Prominent Afghan leader Qazi Mohammad Amin Waqad on Sunday said recommendations from the Afghan refugees in Pakistan would be fully accommodated in formulation of the new Afghan constitution. Mr Waqad, who is heading an Afghan delegation currently visiting Pakistan to ascertain the views of the Afghans living in refugee camps and other places as regards the new Afghan constitution. Now, are these "refugee camps" full of Afghan "elk hunters"?
Mr Waqad told reporters here the new Afghan constitution would be based on true Islamic principles, free from foreign influences and it would be people-friendly. Then his lips fell off.
âThere was complete unanimity between the Afghans living in various refugee camps of NWFP and those living inside Afghanistan that the new constitution would be Islamicâ, he said. The Afghan delegation came to Pakistan on June 24 and has so far visited almost all the refugee camps in the province. Mr Waqad said it was also suggested that all senior officials should only have spouses of Afghan nationality. Asked about the status of spouses having foreign nationalities, especially from Pakistan and Iran, he said they would be welcomed in Afghanistan but the only restriction on them would be that they could not hold any high position in the army, ministries and other important departments. "Cuz we don't want any furrin women putting ideas into our leaders heads, like reading or writing, and stuff!"
Mr Waqad rejected fears that a Taliban-like government might get elected in the future. âIt is the choice of the Afghans to elect their own representatives and every citizen will be given the freedom to cast two votes, one to elect the president of the country and the other to elect their representativesâ, he clarified. The one man, two vote, one time principle.
Mr Waqad said women had been given special attention in the formulation of the new constitution and all possible efforts would be made to provide them with all the facilities of health, education, justice and employment within their cultural values. "within their cultural values" being the key phrase.
The women would be given equal opportunities in all sectors of life, he said. Uh huh.
Time to pull out of this Islamic paradise and write the whole thing off to experience. It's their own country, they can screw it up any way they like, but we shouldn't be expected to pay for it. I'm sure they'll have a nice time reading their Koran and beating their women.
And furthermore: I think it would be a fine idea if in the future as a condition of any kind of U.S. support or recognition any country we aided in any manner (eventually to the point of maintaining diplomatic relations with them) would have in their constitution an article stating that
a.) The state will have no interest in or involvement with the propagation of suppression of any religion;
b.) No priest, bishop, mullah, ayatollah, imam, prophet, bhagwan or other holy man of any flavor shall be eligible to hold public office, or to fund or publicly support any political party.
I have nothing against religion, but the past couple years have given me a lot to hold against holy men.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/07/2003 10:13:13 AM ||
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About a hundred people have taken part in a demonstration in the Afghan capital, Kabul, in protest against reported Pakistani military incursions into Afghan territory. Protestors marched through the centre of the city shouting slogans against the Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf. Any puppets? Can't have a demonstration without puppets.
A team of high-ranking Afghan government officials has travelled to the border to investigate whether the alleged incursions took place. Good luck
Over the past week Afghan and Pakistani troops have been exchanging small arms fire across the border. The Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, ordered the investigation after tribal elders from the province of Nangahar told him they were concerned that Pakistani forces operating on the border were also carrying out military operations inside Afghan territory. That's a big no no.
Pakistani troops were sent to the area last month to try to stop suspected Taleban and al-Qaeda fugitives from carrying out cross-border attacks on Afghanistan. Not having much luck, are they?
Pakistan denies that its troops have entered Afghan territory. "Wasn't us, it was somebody else."
The long porous border between the two countries cuts across mountainous territory and is very poorly marked. "Or we got lost, yeh, that's it!"
Posted by: Steve ||
07/07/2003 9:13:59 AM ||
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I'm hoping they 'shoot' him...
The Court of First Instance Sunday adjourned to Sept 14, 2003, the case of Mohamed Hamad Fahad Al-Juwaied to listen to the testimony of two State Security Department (SSD) officers and two other defence witnesses. Al-Juwaied, a 40-year-old Kuwaiti sergeant working for the National Guard, was arrested and interrogated for spying for Iraq. Two other men involved in the case are AbdulKareem Hassan Al-Badri and Muwaffaq Ahmed Al-Haj. He is also charged with providing the other two suspects with military and political information and photographs which could harm the security of Kuwait, providing the Iraqis with Kuwaiti military uniform to enable them to carry out sabotage activities, photographing camps of the National Guards during wartime and providing those photographs to Iraqi intelligence, training on the use of firearms with the aim of helping the military regime in Iraq and receiving money from a hostile country in return for these 'favours'.
If proven, what's this guy deserve other than a bullet? Unless it's six of them...
After the session, the family of Al-Juwaied — his mother, brother and sister — wept openly as the suspect kissed his mother and began crying loudly. During a previous session, Al-Juwaied denied the accusations and told the judge he had admitted to the charges under duress. However, during interrogation, Al-Juwaied had told the Public Prosecutor he had passed on to the Iraqi intelligence vital information including road maps of routes often used by HH the Amir and HH the Crown Prince. He had also allegedly confessed to plotting to assassinate key political figures with the intention of creating chaos and instability in Kuwait.
Perhaps he should have thought about how Mom and Pop were gonna take it before he decided to become a traitor...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/07/2003 15:06 ||
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The killing of Kuwaitis Rajeh Al-Ajmi and Abdullah Jabarah in a police raid in the southern Saudi Jouf region last Thursday "confirms the presence of a terrorist network posing eminent threat against Kuwait and the Gulf region," say high-ranking Kuwaiti security sources. These sources highlighted the need for comprehensive Gulf coordination. Sources said the terrorist network recently busted in Saudi Arabia includes persons from a number of countries, especially Gulf states. "We (Kuwait) have not yet received anything official from the Jouf region on the killing of Al-Ajmi and Jabarah," said the sources. They added the name of Al-Ajmi, 21, came up in the Camp Doha case which resulted in the death of a civilian American and seriously injuring another. The fourth suspect in the case, identified only as B.K., stated during interrogation Al-Ajmi was accompanying him when he delivered the weapon used in the operation to Sami Al-Mutairi, the prime suspect in the case. Al-Ajmi had been, however, acquitted due to lack of evidence. The sources said Al-Ajmi was absent throughout the police investigations in the Camp Doha case.
Guess we'll know where he is from now on, huh?
B.K. had stated during questioning that Al-Ajmi was in favour of delivering the weapon to Al-Mutairi to carry out the attack, "though he had recently joined the group." The sources said Al-Ajmi was a cadet at the fire department. He joined a training course earlier this year and successfully completed the training but he did not join his work centre in Sabhan.
Setting off explosives is even more exciting that putting out fires...
Saudi authorities had earlier said two Kuwaitis, identified as Rajeh bin Hassan Al-Ajmi and AbdulRahman Jabarah, and Saudi national Turki Al-Dandani â the prime suspect among 19 others wanted in the recent Riyadh blasts â were among four men killed in a police raid in the southern Saudi Skaka region near the Yemeni borders Thursday. Kuwaiti authorities, however, said only Al-Ajmi is a Kuwaiti while Jabarah is an Iraqi born in Kuwait, but holding a Canadian citizenship.
... though actually a citizen of al-Qaeda...
The four men were killed when Special Saudi police stormed the residence of a mosque Imam in Soubar in the southern Jouf district. Saudi authorities said in a statement, five terrorists, who were hiding in the Imam's residence, exchanged heavy fire with police forces. The statement added four of the suspects, including Al-Dandani, Al-Ajmi, Jabarah and Ammash Al-Sabaei - a Saudi national - were killed in the fight.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/07/2003 15:01 ||
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Muslim fundamentalists (Sunni and Shiite) and candidates backed by Islamist movements won almost one-third of the 50 seats in the countryâs 10th National Assembly. The Islamist bloc, however, despite winning over 17 seats, may not be able to prevent the passage of a long-awaited bill to grant Kuwaiti women their political rights in a largely pro-government parliament.
They'll try, though...
Liberals, meanwhile, suffered a major setback by winning only four seats compared to 9 in the 1999 Parliament. Two prominent icons of the liberal movement in Kuwait, Abdullah Al-Naibari and Ahmed Al-Rubei lost their seats. The tepid victory by fundamentalists fell below expectations, since Kuwaitâs political culture heavily favors the tribal leaders who owe allegiance to the ruling Al-Sabah family. A large section of candidates, mainly backed by Islamist blocs, come from tribal backgrounds mainly concentrated on the outskirts of the Capital. The leading opposition party, the Popular Action bloc, despite some setback, is likely to be boosted by some Islamist sympathizers or MPs who won seats as independents. The change of MPs in the 2003 parliament compared to the 1999 parliament reached over 65 per cent with new faces elected for the first time.
Threw the rascals out, did they? And got a new set of rascals...
Islamic Constitutional Movement spokesman Mohammed Al-Baseeri has accused liberals of allegedly trying to sideline Muslim fundamentals under the pretext of the international war against terrorism. Al-Baseeri affirmed ICMâs firm stand against terror, but openly charged liberals of trying to Westernise the Kuwaiti society and pave the way for the normalisation of ties with Israel. First Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah dismissed allegations of vote-buying by the government, saying they were baseless. âThose who have any proof of poll rigging must present them, and they have the right to legal action,â Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al-Khaled Al-Sabah said.
"And all the witnesses are in Monaco now..."
Candidates loyal to the ruling family, including liberals, independents and Islamist candidates also won almost 15 seats.
Ummm... Would that be 14? That's almost 15...
Other pro-government politicians, including former legislators and ex-Cabinet ministers, took 9 seats. Supporters of victorious candidates cheered their triumph, some fired guns and ignited fireworks in the air in street celebrations that began in the pre-dawn hours Sunday, despite an earlier Interior Ministry warning against such activities.
"Hurrah! Our guys won! Was it good for you, too, Fatimah?"
The ICM, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood Movement, seeks to introduce strict Islamic law, such as applying Islamic rules in the Penal codes, strict clothing code for women, ban on alcohol, and the abrogation of any attempt by the government to normalise ties with Israel. It regards US policy in the Middle East as biased toward Israel and bent on controlling Arab oil wealth. While the party and its allies will command nearly 45 per cent of the incoming legislative seats, this will allow a measure of opposition to the governmentâs moderate policies. The triumph of Muslim fundamentalists in the elections came despite a rift between the ICM and the Salafi Movement â the two major Islamic blocs in Kuwait. The two blocs failed to reach an agreement ahead of the elections when the ICM refused Salafistsâ demands to withdraw from some constituencies in favour of Salafists and their sympathisers. Six major unregistered parties, including the ICM, the two main liberal blocs - Kuwait Democratic Front and the National Democratic Movement, the Popular Action Movement, the Salafi Movement, the National Islamic Alliance (Shiites), contested this yearâs elections. Apart from the ICM, the rest of seats were won by small blocs with right, center and left-leaning agendas, in addition to some independent candidates backed by the six blocs. They had fielded a total of 26 aspirants.
It appears, despite the good face being put on it, that the fundos have won 45 percent of Kuwait's parliamentary seats — enough to do some serious obstruction. If they're taking a cue from the MMA in Pakalonia, that's what they'll do. Whether that'll make Kuwaitis more or less likely to vote for them next time around is an open question. But they had an election, and it was probably more honest than most in the Arab world. Point for Kuwait!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/07/2003 14:45 ||
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Six of Osama bin Laden's 11 sons will soon be stripped of their Saudi Arabian nationality, the kingdom's Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz said in an interview published Friday by the London-based Asharq Al Awsat newspaper. Part of the "There are no Saudi links to terrorism" revisionist history program.
"They will be stripped of their Saudi nationality, like their father, whose Saudi nationality was withdrawn in 1994 for his involvement in terrorist activities and criticism of the ruling Saud family," Prince Nayef was quoted as saying. That'll teach him.
Targets of the impending measure are identified as Saad, Hamza, Saif, Mohammed, Khaled and Laden, the youngest. Laden bin Laden? Must have run out of names.
They are thought to be living with their father. That would make them dead.
The other five bin Laden sons, who live in Saudi Arabia, will retain their nationality, the minister said.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/07/2003 9:41:41 AM ||
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MEMRI has a very long, detailed accounting of the Saudi Royal Family's Financial Support to the Palestinians in the time period of 1998-2003. More than 15 Billion Riyals ($4 Billion U.S.) were given to 'Mujahideen Fighters' and 'Families of Martyrs'. Much of that was given in 2001 -- big spike compared to previous and following years. There is also a long analysis of government, princeling and press statements, congressional hearings, etc. Way too long to present here, but read the whole thing, as they say.
Here's the info on the actual mechanics of the funding...
The Popular Committee for Assisting the Palestinian Mujahideen
Headed by Prince Salman Ibn Abd Al-Aziz, the Governor of Riyadh, the Popular Committee for Assisting the Palestinian Mujahideen was established after the Arab-Israeli war in 1967. In February 1994, King Fahd Ibn Abd Al-Aziz issued an updated directive to Prince Salman to support the Palestinians with a national campaign drive in the Kingdom. The committee is responsible for "assisting the freedom fighters of Palestine," and "extending assistance to members of the families of the martyrs." The committee has donated at least 298,784,151 Saudi Riyals (SR) .
The Committee for the Al-Quds Intifada and the Al-Aqsa Fund
The Arab summit held in Cairo in October 2000 adopted the recommendation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to establish two funds: one to be called "The Fund of the Al-Quds Intifada," with a capital of $200 million, for the families of the Palestinian martyrs killed during the Intifada, and the other to be called "The Al-Aqsa Fund," with a capital of $800 million, for the purpose of financing projects to help preserve the Arab and Islamic characteristics of Jerusalem, and to enable the Palestinians to liberate themselves. Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abd Al-Aziz said that Saudi Arabia would pay one-quarter of the $1 billion capital for the two funds, while King Fahd Ibn Abd Al-Aziz would undertake the support of 1,000 Palestinian families of martyrs. A directive by governors of all regions in Saudi Arabia to initiate campaigns for every citizen to donate to the Al-Quds Intifada Fund was also implemented. Prince Nayef bin Abd Al-Aziz, Interior Minister of Saudi Arabia , is the chairman of "The Saudi Committee for the Al-Quds Intifada" and the "Al-Aqsa Fund," which has transferred over 15,442,105,150 Saudi Riyals (SR) to the Palestinians, including money to the martyrs fund. This is in addition to Prince Nayef's separate support committee, which has donated 20,000 Saudi Riyals (SR) ($5,333 U.S.) to each martyr's family.
Saudi Banks, Account 98, and the Palestinian Authority Treasury
Saudi funds which originate in the Jeddah based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) reach the Palestinian Authority Treasury Department via Account 98 of the Saudi Development Fund (SDF). All funds for Prince Salman Ibn Abd Al-Aziz's Popular Committee for Assisting the Palestinian Mujahideen go directly to the PLO, while Prince Nayef's funds from the Support Committee for the Al-Quds Intifada and Al-Aqsa Fund go to the Palestinian Authority. According to official Saudi sources, leading members of the Saudi royal family, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the National Guard Abdullah Ibn Abd Al-Aziz, Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence and Aviation and Inspector General Prince Sultan Ibn Abd Al-Aziz, Minister of Interior Prince Nayef Ibn Abd Al-Aziz, Minister of State and Cabinet member Prince Abd Al-Aziz Ibn Fahd Ibn Abd Al-Aziz, have worked directly with leading Palestinian officials Yasser Arafat as well as Nabil Shaath to ensure the funds were both sent and received.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/07/2003 12:50:05 AM ||
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British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his government did not mislead parliament or doctor evidence to justify the war on Iraq, a parliamentary committee concluded Monday. The Foreign Affairs Committee, which has been probing charges officials exaggerated intelligence on Iraq's weapons to strengthen the case for war, cleared Blair, a top aide and ministers of the allegations, made on the BBC. You mean the BBC was wrong?
But the committee did slap the government's wrists for giving undue prominence to questionable intelligence in a September dossier on Iraq's weapons and for plagiarizing a student thesis for a second dossier published in February. The report -- which was rejected by the committee's minority opposition members -- marks the latest chapter in a bitter dispute between the government and the country's public broadcaster over Iraq's weapons. The British Broadcasting Corporation, citing an anonymous intelligence source, has accused a senior Blair aide of "sexing up" a dossier on Iraq's weapons. The BBC's source said Alastair Campbell, Blair's communications head, inserted a claim into the dossier that Iraq's weapons could be deployed within just 45 minutes. The weapons row, exacerbated by the failure to unearth Iraq's deadly armament, has damaged Blair's credibility and dented his popularity. About time for that WMD Show and Tell, don't you think?
With the committee's report, the government is expected to step up its attack on the BBC, which stands by its account. "We conclude that Alastair Campbell did not play any role in the inclusion of the 45 minutes claim in the September dossier," the committee report said. "We conclude that ministers did not mislead parliament." But the committee criticized the government for the February dossier that lifted parts of a student thesis. Lawmakers also said the 45-minute claim "did not warrant the prominence given to it" in the September report.
Blair himself will appear before a separate parliamentary committee on Tuesday when he is expected to be grilled about the Iraq dossiers.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/07/2003 11:52:08 AM ||
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Slowly but surely people. Time to wake up and smell the Shari'a.
Lenders in the UK have been discouraged from providing Sharia compliant mortgages for the country's 1.8 million Muslims. However, following regulatory alterations announced by the Treasury, things could be about to change. HSBC [HBC] plans to launch an Islamic mortgage product and other high-street banks could now follow suit with mortgages and other financial services products. Banks in the UK have traditionally been discouraged from providing what are called Sharia compliant mortgages to the UK's Muslim population because they are more expensive than conventional products. Islamic law forbids the payment or receipt of interest and so a Sharia compliant mortgage relies on a financier to buy the property on behalf of the purchaser. The financier then sells the property on to the purchaser for a set price but in addition charges 'rent' for a specified period. This transferal of ownership from the owner to the financier and from the financier to the new owner means that the property changes hands twice instead of once and that stamp duty therefore has to be paid an additional time.
Changes announced by the Treasury mean that the requirement to pay stamp duty twice will be removed, making Sharia compliant mortgages more competitive. HSBC looks like it will be the first to act on the regulatory changes, having announced that it will launch a Sharia compliant mortgage next month in 25 UK cities including Manchester, Bradford and Birmingham. If successful, the bank will roll out the trial across England and Wales. HSBC is not the first lender in the UK to offer a Sharia compliant mortgage. West Bromwich Building Society offers a product in partnership with the United Bank of Kuwait. However, it is the first major lender to offer its own product and the uptake rate is critical for the future of Sharia compliant mortgages in the UK. It is even possible that these developments could stimulate a new wave of interest in Sharia-compliant financial services products. Barclays is believed to be looking into the area and the newly formed Islamic House of Britain is set to apply to the Financial Services Authority for a banking licence. The provision of financial services products to the UK's Muslim population could be about to improve dramatically. Expect an even higher spike in Muslim immigration to nations who are stupid enough to alter banking laws to suit Islam. Instead of forcing them to change backward beliefs as a part of assimilation, the Western world is bending over backward to change its ways to accomodate Muslims. No wonder Usama and his ilk think America is ripe for take-over. Hell, Europe and the UK are falling without any real effort.
First read at LGF in a comment posted by aaron.
Posted by: Celissa ||
07/07/2003 9:39:09 AM ||
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BRUSSELS â Flemish Minister for the Interior Paul Van Grembergen has asked for stricter control of the funding and administration of mosques in Flanders.
Roman Catholicism has a long tradition of local management of its churches and buildings in the region, laid down in a 200-year-old law, and Van Grembergen now wants mosques to be managed in a similar way by local mosque councils.
âStrict bookkeeping and accountability for use of funds should make the funding of mosques more transparent,â Van Grembergen said. Transparent turbanosity!
It is claimed that foreign sources and authorities, some of them of a fundamentalist nature, fund some mosques in Flanders.
Islam is one of the six religions officially recognised in Belgium and eligible for state subsidies. The new regulations will apply to all recognised religions. This will be a very difficult policy to implement, but extremely worthwhile if it can be done. I wish them luck and thank the Belgians for some good common sense.
Documents supplied by the United States to Germany may unmask 50,000 former East German Stasi spies - some of whom may still belong to parliament, a report said Monday. The documents from the Stasi - East Germany's hated secret police - were obtained by the American CIA during the chaotic collapse of East Germany in 1989-1990. A Berliner Zeitung newspaper report says the CIA has provided the German government with a list of about 50,000 German nationals who served as Stasi spies since the 1950s. People on this list were never identified as Stasi spies following the 1990 German reunification and in some cases have may have kept senior positions in government. Marianne Birthler, a former East German dissident who heads the government agency administering former Stasi files, says the new data will be used to check the background of members of parliament and state employees. I hold a grunt against the CIA for not having provided the documents earlier. (It took investigating German journalists to find out that the CIA actually had them.) We can no longer prosecute the bastards for treason as the limitation period for this crime has expired. Anyway anybody on the list can kiss his career goodbye.
The CIA obtained the documents in an undercover mission dubbed Operation Rosenholz (rosewood) which is still shrouded in mystery. Unconfirmed reports say the CIA paid USD 1.5 million in cash to a renegade agent in Russia for the trove of documents. You got this cheap, folks. A bit more cooperation would have been appreciated
Posted by: True German Ally ||
07/07/2003 3:30:52 PM ||
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With his countryâs leader still embroiled in controversy, the Italian under-secretary of State for Industry, Stefano Stefani has attacked the German people in another extraordinary outburst from a member of the Italian government.
In a letter addressed to his party members, the Lega Nord party member writes: "We know them, the German people. They always want to be the best in the class and inhabit our beaches in the summer, punch-drunk with arrogant self-confidence." This guy really knows how to attract tourists (working for the ministry of tourism). I suppose his idea of tourism is that Germans stay home and just send checks
The letter, published in the official Lega Nord newspaper, La Padania, will do nothing to ease relations between the two countries, already strained after the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi compared German MEP Martin Schulz to a Nazi concentration camp commander. The Lega Nord is the Italian equivalent of the French National Front and advocates secession of the rich North
The Financial Times Deutschland reports that the German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who recently summoned the Italian ambassador in Berlin to explain Mr Berluconiâs comments was planning to spend his vacation in Italy at the end of July. The SPIEGEL reports that he won't if the Italian government doesn't tell Stefani to shut up. Looks like the summer of our miscontent with the Italians. And we thought we liked them, really.
The German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and Minister of Interior Otto Schily are also said to have property in the Italian province of Tuscany. Like most German teachers.
Mr Schulz is also in Mr Stefani's firing line. According to reports, Mr Stefani has alleged that Mr Schulz has grown up in "a society of beer and French fries". Obviously wine and olives don't teach you any better manners. Did you hear that silent "Gracias" of the Spanish tourism minister, Mr Stefani?
Posted by: True German Ally ||
07/07/2003 2:56:07 PM ||
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French President Jacques Chirac has expressed his regret that Corsican voters have rejected autonomy plans, warning that separatist violence will not be tolerated.
How 'bout if they buy some turbans?
The Mediterranean island's 260,000 inhabitants voted by a tiny margin to reject the plans in a referendum on Sunday. The Corsicans were being offered a new national assembly with tax-raising and greater control over public services, in a bid to end 30 years of separatist violence. Amid fears of a fresh upsurge in unrest, four bombs exploded overnight on Sunday, destroying holiday homes belonging to French people from the mainland. Even before the vote, separatist anger had been increased by the arrest of France's most wanted man, Yvan Colonna, just before the vote. French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy warned that his security forces would now get tough with separatists.
"Yes. Mess with us and we shall mock you mercilessly!"
"My priority in the months to come will be to ensure the security of the island and public order," he said in a statement. "The state cannot be absent from Corsica. The days of impunity are over." Mr Sarkozy had made eight visits to the island in the past 14 months to push for a Yes vote, and its rejection was seen as a personal blow to him. Mr Chirac joined his interior minister in insisting that further unrest would be combated. "The Corsicans did not agree to the proposal to reorganise the institutions of their region. This, I regret," he said in a statement. Independence campaigners said their battle for autonomy was not over. "We are now going to continue our fight for sovereignty and, eventually, independence," said one separatist assembly member, Paul Quastana of the Corsica Nazione party. Another one of those low-level conflicts that go unnoticed.
In this case, for hundreds of years. Ah, beautiful Corsica, original home of the vendetta...
Posted by: Steve ||
07/07/2003 9:06:09 AM ||
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NRO's Dennis Boyles kicks some EuroPress ass... in paticular, he makes a main course of the BBC. This is well written, researched, linked and, gosh darn it, it's just plain phabulous phucking phun!
Rock & Roll, Dennis!
Posted by: PD ||
07/07/2003 5:21:59 AM ||
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This is a somewhat long but fascinating look at the evolution of modern Germany's armed forces and recent commitments to "out of country" peace-keeping.
Excerpts:
"Something that has gone unnoticed lately is the fact that Germany now has the second largest international troop deployment abroad, behind the US." ...and...
"In Africa, Germany is being drawn into more and more action mainly by its European neighbor, France. With the exception of Somalia, in most of the countries where German troops have been deployed they have stayed or increased their number over the years."
A welcome return of German pride:
"The Germans to the front!" demanded some of the media in Germany -- a reference to the first historical engagement of German troops in an international military operation. On June 22, 1900 the British Admiral Seymour led a multi-national corps against the Boxer rebels in China and gave at that day the order: "The Germans to the front!"
Tools of the Phrench?
"... The EU mission, which was approved by the UN Security Council at the end of May, is de facto a typically traditional French neo-colonial military interference in Africa. It has been sold to the public as a response to the savage civil war atrocities in the northern province of Congo..." ...and...
"At least since the mid-1990s, a number of German sergeants and officers have been trained by the French in African jungles. Several times in the past French governments tried to order the Franco-German corps into African states to solve their post-colonial problems. But Bonn and later Berlin always resisted those French desires -- until now.
Schröder made a big issue out of his opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq -- "I don't send German troops on an adventure!" he exclaimed -- and for the first time since 1945 chose Paris over Washington, so he now has to stick with Chirac through thick and thin. And the African "adventures" of the French are certainly riskier than the British-American war on Iraq." And much more...
In fact, there is more than enough here to spark a few fires, methinks. I, for one, wait to see how long Germany allows Shroeder to make them subordinate to Chirac's delusions of grandeur.
Posted by: PD ||
07/07/2003 4:38:21 AM ||
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Suspected Islamic militants opened indiscriminate fire on a group of Hindu villagers in Jammu, killing at least five civilians and critically wounding another, police said. Gee, now why would you think they were islamic?
Police said three gunmen were involved in the attack in Nowshahra in the Jammu region of Indian Kashmir, which occurred Monday afternoon. The sources said the Indian army had gone to the village, which lies in a district bordering Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. Further details were not available immediately. A police source described the attack as a "bad incident," coming just days before the start of an annual pilgrimage in the Jammu region.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/07/2003 10:05:45 AM ||
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Baghdad's city council held its inaugural meeting Monday with top US civil administrator hailing the event as perhaps the most important stride taken since Saddam Hussein's regime fell on April 9. "Today is a very important day in Baghdad. Indeed it is perhaps the most important day since April 9," Paul Bremer said as the meeting got underway. "Today marks the resumption of the democratic system in Baghdad which has not been here for 30 years."
Wasn't there before then, either...
He hailed the councilors' courage, at a time when Iraqis cooperating with the US-led coalition have been singled out in deadly attacks. "At a time when malicious people in Baghdad are making a threat to the peace-loving citizens of this wonderful city, you have shown courage and honour, perseverance and self confidence. The 37 of you ... have the highest responsibility of all. You have courageously volunteered for public service. You all share a desire to redress the wrongs of the former regime."
"Along with the desire of a certain proportion of you to get next to the boodle..."
Six of the 37 councilors are women and three are Kurds, and its 62-percent Shiite Muslim majority reflects the country's sectarian demographics. The previous night the council selected its first chairman, doctor Khaled Basheer Mirza, one of two Christians on the council. "I hope that you will cooperate with each other in the future in order to achieve development for a free Iraq," he said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/07/2003 16:13 ||
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The "Star-Spangled Banner" is playing over the public address system as the sun sets over Lake Dukan, the American flag is flying, there's roast chicken on the spit, and the picnic tables are heaped high with tomatoes, pickles and mayonnaise salad. At the microphone, Barham Salih, the prime minister of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, is talking about his admiration for the U.S. Constitution, with its guarantees of government by the consent of the people and its obligations to abolish governments that fail to listen. "Here in Kurdistan, you have partners, you have allies," he tells hundreds of camouflage-clad U.S. troops gathered at a lakeside hotel for a 4th of July celebration thrown by the PUK dignitaries. Kurdistan, Salih notes later, "is proudly pro-American territory."
Making it a member of a teeny-tiny club world-wide...
Coalition troops in central and southern Iraq may be facing near daily attacks by Iraqi resistance fighters, but in the Kurdish northern region, the troops that drove Saddam Hussein from power are revered, and all things American are in vogue, including the 4th of July. More than 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq celebrated the holiday Friday with barbecues, band concerts, fun runsâand plenty of regular patrols. But nowhere was the local welcome warmer than in Dukan, where the PUK put up hundreds of U.S. soldiers in lakeside air-conditioned chalets Friday night. The group also arranged a picnic and show of traditional Kurdish dancing and music. "They've been very generous," said Spec. Louis Gitlin, 21, of the Army's 101st Airborne Division. After spending months in Kuwait and elsewhere in Iraq, he is now guarding the Iran-Iraq border in Kurdistan. "It's a lot better here," the Alaska native said, sweating in the 100-degree heat. "People are nicer."
Naturally, the poor guy has to be from Alaska. Bet he's really homesick at the moment.
In this entire war, the Kurds are the people who've shown best. I just hope we don't forget it in years to come, and that they don't change â or show the streak of wanton bloodthirst that seems to be in the water in that part of the world...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/07/2003 15:19 ||
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Excerpt:
"After risking American lives during the war to preserve Iraqi assets, our soldiers were then blamed for not anticipating that the Iraqis â unlike any liberated or occupied populace in history â would then themselves as natives destroy what we as foreigners had sought to save. Indeed, stung by charges of "occupation" and "imperialism," the American military erred for the first time, and for about 30 days sought an unrealistically low profile, worried that their presence would be deemed intrusive and thus aggravating to the sensitivities of the Iraqi public â only to be immediately condemned by the same citizenry as either naive or deliberately lax for not applying the iron hand to protect them from themselves."
Read the whole thing and do the RantBurger thang.
Posted by: PD ||
07/07/2003 2:47:05 AM ||
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Alleged Bali bombing mastermind Imam Samudra carried pornography on his laptop computer and had a website that claimed responsibility for the October 12 attack, an Indonesian court heard today. The first Australian Federal Police (AFP) officer to appear before the trials told the court that there was also evidence of credit card fraud on the 33-year-old's Acer computer. If charged, it would be the second case of theft for Samudra, who is accused of robbing a jewellery store in West Java to finance the Bali attacks. Nicholas Klein, a AFP computer expert who was physically threatened in court by Samudra, told the judges he had helped "clone" Samudra's hard drive at Bali police headquarters last year. Klein, dressed in a grey suit, said the website claiming responsibility was called "istimata" "(It) included a statement claiming responsibility for the Bali bombings," he said. "Photos were also found showing bodies after the bombing, internet pages were found relating to sharing of stolen cards ... internet pages were found talking about computer hacking, internet pages were found with anti-Israeli messages, pictures were found showing pornography." Samudra denied the existence of the deleted pornographic images of Western women and the implication that he had engaged in credit card fraud. Good muslims don't look at porn or defraud people, they just blow people up.
He claimed his laptop could have been tampered with before it was cloned and said the "istimata" website on the Bali bombings had never been put on the internet. Samudra also denied that he had witnessed the cloning of his computer alongside his lawyers at Bali's police headquarters last December. That should be easy to prove
The accused had just been warned for making a threatening punching motion with his fist at Klein when asked to verify the computer documents before the panel of five judges. The pair were standing shoulder to shoulder when Samudra made the gesture. When he was warned by chief judge Wayan Sugawa, he appeared to argue back. "The judges consider it inappropriate," chief Judge Sugawa shouted over the accused. Another computer expert from the Indonesian police told the court that the "istimata" site had attempted to explain the reason for the bombings which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. The site described Bali as a gathering place for every "imperialist country, terrorists, slaughterers, destroyers of Indonesian Muslim women's dignity", Indonesian police Lieutenant Colonel Brata Mandala said. It was "a very embarrassing irony in front of God" that "Bali was a centre of drug use and adultery in a country where the majority of people were Muslim". The site claimed Jalan Legian, where the bombings occurred was used by "Jews" for channeling "intelligence". You knew he'd work the jews in somehow.
Calling for revenge, the site listed England, Australia, Germany, Belgium, Japan, "almost all the NATO members, and others" as being involved in the killing of "tens of thousands" of victims in the Islamic caliphate of Afghanistan in December, 2001. Lieutenant Colonel Mandala told the court that local police were investigating, in cooperation with FBI officers, evidence of credit card fraud that had been found on Samudra's computer. Contact had been made with a website in the Javanese city of Yogyakarta for so-called "carders" or credit card fraudsters. "This carding case is still under investigation and will be a separate case," he said. Samudra also denied police testimony that the computer contained images of Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual leader of the secretive network Jemaah Islamiah.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/07/2003 10:36:44 AM ||
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Prosecutors in the Philippines have indicted several suspected members of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) militant group - including East Asia's most wanted man, Hambali - in connection with a series of bomb attacks in Manila in 2000. Eight people were charged on Monday for the bombings, one of the Philippines' worst terrorist incidents, in which 22 people were killed. Hambali - also known as Riduan Isamuddin - is thought to be the link between JI and al-Qaeda.
Hambali was reported to have beat it to Pakistan last December. (I know. Comes as a surprise, doesn't it? I think I read somewhere that he's got a wife and kiddies in Quetta...)
Indonesian police have said he played a role in both the Bali bombings last October and a string of attacks on Indonesian churches in 2000. As well as Hambali, suspected JI member Abubakar Faiz Bafana was also named in the indictment, along with Indonesian national Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi and five Filipinos believed to belong to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Only Mr al-Ghozi is likely to go on trial, as Mr Bafana has already been detained in Singapore and the others are still at large. Before Monday's indictments, prosecutors had already charged several people in connection with the Manila bombings - notably Mukhlis Yunos, an alleged MILF commander. The latest list of suspects is a result of confessions by al-Ghozi and Yunos. Al-Ghozi was arrested in Manila in January 2002, and Yunos was detained in the southern Philippines in May this year. Yunos is set to appear in court on Tuesday. Al-Ghozi is in prison after pleading guilty to a separate offence of possessing explosives. It's a start.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/07/2003 9:01:46 AM ||
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The International Crisis Group has a huge report on the Hezb ut-Tahrir, and even though I have only glanced over it so far, I'd say it is worth going to the site and downloading it.
The emergence of Hizb ut-Tahrir is a significant but poorly understood political phenomena. ICGâs report contains much information from interviews with the movementâs members. Heavy-handed repression threatens to radicalise those members still further and sow the seeds of further Islamist extremism. It may have actually contributed to growth of the movement, particularly in Uzbekistan. Hizb ut-Tahrir claims to reject violence but has highly radical goals: the overthrow of governments throughout the Muslim world and their replacement by a single Islamic state or Caliphate. Too often, however, governments in Central Asia use it as an excuse for failing to carry out political and economic reforms. It is in the international communityâs security interests to ensure that political opposition to unpopular regimes does not by default turn into a more militant group, with a more violent agenda than the present-day Hizb-ut-Tahrir.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
07/07/2003 4:07:31 AM ||
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The team investigating the Columbia disaster fired a chunk of foam insulation at shuttle wing parts Monday and blew open a gaping 2-foot hole, offering dramatic evidence to support the theory of what doomed the spaceship. The foam struck roughly the same spot where insulation that broke off Columbia's big external fuel tank during launch smashed into the shuttle's wing. Investigators believe the damage led to the ship's destruction during re-entry over Texas in February, killing all seven astronauts. It was the seventh and final foam-impact test by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, and it yielded by far the most severe damage. Note that NASA had never tested the shuttle before to see if it would be damaged by anything falling off the fuel tank during launch.
The 1.67-pound piece of fuel tank foam insulation shot out of a 35-foot nitrogen-pressurized gun and slammed into a carbon-reinforced panel removed from shuttle Atlantis. The "bird gun" used to test aircraft windshields,etc, to see if they can survive bird strikes.
The countdown boomed through loudspeakers, and the crack of the foam coming out at more than 500 mph reverberated in the field where the test was conducted. Twelve high-speed cameras â six inside the wing mock-up and six outside â captured the event. Hundreds of sensors registered movements, stresses and other conditions. NASA will continue gathering more information about the poorly understood pieces that line the vulnerable leading edges of shuttle wings, board member Scott Hubbard said. Poorly understood? After flying them for how many years?
One month ago, another carbon shuttle wing panel â smaller and farther inboard â was cracked by the impact, in addition to an adjoining seal. This time, the entire 11 1/2-inch width of the foam chunk â rather than just a corner during previous tests â hit the wing, putting maximum stress on the suspect area. Can we expect anyone at NASA to lose their jobs? Nah!
Posted by: Steve ||
07/07/2003 3:14:03 PM ||
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The rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has intensified its attacks in northern Uganda in recent weeks with the main objective of forcing internally displaced persons (IDPs) out of camps protected by the Ugandan army, the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) has said. It its June situation report on northern Ugandan relief operations, the URCS said the LRA's military strategy now seemed to be focused on dismantling the camps, established by the Ugandan government, which house an estimated 800,000 civilians. The LRA has not only intensified its attacks on the three Acholi districts of Kitgum, Gulu and Pader, but has also extended its activities into surrounding Apac, Lira, Adjumani, Katakwi and Soroti, where hundreds of people have been abducted. "Abductions and food raids, within and without camps, have not only become rampant but over the last two weeks have spread to new areas," the URCS report said. "According to some rumours circulating, the LRA has intention to dismantle IDP camps by force."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/07/2003 14:20 ||
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#1
Idi Amin died today in Saudi Arabia. It is a dark testimony to this nation that he was allowed exiled sanctuary for 25 years and even darker for a world that couldn't care less. Sampson is jailed for over 2 years in a Saudi prison for allegedly killing 2 or 3 people with a car bomb. Idi Amin is KNOWN to be directly responsible for the deaths of thousands and lives is luxury in the same country. If Allah really has the clout that Muslims profess, he should have hammered the opulent savagery of this nation years ago. But, then, maybe it's just this kind of world.
I lived in Masindi, Uganda from 1968 to 1972, during which Idi pulled off his coup. I was teaching in Kabalega Sec. School. I have many stories and accounts of that time too numberous to mentiion. But now I cry for those poor ignorant, vulnerable and deserted people in the north. I visited Gulu, Kitgum, Lira, Soroti and Mbale many times. I fished the Nile at Chobe Lodge and saw blood on the "bridge of death" over Karuma Falls where the army had machine gunned people and threw them in the river. Human remains - hands - were found in Nile perch and for months, no one would buy fish at the market.
Give an ignorant man a gun and he becomes a big man. Give a boy a gun, make him kill with it, and he is brutalized and intoxicated with the power of the gun forever. How is the LRA funded? Where do they get their weapons and ammunition? Sudan? The sick, savage, inhuman killing and brutalization of innocent achildren and civilians, as in Sierra Leon, has reached new levels of debasement - an ugly blemish on the pretense at civilization that the rest of us engender. It is frightening to know that I would be just the the poor savage butchers in Northern Uganda had I been born and rasied there.
If the so-called civilized nations of the world ignor, tolerate, and dismiss this outrage then they are no better than an ignorant killer-boy in the LRA.
Hundreds of medical workers in Mogadishu held a one-day work stoppage on Sunday to protest against the killing of a prominent doctor in the city last week. Dr Husayn Muhammad Nur, one of the best eye specialists in Mogadishu, and younger brother of faction leader Hasan Muhammad Nur Shatigadud, was gunned down in front of his clinic by unidentified gunmen on 3 July.
"Yar! A doctor!"
"Yar! An eye doctor!"
"Yar! Kill 'im!"
The work stoppage was called by the Somali Medical Association (SMA) and supported by all civil society organisations, including groups from the education sector, religious organisations and the business community, association member Dr Abdullahi Farah Aseyr said. According to Aseyr, "all hospitals, clinics and other medical facilities" in the capital were closed for the day. He said the stoppage affected "all routine work" and that only emergency cases were being treated. Aseyr stressed that insecurity in the city, in particular the targeting of medical staff, was undermining their work. "We have had medical staff abducted and some maimed or killed," he said.
That's 'cause they're usually unarmed...
The aim of the strike was to encourage the residents of Mogadishu to take a stand against lawlessness and rampant crime, and to "make them understand that doctors and other professionals are resources Somalia can ill afford to lose". It was also intended to put pressure on the various factions to take responsibility for what happens in areas under their control. "We want them to understand that this lawlessness cannot go on, and they must find a way to set up an all-inclusive administration capable of halting the current crime wave," he said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/07/2003 14:18 ||
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Up to 20 civilians and seven rebel fighters were killed in an attack early Monday by the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) on southern suburbs of the capital, Bujumbura, army spokesman Col Augustin Nzabampema told IRIN. "The attack this Monday morning is a warning to President [Domitien] Ndayizeye who has threatened to intensify attacks against our movement," FNL spokesman Pasteur Habimana said.
"Who's he think he is? The president?"
Nzabampema said bodies of at least 20 civilians had been discovered outside houses. "FNL rebels led by Agathon Rwasa infiltrated Kanyosha, Musaga and Kibenga suburbs in the southern part of Bujumbura early this [Monday] morning, the army repulsed the attackers," he said. He added that the fighting was continuing outside the capital, at Kabezi and Buhonga communes in Bujumbura Rural Province. "We already counted seven rebels killed," he said. "The rebels had also blocked all principal roads leading to Bujumbura, but the army has succeeded in removing the obstacles at Highway 1 towards the city centre," the army spokesman said. Roadblocks on roads to the north of Burundi, Highway 3 towards the south and the highway heading to northwest had also been cleared, he said. However, "there is still a problem on Highway 7 leading to the southeast because rebels have taken the population hostage, precisely at Buhonga," he said. He added that the army was trying to normalise traffic on the road.
Holding the population hostage is a good way to liberate them, I guess...
A resident of Musaga told IRIN that seven bodies of civilians were lying near his house, and another resident of Kanyosha said more than 15 civilians were killed during the exchange of fire between the army and the rebels. Habimana dismissed the rebel death toll given by the army, saying no FNL fighter was killed.
"Ha! Y'missed us, bitch!"
He said the fighters were still inside the capital: "We entered Bujumbura and we intend to stay, our objective is not to speculate about dead persons. It is time the Tutsi army and the Tutsi community came to discuss with us the real problems of Burundi," he said. Rwasa's FNL faction remains the only group that has not signed a ceasefire agreement with the government. Three other rebel groups signed agreements with the government in 2002 but accusations of ceasefire violations have been made by all sides.
Probably all the accusations by all sides are equally justified...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/07/2003 14:13 ||
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JPost - Reg Req'd
Today's Roadmap/ceasefire violations
An Israeli armored patrol came under a fierce grenade attack in Gaza just minutes ago, a military source told The Jerusalem Post.
"A total of 11 grenades were hurled at one of our mobile patrols in the area of Rafah on the Israel-Egyptian border," the source said.
"The IDF force, consisting of an elite Beduin unit, did not return fire because they wanted to avoid civilian casualties," the source said.
No Israeli casualties were reported in the attack.
IDF units in the Rafah border fence area in Gaza have come under frequent attack in the past few days with Palestinian terrorists breaking the US sponsored and PA backed road map cease-fire with anti-tank rockets, grenades and automatic weapons fire.
"wanted to avoid civilian casualties" - well, we know which side he's talking about without them being identified - and that is the difference between them
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/07/2003 1:07:01 PM ||
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Democrats blasted President Bush on Sunday for his recent tough talk on Iraq. One White House hopeful said the leader of the free world sounded more like a gang leader. Last week, Bush lashed out at those attacking American troops, saying "bring 'em on" as he vowed to stay the course in Iraq with a military capable of handling the situation.
Al Sharpton, the New York clergyman who's running for the Democratic nomination in 2004, demanded that Bush apologize to U.S. forces and their families. Al Sharpton, a New York clergyman? Well, to the AP I guess.
"For the president to say, `bring it on,' almost like daring and provoking Iraqis to kill American soldiers, he sounds more like a gang leader in South-Central L.A. than one that is trying to institute a policy of democracy and reconstruction in the world," Sharpton said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "I know gang leaders, I'm friends with gang leaders, and Mr. President, you are no gang leader!"
The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, agreed that Bush's tone was over the top. "I think that it's perfectly proper for the president to say that he has confidence in our troops. But it seems to me unwise to engage in this kind of cocky rhetoric, because it's not going to be helpful ... either with our troops or in bringing in other countries into this issue," said Levin, speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press." Oh, but that's not why he said it.
Republicans disagreed. The Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Armed Services panel, said the president was doing nothing more than rallying the troops. "I probably would have said it another way, and I think the president would have too if he had a little more time to think about it," Roberts said on CNN's "Late Edition." But "I think that the statement was aimed more to the troops ..., saying, `You're doing a good job. Keep up the good work. There is no peer to the American forces,' et cetera et cetera."
And Warner said on "Meet the Press" that Bush's message was simply that "'Each one of you, from the privates to the general, you've got the right stuff, the right training, and you know what to do.' It was not a taunting message." Oh, but it is. And it was aimed directly at those islamic fundi groups around the world who can not allow America to succeed in creating a stable and free Iraq. David Warren said it best:
This is the meaning of Mr. Bush's "bring 'em on" taunt from the Roosevelt Room on Wednesday, when he was quizzed about the "growing threat to U.S. forces" on the ground in Iraq. It should have been obvious that no U.S. President actually relishes having his soldiers take casualties. What the media, and U.S. Democrats affect not to grasp, is that the soldiers are now replacing targets that otherwise would be provided by defenceless civilians, both in Iraq and at large. The sore thumb of the U.S. occupation -- and it is a sore thumb equally to Baathists and Islamists, compelling their response -- is not a mistake. It is carefully hung flypaper. . . .
Hizbullah itself (the "Army of Allah" -- Shia, and ultimately financed and armed by Iran's ayatollahs) are directing their attention less and less towards the "Little Satan" of Israel, and more and more towards the "Great Satan" of the U.S., as events unfold.
This is exactly what President Bush wants. To engage them, away from Israel, in mortal combat. To have an excuse for wiping them out -- a good, solid, American excuse, from which Israel has been extracted. The good news is, Hizbullah's taking the bait.
As Bruce Willis said in Die Hard: "Welcome to the party, Pal!"
Posted by: Steve ||
07/07/2003 12:19:29 PM ||
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During the 2000 campaign, George W. Bush emphasized that a vital national interest ought to be at stake before the United States launches a military intervention. Unfortunately, the president is about to violate his own standard by sending American troops to Liberia at the head of an international peacekeeping force.
If he does, it'll be because an indirect national interest is at stake, to whit, our position in respect to the United Nations. Liberia will remain a side issue...
There is not even a peripheral, much less a vital, U.S. interest at stake in Liberia. It might be possible to find a country that is less relevant than Liberia to America's security and well-being, but it would take a major effort. Writer Irving Kristol had it right more than a decade ago during a previous civil war in Liberia when he observed that the only issue at stake seemed to be a mundane fight between then-dictator Samuel K. Doe and would-be dictator Charles Taylor. Today, the mundane struggle is between Taylor and rebels who would likely replace his odious regime with an equally odious one. America does not have a dog in that fight.
That's the straight-up analysis...
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and other lobbyists for a U.S.-led peacekeeping mission argue that intervention is justified because considerable suffering is taking place in the Liberian civil war. That is undoubtedly tragic for the people of Liberia. But the existence of suffering in another country is not sufficient reason for the United States to commit its military personnel. There is suffering going on in numerous places around the world. Indeed, the scale of human misery is far greater in such places as the Congo, Cuba, Myanmar, North Korea, and Sudan than it is in Liberia. From a moral standpoint, how can the Bush administration justify intervening in Liberia while declining to use force in those other cases? Yet if the United States intends to intervene everywhere bad things happen, our military will be busy in perpetuity. Humanitarian intervention is, therefore, an impractical, bankrupt policy.
That's a truism, though we're not overextended yet. But again, the main issue isn't Liberia, but our position with respect to the UN. If we go into Liberia in the same manner France is in the DRC, we're UN tools. If we go in under our own terms, we're carrying out our own policy with a redundant UN blessing. If we stay out — still an option — we're merely exercising our right as a sovreign state, not under the orders of the UN...
Even some advocates of intervention in Liberia seem to shy away from the logical implications of their policies. Typically, their arguments include a disclaimer that the United States cannot intervene everywhere, or that America cannot be the world's policeman. But then they blithely go on to suggest making Liberia an exception.
That's because of the Americo-Liberians, who make up 5% of the population and ruled the country from 1847 until Sgt. Doe threw them out...
The problem with that approach is that the list of potential exceptions is as numerous as the advocates of the doctrine of humanitarian intervention. In the early 1990s, proponents made Somalia an exception. A few years later it was Haiti, then Bosnia, and then Kosovo. Now, advocates of intervention in Liberia compete with those who believe America should take action to end the suffering in the Congo or Myanmar. Given all the potential "exceptions" to the rule that the United States should not try to be the world's policeman, America would end up in that role by default. Indeed, if the Bush administration follows the advice of the lobbyists for humanitarian intervention, the United States will not only be the world's policeman, it will be the world's armed social worker.
That's a position we need to avoid...
Some supporters of intervention in Liberia contend that the country is a special case because it was founded by freed American slaves in the 1800s. Of all the justifications for the use of military force, that one is the silliest. The circumstances of the founding of a country more than 150 years ago has no relevance whatsoever to the question of whether the United States ought to take action in the 21st century. When interventionists resort to that kind of argument, they are grasping at straws.
No, they're relying on sentiment and white guilt, the stock in trade of American liberals...
It is unsound strategically to send our military personnel in harm's way when there is no vital security interest at stake. Even worse, it is immoral to risk their lives in such ventures. Being a superpower means that the United States has the luxury to say "no" as well as "yes" to suggestions that it engage in military interventions. Liberia is a case where U.S. leaders should have said "no" early and often. Amen. Every word.
If we put the Marines into Liberia — and this is their kind of job, not one for the Army — it will have to be as a step in the diplomatic polonaise with the United Nations. There's no other reason to do it. On strictly humanitarian grounds, going into DRC would make more sense; they're eating each other there, while in Liberia they (usually) only kill or maim each other. But since U.S. involvement in Congo makes no sense, that means involvement in Liberia makes less than no sense, unless we get something else in return. Since Bush seems somewhat willing to do it, he's either making a mistake, which's rare for him and his team, or they're willing to do it to strengthen the U.S. position or to build up "you-owe-me" chips.
Posted by: PD ||
07/07/2003 5:27:57 AM ||
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America is under attack as never before â not only from terrorists, but from people who provide a justification for terrorism. Islamic fundamentalists declare America the Great Satan. Europeans rail against American capitalism and American culture. South American activists denounce the United States for "neo-colonialism" and oppression.
Anti-Americanism from abroad would not be such a problem if Americans were united in standing up for their own country. But in this country itself, there are those who blame America for most of the evils in the world. On the political left, many fault the United States for a history of slavery, and for continuing inequality and racism. Even on the right, traditionally the home of patriotism, we hear influential figures say that America has become so decadent that we are "slouching towards Gomorrah."
If these critics are right, then America should be destroyed. And who can dispute some of their particulars? This country did have a history of slavery and racism continues to exist. There is much in our culture that is vulgar and decadent. But the critics are wrong about America, because they are missing the big picture. In their indignation over the sins of America, they ignore what is unique and good about American civilization.
As an immigrant who has chosen to become an American citizen, I feel especially qualified to say what is special about America. Having grown up in a different society â in my case, Bombay, India â I am not only able to identify aspects of America that are invisible to the natives, but I am acutely conscious of the daily blessings that I enjoy in America. Here, then, is my list of the ten great things about America.
Read the list. He does define it well enough to explain to those who don't get it, why Americans do what they do, think what they think, and feel what they feel.
An excellent 4th of July recollection of what that event has wrought.
Posted by: PD ||
07/07/2003 4:59:42 AM ||
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Judging by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's reported interest in devoting Army troops to a non-UN, standing international peacekeeping force, his highly unusual decision to pass over the current crop of Army leaders to choose a retired general as Army chief of staff, and his evident clash of vision with those Army leaders before, during and after the Iraq war, that service is due for some major changes. Shock and Awe II?
That's a good thing, as long as newly nominated Army Chief of Staff Peter J. Schoomaker, a retired special forces general and Army Secretary James Roche, currently Air Force Secretary, focus their attention on the three changes Army soldiers need most.
As soon as they're confirmed this summer, Roche and Schoomaker need to rethink Army deployments so the same exhausted guys aren't fighting war one minute and cleaning up after war the next. Second, they need to focus the Army's transformation efforts on addressing the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan, answering how technology can help the individual solider get to the conflict most quickly and prevail in close combat. Third, the new leaders will need to minister to the Army's morale, seriously battered after a few years in which the service has felt, rightly or wrongly, that it has as many enemies in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as it does in Iraq.
Deployment and Stability Operations: The best illustration of the deployment problem is offered by the Third Infantry division. Its 17,000 weary soldiers have been in the Gulf region since last September, first training, then fighting the war on the ground in Iraq, and now doing stability operations. While they may come home soon, the fact that two-thirds of active Army brigades are deployed in Iraq or in the Balkans and Afghanistan has forced an unreasonably long wait. RantBugers, with 4ID kept out of the fight, it might seem rational that they could fully replace the 3ID & 1st Marine in this post-war situation - and give those guys a more than well-deserved break. But does their armor-heavy component mean there are fewer boots? What IS the best mix for this situation? Do we need all "coalition of the willing" members to send MP's to handle street duty, and then go after the Ba'athist insurgents with 4ID ass-kickers? Should 4ID give us a call when they reach Ankara? Whaddya think?
Not only has the long, varied deployment been too much of a strain on the Army soldiers and their families, (Amen) it's also highly unusual for the Army or any service. Consider that when Navy personnel do tours overseas with their families for six months at a time, they do so only once every few years. Or that the Air Force tries to make sure that only two of its ten "air and space expeditionary forces" are deployed at any one time. The Army tradition, meanwhile, has been to "garrison" soldiers at bases around the world with their families, rather than to send them overseas for long periods alone. Even service in Korea, which is done without family members, is limited to a few tours in the course of a soldier's career. By contrast, the long deployments in Iraq are very taxing.
Given the country's post-9/11 needs for warfighting and long-lasting stability operations, the days of the "garrison Army" may be behind us. The service needs to join the Navy, Air Force and Marines in becoming an "expeditionary force." To make that change effectively, Army leaders need to work quickly to figure out how to dedicate certain troops to warfighting and others to stability operations, all the while developing a deployment rotation that protects soldiers from unnecessarily long and wearying deployments away from their homes and families.
Transformation: The Iraq war, like the Afghanistan war before it, showed the military and Americans that precision strikes from the air and sea have largely eliminated the Army's need to fight an enemy that is beyond its line of sight or to defend itself from enemy attacks from the air. In other words, the Army no longer needs better and fancier ways to lug heavy artillery and air defense weaponry with it into battle. Instead, the Army needs to focus on moving in close to the enemy quickly and exploiting the openings that precision strikes provide. While the Army has improved its speed considerably -- deploying to Iraq in three months compared to six months in 1991 -- it still has a ways to go.
Real Army transformation will require Roche and Schoomaker to ensure that the Pentagon invests in greater mobility, sea lift and bigger air lift for the service. They also need to invest in Army aircraft that will improve operational or battlefield mobility, perhaps including tilt-rotor aircraft such as the V-22. In addition, investment needs to go into technologies that will protect the individual soldier who is fighting the enemy close up in an urban environment, as was -- and is -- the case with many a skirmish in Iraq. Among the technologies that could help are see-through-wall equipment, unmanned vehicles and other sensors for the individual soldier, and robotics to improve his strength, endurance and survivability. Arrrggghhh! No mention of the post-fighting "police" work - DOH!
Morale: After a war in which the Army was criticized for slowness (Kosovo) another where the non-special-operations Army sat on the sidelines (Afghanistan) and another in which the Army's great achievements were overshadowed by acrimony between the service leadership and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Iraq), the Army has developed a bruised ego and a bunker mentality. It's only natural that its membership will perceive the appointment of outsiders Roche and Schoomaker as a sign of the service's further estrangement from Bush administration leaders. Do you get this from people you know in the service? Do Lt Smash and other in-uniform bloggers talk about this "estrangement"? Is somebody spin-doctoring for a consulting gig, here? How real IS this?
But that doesn't need to be the case. Roche and Schoomaker will have to work hard to show the troops that they have the secretary's ear, and that their appointments bring the whole Army back into the inner circle.
Building morale won't be any easier than solving the Army's deployment and transformation challenges. But surely the Army's new top man in uniform and new top civilian understand that Donald Rumsfeld didn't stick his neck out with bold appointments so that the two of them could keep things going as they have been in the past. I'm not sure I buy this spin, but I certainly see a transformation in the works. New types of warfare demand a re-think and new priorities. I don't doubt that equipment evaluations by the boots will be accepted, but their welfare for such long deployments must become the #1 concern, IMHO. I wonder if they are suffering casualties from the complacency that evolves from exhaustion.
Posted by: PD ||
07/07/2003 4:12:38 AM ||
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Pejman Yousefzadeh has some far more "neutral" ideas about what is happening in Iran - and is cautionary about expecting a resulting secular / nationalist Iran. There is some excellent history worth reading. As for his conclusion, I hope he's wrong. Judgeth for yourownselves, Rantburgerians...
Excerpt:
"At the same time, reformists would be well advised to remember the example of the Pahlavi dynasty, and its alienation of the mullahs -- an alienation that brought about its downfall. While some secularization is inevitable in Iran after any demise of the regime, the mullahs will remain a social and political force in Iran for years to come. It will be necessary to ensure that they do not have cause to undermine any future secular government in Iran, and the best way to prevent that is to ensure that such a government is able to form alliances with mullahs sympathetic to the reform movement. But an alliance is not enough -- a new Iranian government will have to propagate a nationalist movement that celebrates both the pre-Islamic Iranian/Persian past, and the positive aspects of Islamic influence on Iran. Elevating one portion of Iranian history over another will only serve to antagonize a segment of Iranian society, and cause further political upheaval." Winning hearts and minds, eh?
Posted by: PD ||
07/07/2003 3:50:07 AM ||
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This is actually 2 articles from NRO on Jordanian - Iraqi relations. Although presented in the reverse order, I recommend the History refresher first, then the current Jordanian situation, regards Iraq.
A little History of the Hashemites...
Excerpt:
"Over the past 20 years, relations between the two countries became exceptionally strong politically, economically and culturally. Iraq became Jordan's number one trading partner, and continues to be. With the international sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Jordan became Baghdad's sole non-petroleum economic lifeline to the rest of the world. Jordan's sole port, Aqaba on the Red Sea, was transformed a tiny and neglected fishing village during the 1980's into the largest port on the Red Sea, with all Iraq's trade passing through it. Even when Iraq's Persian Gulf port, Mina al-Bakr, reopened in 1994, Aqaba remained the major outlet for Iraqi trade."
And now, King Abdullah, caught between an array of forces, must dance as fast as he can...
Excerpt:
"Transferring Jordan's previous status as a strategic ally of the despotic Saddam Baathist regime that destroyed Iraq and its people, to a readily accepted, natural ally of a new Iraqi democracy will take time. It will be particularly difficult to effect such a change under the current Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu-al Ragheb, or other members of Amman's current political establishment."
--and--
"The United States clearly appreciates Jordan's support, despite significant popular opposition and financial losses caused by the war. In May, Washington announced a $700 million aid package, to be followed by $400 million in military assistance, both in addition to $450 million it will continue to receive annually from the U.S. Not only had Abdullah generally, if carefully, supported the U.S. position prior to the outbreak of hostilities, his government had secretly allowed U.S. special forces to enter western Iraq from its territory."
Personally, I find myself simutaneously wanting to see Jordan treated as the enemy (due to its murderous radical Pal population and a host of social Sharia / Honor crappola) and hoping that Abdullah is more than just a young guy who rides a Harley. I've seen these "looks Western, maybe we can trust him..." guys up close - and found it skin-deep only. Now riding a Harley is almost enough for me to like the guy, but he is sitting on the obvious Pal homeland, and neither he nor his father has/had the balls to take this problem on. To save their asses and fortunes kingdom, they took US Aid - and ducked... They let everyone else struggle with the Pal problem - and let Israel be the target. Just cuz there's a predilection for leggy blondes in the family, the Hussein Monarchies don't impress me much.
Posted by: PD ||
07/07/2003 3:04:43 AM ||
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(Note: Title links to full story at Jerusalem Post - Reg Req'd)
Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade goons burst into a courtroom in Ramallah earlier today, and gunned down a man who was âstanding trialâ for collaborating with Israel.
The man, identified as 35-year-old Youssef Shelbaya from the Amari refugee camp, was shot as he stood before a court in the city.
Eyewitnesses told The Jerusalem Post that a number of masked gunmen stormed the courthouse and opened fire at Shelbaya, killing him instantly. They said the victim was standing trial for allegedly collaborating with Israel.
They said Palestinian policemen at the scene didn't interfere to prevent the killing. The attackers, who identified themselves as members of Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades, fled the scene.
A statement issued later by the group said Shelbaya was executed because he had served as an undercover agent for Israel's secret services while being held in Israeli prisons. The Aksa Martyrs Brigades is responsible for the killing of scores of Palestinians suspected of collaboration with Israel. Two women from Nablus and Tulkarm were brutally murdered earlier this year by the group's gunmen after they allegedly confessed to helping Israel track down wanted Palestinians. One of the victims was a mother of seven. And there you have it. Justice.
Posted by: PD ||
07/07/2003 1:28:07 AM ||
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Terrorists arrested by the Palestinian Authority for attacking Israeli targets in the Gaza Strip were released after a talk with âsecurity forces.â Anyone surprised?
Posted by: PD ||
07/07/2003 1:24:32 AM ||
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From Xinhua. This should be interesting...
Floods are challenging the mainstream dikes of the swollen Huaihe River as areas of the riverhave exceeded the safety water levels for several days. Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick...
The floodwater diversion areas have helped alleviate inundation dangers, but would not guarantee security with the tough threat posed by continuous torrential rains, warned Zhang Zhitong, deputy executive director of the Office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters. The Huaihe River valley will continue to suffer heavy rainfall on Sunday and Monday, and torrential rains will hit the valley from Tuesday afternoon to Thursday, according the Central Meteorological Station. Torrential rains...heavy rainfall. I wonder about the concrete integrity...
So far, all 446 places at danger along the dikes of the river and the flood diversion areas, including 15 piping and leakage sites, have received immediate repair and restoration. Another flood diversion area called Tangduo Lake was opened for floodwater on Sunday. Currently, over 30,000 local residents in the floodwater diversion areas have been evacuated and about 760,000 people are remaining in place fighting against the rising waters. Hokay. Now move 20x as many people.
The Huaihe River has been experiencing its largest floods since 1991 since the end of June, with many sections already reporting dangerous water levels above the safety line. The Huaihe takes up part of the Yellow River flow. Suffice to say, a failure of the dam system...
Posted by: Brian ||
07/07/2003 12:57:26 AM ||
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The Roadmap doesn't mention or obligate anyone to release people from prison. The demands in the "hudna" bullshit "ceasefire" statements made it a condition - and the Q.E.D. escape clause for the Pal terrorist groups...
Hat Tip: LGF for catching the New Yellow Times, yet again.
"The release of Palestinian prisoners is just one of many demands placed on both sides under the Mideast peace plan, known as the road map."
Is this a sloppy mistake, or a deliberate misrepresentation? Charles, you are too kind to them...
Here is the full text of the âroadmap,â and it does not contain one word that could be interpreted as an Israeli obligation to release Palestinian prisoners: Elements of a Performance-Based Road Map.
UPDATE: The Times has quietly corrected the misstatement in Greg Myreâs article, but Honest Reporting got a copy of the original. Once again the NYT demonstrates their chosen craft at its finest: lefty disinformation.
Posted by: PD ||
07/07/2003 12:43:01 AM ||
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Pyongyang, July 6 (KCNA) -- The world progressive forces have expressed positive support to the DPRK's invariable mode of retaliation, the mode of strongly reacting to the U.S. attempt for a preemptive attack with the toughest stand to firmly defend the national dignity and sovereignty. The Czech newspaper "Tinkers to Evans to Chance" "Czech, Moravia, Silesia Matice" in an article noted it is a just measure for the defence of sovereignty for the DPRK to strongly react to the U.S. policy of aggression while increasing its self-defensive capability to cope with the latter's escalating threat. Argh, they split another infinitive!
The Syrian newspaper The Thug "Al Baath" in an article said that such a small country as the DPRK is standing firm against such ferocious brutes as the U.S. imperialists by building up its own strength despite its great economic difficulties, adding that this is something "unpredictable and unimaginable" to be specially mentioned as imperialists term.
The Center for the Research on Korea of the Institute for World Economy and International Relations in the Russian Academy of Sciences in a commentary carried in the newspaper "Vladivostok" said neither persuasion nor pressure and sanctions will work on the DPRK. Bet they didn't mean that the way it came out.
The Tanzania-DPRK Friendship Association and the Tanzanian National Coordinating Committee of the Juche Idea Study Groups in a joint statement said: The DPRK has already clarified its stand that it is entitled to possess nukes and other weapons more powerful than them to defend the sovereignty and dignity of the country in view of the U.S. intensified moves to stifle the DPRK and its escalating nuclear threats. More powerful than a nuclear weapon! Faster than a speeding MiG! It's Juche!
The DPRK does not say empty words. [chortle] Oh no, nope, nope, never, no way!
This is proved by a series of counter-measures taken by it recently. "As but one example inspired by our Glorious Dear Leader, just last week an entire village ate a tree to demonstrate their solidarity with our army-based policy. Of course, they were also hungry."
The chairman of the Arab Committee for Solidarity with the Korean People and Supporting the Reunification of Korea in East Palestine Jordan in a commentary carried in the newspaper The Sucking Tick "Al-Itishah" said that people's Korea standing firm on the forefront in the struggle against the imperialists solemnly declared that if enemies invade it, it will throw them into an abyss of ruin. And it has invariably adhered to its own political and military stand, lending no ear to anybody's threats and abuses, it added. Abyss of Ruin? Cripes, that's in the new Lara Croft Tomb Raider game!
An article entitled "truth about the nuclear issue and security and peace of the Korean peninsula" carried in the information bulletin issued by the International Liaison Committee for Reunification and Peace in Korea laid bare the cunning trick of the Bush administration to garner support of the international community for preemptive military strike at the DPRK. Oh yes, we're cunning.
[Holds up card] 7.5. We got a 'juche' in there, we got the abyss of ruin, we got cunning tricks, and we got wacko groups no one has ever heard of supporting the Dear Leader. Not quite rabid enough for a medal, but lovely rant, just lovely.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/07/2003 12:30:41 AM ||
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Edited severely to just the new stuff.
Embattled President Charles Taylor accepted an offer of asylum in Nigeria on Sunday, but gave no timeframe for quitting power and insisted the transition must be orderly. He urged the United States to send peacekeepers. Wondering if Chuckles thinks that, if he can stay alive in charge until the Marines arrive, he can then ludicrously claim that, as the president of Liberia, why he just has to be allowed to stay on?
Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned Nigeria's President Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo on Saturday, said State Department spokeswoman Amanda Batt. She did not say what the two discussed.
I'd think it had something to do with Chuck...
Taylor is under intense international pressure to step down — Bush has said he would ``not take 'no' for an answer'' — and is holed up in a capital surrounded by rebels. But Taylor has insisted peacekeepers deploy before he will go to ensure fighting does not erupt again. Another complication is the threat of trial on war crimes charges that hangs over Taylor after his indictment by a U.N.-backed court in Sierra Leone.
How 'bout if we send in the Marines to arrest Chuck and drop him off in Sierra Leone? That sounds like a pretty sensible intervention, if we've got to intervene at all. I don't think anybody really thinks he'll leave willingly — there are too many corpses he climbed over to get where he is now. And if he does leave because he's forced to, he'll be putting together another gang before you can say "Jack Robinson."
The Bush administration reacted coldly to any delay in Taylor quitting. White House spokesman Jimmy Orr said: ``What the president has said is Mr. Taylor needs to leave and leave soon. He needs to leave so peace can be restored.'' One rebel official welcomed the news but said he had no confidence Taylor would follow through and leave Liberia. Taylor has broken promises in the past to step down. ``I hope this time around Mr. Taylor will act on his words,'' rebel leader Kabineh Janeh said in Accra, Ghana. ``Far too often he has failed to honor what he says. We don't trust him. Not at all.'' Shrewd judge of character.
Taylor made his announcement after Nigeria's president met him at Monrovia's airport to personally offer asylum in his country. ``I thank my big brother for coming,'' Taylor said at a news conference with Obasanjo before the Nigerian leader left Liberia. ``He has extended an invitation and we have accepted an invitation.'' But, Taylor said, ``it is not unreasonable to request that there be an orderly exit from power.'' He said U.S. participation in an international peacekeeping force planned for Liberia was ``crucial in every way.'' Taylor and Obasanjo would not say when the Liberian president would step down, but both warned that too hasty a flight departure could spark new celebration fighting in the West African nation. The visit by Obasanjo to bring the asylum offer in person underlined the urgency of international appeals for the Liberian leader to leave. Obasanjo arrived by jet in Monrovia airport, stepping into an embrace and kisses on both cheeks by Taylor. Taylor's retinue handed Obasanjo, dressed in flowing traditional robes, a live white chicken and some kola nuts - a customary Liberian gift symbolizing purity of heart and peace. Among the hundreds of Taylor supporters on the airport tarmac, many carried banners, one reading, ``U.N. please drop the charges against President Taylor, for peace sake.'' All signs being heartfelt expressions of the Childrenâ¢.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/07/2003 12:13:30 AM ||
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This week on As the Boeing Turns,
A Boeing 727 cargo plane which caused panic among US intelligence agencies after mysteriously disappearing from Angola's main airport turned up last week in Guinea. The plane, which was feared to be in the hands of international terrorists, was spotted on June 28 in Conakry, Guinea's capital, by Bob Strother, a Canadian pilot. It had been resprayed and given the Guinean registration 3XGOM. But at least the last two letters of its former tail-number, N844AA, were still showing. The plane, which was recently converted into a fuel tanker, was said to be owned by a member of West Africa's Lebanese business community, and was being used to shuttle goods between Beirut and Conakry. "There's absolutely no doubt it's the same aircraft, the old registration is clearly visible," said Mr Strother by phone from Conakry. "Whoever owns it must have some important friends to get it re-registered in two days: going by the book, the whole process usually takes a couple of months."
Western intelligence agencies were said to be scouring Africa's clear skies and mouldering runways for the missing tanker, fearing that it could easily be aimed at an American or British embassy on the continent. Yet an American official in the region said this was the first he had heard of the plane since its disappearance from Angola's capital, Luanda, on May 25. "People have been looking for this thing everywhere," the official said. "We've had reports that it crashed, that it was in South Africa or Nigeria, but nothing for sure, not like what you've just told me." The Guardian was able to furnish the American official with a photograph of the mystery plane, taken by Mr Strother. Immediately after the plane's disappearance, unnamed US intelligence sources told the Associated Press that it "mostly likely was taken for a criminal endeavour such as drug or weapons smuggling". But they had "not ruled out the possibility it was stolen for use in a terrorist attack". A US state department spokesman, Philip Reeker, said at the time: "There is no particular information suggesting that the disappearance of the aircraft is linked to terrorists or terrorism, but it's still something that obviously we would like to get to the bottom of." Airplanes, fuel tanks, exploding office towers, yep, we'd like to know more.
A western diplomat in Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital, said it was more likely the plane had simply been snatched from Luanda because its owner was reluctant to pay year-long airport taxes, totalling around £30,000. "There's always a shady side to business around here," he said. "But as for the terrorism stuff, that sounds like a complete load of rubbish."
Easy to sniff and dismiss until you're on fire and jumping out an 82nd floor window, isn't it?
Since being sighted last week, the plane has again taken off into obscurity. "We only saw it that one time, now it's gone," said Mr Strother. "Maybe whoever owns it just wanted to drop by and pick up a Guinean registration for convenience. Maybe it won't be back." Maybe look in Beirut?
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/07/2003 12:06:29 AM ||
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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.
