IRNA - The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has decided to enhance its support to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. NATO Spokesman, Yves Brodeur, told journalists in Brussels yesterday afternoon that the decision was taken on Wednesday following a request of three NATO countries, Germany, The Netherlands and Canada, who are all leading ISAF nations. ''We already play a significant role in support of the existing ISAF Force, and essentially what this decision will do actually is that it will substantially increase... enhance that support.'' Neither ISAF, the name ISAF or the mission, any of that mission, will change. The operation ISAF will continue to work within the UN mandate and will operate according to the current and future UN resolutions, noted Brodeur. "Maybe we'll be able to redeem the continuous series of screw-ups we've had in the past. But if not, well, Afghanistan can't be much worse than Kosovo. Can it?"
''What we think it's going to do is that the enhanced NATO role is going to help in overcoming a growing problem of a continual search every six months to find new nations to lead the mission.'' The Afghan authorities, neighbouring countries, have already indicated a willingness to see a greater NATO involvement, so there is no resistance to that, he said. "NATO? Nyeh? Why should we care? Infidels are infidels."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/17/2003 09:18 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
IRNA -- Situation has been tense at the Pak-Afghan border in Pakistani tribal belt as security guards from both the countries exchanged machinegun fire over the dispute on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, reports said Thursday. Reports from Miranshah, headquarters of Pakistan's North Waziristan Agency say Afghan soldiers accompanied by US troops crossed deep into the Pakistani territory at Ghulam Khan, the border check post between the two countries and tried to lure the local tribals towards Afghanistan by offering them developmental schemes and other incentives. A little warning to the Paks that porous borders are porous in two directions? Heh heh.
"The presence of the alien forces was immediately reported to the Pakistani authorities and the personnel of the Tochi Scouts were sent to the area to control the situation," according to daily The News. "Both sides exchanged machinegun fire but no one has been hurt. They were firing in the air," the daily quoted the sources as saying. Cheeze. Y'mean they stayed long enough to meet some nice chicks and get married?
It added that the Afghan and their American friends did not stay for long in the area and had to cross back to Afghanistan's territory. There was no official comment over the reports. "We know nossing! NOSSING! Tell them, Hogan!"
The situation, locals said, was tense and both sides have sent heavy contingents of paramilitary forces to the disputed area to meet any eventuality. The sources said the Afghan troops were seen meeting local tribesmen to offer them schools, hospitals, roads and other incentives in reward for switching loyalties towards Afghanistan. "They had crossed the border deep into Pakistan side by less than a kilometre, but were forced to go back," the report quoted an unnamed official.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/17/2003 09:07 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"deep into Pakistan side by less than a kilometre"
Cute.
Dawood Al Shirian, Al-Hayat
In a campaign dubbed "the evolution of the mosques' role and its enhancement," the Ministry of Islamic Affairs in Saudi Arabia eliminated a considerable number of lecturers and orators who used Friday's sermons as a means to express their "individual visions and opinions," as the Minister of Islamic Affairs Sheikh Saleh Aal al-Sheikh announced. I'd say that "death to all infidels" is pretty much an expression of one's "individual visions and opinions."
The attention that Saudi Arabia gives to the mosques is not new. The kingdom bears the responsibility of their construction and provides them with all their needs. Over the past two decades, the Saudi government spent more than 17 billion dollars on the construction of the Two Holy Mosques, and this attention spread to mosques around the world. It is no secret that 90% of the European and American mosques are financed by Saudi Arabia. Yeah. That's become really noticeable in the past year and a half...
However, this attention was limited to the construction of mosques and services, and no particular attention was paid to the quality of the orators, and to the content of the Friday's sermons and its relation with religious conditions. After 9/11, Saudi officials discovered that a considerable number of mosques were turned into pure political platforms, as they ignored the texts for the sake of individual and personal opinions, and forgot the role set by the Islamic Shari'a. Thus, the government started paying particular attention to this aspect, but the war in Iraq returned its efforts to stage one, and some mosques returned to political speeches, sometimes in a provocative way. Somehow, I expect the next campaign in the War on Terror will do the same thing...
There is no doubt that the decision taken on Tuesday isn't enough; the elimination of a few orators and trying to settle the issue by controlling the crisis is not the right solution. It is important to draw a plan aimed at stopping the interference of the political and educational speech with the religious one, to clarify the role of the religious speech in the social issues and to create a balance in the informative speech in general. Such plan should also deal with this issue from a perspective allowing plurality but refusing exaggeration, and allowing the society to express its opinion without fearing punishment. Take away exaggeration, and the preachers would starve...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/17/2003 09:41 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
90%! Is that true? That's an incredible figure. Usually it takes a critical mass of people and some financial momentum to build a church in the west. The building of which becomes some kind of 'rite of passage' for the life of the congregation. Many groups who have facility thrust upon them, don't survive(chick and egg analogy here). Not enough personally invested.
If the 90% figure is even ballpark true, I'm going to call into serious question the sizes and health of those muslim congregations. The 'muslim explosion' could be largely gas.
Posted by: Scott ||
04/17/2003 22:07 Comments ||
Top||
IRNA -- Eight days after the fall of Saddam Hussain's regime in Baghdad, the Saudi press are still focussing on various aspects of the US-led war in Iraq.
Al-Watan in its Wednesday edition focussed on the reasons behind the rapid downfall of Baghdad regime, attributing it mainly to the close cooperation of Saddam Hussain's cousin, Mahir Takriti, with the coalition forces. This daily adds, "Mahir Takriti was in charge of defending the central parts of Baghdad and Saddam's administration had assigned him the task of exploding all bridges over Tigris, but after getting assurance from the US commanders regarding his own, his family's and his forces' security, he refrained from performing his duties altogether." "Yup. That hadda be it. Somebody sold 'em out..."
According to Al-Watan, one of the Yemenese voluntary militias that had gone to Iraq to fight the invading US forces said following his return to Sana: "The Republican Guards, as well as the armed forces of Iraq betrayed the Arab voluntary forces that had gone to Iraq to assist them." The Yemenese volunteer referring to the heavy armed clashes between the voluntary forces and the Americans at Saddam Airport, said, "in that battle some 3,000 volunteer Arab militias from Egypt, Syria, Algeria, and Yemen were defending the airport strongly alongside with he Iraqi guards of it, but the Iraqis surprisingly retreated and left the Arab volunteers alone." "See you later, Mahmoud! Call us if we win!"
Al-Jazeera, quoting Russia's ambassador to Baghdad, attributes the quick collapse of Saddam's regime to "the probable death of Saddam and his deputies in bombardments of Baghdad." Vladimir Titorenko has further opined, "Saddam Hussain and the top officials of Iraq's Baath Party were most probably killed in bombardment of Al-Mansour district of Baghdad, and that is the only believable possible reason behind the rapid fall of Baghdad into the hands of the invading forces." "I mean, nobody can really believe that the Elite Republican Guard was so outclassed it collapsed when it met real soldiers and Marines..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/17/2003 08:26 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Nope, mass hypnosis. We really controlled the TVs and radios and Baghdad Bob was sending subliminal messages.
British forces who served in Iraq have been offered free meals at an Indian restaurant for the next five years.
Bangladesh-born Abdul Latif, 47, said he would welcome servicemen and women, and their families, for free meals at his Rupali restaurant in Newcastle's Bigg Market until 2008. Mr Latif - who publicises himself as Britain's first Bangladeshi Lord of the Manor - said he was doing it as a "thank you". He has also planned a free celebration at his restaurant for Iraqis on May 11 to mark the country's "new beginning". Mr Latif said: "I am doing this because they did a wonderful job for us out there. "I wanted to give them a little thank you for what they have done." It's nice to a muslim who isn't taking the 'They are occupying Iraq' angle and doing it in style too.
Posted by: Tora ||
04/17/2003 16:26 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Dig in chowhounds!
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
04/17/2003 14:04 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I guess one Muslim.
Posted by: Tora ||
04/17/2003 16:26 Comments ||
Top||
#4
This is style?!? Have you ever eaten Indian food? Curry powder tastes like dogpatch dirt.
Posted by: Scott ||
04/17/2003 18:39 Comments ||
Top||
#5
You've gone to the wrong Indian retaurants. I, too, have eaten Dogpatch dirt - but I've also found that "Tandoori" is Hindi "what a nice thing to do to a chicken"...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2003 19:06 Comments ||
Top||
#6
how fantastic, these are the muslim voices we need to amplify far and wide...
Like Daniel Pipes: he has found some muslim supporters and is trumpeting that far and wide.
No better way to break the stranglehold of the Islamofascists than to give the people a respectable alternative!
#7
Scott, mix the powder in with something next time. Indian food can be heavenly......
Posted by: Baba Yaga ||
04/17/2003 19:52 Comments ||
Top||
#8
My problem with Indian food stems from the fact that I was introduced to it IN India. (So we're not talkin 'Tex-Indy')
So actually, to be fair, it could have been the botulinum.
Posted by: Scott ||
04/17/2003 20:11 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Uh, Baba, what exactly is your concept of heaven?
Posted by: Scott ||
04/17/2003 20:13 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Scott, well, the "Delhi belly" you picked up probably would have made me have a life long aversion to the stuff. I've only eaten it stateside.
I LOVE the hot spicy stuff like vindaloo, and most curries. I'm a native Arizonan, and what would pass for unbelievably burnin' hot everywhere else strikes many of us in the desert as a nice starting place. If you're gonna serve something spicy, I want it to make me break a sweat.
In short, my idea of heaven would probably seem like hell to you. Hey, everyone's different!
;)
Posted by: Baba Yaga ||
04/17/2003 20:32 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Love the hot stuff too. Used to grow habaneros.
But some of that oriental hot just seems like it's to cover the lack of taste. (or to kill the bugs)
Sorry about the double post. Who'da thunk back in junior high typing skills would get to be important?
Posted by: Scott ||
04/17/2003 20:48 Comments ||
Top||
#12
BY,
Yeap,if it don't fog my glasses it ain't hot.
Best Mex food in the state is La Casita resturant,Globe Arizona(my home town).Lots of great sauces
However,while on an out-of-town job(Sieria Vista)stopped a Korean BBQ joint,that stuff was"Fire on a plate".
MOSCOW ? In the US's easy defeat of Saddam Hussein's army, Russia sees a lesson for its own conventional forces.
Like its Soviet prototype, Iraq's Army was huge but made up mainly of young, poorly trained conscripts. Its battle tactics called for broad frontal warfare, with massed armor and artillery, and a highly centralized command structure. But those forces were trounced in a few days by relatively small numbers of US and British forces, who punched holes in the Iraqi front using precision weapons and seized the country's power centers more rapidly than traditional military thinkers could have imagined. "The military paradigm has changed, and luckily we didn't have to learn that lesson firsthand," says Yevgeny Pashentsev, author of a book on Russian military reform. "The Americans have rewritten the textbook, and every country had better take note."
Last week, the independent Council on Foreign and Defense Policy met to assess the implications of the US triumph in Iraq for Russia. Their conclusion: The Kremlin must drop all post-Soviet pretense that Russia remains a superpower, and make rebuilding and redesigning the nation's military forces a top priority.
Though its numbers have been halved to about 1.2 million personnel, and its annual budget has dropped to a mere $10 billion, the structure, weaponry, and doctrines of today's Russian military remain those of its Soviet predecessor. Each Russian defense minister since 1991 has pledged sweeping reform, yet more than half of the Army's combat forces remain ill-trained conscripts required to serve for two years for just 100 rubles ($3) a month. Aside from the strategic nuclear forces, no branch of the Russian military has acquired significant quantities of modern weaponry in more than a decade.
Critics say that military manpower must be at least halved again, and the draft abolished in order to make reform feasible. "We can afford an army comparable to those of France or Britain, but hard decisions must be made," says Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent defense expert. Adequate spending for equipment, training, and payment of professional troops is key, he says.
As the US prepared to invade Iraq, many Russian military experts warned that American forces would come to grief in the streets of Iraqi cities. Some predicted the battle of Baghdad would resemble the Russian Army's two assaults on the Chechen capital of Grozny - in 1995 and again in 2000 - each of which lasted more than a month and cost hundreds of Russian casualties.
Early in the Iraq war, the Russian online newspaper Gazeta.ru reported that two retired Soviet generals may have played a key role in designing Iraq's defenses. The paper published photos of Vladimir Achalov, an expert in urban warfare, and Igor Maltsev, a specialist in air defenses, receiving medals from Iraq's defense minister two weeks before the war began. Russian TV later quoted General Maltsev as saying "the American invaders will be buried in the streets of Baghdad."
Some in Russia's military establishment still appear reluctant to accept the sweeping military verdict in Iraq. "I think American dollars won the war, it was not a military victory," says Gen. Makhmut Gareyev, president of the official Academy of Military Sciences in Moscow. "The Americans bought the Iraqi military leadership with dollars. One can only envy a state that is so rich."
But others are obviously shaken. "Thank God our public has finally begun to discuss the state of the Army," General Vladimir Shamanov, who commanded Russian troops in two Chechnya wars, told a Moscow radio station after the extent of the US-led triumph in Iraq became clear last week. "Maybe our strategic nuclear forces will protect the country for another decade, but then what? A strong Russia is impossible without a strong army."
One bright note for Moscow, however, is a report that Iraqi forces used Russian-made, laser-guided antitank missiles to destroy several Abrams tanks during the US attack. This could boost profits for Russian armsmakers, who are already receiving inquiries from Syria and Iran, according to Shlykov.
The US has complained that Russia supplied Iraq with defense equipment in violation of UN sanctions. "As a result of the Iraq war and accusations of illegal Russian arms deliveries, applications for Russian weapons have soared," Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said last week.
Posted by: Baba Yaga ||
04/17/2003 08:59 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
RW, you just stated a concept that is so simple for us Merkins, but the entire third world, and (I'm convinced) most of the industrialized world does not understand. That's why they mistrust us. They think that we got prosperous by taking it with superpower force. Because that's what THEY would do in our place. (do you see France, Russia, here?) They can't believe we'd liberate a country and them help them build. Even with Japan, Germany, Korea as past history. They think we're like them. Simplistic, yes, but I believe it goes a long way towards explaining why the hateful muslims and even the sophisticated euros hate us.
Posted by: Scott ||
04/17/2003 23:38 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"The Americans bought the Iraqi military leadership with dollars. One can only envy a state that is so rich."
The Russians are sitting on the largestest economuc jackpot in the world as far as land based resources and all they can complain about is how freaking poor they are. The economic potential of the Russian rebuplic let alone the former USSR is staggering. My opinion is they still are indoctronated to ask to go to the bathroom like a first grader
Posted by: Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire ||
04/17/2003 22:47 Comments ||
Top||
#3
"One can only envy a state that is so rich."
You got that right. And that ain't no accident. The lesson for the rest of the war-torn, corrupted world: study the reasons why the USA is so rich and there's a chance you might duplicate their success. So put down the AK, stop spewing hatred, send your kids to school, and.... y'all just try to get along!
#4
Maybe that'll finally change.
Reforming their army will require a change of attitude. That change may well be infectious.
It appears to me to be going reasonably well in China (based on personal experience, not the SARS fiasco).
#5
RW, you just stated a concept that is so simple for us Merkins, but the entire third world, and (I'm convinced) most of the industrialized world does not understand. That's why they mistrust us. They think that we got prosperous by taking it with superpower force. Because that's what THEY would do in our place. (do you see France, Russia, here?) They can't believe we'd liberate a country and them help them build. Even with Japan, Germany, Korea as past history. They think we're like them. Simplistic, yes, but I believe it goes a long way towards explaining why the hateful muslims and even the sophisticated euros hate us.
Posted by: Scott ||
04/17/2003 23:38 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Several points here:
"The Americans bought the Iraqi military leadership with dollars. One can only envy a state that is so rich."
Works for me a"win is a win".
The Soviets were the first to develope the"Combined Arms"army concept.But it took American injinuity,and technology to make it come of age.
If you remember what C.Powel said when ask how we would fight the Iraqi military GW1"First we are going to cut off the head then we are going to kill it".Worked in"91"and worked this time too.Looks like the average Iraqi grunt(and officer corps)rememberd that concept.
Also if Russia could get it's act together vis-a-vi Siberia,they would be an economic powerhouse second to none.
A United States call to lift United Nations sanctions on Iraq drew cool reactions on Thursday, including a Russian warning against the plan. We guessed that. Kofi was "taking their temperature" a few days ago...
Diplomats warned that securing an accord may be difficult. European Union leaders urged the US to let the United Nations and EU help rebuild Iraq. The leaders, eager to bring international organisations back into play in the Iraq crisis called for "a central role" for the UN and a significant EU part in reconstruction that Washington is determined to dominate. That's because they played such a significant part in the liberation...
Moscow, a fierce opponent of the US-led war, said the US suggestion appeared âmercenaryâ. French President Jacques Chirac, who also opposed the war, insisted that the United Nations must decide exactly how sanctions on Iraq should be lifted, after the collapse of Saddam Hussein's government. Since the conditions that gave rise to the sanctions are now gone, how's that make us "mercenary"?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/17/2003 08:38 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
You can't fault them for trying. They want to play the same veto game we did a month or two ago (seems so long ago). The AoW wants a quid for our pro quo or they veto so it is no go for the UNSC, as it sits---rapidly becoming a derelict hulk on a sandbar on the river of progress....ehh hrrm mmmm hmm.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/17/2003 20:59 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Goody! I hope they dig their heals in. This is really a stupid battle for the EU/UN to fight -- how could any reasonable body be against lifting sanctions now that the regime whose actions led to them is history? Is the outcome of any standoff with the US at all in doubt?
The EU and Russia continue to prove their unfitness to be players on the international stage while simultaneously sounding the death knell for the League of United Nations.
Posted by: John Phares ||
04/17/2003 21:20 Comments ||
Top||
#3
If it's the only chip you can still play, you're going to try to make the most of it.
I guess they don't realize that this makes them look even more petty than they did before.
Posted by: Baba Yaga ||
04/17/2003 21:24 Comments ||
Top||
#4
W should give another speech to the Iraqis and mention this. He should then suggest that the Iraqis express their thoughts to those in the UN who are in Iraq.
#5
France, Germany and Russia abided by the sanctions so well, too.
George Bush should hire 30 oil tankers and start shipping crude, priced on the spot market. We finally gave up trying to play games and eliminated Saddam with our allies. We'll do as France, Russia, Syria, and Germany did, and ignore the sanctions. Sanctions only work when there's a strong enough force to make them work. We've just proven that there's no one that has a force strong enough to oppose us. The sanctions are like the UNSC - dead.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/17/2003 21:43 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Let the U.N.S.C.veto a British led resolution lifting the Sanctions(they [Brits]are getting way to little recognition for thier help).Let the U.N.S.C.& AoW use thier veto.Talk about a public relations nightmare,after all the U.S. caught a hell of a lot of flak from keeping them in place.
Only three days after he was sacked as Mufti of Russia for urging Muslims to declare Jihad against the American occupation forces in Iraq, Tala't Tagudin called for establishing a world Shura (consultative) council to stand against Washingtonâs colonial policies. We have one, Mufti. It's called the UN. Works well, doesn't it?
In a statement circulated Wednesday, April 16, Tagudin exhorted the different Islamic, Christian, Jewish authorities in Russia and worldwide to form such an international council to moot the current situation on the world arena and to grind to cessation the policies of âcowboyâ U.S. President George Bush. "Yeeee-haw! Gonna lasso me a mufti!"
He invited all world religious trends to huddle together in the first week of May in Moscow, the Vatican, Macca Al-Mokkarama or occupied Al-Quds (Jerusalem). Tagudin called on the different Islamic, Christian, Jewish authorities to vocalize opposition to Bushâs policies. He also prayed for Allah Almighty to stop wars and military operations which claim the lives of millions of peoples and exhorted all faithfuls to pray for peace in Iraq. "And please, God, kill all the Americans!"
The Russian Islamic Fatwa Council has declared as invalid the fatwa issued by Tagudin on Jihad against the U.S. The Council has refused to keep Tagudin in charge of any Islamic organization in Russia. The legal committee affiliated to the Russiaâs Mufti Council claimed the âemotionalâ declaration of Jihad by a high ranking religious official like Tagudin was a major sin that could have brought about disasters and indulged Russia in a third world war. But that doesn't matter, as long as you can wear a turban and wave a gun and holler "jihad!" Kinda makes you miss old Brezhnev, with his penchant for tossing people into psych wards. At least this guy's a real nut.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/17/2003 08:16 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The Russian Islamic Fatwa Council?(!)
WTFO?
Sort of the Supreme Court of Fawtas? This is getting heavy, and, well, stupid. Pooty Poot better rein in his fatwanic nutcases quick..
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/17/2003 20:40 Comments ||
Top||
#2
He did. The official mullocracy is petrified.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2003 20:42 Comments ||
Top||
IRNA -- German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, unlike French President Jacques Chirac, has no plans to phone American President George W. Bush, in an effort to mend badly damaged bilateral ties over deep differences on the Iraq war, a government spokesman announced Wednesday. "At the present time, the chancellor has no plans for a telephone call," deputy government spokesperson Hans-Hermann Langguth said during a news conference. The official however pointed out that Schroeder would meet Bush at the Group of Eight economic summit, slated to take place June 1 to 3 in Evian, France. "We'll just pop in and see him. I'm sure it'll be a pleasant surprise..."
Earlier this month, Schroeder anounced his willingness - for the first time - to mend fences with Bush. Asked in a television interview if Schroeder would directly approach Bush, he responded, " I have absolutely no problem with that. There have always been such gestures."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/17/2003 04:54 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
This has got to be killing the democriminals! Bush in 04, you know the score!
I think I like France better as an enemy.
A clear-the-air telephone call between President Jacques Chirac and President George W Bush this week was secured only by repeated pleading from French diplomats, it emerged yesterday. The 20-minute call on Tuesday was the first time they had spoken for more than two months. Yeah, we'll give you call.
When asked if the talk had been "positive", Ari Fleischer, Mr Bush's spokesman, said: "From the President's point of view, he would call it a business-like conversation." M Chirac's spokesman said he had been "pragmatic" about post-war Iraq. Do you think the US will call? We'd better stay home in case they call.
Before the call could be arranged, Jean-David Levitte, the French ambassador to Washington, had to lobby Karl Rove, Mr Bush's chief political strategist, and Stephen Hadley, the deputy national security adviser, at the White House. Maybe America's phone's not working.
Final American agreement to the call was secured only after discussions on Monday between Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, and Dominique de Villepin, the French foreign minister. This France? Yeah, it's the US. Please stop giggling, will you? This is going to be tough to say so we guess we should just come right out and say it. We like you a lot, you know that, and we've had some great times together. But...uh...things have changed, France. We've changed. And we just think it'd be best if we both started seeing other countries.
The anger towards France is deeper and more pervasive. French firms have suffered a loss of income from cancelled American orders and officials argue that the successful French attempt to scupper a second United Nations resolution extended far beyond M Chirac. It's not you, it's us. We're just in a different place right now.
Posted by: Christopher Johnson ||
04/17/2003 02:08 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
appoint Rumsfeld as our ambassador to France
No, Matt, we're not looking to punish Rumsfeld!
Posted by: Tom ||
04/17/2003 15:44 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Yaz... Reality Land, whereas Chirac lives in the twin states of Delusion and Collusion (separate manor houses, doncha know).
#3
I feel a lot better now - there were various versions floating around (probably from State Dept EuroWeenies) saying Bush called Chiraq. For the life of me I couldn't see how that would be to our benefit. Next time, use caller ID?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2003 15:00 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Any reason not to appoint Rumsfeld as our ambassador to France? And have him give press conferences every day of the week?
Posted by: Matt ||
04/17/2003 15:37 Comments ||
Top||
#5
"From the President's point of view, he would call it a business-like conversation."
I like that. Kind of like receiving a call from a telemarketer. "Please send any offers in writing and I'll get back to you if I'm interested."
Posted by: Tom ||
04/17/2003 15:42 Comments ||
Top||
#6
appoint Rumsfeld as our ambassador to France
No, Matt, we're not looking to punish Rumsfeld!
Posted by: Tom ||
04/17/2003 15:44 Comments ||
Top||
#7
The Rumsfeld takedown of De villepin could make up a significant portion of that $20 Billion war cost on pay-per-view. I'd pay to see it
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2003 16:39 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Do you suppose that Ambassador Jean-David Levitte's kneepads came in handy when he went "chapeau in hand" to Rove?
#9
I still like the idea from yesterday(?) - can't remember who, oh well.
R. Lee Ermey as Ambassador to France!
"AWRIGHT YOU MAGGOTS! LISSEN UP! WE'VE HAD JUST ABOUT ENOUGH OF THE PISSING AND WHINING, SO JUST SHUT UP *NOW* BEFORE I DECIDE TO REACH DOWN YOUR THROATS AND PULL YOUR STINKING LUNGS OUT!"
#10
I bet the french press had the other way around. 'Bushed begged for me to call and give him military advice.' Tell them they still are NOT getting any contracts. No, Non, Never!
#11
Reporter: And how do you like France so far, Mssr. Ambassador?
Rummy: I've been here a @#@#@ week and still can't find a decent glass of wine. Any of you guys ever hear of Napa Valley?
(Ermey's great, too, though.)
Posted by: Matt ||
04/17/2003 17:45 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Ambassador to France? That's easy: Bill Clinton. Slick would have an adoring audience that would never tire of him, along with an unending supply of hookers; stationing him in Paris would keep him out of our hair and out of Dubya's as well; and the French are so clueless and vain they would probably think we were honoring them.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/17/2003 18:22 Comments ||
Top||
#13
I posted R. Lee Ermey's name here yesterday, but it wasn't my idea. I found across the idea on some blog during the 'quagmire' phase.
IRNA -- A former top ranking official of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) alleged on Thursday that the US was fanning anarchy to achieve its sinister motives in Iraq. "Sinister motives." I like that...
In an interview with "IRNA" here, Colonel (Retd.) Sultan Amir Imam said that behind fanning chaos and lawlessness, the US wanted to achieve its well defined "objectives" in Iraq and later in the region. Amir Imam, an ex-key member of ISI's Strategic Wing, stated US-led forces, on the one hand were bent upon destruction of remaining infrastructure across the country. While on the other, he added, the invaders had occupied Iraq's oil resources. "It appears, America wants to enslave the people of Iraq for a long time. With the same objective, conspiracies are already being hatched to encourage division of the country," he pointed out. I love hatching conspiracies. They're so cute when they're fresh out of the egg...
The analyst continued that under a plan, the US would like to divide Iraq into three parts: One comprising Sunni Muslims, the second Shiite Muslims and the third Kurds. Division of Iraq, he noted, could serve America's political and economic interests in the region in a far better manner for which the invader could go to any limit. Yes, by Gawd! Any limit! ANY! Y'unnderstan'?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/17/2003 09:13 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Who would know about"Sinister motives." better than the ISI.
IRNA -- A frontline separatist group in India's northeastern state of Assam Thursday offered to hold peace talks with the federal government to end more than two decades of violent insurgency in the region. "We have been time and again seeking for a political solution of the Indo-Assam conflict," the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) said in its mouthpiece, the Freedom, "However, occupation India has been reciprocating our urge with various military operations." Perhaps because ULFA's been expressing its urges by killing people...
The ULFA is fighting for an independent homeland and currently operates out of fortified bases in the adjoining Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan to carry out their hit-and-run guerrilla strikes on federal soldiers in Assam. There are now reports of the ULFA relocating its bases from Bhutan to Islam's bloody border areas bordering Bangladesh. The ULFA has put three preconditions for talks with New Delhi
the negotiations be held in a neutral venue outside India,
the talks be monitored by United Nations representatives,
and discussions to revolve around the issue of sovereignty or independence.
"ULFA is always ready to resolve the conflict peacefully with the government of India provided the preconditions were met," the rebels' statement said. "And we get everything we want, of course."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/17/2003 08:58 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
Protesting opposition parties on Tuesday blocked the start of the National Assembly session over the sweeping presidential powers after Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali warned the opposition of a collapse of the system. What the hell? Everything else in Pakland has collapsed, so why sweat a little thing like this?
Chanting "no LFO no" and "go Musharraf go", opposition members twice besieged the rostrum before and after a break for Maghreb prayers, ignoring the speaker's call for order. While an afternoon drizzle brought back chill to the capital after some hot days, the National Assembly seemed seething with tension between the rival political camps. But the treasury benches made no attempt to counter the opposition shouting, except a brief desk-thumping to cheer the arrival of Mr Jamali, who issued his warning and urged opposition to avoid confrontation in a speech to the ruling coalition. "If the system collapses, all of us will be plunged into political wilderness," the prime minister said, echoing the warning he gave last week that opposition's insistence to clip the president of his powers could lead to the dissolution of the National Assembly.
"Mr Chairman! Point of order! Yow! That was close!"
"The chair recognizes Mr Chowdry... No, the other Mr Chowdry... Not that one! The one with the green turban! Hey! Watch it with those things!"
"Mr Chairman, I propose no weapons of larger than .50 caliber be allowed on the floor of this honorable House!"
The opposition members began chanting "no LFO no" as soon as the speaker began reading names of a panel of chairmen - who could preside over the session in his absence - after the usual recitation from the holy Quran.
"Gentlemen, let us bow our heads... Put that goddamned crowbar down, Chowdry!"
"Make way for the Chaplain!"
"Die, blasphemer!"
But the speaker appeared undaunted and went ahead even with reading leave applications sent by several members for their absence from the house. The shouting stopped briefly after a PPP member from Badin, Ghulam Ali Nizamani, collapsed at his desk because of an epileptic fit, but resumed after the patient was sent to hospital.
"Mr Chairman! Hey! look out!"
"The chair recognizes Mr Chowdry... No, the other Mr Chowdry... Cheeze! What was that?"
"Mr Chairman, Ghulam Ali Nizamani has been possessed by devils!"
"Again?"
The speaker's call to Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Chaudhry Noraiz Shakoor to make a statement - possibly to announce a cut in prices of petroleum products decided earlier in the day - failed to materialize because of the hooting and hollering shouting. Amid renewed shouting after the prayer break, Salim Jan Mazari of the National Alliance, a PML-Q ally, was hardly audible after the speaker allowed him to read out a motion against some police action. Mr Jamali's arrival only made the opposition shouts louder, which finally forced the adjournment of the house.
After which they no doubt retired to the parking lot for a fistfight...
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
04/17/2003 05:59 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Amid renewed shouting after the prayer break
Pray.
Riot.
Pray.
Riot.
Pray.
Smack around disobedient wife.
Pray.
Send money to suicide bomber.
Pray.
Attempt to overthrow government who is not forcing everyone to pray as much as me, attempt to assassinate President who maybe/kinda/sorta might be helping catch terrorists, er, freedom fighters, and threaten woman who dared to walk outside without a male escort.
Pray.
#2
Oh, my God, I laughed out loud when I read that. What are we doing in that shit hole right now? Babysitting. Spanking the ones who really act up, but babysitting the rest. If they hadn't got it into their heads to fly air planes into buildings, we'd probably just ignore the Great Monkey Cage over there and only give it a curious glance from time to time while they mauled each other and banged their toys against the bars.
Posted by: Joe ||
04/17/2003 9:29 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Ghulam Ali Nizamani, collapsed at his desk because of an epileptic fit
the rest downplayed it as a typical holy man's political speech - eye's rolling, tongue ululating, spittle and foam - jealous comments were heard from the back rows...
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2003 11:55 Comments ||
Top||
#4
People: Pakistan is a beneficiary of an American jihad subsidy. They were facing collapse on 9-11, and now anti-American jihadis dominate the government. Unless the Bush government ceases passing money to the NWFP/Balochistan infiltrator governments, this madness will cost American lives.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_17-4-2003_pg1_9
#5
Anonon,
You are so right. If there is one one country that profited from 9-11, it is Pakistan. They created the Taliban and to some extent Al-Qaeda. The financed it, controlled it, supported it at every level of government. Then when it killed over 3000 people, they got a big hefty reward for it. Hell, since 9-11 there economy has been on the way up. They're probably wishing for a another massacre so they can cash in on that Big Bonus Cheque.
Its all part of the USjihAID program.
Abdul Razzak Abboud, Al-Hayat
It is strange that the left and right meet under the banner of defending Iraq. But which Iraq are they talking about, that of Saddam or our own Iraq? An Iraq of tyranny and oppression or an Iraq of history and civilization? How can we claim to be democratic and that we want to build a democratic Iraq when we accuse anyone who disagrees with us of treason? We describe Saddam as a dictator and accuse him of oppressing his opponents and refusing the opposing view, which he did, and then we do the same thing? Once you've got the habit, it's hard to give it up. It's easier to say "Mahmoud, kill them all" than it is to try and convince them...
This is the first challenge that we and our democracy face. Let us be worthy of it and offer the world and our people a better image of Iraq the future which we all seek. There are those who support the war against Saddam and those who oppose it. That is a difference in opinion that we must respect and not trade insults over it. We have to measure up to the responsibility in the new Iraq. There are many political groups in Iraq and it is only natural that they have diverse views. I understand that the leaders of the Shiites may cooperate with the devil in order to achieve their rights and social standing. The same applies to the leaders of the Kurds and other religious and ethnic groups. It is also the right of the people of Iraq to seek the help of the "great Satan" in order to get rid of Saddam, the smaller Satan. When people do you a favor, it's not nice to call them names...
Why don't we set our differences aside until America and its allies finish what we could not achieve, and then seek the opinion of our people to determine how to administer the Iraq that we want? Our people sacrificed one million people to get rid of this tyrant, and I don't think that our loss today is much greater.
It's considerably less, and today's loss is offset by the gain realized by Sammy and his thugs being killed or chased out of the country. The United States and Britain have so far done exactly what they said they were going to do — but Arabs persist in their belief that the remaining things on the list are all lies or that there's some sort of ulterior motive. It's that liking for deep-laid plots, coupled with the sure knowledge — as demonstrated in Kuwait — of what they would do if they were in the same position.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/17/2003 09:50 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"great Satan", "smaller Satan"....how many Satans does Islam have, anyway?
Posted by: Baba Yaga ||
04/17/2003 22:41 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"great Satan", "smaller Satan"....how many Satans does Islam have, anyway?
Posted by: Baba Yaga ||
04/17/2003 22:41 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I guess they create them by the gross, so as to prepare for a myriad of enemies.
IRNA -- Muhammad Mohsen al-Zubaidi, an Iraqi dissident who used to live in Iran, was chosen as the head of the interim local government of Baghdad upon his return to Iraq. A representative of the "Free Iraqi Officers", Jowdat al-Abidi announced that choosing al-Zubaidi for occupying the sensitive post was done after making heavy consultations with prominent personalities residing in Baghdad. Al-Abidi added, "al-Zubaidi will hold the post until the future free elections." He did not mention a date for the said elections though, or whether or not the matter has been harmonized with the occupier US forces. Al-Jazeera reports on the self-appointed "mayors" and "governors" popping up:
Mohammed Mohsen Zubeidi, a veteran anti-Saddam Hussein politician, earlier looked official enough with a huge media entourage to boot as he proclaimed himself head of a new interim administration for Baghdad. His âappointmentâ was among the two denied by the US. Zubeidi said Iraq's political life was reawakening, and that he had beeen coordinating with the US forces here and meeting with them every day. But he said he has had no contact so far with Jay Garner, the retired US general named by Washington as civil administrator to overlook the post-war reconstruction of Iraq.
Maybe he shouldn't get too comfortable in the Seat of All Power.
According to al-Abidi, the interim government of Baghdad will be commissioned the task of restoring security and stability in the Iraqi capital, as well as seeing into the mending of the water and electricity facilities of the city. Al-Jazeera also quoted al-Zubaidi as saying that he is backed by a number of Iraqi dissidents inside and outside the country, as well as some prominent personalities in Baghdad. I think his intent is to present us with a fait accompli. This is what most of them are hoping for. Hopefully, we'll confine our searches among those who helped with the liberation.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/17/2003 08:37 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The carpetbaggers are coming out of the woodwork.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/17/2003 20:42 Comments ||
Top||
U.S. and British forces are trying to organize a ceasefire with the Iraq-based People's Mujahedeen Iranian [Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization - MKO] group, Brooks. "There's work that's ongoing right now to secure some sort of agreement that will lead to a ceasefire and capitulation," Brigadier-General Vincent Brooks told reporters. General Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday Anglo-American warplanes had bombed Mujahedeen camps in Iraq and that some fighters were expected to surrender soon. He noted it was too soon to tell what effect the strikes would have on U.S. relations with Iran, which President George W. Bush last year labeled part of an "axis of evil" along with Iraq and North Korea. Iran, the United States and the European Union all consider the People's Mujahedeen a terrorist organization. That makes it pretty much unanimous, doesn't it?
An AFP correspondent who visited the Mujahedeen's vast camp Wednesday at Falluja, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Baghdad, found that its fighters had deserted the isolated compound. Gone... Departed... Not there no mo'...
A senior Mujahadeen official, Mohammad Mohaddessin, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the National Council of the Iranian Resistance, confirmed the talks with the U.S. forces, though he did not refer to a surrender. "We are trying to reach a mutually acceptable agreement and understanding with them," he told AFP Thursday. Why don't you turn out the lights and go home?
He said he could not say where the negotiations were taking place or when they might conclude, but added, "Our commanders are talking to their commanders." "That's assuming we can find any of our commanders, and they still have somebody left to command..."
Calling the bombing of Mujahadeen bases "astounding and regrettable," he said the Mujahadeen had been told by intermediaries before the war that the United States did not consider them targets. Referring to Brooks' use of the term "ceasefire," he said at no time had the Mukahadeen fired on Anglo-American forces, and they would continue to refrain from confrontation. "Hell, no! Everybody'd run by the time they got there!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/17/2003 07:34 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Interpretation: The current champ at that weight has too much punch. Gonna cut down to bantam and take on Kashmiris.
Posted by: Scott ||
04/17/2003 20:35 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I'm still hoping to move MKO into the "retired" column. They don't appear to have anyplace left to go, and all their cannon fodder's beat it...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2003 20:41 Comments ||
Top||
In a new indication that the Iraqi resistance against the Anglo-American occupation has not died with the sudden vanish of the Iraqi regime and regular army forces, U.S. and British forces came under attack in northern and southern Iraq Thursday, April 17. Admitting the new resistance attack, the U.S. Central Command said several Iraqi resistance fighters were killed and around 100 others captured. We can add them to our collection...
U.S. forces engaged in a firefight north of Baghdad while British forces came under fire in the southern city of Basra, Brigadier-General Vincent Brooks said. "The arrival of the Fourth Infantry Division's land component operations in the area included a brief firefight in the vicinity of Taji airfield north of Baghdad," he said. "The engagement of the Fourth Infantry Division forces killed and wounded a portion of the enemy forces, destroyed some T-72 tanks and captured over 100 enemy fighters," the general said. "The enemy force also had unmanned artillery pieces, armored personnel carriers, loaded rocket launcher systems at a warehouse, and a number of computers. The site and the materials have been secured for further exploitation and examination. The coalition force declared the airfield clear of enemy force and continued its attack to the north, encountering sporadic small arms fire and snipers." Yep. Sounds like it was a firefight...
"In the UK sector of southern Iraq, patrols were attacked by rocket propelled grenades near a bridge in Basra," reported the American military spokesman. And that was one, too.
On Tuesday, April 15, Iraqâs Shiite authority Mohammad Mahdi al-Khalisi called on Iraqis to act in concert and declare Jihad against the American occupation forces. Okay. Lock him up.
"Now that the idol (statue of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein) has been pulled down, the occupation troops should leave our country. Iraq had gone astray 40 years ago and it is high time it came home," Sheikh Khalisi said in a statement, a copy of which was sent to by IslamOnline.net. "In the name of all scholars and leaders of the Shiite Najafi revolution in Iraq, who paid the ultimate sacrifice in defending Iraq against the occupation of 1914 and 1920, I urge all Iraqis to stand shoulder to shoulder to prevent occupation troops and foil malicious plots weaved by Washington and London from looting the fruits of such sacrifices," Khalisi wrote. "Yeah. We throw Sammy and his killers out and then these Merkins and Brits come waltzin' in like they own the place, like they did somethin' to help us. Who the hell are they to expect gratitude from us?"
Urging Iraqis to stroll together in the southern Iraqi city of Karbala, the Shiite authority called for "rising above trivial matters and taking the initiative to set up soviets committees to run the countryâs affairs, provide security and services to the Iraqis, turn anarchy off and regulate the Iraqi resistance." "They ain't never gonna go if we don't get some kind of order in place..."
Also on Tuesday Eyad al-Samraâi, leader of Iraqâs Islamic party, announced plans to forge a new front to liberate Iraq from the U.S. occupation. "The setting up of this nascent front comes in response to the U.S. attempts to form a new Iraqi regime of Iraqi exiles to achieve the U.S. goals," he told IslamOnline.net over the phone. Another one who did such a good job at throwing Sammy out. Toldja: there's no word for gratitude in Arabic...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/17/2003 07:23 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
At least the leaders of these outfits identified themselves for targetting.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/17/2003 19:50 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Line from 'Gladiator'...
"people should know when they're conquered"
Posted by: Scott ||
04/17/2003 20:02 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Time to set the huntin' dogs lose,and track them down.
IRNA -- British envoy to Tehran Richard John Dalton and Chairman of the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI) Seyed Mohammad Baqer Hakim discussed the situation in Iraq on Wednesday. Yet another Hakim. SAIRI is the Hakim family business...
The media department of the SAIRI said in a fax to IRNA that the two sides traded ideas on the developments taking shape in Iraq including in the holy city of Najaf. They also reviewed the status of the religious leaders in the post-war era. Hakim stressed the need for further attention to the situation in Iraq and warned against any action that could worsen it. He said the Iraqi people should get in their hands the fate of their country. So they can turn it over to holy men for safe-keeping. Holy men like, for instance, the Hakims...
He commented on the Nassiriya summit and said the SAIRI would not take part in a summit that is held by Americans. "They're ucky, y'know..."
He touched on the positions of Iraqi opposition and said they hold a common viewpoints on the future of their country and hence any decisions or action should be in line with their stand, as previously announced in London conference.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/17/2003 05:37 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Celissa, in many parts of the world, those things you named ARE sports.
I'm not kidding.
Posted by: Scott ||
04/17/2003 21:22 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Need a new rule here: "If you don't participate, you don't get a seat." Not even on the bus going back to Syria. You're given a partially deflated life vest, and tossed into the Shatt al Arab.
at night.
with a new moon.
with 40 pounds of raw, bleeding mullet attached in a "suicide vest".
and a dim pencil flashlight.
Survivors will be given a second chance. After all, we've got LOTS of those suicide vests.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/17/2003 18:42 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution
***shudder***
_________________________________
One question:
Why, in the Wide World of Sports, does any Western country bother sending "envoys" or "ambassadors" to any Arab/Muslim country?
Really, what's the point?
Does anyone truly believe that any of these sandy, seething, cesspools of hate (including the newly freed Iraq) are going to a)elect anything other than a despot or insane Islmaocrat or b)move away from socially retarded tribalism that allows--as tribal tradition--rape, murder, and oppression?
Sorry folks.
The more I see, hear, read, and learn about Arabs and Arab Muslims in particular, the less hope I have for the whole region and the world.
#4
Celissa, in many parts of the world, those things you named ARE sports.
I'm not kidding.
Posted by: Scott ||
04/17/2003 21:22 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Celissa,
I couldn't say it any better myself. P.J. O'Rourke nailed it when he called the Middle East "God's Monkey House." Too bad we couldn't just put a big fence around it and call it Omar's Wild Kingdom. Think of the tourism possibilities. We could run a monorail tour over the whole area just like they do at zoos. It would be just like watching Battlebots, but with real live combatants. Now before I start talking about airlifting huge quantities of Prozac and contraceptive-laden food, I'll stop. I'm going to piss off even the people here at Rantburg.
Posted by: Joe ||
04/18/2003 7:15 Comments ||
Top||
EFL
Saddam Hussein's half brother was nabbed by U.S. special forces Thursday as coalition troops continued to track down key members of the deposed Iraqi regime. One American commander said Barzan Ibrahim Hasan had "extensive knowledge" of the toppled regime's inner workings as an advisor of Saddam and former head of Iraqi intelligence. Another one of Saddam's half brothers, Watban Ibrahim Hasan, was nabbed Sunday, while the third - Sab'awi Ibrahim Hasan - reportedly has fled to Syria. All three are wanted by the coalition for various war and humanitarian crimes, including rape, torture and using brutal force to repress uprisings against the Iraqi regime after the 1991 Gulf War. Barzan was captured alone in Baghdad with the help of U.S. Marines and tips from Iraqi residents.
Barzan was the five of clubs in the deck of 55 playing cards the U.S. military issued to troops with pictures of wanted Iraqi officials last week. The deck includes what is left of the so-called "dirty dozen" - the name the Bush administration gave Saddam and his closest officials in the fall of 2002 as it prepared prosecutions for chemical attacks, forced deportations, mass killings, torture, and other alleged crimes against humanity. Barzan, the youngest of Saddam's half brothers at age 53, ran the Iraqi intelligence service, the Mukhabarat, from 1979 to 1983 and was Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva from 1988 to 1997. As head of the Mukhabarat, he expanded Iraq's terror machine, carrying out dozens of operations overseas against Iraqi dissidents. Barzan may be charged with the disappearance and execution of several thousand Kurds, as well as murders and assassinations abroad. Sounds like a swell guy with a song in his heart.
His home west of Baghdad was targeted by six U.S. "smart bombs" last week. Some news reports said Barzan was killed in that bombing. Remember, Barzan, it's not paranoia when people are really out to get you.
It's not schizophrenia, either.
Yes, it is.
No, it's not.
Shuddup! You shuddup!
Barzan was Saddam's favorite half brother and was only 18 when he took part in the 1968 coup that brought the Baath party to power. Precocious little fella, ain't he?
But his unruly behavior, tendency to drink and constant womanizing had Saddam seeing red. So the dude likes to party--why is that a problem?
Disputes arose between Barzan and Saddam in 1983 when Barzan was in his intelligence role, according to Globalsecurity.org. All three half brothers were demoted from their positions. But Barzan was rehabilitated when Saddam made him Iraq's representative to the United Nations in Geneva in 1988. While in Geneva, Barzan was also responsible for the regime's finances abroad. He was part of the Iraqi delegation that met U.S. Secretary of State James Baker in Geneva in January 1991 in a last effort to head off the first Gulf War. He wasn't well received in Geneva's large diplomatic community. The Swiss do have standards, you know.
Barzan . . . fell from grace again in late 1998 after apparently claiming he would succeed Saddam as leader of Iraq, according to Globalsecurity.org. Barzan was recalled home and interrogated by Qusay. In 1999, Saddam's family accused Barzan of plotting to overthrow the regime, and he fled the country but later returned. Can you say "dysfunctional family?"
Sounds like the dynastic politix of old Babylonia...
While head of the Mukhabarat, INDICT [a British group established in 1996 to campaign for the creation of a tribunal to try the Iraqi regime on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity] claims Barzan was responsible for the repression of religious and ethnic minorities including forced deportations, disappearances and murder. He also supervised the murder of at least six members of the al-Hakim clan, prominent worldwide among Shiites, and was involved in the arrest of 90 of its members. Barzan also ordered the assassinations of Iraqi dissidents carried out on foreign soil by Mukhabarat agents, INDICT says, and carried out the destruction of the villages of Dujail and Jezan al-Chol in 1983, and the subsequent murder or deportation of residents there. Hopefully, there's a long interrogation and a short trip to the gallows in his future.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/17/2003 03:50 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
So the dude likes to party--why is that a problem?
Problems arose when he made fun of the blonde woman adorning one wall of Saddam's bedroom.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/17/2003 18:04 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Supposedly this half-brother's daughter was married to Uday. I guess this family doesn't take dates to their reunions, they meet them there. Eeewww!
No wonder they're nuts!
Posted by: Baba Yaga ||
04/17/2003 20:19 Comments ||
Top||
A 12-year-old Iraqi boy who lost his arms and suffered severe burns when a missile struck his Baghdad home was recovering from surgery on Thursday, cheered by gifts from the hospital staff, his plastic surgeon said. The U.S. "liberated" him. Sorry, I couldn't help it. I miss Murat.
The boy, who has become a symbol of Iraqi suffering during the war, was elated by the gift of a television set and compact disc player from the hospital staff at the Saud A. Albabtain Center for Burns and Plastic Surgery in Kuwait City, Dr. Imad Najada said Thursday. "He is very happy to see a TV after 21 days," Najada said. "Ali today is much better than yesterday. His general condition is improving, he is more stable than yesterday." Ali was flown to Kuwait by U.S. military aircraft early Wednesday. That's what genuine liberators do. They do everything they can.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/17/2003 03:35 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
That dash in the headline was supposed to be going through the words "Murats' Strawman". I'll have to work on that a bit.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/17/2003 15:43 Comments ||
Top||
EFL - Can't believe I posted this before Murat. Almost wanted to title it all in caps in his absence!
Years after they were dispossessed under Saddam Hussein, Kurds are taking what they say is rightfully theirs, evicting Iraqi Arabs and seizing their homes in northern Iraq."We're homeless," complained Sadi Qader Muhammad, whose family was ordered out of their four-room house by a group of Kurds in this largely Kurdish city. "For years, we've worked hard from morning until night, and getting kicked out of our home is the fruit of our labor." The new Kurdish occupants took over the house in the days of confusion immediately after the April 10 collapse of Baghdad's authority in Kirkuk. They claim the land was theirs before Saddam evicted them in the 1980s.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
04/17/2003 12:40 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The anti-Arabization starts. Most people aren't aware of the Arabization of the kurdish areas, when arabs were given homes and cash, taken from kurds, to extend Saddams' "people of loyalty" into the kurdish area. Murat would've talked about the horrors! of kurds getting back what was theirs to begin with.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2003 12:46 Comments ||
Top||
#2
can we start calling these arab villages on Kurd land "illegal settlements"?
Comes as a surprise, doesn't it? Toldja so! Toldja so!
Some of the looters who ravaged Iraqi antiquities appeared highly organized and even had keys to museum vaults and were able to take pieces from safes, experts said Thursday at an international meeting. So, how do we know it happened after the fall of Baghdad?
One expert said he suspected the looting was organized outside the country. I doubt that is anything more than deflecting accusations to non-Iraqis
The U.N. cultural agency gathered some 30 art experts and cultural historians in Paris on Thursday to assess the damage to Iraqi museums and libraries looted in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion.
A few internationally renowned detectives would prob'ly have been more to the point...
Although much of the looting was haphazard, experts said some of the thieves clearly knew what they were looking for and where to find it, suggesting they were prepared professionals. Duh!... Abdul on the street generally wasn't even allowed in the museums
He wasn't. Admission to the museum was restricted...
"It looks as if part of the looting was a deliberate planned action," said McGuire Gibson, a University of Chicago professor and president of the American Association for Research in Baghdad. "They were able to take keys for vaults and were able to take out important Mesopotamian materials put in safes. I have a suspicion it was organized outside the country, in fact I'm pretty sure it was." He added that if a good police team was put together, "I think it could be cracked in no time."
I think so too...
Cultural experts, curators and law enforcement officials are scrambling to both track down the missing antiquities and prevent further looting of the valuables. The pillaging has ravaged the irreplaceable Babylonian, Sumerian and Assyrian collections that chronicled ancient civilization in Mesopotamia, and the losses have triggered an impassioned outcry in cultural circles.
The numbers say it wasn't done overnight, too...
Many fear the stolen artifacts have been absorbed into highly organized trafficking rings that ferry the goods through a series of middlemen to collectors in Europe, the United States and Japan. Officials at the UNESCO meeting at its headquarters in Paris said the information was still too sketchy to determine exactly what was missing and how many items were unaccounted for.
Because the "looters" burned all the records they could...
The experts, which included Iraqi art officials, said some of the most valuable pieces had been placed in the vault of the national bank after the 1991 Gulf War, but they had no information on whether the items were still there.
"Gone! They're gone! We are so surpised!"
That's why the call these countries "kleptocracies," isn't it?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2003 12:07 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
The chief U.N. weapons inspector for Iraq urged the U.S.-led coalition to allow his team back into the country to look for weapons of mass destruction, saying that would increase the credibility of any discoveries, a magazine reported Thursday. âI KNOW I can do it this time guys! Lemme at âem! Come on, PUHLEEEEAZ?â Hans Blix, who is a bufoon was in charge of searches for chemical and biological weapons and long-range missiles in Iraq, also challenged President Bush's administration to present proof of its allegation that Syria has chemical weapons. "Whoever claims this should, in the interests of credibility, very quickly present the relevant proof," Blix said in an interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel. "For my part, I doubt that the Syrians would have been enthusiastic to serve as a depot of weapons of mass destruction for Baghdad." And your opinion is SO relevant at this point!
The Bush administration, which blamed Blix for hampering its drive to win international support for war, has not invited U.N. detractors inspectors to take part in disarming postwar Iraq. Instead, the United States has tried to hire away some inspectors and has deployed its own teams to search for weapons of mass destruction. Blix said internationally backed inspections would have "considerably more credibility." Insert GUFFAW here
"The alliance came as liberator and occupier, and that can prove to be a disadvantage," he told the magazine. "If its experts now should really discover weapons of mass destruction, their authenticity might be called into question."
Reports on Iraqi weapons programs that the inspectors received from intelligence agencies were "pretty pathetic" and led to no discoveries of weapons of mass destruction, Blix said. Pathetic?? Said the pot to the kettle
The chief nuclear weapons inspector, Mohamed ElBaradei, even received forged documents meant to persuade the inspectors that Iraq had nuclear weapons ambitions, Blix said. He gave no details. Blix, who has been invited to brief the U.N. Security Council on April 22, called for efforts to declare the entire Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, "naturally including Israel." Naturally
Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons, though it has not officially acknowledged having them.
You're right that Blix should be wearing a 4-pointed hat and carrying a slapstick, but he has a point. As soon as they do turn up, the lefties will be crying loudly that we planted them, and the Arabs (and Paks) will be even louder. So the best thing would be to invite all comers, with appropriate prizes for the biggest finds.
So grab Grandma and the kids and come on down to al-Kut for the year's biggest chemical weapons hunt! Free gas masks for the ladies!
All children under six must be fitted with a radiometer.
Posted by: Samma-lamma ||
04/17/2003 11:09 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Earth to Blixie: We have inspectors in Iraq - they're called the U.S. and British military. Get over yourself!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/17/2003 11:16 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"If its experts now should really discover weapons of mass destruction, their authenticity might be called into question."
-As opposed to the "expert UN team" who couldn't find their butts with both hands!?!
#3
Somehow we've allowed the UN to get the notion that it is "in charge" of everything in the world; that no nation may act outside its borders without the UN's permission; and that the UN is the font of all "credibility" in the universe.
Me, I'd like nothing better than to see a column of M1A1 Abrams tanks rolling down 1st Avenue on their way to putting an abrupt stop to that nonsense.
Buzz off, Blixie. Take your useless inspectors and shove 'em.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/17/2003 12:05 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Times of London:
"Russia said today that it would not support the lifting of sanctions unless it was confirmed that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction."
If iraq had WMD - the US was right.
If Iraq had no WMD - there's no reason to maintain sanctions.
So - Russia "theres no evidence of WMD, but we can only lift sanctions when theres proof of no WMD"
It must be hard to write satire, when the world is this absurd.
#5
Let us do something totally rational for a change. Let's tell the United Nations to get lost. Literally. Go find another place to stink up. And don't tell us where, as long as it's not the US, Great Britain, Australia, Poland, Spain, Italy, Latvia, Albania, etc., ect. Just go. You have until Monday morning. After that, the building you currently inhabit will be the new headquarters of the 1MEF. Happy hunting.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/17/2003 12:33 Comments ||
Top||
#6
You just KNOW that if the British or the U.S. find anything in Iraq, opponents of the invasion are just going to say they planted it there. That is guaranteed. They'll cling to the fantasy in the face of irrefutable evidence. Which brings to mind: I'm new to Rantburg and you may have already discussed this, but are any of you familiar with the French bestseller that argued that 9/11 was the work of the CIA/Pentagon? Just shows you how wigged-out they can be.
Posted by: joe ||
04/17/2003 12:11 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Global Warming Alert! Global Warming Alert! Blixie blowing wind!
We are doing the right thing. When a dog dies, a dog dies hard. Wish Blixie a good morning and keep on with the tasks at hand. We are not in Iraq to please the press, we are there to interrupt the terror cycle and to insure that there is no more WMD on that bit of real estate. We will let Mr. Powell have the job of telling the UN to GTFO, in diplmatically acceptable language, of course.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/17/2003 12:42 Comments ||
Top||
#8
At this point Blix is a mere gadfly. His buzzing, though, serves to illustrate that one of the many benefits of this war has been to shine a very, very bright light on that parallel universe known as the UN. It was at first disconcerting to discover to learn how little friendship we actually enjoyed among "old Europe." The Marshall Plan, it turns out, was just one more thing for them to hate us for, even while they did better by it than they could have ever have done without it. It's a little like getting out of the hospital and then swearing at the boy scout who was rude enough to save his life. "Sure, both my legs were cut off and I was bleeding to death," says old Europe. "But you're just a damn kid!" As if it mattered.
Well, sorry, Europe. You may have been able to comfort yourself in the notion that where the United States had power and vigor and the recklessness of a kid with Attention Deficit Disorder, Europe had culture, age, wisdom, manners, elan, and etc.
How it must be killing you, old Europe, to realize that you really *are* old, and in the worst sense of the word, confined to an Old Folk's Home of your own making and obliged to notice how the kid who stole the car keys 220 years ago ian't a kid anymore. Worse, we do everything better. That's got to make your rickety legs and swollen knees hurt!
True, our manners could be better, but on the other hand, who actually wants better manners? In Europe manners have nothing to do with politeness and mutual respect, but with scoring points on the poor slob who doesn't know which fork to use. It's the legacy of centuries of mincing court life, vicious class distinction, and it's a way of feeling better at the expense of someone else. You do it by sneering about how culturally pathetic the Unites States are, we do it by winning your wars.
So I guess what I really want to say to Blix is "Fuck you AND the (UN) horse you rode in on."
Yeah, we've grown up, but I'm glad we didn't shed our talent for profanity in the process.
#9
IIUC some of the people the coalition has looking for WMD are former UNSCOM (the inspection team that preceded Blix and UNMOVIC) employees - so this is clearly not a question of technical expertise. Its a question of trust. Which obviously runs both ways.
E. F. L. From the Beeb
Kurdish officials say they have found a series of mostly unmarked graves that contain about 2,000 bodies outside the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. They say the area was used by the Iraqi army to bury Kurds they killed in the late 1980s. During that period at least 100,000 Kurds were killed in Saddam Hussein's policy of ethnic cleansing in Iraq. The site of the graves lies close to an old Iraqi base, but so far there has been no independent verification or extensive excavation of the site.
BBC correspondent Dumeetha Luthra says some of the graves are marked, the rest lie in unmarked mounds. Kurds did dig up two graves on Wednesday and say they found a woman wrapped in plastic and covered in dried blood. The other grave, they say, held a man with remnants of a Kurdish fighter's uniform. Our correspondent says people have been told not to tamper with the site. She added the fact that no-one was allowed to see the bodies being buried is suspicious. In 1988 Saddam ordered a massive operation known as the Anfal Campaign against the Kurdish population in northern Iraq. In one incident, Ali Hassan al-Majid, Saddam's cousin who was also known as "Chemical Ali", directed a poison gas attack on the town of Halabja. Looks like some of the missing have been located.
Posted by: Tadderly ||
04/17/2003 11:04 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Garofalo, et al., would have us withhold any hasty judgments until "further inspections are given a chance".
#2
I followed the link and saw that yes, indeed, the BBC used scare quotes around the words "mass grave." I'm floored. A good definition of mass grave exists: a pit containing some quantity of dead humans greater than some arbitrary amount. There might be some quibbling if there were only three bodies in the pit. I think that 2000 bodies certainly fits the definition unless you were an Einsatzgruppe commander. In which case, you might think that 2000 executed humans in a pit was merely an amateur effort.
It seems to me that by using the scare quotes, the BBC is trying to convince its readers that it is not a propaganda organ for the US and its own government. In fact it is further dishonoring the dead who were already descecrated when their lives were so brutally ended.
#3
Mass graves, continuing rumors about chemical capable munitions, buried prisons, ghsatly stories about rape and torture - let's see i guess we should have listened to the French weasels, CNN, Hollywood elite and congressional democrats to give the inspectors another ten twelve years.
One question: Will we remember this time just how flawed their rhethoric and thinking has been?
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
04/17/2003 20:02 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Saw Mike Farrel on t.v.the other day whining about the backlash Hollywood is getting,crying that Hollywood stars have a right to voice thier opinions.They certainly do have that right just as we have the right to make the publicity seeking has-beens accept the repercusions of thier positions(on thier knees).
Demoralised soldiers from Iraq's Republican Guard thought Saddam Hussein was "mad" and deserted en masse before the first American tanks rolled into Baghdad, according to a colonel in the supposedly elite force. Speaking in the shabby family quarters given to Republican Guard officers in Baghdad, Col A T Said explained how the units that Saddam relied on most never had any intention of fighting for his regime. In the event, American forces were able to enter the capital with relative ease last week. They confounded predictions of prolonged, costly fighting.
Saddam entrusted the Republican Guard's six divisions with the most crucial strategic task of the war: defending the approaches to Baghdad. Their 50,000 soldiers and 800 tanks were drawn up in a tight circle around the city. Col Said, 42, commanded 150 soldiers in an engineer unit attached to the Hammurabi division, charged with defending the north-western approaches. Yet even before the fighting began, Col Said said, most Republican Guard soldiers viewed Saddam with hatred and contempt. "We would say, 'Our leader is mad, mad, mad. And he wants to cut all our throats'.
"We knew we would never fight. I thought the war would never start because it was madness." Col Said described the cynicism of sycophantic Republican Guard generals who assured Saddam of victory during televised meetings. "They told him we would fight any power in the world. When we heard this, we couldn't believe it. But then the generals told us, 'No, no - don't worry. Just keep quiet. Stay in your positions. It won't happen'." On March 19, only hours before the Americans launched the first cruise missile strikes, Col Said's unit was deployed to guard a bridge north of Baghdad.
But that day, before a shot had been fired, the security officer charged with ensuring the unit's loyalty to Saddam deserted - and the way was open for more to quit. Col Said watched as his men deserted in groups of five or six every day. After heavy coalition bombing raids, the rate of desertions accelerated. Col Said said he wanted to save the lives of his teenage soldiers, and had no objection to their leaving. "A soldier would say to me, 'Sir, excuse me, but I cannot stay here because of the bombing. I fear for my family. I'm sorry, sir.' I would say, 'Don't worry. God go with you. I will be joining you soon'."
On April 5, Col Said was ordered to withdraw into Baghdad and guard a strategic site. By this time, only five of his soldiers were still with him. The others had fled, along with his commanding officer, Gen Mahmoud al-Ani. Without orders, and threatened by US tanks, Col Said and his remaining soldiers discarded their uniforms and went home last Tuesday. None had fired a shot in defence of Baghdad. None had died in combat.
Posted by: kgb ||
04/17/2003 06:05 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Considering Saddam's history, his recruitment techniques of threatening to kill family members for failure to fight, his punishment of any dissent, that was pretty brave of the Iraqis to bail the way they did. If we had not won, Saddam would still be in power and free to wreck retribution on those who walked away.
Sometimes it takes more courage to walk away from a fight, than to walk into it.
Posted by: Ben ||
04/17/2003 7:19 Comments ||
Top||
#2
so all the Psy-ops, contacts with RG officers, etc, actually worked. Whoda thunk it?
#3
Gotta say, thats one of the smartest Colonels in the Iraqi Army. Covers for his men to save their lives, then lets go the rest to save the lives of the civilians who would have been killed had he defended in force.
Gutsy too, considering they are finding hundreds of Iraqi soldiers in shallow graves with their throats slit for desertion by Saddam's "SS" enforcers.
#4
Slightly off-topic, but what does it tell you about the Republican Guard when you have a full-bird colonel commanding what amounts to a combat engineer company? I'm no military analyst by any means, but I can't imagine that's a good sign.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/17/2003 11:39 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Their 50,000 soldiers and 800 tanks were drawn up in a tight circle around the city.
Heck, that's what any "elite" force led by a "shrewd", "cunning" genius would do, when confronted by overwhelming air superiority and surrounded by a three-pronged armored invasion... gather the wagons in a circle and concentrate the targets.
The comparisons to the invasion of Germany are certainly a disservice to the Wehrmacht.
Posted by: Mark IV ||
04/17/2003 11:45 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Come to think of it, even the Volksturm put up more of a fight. Ouch.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
04/17/2003 13:56 Comments ||
Top||
#7
145 of 150? If the remaining 5 men discarded their uniforms, and went back home, wouldn't that be 150 of 150 men fled?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/17/2003 16:08 Comments ||
Top||
#8
I can't agree that the colonel was smart - he was one of the last to leave. I gotta give credit to the security officer - showing the way by voting with his feet.
I've been reading "The White Flag Principle" by Simon Tzabar. I ordered it via Amazon months ago and it arrived the morning after Baghdad fell. There must have been a temporary shortage caused by a bulk purchase by the Iraqi army.
Posted by: A ||
04/17/2003 16:59 Comments ||
Top||
#9
I happen to know a bit (ahem, nevermind where) about Arab command structures. They are very "Top Down", with little indepenndance allowed for lower officers and non for NCOs. Lower ranking officers who show initiative are a threat to the regieme - if they can gain rank they beomce a threat to the leadership, which relies on abosolute obedience.
this produces an anomoly in Arab armies: pormotions are ased on political trust, not ideaology. And only the most promoted (i.e. proven loyal to a given point) are given command positions. A USMC Gunnery Sgt has about the same command span and authority as an Arab Colonel or even a One-Star General in some places.
We expect our soldiers to be independant, to interpret orders, adjust to situations, and exercise initiative. Anyone behaving like a mindless automaton is soon removed from the chain of command and thence from the service.
They expect blind obedience and hewing to the part/regligous lines. Anyone behaving with originality or initiative is either killed, jaield (for insubordination) or simply thrown out of the military.
This leaves you with a lot of reliable Arab Colonels who are unqualified to command much anything larger than a platoon, and a lot of US Non-Coms who can move 2+ levels up in the chain of command if needed (and have done so in war).
Small wonder the worst armies in the world are those from Arab dictatorships that never seem to learn from the past and the best are from Western democracies that maintain solid military traditions.
Australia plans to bring home by June most of the 2,000 troops it sent to join the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, Prime Minister John Howard said. Two ships, the Anzac and the Darwin, will return to Australia by the end of May, followed by the 14 FA/18 Hornet warplanes and the regiment of 150 special forces troops, or SAS, Howard told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. ``Those forces that were particularly at the sharp end of the conflict, and I'm thinking of the SAS and the Hornets, there is no need to keep them there any longer,'' he said, adding that some troops would remain during a ``transitional phase.'' Also leaving are ``some of the special force combat support elements and also the naval clearance diving team,'' he said. Thanks to all these great soldiers!
The Australian forces have suffered no casualties yet in the fighting. Howard's government has said it will send military air traffic controllers to Iraq to help the flow of humanitarian aid and a team of chemical weapons experts to help hunt down Saddam Hussein's stocks of weapons of mass destruction. Howard hangs in there and keeps doing useful things to help us. It's why you know you can count on the Aussies.
Howard's decision to send forces sparked mass protests across the country, with hundreds of thousands attending peace rallies in major cities in February to jump up and down and make faces and walk on stilts, but numbers at anti-war demonstrations have since dwindled to tens of thousands and Howard's popularity as prime minister has soared. That usually happens when you're vindicated for taking a principaled stand.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/17/2003 12:22 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
hoorah!
sometimes Aussies think we are a) too small to make a difference and b)so insignificant that the effort doesn't register (that is what the anti-war people here sometimes push anyway).
But the US and the anglo-phonic world are really our only true allies : it's good to help you out, mate!
#2
Where do Aussies get that idea, anyway? You didn't just make a difference, you did it "as always."
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/17/2003 5:14 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I second that "As Always". Its good to have real friends in the world, always ready to help do the right thing.
Posted by: Cowboy is a compliment ||
04/17/2003 7:02 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I'll third it. I'll take a 150 Aussies on my side any day against 15,000 Franco-Germans.
Howard's courage to do the right thing in the face of narrow thinking protest and the SAS' courage when "the game is on," is so admirable and appreciated, words cannot describe. Anon1, you guys/gals always WILL make a difference. Heartfelt thanks, mate!
#6
Let's see:
John Howard: Straight talking, honest, principled, willing to take a political risk to do the right thing.
Jacques Chiraq: Liar, back-stabber, double-dealer, anti-American, anti-Semitic, cowardly.
Ha!
And the Frogs think they were insulting us by not joining up.
The Aussies know what the score is, and so do we. I sure as hell won't be visiting Frogistan anytime soon.
You have to love the Aussies. They are just like Americans, only upside-down! ;^)
Thanks to all the Australian people.
This American will not forget your willingness to help us out.
There's only one thing I won't do: I can't buy vegemite.
**shudder**
Other than that, I'm looking for Aussie, Spanish, UK, and Japanese labels on goods.
#7
I had the great good fortune of working with six Aussie Air Force types in Vietnam, in 1970-71. I enjoyed every minute with them - they were a great bunch of individuals, and a formidable team working together. I, too, salute this new group, and the difference they make working with us. God Bless and keep Australia always in His good Graces.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/17/2003 9:48 Comments ||
Top||
#8
For every almost French wine, there is an Aussie equivalent. Those are the ones I'm buying.
The Aussie SAS did the job well! I hope the US will award them a campaign medal in recognition for their work to go along with the one that Australia will be awarding.
Same goes for the Pole's GROM unit. Anyone telling a "Polack" Joke arounde me is going to get some sharp words, and a strong "suggestion" to change it to a "Frog" joke.
Quiet, courageous, professional, deadly. The Aussie SAS and GROM exemplifly those traits, and fit in well with the US and British special forces in this war.
The US should do something to award them publicly for having the political guts to deploy those troops, and for the troops themselves for executing their missions so well.
#9
I second the comment about substituting French vintages with a good Aussie Shiraz. It says something about the Australians character that they have contributed their young men to European/Middle East conflicts in WWI, WWII, the Gulf War and now, Iraq. Australians obviously believe in, and act upon, what Edmund Burke said: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do
> nothing."
#10
And we must not forget the other "first line" coalition partner who also put all his "political capital" into the pot... The Spanish Prime Minister who had to wrestle with millions of voters in the streets. May he land on his feet as well, for taking his stand inpublic and working some serious diplomatic work off stage.
I agree with Capsu78: The Spanish PM also deserves kudos for his principled stand. Here's hoping he weathers the political storm as well as Howard.
Its starting to look as if, for future operations like this, that America will be providing the main force, while her Allies and friends provide special-purpose units, like Special forces, bio-chemical warfare cleanup units, and such.
Except, of course, for the British, who are firmly #2 on Liberty's bench, with Australia being #3.
*sighs* And here's hoping the Canadians can come on board next time: Their sharpshooters would have saved lots of civilians in Basara.
*shakes head* And poor Israel, waving "Pick me! Pick me!", and always being passed over for political reasons. You KNOW they'll give the Brits a good run for #2.
The top commander of U.S. forces in Iraq briefed President Bush on the war from inside one of Saddam Hussein's ornate palaces on Wednesday, underscoring the death of the old regime. Gen. Tommy Franks, in command of more than 200,000 troops in the war zone, lit up a cigar as he toured the palace just outside Baghdad that had been part of Saddam's realm. Franks and other senior officers sat in plush green chairs with gold, wood trim for the briefing with Bush in Washington, held over a secure videoconference linkup. Earlier, the four-star general viewed, with evident disgust, gold sink fixtures, a gold toilet paper dispenser and a toilet bowl brush inside one of the bathrooms. Almost as tacky as Saddam's love nest!
``It's the oil for palaces program,'' he said, a biting reference to the U.N. program that allowed Iraqi oil exports on condition that the proceeds went to food for civilians. Franks' visit to Baghdad, from his command headquarters in Qatar, came less than two weeks after Army tanks first rumbled through the capital and one week after Iraqis, aided by Marines, toppled a statue of Saddam in a downtown city square, signaling the end of his regime. Just had to get Franks' quote in there: Oil for Palaces sums it up pretty well, eh?
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/17/2003 12:17 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Through all of these palace raids tours and such ... I have found myself hoping that Saddam truly is alive (I know that he probably is), and is watching cable news. Oh the humiliation!!! mwahahahahahahaha
#3
"Oil for palace" ! Tommy-boy how would you like to host Politically Incorrect?
Posted by: Scott ||
04/17/2003 9:44 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Centcom reports power and water restored to pre-war levels in Basra, al Zubair, and Kirkuk.
BBC continues to report absence of water and power in Baghdad.
Centcom reports initial efforts to restore power in Baghdad, Doura power plant and about half a dozen substations. Natural Gas from the north still cut off, attempting to start oil-fired plant, need jump start - possibly from Kirkuk - examining apparently damaged power line from Kirkuk to Baghdad.
Brits report main obstacles to medical care in Basra now are supplies, situation slowly improving.
Centcom reports coalition medical facilities coming in, notes Kuwaiti and Spanish efforts.
#5
afp says US officials say 14 of 33 hospitals running in Baghdad.
Largest power plant in Baghdad has 1 MW of power to run lights and control panels,etc. Needs 7 to 9 MW to get started. Then it can be provide rolling power to neighborhoods, and jumpstart other power plants. Hope is to get this plant running by Friday or Saturday. Meanwhile small diesel plants are providing limited power.
Hospitals continue to have problems with staff as well as supplies.
#6
afp reports from a street in Baghdad were 20 shops have now re-opened, operating without electricity, closing early. Nearby a gas station is operating, using a diesel generator for power.
AP reports taxi and bus service(both municipal and private) starting to return to normal in Baghdad. Gasoline still scarce, selling for 5 to 6 times normal price (in Dinars??) Schools, offices still closed.
#8
per reuters, WHO says hospitals in Mosul operating at around 50% (hit by looting)
Red Cross says hospitals in the south generally working, in contrast to Baghdad.
HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AP) - Clear blue skies greeted Lt. Col. David Toomey on Wednesday as he approached Holloman Air Force Base from the south in his sleek F-117A stealth fighter. With southern New Mexico's mountain ranges visible in the distance, it was a much different view than the glimpses of a cloud-covered Baghdad that Toomey caught as he and another Holloman pilot dropped the first bombs on Iraq.
Toomey was among five stealth pilots who touched down at Holloman Wednesday after a monthlong mission in the Middle East. They were greeted by the cheers of about 300 family members and base personnel, many waving small American flags and holding welcome signs.
Holloman spokeswoman Maj. Tina Barber-Matthew said 300 support personnel are scheduled to return by month's end. She said the stealths flew more than 80 missions over Iraq and dropped about 100 2,000-pound laser-guided bombs.
An undisclosed number of the planes - fighters and bombers - were sent overseas to help in the nation's war on Iraq. Holloman is home to the nation's only stealth fighters.
Toomey and his wingman, Maj. Mark Hoehne, made the first strike of the war, hitting a building in Baghdad where a CIA tipster told officials Saddam Hussein might be staying. ``I don't think it matters whether we got him or not,'' Hoehne said Wednesday. ``He's no longer coming back to that country in any sort of position of leadership. ... His regime is done.'' Even if they missed, they set the tone of the war -- quick, violent, indirect, and targeted at the thugs.
Both pilots talked Wednesday about their emotions surrounding the strike. ``There was excitement, there was fear, there was the intensity of the moment, just thinking about what you're going to do. There's 100 things going through your mind,'' said Hoehne, who returned to Holloman last week. But ``at a certain point you shut all that out and concentrate on getting the mission done.''
When he and Toomey returned to their base in Qatar, they were greeted by about 100 screaming military personnel with American flags.
Maj. Clint Hinote, a stealth pilot who was involved in planning the first strike, told top military officials the mission was ``doable.''
``I was really tense. I knew the guys that were flying,'' Hinote said Wednesday. ``I knew that they were going to Baghdad based in part on something I had said, and I was praying I was right.''
As Toomey taxied to a stop Wednesday on the Holloman tarmac, his wife and three young children were waiting with hugs and a bottle of champagne. Welcome home, guys!
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/17/2003 12:08 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Thankyou for doing such a hard job well.
Thankyou for ensuring the greater security of the free world.
Thankyou!
#2
I see Holloman is keeping up a proud tradition. I was there for two years in the late 1960's, when the 49th Tac Fighter Wing, a dual-based unit, was there. The 49th's deployment back to Germany in 1969 was a 'demonstration of concept' program that won the Wing the McCay Trophy - the first time a UNIT was ever given the award. The program allocated dedicated fighter assets to Europe, but kept them in the States all but a couple of months each year. Our deployed base was Spangdahlem, Germany, but one year we went to Turkey, instead. VERY interesting tour! It seems the F-117 guys are keeping that proud tradition alive! I salute you, my comrades, and say "well done, and welcome home"!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/17/2003 10:03 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Aye! Well done and thanks! You have our gratitude.
And thanks to God, the Most Merciful, who protected you and brought you home safely! May He be with those who have lost loved ones in Iraq and comfort them!
Saddam Hussein's regime was linked to an African Islamist terrorist group, according to intelligence papers seen by The Telegraph. The documents provide the first hard evidence of ties between Iraq and religious terrorism. Secret dossiers detailing the group's discussions with the Iraqi Intelligence Service were found in the spies' Baghdad headquarters, among the detritus of shredding. The papers show how Iraq's charge d'affaires in Nairobi, Fallah Hassan Al Rubdie, was in discussion with the Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan guerrilla group with ties to other anti-western Islamist organisations.
New one on me. Never heard of them, though I'm not an expert on Subsaharan Africa...
While the United States has long argued that Saddam's regime was aiding Islamist groups, it has struggled until now to provide compelling evidence. In a letter to the head of the Iraqi spy agency, a senior ADF operative outlined his group's efforts to set up an "international mujahideen team". Its mission, he said, "will be to smuggle arms on a global scale to holy warriors fighting against US, British and Israeli influences in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Far East". The letter, dated April 2001, was signed: "Your Brother, Bekkah Abdul Nassir, Chief of Diplomacy ADF Forces". Nassir offered to "vet, recruit and send youth to train for the jihad" at a centre in Baghdad, which he described as a "headquarters for international holy warrior network". It was not clear whether the centre was established. "We should not allow the enemy to focus on Afghanistan and Iraq, but we should attack their international criminal forces inside every base," the letters said.
Sounds like a wannabe bin Laden, trying to line up some financing and training and guns and ammo and bombs and uniforms and groceries and transportation and lodging. He'll provide everything else...
The ADF emerged in 1996, when it launched a rebellion against President Yoweri Museveni's government.
I think he was the one who believed in flying saucers...
In December 2001 the movement was placed on the US list of terrorist organisations. Throughout its campaign the ADF has been provided with weapons and funding by the Islamist government in Sudan, one of more than half a dozen states Washington accuses of sponsoring terrorism.
Even though Sudan is allowing the Ugandan army to operate within its borders to track down the Lord's Resistance Army, which appears to be more of a threat. Must be a religious thing.
The key figure behind the ADF is widely acknowledged to be a fundamentalist Islamic cleric, Sheikh Jamil Makulu. According to the Ugandan government and western intelligence sources, Sheikh Makulu became friendly with Osama bin Laden in the early to mid-Nineties, when the al-Qa'eda chief was living in Khartoum. The IIS's headquarters were only loosely guarded by US special forces yesterday. The Telegraph entered the building through one of the many holes left by devastating bombing. This is typical of what we'll see emerging from Iraq over the next year or so - a compendium of information linking Iraq to every bunch of nasties who ever held out their hand. Saddam truly believed he could buy his way into the history books, and left no opportunity unheeded. This is just one more reason to be thankful the SOB's either dead or disconnected from the Iraqi people.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/17/2003 10:27 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
And look for none of it to be reported on ABC. In fact, I'm willing to predict that at some point during the next few months, Peter Jennings will run a story that suggests that it would have been better for Iraq if Saddam had been left alone. He'll wait until the smoke clears, of course.
Syria's foreign minister welcomed U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's upcoming visit Thursday as a "good will gesture" after weeks of rising tension, but said UN inspectors would not be allowed in to look for the chemical weapons Washington alleges Syria has. "Nope. Nope. Ain't got none, so you don't need to look..."
At a news conference after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa also warned the United States against a lengthy occupation in Iraq. "We are facing a dangerous transformation and the occupation of an Arab country, Iraq," al-Sharaa said. "We have said that occupation is rejected by the majority, if not all, of the Iraqi people and the days ahead will prove this." "We're working hard to make them prove it..."
He added the "appropriate method to achieve stability... is the withdrawal of the invading forces and allowing Iraqis to have their own dictator government... This colonialism cannot continue, if its continues then it's occupation," he said. "It will not succeed politically and it clearly has lost morally."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/17/2003 09:34 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Ok,we will withdraw to Kurdistan,and Greater Kuwait(Southern no fly zone).
The founder of Hamas said on Thursday the arrest of a Palestinian leader in Iraq suggested U.S. forces were now targeting leaders of a Palestinian uprising against Israel. "It (arrest of Abu Abbas) indicates that America is sinking its sharp teeth into Iraq and into Palestine," Sheikh Ahmed Yassin said. "It is a crusader's war against both. But it will be defeated. Our people are stronger than Israel and America," the wheelchair-bound Yassin said as 2,000 Palestinians marched and waved guns and made faces to mark Palestinian Prisoner Day. Some Palestinians now fear his arrest could herald a campaign by the United States, Israel's guardian ally, to round up Palestinian leaders connected with violence as part of the war on terror. "Let them arrest the whole Palestinian people. Resistance will never stop. We will continue Jihad (holy struggle) and resistance," Yassin said. "Whether we go to prison or whether they kill leaders, resistance will never stop before the liberation," he added "We've got lots of cannon fodder, and we like watching them blow up."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/17/2003 09:29 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
They really do want us to play cowboys and muslims. Those who do not remember history....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal regulators want to shut down a spam operation that allegedly used deceptive e-mail with bland subject lines like "new movie info" and "did you hear the news" to lure people to pornographic Web sites.
The Federal Trade Commission said Thursday that after receiving about 46,000 complaints it had asked a federal judge to halt the operation until there can be a trial. It is the first FTC case involving spam with deceptive subject lines, the agency said.
"When consumers opened the e-mail messages, they were immediately subjected to sexually explicit solicitations," the FTC said. "Because of the deceptive subject lines, consumers had no reason to expect to see such material."
Children may have been exposed to the pornographic e-mail, the agency said.
The FTC accused Brian D. Westby, of suburban St. Louis, of using the e-mail spam operation to drive business to an adult Web site called "Married But Lonely."
Any Rantbergers living near St. Louis wanna make some jack?
Westby could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
Using a practice called "spoofing," the spam also contained false information about who sent the e-mail, the FTC said. Responses to the spam flooded the e-mail accounts of people uninvolved with the operation.
Posted by: Scott ||
04/17/2003 08:55 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
The current American and Zionist pressures on Syria are aimed at bringing to a cessation all forms of support rendered by Syria to Arab movements resisting the Israeli occupation, particularly Hezbollah, Secretary General of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) Nayeef Hawatma told IslamOnline.net. Speaking over the phone from Syria, Hawatma condemned the latest series of U.S. and Israeli accusations against Syria of harboring Palestinian "terrorist organizations." This is interesting. Here we have the head of what used to be a major Middle Eastern terrorist organization, headquartered of course in Damascus, bitching about U.S. and Israeli "accusations" against Syria of harboring terrorist organizations...
"Palestinian organizations and powers (in Syria) are located in refugee camps that house four million Palestinian refugees," he said. "All over the past years, the Palestinian democratic and national factions have got used to cope with different environments and developments, since their first and foremost goal is to liberate the (Palestinian) land and establish the Palestinian state. They will never give up this goal no matter how strong pressures are." And for fifty years the Arab states have actively resisted absorbing the Paleostinian population.
Hawatma recalled that Syria has been shouldering the burden of Palestinian refugees, who should come back to the occupied Palestinian territories in conformity with U.N. Security Council resolution 194 of 1948. "The blame, in effect, should be heaped over this country (Israel) which rebuffs all relevant UNSC resolutions and the return of those refugees, who were coerced into leaving their motherland more than 50 years ago," he said. "Israel is fully aware that they (Syrians) are the ones who have been supporting the Palestinian resistance for 40 years and wants to strip them of their weapons and morale to put an end to their uphill struggle against it." That's a true statement. Syria's been absolutely determined that Paleostinians were going to kill themselves trying to kill Israel. They did learn not to engage in conventional warfare with them, though, the hard way...
Hawatma also expected that the U.S.-led war on Iraq would have its dramatic changes on the Palestinian cause. "The U.S. pressures will push for killing this struggle once and for all and entrenching other alternatives that suit fine (U.S. President George W.) Bush and (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon. One could then understand Bush's tireless attempts to delay the publication of the roadmap, declaring that it will not come to surface unless the Israeli amendments are attached to it." A plan that addresses the concerns of both sides? Unheard of!
Hawatma said Syria is capable of halting the "domino policy" adopted by the Bush administration in the Middle East, noting that it started with Iraq while Sharon was trying to take advantage of the status quo and foment a showdown between the U.S. and Syria. Sammy said he was going to do it, too. So'd the mullahs in Afghanistan...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/17/2003 08:08 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Seriously Fred, I would like to hear somebody say (besides someone with a terorrist ax to grind) that the average Paleo (without AK47) does have a legitimate beef.
There's been enough noise from the Arafat types and Israel's right to exist, that it's completely drown out the schmucks languishing in those camps.
Posted by: Scott ||
04/17/2003 21:12 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I absolutly agree to a Paleo State and that non-terrorist Paleo's have a legit beef,but most of the blame lays with Yasser and Co.Hell he is refusing the right of the new Prime Minister to pick his own Cabinet.
Peace won't happen till Arab states and Paleo's openly and publiclly accept the right of the state of Israel to exist.
Dontcha just bet they are?
IRNA -- Head of the economic commission of the French Senate and Head of the Iranian parliamentary commission for economic affairs voiced their countries' readiness to boost ties in all areas and in particular in the economic sphere. Gerard Larcheh of France and Abdollahi of Iran vowed to pursue efforts to broaden the bilateral ties with the support of the parliaments of the two states to undertake more practical steps in this regard. Abdollahi commented on the huge potentials in Iran's gas and oil sectors and stressed the expansion of the cooperation between the two countries in developing energy fields of Iran. "Yeah. Maybe you Frenchies can make up some of what you lost in Iraq by despoiling Iran. Just make sure you kick into the Old Ayatollahs' Retirement Fund..."
He said the car-manufacturing industry is also among the ideal areas for the good mutual cooperation adding that the region where Iran is located some 300 million people live and there are good markets for modern vehicles. But they'll settle for Renaults...
He then commented on the situation in the region and in Iraq and praised the positions taken by France vis-a-vis the developments in Iraq. He voiced Iran's readiness to help rebuild Iraq adding that Iran and France could, under and the United Nations, embark on active projects and practical steps to reconstruct Iraq. "Soon's we get them Merkins out, it'll be our'n! All our'n!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/17/2003 05:42 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
The Axis of Evil is combining with the Axis of Weasels to create another life form.
Suggest your name for the new organism here:
_________________________________________
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/17/2003 17:48 Comments ||
Top||
#3
WANTED: State sponsors of terror to purchase sophisticated weaponry and components. Looking to replace previous business with Iraqi regime. States with large oil reserves will be considered first. Please call Jacque Chirac at : 1-800-BUY-FROG
#8
Didn't France? In a head to head competition of products, free nations will choose the best product at the best prices. Those locked in a brutal dictatorship with torture and malnutrition will vote Chirac!
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2003 18:57 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Has CNN opened a new bureau in Tehran? Where France goes, the network of tyrants can't be far behind.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
04/17/2003 19:53 Comments ||
Top||
#10
French cars? Modern vehicles? Maybe the French do have a sense of humor.
#12
Out of all suggestions, I pick "Axis of Weevils." Somehow this image [a convocation of squirmy black bugs destroying the resources of the civilized world] really works for me.
IRNA -- Iran and Lebanon underlined the need for departure of foreign troops from Iraq and the establishment of a local government to take charge of the state affairs. Iranian Ambassador to Beirut Masoud Edrisi, in a meeting on Wednesday with the Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hamud, exchanged views on mutual ties and the Middle East current developments. In the meeting, the latest developments in Iraq and Palestine were discussed, and both parties reiterated the need for vigilance towards the possible abuse by the Zionist regime of the current regional crisis. Yasss... The Zionist regime. We must be always vigilant about them guyz...
At the meeting, The threatening remarks of the United States against the Middle East countries in line with the implementation of risky programs backed by the Zionist regime were declared contradictory to the regional and global peace and security. Translated from the diplomatese, I think that means they talked about whether we were going to whack them or if we're gonna take apart Zim-Bob-We or NKor first...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/17/2003 05:30 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
So these guys sat around for twelve years and did nothing about sammy and now they ready to go in....hokay.. I remember in the 50's when I was a little kid of 8 watching the UNSC on tv, after we went into Lebanon with troops, they were saying, "Get yourr trroups out of Lebanon--get them out of Irraakk." Some things don't change.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/17/2003 17:45 Comments ||
Top||
Earlier today our friend Murat posted in comments:
Guys, it was nice talking to you but I am going to leave this board.
For a while I appreciated Fred for being openminded, and still I thank you Fred for your site, but now you start censoring and taking away the news stories you don't like, that's a pitty and not representative for an open society.
To all, take care.
While I do very occasinally delete stories, they aren't deleted because I don't like them. I think I've left enough cage-rattlers up to demonstrate that! I will delete pure opinion pieces that aren't tied to a news story, and I will usually delete the more recent entry of a duplicate, or combine the two into one. And I'll also delete outright trolls like Meki or Syuhada.
The Murat entry that I deleted this morning was the third run of the killings in Mosul. As far as I could tell, the people were still dead, the U.S. had either slaughtered them for the fun or it or had fired on a killed people who were firing at them, and there hadn't been anything added to the story. If I missed some new information, I'm sorry about that, but please check the previous day (or even two) so a story's not rehashed. Rantburg should give you today's news, not the same stuff over and over.
Thanks for your support.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/17/2003 05:06 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
life will certainly be less colourful without our favourite troll. Now and then, when not being trollish, he had some interesting things to say.
methinks this is not the end of Murat however. But if it is, change is life.
#2
HA! This is the smoking gun, Fred. I was just waiting for your vast right-wing conspiricy to rear it's ugly head.
Murat put me up to this. Honest.
Posted by: Scott ||
04/17/2003 18:30 Comments ||
Top||
#3
In today's news: the Mosul 7 and Generalissimo Francisco Franco are STILL dead. Of course, it wouldn't be news if they were kurds. They have the good sense to stay dead
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2003 18:37 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Hey Frank, can't we just declare Iraq, Syria and western Turkey, "Greater Kurdistan" and call it a day? They're the only locals with the sack to run the place.
Come to think of it, throw in Iran and Afghanistan too.
Posted by: Scott ||
04/17/2003 18:45 Comments ||
Top||
#5
You guys are incorrigable!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/17/2003 19:09 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Frankly, Fred, I have never viewed your website as needing to be, in Murat's words, "representative for an open society". I view it as your website to edit (or censor) as you please. I continue to visit because I enjoy the content. If Murat doesn't like it, he can certainly find other websites more to his tastes.
Murat's perspective will be missed, but I don't want to hear the same stuff over and over either.
Posted by: Tom ||
04/17/2003 21:35 Comments ||
Top||
#9
life will certainly be less colourful without our favourite troll. Now and then, when not being trollish, he had some interesting things to say.
methinks this is not the end of Murat however. But if it is, change is life.
Senior officials from South Korea, the United States and Japan will meet in Washington today to discuss a future course of action regarding the planned trilateral talks on North Korea's nuclear issue, Foreign Ministry officials said yesterday. Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck left for Washington in the day to tackle joint measures on the nuclear problem with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly and Japan's director general of Asian and Oceanian affairs, Mitoji Yabunaka.
The meeting comes days ahead of three-way talks to be held between the United States, North Korea and China in Beijing next week, which are expected to pave the way for defusing the nuclear tension that has built up on the peninsula. A Foreign Ministry spokesman issued a statement yesterday that South Korea regards the trilateral meeting in Beijing as "an important step toward resolving the nuclear concern."
"We will continue our diplomatic efforts to realize our participation in dialogue (on the nuclear issue) as our involvement in multilateral talks is vital to reaching an agreement on substantive issues," the statement said. It also said that the South will strive to see its position reflected in the trilateral talks by closely cooperating with the United States and China. "We will also continue our efforts for an early resolution of the nuclear issue through South-North dialogue channels," it said.
With initial trilateral talks on North Korea's nuclear issue set to begin without South Korea's presence, the Seoul government has been striving for its early inclusion in future consultations over the issue of nuclear proliferation.
In Washington, senior officials from South Korea, the United States and Japan will work out joint measures to direct the nuclear issue to a peaceful conclusion. "The South will also exchange opinions with the United States and Japan for the South to attend multilateral talks at an early date," a ministry official said. The official said Lee will stress to his American and Japanese counterparts that essential discussions on the nuclear problem should wait until after the South joins the dialogue.
U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Philip Reeker said yesterday the United States will make it a priority to include South Korea and Japan in nuclear talks as their participation is "essential to reach substantive results." "We will continue to press for Japan's and South Korea's early inclusion in the talks - that will be one of our priorities," Reeker said.
Seoul officials predicted that the United States, North Korea and China will exchange their opinions on operations and an agenda for future consultations when they meet in Beijing. They also said the North's nuclear issue will top the agenda. The tension between North Korea and the United States has escalated since the North admitted to having harbored a secret nuclear program using highly enriched uranium in October last year. North Korea is expected to raise the issue of the U.S. providing a security guarantee,money, cookies and punch at the meeting. Sorry - couldn't resist the one shot..
#1
We should demand that SoKorea and Japan have a seat at the table. They are the ones keeping the NK raft afloat. If China doesn't go for that, hey! at least WE tried....(PR goals attained....)
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2003 16:38 Comments ||
Top||
#2
First (and only) item on the agenda: Agreement on when South Korea and Japan can attend the talks as participants.
Iâve put in an order for a new surprise meter. It gave one horrendous squeal and exploded. Or maybe that was the bullshite meter?
DAMASCUS - In response to U.S. incessant allegations that it possesses chemical weapons, Damascus said Wednesday, April 16, it would submit a resolution to the UN Security Council calling for the Middle East to be free of weapons of mass destruction.
"Damascus would very soon submit a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council calling for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction," Bussaina Shaaban, director of the ministry's information department, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). Now I KNOW pigs have grown wings, and THEY are the ones decimating the seed in my bird-feeder out back!
"If the United States and others are worried about mass destruction weapons, chemical, nuclear or biological, passing into the hands of terrorists we would like this to be materialized by a draft resolution," said Mrs. Shaaban, whose country holds a rotating seat in the UNSC and is the only Arab member in the council. {sarcasm}ANOTHER resolution! Hooray! We are saved! Theyâre going to write a resolution. Whoopie. Those resolutions have carried so much weight in the past, and they have accomplished so very much. {/sarcasm}
"Syria has got the approval of the Arab group in the UN and it will submit it to the Security Council very soon, to make the Middle East a zone free of all mass destruction weapons," she added. Shaaban accused Israel, widely believed to have nuclear weapons, of launching a campaign "in order to harm Syrian-U.S. relations." You mean, worse than the Syrians have damaged it?! Is that even possible?
Meanwhile, Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou told Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara by phone Wednesday that "nobody believes Syria has weapons of mass destruction on its territory." Was this one of those biased balanced surveys where the populace from which the answers are gleaned are carefully instructed chosen?
Papandreou, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, added that U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell had assured him "there were no belligerent U.S. plans against Syria," the official SANA new agency reported. The two also agreed that U.S. threats against Syria were "raising tension in the region and undermining the prospect for a just and durable peace," SANA said.
Syria's decision to submit the resolution was likely a bid to bring pressure on Israel. Syria has complained of U.S. double standards in ignoring "Israel's undeclared stock of nuclear weapons." "It is Israel which has a big arsenal of weapons of mass destruction," Syria's UN ambassador, Rostom al-Zoubi, told CNN Tuesday, April 15. âYou put out his eye!â
âNo I didnât! So what if I did? THEY said I didnât! And anyway, what about them? Iâm sure theyâve got plans to put out MY eye! Punish them instead.â
Meanwhile, Shaaban reiterated rejection of U.S. accusations that it was harbouring members of the Iraqi regime on the run from the U.S.-led forces. "Allegations of Syria providing refuge to some symbols of the Iraqi regime are absolutely groundless," she said. Read: âThey never had to put their feet on the ground. They were whisked away to a safe tall place.â
"Syria never had good relations with the Iraqi regime, and in fact there were many operations done against our citizens by the Iraqi regime in the past, and so these kinds of allegations are absolutely groundless," she added, in a reference to the series of attacks in Syria in the 1980s blamed on Baghdad. Is all of Syria groundless?
Damascus had been backing Tehran in the vicious 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war that left more than one million people dead. In response to Bush's call on Sunday, April 13, that Syria "must cooperate" with Washington and not give refuge to members to he Iraqi regime, Shaaban said the Iraq-Syria border was closed "except for medical help that is done through the Red Cross." â⊠and a few terroristsmilitant jihadis freedom loving peoples with guns to help the Iraqi citizenryâŠâ
Bush accused Syria Sunday of possessing chemical weapons, charged that its nationals had engaged U.S. troops in Baghdad and warned against allowing senior Iraqi leaders to escape through its territory. On Monday, April 14, the U.S. warned Syria that it might impose diplomatic and economic sanctions on Damascus. In addition to cutting off the illegally pumped 200,000 b/d of oil pipeline. (If my numbers are correct?)
#1
This is absulutely a cynical and thinly veiled attempt to target Israel and its purported possession of nuclear weapons. The thing is that the anti-Israeli/anti-Coalition crowd will eat this up.
#2
The State Dept transcript differed slightly from the news release on Powell's comments (from Best of the Web):
Here's the State Department's version of the quote; the words in all caps do not appear in the AP's quote: "There is no war plan RIGHT NOW to go attack someone else, either for the purpose of overthrowing their leadership or for the purpose of imposing democratic values."
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2003 15:08 Comments ||
Top||
#3
You've all hit the nail on the head. I'll bet this makes the rounds Sunday morning, and George Stinkypimpleface brings up Isreal. NOT Iran, OR Syria.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/17/2003 15:09 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Sneaky. If we accept it, it will oblige us to put pressure on Israel.
#5
regional WMD disarmament has already come up. Both Israel and the US have called for it to occur through regional negotiations - which imply all regional states recognizing Israel. Your move, Syria.
#6
This is absulutely a cynical and thinly veiled attempt to target Israel and its purported possession of nuclear weapons. The thing is that the anti-Israeli/anti-Coalition crowd will eat this up.
#7
The State Dept transcript differed slightly from the news release on Powell's comments (from Best of the Web):
Here's the State Department's version of the quote; the words in all caps do not appear in the AP's quote: "There is no war plan RIGHT NOW to go attack someone else, either for the purpose of overthrowing their leadership or for the purpose of imposing democratic values."
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2003 15:08 Comments ||
Top||
#8
You've all hit the nail on the head. I'll bet this makes the rounds Sunday morning, and George Stinkypimpleface brings up Isreal. NOT Iran, OR Syria.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/17/2003 15:09 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Syria wants to bring the AoW, UN, EU, and all the ships at sea into this thing. That way they can wiggle out of doing anything. Speak softly and carry a big stick, oh...and valve wrenches...
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/17/2003 15:35 Comments ||
Top||
EFL
The United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, implored European Union leaders here today to forge a shared position on the rebuilding of Iraq, saying that they had to move past disagreements over the legitimacy and need for the American-led war there. Quickly or we'll all become irrelevant!
Whoops! Too late!
The leaders themselves, gathered here this week for a ceremony that marked the union's largest single expansion ever, sought to do precisely that. but failed as usual
They issued a joint statement OOoohh
today calling for a "central role" for the United Nations in the future of Iraq, a position that could put them at odds with the United States. Since they have no troops on the ground, are withholding Oil for Food funds release, and generally have no credibility, uh, your point is?
But the statement was brief, vague and left much to be resolved A typical EU/UN resolution showing Gaullic resolve , signaling that the difficult work of bridging international rifts was far from done.
"I hate you!"
"Yer ugly!"
"Yer mudder wears army shoes!"
"Oh, yeah? Oh. She does..."
It also linked union leaders' concerns over Iraq with their desire for a resolution of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, calling for implementation of the widely discussed "road map" for the establishment of a Palestinian state. We'll get around to that too, once Syria removes their troops from Lebanon, reforms and quits funding Yasser's terrorists
Mr. Annan delivered his speech this morning to leaders of the 15 countries currently in the European Union, the 10 countries that signed accession treaties on Wednesday, neighboring countries and prospective union members. In his remarks, he urged leaders to repair the schism opened by the war in Iraq. Since I have no credibility with the cowboy - you must do it
"It is vital that we heal that division now," Mr. Annan said. "The world cannot afford a long period of recrimination." He said the Security Council would have to mandate any role for the United Nations in Iraq that went beyond relief aid, to include political participation in the reconstruction of the country. Not a chance Diplo-boy
But the Bush administration, frustrated and embittered by the Security Council's unwillingness to authorize war in Iraq, has indicated reluctance to reach out to the group again.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2003 12:37 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
In other fake new today: Joey Ramone came back from the dead to headline a new version of an old favourite. Letâs go to the Baghdad Amphitheatre for a rare live (well, relatively speaking) performance:
A-ONE, A-TWO, A-ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR!
Hans Blix, The UN, Chirac and Kofi,
They are so underrated!
Letâs not forget De Villepin,
Their names are consecrated!
Take me to Iraq and
show me all the sites!
Tell me where itâs hidden
so I can close my eyes!
Oh, oh, oh, oh, OH!
Saddam, Kimmie Castro, Mugabe,
Letâs not forget Bin Laden!
Misunderstood, they need to wear hoods,
Theyâll never get a pardon.
Take me to the prisons,
take me to the crowds
These lands are so happy
that no one needs a shroud!
Oh, oh, oh, oh, OH!
Baâath, Hezbollah, Ansar-al-Islam,
PLO and al-Qaeda,
Abu Abbas, Bashar and Bob,
No one should really hate âem.
There are no WMD,
there never was a war!
If it were to come,
thereâd be juche like none before!
Oh, oh, oh, oh, OH!
(Ok â youâve got to humor me a bit on the word stresses and rhythms, but blame Samma-Lamma â she started humming the tune so I HAD to make this up!!)
#2
Better yet Kofi; How about a full court press waged against sitting un member governments who continue to plunder and sacrifice citizens of their own countries with oppressive acts of violence and economic mayhem? Why kofi should anyone help you push your cronies to the table of largess when you and your blood red hand dictators have never offered proof of their own resumes which got them the table in the first place. The u n is demystified, many of its memebers are little more than thugs in suits, the un has no standards, look at libya as a member of the human rights commisssion.
No kofi, we've had more than enough of the politics of diplomacy by thugs.
#3
"It is vital that we heal that division now," Mr. Annan said. "The world cannot afford a long period of recrimination."
You're right Kofi. We need a short, but highly intense period of recrimination. In the past, the US has made serious mistakes in backing dictators. However, we have a good bloodletting (figuratively speaking) and we get it out in the open and go on. You and your UN-iks have made an INDUSTRY out of LOOTING Iraq of her wealth with the Oil for Food Palaces Program and that will not stand. Your game is over except for the crying (on your part).
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/17/2003 13:27 Comments ||
Top||
#4
PLEASE!! They're about to shread my UN branded Credit Card. Do it for the Bureaucrats Children.
#5
What representative in the UN did you vote for? Exactly - thats why it lacks legitimacy.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
04/17/2003 13:59 Comments ||
Top||
#6
In other fake new today: Joey Ramone came back from the dead to headline a new version of an old favourite. Letâs go to the Baghdad Amphitheatre for a rare live (well, relatively speaking) performance:
A-ONE, A-TWO, A-ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR!
Hans Blix, The UN, Chirac and Kofi,
They are so underrated!
Letâs not forget De Villepin,
Their names are consecrated!
Take me to Iraq and
show me all the sites!
Tell me where itâs hidden
so I can close my eyes!
Oh, oh, oh, oh, OH!
Saddam, Kimmie Castro, Mugabe,
Letâs not forget Bin Laden!
Misunderstood, they need to wear hoods,
Theyâll never get a pardon.
Take me to the prisons,
take me to the crowds
These lands are so happy
that no one needs a shroud!
Oh, oh, oh, oh, OH!
Baâath, Hezbollah, Ansar-al-Islam,
PLO and al-Qaeda,
Abu Abbas, Bashar and Bob,
No one should really hate âem.
There are no WMD,
there never was a war!
If it were to come,
thereâd be juche like none before!
Oh, oh, oh, oh, OH!
(Ok â youâve got to humor me a bit on the word stresses and rhythms, but blame Samma-Lamma â she started humming the tune so I HAD to make this up!!)
EFL
Syria is allowing some members of Hezbollah to travel from Syrian-controlled south Lebanon to Iraq, current and former U.S. intelligence officials say. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Monday that the U.S. government had "intelligence that indicates that some Iraqi people have been allowed into Syria - in some cases to stay and some cases to transit." He did not identify the Iraqis, or indicate whether they were leaders in Saddam's government. Syrian officials have denied the accusations. Rumsey: "I'm not going to name any names ... but their initials are M.U.D."
Among Iraqis who have taken refuge in Syria in recent weeks and months are weapons scientists who fled Iraq to avoid questioning by UN inspectors and capture by American forces, an American intelligence official said. The official said some scientists and others with links to the Saddam government may have fled screaming traveled on to other countries, including Libya and Russia. One of Iraq's top scientists, Jaffar Dhia Jaffar, the head of its nuclear program, turned himself in and was in American custody. The allegations about Hezbollah members moving into Iraq implicates Syria because its members cannot enter Iraq without the consent of Syrian government officials, said Matthew Levitt, a former FBI terrorism analyst who is now a senior fellow with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Hezbollah, which has about 2,500 fighters and is armed and supported primarily by Iran, was the main force resisting Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon before Israel's withdrawal in 2000. The group also kidnapped and held hostage more than a dozen Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s, and a cell within the organization is regarded by American intelligence as a major terrorist threat to American and Israeli interests around the world. American officials say that they have evidence that Hezbollah has plans to attack U.S. embassies and other American targets. The officials said Hezbollah's intentions in Iraq are unclear, but expressed concern that its presence there could threaten a new, American-backed government of Iraq. Hezbollah officials in Beirut have denied that the group's members have traveled to Iraq to carry out operations there. "Nope, nope, nope! Never happened!"
My guess is that they'd like to find a nice barracks full of Marines and boom it. Last time, that got us out of Lebanon. This time, I think it'd get us into the Bekaa Valley and points north and east quicker than you can say "airmobile assault"...
The reported movement of Hezbollah fighters into Iraq would reflect what experts say has been an effort by Syria's Boy President current leader, Bashar Assad, to forge closer ties with an organization that his father, Hafez Assad, generally kept at arm's length. Dennis Ross, a former American special envoy to the Middle East, said last June that Syria had shipped Syrian-made rockets directly to Hezbollah in Syrian-controlled parts of southern Lebanon. Until last year, Ross said, Syria's role in arming Hezbollah was limited mostly to permitting shipments of Iranian-made arms - including Katyusha rockets - through its territory. With a range of about 70 kilometers (45 miles), the Syrian-made rockets have a longer reach than the Katyushas.
Posted by: Samma-lamma ||
04/17/2003 09:40 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Let them come to Iraq. We will kill them. Quickly, dispassionately, and in large numbers. And trace them back to Syria.
As for Iran - well, the overland supply line has just been cut. Iran will now have to ship third party, by sea. Far more difficult to hide shipments of weaponry that way.
The geography alone makes Iraq the keystone in stopping terror in the middle east.
#2
God willing, as my imam, Ahmed Simian Orangutani, would say. If the western desert turns into a vast killing ground for these primates, it will all have worked out better than we hoped.
Posted by: joe ||
04/17/2003 10:13 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The pain in my side saz that Syria is becoming very uncomfortable with its new-found attention being directed at it. We need to keep ramping up the heat on many fronts, expecially with their oil pipelines from Iraq. I do not know how much Iraqi money they still have access to, but with an oil embargo and some heat on their finances and banks, I think that we can sink 'em without actual military intervention, aside from massing troops on the border and some carefully done special ops in country. If they want to harbor terrorists and mess up Lebanon, then there will be a very high price for their status quo.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/17/2003 10:20 Comments ||
Top||
#4
If we go to war with Syria they won't be able to call it a war for oil. But, I would rather us take care of Bob Mugabe first.
Posted by: George ||
04/17/2003 10:46 Comments ||
Top||
#5
A direct threat needs to be made to Hezbollah: send your members to Iraq and they will be rooted out and KILLED.
#6
To increase the heat on Syria, I trust that our leaders are putting the screws to Syria's erstwhile European allies. I listened to a typically slanted NPR report this morning on Syria and how Assad, the Elder, almost reached an accord with Israel in 1999. However, the NPR correspondent intoned, the Israelis scotched the deal because of its intransigence in turning over all of the Golan Heights.
#7
Dennis Ross, a former American special envoy to the Middle East, said last June that Syria had shipped Syrian-made rockets directly to Hezbollah in Syrian-controlled parts of southern Lebanon. Until last year, Ross said, Syria's role in arming Hezbollah was limited mostly to permitting shipments of Iranian-made arms - including Katyusha rockets - through its territory. With a range of about 70 kilometers (45 miles), the Syrian-made rockets have a longer reach than the Katyushas.
#8
However, the NPR correspondent intoned, the Israelis scotched the deal because of its intransigence in turning over all of the Golan Heights.
Screw Syria. The Jews kicked their asses and took that area from them in '67 as a result of repeated Syrian shellings and terrorist attacks, and for them to still act as if Israel OWES it to them to give it back, well....
#9
Seems to me President Bush declared war on terrorism wherever it fluorished. Hezbollah is a terrorist outfit. We should welcome them from Syria with open arms - M-60's, Abrams tanks, and Bradley fighting vehicles. Once the fruitcakes are taken care of, then we go in and clean out their homesteads and the nations that support and supply them. I think that's about the only way to really deal with people so willing to die.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/17/2003 18:53 Comments ||
Top||
The Iraq war has cost at least $20 billion and probably will consume that much or more in the next five months, the Pentagon's top budget officer said Wednesday. Cheap at twice the price.
An additional $5 billion to $7 billion will be needed to pay for getting U.S. troops from the Persian Gulf region to their home bases, officials said. That process is just now beginning. Those totals do not include the yet to be calculated sums for postwar reconstruction of Iraq, the Defense Department's comptroller said at a news conference. The United States is counting on contributions from other countries to pay part of the rebuilding cost. Dov Zakheim said military operations in Iraq to date have cost about $10 billion to $12 billion. Personnel costs have been about $6 billion and the cost of munitions has been more than $3 billion. The figures include what it cost to move 250,000 troops to the Persian Gulf area. Between now and the end of the federal budget year on Sept. 30, the Pentagon expects to spend about $20 billion more on military operations inside Iraq, officials said.
At his news conference, Zakheim explained how the Pentagon will use the $62.6 billion Congress has approved in supplemental spending over the Pentagon's $364 billion for the current budget year. Nearly all the new money is for the war in Iraq and the global fight against terror. The supplemental spending bill provides $1.4 billion to repay terrorism war allies such as Pakistan, which Zakheim said is spending $70 million a month searching its northern tribal areas for members of al-Qaida. Hmm, I think I know how we might save a few bucks ...
Jordan also will be reimbursed, he said, without giving a figure. We got our money's worth there.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/17/2003 12:12 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Heym Dubya?
Now that we have an extra $60 billion, can we pleeez splurge and take out Syria next?
#2
There was a lot of talk before the war about who was going to pay for the war and subsequent reconstruction of Iraq.
The simple answer is OPEC (or more precisely oil exporters)! In 2001 the USA imported 10.6 mb/d. The end of the war has already brought oil prices down by about $10. When Iraqi oil starts to flow in large amounts. Expect the price to go a lot lower.
Anyway a $10 fall in oil prices results in a 38.7 billion dollar saving to the USA. Note that this saving is completely separate to Iraqi Oil revenues.
Iraqi oil is cheap to produce ($2/barrel)and is mostly close to ports for shipping. Iraqi reserves are at least the second largest in the world. I say at least because limited exploration has occured over the last 12 to 20 years. Some pundits have speculated that when modern exploration techniques are used, Iraq will be found to have the world's largest reserves.
We face the prospect within a few years of Iraq rivalling Saudi Arabia as a producer. SA can pump close to 10mb/d.
Iraq pumping even half that amount will send prices (a lot?) lower and generate major revenues - oil @ $20/b will generate $36.6 billion per annum.
Finally a note to the Its about oil! crowd that everyone seems to ignore. Two of the three countries that provided combat troops - the UK and Australia - are net exporters of oil and stand to loose financially (a lot of money) from liberating Iraq.
Both countries should get more recognition of their principled stand contrary to their economic self-interest.
Posted by: Phil B ||
04/17/2003 1:04 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The supplemental spending bill provides $1.4 billion to repay terrorism war allies such as Pakistan
A worthy investment, no doubt.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
04/17/2003 3:51 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Finally a note to the Its about oil! crowd that everyone seems to ignore. Two of the three countries that provided combat troops - the UK and Australia - are net exporters of oil and stand to loose financially (a lot of money) from liberating Iraq.
Well Phil, appreciated member of the its all about WMD crowd, credit to your nice writings, though as sceptical as I am I still wonder why I am scratching my head by the thought that two of the nations (US, Israel) that refused to sign the non-proliferation treaty of WMD's are the most staunchly opponent of WMD weapons in the middle east, give me a clue.
Posted by: Murat ||
04/17/2003 5:44 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Hey Murat,The U.S. got rid of it's Bio/chem weapons decades ago?Ever heard of Johnson Island, first plant ever expressly built to dispose of chemical weapons.
Who do you think initiated the START treaties?
A skeptic looks at evidence and changes their position when it is inconsistent with a logical interpretation of factual, verifiable evidence.
A skeptic is aware and vigilant against 'confirmation bias' ie: only ever seeking facts and news that supports their own position, and ignoring or placing too little emphasis on facts that refute their position.
You are not skeptical at all, you are a dogmatic ideologue.
You only quote storiest that support your point of view, and you never honestly argue your position nor admit your blindspots/weaknesses.
You NEVER provided an adequate response as to why you feel a special privelidge in criticising America, when your own country committed genocide against the Armenians and the Kurds, and brutally invaded Cyprus. 'people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones'
Bye the way, everyone else: DId you know that non-turkish cyprus just got admitted to the EU? It was a big poke in the eye for turkey.
SO now, I say forever to you, Murat:
Cypriots, Armenians, Kurds... Kurdistan... Cyprus in the EU!
#7
Raptor, the US started the START (strategic arms reductions treaty), however it is the same US (senate) who did not ratify the NPT Treaty, effectively nullifying this global norm, thus giving the perfect example to Russia, China, Pakistan, India, etc. etc. (about 20 countries) rejecting the treaty too.
Posted by: Murat ||
04/17/2003 7:18 Comments ||
Top||
#8
As for the particulars, of the treaty I don't know nor care. Very few governments in the middle east have show they can be trusted and not stab us in the back, on almost any issue. Including yours Murat. If we can't trust you, we can't trust you. We can't trust you with the big toys, because you simply will not act responsibly. Is that clear enough for you Murat?
Posted by: Ben ||
04/17/2003 7:30 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Don't worry Ben, you are not the only one, if one cannot answer these facts rationally, then resorting to such evasive answers like yours do always do fine for most people (Bush included).
Posted by: Murat ||
04/17/2003 7:41 Comments ||
Top||
#10
"I still wonder why I am scratching my head"
Hahaha
#11
Murat, Your assertion that China etc. didn't sign onto NPT because the U.S. didn't first is not only baseless, it's absurd. We didn't sign NPT beacuse we had/have allies that could potentially need our help to protect them from Communism, and Islamofascism. It makes no sense for the U.S., or any other country, to sell their allies down the river just to appease people with broken logic. The same people that would just move to another Anti-American subject, and whine about that one.
Cypriots, Armenians, Kurds.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/17/2003 8:14 Comments ||
Top||
#12
you must be talking about a different treaty (Kyoto? Land Mines? ICC?) - US signed and ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty over 30 years ago.
#13
Guys, it was nice talking to you but I am going to leave this board.
For a while I appreciated Fred for being openminded, and still I thank you Fred for your site, but now you start censoring and taking away the news stories you don't like, that's a pitty and not representative for an open society.
To all, take care.
Posted by: Murat ||
04/17/2003 8:54 Comments ||
Top||
#14
Murat's red herring:
"but now you start censoring and taking away the news stories you don't like,"
Murat, I challenge you to cite ONE news item that was 'censored' or 'taking away news stories' that wasn't a duplicate of something posted earlier.
Someone from Turkey lecturing us about an open society. That's rich.
Your absence is addition by subtraction, and I thank you for not blowing smoke up our asses any longer.
#15
Murat, perhaps your still here and might be able to grasp this little bit of logic.
Possession of WMD for offensive use is bad.
Possession of WMD for defensive use is good.
The US and Israel have WMD for defensive reasons. If some of the Arab countries had WMD, they have already stated they would be used as offensive weapons against Israel and the US. Thus, steps must be taken to prevent them from ever obtaining WMD.
How come no one ever complains about China having WMD?
#18
Is Murat really going to retire from posting? Who will advocate now for the baby ducks, puppies, kittens, and desponts status quo. What will we do with our spare time? Inquiring minds want to know..........
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/17/2003 9:40 Comments ||
Top||
#19
I could try and take up the slack... I have experience being unreasonable and obtuse at times. I can be uninformedly, subjectively, didactic. I can be obstinately biased in my opinions, and cloud them to obviate my own peccability. I can even refuse to eschew obfuscation! Am I qualified?
#20
I always hoped that when a scrawny press-corps reporter asked Rummy, (in a whining voice of course) "How much will the war cost?" That he would reply just like Dr. Evil, (pinky firmly placed in corner of mouth) "One milllllliiioon dollarssss" mwah ha. mwah ha ha ah. Mwah HAHA AHAHAHH
#21
Don't judge Murat too harshly - he MUST leave - every time he posts his polemic screeds, he gets torn down on facts, reasoning and bias. Its pretty brutal to be shown your core beleifs cannot stand scrutiny. So rather than admit that he is very biased and his core beliefs are wrong, and exchange in truly free thinking, he is choosing instead to run and hide.
Remember, he is a Turk - and they have no honor or courage. Check the history of the Islamists, Kemalists, and Ottomans. The Turks constantly use brutalization on weaker minorities, but run in the face of a strong opposition. Their culture is morally and intellectually bankrupt. And Murat is a prime example of it.
So its quite obvious that running and hiding from the truth is what he or any Turk would do when confronted with the truth in a forceful way. Especially when confronted with the immense guilt of ongoing genocidal actions of his people, every bit as racist for the Turkomen as Hitler was for the so-called Aryans. Ask the Armenians and Kurds -- Whom Murat refuses to address - he is simply in defensive denail to prevent an ego collapse, every bit as much as the Arab Nationalist movement is over the collapse of Saddam and the joy of the people at that collapse.
Goodbye Murat - One of these days you will come to your sense, and hopefully you will find the courage to step out of the cowardly and dishonest mode your culture has imposed on you, and rebel against it.
#22
"Remember, he is a Turk - and they have no honor or courage. Check the history of the Islamists, Kemalists, and Ottomans. "
what little i have read of Ottoman history (mainly Bernrad Lewis) indicates it to be long and complex. Filled with brutalities, but Im not sure that its lacking in courage.
#24
liberalhawk, you are correct. The U.S. was among the original signatures on NPT in 1968. I got busted gimme a break, that was 10 years before I was born. Just a breif bit of 'net surfing, and I was corected.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/17/2003 10:44 Comments ||
Top||
#25
mike
at least theres some benefit to being an "old guy" - not that i was aware of NPT in 1968 :)
but NPT was still a very visible issue when i took poli sci courses - before fall of USSR changed everything.
#26
Phil B:
You make excellent points. These are the same ones that I've been making to the anti-war crowd myself when the subject of oil comes up. It can appear unseemly to discuss economics while discussing war, but it's necessary. The point here is that when the parties involved (meaning ME govts, other govts, and international markets) understand what the future will hold for the region, anxiety lessens, and prices of crude will come down or go up based on market conditions. Some producers/consumers will do well and others not. So what? Your examples of the UK and Australia losing money in this whole deal is instructive to the No Blood for Oil crowd. Those govts. that take a long-term view of the situation are the ones on the right track. So kudos to Howard and Blair. OTOH, from what I've been reading in the French press, Chiraq and da vile pin still believe that somehow the US/Coalition is going to come to them in a few months begging for their help. Yes, this is still the belief they hold despite their recent phone calls and public statements. I love Le Canard Enchaine. Also Mark Steyn has recently revealed that the company of the son-in-law of Jean Chretien is Total/Elf/Fina's largest shareholder. Who'd a thunk it possible?
Back to Phil B., recall that before the bombing started in GWI, oil was, correct me if I'm wrong, around $35. After the first night, it went down to $25 the next day.
Another thing, Rantburgers, I'd like to bring up is who is going to pay for the war. I've heard comments in the media and from a few politicians that Iraq should compensate us with its future oil revenues. No, no, no. Why? While working in Riyadh during the Clinton days, I heard from Saudis that the US got a great deal out of GWI. The Saudis, Japanese, Germans, etc. picked up the tab, and we supplied the force. Very mercenary and even prosituty in the eyes of the Saudi cynics. Let's be strong and admit that we went into Iraq for our national security. A price cannot be put on defending your country. Paying our part and not asking Iraqis to foot the bill is the only honorable thing to do. In the end, we WILL benfit, although when and in what forms the benfits accrue may not be obvious. But rest assured, our eschewing the compensation/money angle will make it more difficult for the other side to question our motives. And the only thing the anti-war crowd harps on is motives, since it can't detract from the Coalition's actions of the last month.
Murat:
You have a great country and are a great people. Turkey has been a very good NATO ally and you helped out in GWI, plus provided facilities for Operation Northern Watch. Thank you. However, your country has not been up to the task of doing the right thing in Iraq this time. Well, at least you're not the only ones. Parliament votes down, although just by a few votes, the 4th ID using Turkey? OK, no problem. I never held it against you guys. Your govt. did help in other less important ways. The Phillipines kicked us out and the SKors now express themselves freely. That's the price of democracy and the rule of law. We can handle that since we've been practicing it since 1789. I'm not proud of our Latin American behavior, but the last 20 years in that region has shown that the Cuban/Communist is/was not the answer.
And you, personally, have never understood what a debate forum is. True German Ally does. TGA doesn't always agree with many Rantburgers, and is not afraid to defend his country, but he understands what reasoned discourse is. I get the idea that you make your comments and postings, print a copy and then go down to your local cafe and show everybody how you stuck it to the imperialists. What a stud you are! (Real example of sarcasm)
Posted by: Michael ||
04/17/2003 10:49 Comments ||
Top||
#27
Murat--Even though I disagree with you on many subjects, it seems beneath you to bail out. There are trolls that visit the board to rant and make vicious swipes on occasion, but not many of them will actually try to engage in a debate. I give you credit for at least trying to argue your point.
I hope you'll reconsider. Debate and discourse are needed in any public forum.
Posted by: Dar ||
04/17/2003 11:03 Comments ||
Top||
#28
Murat the troll was a merry old soul
Who wrote to us from Turkey
He dissed George Bush and he dissed Colin Powell
And he drove Rantburgers crazy!
You may be a troll, but you're the best troll we've ever had. Gonna miss you, little buddy.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/17/2003 11:36 Comments ||
Top||
#29
Michael,
Excellent post! I personally wish Murat would stay and others with dissenting opinions would join the fray. Otherwise, we're all preaching to the choir and it becomes, well, like one of Saddam's cabinet meetings. Who wants to visit a site frequented by a bunch of people who go home and whack off to the O'Reilly Factor? After a short while, it's just not interesting. I might as well watch Al Jazeera. I'm glad Michael mentioned our less-than-exemplary involvement in Latin America. What separates democratic countries from others is just this sort of honest, self-critical perspective. It lends weight to any other observations you may make. If I say that corporate interests run amock in America is a shameful state of affairs that often brings well-deserved suspicion from other countries who observe our actions, then I can say that Islam has been hijacked by a bunch of homicidal primates who are not a great deal worse than their peaceful brethren who won't stand up and say it's wrong. At least then you know I'm more interested in the truth than having a conservative wet dream. It causes people like Murat to take a hard look at their views. Or to take a hike. I do wish Murat hadn't just visited to rattle the collective chain every now and then, which is what I think he was doing. If you're still reading, Murat, we're not the American fascists you think we are. We would like our government and our history to be virtuous, but as G. Gordon Liddy said, "The world is the South Bronx at three o'clock in the morning." It's a messy business for all countries. Many Americans are willing to admit this country's faults and wrongs. God knows, there are plenty to account for. But there is also plenty of good. Western democracy ain't perfect, but it's the best thing going at the moment. Democracy is to Islamic theocracy as a pimple is to a running, pus-filled abscess.
Posted by: Joe ||
04/17/2003 11:58 Comments ||
Top||
#30
Armenians Cypriots and Kurds - Kurdistan
Don't feed the trolls - they breed
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2003 12:35 Comments ||
Top||
#31
Regarding Murat: "Reason cannot prevail where reason cannot penetrate."
#33
I had my own personal troll for a week, but after being shot down repeatedly by two of my regular commenters, he disappeared. I actually enjoyed him as he did cause lots of discussion, but, a troll's worst nightmare is logic.
#34
I agree I think Murat should stay. You drive me crazy too, but I really like hearing your diatribe. I really think you should reconsider. Just look at all the post you generate.
Posted by: George ||
04/17/2003 14:19 Comments ||
Top||
#35
I'm gonna get ripped, but...
Can you guys say "ugly american" in blogspeak?
How can we be this insecure when we're right?
Somebody go get that little SOB back here. I think we need him.
Posted by: Scott ||
04/17/2003 19:55 Comments ||
Top||
#36
Just couldn't resist an update of that old Mastercard commercial:
Invasion of Iraq: $20 billion
Monthly cost of looking for al-Qaeda in N Iraq: $70 million
Seeing Iraqis dance in the streets as his statues fell: priceless
Posted by: Baba Yaga ||
04/17/2003 20:08 Comments ||
Top||
#37
As welcome as a substaintial drop in the price of oil would be,I fear that it will cause research in alternative fuels and technology to dry-up(Ex:fuel cell,and cold fusion).
Same thing happened when the"74"Oil Embargo ended.
At that time it was PC to hear"It is wrong to use food as a weapon or bargining chip"I said then and say now screw that.If you are going to use oil as a weapon then we have the right to use food as a weapon,Let them eat oil.
Plllease don't go Murat,shooting holes in your opinions is perfect with my morning coffee.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
