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Sharon in hospital after minor stroke
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Afghanistan
Parliament sworn in for Afghanistan
We can just ignore this, like the press does. It's not very important, right?
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 11:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Depends. If Jessica Simpson wasn't sworn in as one of the members, then it's probably not that important...
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/19/2005 11:37 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm afraid I don't feel very accepting of The Press' little eccentricities today, I'm afraid. I actually wrote a chiding note to two Wall Street Journal news journalists* this morning, to share my pique.

* It was, after all, here at Rantburg that I saw the UCLA research demonstrating that the WSJ's newsroom (separate from the Editorial page and, presumably, the financial reporting)stands well to the left of even the New York Times.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2005 15:49 Comments || Top||


Key 'al-Qaeda militant' surfaces
The Arab television, Al Arabiya, has shown a video tape of a militant who claims to have escaped from the main American base in Afghanistan.
Must be sweeps week

The purported militant, Abu-Yahya al-Libbi, is said to be one of four detainees who escaped from the Bagram airbase in July. US officials did not identify them at the time but described the men as "dangerous enemy combatants". In November, US prosecutors said that one of the four was Omar al-Faruq. Al-Faruq was seen as one of Osama bin Laden's key lieutenants in Asia.

It is not clear what Abu-Yahya al-Libbi - also identified as Hassan Qayid - is doing in the Al Arabiya video. There has been no reaction to the tape from the American military. Al-Arabiya claims that the other detainees who escaped from Bagram are Muhammad Jafar al-Qahtani, who is a Saudi national, Abdallah al-Hashimi, a Syrian national and Omar al-Faruq who is described as an Iraqi national.
Posted by: Steve || 12/19/2005 09:57 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It is not clear what Abu-Yahya al-Libbi - also identified as Hassan Qayid - is doing in the Al Arabiya video. There has been no reaction to the tape from the American military.

Thats right dumb ass, but it don't mean we ain't still watching the little fuck to see who he links up with!
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2005 10:41 Comments || Top||


4 policemen, three Taliban killed in Afghan attacks
Four policemen and three suspected Taliban fighters were killed and an Afghan interpreter wounded in attacks in volatile southern Afghanistan, police and an official said on Sunday. About a dozen suspected insurgents stormed a police check post on a main highway late on Saturday, sparking a fierce gun battle in which three policeman and an attacker were killed, highway police commander Mohammad Nabi Allahyar said. Another policeman and two militants were killed in a clash after a suspected Taliban ambush in neighbouring Uruzgan province the same night, provincial governor Jan Mohammad Khan said.

An Afghan interpreter working with private US security firm USPI was meanwhile wounded on Sunday when Taliban attacked his vehicle in southwest Helmand p The attacks occurred two days before the first sitting of the war-ravaged country’s legislature due on Monday (today) after more than three decades of conflict.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
100 300 killed in Chad attack
Chadian troops repulsed an attack on a town near the Sudanese border on Sunday in fighting that killed around 100 people, Communication Minister Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor said. "There was an attack this morning in the town of Adre," Doumgor said. "The army counter-attacked. There were around 100 killed," he said, adding losses on the rebel side had been worse than on the government side in what aid workers say is the worst offensive to date of a growing conflict.
UPDATE: 300 Militants Killed in Chad Clashes
N'DJAMENA, Chad (AP) -- Government forces clashed with army deserters in an eastern border town, killing about 300 militants in the biggest recent offensive against rebels, officials said Monday. Five soldiers and three civilians also died in Sunday's raid to retake control of Adre, 620 miles east of the capital of N'djamena, the army said in a statement read on state-owned Radio Chad. The clash was with two rebel groups - the Rally for Democracy and Freedom and the Foundation for Change, Unity and Democracy, the army said.

Communication Minister Hourmadji Moussa and the army said some 300 rebels were killed, although the claim couldn't be independently verified. Representatives of the rebels were not immediately available for comment. If true, the death toll would be the largest in recent fighting between government forces and military deserters reportedly seeking to overthrow President Idriss Deby. Scores of soldiers deserted several military camps in October and have since regrouped in eastern Chad, near the border with Sudan's volatile western region of Darfur. Joined by former high-ranking government officials - including two nephews of Deby - some of the rebels have formed the Foundation for Change, Unity and Democracy. It is not clear who makes up the Rally for Democracy and Freedom. Later Monday, Foreign Minister Ahmat Allam-mi accused Sudan of supporting the two groups - an allegation that Sudan's Foreign Ministry denied.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Were they Hanging Chads?
Posted by: dorf || 12/19/2005 8:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Punched their ballots clean through
Posted by: Steve || 12/19/2005 10:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Prolly left a few of them dimpled, tho.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/19/2005 10:23 Comments || Top||

#4  300 killed! geez. Sounds like a war, to me.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 12/19/2005 16:15 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Nail bomb damages car in Cairo
A small nail bomb exploded in Cairo on Monday, damaging a car but not injuring anyone, a police source said. A man threw the bomb in a street in Giza, a few kilometres (miles) from the Pyramids, one of Egypt's main tourist sites. The target was not immediately clear.
My guess would be the car he threw it at. Who was driving?
Egypt's state MENA news agency said the car's front windshield had been smashed by fireworks let off by boys.
Which could be true, or it could be plausible.
Two militant attacks in Cairo on April 30 wounded four tourists and killed one man and two women attackers. An attack on April 7 killed the bomber and three foreigners. Militants launched larger attacks on tourist resorts in the Sinai peninsula in July this year and October 2004. More than 100 people were killed in the two attacks.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 22:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Soddies Free 400 Detainees
Saudi Arabia has released nearly 400 detainees, held for security reasons, after providing them with intense counseling and making sure they are free of deviant thoughts, the Saudi Press Agency reported yesterday quoting a security official.
Oh, yeah. That'll work...
Dr. Muhammad Al-Nujaimi, head of the department of civic studies at King Fahd Security Academy in Riyadh, said the 400 were set free during the past months. In a previous statement, Interior Minister Prince Naif had spoken about plans to release some detainees after they repented and decided to return to the right path.
We saw how well that's been working in Yemen...
Prince Naif, however, emphasized that the government would not set free those militants arrested for planning terrorist attacks across the country.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
"They are still under investigation and will be transferred to court for trial," the SPA quoted him as saying.
"Then they can be released."
Prince Naif said the ministry's counseling program, which started two years ago, was aimed at providing advice to those held in connection with security incidents that had taken place in the country in recent years. A number of prominent scholars, intellectuals, social scientists and psychiatrists are taking part in the program.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Typical muzzie catch and release program.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2005 10:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Prince Naif had spoken about plans to release some detainees after they repented and decided to return to the right path.

I hesitate to ask, but I wonder what they consider the "right path"?
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/19/2005 11:59 Comments || Top||

#3  but I wonder what they consider the "right path"?

North out of Saudi, turn right at Jordan....
Posted by: Steve || 12/19/2005 13:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Alternately, Advanced Mullah Studies, with a specialty in Screeching & Spittle Spewing.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2005 15:52 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Meherpur BNP leader killed in bomb attack
A BNP leader was killed in a bomb attack by unidentified terrors at Bamundi bazar in Gangni uapzila of the northwestern frontier district on Sunday night. Police and locals said the deceased, Kajol Mahmud, 27, was joint secretary of Gangni upazila Juba Dal, the youth front of ruling BNP, and brick businessman by profession. Witnesses said two assailants riding a motorbike hurled three hand-bombs at Kajol while he was taking tea at a tea-stall in the bazar at 7:17pm. "Leaving him critically injured". He died on the way while being rushed to Kushtia General Hospital at about 8:30PM

"The blasts scared local shopkeepers into pulling their shutters down. Panic spread in the area," says a spot report. On December 13, Mangol Chandra Patrol, a local jeweler, was also bombed to death by unidentified terrorists.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 10:55 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Bangla: Law to Curb Terror Funding
After suffering several bomb blasts Bangladesh has decided to take stringent steps to curb the menace of terrorism in the country. As a first but firm step, a law clamping down on the financing of militants suspected of planning and carrying out attacks is all set be passed soon, a bank official said yesterday. “The new law will empower the central bank to suspend or stop operations of any account, for 30 days, in suspicious transactions without any notice,” said Nazmul Hasan, an executive director of the central Bangladesh Bank. “Now the central bank will be able to detect and curb international terror financing, if any, in the country as well as local terror financing,” Nazmul said. He said the law had already been approved by Finance Minister M. Saifur Rahman and would come into affect soon.

It will be submitted to Parliament through the Law Ministry, and has a strong chance of being passed because the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party holds a two-thirds majority in the legislature. Under the law, owners of accounts used to finance militant attacks faced seven years in jail, Nazmul said. The new law would replace existing anti-money laundering legislation, which did not have sufficient provisions to curb financing of militant activities, he said. It would also allow the central bank to set up a Financial Intelligence Unit and a Financial Crime Investigation and Prosecution Office.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Bangla Bhai’s bodyguard held
Bagmara thana police arrested five suspected members of JMB from Surjapara village of the same thana on Saturday. The arrested have been identified as Altaf (35), Monayem (26), Amjad (25), Kalam (20) and Salam (32). CMM court of Rajshahi yesterday granted a five-day remand for four of the arrested JMB leaders including Rajshahi District Chief Abu Isa alias Enamul. Motihar thana police prayed for seven-day remand of the arrested cadres but court granted a five-day remand.

It is learnt, Abu Isa alias Enamul earlier admitted to the RAB that he was incharge of co-ordinating suicide squads of JMB in Rajshahi district. He further informed, he and three of the arrested JMB leaders Hasmat, Azmat and Wahab were involved in organising August 17 bomb blasts in Rajshahi. RAB recovered 2,000 detonators and 144 power gel from their possession on December 16.

UNB further adds: Pabna district commander of JMB and bodyguard of Bangla Bhai Nurul Haq alias Kausar was arrested from his village home at Uttar Moheshpur in Khetlal upazila of the district on Saturday night, officials said. Acting on a secret information, police arrested Nurul Haq, son of Nuruzzaman, in a raid in their house. He fled Pabna and went into hiding in his own village after the arrest of two top JMB leaders-Sunny and Mohammad--in Dhaka and Chittagong.

Police Super Abdullah Al Azad Chowdhury told UNB that Nuruzzaman sent his son Nurul Haq to Bangla Bhai to join JMB as an ‘Ehsar’ in late 2003. Police arrested Nuruzzaman as a member of JMB in connection with bomb explosions in the town during the August 17 countrywide serial bombings. He was later set free on bail. The sources said Nuruzzaman’s son, Nurul Haq, was "mastermind" of perpetrating bomb blasts in Pabna town on August 17.

Giving his identity as a worker of a genji factory at Afri Purbopara in Pabna town, he worked for JMB in the town’s Hemayetpur area. He was ‘most wanted’ terror to Pabna police. During police interrogation Nurul Haq admitted his involvement in JMB militancy and bomb blasts on August 17. The Police Super also said that when Bangla Bhai was in Bagmara of Rajshahi, he worked as his bodyguard. He was trained in JMB acts of militancy from Shelaidah in Kushtia district.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


RAB recovers thousands of detonators, arrests 3
Members of RAB-5, in a raid recovered thousands of detonators and arrested three hardcore leaders of JMB including Rajshahi divisional chief of the banned party Shafiullah alias Tarik from Natore district last night. Based on a tip off, a RAB operation team arrested Shafiullah alias Tarik, son of Abdur Rahman of village Itagachha under Bakli post office of Satkhira district, from Natore station area around 10 pm. Shafiullah admitted to the RAB members that he is the Rajshahi divisional chief of JMB.

During interrogation, Shafiullah confessed that 5,000 electronic detonators were smuggled from India by the JMB operators and kept to Tariqul, son of Amjad Ali of village Boarmari school para under Godagari thana of Rajshahi district. Shafiullah further stated that Tariqul was in charge of smuggling the explosives from India inside the country. Based on his statement, another team of RAB conducted raid in Boarmari village with Shafiullah and arrested Tariqul from that village. During questioning, Tariqul admitted that a huge quantity of explosives have been kept stored at an abandoned poultry farm of one Ataur Rahman of Motherpur village under the same thana. RAB recovered 1,000 electronic detonators from that farm. During further quizzing, Tariqul admitted that he had given some 4,000 detonators to one Rezaul, son of Ataur Rahman of Boarmari village. RAB members went to the house of Rezaul with Tariqul and Shafiullah when Rezaul admitted of storing those detonators and dug out 3,978 electronic detonators kept in a gunny bag from under the earth at Char Nichu Boiramari area. RAB arrested Shafiullah, Tariqul and Rezaul in this connection.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Headline alert!

So - what did the three detonators they arrested do?
Posted by: mojo || 12/19/2005 17:48 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
500 Rebels Attack Village in Colombia
Hundreds of fighters from three rebel armies united to attack a village in western Colombia, officials said Sunday, offering new details in the bold assault that killed at least five police officers. At least six police officers were kidnapped, and at least 27 others were missing, possibly abducted as well. The pre-dawn assault Saturday in the village of San Marino reportedly included fighters from Colombia's second largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army, which began exploratory peace talks with Colombia's government in Cuba on Friday.

The attack was not expected to have a major effect on the talks, however, because a cease-fire was not a condition for the negotiations. The fighting appeared to signal a new tactic in which various guerrilla factions unite for an attack, said Gen. Alonso Arango, deputy chief of the National Police. The attack also involved the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the lesser known Revolutionary Army of Guevara, he said. It came despite the death of six FARC rebels in clashes with ELN earlier this week in another part of the country.

Saturday's attack started with some 500 rebels encircling San Marino, about 170 miles west of Bogota, said Gen. Alonso Arango, deputy chief of the National Police. Outgunned police battled the rebels as they entered the town, he told Caracol Radio. The fighting lasted about six hours before army reinforcements arrived in helicopters and the rebels retreated into the jungle, Arango said. Earlier reports indicated that dozens of rebels were involved, but Arango said there were probably about 500. "There was a huge concentration of rebels in this attack," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  known Revolutionary Army of Guevara

Che, just like bin Laden, he will never die. These guys who seek power by whipping up the masses with that feel-good cocktail of hate and self-righteousness seem to live on forever.
Posted by: 2b || 12/19/2005 4:02 Comments || Top||

#2  They don't die. They fossilize and become political coprolites.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 9:41 Comments || Top||

#3  And they get sheltered, fed and armed by Chavez next door.
Posted by: lotp || 12/19/2005 9:48 Comments || Top||


Europe
Terror Suspect's Extradition To U.S. Not Certain
Prague, 19 Dec. (AKI) - A US extradition request for a Swedish man who is accused of financially supporting Islamic terrorism and of trying to set up a training camp for militants has been complicated by restrictions contained in a US-Czech extradition treaty. Police acting on an international warrant blocked Ousama Kassir - a Swede of Lebanese origin - when his Stockholm-Beirut flight made a stop-over in Prague last week.
Didn't figure his name was Swen
"Besides the Czech-U.S. extradition treaty of 1995 that is outdated, there exists the possibility of proceeding according to the international convention on suppression of terrorist bomb attacks of 1997," Czech deputy state attorney Jaroslav Fenyk told Czech radio on Monday.

He said that the 1997 treaty is binding on both the United States and the Czech Republic. But he said matters were complicated by the fact that this treaty relates to bomb attacks while the Americans accuse Kassir of a conspiracy aimed at financing terrorists. The United States also alleges that Kassir and his accomplices wanted to build a training camp for the Jihad holy war, at an estate in Oregon, United States. The trained militants were consequently to move to Afghanistan.

Kassir claims that the charges against him have been trumped up and that the United States wants to embarrass the Swedish and Czech governments. He claims that he had visited the United States as a tourist and that he had a valid visa. Kassir says he has never been to Oregon. He also said he has already been heard on the charges in Sweden and the Swedish police have released him. Kassir's Czech lawyer said he wants to contact his client's lawyer in Sweden as soon as possible to get acquainted with the verdict of the court that examined Kassir' s stay in the USA.

Kassir has accused Czech authorities of mistreating him during his detention by seizing his watch thus preventing him from following the prescribe Islamic prayer schedule and of deliberately trying to disorientate him in his prison cell so that he would not be able to face the Muslin holy city of Mecca when praying.
Sounds like abuse to me, better refer him to the UN
Posted by: Steve || 12/19/2005 14:10 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sounds like the Swedish let him walk because they are "elinghtened" not because he isn't guilty as sin. I bet he has been traveling the world spreading jihad on the Swedish dole as a "holy man."
Posted by: Mahou Sensei Negi-bozu || 12/19/2005 14:35 Comments || Top||

#2  I imagine he did, indeed, have a valid visa to come to the U.S. With which, unfortunately, he chose to do extremely invalid things.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2005 16:10 Comments || Top||


GSPC fighters were in touch with Zarqawi intermediary
At least 11 alleged Islamist radicals were being held by Police after a series of sweeps around Paris that authorities claim reveal new links to al-Qaeda's terror master in Iraq, Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi. "These people were in direct contact with a Zarqawi group intermediary," claims a French counterterrorism official.

Though unable to reveal the specifics of those communications without endangering ongoing investigations, the official called the direct links to al-Zarqawi's group "a new twist we regard as extremely troubling." Police said some of those arrested had launched a spree of armed robberies to finance the network's underground work; a raid of the group's suspected arms cache turned up explosives, a dozen detonators, pistols and assault rifles.

"We hadn't seen Islamists using such brazen crime to finance the cause since the mid-1990s," the counterterrorism official says. "This return to early methods may mean this group wanted to move ahead far faster with an attack than we normally see now."
Posted by: Dan Darling || 12/19/2005 10:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Spain arrests 15 al-Qaeda recruiters
Spanish police arrested 15 people Monday on suspicion of recruiting and indoctrinating fighters for Iraq's insurgency, officials said.

The cell was in close contact with al-Qaeda members in Iraq and had two people ready to be sent there to wage "holy war," Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso told a news conference.

The arrests stemmed from a probe that began in January and the cell sent "several" people to fight in Iraq, the minister said without giving a precise figure.

More than 100 police officers staged raids that led to the arrests in the regions of Catalonia and Andalusia as well as in Spain's Balaeric Islands, he said.

Police agents specializing in Islamic terrorism, explosives or scientific investigation made the arrests in the cities of Lerida, Malaga, Nerja, Seville and Palma on the island of Mallorca.

Alonso did not give the nationality of the suspects, although the news agency Efe said they included Moroccans, Ethiopians, a person from Ghana and one Spaniard.

Monday's arrests marked the fourth time in less than a month that Spanish police have arrested people suspected of Islamic extremist activities.

In a series of arrests beginning in late November, 19 people were arrested on suspicion of belonging to or collaborating with the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, an Algerian-based extremist group that has declared allegiance to al-Qaeda.

Seven were jailed on preliminary charges of belonging to a terror cell, one still has to go before a judge and the others were released.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 12/19/2005 10:11 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Al-Queada Recruiters? Muzzies prefer to call them "imams".
Posted by: Mark Z. || 12/19/2005 12:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Yep, they ply their trade with gifts of cheap watches.
Posted by: Ritealin Spemble1219 || 12/19/2005 18:38 Comments || Top||

#3  So, will they be tried in Spain? What is their maximum possible sentence if found guilty? No ice cream for a year? Three years of community service? Or---shudder-a year in jail? Inquiring minds want to know....
Posted by: jules 2 || 12/19/2005 23:57 Comments || Top||


Spain holds 'extremist' suspects
Spanish police have arrested 14 people suspected of being members of an Islamist extremist group, with links to al-Qaeda. The arrests were made in the southern towns of Malaga, Nerja and Seville. Spanish police say they also detained a number of suspects in north-eastern Lleida and on the Balearic Islands. They believe the suspects are members of the same group, dedicated to the indoctrination and recruitment of militants to send to Iraq.
Too holy to go fight themselves, don't ya know
The nationality of the 14 suspects is not yet known, but sources close to the police investigation say many of them have lived in Spain for a long time. They are not believed to have been planning to carry out any attacks themselves. The Spanish authorities say the police operation is continuing and more arrests are possible. This is the third round of mass detentions linked to suspected Islamic extremist activity in Spain in under a month.
Posted by: Steve || 12/19/2005 09:45 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Great White North
Khadr charged with supplying weapons to al-Qaeda for pops
Abdullah Khadr, a Canadian arrested in Toronto Saturday on terrorism charges at the request of the U.S. Department of Justice, was involved in supplying ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades and bombs to Al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan, according to American officials. The materiel, according to an affidavit filed at the time of the weekend arrest, was to be used against American and coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Khadr, who was arrested after RCMP officers lured him to an Scarborough McDonald's near the family home, made a brief appearance under heavy security yesterday morning at Old City Hall; he is scheduled to appear in the Superior Court of Justice on University Ave. today. While the affidavit filed in support of the U.S.'s extradition request will not be made public until today, the U.S. Justice Department yesterday alleged that Khadr, during a six-month period in 2003, bought approximately $20,000 (U.S.) in ammunition for AK-47's, Russian machine-guns, mortar rounds and rocket propelled grenades.

He is alleged to have told FBI agents that he made the purchases at the request of his father, reputed Al Qaeda financier Ahmed Said Khadr, who was killed in a battle with Pakistani forces in October 2003. That same firefight also left Khadr's youngest brother — now back in the family's Scarborough home — paralyzed. According to the U.S. claims — none of which have been proved in court — the munitions Khadr is alleged to have bought were then given to a "third party, whom Khadr identified as a munitions procurer and high level member of Al Qaeda. That man then distributed the munitions to Al Qaeda forces," according to the statement released yesterday.

The U.S. alleges Khadr told FBI investigators with the Joint Terrorism Task Force that about half of the munitions were used in the fight against the American forces in Afghanistan and the other half were used for training. American officials also claim in the document that Khadr provided hydrogen peroxide to make mines for Al Qaeda, and is alleged to have transported 45 containers of hydrogen peroxide to the same Al Qaeda operative to whom he delivered the ammunition. According to the statement, the mines were intended for forces in the Burmil region of Afghanistan. Khadr also allegedly told the FBI that he had procured weapons to use against the Northern Alliances forces in 2000, when he was living with his family in Afghanistan.

Khadr's Edmonton-based lawyer Dennis Edney called the extradition application a "cynical and spiteful action" by the U.S. authorities.
Edney said yesterday when Khadr was detained in Pakistan he was asked to become a witness for American terrorism-related cases and he believes since Khadr refused, he is now being charged. "How can the U.S. authorities now assure Mr. Khadr of a fair hearing in the paranoid climate of the U.S., (after) having already mistreated him in a Pakistan prison?"

Edney accuses the U.S. of illegally participating in Khadr's detention without charge in Pakistan. "How can Mr. Khadr be assured of a fair hearing by a U.S. government that refuses to follow its own domestic law, not to mention international law?" Edney is also demanding that the Canadian government explain why the RCMP and agents with Canada's spy service interviewed Khadr while he was detained.If convicted of the U.S. offences, Khadr faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in prison and could be sentenced to life in prison and a fine of $250,000.
Khadr's arrest leaves many questions unanswered.
Perhaps not so many, he confessed
TORONTO (AP) -- A Canadian terror suspect confessed to buying guns and rocket launchers for al-Qaida to use against U.S. forces in Afghanistan, according to a court filing Monday. In an affidavit submitted to the Superior Court of Justice in Toronto, where Abdullah Khadr appeared at a preliminary hearing, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Konrad Shourie said Khadr admitted ties to senior al-Qaida members and confessed to buying guns and rocket launchers for them in Afghanistan or Pakistan. Khadr also admitted to a role in an unspecified plot to assassinate Pakistan's prime minister, Shourie wrote.

Khadr, 24, who entered no plea at the hearing, faces extradition to the United States on charges of possessing, and conspiracy to possess, a destructive device in furtherance of a crime of violence, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Boston, where the charges were filed. He faces a maximum of life in prison if convicted. Khadr was arrested Saturday. A bail hearing could come as soon as Wednesday.

He is alleged to have bought AK-47 and mortar rounds, rocket-propelled grenades and containers of mine components for al-Qaida. The weapons purchases were made at the request of his father, Ahmed Said Khadr, an Egyptian-born Canadian who was killed in 2003 when a Pakistani Cobra helicopter fired on a house where he was staying with senior al-Qaida operatives, authorities said. Abdullah Khadr was born in Canada in 1981 and settled with his family in Pakistan in 1997.

The U.S. attorney in Boston said he received military training at a camp in Afghanistan for four months in the mid-1990s. Pakistani intelligence officers picked him up in a car in Islamabad on Oct. 12, 2004, and he was returned to Canada in early December.
Now, how are we supposed to rally to your cause when you go and confess?
Posted by: Dan Darling || 12/19/2005 10:12 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Edney accuses the U.S. of illegally participating in Khadr's detention without charge in Pakistan.

To use the Star's words, "none of which have been proved in court".
Posted by: Pappy || 12/19/2005 12:16 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Federal Investigators Probe High-Tech Explosives Theft
Dec. 19, 2005 — About 400 pounds of explosive material was stolen from a research facility in New Mexico, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirmed today. The theft was discovered Sunday night by local authorities.

ATF agents are investigating the large theft from Cherry Enginering, a company owned by Chris Cherry, for decades the senior explosives scientist at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico. Also, 2,500 detonators were missing from a storage explosive container, or magazine, in the name of Cherry Engineering. The theft is one of the largest reported cases from a facility in the United States in the last decade ending 2004. During that time, a total of about 1,000 pounds was reported stolen from government facilities in 14 reported incidents. It is unknown whether there is any connection to terrorism.

A special agent at ATF said the incident was unusual because such high-powered material was targeted. One hundred and fifty pounds of the plastic explosive compound C-4 and 250 pounds of undetectable "sheet explosives" — a DuPont flexible explosive material that can be hidden in books and letters — were stolen in the burglary, which also included the theft of blasting caps.

Burglars used a torch bar to break into the explosives containers and remove the material.
Very carefully, I'll wager
The missing material could potentially make numerous bombs.
Ya think?
Posted by: Steve || 12/19/2005 16:50 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  sounds like an inside job.
Posted by: 2b || 12/19/2005 17:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Sandia's been a security mess since the Clinton political correctness days. Looks like the habits persist after retirement.

Anybody remember -- wasn't it the New Mexico mountains where we lost the trail of some al Qaeda who came in over the Mexican border a while back?
Posted by: anon || 12/19/2005 17:10 Comments || Top||

#3  ... senior explosives scientist at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico.

That's a seriously cool job title.
Posted by: Xbalanke || 12/19/2005 18:11 Comments || Top||

#4  senior explosives scientist at Sandia National Laboratories

I'd give up my pony for that job.
Posted by: Ritealin Spemble1219 || 12/19/2005 18:40 Comments || Top||

#5  ya gotta learn red wire/green wire before you get that job
Posted by: Frank G || 12/19/2005 19:16 Comments || Top||

#6  Stop discriminating against the colour blind!
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2005 21:07 Comments || Top||

#7  I'd recommend a look into all the "National Labs." They've had quite a time with classified intelligence losses as well.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2005 22:49 Comments || Top||


Filippino American sentenced for running guns to Mindanao
A Filipino living in New York has been sentenced to 40 months in jail for allegedly shipping weapons to a terrorist lair in the southern Philippines.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office said 40-year-old Fernando Sero, alias Ferdie Resada, was convicted on Friday by US District Judge Charles Brieant of the White Plains Federal Court for violation of the US Arms Export Control Act.

Sero had pleaded guilty to shipping automatic weapons and gun parts to Mindanao since 2003 and selling the armaments to whomever would like to buy them.

Sero allegedly purchased the weapons in the US and sent them to Mindanao in sealed containers with falsified shipping documents.

In some instances, he concealed the weapons parts in boxes containing household goods, such as a light fixture and an electric car cooler.

The court said Sero had shipped items classified as defense articles by the US State Department Mindanao at least on four occasions—on September 9, 11 and 12, 2003, and again on March 22 this year.

Some of the shipments were intercepted by US and Filipino authorities.

The Mindanao Navy chief, Commodore Rufino Lopez, said on Monday that his office had intensified efforts to curb the entry of illegal weapons in the region.

He said the Philippines had forged bilateral agreements with Malaysia and Indonesia calling for a joint-border patrol in the southern Philippines.

“We have always inten­sified our operations against the illegal entry of weapons in Min­danao. As a matter of fact, the Philippines is working very closely with other countries to stop the smuggling of weapons,” he told The Manila Times.

Lopez praised the US court decision, saying, “Good justice knows no border.” He said the Southern Com­mand chief, Lt. Gen. Edilberto Adan, had also ordered a tough campaign against weapons smuggling.

“We continue to exert efforts to track gunrunners in Mindanao, and at the same time, we are cooperating with other law-enforcement agencies on the exchange of intelligence,” Lopez said.

Mindanao is a known lair of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group and the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the New People’s Army.

Members of the Jemaah Islamiah terrorist group and private armies of politicians are active in the southern re­gion, which has one of the world’s longest shorelines.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 12/19/2005 10:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


President's Speech, 12.18.05
Link provided for convenience. I thought this was pretty well done. He still sees "a global terrorist movement that exploits Islam in the service of radical political aims" -- in other words, Islam is an innocent bystander. I suppose he has to say that, but I think many of us know better.

But then he follows with this:
"The terrorists do not merely object to American actions in Iraq and elsewhere, they object to our deepest values and our way of life. And if we were not fighting them in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Southeast Asia, and in other places, the terrorists would not be peaceful citizens, they would be on the offense, and headed our way."
And that's the point that has to be made again and again.

He also takes on the defeatism of some in this country head-on and does so well. The best statment: "Defeatism may have its partisan uses, but it is not justified by the facts." He then laid out the facts. And then he said, "Do not give in to despair, and do not give up on this fight for freedom." I think people will hear that, even if the MSM won't.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/19/2005 00:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I concur Steve W.....B


/ifn he would stuck the dims harder and really twisted hard,...A or A+
Posted by: Spembelov || 12/19/2005 3:54 Comments || Top||

#2  I think I see a deeper strategy. The US is ready to begin a phased withdrawl. However, the democrats are trying to take credit for it by claiming that they "forced Bush to do it."

Bush's counter to this is faux pessimism, to pay attention to the few problems rather than the great successes. This means if the democrats try to grab credit, they will still be labled as "defeatist", but Bush can gradually draw down the forces no longer needed anyway.

This is a very good strategy.

There isn't going to be a ticker-tape parade in New York City anyway, those days are past. We would have to delay soldiers being re-united with their families and fly them in from out of State to do so.

We also don't want to withdraw from Iraq completely. We will want to leave at least a division there for at least 10 years, with a Status of Forces agreement like we had with Germany. Eventually, we might have a permanent Corps headquarters located there.

So, no great declaration of "Victory", but just a drop in the violence and expense until the deployment becomes too dull to mention.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/19/2005 9:44 Comments || Top||

#3  A tickertape parade in New York City would be nice, but not not as nice as individual counties and cities hosting local parades featuring hometown soldiers home for the holidays, like we just did here in Georgia when our units came home. The whole point of fighting terrorists in Iraq is to make sure they didn't have to fight terrorists here on the homefront, so I think the locals cheering and thanking the locals who fought for them, and their country, does everyone some good.

Let those who cheered their kids when they won a highschool football game cheer for their kids when they come home from Iraq.

Posted by: Ptah || 12/19/2005 10:29 Comments || Top||

#4  Tell em "W." ... and keep telling them, over and over and over.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2005 10:44 Comments || Top||

#5  President Bush lives is "dream world" in which reality is suspended on his failing Iraq policy and War. His defenders continue to buy into his propaganda, which labels dissenters as "cut and run defeatist".

I believe dissenters to his policies are showing "common sense" in trying to get some definition to just what President Bush says is "total victory", when will Iraqi's take more resonsibilty for the defense of their country and when can the U.S. military start to redeploy it's troops from Iraq.

Rather than answer these basic questions President Bush continues to recycle the same tired rhetoric to "stay the course" with an
open checkbook that is costing billions $$$ and U.S.soldiers lives in a cause that really isnt doing anything to stop future terrorist attacks against the domestic U.S., the bottom line being that nothing going on in Iraq is going to prevent another domestic attack on the U.S. by terrorist.

Just a reminder to President Bush and his defenders: Bush states that "the terrorist would be on the offense and headed our way" if not for the Iraqi war. Someone needs to remind the President Bush that the FBI and CIA testified before Congress last year that terrorist cells are ALREADY IN THE U.S. AS WE SPEAK.

Finally here is a quote from Conservative Pundit Bruce Fein:

"Exit Strategy"
by Bruce Fein

"The Bush administration trumpets a delusional exit strategy for Iraq: an orderly departure of troops after entrenching a democratic and unified Iraq capable of suppressing a raging terrorist insurgency.

That Uptopian aim would keep U.S. troops in Iraq with mounting casualties for the ages. The least bad eartbound departure plan for the post-Sadaam quagmire would partition Iraq between Kurds, Sunnis, and Shi'ites. Partition would stll make the Iraqi war a modest success whearas President Bush's "stay the course" mantra promises flaming disaster"

This is a staunch conservative writing this, NOT a liberal democrat and I totally agree with him. (I dont believe i just said that.)
Posted by: Left Angle || 12/19/2005 12:11 Comments || Top||

#6  Bruce Fein...never heard of him oh but I'm sure his conservative credentials are impeccable. 2 words "utopian" and "quagmire"....that's lefty speak. Is Germanay a quagmire? Japan?
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 12/19/2005 12:38 Comments || Top||

#7  raging terrorist insurgency...pfeh, what drivel. LA, you just keep on believing whatever you want. The terrorists are getting their asses kicked, the Iraqi military and police force is gaining strength by the day, and leading more and more of the fight. We and the Iraqis are clearly winning this war and all you see is failure. You can keep banging that drum all you like, but those of us here look at things like facts, facts that make your idiotic claims seem, well, idiotic.
Posted by: remoteman || 12/19/2005 12:46 Comments || Top||

#8  Don't feed the trolls.
Posted by: SR-71 || 12/19/2005 12:47 Comments || Top||

#9  LA, you're starting to sound like the New York Times when they wring their hands about the prison population being at an all time high, yet they can't make the connection that this could possibly be a reason why crime rates are at all time lows.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/19/2005 12:51 Comments || Top||

#10  Left Angle,
Although for you and the KOS that obviously thinks for you, "conservative" is a catch-all phrase for anyone who doesn't toe the Democratic/Green party line. Of course a fiscal conservative could possibly be against the war. And a social liberal could be for it. Repeating KOS when he quotes Fein doesn't mean anything. Fein has always been against the war. Why is a "new" article by him expected to be any different?
Do you actually mean that fiscal conservatives have more credibility when they speak than liberals?
Posted by: Urako || 12/19/2005 12:54 Comments || Top||

#11  Here's the link to the Bruce Fein article:

"Exit Strategy:
by Bruce Fein

www.washtimes.com/commentary/20051128-091730-7298r.htm

He is a well known staunch conservative pundit.
this article was published in the stauncly conservative Washington Times.

I think that repubs/conservatives will find it interesting that this is coming from one of their
own.
Posted by: Left Angle || 12/19/2005 13:58 Comments || Top||

#12  tu & remoteman:

a honest question:

"Do you really believe that "victory" in Iraq ans spreading democracy to the middle east will
stop another domestic attack on the U.S. in the future and quell anti-amercanism in that region?
Posted by: Left Angle || 12/19/2005 14:00 Comments || Top||

#13  Yes. What's your strategy, LA? Station a Marine every five feet along the Atlantic seaboard?
Posted by: Matt || 12/19/2005 14:28 Comments || Top||

#14  Matt:

Care to explain why you think that?
Posted by: Left Angle || 12/19/2005 14:43 Comments || Top||

#15  I was attempting wryly to imply that you favored a defensive rather than an offensive strategy. Be that as it may, how do you think we should go about preventing future attacks on the US?
Posted by: Matt || 12/19/2005 14:52 Comments || Top||

#16  LA, care to share with us exactly what you would do? We already know what you think is a bad idea: pretty much anything that Bush does. Now give us a concrete example of what you think would be an effective solution.
Posted by: BH || 12/19/2005 14:59 Comments || Top||

#17  The way I see it, 50 or 60 thousand of these dead assholes on their own home turf might have a teensy, tiny bit to do with no attacks here since 9/11.
But the main reason? I think Mahmoud Al-Potentate of Insert Islamic Republic here has to look at the situation and say "If I bankroll or support in any way an attack on the Great Satan's home turf, they will come here and I will either end up living in a cave, eating prison food until I'm hung, or die a quick and fiery death. Think I'll keep a short leash on my brave Jihadi warriors."
The only folks that don't seem to get that are the Iranians, which I predict will be to their great and fatal regret.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/19/2005 15:16 Comments || Top||

#18  Left Angle: in follow-up to your question in #12, YES! Bringing representative democracy (and the prerequisites for that -- personal liberty, respect for the rule of law, respect for the rights of minorities, respect for the rights of women, and capitalism) to Iraq will definitely change the region.

It already IS changing the region. The Lebanese have thrown out their Syrian masters. Afghanistan inagurated a parliament today. The Palestinians, of all people, have had two elections and are about to have a third. Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman are instituting reforms to include women in the political process. Reforms are going forward in Morocco. And Libya fessed up to its part in the great Khan scheme for an Islamic bomb.

Instapundit has a short note today about a poll done in Pakistan. The people there are more pro-American than they've ever been, thanks to our humanitarian aid and our willingness to free others. Opinons elsewhere in the region are changing. Even the Iranian people are pro-American, even as their government is virulently anti-American.

Oh, and by the way, we're killing people who want to kill us, and doing so in high numbers. At some point Mahmoud the Jihadi is going to decide that jihad is a little bit too dangerous and go take a class in computer programming instead.

So, again, the answer is yes: what's happened in Iraq, combined with what we've done the last four years throughout region, is spreading democracy and making us safer.

The evidence is there for you to see.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/19/2005 15:35 Comments || Top||

#19  I think you've got it tu3031,
With the Iraqis quickly approaching autonomy, Iran should be thinking about the future. But nut-boy is to busy looking down the well for the 12th imam to hear the train until it is two feet from him.

By the way why do you guys let liberal angler get you going?
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/19/2005 15:37 Comments || Top||

#20  Yes. What's your strategy, LA? Station a Marine every five feet along the Atlantic seaboard?

We're stretched too thin, we'd have to draft the homeless.
Posted by: Heartless Spemble1219 || 12/19/2005 15:43 Comments || Top||

#21  Matt, BH & Steve White:

Believe it or not I agree with a conservative on how best to deal with Iraq.

Here's a link:

"Exit Strategy"
by Bruce Fein

www.washtimes.com/commentary/20051128-091730-7298r.htm

check it out, tell me what you think.

IMHO, Since the CIA & FBI have testified before Congress that terrorist cells are currently in the U.S. as we speak. I would re-double our surveillance domestically for those threats first of all. Al Qaeda/Osama bin Laden are the prime enemy to me, those are the people I would go after. Finally, I find it very strange that 17 of the 19 (i believe) terrorist that struck on 9-11-01 were from Saudi Arabia, and yet absolutely nothing has been done to explore that breech by the Bush administration and one has to wonder why.

Another thing: with the pourous borders that the U.S. has and millions of illegal aliens pouring into the country, let alone the legal ones, exacly how does the U.S. keep up surveillance
and know the motives of these people?

While I think many proposed domestic attacks may be stopped here in the U.S. I remain pessimistic that one will eventually happen and on a much larger scale than 9-11-01. I just dont think that anything going on in Iraq will have any effect on that should it happen, in a prevention sense.
Posted by: Left Angle || 12/19/2005 15:54 Comments || Top||

#22  Finally, I find it very strange that 17 of the 19 (i believe) terrorist that struck on 9-11-01 were from Saudi Arabia, and yet absolutely nothing has been done to explore that breech by the Bush administration and one has to wonder why.

If you think our actions in Iraq haven't been directed in part at the Saudis, and haven't had an effect, I invite you to learn a little more about the royal family, its factions and the states of its economy right now (oil windfall profits notwithstanding).

Those who actually lead, rather than just armchair general, have to look at 2nd and 3rd order effects of their actions. A direct strike of some kind on the Saudis would collapse the world economy -- and by the way, it would NOT be the US that would suffer the most from such a collapse. The very poor worldwide would be hit hardest and many fledgling or even more established democracies would be weakened or would fall.

Instead, the Bush administration has taken a sophisticated approach to its actions. Open a map. Find Afghanistan, with Pakistan on one side and Iran on the other. Look east to India, where Rice has established better relations than we've had in a long time. Look west to Iraq. Look northwest to Israel, and see how Iran, Syria, the extremists in Pakistan are systematically being pressured from multiple directions at once.

Check out the statistics on oil production in Iraq despite the sabotage attacks. Check out the statistics on the declining oil fields of the Saudi Kingdom.

Ask yourself how the Wahabbist faction of the royal family feels about a strong Shiite presence in the Iraqi government. And then go read about the Shiite population in the Saudi towns that border Iraq ... and how those towns are situated with regard to the oil fields.

Or ask .com to explain that part to you based on his time there working in the oil industry.

Then add in events in Lebanon, peeling that country away from Syria and Hizboallah and hence from Iran.

And consider that we had a major command post in Kuwait and have moved it to another Gulf country that depends on us for its protection in the region.

That should begin to paint the picture for you.
Posted by: lotp || 12/19/2005 16:04 Comments || Top||

#23  ltop:

I hear what youre saying and the bottom line of what youre saying is that:

"Its all about OIL"..

whenever someone on the left makes that argument,
they are trashed by the right. Michael Moore made such an argument in Farenhiet 9-11 about the ties between the Saudis and the Bush family and yet he was lambasted for it. Pratically everything you just wrote confirms that OIL has a great deal to do with Bush's War on Terror strategy.

The fact that 17 if the 19 attackers on 9-11-01 were from Saudi Arabia should not be made trivial as it is by those on the right/bush backers.

I believe that there is something going on in that country that is disturbingly anti-american and Bush wont touch it because of the OIL and his ties to the powers that be in that country.

In other words Sadaam Hussien and Iraq are just convienient scapegoats.
Posted by: Left Angle || 12/19/2005 16:20 Comments || Top||

#24  1. Re Fein

Yup, hes some kinda paleocon type, whos real hepped up about the Supreme court, Kelo, and disbeleives in any real change in the middle east. needless to say, I dont find him persuasive.

2. The speech = well I didnt think it was as strong as the morning talks, but then I think this was the version for the folks who dont follow this stuff closely. So overall id say it was good. Should have been doing this (going into detail, warning how hard it would be, admitting mistakes) months ago though. But better late than never.

I was expecting there be more specifics on the next rotation - I suppose theyre waiting to see how the election settles out, among other things, and thats probably a good idea.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 12/19/2005 16:20 Comments || Top||

#25  Hey LA, you are dumber than a frickin post. Only a moron lefty would translate "collapse of the world economy" with all of the hardships therein to "Its all about oil".

Gee, oil is a central component of the world economy. That must be Bush's fault! Saudi Arabia is the world's largest supplier of crude. That must be Bush's fault! We want to achieve our goals without collapsing the world economy, take out a genocidal madman and introduce democracy to the region, sooooooo Saddam's a scapegoat!

Go smoke more weed dude.
Posted by: remoteman || 12/19/2005 16:44 Comments || Top||

#26  Left Angle, lotp has assigned you homework. Only after you have ticked off everything on her list will you be qualified to argue seriously with the Rantburg grown-ups. Think of it this way, LA, dear, you're like a high school kid, and Rantburg is grad. school or post-doc land. And yes, we are all aware of your lacks. Sorry, dear.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2005 17:03 Comments || Top||

#27  remoteman:

Your name says it all, you are after all a Bushbot...lmao

push the remote control and out of you mouth comes nothing but pre-progammed RNC talking points. It's really easy because you dont have to use your pea-brain to think. that's typical of most republicans anyway..braiwashing is a strange thing.

the main point if you followed the conversation is that 17 of the 19 attackers of 9-11-01 were
from Saudi Arabia and Bush has done nothing to investigate or act on that fact. I asked ltop why he thought that and his response if read it deals
with the OIL in the region and the politics of
attacking Saudi Arabia.

LEARN TO READ AND THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK.
Posted by: Left Angle || 12/19/2005 17:05 Comments || Top||

#28  trailing wife:

I dont think so, I dont see anyone in here as being all that advanced...maybe in your minds and ego's you think you are but I nor any of the leftist in here think so.. to me like so many republican you all sound brainwashed and oblivious to reality.

Bush is a sorry pathetic excuse for a president,
he is a incompetent and yet people like you continue to support him as his ship sinks.

I think you got it all wrong..I can think logically on my own..Republican robots need to be told what to think.
Posted by: Left Angle || 12/19/2005 17:08 Comments || Top||

#29  More good news I see, he is back :)
Posted by: djohn66 || 12/19/2005 17:17 Comments || Top||

#30  Well, LA, I'll just leave you with this last datapoint.

I've actually been in the middle east. I've done business there in several countries. Some has been defense-related. Some has been commercial business. And one of those countries is the Saudi Kingdom, for which I am scarcely an apologist.

Based on that - and a lot of other experience and data - the fact that you think something disturbingly anti-American is going on in the Kingdom is .... nice, dear.

Because others here, including myself, know first hand that that is so and have said so quite openly for a good long while. You are SO clever to have found it out for yourself, tho!

Oh, and LA dear - just a few tiny details.

It's "she" not "he". And since my nym has only 4 letters it would be nice if you spelled it correctly.

You missed most of the point of my long post, by the way, but then it was more advanced material. We all have to start somewhere, so don't feel too badly if you have less than a solid grasp on strategy. Fortunately, there are grownups who are taking care of that part of things right now.
Posted by: lotp || 12/19/2005 17:22 Comments || Top||

#31  ltop:

advanced material? hardly..long-winded boring yes.

your inflated ego hardly impresses me because you lack common sense even if you think youre so damned smart.
Posted by: Left Angle || 12/19/2005 18:11 Comments || Top||

#32  One last thing..

if youre so advanced and smart and business expericened as you say, why do you hang out in chat rooms all day? lmao
Posted by: Left Angle || 12/19/2005 18:13 Comments || Top||

#33  He kinda makes you miss Gentle don't he.
Posted by: remoteman || 12/19/2005 18:17 Comments || Top||

#34  ROFLMAO!!!!!!!
Posted by: Dave D. || 12/19/2005 18:18 Comments || Top||

#35  Oh God, it's LA again. This guy is frickin' tired. Bash Bush, Bash Bush, blah, blah, blah... Nothing new of course. No solutions or ideas on how to defeat the enemy and win the war against Islamic terrorists. Just bash Bush and talk about how everything is wrong. It is simply tired left wing rhetoric that people clearly don't listen to anymore. Our side is winning and your just pissed. By the way, I agree with Democrat Joe Lieberman on the issue!
Posted by: Intrinsicpilot || 12/19/2005 18:32 Comments || Top||

#36  Between the appearance of Left Angle and the return of Aris, we really have Christmas gifts that keep on giving.
Posted by: Sgt. D.T. || 12/19/2005 18:39 Comments || Top||

#37  "#32 One last thing.."

Let's hope it keeps its word.
Posted by: docob || 12/19/2005 18:40 Comments || Top||

#38  I think LA is short for that LA Times guy that got axed last week. Now he has nothing to do but spout his regurgitated demo's drivel here on Rantburg.
Posted by: 49 pan || 12/19/2005 18:46 Comments || Top||

#39  no...LA always has to log off at a certain time, obviously when the parents get home and want to use the computer. Dumb as a box of rocks, barely versed in the DNC/Kos talking points, and quick to cite...well, no facts...ever have a chew toy that starts to stink?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/19/2005 19:13 Comments || Top||

#40  This is a chat room? All along I thought this was the group warblog. And I was so happy to be here instead of with the clevers using emoticons and 733tspek to say nothing. Bummer, dooooods.

Oh, lotp, I'm going to save your assignment list to my Palm for when I've recovered from the surgery, and have the energy for more active endeavors. Clearly I'm only a grad, not a post doc like Steve White (I still don't know everything about nothing at all ;-> )
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2005 21:15 Comments || Top||

#41  Oh, and may I suggest that the ignorant child not be permitted to post until he's done his homework and eaten all his nice vegetables?
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2005 21:32 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Baluchi Leader Slams Army Blitz
Karachi, 19 Dec. (AKI) - Nationalist leaders in Pakistan's rugged Baluchistan province insist that there is no separatist movement there but one may emerge if the Pakistani military continues its major offensive there. The Pakistani forces on Sunday night began raids against those involved in rocket attacks last week during a visit by president Pervez Musharraf. "There is no separatist movement in Baluchistan but if the so-called military operations continue, a genuine separatist movement will arise,” said Baluch nationalist leader Hasil Bazenjo told Adnkronos International (AKI).
Kind of like there were no terrorists in Iraq until Bush invaded?
Baluchistan, a south-western province that is rich in reserves of natural gas, has been rocked by violence for most of this year. Tribal groups there have been demanding more political autonomy and a greater share of the area's resources.

On 14 December rockets were fired near the paramilitary camp in Kohlu, a town about 220 kilometres east of the provincial capital Quetta. The attack occured as Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf was visiting the area to seek the support of local leaders to build a controversial dam. The separatist group known as the Baluch Liberation Amry claimed responsibility for that attack. A day later, a commander of the Frontier Corps was also injured when shots were fired at his helicopter.
Commanders really don't like being shot at, so....
Since Sunday, the Pakistani security forces, backed by helicopter gunships, have been carrying out a major operation against the tribal rebels in Baluchistan and there are unconfirmed reports of casualties.

Speaking to AKI, Bazenjo, the son of the former governor of Baluchistan province, the late Ghous Bux Bazinjo who was once regarded as the leader of the communist movement in Pakistan, alleged that there were no grounds for the raid conducted by the Pakistani military establishment. "The visit to Kohlu district was not on the schedule of president Musharraf. So why did he suddenly plan to visit Kohlu?" asked Bazenjo. "Secondly, when he visited Quetta, the entire city was sealed off. Why was there no security arrangements made in Kohlu district and why wasn't the area sealed like in Quetta?

"And last but not the least, what on earth brought Musharraf to a place like Kohlu to address a public meeting instead of holding congregations in any big city in Baluchistan province?” he said, in his interview with AKI.
"Who does he think he is, president of all Pakistan?"
Bazenjo also dismissed the reports that the commander of a paramilitary force in the area, had been injured the day after the Musharraf attacks, and argued that the federal security forces had begun targeting 'separatists' two weeks earlier. "The operation began almost 15 days before that incident in places like Qalat and Chaghai [in Baluchistan]," he said. "The government termed it a search operation against illegal weapons but the fact was that the army never landed on the ground. The helicopters only fired upon certain targets. What kind of a search was that?" Bazenjo said.
Sounds like part two of a "Search" and "Destroy" kind of search
"Now the operation has spread into four areas including Kohlu, Mohmand, Chaghai and Qalat," he added.

The Pakistani government has said that it is looking to arrest a member of the Baluchistan assembly, Nawabzada Balaach Marri, the son of nationalist leader Nawab Khair Bux Marri. Both father and son and the entire Marri tribe went into exile in Afghanistan after the government ruled by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) conducted an operation in the mid-1970s against insurgents in the Baluchistan province. Balaach was educated in Moscow and the entire tribe only returned to Pakistan when the mujahadeen seized power in Kabul in the early 1990s.

"Is it rational to arrest a single person after the government conducted operations in all Baluch-speaking areas?" said Bazenjo.
Gotta start some place
"This government does not have any concrete base," said Bazinjo. "They created ghosts like Osama Bin Laden to terrify the West and secure support for their military dictatorships. The operation in Baluchistan is another ploy to appease the capitalist class of Punjab to muster support in order to prolong his [president Musharraf's] tenure in power" concluded Hasil Bazenjo.
Posted by: Steve || 12/19/2005 14:01 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Let's not forget that the terrorist' Jamaat-i-Islami (cum, Islamic Society of North America)rules Balochistan, through the Muttahida-Majlis-i-Amal group and with the Pakistan Muslim League- Qaid-e-Azam (Great Leader, Jinnah), a party that is so close to the Musharaf terrorist government that Pakis refer to it as: "the king's party."

Musharaf was born a Punjab Islamofascist, and he will die one. And he will die rich, if the insane US subsidy of his terror entity continues.

Mushy's foreign policy reserves were at less than US$500 million on Sept. 11, 2001. US terror subsidy has increased the reserves to over $12,000,000,000. And much US aid trickles to the Taliban soldiers who murder US soldiers.
Posted by: CaziFarkus || 12/19/2005 15:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes, and while some of that money has definitely trickled into the wrong hands, quite a bit of it has somehow fallen into the bank accounts of people who used to be comfortable, and now are quite rich. Which means they have a new lifestyle to protect... quite a distraction from actually working at organizing that boringly declasse' jihadi thing, dontchaknow.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2005 21:23 Comments || Top||


Military operation in Balochistan
Pakistani security forces backed by helicopter gunships have launched an operation against tribal rebels in the troubled province of Balochistan. Army spokesman Gen Shaukat Sultan told journalists the operation was targeted exclusively at "miscreant hideouts".
That anything like a "hooligan lair"?
There are unconfirmed reports of casualties from Kohlu, a town 220km (135 miles) south-east of Quetta. The operation follows rocket attacks last week on military camps and army officers in the area.

Balach Marri, a provincial MP for the Kohlu area, said he had reports that a number of people had been killed in the raids - although he could not confirm the exact number. "The army has arrested hundreds of innocent people in the operation, which is still going on, and in which jet fighters and helicopter gunships are participating," he told the Associated Press news agency. Local residents say security forces carried out aerial attacks on targets in the Jindran, Tilli and Pir Mahmood areas of Kohlu district. Gen Shaukat Sultan denied there had been raids on villages, and said he had no details of any casualties. "It is only their [militant's] camps that are being targeted," he said.

Meanwhile, the BBC's Aziz Khan in Quetta says the atmosphere is also reported to be tense in Dera Bugti, which adjoins Kohlu and is a major gas producing area in Pakistan.
It's always tense in Bugtistan
The town of Sui, which houses major oil and gas installations, has been sealed off. Paramilitary forces have set up roadblocks between Sui and Dera Bugti.

The head of Pakistan's Frontier Corps and his deputy were wounded after shots were fired at their helicopter in Balochistan province last week.
They had been inspecting an area where separatists had earlier fired rockets during a visit by President Musharraf.
Posted by: Steve || 12/19/2005 10:12 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The head of Pakistan's Frontier Corps and his deputy were wounded after shots were fired at their helicopter in Balochistan province last week.

Nice! They managed to give him a case of the ass. Lets hope he's pissed enuf to off em all.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2005 10:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Bugtistan, heehee.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/19/2005 10:34 Comments || Top||

#3  a case of the ass.

Would you be so kind as to translate that wonderfully colourful phrase into civilian lady English, Besoeker? Thanks!
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2005 21:25 Comments || Top||


Helicopter gunships over Kohlu
QUETTA: Helicopter gunships flew over Kohlu on Sunday as the Frontier Corps arrested 10 men and defused eight missiles and six rockets it found in their possession. “I have heard of full military activity in some parts of Kohlu district for the second day running and I saw eight helicopter gunships and heard heavy firing,” MPA Balach Marri told Daily Times. Eyewitnesses from Dera Murad Jamali, Dera Bugti and Sibi also saw helicopters. Official sources told Daily Times that the helicopters were merely getting an aerial overview of the situation in the area.

Kohlu district was the site of a rocket attack during a visit by President Gen Pervez Musharraf last week and security has been tightened since then. An FC spokesman said they had taken 10 suspects into custody in relation to that incident but denied there was a military operation being planned. Online reported that Hindu families were fleeing Dera Bugti for Jacobabad in fear of a major military offensive. Inter Services Public Relations chief Major Gen Shaukat Sultan insisted, however, that there was no “extraordinary movement” of troops in Balochistan and no military offensive was being planned.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Operation Moonlight Begins
AR RAMADI, Iraq – Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division began Operation Alkamra Almaner (Moonlight) early this morning in western Al Anbar.

Iraqi Army soldiers from three Iraqi battalions are conducting a cordon and knock operation east of Ubaydi. The Iraqi soldiers are being supported by 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, Regimental Combat Team-2 and 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward).

This is the first large-scale operation planned and executed by Iraqi soldiers of the 1st Brigade. The operation objective of Moonlight is to disrupt insurgent activity along the northern and southern banks of the Euphrates River near Ubaydi.

The eastern Al Qa'im region, to include the cities of Husaybah, Karabilah and Ubaydi were cleared of al Qaeda in Iraq-led insurgents during Operation Steel Curtain last month which enabled residents to vote in the Dec. 15 Iraqi National Elections.
Note this is a brigade-level operation, a rarity in the whole region where the standard is batallion-level ops.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/19/2005 19:37 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  planned and executed by Iraqi soldiers

Oh, well done, gentlemen! Congratulations on moving to the next level!
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2005 21:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Cordon and Knock? Sheesh. We Amis only get to cordon and search or hold.

Posted by: Brett || 12/19/2005 22:26 Comments || Top||


Iraqi ministerial advisor escapes assassination attempt near Basra
The Iraqi Defense Minister's Advisor for Southern Areas, Majed Al-Sari on Monday escaped an assassination attempt by unknown assailants, a source at the Basra Police Command told KUNA. "His convoy was the target of an explosion as it was driving in the Al-Andalus neighborhood, in the heart of Basra," the source said. It added that the ministerial advisor escaped the attempt. But several members of the convoy were injured and were taken to nearby hospitals, the source said.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 11:58 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Car bomb kills five Iraqis in Baghdad
Five Iraqis were killed, 10 were wounded, on Sunday in a car bomb explosion in central Baghdad, announced the Iraqi police. An Iraqi police source told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that a car driven by a suicide attacker blew up nearby an Iraqi police checkpoint nearby the Iraqi Interior Ministry building in central Baghdad. The source added that most of the victims were members of the Iraqi police force.

In a separate incident, two Iraqis were killed, 17 were wounded, today when an explosive device went off in the area of Kadhemiya, northern Baghdad. An Iraqi police source told reporters that a roadside bomb blew up nearby Imam Moussa Al-Kadhem, noting that victims of the blast included women and children.

Meanwhile, a group of unknown gunmen attacked the residence of member of the National Iraqi List Ayad Jamaluddine in the area of Jaderiya in central Baghdad. A source in the electoral list said that the attackers used guns and rocket-propelled grenades, noting that the attackers wounded two guards, damaged a number of cars, and caused some damages to the residence. The source did not mention whether Jamaluddine was in his residence at the time of the attack.

Meanwhile, Iraqi police sources said that unknown gunmen abducted the brother of Minister of State for Governorates Affairs Saad Al-Hardan in the area of Ramadi in Anbar Province, western Iraq.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 11:53 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Iraqi forces launch Operation "Moonlight" in western Iraq -- MNF
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 10:46 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


17 dead in Iraqi violence
At least 17 Iraqis were killed as violence flared on Sunday after Sunni Arab and Shiite politicians appealed for unity and warned against sectarian divisions following a landmark election. Eleven security force personnel were among those shot dead or blown up in a string of attacks in or north of the capital since late Saturday.

In Kirkuk, gunmen killed Dhiab Hamad al-Hamdani and his son Munah, the uncle and nephew of a leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party.

And Ali Karim al-Assadi, a Shia member of the Badr Organisation, the former military wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), was shot dead in Baghdad, a security source said.

A woman was killed and 15 people wounded in a bombing outside a mosque in the capital, the first attack targeting the majority community since the election.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, a suicide bomber in a minibus blew himself up wounding one policeman, while 11 police offiers were wounded in a shootout with insurgents in the west of the capital, security sources said.

After several days of relative calm amid a massive security clampdown that was lifted on Sunday, the Iraqi branch of Al Qaeda has warned minority Sunni Arabs against being lulled into a false sense of security by the polls.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 12/19/2005 10:36 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Two policemen killed in explosion in Baghdad
Two Iraqi policemen were killed in an explosion in Baghdad Sunday, police said. Police sources told KUNA that an explosive device blew up when a police patrol was passing in the area near Al-Mustansiriya University in central Baghdad, killing two policemen and setting their vehicle alight. Security in residential districts was reasonably stable in the past few days with the deployment of a large security force, due to the parliamentary elections, held last Thursday.
It's now reverting to its usual condition of instability...
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 10:35 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Iraqi group shows 'hostage death'
An Iraqi extremist group has broadcast an internet video apparently showing a hostage being shot dead. The Islamic Army of Iraq said the footage showed the death of American contractor Ronald Allen Schulz, whom it claimed to have killed last week. Mr Schulz - a former US marine who worked as a contractor in Iraq - was reported captured on 6 December.

There is no independent confirmation of the identity of the man on the film as the face is not visible. The al-Qaeda-linked Islamic Army, which first emerged in 2004, has abducted and murdered many hostages.
Posted by: Steve || 12/19/2005 09:53 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Have we heard anything about the 'peace activists'?
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/19/2005 10:15 Comments || Top||

#2  #1 Have we heard anything about the 'peace activists'?
Posted by: Seafarious 2005-12-19 10:15

Here is something "about the peace activists"
BUGGER THE BLOODY IGNORANT WONKS! Pray for the family of Schulz, if he's got any.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2005 10:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Of course, B. It just occurred to me that the last we heard regarding the PAs was that their captors had "extended" the December 8 "deadline" of having all prisoners released.

I was rather hoping to hear that the PAs escaped when their guards left to vote on Thursday, heh. Having failed that, it would seem that the hostages have little retail value and the captors are stuck having to feed and hide four infidels for an indefinite period.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/19/2005 10:32 Comments || Top||

#4  My apologies Seafarious, it just pisses me to no end when these punks hog tie some poor defenseless sod, cut off his or her head, or shoot them and make a video of it.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2005 10:50 Comments || Top||


Saddam-era figures freed in Iraq
A number of former officials in Saddam Hussein's government have been released from detention by US forces in Iraq. The military has not named any of the detainees, some of whom have already left the country, legal officials said. "Many were originally held as suspects in possible war crimes and as material witnesses," said a US army spokesman. Reports have been circulating about a pre-election deal to free former regime figures in order to appease Iraq's Sunni Arabs, correspondents say. The number of prisoners released range from eight to 26, according to reports.

A US military spokesman in Baghdad, Lt Col Barry Johnson, would only say that eight individuals had been released after they were deemed to no longer present a security threat. "They were released as part of an ongoing process for many months in full consultation with the Iraqi government," he added.

But a legal official quoted by Associated Press said about 24 prisoners were released, and that they included Dr Rihab Rashid Taha and Dr Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, who worked on the former regime's banned biological weapons programmes. Ribab Taha is known as "Dr Germ", and Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash has been dubbed "Mrs Anthrax". Both are alleged to have worked on making biological weapons.
I certainly hope we provided them with lovely parting gifts
Al-Arabiya satellite TV channel said two former ministers and an aide to Saddam Hussein's late son Uday were also reported to be leaving Iraq for Jordan. The ministers in question were Humam Abdel Khaleq, former minister of higher education, who was also head of the Iraqi Organisation for Atomic Energy, and transport minister Sattam al-Qud, a high ranking Shiite in the former regime, al-Arabiya said.
Posted by: Steve || 12/19/2005 09:48 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The two womens? Their release is a consistent demand of Zark hostage takers.
Posted by: Zip Spemble1219 || 12/19/2005 10:55 Comments || Top||

#2 
---------Dr Germ + Mrs Anthrax---------

Posted by: Release the Death || 12/19/2005 14:59 Comments || Top||

#3  So how did the ladies like that lovely tryptophan-free diet those clever American chefs do so very well?
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2005 16:15 Comments || Top||

#4  They'll be dead and buried by Friday prayers.
Posted by: Jake-the-Peg || 12/19/2005 16:27 Comments || Top||


"Dr. Germ", "Mrs. Anthrax" among Baathist officials released? in Iraq
A homicide car bomb exploded outside a children's hospital in western Baghdad on Monday, killing at least two people and wounding 11, including seven policemen, officials said.

Police suspect the target was a passing convoy carrying a police colonel, who was among the injured.

Also Monday, an Iraqi lawyer said that about 24 former top officials in Saddam Hussein's government have been released from jail in Iraq, and some have left the country.

A legal official in Baghdad said Rihab Taha, known as "Dr. Germ," and Huda Salih Ammash, known as as "Mrs. Anthrax," were among those released.

Iraqi officials did not immediately confirm the information.

In western Baghdad, gunmen attacked the convoy of the Deputy Gov. Ziad Tariq, killing three civilians and wounding three of Tariq's bodyguards, Baghdad police said. Tariq was not injured.

A string of violent attacks, including shootings and bombings, began Saturday night, shattering the relative calm since last week's parliamentary election.

more general info at link
Posted by: lotp || 12/19/2005 09:49 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A legal official in Baghdad said Rihab Taha, known as "Dr. Germ," and Huda Salih Ammash, known as as "Mrs. Anthrax," were among those released.

Now they can be made to mysteriously "disappear".....
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 12/19/2005 10:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Something tells me Madam Taha could tell the world a great deal about Saddam's WMD program. She was involved at the very top.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2005 15:25 Comments || Top||

#3  who said she hasn't already told her tale?How you think she got released.
Posted by: Jerelet Thineling2988 || 12/19/2005 19:31 Comments || Top||


Iraqis in Tal Afar cheer American soldiers
In the low-slung concrete buildings of Tal Afar, a city built on dirty sand and mud, George W Bush sees the potential for military success in Iraq. In recent weeks it has been one case study the American president has consistently cited in order to buttress the rhetoric that the insurgency, and the killing, can be ended.

Tal Afar was the site of the largest military operation of 2005, when 8,000 US and Iraqi troops reclaimed it from armed groups. It has since been used to test a new strategy of "clear, hold, build", in which areas would be purged of insurgents and then rejuvenated to win support from local people, before being handed over to the Iraqi security forces. It is also called "ink spot" strategy, whereby one area of control would spread to another - like an ink spot spreading on blotting paper - until the entire country was covered, in a model similar to that adopted by the British in Malaya.

In Tal Afar, according to the president, military success had been followed by the restoration of law and order and the implementation of reconstruction projects to give "hope" to its citizens.

Visiting the city, nestled near the Syrian border in the north-west of the country, there is no doubt that something has been achieved. Unlike in Fallujah, another Sunni Arab insurgent stronghold, the storming of which by US marines was the defining campaign of 2004, there is actually large-scale rebuilding in progress.

While many of the citizens of Fallujah still eke out their existence in the ruins of their former homes, in Tal Afar the streets are full of building sites. New sewers have been dug and the fronts of shops, destroyed in the US assault, were replaced within weeks. Sunni police have been hired and 2,000 goats were even distributed to farmers.

More remarkably, the approach of an American military convoy brings people out to wave and even clap, something not seen since the invasion of spring 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein.

But the success in Tal Afar only highlights the problems of replicating it elsewhere. The strategy will require more troops, which is politically unacceptable right now in America, given growing public doubts about the war. Andrew Krepinevich, the academic who earlier this year outlined ink spot theory, said large numbers were needed to establish "safe zones".
We have the troops. They're Iraqi.
The insurgents who used to control this city of 170,000 were amongst the most barbaric in Iraq. They beheaded, executed and shot locals who questioned their brand of fundamentalist Islam. Compared to that reign of terror, it is little surprise that the sight of foreign troops on is more easily accepted.

But perhaps the key difference is that the American troops from the 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, based in Tal Afar, are different from the majority found in Iraq. Their commander, Col H R McMaster, is a counter-insurgency specialist who wrote a book about the Vietnam War, in which he criticised the US military's failure to understand the enemy's culture.

Before deployment, his men were given extensive Arabic classes and intensive lessons on Iraqi history, customs and religion. Proper efforts were made to woo local tribal sheiks with banquets in which goats were slaughtered and concerns listened to. "The enemy is really good at disinformation and propaganda. We have to win the battleground of perception," he said.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/19/2005 00:48 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  whoo hoo
march on, semper fis,and merry xmas to all
mef rulz
Posted by: SCPatriot || 12/19/2005 1:32 Comments || Top||

#2  These moronic journalists keep on harping on a supposedly new strategy. This isn't a new strategy. It's just another stage of the old strategy. This stage was made possible by the previous stage, as well as concurrent operations in other parts of Iraq, where large enemy formations are destroyed, to eliminate their ability to attack in groups of several hundred terrorists at once. If this current stage, which involves the deployment of units of several dozen men had been tried earlier, American units would have suffered major casualties. Now that the enemy's ability to mount company-sized attacks has been degraded, it is now possible to do the kinds of penny-packet deployments necessary to do the hearts-and-minds thing.

Even when building a house, you need to first establish the foundations before you put the walls up. Journalists assume that modern military technology means you can just press a button and get immediate results. The reality is that even putting up a building can take years, and it's not even shooting back at the builders - and a case in point is the World Trade Center, which remains a hole in the ground four years after September 11.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/19/2005 2:07 Comments || Top||

#3  But... Ray Nagin already said that we can fly an aircraft carrier around the world in 24 hours!
Posted by: Phil || 12/19/2005 2:10 Comments || Top||

#4  well said zf! I for one am tired of the "journalists". They aren't really journalists at all, but self-appointed preachers preaching doom, gloom and the evils of our western culture from a soap box. They are the holy, the righteous, the pure. They are becoming as obnoxious and cartoonish as the guy who stands on the street corner with a placard that says, "repent, the end is near" and screeches at everyone who walks by as being full of the devil and in need of repentance. Bleah.
Posted by: 2b || 12/19/2005 4:13 Comments || Top||

#5  We have the troops. They're Iraqi.

'nuff said.

/by Snotle Snailing1773..hey nice name eh
Posted by: Snotle Snailing1773 || 12/19/2005 4:14 Comments || Top||

#6  There are legitimately competing facets to reconstruction.

The first is the "Santa Claus" approach, in which you dazzle the locals by improving their lives immensely. However, the downside to this is they become both dependent and beholden to you, which can have serious drawbacks.

So the other side of the coin is that you want their local government to be strong and effective, to provide continual improvement to their lives. But the downside to that is it takes longer, and they are less competant and more prone to corruption.

Therefore, every task to be accomplished has to be seen in the light of, "Can they do this themselves?", vs. "Can they do this in a timely manner?"

Finally, every project that the US does has an "opportunity cost" (a term from economics), of both time and money. This means that every dime and every minute spent doing something here means that you cannot use them somewhere else.

The plus side to that is gradualism. Every town that is self-sustaining, where the US can leave, is essentially "taken ground". This frees up more and more resources for the progressively fewer trouble spots.

Eventually, you have more people than jobs to do, which means a phased withdrawl of the excess personnel, which is where we are right now.

Ironically, this is obvious to those who know what is going on, and so there is a fight to claim credit for the phased withdrawl.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/19/2005 9:32 Comments || Top||

#7  Whatever their new "stage" is, I'm glad they can label it and pass that knowledge to the next joe in the next town. I don't really care how new it is, as long as it's working and easy to understand.
Posted by: Thomoling Glaviting5368 || 12/19/2005 11:46 Comments || Top||

#8  A sobering thought: notwithstanding instances of political stability among Arab collectives, Islamofascists alway enter the picture. Ergo: do not project status quo antes. The so-called "Iraq inclusive democracy" is one big political pinata.
Posted by: CaziFarkus || 12/19/2005 22:43 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Iraq’s Zarqawi opens Gaza Branch Office
Since early December, a branch of Abu Musab al Zarqawi’s al Qaeda in Iraq has been running a forward base in Gaza City preparatory to in-depth attacks in Israel, according to DEBKAfile’s exclusive counter-terror sources. It joins the Al Qaeda-Palestine cell established some weeks ago in the Gaza Strip.

A high-ranking Israeli army officer confided to us: “For years, we fought al Qaeda in unpublicized encounters in remote places far from our borders. Now we have to admit they are here, on our very threshold.” The officer went on to warn: “The conjunction of al Qaeda and Palestinian terrorist structures confronts Israel with a grave strategic threat.” According to our sources, Israeli intelligence briefed prime minister Ariel Sharon and defense minister Shaul Mofaz in the first week of December on the Zarqawi group’s infiltration of the Gaza Strip from Sinai and its arrival in Gaza City.

Part of the incoming terror group transited the Rafah terminal (where US officials say the security video cameras have broken down), past European monitors, by showing forged Palestinian documents; part were smuggled in through the Philadelphi border enclave which is guarded by Egyptian police. Intelligence chiefs informed the prime minister that the new cell linked up with the local branch of the Palestinian terror umbrella, the Popular Resistance Committees, which is headed by Shekh Khalil Kuka. The PRC welcomed the newcomer by making its publicity outlets available. Since Monday, Dec. 5, PRC Internet websites have been posting daily bulletins on Zarqawi’s attacks on US and Iraqi targets which often run to 20-30 communiques a day.

These bulletins are now released simultaneously in Baghdad, Gaza, Rafah and Khan Younes. In Gaza, they appear alongside a PRC statement declaring: “The Palestinian and Zarqawi’s struggles are one and the same.” It is the first time that a Palestinian combat-terrorist organization has aligned itself directly and openly with al Qaeda’s commander in Iraq. Yet, although no attempt has been made to conceal this alliance, it has received no publicity in Israel.

DEBKAfile’s sources report that Israeli counter-terror agencies are quietly working on the premise that the Popular Resistance Committees of Gaza and the Fatah-al Aqsa Brigades of the West Bank plan to make their operational structures available to Zarqawi’s cell for in-depth attacks in Israel.

Meanwhile, the new cell is not letting the grass grow under its feet. Its leaders have managed to enlist the support of the Bedouin clans of southern Gaza, which number tens of thousands of tribesmen, thereby substantially expanding their logistical base. Al Qaeda’s Sinai cell, which Egypt has been unable to root out, already counts on northern Sinai’s Bedouin clans for logistical support. The pledge of solidarity issued by Gaza’s Khan Younes and Deir Balah Bedouin chiefs declares: “We are now committed to following Zarqawi’s flag.” It condemns the Bani Hassan Bedouin tribe of Jordan for reprimanding and expelling members who joined al Qaeda and accuses their chiefs of capitulating to the rulers of Jordan. (Last Tuesday, a Jordanian military tribunal issued a third death sentence in absentia against the Jordanian-Palestinian al Qaeda chief in Iraq.)

The Palestinian Bedouin statement ends with a traditional piece of poetry to mark the new pact. This is a free translation:

How is it that our lords Osama bin Laden and Musab Zarqawi are persecuted, while the enemies of our faith walk straight-backed

How is it that Jihad warriors are treated as aliens, while corrupt infidels are beloved

How is it that true believers are condemned to death, while the flags of the licentious are held aloft

How is it that jihadists are killed, while others make peace with usurers

In July and August, 2005, ahead of Israel’s evacuation of the Gaza Strip, DEBKAfile warned that Zarqawi and al Qaeda’s terrorists were waiting for the pullback to establish forward bases in the Gaza Strip. Four months later, they are poised for action on Israel’s borders.
Posted by: Steve || 12/19/2005 11:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tims for Israel to go into Gaza, sweep it clean, and annex it. Send all the Paleos in Gaza to the West Bank with a clear warning: allow the West Bank to become a terrorist base like Gaza, and the same thing will happen there. No ifs, ands, or buts.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 12/19/2005 11:30 Comments || Top||

#2  I guess the franchise in Iraq is not doing so well. Time to pack up and move before it is too late.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/19/2005 15:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Does this mean that in future it'll be Al Q. people frantically doing the Shoot'n'Scoot dance with homemade rockets more likely to hit the village chief's house than go over the wall to hit Israeli farmland? I'm scared now, aren't you?
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2005 16:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Sign up! Kill the Zionists and Infidels! Free tote bags for the first 100 Jihadi Warriors!
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/19/2005 16:58 Comments || Top||


Jordan launches security sweep after car bomb threat
Hundreds of Jordanian security forces conducted a manhunt on Sunday for suspected Islamist militants in the second city of Irbid after a tip-off about a possible car bomb, officials and witnesses said. They said the authorities cordoned off an area near the main state university of the northern city, close to a hotel frequented by Israelis. "A security operation was conducted in search of suspected individuals," a government spokesman said. A security official said the authorities acted promptly after a tip-off that a car laden with explosives was ready to be detonated in the city centre.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 12/19/2005 00:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Sharon in hospital after minor stroke
Israel's 77-year-old Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was rushed to a hospital in Jerusalem on Sunday evening after suffering a minor stroke, doctors said. Sharon, who is seeking reelection early next year, had regained consciousness and was expected to be released shortly. "He suffered a mild stroke but his condition has improved," Yuval Weiss, deputy director at the Hadassah Hospital, said in a brief statement to reporters. "He is now speaking with his family and members of his bureau."

The spokesman said that Sharon had not needed any "invasive procedure" and said he expected him to be released shortly without giving further details. The Cabinet Secretary Israel Maimon and Sharon's two sons Omri and Gilad arrived at the hospital around an hour after the prime minister was admitted shortly after 8:00pm (1800 GMT), an AFP correspondent at the scene reported. Sharon, who turns 78 in February, underwent surgery last year and also had a cancerous growth removed from his face in a Tel Aviv hospital the year before.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He just has to shepherd Kadimah first past the post in the next election, and name a successor to carry on his policies. After that he can rest.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2005 16:21 Comments || Top||


Israeli aircraft pound Gaza to stop rocket fire
Israeli aircraft struck the Gaza Strip repeatedly early on Sunday and the army said it had targeted sites used by militants firing rockets into Israel and roads for transporting the makeshift missiles. Four Palestinians were wounded in at least nine raids, including three policeman and a baby who was hit in the face with shrapnel, medics said.
What the hell was a baby doing at a rocket launching site?
Key bridges in the northern Gaza Strip were also targeted, cutting roads for thousands of people. "These routes are used by terrorists to reach the areas from which they launch rockets at Israeli targets," the army said. Israeli warplanes also carried out mock raids over Gaza City, shaking homes with deafening sonic booms.

Repeated violence has dimmed hopes for peacemaking that had been kindled by Israel's withdrawal of troops and settlers from the impoverished Gaza Strip in September after 38 years of occupation. Militant groups agreed to follow a truce until the end of the year in order to smooth the Gaza pullout, but their commitment to "ensure calm" formally expires at the end of the year.
And hasn't been real noticeable before it...
Palestinian factions have fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for deadly raids against militants that in turn followed a suicide bombing that killed five Israelis on Dec. 5. Two rockets struck southern Israel on Saturday and the army responded by firing artillery shells towards open fields in northern Gaza. Nobody was hurt in either incident.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A pounding only wounds 4 people?
Posted by: 3dc || 12/19/2005 4:41 Comments || Top||

#2  WASHINGTON -- Amid growing concern that Israel might launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran's budding nuclear program, the United States is moving ahead with the transfer to Israel of 5,000 heavy, precision-guided bombs, including 500 "earth-penetrating" 2,000-pound bombs designed for use against underground facilities.

The $319 million arms transfer, proposed by the Bush administration June 1, went ahead after Congress took no action during its 30-day review period, Jose Ibarra, a spokesman for the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, said Wednesday. The deal is being financed from this year's $2.16 billion military assistance grant to Israel.

The transfer also includes 2,500 2,000-pound Mark-84 bombs, 500 1,000-pound Mark-83 bombs, 1,500 500-pound Mark-82 bombs and live fuses. All the bombs are being fitted with the Joint Direct Air Munitions (JDAM) kit which uses inertial guidance and beacons from U.S. military Global Positioning Satellites for deadly accuracy.

"That's an arsenal for war," said Joseph Cirincione, senior associate for non-proliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. He said any attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, clustered in three major complexes and dozens of other sites, "wouldn't be a pinprick strike; it would have to be a large-scale military airstrike that would result in large-scale casualties."

Asked Wednesday about Iran's nuclear program and the potential for an Israeli pre-emptive strike, Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters the United States is trying to use "diplomacy and political efforts to stop this movement on the part of the Iranians toward a nuclear weapon." He did not directly address U.S. transfers of advanced munitions to Israel.

Some U.S. officials acknowledge privately that the Bush administration is split on how to react to Iran's apparent intention to obtain nuclear weapons, with some advocating forceful military action and others pushing for concerted international diplomatic pressure. Powell said Wednesday he expects the issue to be referred to the U.N. Security Council if there is no resolution within a month. Economic sanctions against Iran could follow.

War games run at the CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency to examine the repercussions of a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities have consistently reached a chilling conclusion: Iran would unleash a wave of terrorism against Israeli targets worldwide and against U.S. troops in the Middle East. Some 140,000 American military personnel are currently stationed adjacent to Iran in Iraq and Kuwait.

Iranian missiles have the range to hit U.S. bases in the region.

An Israeli strike, and the wider war it might touch off, also could send oil prices skyrocketing and jeopardize the global economy, analysts say.

Jay Greer, an official at the State Department's political-military bureau, which oversees arms sales and transfers, said giving the weapons to Israel "will in our view enhance U.S. national security and foreign policy interests and help maintain Israel's qualitative military edge in the region."

Asked whether the transfer makes sense amid the growing confrontation over Iran's nuclear program, Greer said, "I can't talk about that."

Israeli officials have said allowing Iran to develop nuclear weapons would threaten Israel's very existence. Last fall, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was reported saying that "under no circumstances would Israel be able to tolerate nuclear weapons in Iranian possession."

Iran, which insists its efforts are aimed only at developing reliable electric power sources, this week said it has begun a critical step in processing uranium into nuclear reactor fuel or nuclear bomb material: converting uranium ore, or "yellowcake," into gas. In gas form, uranium can be run through high-speed centrifuges to separate out the concentrated or "enriched" uranium.

That material, which terrorists could pack around a conventional explosive to make a "dirty bomb," is highly regulated by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

This past weekend, the agency demanded that Iran immediately stop all uranium-enrichment processing. In reply, Iran announced Tuesday it was starting the process of converting some 37 tons of yellowcake into gas.

Military analysts say any Israeli pre-emptive strike would entail destruction not only of Iran's nuclear reactors under construction at Bushehr and Arak and the gas centrifuge facility at Natanz, but would target mobile missile launchers, strike aircraft and other weapons in order to prevent a retaliatory attack.

An attack of that scope would take two to three days of continuous airstrikes. Intelligence assessments suggest Israel would drop at least 3,000 precision-guided munitions.

Under the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, countries receiving American weapons are allowed to use them for internal security, legitimate self-defense or for "preventing or hindering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."

An Israeli source in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israel purchases military equipment "on an ongoing basis" from the United States but added, "We cannot confirm any specific deals."

A Pentagon memorandum discussing the arms transfer said it would help "improve the security of a friendly country that has been and continues to be an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East."

Sept. 23, 2004
http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/wood092304.html
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2005 9:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Israeli warplanes also carried out mock raids over Gaza City, shaking homes with deafening sonic booms.

Waiting for the UN Human Rights Commission to denounce Israel in 4, 3, 2...
Posted by: BA || 12/19/2005 11:16 Comments || Top||

#4  What?
Posted by: Heartless Spemble1219 || 12/19/2005 15:55 Comments || Top||

#5  Thanks, Besoeker. I vaguely remembered reading that article here at the time, but it's quite comforting to be reminded of the details.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2005 16:24 Comments || Top||

#6  What the hell was a baby doing at a rocket launching site?

Being fitted with a bomb bib vest, of course. Sheesh, don't you watch any of the parade footage?
Posted by: Zenster || 12/19/2005 20:05 Comments || Top||

#7  Palestinian factions have fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for deadly raids against militants that in turn followed a suicide bombing that killed five Israelis on Dec. 5.

It's high time the IDF just laid waste to Gaza. The idea of an official Paleo "leadership" that can get something done or get its population under control is an absolute joke.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 12/19/2005 23:37 Comments || Top||


Three sentenced to death for plotting suicide attack on oil tankers
The State Security Court on Sunday sentenced Abu Mussab Zarqawi and two other men to death, after convicting them of plotting to launch a suicide attack on oil tankers at the Karameh border post in December 2004. Fahd Fuheiki, along with Zarqawi and Thirar Abu Odeh, both being tried in absentia, were found guilty of filling a car with explosives to launch the attack.

On Dec. 3, 2004, Fuheiki placed the explosive substances in his vehicle and drove towards the Jordanian border from Iraq with the intent of attacking oil tankers that were parked there, the charge sheet said. Fuheiki was unable to accomplish his mission because of technical problems with his vehicle and was arrested shortly afterwards by the authorities, who discovered the explosives while searching his car, the prosecution said. The maximum penalty for transporting and possessing explosives and plotting subversive acts is death.

Fuheiki stood motionless upon hearing the verdict during a 15-minute court session. He told reporters shortly after being handed the death sentence that he came to the border point in Jordan to be a martyr. “My intention was to detonate the car and be a martyr but technical problems prevented me from accomplishing my mission,” Fuheiki said. The court said Fuheiki was speeding towards the border, but his vehicle fell into a ditch causing the explosive wires to disconnect from the car battery and he could not accomplish his mission. The car was packed with 12.750 kilos of explosives, 17 artillery rockets and four detonators, according to court transcripts. “If they execute me, I will be a martyr, if they imprison me for life it would be a retreat for me and if they deport me it would be like tourism for me,” he added.
How about if we give you to some female MPs and MI types I know? They have a wide range of tastes in female undies, they are all pre-menapausal and in fact several are quite stunningly attractive ... voluptuous plus well muscled. Given their tastes in men, tho, you might find yourself laughed at a lot .... OK, we can't do that anymore, I guess. But hold that thought in your mind, fella, because not every government is restricted quite to the degree we are in how we deal with homocidal thugs like you.

According to the charge sheet, Fuheiki illegally crossed into Iraq from Saudi Arabia in August 2004 where he joined a group led by Zarqawi. The group trained on several weapons, the benefits of jihad and martyrdom and Abu Odeh told Fuheiki suicide attacks were the best jihad methods so the defendant decided to join the suicide attackers' team, the charge sheet added. The group resolved to target oil tankers and trucks transporting goods from the Karameh border to Iraq, and Zarqawi instructed the men to launch suicide attacks using cars laden with explosives, the charge sheet said. Zarqawi was sentenced to death in absentia by the same tribunal for his role in the assassination of US diplomat Lawrence Foley, who was gunned down in front of his home in October 2002.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  “If they execute me, I will be a martyr, if they imprison me for life it would be a retreat for me and if they deport me it would be like tourism for me,” he added.

What if they took a big John Deere backhoe, dug a 10x12 foot hole, stuck you in a CONEX box and burried your dumb, muzzie ass alive? Would that be ok Fuheiki mate?
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2005 10:30 Comments || Top||

#2  lotp, are there rules about what your friends may do, or where they may go, when they are off duty and on vacation? I could easily imagine a bunch of them (They all played soccer or field hockey in their youth, right? Or possibly pitched for the local girls' fast-pitch softball team?) filling a bus up with beer and going on a road trip... ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2005 16:27 Comments || Top||

#3  “My intention was to detonate the car and be a martyr but technical problems prevented me from accomplishing my mission,” Fuheiki said.

I'll translate: "I am a shithead."
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/19/2005 16:32 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
U.S. Troops Want a Better Bullet
December 19, 2005: The U.S. Marine Corps, responding to reports from their troops, are investigating whether they should replace the current 66 grain bullet, used in the 5.56mm round fired by the M-16 and M-4 rifle, with a heavier bullet. Since last Summer, the marines have been making the heavier, 77 grain bullet (normally only issued to Force Recon and commando troops) available to commanders, to use in place of the rounds with the 66 grain bullet. However, only six percent of the 10.6 million 5,56mm rounds of ammo the marines have in Iraq and Afghanistan, are the heavier 77 grain version. The debate over the effectiveness of the NATO standard 66 grain bullet (and all 5.56mm) ammo has been going on for decades, and has only intensified since 2002 (when it was used a lot in Afghanistan). The marines and the army are working together on the problem, and will present their findings early next year.

Many in the U.S. Army are in favor of using a larger caliber bullet (7.62mm, as used in sniper rifles like the M-14), or a 6.8mm round. The problem with the 5.56mm round was that it was not designed to take down man sized targets (or animal equivalents like white tailed deer, or black bears), and is less effective in blasting through walls and vehicles during urban fighting. When first introduced, it was intended for use by draftees, who were often in need of automatic fire capability (because so few were marksmen). This meant troops had to be able to carry more ammo, thus the utility of the 5.56mm round. The 5.56mm bullet could wound, or kill with a head or torso shot. But a determined enemy was often not stopped by 5.56mm fire. Today, all the infantry are volunteers, much better trained to hit targets with single shots, and increasingly demanding a bigger bullet for doing that.
Posted by: Steve || 12/19/2005 11:54 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A white phosphorus, depleted uranium, armor piercing, high explosive, napalm hollow point that turns into cluster bombs when you fire it...if possible.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/19/2005 12:31 Comments || Top||

#2  7.62Xsomething realistic would be much better.
Posted by: Mahou Sensei Negi-bozu || 12/19/2005 12:42 Comments || Top||

#3  how about a lighter bullet that also contains jiggle juice so it disables the enemy and makes him (or I guess her) an instant intel asset when captured and an intel problem for the enemy if the enemy takes them from the battlefield
Posted by: mhw || 12/19/2005 13:49 Comments || Top||

#4  They already have it, it's a .308


Now all they need are guns to shoot them.
Posted by: Snaving Jomoting3348 || 12/19/2005 14:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Man is this a golden oldie!

The current rounds are 5.56 NATO and 7.62 NATO also known as the .223 and .308. There is also the .50 caliber machine gun round that is ALSO used in sniper rifles (when you care enough to send the very best).

This argument has been going on since the '50s and the change to the small round was primarily based on 1) weight (the grunt could carry more ammo) and 2) range (battles didn't require the long range kill power of the .30-06 that was standard in WWII.

Note to the design factor that this was for use by a draftee army without much marksmanship (also known as spray and pray) skill. Today, the troops would be served well with a semi-auto with a heavier bullet since they are now in the business of one shot, one kill. The rounds that I've heard good things about are the 7.62 and 6.8 or .243.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/19/2005 14:22 Comments || Top||

#6  ...and is less effective in blasting through walls and vehicles during urban fighting.

That is why you have a 50cal. Use the right weapon for the target. You don't need a bigger bullet, you need more support weapons further down the chain. Either get that weapon down there or find something to knock down walls and doors that's lighter than a 50 to haul around - maybe a 90mm Karl Gustav.
Posted by: Spuque Elminelet9733 || 12/19/2005 15:07 Comments || Top||

#7  Don't forget the bacon submunition, tu3031. :}
Posted by: Trub || 12/19/2005 15:08 Comments || Top||

#8  A Zionist mind-ray attachment would be nice too.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/19/2005 15:13 Comments || Top||

#9  A Zionist mind-ray attachment would be nice too.


Under development through a joint NSA and IDF partnership authorized under the Patriot Act. Attaches to both the Browning M2 50 cal and the Karl Gustav with wireless mike chin strap pickup. Comes in basic radar resistant iodized black for special operators, and a variety of camo schemes to include USMC patterns.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2005 15:19 Comments || Top||

#10  I predict 50 posts.
Posted by: Heartless Spemble1219 || 12/19/2005 16:01 Comments || Top||

#11  I'd say a 7.62 mix of heavy penetration and fragmentation. When I was in Vietnam, I ended up in a situation where I was issued a weapon - an old M-2 carbine firing a .30 cal round. The 30 or so of us with this weapon were hitting targets and stopping them at 100+ yards, while the M-16 troops were ineffective over 100 yards. My M-2 went through 600-700 rounds without jamming, while the M-16 guys were jamming at about 120 rounds every time. That was 1971 - this is 2005, and the problem STILL persists.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 12/19/2005 16:18 Comments || Top||

#12  Our son is over in western Al-Anbar area up along the border. He has a 240-Golf (says the 5.56 M-16/M-4 & SAW don't create enough knockdown or damage in house-to-house and pursuit operations). Says also would like to trade in his 9mm sidearm for a .40 or a M1911 Colt (doesn't like having to use more than one round). Never asked about the .77 grain, probably he would never see it anyway as it seems that they're "rationing" this ammo.
Posted by: rlynes || 12/19/2005 16:20 Comments || Top||

#13  Besoeker, you're on a roll today. That's funny!

Oh, and can I have one of those (in blue-green, to match my eyes) for the days when the trailing daughters are feeling obstreperous?
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2005 16:35 Comments || Top||

#14  rlynes, please tell your son thank you from us. And to you also, for providing us with a man of his calibre (*ducks* sorry!).
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2005 16:40 Comments || Top||

#15  Thanks tw. He and the guys certainly appreciate all the support they get from folks. They DO understand that the MSM and lefty types are absolutely wrong in their "armchair assumptions" about what liberty is all about.
Posted by: rlynes || 12/19/2005 17:13 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Filippino cooperation with Malaysia keeps Abu Sayyaf out of Sabah
A sound intelligence operation and strong cooperation between the Malaysian and the Philippine armed forces so far have succeeded in preventing Abu Sayyaf terrorists based in Southern Philippines from getting past the country's border, said Army Chief Gen Datuk Seri Abdul Aziz Zainal.

"So far we have been able to check the group's movement as our intelligence team have been effective in carrying out their task. With solid intelligence, their actions can always be checked (and) so far we can prevent them from entering (the country)," he told reporters, here Monday.

Cooperation with the Philippine armed forces also enabled the Malaysian armed forces to obtain the latest information on the movement of the group noted for their kidnapping activities for ransom money, he added.

The deployment of army personnel and the General Operations Force on several islands in the East Coast of Sabah besides frequent patrols conducted by the marine and air force teams also helped in detecting illegal activities in Malaysia including robbery and kidnapping.

Therefore, the situation in Sabah right now was safe and under control and the confidence can be seen through the increase in the number of tourists to the state, said Abdul Aziz.

Abdul Aziz is here to chair the Army's General Supreme Conference beginning today until Wednesday.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 12/19/2005 10:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Murder 'infidels', Mukhlas urges
Via JihadWatch
BALI bombings commander Mukhlas has written a fanatical call-to-arms from his death-row prison cell, exhorting Muslims to kill Westerners. Published on a website on the orders of notorious terror chief Noordin Mohammed Top, the polemic demonstrates the undiminished fervour of Mukhlas, who has been sentenced to death for commanding the Bali bomb blasts in 2002 that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

"You who still have a shred of faith in your hearts, have you forgotten that to kill infidels and the enemies of Islam is a deed that has a reward above no other," says the 60-page polemic written in Indonesian by "Sheikh Mukhlas", posted on the anshar.net website, which has since been shut down by Indonesian police.

"Aren't you aware that the model for us all, the Prophet Mohammed and the four rightful caliphs, undertook to murder infidels as one of their primary activities, and that the Prophet waged jihad operations 77 times in the first 10 years as head of the Muslim community in Medina?"
Rest at link.
Posted by: ed || 12/19/2005 08:49 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It is difficult to be very optomistic about Indonesia until it stops the leakage of such bile from its prisons and conspicuously punishes those who enable it. First, it was Bashir with "Use nuclear weapons against the West" and now this crap. It's like their prisons are merely radical mosques with slightly higher walls.
Posted by: Zenster || 12/19/2005 19:42 Comments || Top||

#2  The walls have to be higher, Zenster, to keep out the really big chickens common to that part of the world. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2005 21:35 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
UN investigator sees link between Lebanese assassinations
The top UN investigator into the killing of Lebanon's prime minister said that there seems to be a link between the different assassinations that took place in Lebanon in recently.
Nothing much gets by him, does it?
Detlev Mehlis, the UN chief investigator into the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri, told Al-Sharq al-Awsat that "without having looked into these cases too accurately because we do not have the authority, the mandate, to do so, from the way they were carried out, it is quite obvious that there is a link of a sort. Of course, please understand that I cannot be too precise."

Mehlis was asked "What made you keep alive the idea that fraud, corruption and money laundering might be motives (behind the assassination of Hariri). Why have you not ruled them out?" Mehlis said "because we are still investigating that point. The Bank Al-Madina is a Lebanese case. We are still looking for clues, looking for links to our case. This is a huge Lebanese case and it just takes time. So we cannot confirm or rule out anything. The investigation is just ongoing."

Bank Al-Madina is a Lebanese bank where depositor lost about a billion dollars, and is being looked into in a criminal investigation. Al-Sharq al-Awsat in an opinion article spoke of rumors that Hariri had promised that, if he returned to office, he would pursue this investigation, implying a connection between those involved in the bank scandal and the assassination.
Posted by: Steve || 12/19/2005 14:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Detlev ole boy, you've a mind like a steel trap! Good on ya.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2005 15:26 Comments || Top||

#2  shudda brought him in on the JFK assasination.
Posted by: anymouse || 12/19/2005 17:14 Comments || Top||

#3  The salient issue is not whether or not Syria is guilty (of course it is), but what will be done about it.

I look for the Syria-Iran alliance to become even more obvious as pressure is put to bear on either or both of these countries.
Posted by: Captain America || 12/19/2005 19:04 Comments || Top||


Druze leader expects further assassinations of anti-Syrian figures
Druze leader Walid Jumblat projects that political assassinations in Lebanon will continue in order to weaken the parliamentary majority that supports the ouster of President Emile Lahoud. This will allow Damascus to recover its grip on Lebanon, Jumblat stated.

"They killed Gebran Tueni and there are members of the Democratic Gathering and the Beirut Decision blocs on the list," said Jumblat. "They believe that once these people are liquidated, the scene in parliament would change." "This portrays the Lebanese as an incapable nation, facilitating the return of the Syrian tutelage," he was quoted as saying by Nahrnet Monday. "This is the diabolic plot."

He said Syria's Military Intelligence Chief, Gen. Assef Shawkat, had threatened Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman after the latter blocked recently the so-called "military route" - the suspected gateway for weapons and intelligence personnel pouring into Lebanon from Damascus.
So it is a big deal
The Druze leader ridiculed Syrian denial of involvement in ex-Premier Hariri's murder, noting that Syria's "iron fist" in Lebanon "could not possibly miss 1,000 kilograms of explosives floating in a truck, waiting to blow up Hariri's car, and supported by the most sophisticated electronic jamming equipment."

One of the reasons why Hariri was killed, said Jumblat, was the fact he had uncovered the fraud at Al-Madina Bank, where $1 billion had been siphoned away to personal accounts of "high-ranking" Syrian officials.
Posted by: Steve || 12/19/2005 14:47 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


U.S. Warns Turkey Of Air Strike On Iran And Syria
In an overlooked story, the Turkish press reported last week that CIA Director Porter Goss went to Ankara recently and informed the Turkish government that Iran already has nuclear weapons and they should be ready for "a possible US air operation against Iran and Syria".
I was out of the office last week and must have missed this
During his recent visit to Ankara, CIA Director Porter Goss reportedly brought three dossiers on Iran to Ankara. Goss is said to have asked for Turkey’s support for Washington’s policy against Iran’s nuclear activities, charging that Tehran had supported terrorism and taken part in activities against Turkey. Goss also asked Ankara to be ready for a possible US air operation against Iran and Syria.

Goss, who came to Ankara just after FBI Director Robert Mueller’s visit, brought up Iran’s alleged attempts to develop nuclear weapons.
Hummmmm, both CIA and FBI visiting? Hummmmm....
It was said that Goss first told Ankara that Iran has nuclear weapons and this situation was creating a huge threat for both Turkey and other states in the region. Diplomatic sources say that Washington wants Turkey to coordinate with its Iran policies. The second dossier is about Iran’s stance on terrorism. The CIA argued that Iran was supporting terrorism, the PKK and al-Qaeda. The third had to do with Iran’s alleged stance against Ankara. Goss said that Tehran sees Turkey as an enemy and would try to “export its regime.”
There was that other story today about Iranian backed terrorists being convicted of wacking Turks. Interesting
Posted by: Steve || 12/19/2005 14:36 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Goss said that Tehran sees Turkey as an enemy and would try to “export its regime.”

Iran doesn't need to export anything; according to some, the current Turkish leadership is quite capably doing that themselves.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 12/19/2005 15:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe BAR, but they have to sell it to the Turkish General Staff who are PO'd because the bumbling with the Iraq invasion negotiations. The Turkish military has special concerns about the tradition established by Ataturk to keep the government secular. This will be interesting.
Posted by: Spuque Elminelet9733 || 12/19/2005 15:12 Comments || Top||

#3  As a side note, Istanbul (Constantinopal) is regarded by the "restore-the-Caliphate" crowd as essential to their schemes.

It is as important to pan-Islamism as a seat of Islamic earthly rule, as Mecca is seen as a spiritual one. If you rule Istanbul, then you *are* the Sultan.

I'm also pretty positive that the Turks are well aware of this.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/19/2005 15:21 Comments || Top||

#4  Israel and Turkey have pretty good relations...think this is smoothing the way for our ops or Israel's?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/19/2005 15:28 Comments || Top||

#5  By "smoothing the way", do you mean telling our dear, personal friends (heh), the Turks, don't even *think* about getting in the way?
Posted by: SteveS || 12/19/2005 15:47 Comments || Top||

#6  All we and/or the Israelis need from the Turks is for them to not look at their radar screens for a couple of hours. We'll say when.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/19/2005 15:51 Comments || Top||

#7  Incerlik
Posted by: Heartless Spemble1219 || 12/19/2005 15:57 Comments || Top||

#8  What about it?
Posted by: lotp || 12/19/2005 16:17 Comments || Top||

#9  This seems like very big news. Could anyone comment on the reliability of the source?
Posted by: Jake-the-Peg || 12/19/2005 16:24 Comments || Top||

#10  When I saw the headline I assumed it had to be Debka. I have no idea about the veracity of "the Turkish press" vs. Debka.
Posted by: Xbalanke || 12/19/2005 18:14 Comments || Top||

#11  If this story was true the headline would be Porter Goss says Iran already has nukes, it wouldn't bother with the Turkey bit until the third paragraph. Warning Turkey is just how the news apparantly came out.

This story reeks of bovine manure.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/19/2005 18:14 Comments || Top||

#12  After Iraq, I remain a skeptic about any Turkey cooperation. One would be a fool to make any assumptions in this regard.

If these meetings actually took place, the Turks have their own version of the WaPo and NY Slimes leaking machines.

I'd be disappointed if such meetings haven't taken place at this juncture. Just as I don't believe VP Cheney is solely on a sightseeing trip to the Middle East. Things are racheting up considerably, and "decisive action" will be taken by the US in '06.
Posted by: Captain America || 12/19/2005 19:00 Comments || Top||

#13  Didn't happen, couldn't have happened. Why? The Bush government hardly trusts the Turks.
Posted by: CaziFarkus || 12/19/2005 19:07 Comments || Top||

#14  A brief stint with Google suggests that this story is all over the Turkish press, but not mentioned much if at all in the English press except for a few breathless sites.

What does get heavy emphasis is the demand of Turkey that we come down on the PKK in Iraq. Also mentioned was a meeting of several intel agency heads from different countries, not just the US and Turkey. And it was reported that Turkmen in Iraq, and Iraqi expats within Turkey, did vote in the election last week in high numbers.

So several possibilities suggest themselves. One, that we cut a deal with Turkey similar to the one with the Sunnis regarding stability and ethnic participation in the election. Another is that we agreed to help get the PKK off the Turks' backs in exchange for their passive cooperation if the ball goes down on Iran.

Or perhaps this is intended to raise concerns and gin up opposition to use of Turkish airspace during any attack, or to raise support for aggressive moves by Turkish troops into northern Iraq if we're busy elsewhere.

I haven't a clue as to the likelihood of any of these .... and maybe there are other possibilities as well?
Posted by: lotp || 12/19/2005 19:10 Comments || Top||

#15  This could also just be a psy op designed to get Syria and Iran's attention and see where the scurrying occurs.
Posted by: Darrell || 12/19/2005 20:00 Comments || Top||


Coalition calls for ouster of Lebanon's pro-Syrian president
A coalition of Lebanese groups, angered by the recent assassination of a prominent anti-Syrian journalist, called Monday for the ouster of Lebanon's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud. The call came as anti-Syrian youth activists protested in Lebanon's capital, Beirut, late Monday to press for Lahoud's resignation and removal of pro-Syrian agents in Lebanon's security services.

Monday's meeting of the coalition of anti-Syrian legislators and politicians came after An-Nahar newspaper general manager and legislator Gibran Tueni was killed in a Dec. 12 car bombing. Tueni was the third anti-Syrian critic slain in similar circumstances since the Feb. 14 blast that killed ex-Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri in Beirut. Hariri's killing sparked massive protests by Lebanese who accused Syria of involvement. The massive anti-Syrian sentiment forced Syria to withdraw its thousands of soldiers from Lebanon in April. "We call on all those who participated in the independence uprising to continue the battle and to oust the remnants of the security regime from the positions they are still holding, namely the presidency position," legislator Samir Franjieh said in a statement after the meeting.
Samir's reputed to be on the hit list, too...
Franjieh was referring to the estimated 1 million people who participated in a mass anti-Syrian demonstration in central Beirut on March 14. Syria has rejected accusations of involvement in the killings. But a U.N. probe has implicated top Syrian and Lebanese security officials in Hariri's death. The coalition's statement also urged Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's government to be on "full alert to confront the war launched by the Syrian regime against Lebanon," the late Hariri's Future Television reported.
Future Television, recall, was also boomed a couple years ago...
Lahoud has repeatedly rejected previous calls to resign, vowing to remain in office until his renewed mandate expires in 2007. The call for his ouster came as students and youth activists from various Christian and Muslim groups opposed to Syrian influence in Lebanon began last week to re-erect what had been known as "Camp Freedom" on Martyrs' Square in downtown Beirut. On Monday, some 300 students staged a sit-in in the square by lighting a "torch of freedom" and shouting slogans denouncing Lahoud and Syrian President Bashar Assad. A placard read: "What I Say Lahuod Carries Out, (signed: Bashar Assad)." A number of anti-Syrian politicians, including Minister of Youth and Sports Ahmad Fatfat, briefly joined the protest, which the students have vowed to continue until their demands - including Lahoud's resignation - are met.

The students camped there for more than two months last spring after Hariri's assassination until Syria withdrew its troops, which first deployed here in 1976 after the onset of Lebanon's 15-year civil war to act as a stabilizing force. Youth activists representing anti-Syrian groups urged Lebanese to come to the square and revive the camp "to defend Lebanon's unity in the face of the Syrian regime's attacks and the grudges of the ruling family in Syria." A statement issued by protest organizers in the northern city of Tripoli demanded Lahoud's resignation and blamed Syrian and allied-Lebanese security services for Tueni's assassination. Hundreds of Tueni's supporters, mainly journalists from An-Nahar and other media outlets, joined the victim's widow, Siham, and his two daughters, Nayla and Michelle, in a sit-in Monday outside the An-Nahar building in central Beirut, observing an hour of silence.
Posted by: Steve || 12/19/2005 14:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Oh, Emile... Can you come to the office, and bring everything in your desk?"
Posted by: mojo || 12/19/2005 14:44 Comments || Top||


Iran Implicated In Murder Of Turkish Intellectuals
Ankara, 19 Dec. (AKI) - An Ankara court has accused the Iranian government of supporting Islamic extremists in Turkey in plotting the murder of several secular Turkish intellectuals includng a well-known liberal journalist and three university professors. The main suspect in the case Farhan Osman was on Monday sentenced to life imprisonment while the court handed out sentences ranging from 9 to 15 years to the other 11 defendants.

"The Islamic Republic in its efforts to export the ideology on which it is founded, has contributed decisively to the birth of small extremist Islamic Turkish groups that planned and carried out the attacks against the secular intellectuals," section 11 of the Ankara tribunal said in its ruling.

Iran persuaded the extremist groups to murder Istanbul journalist, Ogur Mumcu, academics Ahmet Taner Kislali, Moamer Aksavi and Bahriye Ocuk - all of whom were known for their secular opinions and their stance against religious fundamentalism, the ruling said. Groups calling themselves the Army of al Quds (Jerusalem), Touhid and Salam had claimed responsibility for the murders.

According to Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, Ankara government officials refused to comment on Monday's ruling that came five years after the case began. In Tehran, Iranian officials said they were "not aware" of any information relating to the case.
Posted by: Steve || 12/19/2005 13:39 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  very interesting
Posted by: liberalhawk || 12/19/2005 16:13 Comments || Top||


Iran Ready To Produce 18 IRBMs
Iran has purchased from North Korea components and material sufficient for the assembly of 18 extended-range Shihab-class missiles that could reach anywhere in Europe.
So that'd make 'em No Dongs, only with Persian lettering...
Western intelligence sources said Iran has combined components and material from North Korea with technology from Russia for Teheran's Shihab-5 intermediate-range missile. The sources said such a missile has been designed to strike targets at distances of 3,500 kilometers. "For several years, Iran talked about such a missile but did very little about it," a Western intelligence source said. "Over the last few months, that has changed significantly."
Not that they intend to threaten anybody, of course...
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 11:29 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wouldn't they also reach Moscow?
Posted by: Snaving Jomoting3348 || 12/19/2005 14:25 Comments || Top||

#2  They only need one. Cause when it flys, somewhere in the Indian Ocean an Ohio Class SSBN is going to lose its load.
Posted by: Spuque Elminelet9733 || 12/19/2005 15:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Hope they lite the fuze on just one real soon, the Iranian problem will be all over.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2005 15:33 Comments || Top||

#4  Not to worry, those damn kit rockets are a bear. The fins tend to droop unless you have a German machine shop,
Posted by: Heartless Spemble1219 || 12/19/2005 15:59 Comments || Top||

#5  And Bush does nothing except promote personal, social and international "inclusivism" for Islamofascist animals. Inclusivism is: war on counter-terror. Someone saw that schmuck coming. I wish Bush would crawl back into the oil-patch swamp.
Posted by: CaziFarkus || 12/19/2005 15:59 Comments || Top||

#6  Iran Ready To Produce 18 IRBMs

Iran ready to be "wiped of map" by somebody-we all know - WHO!.
Posted by: BigEd || 12/19/2005 18:34 Comments || Top||

#7  ...In a perfect world, we would advise the Iranian government that we will destroy them whenever we see one. After the tenth or eleventh busted missile, they might get the message - but i doubt it.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/19/2005 18:56 Comments || Top||

#8  And Bush does nothing except promote personal, social and international "inclusivism" for Islamofascist animals

Low blood sugar, CF? Have a nice dinner, you'll feel a lot better and your head will be much clearer.
Posted by: too true || 12/19/2005 19:02 Comments || Top||

#9  Image hosted by Photobucket.com

It looked pretty for a few seconds, but...



"Who caused this?
Cut off his hands and sew his lips together...it is written!?
Posted by: BigEd || 12/19/2005 19:04 Comments || Top||

#10  too true:

You'd make a good water boy.
Posted by: CaziFarkus || 12/19/2005 19:13 Comments || Top||

#11  Big Ed:

When Bush referred to the Iraq rat-hole's "inclusive democracy" he was including his Iran controlled Shiites within the mix. Iran is getting uppity because they see Bush as their player-piano. And I have seen absolutely nothing to counter that view. Islamofascist hearts and minds are for bullets.
Posted by: CaziFarkus || 12/19/2005 19:18 Comments || Top||

#12  I've been saying this for a while now; Iran and North Korea need to be declared testing ranges for advanced HEW - DEW anti-missile systems. Any unmanned vehicle transiting a 1,000 foot ceiling should be regarded as a practice drone.
Posted by: Zenster || 12/19/2005 19:30 Comments || Top||


Lebanon Shuts Special Border Crossing With Syria
Lebanon has permanently closed a special border crossing with Syria in use during the decades-long Syrian military presence in the country, a senior security official said yesterday. “The ‘military lane’ was permanently closed last night (Saturday), and we shall issue an official statement on that matter,” the official told AFP. “Actually since October, the lane had been cancelled except for military logistics, military officials on an official mission and the head of the Lebanese-Syrian Higher Council,” he said. “Even ministers and MPs were not using it any more,” said the official, adding that “now all those who want to go to Syria will have to go through the official borders manned by general security.”

The move comes amid tensions between the two neighbors following the murder in Lebanon on Monday of prominent anti-Syrian journalist Gibran Tueni. Anger has been rising in Lebanon over a series of assassinations, widely blamed on Syria and denied by Damascus, since the Feb. 14 murder of former Lebanese Premier Rafiq Hariri. The special crossing, parallel to the main Masnaa border point in eastern Lebanon, was mainly used by Syrians and their Lebanese allies as well as prominent businessmen from the two countries. During its 29-year military presence in Lebanon that ended last April, Syria distributed to its Lebanese allies “special permits” for the crossing. The system was often criticized for encouraging corruption and illegal activities. The annual VIP permits were issued to Syrian and Lebanese politicians, security officials and businessmen, free of charge for some and costing up to about $2,000 for others. The permits allowed holders to cross without customs or other formalities for both the vehicle and its passengers. All nationals of Syria and Lebanon are allowed visa-free visits to each other’s countries.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Feels semi-big. Maybe large. Lots of easy official smuggling just got cut off.
Posted by: Zip Spemble1219 || 12/19/2005 11:10 Comments || Top||


Tehran says questions about Holocaust part of 'scholarly debate'
The Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that the view expressed by President Mahmud Ahmadinejad that there are some doubts about the Jewish Holocaust is not something new and is a matter of "scholarly debate".
They just can't let the subject drop, can they? President Mahmoud sticks his feet in his mouth and wiggles his toes, and they stand right up and holler 'That's right!'...
Some leading historians have written books arguing that the Zionists are exaggerating the number of Jews killed during the Second World War when they say that six million Jews were massacred.
We won't dwell on what those historians are leading...
"The type of response from the Europeans to the theoretical and scholarly debate of Mr. Ahmadinejad has no place in the civilized world and is totally emotional and illogical," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi told reporters at his weekly press briefing. Asefi said he was surprised over the intensity of the criticism now directed at the Iranian president.
That's because they just don't get it...
Mr. Ahmadinejad initiated a scholarly debate, so the reaction is surprising, he added. "The reaction from European officials is a sign of their total, blind support for the Zionists. The Europeans should get used to hearing other opinions, even if they don't like them," Asefi said.
'scholarly' .... You keep using that word. I do not think it means, what you think it means.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  " 'The Europeans should get used to hearing other opinions, even if they don't like them,' Asefi said."

Ok. Arguing in favor of different 'scholarly opinions', eh? How about the US asserting its 'scholarly opinion' at a UN meeting that the number of Palestinians killed in Israel is exaggerated?

What's that, you say, Medi? Can't breath?
Posted by: jules 2 || 12/19/2005 0:27 Comments || Top||

#2  " 'The Europeans should get used to hearing other opinions, even if they don't like them,' Asefi said."

Ok. Arguing in favor of different 'scholarly opinions', eh? How about the US asserting its 'scholarly opinion' at a UN meeting that the number of Palestinians killed in Israel is exaggerated?

What's that, you say, Medi? Can't breath?
Posted by: jules 2 || 12/19/2005 0:28 Comments || Top||

#3  'The Europeans should get used to hearing other opinions, even if they don't like them,' Asefi said."

it's a multi-cultural tolerance kinda thing.
Posted by: 2b || 12/19/2005 4:21 Comments || Top||

#4  I propose we open a "scholarly debate".
Up for debate: When do you think Iranian civilization will end due to nuclear annihilation?
2006? 2007? 2008? 2009? 2010? 2011...
Discuss.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/19/2005 13:30 Comments || Top||

#5  Tehran says questions about Holocaust part of 'scholarly debate'

All that awaits is some "scholarly debate" over whether Iran is asking or begging to get the sh!t bombed out of them.
Posted by: Zenster || 12/19/2005 14:56 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm waiting for half the middle east to become a glass parking lot. That will REALLY cause some "global warming", but it will also end a lot of other bs.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 12/19/2005 16:02 Comments || Top||

#7  The late, great Pat Moynihan seems scholarly enough to have handled this:

""We are each entitled to our own opinion, but no one is entitled to his own facts."
Posted by: Omolet Spomolet4349 || 12/19/2005 16:06 Comments || Top||

#8  These are the same people that scream bloody murder if anything to do with Islam is questioned - I guess scholarly debate is something else? Gimme a break.
Posted by: Unaique Ebbatle4520 || 12/19/2005 17:10 Comments || Top||

#9  Old Patriot - Now now, let's be scholarly about it; would you polish the glass parking lot with vinegar or ammonia??
Posted by: DMFD || 12/19/2005 20:04 Comments || Top||

#10  I'd piss on it to see if it drains properly, but that's just me
Posted by: Frank G || 12/19/2005 20:42 Comments || Top||

#11  Oh, dear me, Frank -- you are an engineer. There is just something extra charming about y'all.... I can't quite put my finger on what it is, though... ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/19/2005 21:41 Comments || Top||

#12  the rustic charm? LOL
Posted by: Frank G || 12/19/2005 21:45 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2005-12-19
  Sharon in hospital after minor stroke
Sun 2005-12-18
  Mehlis: Syria killed al-Hariri
Sat 2005-12-17
  Iraq Votes
Fri 2005-12-16
  FSB director confirms death of Abu Omar al-Saif
Thu 2005-12-15
  Jordanian PM vows preemptive war on "Takfiri culture"
Wed 2005-12-14
  Iraq Guards Intercept Forged Ballots From Iran
Tue 2005-12-13
  US, UK, troop pull-out to begin in months
Mon 2005-12-12
  Iraq Poised to Vote
Sun 2005-12-11
  Chechens confirm death of also al-Saif, deputy emir also toes up
Sat 2005-12-10
  EU concealed deal allowing rendition flights
Fri 2005-12-09
  Plans for establishing Al-Qaeda in North African countries
Thu 2005-12-08
  Iraq Orders Closure Of Syrian Border
Wed 2005-12-07
  Passenger who made bomb threat banged at Miami International
Tue 2005-12-06
  Sami al-Arian walks
Mon 2005-12-05
  Allawi sez gunmen tried to assassinate him

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