine AND his married brother-in-law, Ali El-Ozeir. Yes, there are Islamic honor killings in America.
And FYI, prior to his jail stint for murder, Khalil Chahine was the youth leader at the Hezbollah mosque, He is serving 22-32 years in prison for the honor killing here in America"
.
The Guy The Feds Should Indict But Won't: Chahine's Imam,
Mohammed Ali Elahi & Hezbollah Spiritual Leader Sheikh Fadlallah
Debbie Schlussel
Schlussel was born in 1969 to a family of Polish Jewish descent. Her maternal grandparents were Holocaust survivors and her mother was born in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, living there until she was six.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
10/03/2007 7:11 Comments ||
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#17
woops a little doublish... PIMF
~:)
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
10/03/2007 7:12 Comments ||
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#18
I don't have enough industrial strength solvent to get the your f'ning creep off to explain zen.
If you don't have the integrity to explain your bullying, then please keep it to yourself. Either detail how I supposedly hijacked this thread or whine about your bunched up panties elsewhere. Better yet, why not spare this board your tantrums and send me an email? Unlike you, I have the decency to post my address so this sort of crap can be taken offline. 'Nuff said.
#22
I've been involved as an employer with H1-B applications. I have to say that the sleaziest part of the legal profession I have had to deal with is immigration attorneys and the INS. Every client is an Annina Brandel. I would not be surprised to find that a majority of immigration clients are being extorted/overcharged by their attorneys with kickbacks to the INS personnel who create the roadblock that allows the attorneys to shake down their clients. At the same time, I have to believe these attorneys have compromising photographs of INS personnel based on the number of times I have seen things happen overnight after they sat on the attorney's desk for weeks. Every conversation necessitates spray Lysol on the phone.
Detroitistan may be the worst, but I suspect the INS is permeated with corruption.
#27
Imagine how your gubmint healthcare would work when they realized that dead retired people leave more money in the fund for them.
All government needs a system of checks put in place, and audited by civilian authorities. It's mandatory in business, why not in gubmint ?
#29
I'm not sure the word treason means anything if it's not applied in this case.
Dead nuts, spot on, word, rjschwarz. Bush had better withdraw his backing for Murphy as Federal Court of Appeals judge stat. Roy Bailey had damn well better not be the only one who goes down in this investigation. For all I care they can pardon a couple of junkies to free up some cell space in the penitentiary for these evil turds.
#30
Right on, NS. Also, INS is what get when you turn a government agency into an employment mechanism for otherwise unemployable liberal arts majors. My Ukrainian wife said that the INS "would be a very great shame" in her country.
WASHINGTON: After a successful test last week, the tracking radars and interceptor rockets of a new American missile defense system can be turned on at any time to respond to an emerging crisis in Asia, senior military officers said Tuesday.
General Victor Renuart Jr., the senior commander for defense of United States territory, said that the antimissile system could guard against the risk of ballistic missile attack from North Korea even while development continues on a series of radars in California and the Pacific Ocean and on interceptor missiles in Alaska and California.
While the new system is limited, it is the most extensive anti-ballistic missile system the Pentagon has fielded since the Safeguard ABM system near Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota was briefly operated, starting in 1975. Congress immediately voted to shut it down, and it operated for only a few months.
"We can bring missiles up or take them down as need be so that they can continue doing the testing," said Renuart, commander of the military's Northern Command, based in Colorado Springs. But, he added, "I'm fully confident that we have all of the pieces in place that, if the nation needed to, we could respond."
He said the system showed an initial capability in July 2006, when American missile defense went on alert as North Korea staged missile tests. Because the array of interceptors and radars remains under development, it has never received the military's official status of being an operational weapons system.
Renuart spoke during a Pentagon news briefing on Tuesday that offered a recap of a missile defense test held on Friday that was deemed a success.
Lieutenant General Henry Obering III, director of the Missile Defense Agency, said the target missile was launched from Kodiak Island, Alaska, and tracked by radar at Beale Air Force Base, near Sacramento. The interceptor missile was fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base, north of Santa Barbara, California, scoring a direct hit on the dummy warhead.
"Does the system work? The answer is yes to that," Obering said. "Is it going to work against more complex threats in the future? We believe it will."
Obering acknowledged that no decoys were flown in the path of the interceptor on Friday as might be expected in a real missile attack. Skeptics have challenged the Missile Defense Agency to conduct more realistic tests that would include even primitive technologies designed to fool the interceptor. These include balloons and chunks of metal that separate from the missile along with the warhead.
The general said the next test, which is expected in the first half of 2008, would include countermeasures to gauge the interceptor's ability to differentiate between the real warhead and decoys. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are scheduled to meet up in Moscow later this month for joint talks with their counterparts on Russia's objections to American proposals for missile defense in Central Europe. American plans call for 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic to defend against a possible missile attack from Iran.
Obering said Friday's successful test would help make the Bush administration's case with allies.
"I think it helps us in a very real way, because, as I have had conversations with our European partners and allies and NATO partners in the past, one of the questions I do get asked is, well, this system is not proven," Obering said. And this, he added, goes a long way "to answering that question."
#1
Boy, did they skip over some big historical events there. Safeguard was built in secret by Richard Nixon, and when he announced that it was complete and fully functional, the Russians about pooped themselves. They had no idea.
Since they couldn't afford to build a real ABM system, they overnight created a *fake* one, which was enough for the US to agree on the SALT-1 treaty that only preserved the tiny amount of anti-missile defenses for Moscow that the Russians could afford.
But the Democrat congress decided we didn't need any at all, so threw away our $500B system.
Imbeciles. Just what they are planning to do with our current, new, missile defenses.
I guess they won't be satisfied until all the blue States are wiped out with nuclear weapons.
#3
Didn't the Ford administration bargain the Safeguard system away? Or did the post Watergate Congress composed of radical dimocrats unilaterally give up the system?
#4
We will again hear the "It won't protect against a "suitcase nuke" or a nuke in a shipping container. I call this the "Your cancer cure is useless since it does nothing about the flu!" argument...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/03/2007 12:23 Comments ||
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#5
One of my friends was the information officer for Safeguard. He said that the RADAR had to be continuously working in order to retain its integrity (late 1960's technology). After they turned it off, it wouldn't work if it was turned back on. The 64 missiles were basically souped-up, nuclear-tipped Nikes. It came online in September, 1975, and was forced to shut down the same month by a Democratic congress. President Ford tried to talk them out of it, but failed.
The Dhimmicrats have been traitors ever since 1932 and the Roosevelt Administration. Why should it be a surprise now?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/03/2007 13:42 Comments ||
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#6
Again with the harping about decoys. These critics seem to think that the engineers who design these systems are stupid.
Posted by: moody blues ||
10/03/2007 14:38 Comments ||
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#7
Oh how I dearly wish they had announced that we'd lied and there were actually 11,000 interceptors deployed, rather than just 11.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
10/03/2007 17:22 Comments ||
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#8
It only slightly works against single launch threats. It must be defunded and removed!!! Give all the money to widows and orphans that we will create!
/dhimocrats
#9
No, the Russ long before were quietly planning to [eventually] deploy ABM/BMD Systems beyond only Air Defense. "Pooped themselves" > more correct to say Amer defeated them ala CUBAN CRISIS, beat them in Space and Moon race, were winning in Vietnam, + now beat them wid ABM. BREZHNEV > began the post-Cuba Soviet military buildup and modernization, dedicating the USSR to a minima of PARITY iff NOT SUPERIORITY vv USA-NATO. Unknown to the West, pre-Brezhnev the Soviets did not trust the bulk of their own strategic missle and targeting systems despite their Commie rhetoric to the contrary.
#10
2007 and GLOBAL MISSLE DEFENSE > Russia's SHKVAL hyper-velocity torpedo > The Russians have already admitted that they intend to continue and expand the SHKVAL concept to LR strategic capabilities, plus are dev their own UNDERWATER SUBMERSIBLE VEHICLES [armed/attack]. Besides, so-called SATURATION ATTACKS to defeat US GMD, point or en masse, THE UNDERWATER OCEAN = UW LINEAR DISTANCE BTWN ORIGIN + TARGET POINTS IS ITSELF NOW A DIMENSION OF STEALTH = COVER FOR ANTI-US STRATEGIC ATTACK. E.G. "SPIDER" naval design, etal. > Amers should be expecting more strange-looking, non-traditional ship designs for future naval surface and UW ship units. GLOBAL SEA DEFENSE > SHKVAL + 3D-plus BATTLESPACE SPAWAR > in future, DECISIVE NAVAL BATTLES + BMD MAY BE DECIDED UNDERWATER, NOT JUST VIA SURFACE OR SPACE.
#11
REDDIT?TOPIX > BLACKWATER MOVES TOWARDS DIRIGIBLES. Unmanned, Nano-Techy, Multi-purpose, and eventually ARMED. Walking-on-ground armed Terrorists are just so much weird-looking Commie missles???
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Pro-Taleban militants killed two Pakistani paramilitary soldiers and captured 22 in an attack on a military checkpost near the northwestern town of Bannu, officials said on Tuesday. The attack on the post near Bannu late on Monday came hours after a suicide bomber killed 15 people, including four policemen, in the town in North West Frontier Province.
More than 200 militants attacked the post and killed two soldiers of the Frontier Constabulary and took 22 away with them, said senior paramilitary official Abdul Nawaz Khattak. Khattak said 10 to 15 militants were killed in the attack.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
Punjab police arrested eight people in Rawalpindi suspected of having links to Al Qaeda and being involved in recent suicide attacks in the country, Interior Ministry Spokesman Brig (r) Javed Iqbal Cheema told reporters Tuesday. Its confirmed that these people are involved in preparing bombs and other things helpful in carrying out suicide attacks, claimed Cheema. He said the suspects were from banned religious outfits having links with Al Qaeda, the militants of South Waziristan and the tribal areas. These people are not from the network we have been referring to over the last few weeks, he said.
He said the recent bombings in Pakistan could be linked to Al Qaeda, but the security agencies had no substantial evidence to accurately prove that the militant organisation was involved. The spokesman said, We have no solid evidence to suggest that Osama Bin Laden is in Pakistan.
He said the security agencies knew the people who were masterminding the bombings in the country but he would not name them for security reasons.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2007 00:00 ||
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[11126 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
Two militants and a Frontier Corps jawan were killed and five security personnel injured when militants attacked a checkpost in North Waziristan as stray fire from overnight clashes damaged several public properties in Miranshah, officials and local residents said on Tuesday.
Gharlamai checkpost, in Data Khel tehsil, was attacked Monday night, leaving a paramilitary soldier dead and five others injured, security officials said on condition of anonymity. They said the recovered bodies of slain militants were handed over to a pro-Taliban cleric for burial. Meanwhile, local residents said heavy exchange of fire between the security forces and the militants damaged several buildings.
The crossfire also left pro-government elder Malik Mamoor Khans family aggrieved when a 10-year-old girl was killed by artillery shell at their home. Two other children were also injured.
Civilian killed: Meanwhile, the Frontier Constabulary (FC) and unidentified militants exchanged fire for many hours in the Kanju area and a resident of nearby Aligrama Colony was caught in the crossfire when the militants took refuge there, eyewitnesses said.
The FC personnel targeted Aligrama Colony damaging many houses, shops, and some marble factories including the Mingora, Speed and Saleemullah marble factories, though no casualties were reported. Later, locals blocked Kabal-Mangora Road for several hours and demanded the government compensate the victims of the FC personnels firing. We want an official inquiry into the incident, a protester told Daily Times, demanding that those involved be punished.
Meanwhile, militants attacked a military post in northwestern Pakistan before dawn Tuesday, triggering gun battles that left six security personnel injured, officials said, reported AP.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2007 00:00 ||
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[11123 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
HANGU: Militants shot at a police checkpost outside the residence of NWFP Governor Ali Muhammad Jan Orakzais brother, Muhammad Amin, in Hangu on Tuesday, killing two policemen and a Levy guard and injuring two policemen and a civilian. Hangu District Nazim Ghaniur Rehman told Daily Times that it was too soon to say whether the attack was aimed at Amin or was part of the ongoing attacks on security forces across the country. The injured were rushed to Hangu Hospital.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2007 00:00 ||
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[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
Killed al Qaeda in Iraq operative sheds light on foreign influence
In a press conference today, Major General Kevin Bergner, the spokesman for Multinational Forces Iraq, provided further evidence of al Qaeda in Iraq's foreign influence. Bergner highlighted the arrest of "Muthanna," al Qaeda's the emir of the Iraq/Syrian border. "During this operation, we also captured multiple documents and electronic files that provided insight into al Qaedas foreign terrorist operations, not only in Iraq but throughout the region," Bergner said. "They detail the larger al-Qaeda effort to organize, coordinate, and transport foreign terrorists into Iraq and other places."
"Muthanna was the emir of Iraq and Syrian border area and he was a key facility of the movement of foreign terrorists once they crossed into Iraq from Syria," Bergner said. "He worked closely with Syrian-based al Qaeda foreign terrorist facilitators."
He was but one of 29 al Qaeda high value targets killed or detained by Task Force 88, Multinational Forces Iraq's hunter-killer teams assigned to target senior al Qaeda leaders and operatives.
Bergner said several documents were found in Muthanna's custody, including a list of 500 al Qaeda fighters from "a range of foreign countries that included Libya, Morocco, Syria, Algeria, Oman, Yemen, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom."
Muthanna was captured in early September. He was but one of 29 al Qaeda high value targets killed or detained by Task Force 88, Multinational Forces Iraq's hunter-killer teams assigned to target senior al Qaeda leaders and operatives. Five al Qaeda operatives have been killed and 24 captured.
5 Emirs at the city level or higher in the AQI leadership structure.
9 geographical or functional cell leaders.
11 facilitators who supported foreign terrorist and weapons movements.
Four of the senior al Qaeda leaders killed during the month of September include:
Abu Usama al Tunisi: The Tunisian born leader who is believed to be the successor to Abu Ayyub al Masri.
Yaqub al Masri: The Egyptian-born leader who was in the inner circle with Zarqawi and then also in the inner circle of Abu Ayyub al Masri. He was a close associate of Ayman al Zawahiri.
Muhammad al Afari: The Emir of Sinjar, who led the barbaric bombings of the Yazidis in northern Iraq.
Abu Taghrid: The Emir of the Rusafa car bomb network.
Also captured during the month of September was Ali Fayyad Abuyd Ali. "Fayyad is the father in law of al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al Masri," said Colonel David Bacon, the Chief of Strategy and Plans, Strategic Communications, at Multinational Forces Iraq. Fayyad is a senior advisor to senior al Qaeda in Iraq leaders, including al Masri.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Wednesday it had discovered a list of some 500 al Qaeda militants recruited to fight in Iraq from a range of European, Middle East and north African countries. Spokesman Major-General Kevin Bergner said the information was unearthed in September when a senior al Qaeda in Iraq member, called Muthanna, was killed along with seven other militants near Sinjar in northwest Iraq.
The U.S. military blames fighters recruited outside Iraq for many of the suicide attacks targeting U.S. and Iraqi forces and has previously criticized neighbors such as Syria for not checking the flow of foreign militants across borders into Iraq.
"Muthanna was the emir of Iraq and Syrian border area and he was a key facility of the movement of foreign terrorists once they crossed into Iraq from Syria. He worked closely with Syrian-based al Qaeda foreign terrorist facilitators," he said.
Bergner told a news conference that the information discovered included 143 biographies of foreign recruits, with personal data, photographs, their recruiters' names, date of entry into Iraq and the route they took.
"They came from a range of foreign countries that included Libya, Morocco, Syria, Algeria, Oman, Yemen, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom," he said. "In other documents that we found included a formal pledge from foreign terrorists who were committed to suicide operations," Bergner said.
A car bomb exploded near a convoy carrying the Polish ambassador today, injuring the envoy and killing an Iraqi passer-by, officials said. The targeted convoy consisted of several SUVs carrying the security guards who protect the ambassador. It was unclear if the bomber's target was the envoy himself or his security guards.
Polish government officials in Warsaw were quoted by news services as saying the ambassador, Gen. Edward Pietrzyk, was not seriously injured. The U.S. Embassy spokeswoman in Baghdad, Mirembe Nantongo, said U.S. troops had helped evacuate victims from the scene of the attack in central Baghdad's Karrada neighborhood. "We condemn this barbarous attack," she said.
Poland has been a staunch backer of the U.S. presence in Iraq and maintains about 900 troops, making it the third largest contributor of forces to the war after the United States and Britain.
Posted by: ryuge ||
10/03/2007 06:24 ||
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[11127 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
#1
The article reported a Blackwater helicopter flew the injured ambassador away from the scene. In unrelated news, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Wednesday that Blackwater should leave the country. He said, "I believe the abundance of evidence against it makes it unfit to stay in Iraq."
Work accident, Fatah, Jooooos, or somebody else? Whoever, buy 'em a round (of drinks, not ammo).
Three Hamas police officers were killed and two wounded after sundown Tuesday when a car exploded outside a Hamas security headquarters building in Gaza City, hospital and security officials said. At first Hamas blamed Israel, but later said it was unclear what caused the blast.
The car exploded went off on the Gaza beachfront near the Hamas marine police force building. The Hamas-controlled Gaza Interior Ministry released a statement saying the car was hit by an Israeli naval vessel offshore, killing three marine police officers.
But later, the Hamas government backed away, releasing a statement saying, "Investigations are still under way to determine what caused the blast, who was behind it and who was killed."
The IDF said it was not involved.
But they wish they would have been.
Witnesses reported gunfire in the area after the blast, indicating an internal clash. Israel's Channel 10 TV quoted Israeli military officials as saying Palestinian militants fired an anti-tank rocket at the car.
Someone wanted to be damn sure those Hamaseen are deaders. Now, there is a blood feud for Hamas to attend to, I thunk. And vice versa. And vice versa. And vice versa. And vice versa. Etc., etc.
#4
Twofer. Looks like a combination "factional fighting/ work accident".
Three Fatah members killed planting explosive device near Hamas-affiliated police headquarters
Gaza - Ma'an - The three Palestinians killed when a car exploded near harbour in Gaza City on Tuesday evening were Fatah members trying to plant a deadly explosive device near a Hamas-affiliated police headquarters in Gaza City, the deposed Palestinian Ministry of the Interior said on Wednesday.
The results of an investigation into the explosion revealed that "a group of Fatah members were trying to planting an explosive device behind the Al-Ansar police headquarters in front of Gaza seaport. The explosive device went off while the gang was planning to target a police patrol. Three men were killed and many others were injured," a statement from the deposed Ministry of the Interior revealed.
The Statement added that the Ministry "will not allow anyone to interfere with the security and stability of our people."
The ministry called on the "rationalists" in the Fatah movement to work on rooting out such groups who are "leading the Fatah movement and the Palestinian nation into an abyss."
Palestinian medical sources named two of the victims as Yousif Hamada and Hudaibi Khadir, both activists from Fatah's Al-Aqsa Brigades. The Al-Aqsa Brigades gave no details about the incident
#7
PCHR chimes in with more deliciously gruesome details...
Three members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, were killed by a mysterious explosion in their vehicle in the west of Gaza City.
PCHRs preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 19:30 on Tuesday, 2 October 2007, a huge explosion rocked Rashid Street near the Fishermens Warf in Gaza City. Area residents rushed to scene; and the Centers fieldworker was in the area and headed to the scene of the explosion. It became clear that the explosion occurred inside a yellow taxi, which was completely destroyed and burned. All occupants were killed and dismembered.
#9
From the PCHR report, it seems this might have been a set-up. The Al-Aksa people may have been going to an arranged meeting with some Hamas leaders, only it was an ambush instead. A rocket-propelled grenade can do a lot of damage to an old Renault of Fiat used as a taxi. Those inside died quickly.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/03/2007 13:48 Comments ||
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#10
Feets? They don't say, but I'm sure the found a few...
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
10/03/2007 14:05 Comments ||
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#12
looks like the Gazainas ( of both flavors) are taking the RAB Crossfire Correspondence courses)
1. After dark rendevous. Check
2. Unknown assailants open fire. Boy howdy-check.
3. Assailants dissapear, as if they were never there. Check.
4. "They're Dead, Jim." Check.
#14
Since it was a marine patrol police station, maybe Fatah got word of Hamas's plans to get a Navy? Just trying to "nip it in the bud" before Hamas gets all uppity?
Posted by: BA ||
10/03/2007 21:52 Comments ||
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Terrorists Insurgents in the South killed the highest ranking officer so far in their renewed war in the South, police said. Navy Captain Thawee Kua-Noy, 58, came under attack as he was driving his pick-up truck at 7:30am this morning on his way to work. The attack took place at an intersection in Thoong Yang Dang district of Pattani province. The captain (the equivalent of an army colonel) was hit three times by bullets in his right ear and neck and died at the scene, according to investigators. It is believed the attack was designed to create fear. You think?
Meanwhile, terrorists militants killed two men in separate drive-by shootings late Tuesday in Pattani and nearby Yala province. Terrorists Insurgents also set ablaze an elementary school in Pattani on Wednesday, gutting the wooden building, police said.
Over 100 public schools in this trouble-plagued province are closing for school recess Wednesday - one week sooner than earlier scheduled - due to daily, sporadic terrorist insurgent assaults on teachers and officials throughout the southernmost province of Thailand. The teachers were told to inspect the results of their students' mid-term exams at home in order to avoid possible attacks by the terrorists insurgents, he said.
The air force bombed a top Tamil Tiger leaders hideout deep inside rebel-controlled territory in northern Sri Lanka early Tuesday as violence grew throughout the war-torn area, the military said.
The bombing occurred about 6:30 a.m. in the Mullaittivu district in the Tamil Tigers de facto state in the north, a military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The military declined to identify the target of the airstrike, and rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan did not answer repeated calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.
In other fighting, troops in the Vavuniya district, on the frontier between rebel and government-controlled territory, killed four rebels in fighting Monday afternoon, the military official said. One soldier was also killed in the battle, he said. A fifth rebel was killed Monday night in another battle in the region, he said. The fighting came as clashes between the two sides have markedly increased.
The military announced Monday that 17 guerrillas and two soldiers had been killed in four separate battles the previous day, and a total of 100 rebels had been killed in the previous 10 days of fighting. However the two sides routinely overstate their enemys casualties and play down their own. The military said the new fighting was not part of a new offensive, but was the result of intensified rebel efforts to infiltrate across the front lines.
The rebels have said the government was exaggerating the intensity of the fighting, which amounted to only a few small battles. The government has said it aims to defeat the Tamil Tigers and end the islands more that two-decade-old separatist conflict which has killed an estimated 70,000 people.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#3
In Sistan va Baluchestan... Did not know we are sooo in kahoots with Baluchis. But if we are, the mark should have Khamenei written on it, not some poor schmuck Tavakoli.
#6
I guess they accidentally left their CIA decoder rings behind
[after cracking a secret code]
Ralphie: [Reading it] Be sure to drink your Ovaltine. Ovaltine? A crummy commercial? Son of a bitch!
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/03/2007 7:52 Comments ||
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#7
This Tavakoli guy isn't anybody of note, as far as I can tell. I can't imagine why anyone outside of Iran would invest any effort or take any risk to snuff him. Probably some local farmer took offense at the constant molestation of his goats.
#8
Maybe he was whacked because he was a Zionist/CIA agent--or maybe it was a jealous husband. Who knows.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/03/2007 8:35 Comments ||
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#9
Parsi islamists vs Baluchi islamists.
Something like Alien vs Predator
At least in Pakistan's baluchistan there is a strong anti-islam component. Remember teh assianation of Akhbar Bukhti last year and what he said about Islam.
In a related development Lebanon Tuesday charged 14 people with murder and terrorism, including the spokesman of the Islamist militant group Fatah Al Islam, state prosecutor Saeed Mirza said. He said the defendants, seven of them in detention, were charged in connection with the killing of Lebanese soldiers during a 15-week standoff with the Al Qaeda-inspired militants that ended September 2.
They were accused of "belonging to the Fatah Al Islam terrorist group, with the aim of committing crimes against people and property," the national news agency NNA said. The defendants comprised six Palestinians, three Syrians, two Lebanese, two Saudis, and one German of Turkish origin, it said.
More-than-400 people died in the battles at the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr Al Bared in northern Lebanon, including 168 soldiers, that broke out May 20. A total of 311 members of Fatah Al Islam, including 147 in detention, have been charged since August in connection with the bloodshed.
This article starring:
Fatah Al Islam
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2007 00:00 ||
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General Darwish Hobaika, Head of the Civil Defense department has declared that "the fires were intentionally set". He added : "The fires are now mostly under control and will be completely extinguished within about hours."
Hobaika did not give any details about the investigation that led to the conclusion that the fire was caused by arson. In Deir el Qamar, which was badly affected , the fire was completely extinguished at about 5:00 PM Beirut time . 3 houses of prominent residents of Deir el Qamar were destroyed by the Fire: They are the houses of General John Nassif, Attorney Fouad el Bustani and Maroun el Bustani.
2 cars and 2 motorcycles were also burnt by the fire.
About 70 % of Deir- el Qamar was affected by the fire and the losses are in the millions of dollars, according to Fadi Hnein, duputy Mayor of the town.
Many elderly and college students were evacuated to safety. One elderly women was killed as a result of the fire .
The fire in Deir el Qamar spread to several nearby villages like Kfarqatra and Maasir Beiteddine . Fifteen people were injured in the fires that raged across the forests and damaged houses to the north and east of the Lebanese capital on Tuesday, a local official said. "Fifteen people suffered injuries and burns, while 20 others were treated for respiratory problems" in the Shouf mountains east of Beirut, Deir al-Qamar municipality official Edy Renno told reporters.
In Deir al-Qamar several electricity and telephone poles had collapsed on the side of the town's main road. This led to power blackout
Elias Nohra, a 42-year-old lawyer from Deir al-Qamar, said that "the fires started last night at around 8 pm (1700 GMT) between Deir al-Qamar and (the nearby town of) Beiteddine."
"Guys from the region went out to extinquish the fires. They thought they did, but then in the morning, the fires started again and spread even more because of the wind,," he said. Civil defense workers, backed by Lebanese army helicopters, were also deployed to extinguish blazes in the north of the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
JAWA REPORT > SYRIA INTENDS TO LAUNCH/WAGE GUERILLA WAR INSIDE ISRAEL, in response to 9/6???
Yesterday also two key militants were arrested: Fatah al-Islam Operations Chief Nasser Ismail and his assistant Khaled Shaaban. They were both found in an apartment inside the Beddawi Palestinian refugee camp.
The Lebanese army is carrying out intensive searches in the region for fugitive militants, including Fatah Al Islam leader Shaker Al Absi, whose fate remains unknown.
This article starring:
ADNAN NAJJAR
Fatah al-Islam
Beddawi camp
KHALED SHAABAN
Fatah al-Islam
NASER ISMAIL
Fatah al-Islam
SHAKER AL ABSI
Fatah al-Islam
Fatah al-Islam
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Posted by 'spiffo' yesterday. This is nasty, tough work for those who are trained and properly equipped - we were joking around a bit when Governor Sebilius brought in smokejumpers to protect Greensburg but as a foot unit; we wanted to go see these highly trained professionals go chase a prarie fire with flyswatters (the locals' mechanized VolFire would have responded and helped of course). Looking at that policeman fighting the fire with what looks like a garden tool, I hope the air support used in Greece is re-tooled and ready to help here - folks, appreciate our best trained and equipped fire fighters in the world.
If this play is audibled here in the states, I propose: attempted murder charges for each smoke inhalation case, murder charge for each death, tacked onto terrorism and all other related charges (hell throw in camping without a license etc.) for those caught and found guilty using this indescriminate (and cowardly, barbaric) war weapon/tactic. Better yet, have them go 'turn the head' (of a fire) with a rake.
#2
We had two moderate fires here in Colorado last week - one a forest fire near the town of Manitou Springs that went up the southeast flank of the old Manitou Incline, and the other one a prairie fire east of Colorado Springs caused by spontaneous combustion in a load of hay. Each took about 150 men to control the fires and extinguish them. There have been a lot of suspicious fires in Europe this year, including several deliberately set. As a terrorist tactic, it's cheap and effective, so expect to see more of them. Of course, Lebanon and Israel are about the only nations in the Middle East where you'd have to worry about such things.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/03/2007 14:00 Comments ||
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Today's Rantburg carries this piece, which links to this article, which is a very well done fisking of Barak O'Bama and the Audacity of Smarm. Jules Crittendon's analysis notes the tried and true cliche that
... the great responsibility of students is to question the world around you, to question things that dont add up.
Utter that phrase or one similar to it, and a certain type of innaleck is guaranteed to nod sagely in agreement. To another kind of mind, to whit, mine, it's in the same category as scraping your nails across the blackboard, or a dog entering its fourth hour of non-stop barking outside my bedroom window, or the muezzin's call to prayer.
At which point in life are children supposed to start questioning everything they're told?
I've got a 5-year-old grandkid in kindergarten. Should he be questioning the construction of the letter "A"? Should he wait until middle school or junior high, whichever is currently in vogue? Does that mean that 11-year-old Dan, Junior, should be second-guessing the guff his teachers are putting out about long division and nouns?
Surely the admonition applies to high school students, since they're in court periodically to enforce their right to wear offensive tee shirts, to be male prom queens, or to call their teachers names.
But there doesn't seem to be any easing into this obligation on the part of partially formed minds. It's a binary thing, on and off, it would seem, so there's no year or two to be spent questioning some things and swallowing others whole because the adults might have some idea how the world works along with the intent to pass that knowledge on to the kiddies. So my question is: At which point in their pointless little existences are children assumed to know enough to question everything?
At which point do the children's opinions become more important than those of their elders?
And that brings up the corollary: at which age do their oh-so-important opinions become suspect because they're deeply enough into adulthood for their minds to have gone, like ours have?
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2007 13:23 ||
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#1
Amen Fred. The great responsibility of students is to LEARN. "Questioning the world around you" is just another euphamism from the left that means 'don't believe anything they tell you'. Quickly followed of course by 'now that you know that's not true, let US tell you what to think'.
Indoctrination and Education are not one and the same.
#2
"At which point do the children's opinions become more important than those of their elders?"
At the point the children can - and do - support themselves outside the parents' home.
Too bad a lot of parents don't believe that....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/03/2007 15:24 Comments ||
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#3
to question things that dont add up != to start questioning everything they're told (!= is not equal)
To question things that dont add up is a part and parcel of maturing process, provided that at the same time, logic and reasoning principles are taught.
#4
Importantly: questioning what surrounds you means *asking* questions, not just voicing opinions. It is the rare student who asks "But why *is* the sky blue?", and the rarer teacher who tells him why, without either being annoyed or patronizing.
When I was a young teenager, and knew the scientific explanation for why the sky is blue, I was asked just that question by a small neighbor boy, perhaps six years old. So I told him, in as complete and unvarnished a way as I had been told.
Years later, he told me that answer from me meant a lot more to him than just the answer to the question he had asked.
#5
When you are through learning, as when you are through looking, you're through living.
Life is a learning experience. The most distinguished scientists will tell you that they have learned to expect their experiments to fail (since 90%+ do exactly that). When one succeeds they receive that "sense of wonder" high that keeps them going through the lean times when all that's in sight is failure after failure after failure.
Most scientists learn throughout their lives. They learn something even from failure. As Edison is rumored to have said upon being asked what he had learned from a thousand failed attempts to invent the light bulb "I know a thousand ways it won't work."
Unfortunately, we have been taught to believe that risk taking and failure are not worth the effort or the cost. We have also been ingrained with the idea that once we exit high school, or college, or grad school, or once we earn that PhD or MBA there is nothing left for us to learn. That could not be farther from the truth.
Learning is something we do our entire lives. Once we close our minds to learning, we close our minds to the potential for our own success.
#6
Enlightenment: All humans have reason, which needs educating, developing and the acquisition of self-discipline if it is to mature and inform one's actions.
Rousseau and the Romantics (including Marx): All humans are born perfect. Civilization corrupts; therefore, the ways of civilization must be torn down so as to allow the perfect human to emerge.
#7
To question things that dont add up is a part and parcel of maturing process, provided that at the same time, logic and reasoning principles are taught.
Word, 2x4.
First you need to understand *how* to add things up before you can tell that which things aren't adding up and need the questioning.
#8
That phrase has always been joke to me because the teachers and professors that said it the most were the ones who brooked no questioning of their own statements and beliefs.
#9
Fred, I see this as the "question authority" mentality coming full circle. Critical analysisthe ability to assess and parse perceived realityhas been supplanted by doubt. This should come as absolutely no surprise considering what Americas youth have been taught for the last several decades. It is impossible to overstate how damaging to young minds modern academias school of nihilist thought truly is. Lets examine its "tenets":
1. You can never know anything for sure.
2. There is no right or wrong, only shades of gray.
3. Truth is subjective.
4. Logic is conditional.
5. There are no absolutes.
6. Life is without meaning.
All of the abovenow commonly held"tenets" engender belief in a malevolent universe. They spawn pessimism, insecurity, cynicism and the ready dismissal of established norms. All of these behaviors are prerequisites for the subordination of less capable minds by those who seek to control them. Loosing an individual from the moorings of rational philosophy makes those cut adrift extremely vulnerable to programming of any sort. Cults and brainwashers are notorious for using such methods in recruiting new members or inducing political defections.
Lets examine these modern tenets one by one:
You can never know anything for sure.
Ive had people actually try to argue with me about how I can be so sure that the sun will rise tomorrow. My simple reply is that such debate is irrelevant because if the sun does not rise, all life will end and further dispute serves no valid purpose. Ayn Rand addresses this in her law of identity: A=A. Certain laws do hold with a degree of immutability whereby they can be accepted as absolute. The lack of surety bred up by this one supposition is amongst the most damaging of all to young minds.
There is no right or wrong, only shades of gray.
Whenever confronted with this utter nonsense simply ask, When is rape permissible? There are certain things in this world that are wrong and to think otherwise is indicates an unwholesome degree of moral flexibility. It fosters an ability to tolerate the intolerable. This particular tenet serves as a cornerstone of moral relativism and represents a core driver of Multiculturalisms refusal to condemn even the most hideous of traditions.
Truth is subjective.
There can be no better way of undermining an individuals personal convictions than by making truth circumstantial. Welcome to the brave new world of truthiness. When a persons moral compass is demagnetized its poles become interchangeable and from thereon its all a downhill slide. Once you leave the mountaintop of moral clarity all perspective is lost and certainty perishes swiftly thereafter.
Logic is conditional.
This is how you strip the minds gearbox and destroy any transmission of meaningful reality. Critical analysis is impossible without the guideposts of logic. Once this guardian of intellect is slain any barbarian can crash the gates of reason. Constructive criticism and the assassination of ideas suddenly become indistinguishable. Deform this vital toolset and there is no way to repair the damage done by the preceding tenets.
There are no absolutes.
Tear out the moorings of mental discrimination and personal judgment becomes impossible. Witness the recent pejorative cast given to the word discrimination. Although wholly different in meaning, it is now demonized with the same negative connotations attributed to the word prejudice. Little value is held in the ability to discern between right and wrong. Especially so when the difference between right and wrong has already been denied. When people cannot make up their own minds the time is ripe for someone else to do it for them.
Life is without meaning.
Here is the grand finale for those who seek to subvert humanity and civilization. Eliminate a sense of individual purpose in life and blind obedience becomesnot just a welcome relief from crippling disorientationbut an easy descent into conformity and total lack of free thought. Communism sought to do this by alienating workers from their labor, product and compensation. Make a persons work irrelevant to their daily living and life rapidly becomes meaningless. Have the result of human labor bear no direct relation to personal survival and existence loses its importance. Reward individuals in ways that have little connection to their efforts and soon they lose all contact with reality.
Authoritarian religions do this as well. They attempt to channel all human spirituality into a more narrow definition that serves only their own ends. True liberation of the mind represents a least desirable outcome. Lifes meaning can only be perceived within the limited confines of hidebound doctrine and not via an individual quest for uplift.
Now, combine all of these tenets together and you brew up an intellectual poison so toxic that there is little chance of escaping its fatal effects. The antidotes of reason, logic and morality have all been diluted into impotence and little more remains than being led to the slaughterhouse. Welcome to Htrae, the Bizarro World of Politically Correct thinking and Multiculturalism.
#10
Yes -- this is as bad as the first time I heard a journalist/reporter about questioning at White House briefings, "but it's our job to be skeptical of all the President does."
"Since when," says me, after closing my mouth after it having dropped open.
#11
At the point the children can - and do - support themselves outside the parents' home.
In fact IMHO people should not have right to vote or demonstrate before they support themselves: I find shocking that 18 year olds could get someone elected while at the same time they don't pay taxes or suffer the inconvenienies of his politics.
#12
I just became a first time father recently and have been having similar discusions with momma about what we feel is important in education. All theory at this point, all I can do is fall back on my own experiences: recently I have been learning to fight fire. I first had to have confidence. I then would mimic the experienced firefighters and at the same time listen to and learn from them. Later, I began to anticipate moves and understand why we were performing an action - and understand that there were no dumb questions just dumb actions because I didn't ask. Being just a dumb rookie though, I had to scrutinize what I was being told lest I end up with wet underwear or otherwise hazed. I wanted them to have to work to get me, but it made me really pay attention to what they were saying.
To me, there are things to learn which are definate - such as the acceleration of gravity and the structure of language - to build on; math and English. Building these strong foundations, momma and I feel, will give baby the tools to question when that confidence/ability is there to do that. That is, math will lead into problem solving with definate outcomes eventually leading to logic and critical thinking and when combined with English, which will give the ability to read and learn other languages, and find information other than what people tell baby is the truth or only interpretation. With these tools (I hope) baby will have the ability to mull the more abstract concepts of history, art, philosophy, etc. This will (hopefully) return full circle if baby is skilled and interested enough, to choose to tackle the more theoretical aspects of math and english.
Community and Sports will also be encouraged; dealing with the ups and downs of teamwork and competition, the ability to deal with the cold fact that maybe only 1 time in 'n' attempts will baby get a base hit but can improve that percentage with dedication, practice, concentration, patience.
I am in my early 30's and welcome any input or advice in this area and am mostly a lurker to this community, but that is my take on this ponder. If I have not learned something new or improved on something I know, I feel I have wasted a day.
#13
Yes -- this is as bad as the first time I heard a journalist/reporter about questioning at White House briefings, "but it's our job to be skeptical of all the President does."
"Since when," says me, after closing my mouth after it having dropped open.
Since Bush was sworn in back in January of 2001.
Posted by: Shusong Abdominal Lord of the Snowmen9157 ||
10/03/2007 17:21 Comments ||
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#14
Sherry, the best argument I can make for a Republican president is that we need a skeptical, questioning Press.
And if we elect the Hildebeest instead, _we won't have one_.
Posted by: Shusong Abdominal Lord of the Snowmen9157 ||
10/03/2007 17:25 Comments ||
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#15
At which point do the children's opinions become more important than those of their elders?
That already happened starting in the 60's. It's been downhill ever since.
#16
...and as for the public schools, I hail from an area where my classmates actively campaigned for Nancy Boyda - walked out on the security meeting a while back and introduced
#17
In my not at all humble opinion on this subject, a child's opinions become more important than its parents' when it knows more about a subject and understands the ramifications better. I strongly suspect we all here (all our lovely lurkers included) had a least one subject in our youth in which we knew considerably more than most of the adults around us. But understanding the ramifications take more than intelligence and curiosity, it takes life experience in consequences -- and that only comes with having lived for more than five or ten or, often enough, twenty years.
Beyond that, I remember keenly that beginning parenthood stage you're going through, swksvolFF. It sounds like you and momma swksvolFF have a good handle on things. If I might suggest adding a season or two of soccer when your little Rantburger is in kindergarten or so, because there are so many more possibilities to attempt and fail or succeed in the 30 or so minutes of playing time, compared to T-ball. I'd also suggest adding a second language if you can when Baby is in preschool, because languages learnt at that age go to the speaking part of the brain, whereas any language learnt once Baby can read goes to the reading/logic part of the brain -- a much more difficult way to learn. Starting two languages simultaneously in infancy tends to delay sentence formation as the young brain puzzles out two sets of grammar, and I've seen it cause true confusion in little ones with unsuspected learning disabilities. But those are quibbles in what sounds like a well-reasoned parenting plan. Good luck! :-)
#18
As for the interminable "Why?" of the little ones, that's as much for the security of eliciting an answer, any answer, as actually getting information... and seeing how long it takes for the frustrated adult to burst out with, "Because I said so, you little brat!" Teach the child to look things up in a Child's Encyclopedia Brittanica -- with the promise to graduate to the adult version whenever it wants to stick a toe in the grown-up world -- and at least the discussions can move to ramifications. (Buy both at garage sales if possible. It will all be new to the child anyway, and I well remember when Mr. Wife informed me that at retail prices the sets were far beyond my budget!)
#19
as I told my children (all 3 grown now): "because my life experience and education exceeds your own, I feed, clothe, and house you, and I gave you life. I cannot take back my life, so I may have to take yours...please continue"
they never said much after that
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/03/2007 20:38 Comments ||
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#20
The problem these days is that sometimes the teachers in elementary school don't know the answers to a problem, a smart student does, and yet the teachers give an incorrect answer.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
10/03/2007 20:55 Comments ||
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#21
Wow, Zen, that is quite the masterpiece and I agree full on with your statements.
But, the spiritual side of me says that this started earlier. When scientists began saying, "We're no different than the animals". In fact, that train of thought led to "we ARE animals," and thusly, we can ONLY follow our instincts.
Case in point....the other story about 10,000 wildebeest carrening off the cliff into the river in Africa recently. WHY? one might ask. Because THAT'S what wildebeest do...they follow the pack (even to the point of being lemmings), and follow their instincts. Lions eat other animals (even to the horror of the "animal rights" groupies) because that's what they ARE (King of the Jungle).
But, my Holy Book tells me that we HUMANS are more than that. We have a soul and spirit that speaks to us. Call it a conscience, the Holy Spirit, what ever, but that SEPARATES us from the animals. All animals act and REACT based upon instincts. Humans should be able to do so too, but also throw the "moral" side of the equation into it in order to TONE DOWN our instincts. Heck, I want to SHOOT anyone that cuts me off in traffic, but I don't because I KNOW murder is wrong. Animals don't have that knowledge/conscience and thus, they just REACT.
When we've accepted that we're not only LIKE the animals, but we ARE animals, guess what you get? You'll get animals (Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin, Saddam, the Mullahs, etc.). But, we've gone even further than that, so far that we o.k. aborting/killing babies (no one can argue that abortion at 9 months gestation is NOT infanticide), who are the most innocent among us, yet hold national protests over killing convicted killers (Death Penalty). We literally have hospitals, where in one room a mother is aborting a normal, healthy baby, whereas in the next room, the doctors are doing EVERYTHING humanly possible to save a "preemie". We have more laws protecting real animals (dog fighting; dog abuse; etc.), than we do our own children (not that I believe laws stop bad things from happening, mind you). We (not us 'burgians) HATE our own culture, yet hold up despotic/tyrannical cultures as "equal" (multiculturalism). I believe this all started in the 50's (teaching man = animal), and has reaped the effects of the 60s (Make Love, not War), the 70s (institution of abortion on demand instituted nationwide) and saw a hiccup in the 80s under Reagan.
Finally, when you believe that man is just an animal, you get the education system we now have. It's all about your "self-esteem" and the inmates run the jail in some areas. I've heard horror stories of teachers being beaten to a bloody pulp by students, but they refuesed to defend themselves for fear of a lawsuit. We truly live in a bizarro world, where up is down and right is wrong.
Posted by: BA ||
10/03/2007 22:28 Comments ||
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#22
All humans are born perfect; it is civilization that corrupts?
How can a civilization made of perfect beings be corrupt?
How can supposedly intelligent people miss this glaring contradiction for 200 years?
#23
But, the spiritual side of me says that this started earlier. When scientists began saying, "We're no different than the animals". In fact, that train of thought led to "we ARE animals," and thusly, we can ONLY follow our instincts.
No argument, BA. The enemies of humanity have been struggling to lower us back onto the same plane as animal life since Rousseau's "Noble Savage" and even before then. Whether a person is religious or not, at day's end there still remains the mystic experience of human spirit and consciousness. It is something that distinguishes us from the animals and obliges us to be both better than them and strive for honorable stewardship of our planet.
Your mention of the wildebeest die-off was most appropriate. Note how the author was insane enough to try and draw some sort of moral equivalency to the 9-11 atrocity? This stunning degree of relativism is precisely the sort of "We're no different than the animals" mentality that you noted to begin with.
I believe this all started in the 50's
Which is pretty much exactly where I place it too. One need only incorporate the debasing notions of Rousseau's "Noble Savage" and Kant's poisonous altruism to understand the framework of nihilism that modern academia has used to betray Western civilization.
#24
It started earlier, when the pseudointellectuals took Mr. Darwin's descriptive theory and turned it into what it pleased them to call Social Darwinism. From that evil root grew nihilism, Socialism, Communism and Fascism, each of which said only the material world matters, and in that world a person's worth is only measured by his ability to seize power over others. The dogmas of the '50s were merely prettified versions of what had come earlier.
#25
TW, the late Stephen Jay Gould wrote an interesting piece on William Jennings Bryan and his objections to the theory of evolution. Many of Bryan's objections were inspired by his disgust at the social Darwinism he saw in the US and as he had seen reports of in Germany. As Gould pointed out, Bryan's conclusions were invalid, but he had found a major problem.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
10/03/2007 23:38 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Hundreds of Taliban captured a remote district in Afghanistan overnight, killing two policemen and driving out the rest, officials said, in a new show of force in an intensifying insurgency.
AUSTRALIA is preparing to send hundreds more troops to Afghanistan's southern Oruzgan province, where deadly contacts with Taliban fighters have escalated in recent months. By the middle of next year, Australia - whether under a Labor or Coalition government - will have more troops on the ground in Afghanistan than it does in Iraq.
DETROIT -- A federal grand jury indicted a high-ranking Detroit immigration official of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, and four other metro Detroit men on multiple counts of bribery, conspiracy and extortion.
WASHINGTON: After a successful test last week, the tracking radars and interceptor rockets of a new American missile defense system can be turned on at any time to respond to an emerging crisis in Asia, senior military officers said Tuesday.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Pro-Taleban militants killed two Pakistani paramilitary soldiers and captured 22 in an attack on a military checkpost near the northwestern town of Bannu, officials said on Tuesday. The attack on the post near Bannu late on Monday came hours after a suicide bomber killed 15 people, including four policemen, in the town in North West Frontier Province.
Punjab police arrested eight people in Rawalpindi suspected of having links to Al Qaeda and being involved in recent suicide attacks in the country, Interior Ministry Spokesman Brig (r) Javed Iqbal Cheema told reporters Tuesday. Its confirmed that these people are involved in preparing bombs and other things helpful in carrying out suicide attacks, claimed Cheema. He said the suspects were from banned religious outfits having links with Al Qaeda, the militants of South Waziristan and the tribal areas. These people are not from the network we have been referring to over the last few weeks, he said. 
Two militants and a Frontier Corps jawan were killed and five security personnel injured when militants attacked a checkpost in North Waziristan as stray fire from overnight clashes damaged several public properties in Miranshah, officials and local residents said on Tuesday. 
U.S. in Iraq says finds list of foreign fighters 
"They came from a range of foreign countries that included Libya, Morocco, Syria, Algeria, Oman, Yemen, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom," he said. "In other documents that we found included a formal pledge from foreign terrorists who were committed to suicide operations," Bergner said.
The air force bombed a top Tamil Tiger leaders hideout deep inside rebel-controlled territory in northern Sri Lanka early Tuesday as violence grew throughout the war-torn area, the military said. 
The Lebanese army on Tuesday arrested 
