Just a snippet of an article on Strategy Page I found very amusing:
The Special Forces have long been known for developing unique and effective equipment and combat techniques. A recent example of this was seen during the Iraq campaign. One Special Forces team had an impressive audio set up in one of the hummers. A CD player, a powerful amplifier and some good speakers. Music to charm the locals with? Not exactly. The Special Forces team had a collection of realistic battlefield sounds on the CDs, which they used as a "force multiplier" on more than one occasion. In one case, they encountered a well defended bridge that they had to take. But the Special Forces didnât have enough manpower or firepower to do the job quickly. So they backed off, turned on the CD player and serenaded the defending Iraqis with the sounds of M-1 tanks approaching, getting closer and closer. The Iraqis fled and the bridge was taken without a shot being fired.
Posted by: Dar ||
07/10/2003 3:14:49 PM ||
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The special forces team had a psy-op guy attached. Because the loudspeaker they are talking about is a typical Psy-op deal. they're called man-pack's. Using sound effects to hide or inflate your numbers is just one aspect of "sonic deception" operations.
Though I have to tell ya, the speakers have little or no bass to them. they're actually designed for voice, like a big ass bullhorn.
#3
That's why they call it psy-op. Next time assume it's a recording until there's tread marks down the middle of your back... Who's gonna take the chance?
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2003 20:39 Comments ||
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Afghan authorities have arrested a senior official of the ousted Taliban and seized a large quantity of bomb-making material in a raid in the restive southern province of Kandahar, the provincial governor said on Thursday. The man, a brother and aide of former Taliban defence minister Mullah Obaidullah, was seized in a house in Kandahar city, said governor Gul Agha Sherzai. "We captured him and with him we seized about 1,200 detonators," he told reporters in Kabul. "Lots of equipment for explosions and some 50 light and heavy machineguns." Even for Afghanistan, thatâs a bit excessive for a personal gun collection.
He did not name the man or say when he was arrested. Obaidullah was second in command of the hardline Islamist Taliban government, which was overthrown by U.S.-led forces in 2001. Sherzai said the arrested man had said Obaidullah lives in Quetta city in neighbouring Pakistan. Where else?
Quetta was the scene of a bloody attack on a Shiâite mosque last Friday in which 53 people were killed. Sunni militants are believed to be responsible, although Pakistani officials suspect a "foreign hand" -- either India or Afghanistan -- was involved. The Kandahar governor said some other top Taliban officials, including one of its commanders, Mullah Dadullah, were active in Pakistan. "He is moving from one place to another," Sherzai said of Obaidullah. "Mullah Dadullah is there...Their big people are there." Yup.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/10/2003 11:34:11 AM ||
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In the Khoga Khel region of the Mohmand Agency, the Pakistan army and Northern Alliance are still engaged in the fighting that started earlier this week. Five tribesmen have been killed while a dozen others have been wounded in fierce fighting involving heavy weaponry from both sides. The Pakistani army caused those under the command of Nusrat Ali to flee his command. At around 1400 hrs four pickup trucks with dozens of men and heavy weapons arrived at Khoga Khel and opened fire on Pakistani positions surrounding their check points. The Pak army returned fire, killing five tribesmen and wounding twelve more. The wounded were taken to Jalalabad hospital. The Pakistani army would not comment on these latest attacks.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 00:49 ||
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Kuwaiti Islamists are regrouping to prevent internal rifts and disintegration among themselves and to agree on major issues in the newly-elected parliament. Sources say new and former MPs belonging to major Islamist groups will next week hold a meeting to coordinate their positions on various issues. MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei, who was re-elected for the 2003 parliament, told the Arab Times Islamist blocs will soon announce the formation of a new group consisting of all the existing Islamist blocs, in the country. He added the new bloc will enhance Islamists position in the parliament.
They're going to try and form the Kuwaiti version of the MMA...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 15:57 ||
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Yemeni police have captured three alleged members of the outlawed Aden-Abyan Islamic Army guerilla group, whose mountainous strongholds were stormed by the army last month in a major offensive that left six militants and an army officer killed. The sources said two men were arrested on Tuesday at a military checkpoint in Jaar city of the province of Abyan, almost 380 kilometers south of the capital Sanaa. Abyanâs rugged mountainous area of Hatat was bombarded and raided by military forces last month. The leader of the group, Khaled Abdul-Nabi, 39, was reportedly among the six suspects killed in the military sweep. Police sources identified the two arrested suspects as Ali Muhammad Al-Raawi and Fahim Salim As-Sarji. They are being held in the central prison of the southern province. The third, Nasser Semna, was arrested yesterday in the nearby port city of Aden. Senior government officials told Arab News that security authorities stepped up efforts this week to track down fugitive militants after reports that armed extremists have been regrouping in Abyanâs mountains. The three arrests brought to 24 the number of captured suspected militants. Letâs try to keep them in prison this time, OK?
Posted by: Steve ||
07/10/2003 10:05:08 AM ||
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A former Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands has described the proposed regional intervention force to be led by Australia as a type of re-colonisation.
And we wouldn't want that. Things are so much better now...
The MP's concerns have been raised in the Solomons Parliament. Mannasseh Sogavare served as prime minister in 2000, after his predecessor was placed under house arrest in a police-supported coup. Speaking in Parliament, he expressed concern the intervention force will see foreign officers placed in positions in government departments, including police and treasury. "It will be nothing short of re-colonising this country," he said.
And if the local pols can't get to the treasury that would be tragic...
The Parliament is debating a government motion seeking support for the proposed intervention force, which will be led by Australia.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 00:18 ||
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Former Solomons' PM wary of re-colonisation
Typical. The major beneficiary of European decolonization over the 20th century has been local political elites. In only a tiny minority of cases have these elites have matched the superb economic record of the colonial rulers. Case in point - Bermuda vs other former British possessions in the Caribbean that attained self-rule in the '70s.
Another example - Hong Kong vs the rest of the former British possessions in East Asia - Singapore alone matched Hong Kong's record - Malaysia, Burma and Brunei all significantly lagged Hong Kong in ther economic achievements. Note that with the exception of Singapore, the other ex-colonies were endowed with a rich base of mineral and other natural resources - in particular, both Brunei and Malaysia are oil producers. By contrast, Hong Kong was a barren rock, in the words of an early colonial governor. And Hong Kong's achievements took place in the context of the freest political environment among all the territories mentioned. (All that changed, of course, with 1997 and the introduction of Chinese rule - both Hong Kong's economy and political environment have deteriorated under its new colonial masters in Beijing).
#2
UPDATE: Solomon Islands lawmakers endorsed a plan Thursday to let an Australian-led security force into the Pacific nation to prevent it from plunging into anarchy. Teams of Australian and New Zealand defense and police officials are already in Honiara, planning the deployment of 2,000 troops and police in the country of 80 islands, 1,400 miles northeast of Sydney, Australia. The Solomon Islands parliament must next pass a law allowing the force to operate in the country. Approval is expected before parliament ends its session next week and the force could deploy before August.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/10/2003 9:20 Comments ||
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If I read this correctly, this guy was in power due to a coup. Hardly makes him the legitimate voice of the people.
MERSIN - Zubeyir Timur, a member and executor of the terrorist Hezbollah organization who was wanted for being involved in abduction of slain writer Konca Kuris and murder of many people, was arrested on Wednesday. Timur, who has been wanted for a long time for being a member of the terrorist organization Hezbollah, abducting people and executing people on behalf of the organization, was captured in central province of Konya earlier in the day. He was transferred to prosecutorâs office after his interrogation was completed at the Provincial Directorate of southern province of Mersin. The court on duty arrested Timur and sent him to prison.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/10/2003 11:42:59 AM ||
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French President Jacques Chirac allegedly guaranteed that Bosnian Serb Gen. Ratko Mladic would not be transferred to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in exchange for the release of two French hostages in 1995, according to evidence presented at Slobodan Milosevicâs trial Wednesday. Look! Another line entry for the dictionary under âperfidyâ!
Chiracâs office issued a firm denial of any negotiations to release the French pilots being held by the Bosnian Serb army in the eastern Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica. ``There were no negotiations for the liberation of these two pilots,ââ presidential spokeswoman Catherine Colonna said. ``These allegations have no relation to reality.ââ Neither does French morality in its foreign policy.
Mladic is one of the courtâs top two fugitives, along with wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic. Milosevic read out parts of a transcript from a telephone conversation between Zoran Lilic, Milosevicâs predecessor as president of Yugoslavia, and the army chief of staff, Gen. Momcilo Perisic. It was provided to U.N. prosecutors by an unspecified foreign intelligence service. From the witness stand, Lilic confirmed the authenticity of the transcript, and said Chirac had gone along with the Yugoslav proposal to protect Mladic, then the head of the Bosnian Serb army, from the court. In the December 1995 conversation, Lilic and Perisic agreed to write Mladic a guarantee that they wouldnât surrender him to the court in The Hague, and referred to similar promises Chirac had allegedly given earlier. ``Iâll write this letter with the head of the FRY (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) to guarantee him (Mladic) he will not be delivered to anyone from the tribunal. He has got the guarantee by Chirac and Slobodan (Milosevic),ââ the transcript quoted Lilic as saying. Attaboy, Jacques! Donât worry about any international tribunals or anything, we all know the French are above all that.
At the time, Western diplomats were working out the details of the Dayton peace accord ending the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. ``He (Mladic) has the guarantee that he will get the same thing from Slobodan and Chirac. Accordingly, he has to deliver these men to us, if he wants to, or he should come with us and place the men at the place of his choice,ââ Lilic said in the intercepted telephone call. The hostages were released two days before the peace agreement was signed in Paris. At the time, Yugoslav officials had been under fierce international pressure to free the pilots or face unspecified sanctions and stories circulated that the release was part of a wider deal. A really wide deal.
Asked by trial prosecutor Geoffrey Nice if Chirac had actually offered such a deal to Mladic, Lilic answered, ``I cannot give you a âyesâ or ânoâ answer to that question.ââ He said Mladic was needed to work out a peace deal and that ``even Chirac supported him in a way.ââ In other words, yes.
Tribunal spokesman Christian Chartier had no comment on the allegation that Chirac had made an offer of protection for Mladic, but said such agreements ``would have no binding effect on the tribunalââ and its attempts to capture wanted suspects. Unless Chiraq tells them differently, in which case theyâll roll over.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/10/2003 12:27:28 AM ||
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What other mass-murderers and criminals are or have been under Chirac's protection?
Remember the story about the false French passports provided to help the escape of high-ranking Baathists?
Are families of Bosnian victims going to sue him for his support of genocidal maniacs?
An explosive device has gone off near a restaurant in downtown Moscow, killing a state security service expert who sought to disarm it. The Federal Security Service expert was killed when he triggered the handmade explosive device near the Imbir restaurant on Tverskaya-Yamskaya, Moscow's main thoroughfare, the police press service's deputy chief Kirill Mazurin said. According to police sources cited by the Interfax news agency, a woman tried to bring a rucksack with what appeared to be an explosive device into a restaurant on Tverskaya-Yamskaya, and fled when the restaurant's security attempted to search the rucksack. The woman was reportedly apprehended and the rucksack thrown out into the street, which the police had promptly cordoned off, sources added. Meanwhile, ambulances and police cars rushed to the scene, and people in surrounding houses were warned not to venture out, a witness at the scene said. Moscow has been on bomb alert since Saturday, when two women blew themselves up in a suicide attack at a Moscow rock concert, killing 14 people.
Looks like they've prevented another one...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 00:22 ||
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chechyn women seem to jihadi themselves more than chechyn men.
EFL. Hat tip LGF
There are many in American public life who have embarrassing pasts, like Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., or who engage in very questionable tactics, like Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.
But few members of mainstream organizations have worked closely and openly with terrorist groups, like Jeanne Butterfield, director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association is the immigration barâs equivalent of the American Bar Association. It is a national professional organization that requires membership, keeps immigration lawyers abreast of developments in immigration law and acts as an advocate for immigrants before legislative bodies. It also promulgates ethical standards for immigration lawyers.
Jeanne Butterfield is, in some sense of the term, the nationâs head immigration lawyer (search). A major part of the organizationâs work is developing and deploying legal strategies that ease the entry of immigrants, help to erect hurdles to their removal, and in many cases, are used in class actions to seek to keep people who never had any legal immigration status -- illegal aliens (search) -- in the country.
You may recall that it was Ms. Butterfield who said, just after a group of young men on student visas flew planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, "I donât think that the events of last week can be attributed to the failure of our immigration laws."
To understand Ms. Butterfieldâs history is to understand the newer and downright irresponsible positions taken by AILA. Before she was elected director of AILA, Jeanne Butterfield was executive director of the Palestine Solidarity Committee (search), the group that acted as a front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in much the same way that Sinn Fein acted as a representative of the Irish Republican Army -- but without participating in electoral politics and representative government as Sinn Fein has.
Instead, the Palestine Solidarity Committee seems to have devoted its efforts to apologizing for the PFLP and campaigning to isolate Israel, specifically U.S. aid to Israel. And then to help out Hamanâs agenda.
The nationâs third college - and the first on the East Coast - to harbor a national anti-Israel hate-fest, featuring tips for destroying the Jewish state and speeches from notable anti-Semites, will not be Columbia or NYU. A student group at Rutgers University, no slouch in the destroy-Israel department, has snagged the third annual National Student Conference of the Palestine Solidarity Movement, to be held Oct. 10-12. The event, which organizers expect to draw at least 500 Israel foes from the world over, is to include classes designed to teach kids how to pressure their universities to stop investing in companies that do business with Israel. Expect workshops in nonviolent resistance. Or so we hope.
Organizer Charlotte Kates told me peaceful resistance is the festâs guiding principle. Yet she noted that she, as well as the sponsoring organization, the New Jersey Solidarity Movement - an offshoot of International Solidarity - supports Palestinian homicide bombers. "Palestinian resistance in all its forms has been a very powerful tool of justice," said Kates, 23, a Rutgers law student. "All forms, from armed struggle to mass protest."
And does Israel have a right to exist? "Israel is an apartheid, colonial settler state. I do not believe apartheid, colonial settler states have a right to exist."
At the two previous conferences, at Berkeley, Calif., and the University of Michigan, pro-Palestinian rhetoric "crossed into virulent anti-Semitism," said Shai Goldstein, director of the New Jersey Anti-Defamation League chapter. The university said the show will go on, despite 230 letters of protest. As a state school, Rutgers bestows public funding to Solidarity, said a spokeswoman. Sent the following e-mail to the Governor of New Jersey,I urge all who read the article to do the same.
How can you allow these people to use and abuse Rutgerâs University.
These people publically aid and abet Palestian murders.
If you permit this "rally" to happen then you also will aid and abet murders.
My daughter,and her friends will soon be starting college and if this "rally" goes forward as proposed I will make sure they (daughter & friends) know about your and Rutgerâs perfidity and collusion with murders.I will also inform her that if she decides to attend Rutgerâs University,I will not pay for it nor will I provide her with financial support.
Feel free to contact me at the e-mail address above.
Sincerly,
A concerned father.
W.R.Manues
Posted by: Raptor ||
07/10/2003 8:56:35 AM ||
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New Jersey's governor has announced that he will be meeting with the University's President about this conference.
My e-mail to both pointed out that they would not allow the KKK or Aryan Nation to have a conference at this public university, so why allow these virulant anti-semites?
Yesterday, Ms. Kates is quoted as saying: Israel is an apartheid, colonial settler state. I do not believe apartheid, colonial settler states have a right to exist.
Today, wrapped in an American flag, Ms. Kates is quoted: "I certainly hope the governor will recognize the freedom of speech, freedom of political affiliation and academic freedom," Kates said. "It is completely inappropriate for him to dictate what student organizations do at this university."
This was covered over at Little Green Footballs. Ms. Kates has quite a trail in the Web, and coca puffs all the way.
ISLAMABAD: After the failure of marathon meetings and dialogue to reunite the Hizbul Mujahideen, the Abdul Majid Dar faction of the Hizb has joined the Held Kashmir based Hizb-e-Islami.
I'm not even going to speculate on whether they're affialiated with Hekmatyar's Hizb...
âAfter the meetings during the last one month failed to reunite the Hizb, the splinter group decided to join the Hizb-e-Islami led by Masood Sarfraz,â sources told Daily Times. They said efforts for reunification by the two Hizb factions, prominent Kashmiri leadership and the Jamaat-e-Islami had failed to unite the organisation. The late Abdul Majid Dar, a renowned Kashmiri commander, who was expelled by Hizb Supreme Commander Syed Salahudin, led the splinter group.
Syed also had Dar bumped off...
âAll top commanders of the Dar group and majority of its mujahideen joined the Hizb-e-Islami but some mujahideen refused to work under the new flag and leadership and they returned to their parent organisation,â sources said. âHizb Supreme Commander Syed Salahuddin made it clear that the organisation would not welcome back in its folds the commanders from the Dar group but the mujahideen wanting to rejoin the Hizb were welcome to do so,â sources added. âSome 50 to 60 mujahideen rejoined the Hizb.â
"Yeah. Sure. Come on back. We can always use cannon fodder..."
Sources said the development would also be a setback for the Hizb in terms of manpower as more then 350 mujahideen are no longer with it.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 17:26 ||
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More worshipping God with clubs and bottles and the occasional grenade...
KARACHI: Activists of the Tehrik Ahle Hadith and the Sunni Tehrik fought over the construction of a mosque in Orangi Townâs Hanifabad area on Wednesday.
"I'm more pious than you are!"
"Are not!"
"Take that!"
"Heretic!"
"Apostate!"
"Infidel!"
"Wanker!"
Activists of the Tehrik Ahle Hadith began construction of a mosque on an open space in Sector 10 of Orangi Town, and named it Masjid Rahmatulil Aalameen. Sunni Tehrik activists opposed the construction and asked them to stop it.
"They got enough mosques! Make 'em stop it!"
According to the police, Ahle Hadith activists continued with the construction of the mosque and after arguments began a brawl between activists of the two groups. They used sticks and exchanged blows during the free-for-all.
"Challenge my piety, will yez? Take that!"
"And that!"
"Look out! He's got a gun!"
The police arrived at the spot and separated the fighting youths.
"Knock it off, youse guyz, before somebody gets hurt. Worse, I mean."
According to the Sunni Tehrik leadership, the Ahle Hadith had already built five mosques in the area and the latest one was being constructed without the permission of the KBCA and the city government. The president of the Tahaffuz-e-Haqooq-e-Ahle Hadith Council, Allama Abdullah Ghazi, claimed the authorities had given Sunni Tehrik a free hand.
"Youse guyz always take their side! It ain't fair!"
âSuch an approach may lead to serious conflicts in the future,â he said. The two groups clashed last month in New Karachi for the possession of a mosque. During an exchange of fire, two persons, including a little boy, were killed and the DIG (Operations), Tariq Jamil, also suffered an injury to his left ankle.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 17:18 ||
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The Ahle Hadith belong to the Wahabi sect, while Sunni Tehrik are activists of the (once) moderate Brevhli sect that the majority of the Muslims in India and Pakistan follow.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
07/10/2003 21:22 Comments ||
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Additional District and Sessions judge, Peshawar, Mr Roy BeanSardar Irshad, has sentenced Mr Munawwar Mohsin, a mentally ill sub-editor of the daily âThe Frontier Postâ, to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 for committing âblasphemyâ. The facts of this case speak for themselves. On 29 January 2001, a letter sent by a foreigner via e-mail was inadvertently published in the letters column of âThe Frontier Postâ.
So Mohsin wasn't actually the guy who committed the "blasphemy"...
The paper was in financial crisis and was hard put to find good English-language journalists in Peshawar. Sub-editor Munawwar Mohsin, who was on duty on the night when the letter landed, did not comprehend the content of the letter and allowed it to be cut-and-pasted into the letters column.
"Yo! Mohsin! We need another inch and a half!"
"Ummm... Here, use this... You seen my bong, man?"
There was an uproar in the city upon the publication of the said letter, during which the âThe Frontier Postâ office was gutted and a cinema house put on fire.
Ah, the refined pleasures of life in a great civilization...
A judicial inquiry into the incident by Justice Qaim Jan Khan discovered that journalist Munawwar Mohsin was a drug addict who had just days earlier run away from the cityâs mental hospital.
What does one actually do to get tossed into a looney bin in Pakland?
The doctor there had informed the newspaper about it and then told the inquiry judge that the boy was mentally ill. The judicial inquiry therefore found him of unsound mind. But the sessions judge who sentenced Munawwar Mohsin to life imprisonment Tuesday decided that he was of sound mind.
"Sound enough to blaspheme Allah! It don't take much sound fer that!"
He thought in his wisdom that it was enough that the prosecution had not pursued the âdiminished liabilityâ line for him to dispense with professional medical opinion and pass the sentence.
"So just shut yer trap. I know what best in this sort of case!"
This is distressing. Judge Irshad is simply reacting to the ârevolutionaryâ Islamic MMA regime of Mr Akram Durrani in the NWFP and nailing his own true colours to the mast.
"Yew criticizin' me, boy? That's mighty close to blasphemy in these here parts!"
After coming to power, the MMA regime announced that, among other things, it would pursue accelerated prosecution of blasphemy cases and even wrote to the federal government to direct its attention to this matter with seriousness.
"Yes! We must deal with these cases quickly and stringently! Otherwise God will turn us all into pillars of salt!"
In fact, when a false case of blasphemy was brought against a teacher in Lahore by a vested interest bent on victimising him, the Peshawar assembly especially discussed the issue and asked the government to expedite the prosecution.
"We've heard enough! Go ahead and hang 'im!"
The upshot was that the said teacher was let off by the Lahore High Court, but was murdered outside the court by some unknown âpiousâ Muslims.
"'Unknown'? C'mon! You know who dunnit! Who was it?"
"You don't wanna know."
But Judge Irshad of Peshawar is not the only sessions judge who has sought paradise through a judgment such as this one. In August 2000, a Lahore sessions judge (incidentally, a relative of General Zia) convicted one Yusuf Ali of blasphemy and sentenced him to death. But the judgement was so badly written that the convicted person was sure he would get off on appeal. However, to make sure that he was dispatched, a fellow-prisoner shot him to death when he was being taken out of his death-cell.
"Mahmoud! They're takin' Yusuf outta his death cell! They're lettin' him off!"
"Can't have that. Hand me my guns!"
Needless to say, the murderer was connected to a religious militia.
"Yar! We be jihadis!"
At the high tide of jihad in the early 1900s, a retired judge of the Lahore High Court was killed in his office by a fanatic who thought he had wrongly bailed out a 14-year-old boy accused of blasphemy in Gujranwala.
"And we're gonna gang-diddle his little sister, too! That's 'cuz we're virtuous! And pious! And 'cuz we got guns! Wanna see my turban?"
The internationally abominated blasphemy law in Pakistan has, in one case after another, been exposed by judges who are either too scared to stand up to extremist religious elements or overly keen to prove their âpious credentialsâ. Meanwhile, human rights organisations and minoritiesâ forums have ceaselessly condemned a law that gives a handle to the fanatics among us to vent their extremism as a legal norm.
Next time somebody starts talking about how intolerant the Puritans were, ask 'em where they got their turbans...
The law was duly politicised after it was criticised for the sweeping ambit of its wording. The extent of this politicisation can be gauged from the fact that on one occasion a judge of the Lahore High Court actually went public with the statement that blasphemers should be killed by the people in the streets instead of being brought before the court.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 17:05 ||
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...Roy Bean Sardar Irshad...
Fred, that is a scream! LOL! The images created by the article, your comments, and the concept of the Dog's Breakfast are too much! ROTFLMAO!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/10/2003 17:48 Comments ||
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a fellow-prisoner shot him to death when he was being taken out of his death-cell.
another death-row walk-by shooting.
Posted by: john ||
07/10/2003 21:32 Comments ||
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US civil administrator Paul Bremer preached the need for a unified Iraq on Wednesday while offering no hint of special rights for the Shiite Muslim majority that dominates southern Iraq. Bremer's visit to the holy city of Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, pointedly avoided contact with the Shiite clergy that includes the powerful Ayatollah Ali Sistani, leader of the Hawza theological institution. The Americans have moved cautiously around the Shiite issue while hoping Iraq will emerge with a secular state and government free of influence from the Islamic Republic of Iran. "A representative government does not mean a government divided by any particular designation," Bremer said in response to a question about how the coalition would assign Shiite and Sunni leaders to a forthcoming Iraqi governing council.
"But... But... How can you form a government without turbans?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 16:27 ||
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A contingent of 104 troops from Norway, a Nato member, arrived in the Basra area Wednesday to help with the rebuilding of Iraq. The Norwegian forces, who will eventually number 150 and include engineers and mine-clearing experts, will be under British command. Some 2,000 Polish troops are also headed to the region to help keep order in parts of southern Iraq.
"Sven, meet Wladislaw. Wladislaw, Sven..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 16:24 ||
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The US army has seized between 400 and 500 rocket-propelled grenades in a vehicle travelling west of Baghdad and arrested its four Iraqi passengers, US Central Command said Wednesday.
"RPGs? What RPGs? We have no RPGs, effendi... Oh, those RPGs!... Those are for my grandmother. She's very sick. I was going to make her some soup..."
"The 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment (on Tuesday) seized a weapons cache of 400 to 500 rocket-propelled grenades from a vehicle at a traffic control point located between the cities of Ramadi and Al-Asad," 100 and 200 kilometres (60-120 miles) west of Baghdad respectively, Centcom said. "Four Iraqi males riding in the vehicle were detained," he said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 16:21 ||
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Shooting broke out at a meeting Wednesday of a private association of Iraqi industrial firms in Baghdad amid a row between old guard and newly-appointed members, leaving two wounded. A personal guard for a member of the group's old leadership committee, a former intelligence officer under Saddam Hussein, raised his Kalashnikov rifle and opened fire when his boss got into a heated row with newly-elected committee members, witnesses said. Two people were struck by bullets before more than a dozen Iraqi police and US soldiers rushed in and arrested three people, they added.
"I respectfully disagree with my learned colleague's statements. Mahmoud, shoot him."
"Hokay, boss."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 16:16 ||
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Gunmen fired on the car of Iraqi Central Bank governor Faleh Daud Salman in Baghdad late Monday, sources close to the governor said Wednesday. Salman escaped unharmed, but two other passengers were wounded.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 16:16 ||
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New information from remote locations of Iraq has pushed up the civilian death toll from the US-led war by 500 in the last month to at least 6,000, an Anglo-American research group said on Wednesday. The Iraq Body Count's (IBC) latest figures, based on media reports and more than a dozen counting projects from independent investigators in and outside Iraq, put the minimum number of civilians dead at 6,055 and the maximum at 7,706. "Both the US & the UK said they were taking every effort to minimize civilian casualties and talked a lot about smart, precision weapons," IBC researcher John Sloboda told Reuters. "From that, one could have expected a clean war with very few casualties, but I don't call 5,000 to 7,000 very few. It is clear the coalition claims were political claptrap."
Speaking of claptrap, I'd first have to wonder what the definition is of "civilians" these simpletons are using. Does it include the non-uniformed Bad Guys getting wiped out when they attack convoys? That'd push the numbers up.
The latest IBC toll has risen by about 500 after information arrived from areas that had not been reached before by outsiders.
I'd also have to wonder about reports coming in from places nobody's been. If nobody's been there, how'd we kill 'em? Mail 'em SCARE packages and have them drop dead from heart failure? If there're large numbers of deaders in places where nobody's been, how did the Academics and Peace Activists⢠verify the reports?/td>
The group says its statistics are the most comprehensive collation of civilian deaths available.
"Comprehensive" wouldn't appear to be the same thing as "reliable."
"If you look at a map of Iraq, there are still a lot of places, that you would imagine allied troops have gone through, where there have been no reports of killings yet, simply because no journalist or researcher has gone there," said Sloboda, a psychology professor from Britain's Keele University.
Or because nobody got killed...
The IBC, run by British and American academics and peace activists, has chastised London and Washington for not setting up an official investigation into civilian deaths. "Then there are the deaths by malnutrition and dehydration as a consequence of the war which we haven't even started talking about," Sloboda added.
And don't forget all those dead puppies and kittens and baby ducks...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 16:11 ||
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This groups count everyone that died during that period and probably includes many that were killed by Saddam's henchman. There was an American left wing group that counted about 3k, but they will probably boost that number to match this groups. This group is really fueling that anti-american setiment with their numbers. Our forces UK/U.S. went well out of their way to minimize collateral damege and this count makes it look like we targeted civilians. The Bathists are using this body count to recruit Arabs to fight in Iraq. I wasn't there but I would take a second look a the dates the person died and where our forces were fighting. I will bet anyone that this number will be halved before too long.
Weâre doomed! Islam Online sez so!
The Iraqi national resistance carried out the first martyrdom operation that targeted U.S. troops stationed in Baghdad airport, Iraqi sources told IslamOnlin.net. A statement obtained by IOLâs office in the Iraqi capital said that a man called Abu Abdullah, a truck driver, carried out the operation few days ago, leaving between 10 to 15 U.S. soldiers killed and dozens others wounded. The statement further said that three armored vehicles and one tank at least were destroyed during the operation. Humm, CENTCOM must be covering up, hadnât heard of that one.
Eyewitnesses told IOL that U.S. troops were demolishing parts of Baghdad airport to build up a prison for Iraqi detainees, adding that they rented a number of trucks to lift the debris. "Abu Abdullah was a driver of one of these trucksâŠHe loaded the truck with explosives and blow it up inside the airport field, causing deafening sound heard by the inhabitants of the area and sending plumes of black smokes skyward," they added. U.S. troops rent these trucks and hire laborers without checking the identities of the drivers or workers, which provides an easy access to under-construction sites. Sure, we donât check IDs. Weâre stupid that way.
U.S. troops also are moving around in streets without adequate protection, which made some Iraqi scholars issue a fatwa ruling that "it is not permissible to carry out martyrdom operations for the time being in Iraq because the enemy is an easy target and it is difficult to spare the blood of innocent Iraqis." "And weâre real concerned about innocent Iraqis."
A spokesman for the U.S.-led occupation forces in Iraq, however, declined to comment, but admitted a number of anti-U.S. attacks had been carried out in the airport area and its surrounding suburbs, blaming, in the mean time, remnants of the deposed Baath party and loyalists to ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein for such attacks. The message also asserted that there was in no way any link between the resistance operations and the latest audio tapes of Saddam, which were broadcast on Arab satellite channels. It further dismissed the alleged audio tapes as an attempt to "steal the limelight from the resistance and cast a fake glory on a totalitarian regime that was the cause of the appalling conditions and great suffering of the Iraqi people, not to mention the U.S. occupation." "Nope, Sammyâs boys ainât got nuthing to do with it."
A tape attributed to the toppled Iraqi president was broadcast Tuesday, July 8, by Aljazeera, calling on the Iraqis to unite and throw out the occupying U.S.-led forces from their country. It was the second broadcast message in four days to be attributed to Saddam. The earlier one, put out Friday, July 4, by Aljazeera and was deemed to be probably authentic by experts of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Residents from the airport area told IOL that the explosions and resistance operations against the U.S. troops in the area always coincided with the second Takbira (Allah is Greatest) of the dawn Adhan (call to prayer). Thatâs nice to know, weâll plan accordingly.
A message e-mailed to IOL last month, attributed to the Iraqi resistance, said its fighters had recently launched 14 al-Samoud 2 missiles at the a camp of the U.S. occupation soldiers in the airport area, destroying 23 helicopters, killing more than 20 soldiers and officers and injuring 30 others. Damm, another cover-up! Does CNN know about this?
Posted by: Steve ||
07/10/2003 9:52:54 AM ||
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Lies! Lies, I tell you. What really happened was that Abu Abu Mohammad Mohammad Abu Mohammad did in fact blow up his truck packed with explosives (kissed themselves by the lips of Allah). But first too lure the stupid American pig occupiers he yelled out "Look! It is that the famous American Tammy Faye Baker! She is naked and waiting for you to ravish her!" The Americans gathered into a group of 10,000 million. Abu Abu Mohammad Mohammad Abu Mohammad then cleverly detonated his explosives blowing himself high up to heaven only to land safely in the laps of 72,000 jillion virgins. Allah praise him.
Meanwhile, the infidels and their trucks were thrown up into space (by Allah's hand) where their pig bodies destroyed 3, no 15 American satellites. On the way back down they also destroyed 50 Stealth bombers, 675 tanks, 4 navy destroyers and we have good information that George Bush died as well! The Americans will try to lie to you but it is true. They will now show old footage of pig dog Bush and add an imposters voice. These lying pig dogs will stoop that low.
Oh yeah, the Jews ....well, they didn't do anything but kill them anyways because we are like so many lemmings running off a cliff into Allah's arms and must kill Jews.
*** Taken from an actual joint BBC / Baathists Party Freedom News article. (Yes, BBC was responsible for the fact checking)
Posted by: Paul ||
07/10/2003 17:11 Comments ||
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Denmarkâs troops in Iraq may dream of the frost of a Scandinavian winter on days when the temperature rises to a blistering 46 degrees. But many may have been wondering if the military back home really had to rub it in when a recent supply shipment turned up a snowplough and a stock of salt for icy roads. Baking in the heat and dust outside Basra, the 380-odd Danes could have been forgiven for thinking the lawnmowers also included in the cargo were a mirage. OK, how many people thought of an old episode of M*A*S*H?
"We admit that there were some mistakes made in the shipment of materiel," a military spokesman, Major Jan Brinck, told the AFP news agency. The mistake appeared "comical", he said, as Danish newspapers were reporting shortages of essential items such as morphine and even stakes for tents for the soldiers stationed at Qurna, 75 kilometres (45 miles) from Basra. It is a M*A*S*H episode!
"But we are trying to remedy the shortcomings and are working relentlessly to send the necessary materiel to our men," the spokesman stressed. He might also have mentioned other reported complaints from troops such as getting bullet-proof vests the wrong size and being assigned ageing military vehicles given a last-minute reprieve from the junkyard. Of course they sent the old vehicles, they donât expect to get them back.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/10/2003 8:55:52 AM ||
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Kinda the way most out of practice armies work. And, yes, I agree about the vehicles. They'll be left behind when the Danes leave. (And still be running thirty years from now because some mechanicly incline Iraqis will tinker with them forever.)
Nearly two months after dissolving Saddam Hussein's army, officials of the U.S.-led occupation said Wednesday that recruiting for a new force will begin next week. Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton said recruiting will start July 19 in Baghdad, the northern city of Mosul and the southern city of Basra. A 1,000-strong contingent will begin training in August and a further 12,000 by year's end. The number of trained recruits will reach 40,000 by the end of 2004, he said.
Good. We've got work for them to do...
Members of the four top levels in Saddam's now-banned Baath party will not be allowed to join the new army, said Eaton, an American who will be in charge of the training. "This is the seed of the future Iraqi armed forces," he told reporters. "They will be representative of all people of Iraq." Those eligible to join the army must be between 18 and 40 years of age. During the two-month training period, they'll be paid $60 monthly. Recruits who successfully complete training must serve a minimum of 26 months and their salaries will be determined according to rank. "A highly functional armed force will be an army to secure the nation, not the regime. ... It will be unpolitical" and represent Iraq culturally, ethnically and religiously, Eaton said.
All of which will be a new experience for them...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 00:58 ||
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Jordanian customs officials have confiscated more than 200 Iraqi artifacts from foreign and Iraqi travelers in the last 10 days, many apparently stolen from museums and archaeological sites, the director-general of the Customs Department said Wednesday. Mahmoud Qteishat said the smuggling attempts included the use of a humanitarian aid plane returning from Iraq. Customs officials at Marka airport found 24 artifacts on the plane, including bronze statues, clay pots and stamps in different sizes dating back to the ancient Sumerian era. Ahem. Which humanitarian agency?
Customs agents at the Iraqi-Jordanian border seized a car carrying some 168 Iraqi artifacts, including small statues, clay manuscripts, tablets and Sumerian stamps, Qteishat said. He said the smugglers were Iraqis. Qteishat told The Associated Press that the confiscated items will be stored at Ammanâs Archaeology Department and returned to Iraq when the security situation is restored. Nobody was arrested. Only if youâre Japanese and carrying a trinket home do you get arrested in Jordan.
Jordanian customs officials have confiscated more than 400 artifacts since the U.S.-led war in Iraq began on March 20, Qteishat said. The items include paintings, a larger-than-life statue of Saddam Hussein on a horse and photo albums of members of the ousted leaderâs families. The director said the Paris-based Interpol provided Jordanâs Customs Department with a database of several stolen treasures as a reference for planned acquisitions to the Louvre officials monitoring smuggling. In addition to the border crossing points and the airports, police patrols are roving the long border area to prevent smuggling attempts, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/10/2003 12:41:30 AM ||
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Assignment to these roving patrols is very popular among the Jordanian police, They get first pick.
Excerpted from MEMRI 6000 years of despotism. Zero sum mentality. Shame/Honor. Tribalism. Fanaticism. Itâs all here baby.
"The entire world is perplexed about us. Do we really seek our freedoms and attempt to rid ourselves of ages of oppression, deprivation, and domination? Do the Arab peoples really want to extricate themselves from the claws of the repressive regimes, or are they addicted to a life of decline, lowliness, and acceptance of humiliation? Have the Arab peoples become addicted to a life that is like being thrown into the darkness of the dungeon? Have they become addicted to floggings with whip and lash, to the dissolving [of victims] in acid, to the blows on the back of the head, to humiliation and insult?"
"I do not exaggerate by saying this, because within each one of us there is a little dictator who feels gratification when he is repressed by those stronger and more brutal than he, and who at the same time does not refrain from acting this same way, in his milieu, towards those weaker and inferior in status. And when that milieu expands, he gradually imposes this on more people, so that when this sphere grows and he is the one who decides first and last, and who gives the orders, dictatorship spreads and it is imposed on all the people. Thus yesterdayâs oppressed become todayâs oppressor; yesterdayâs subjugated become todayâs subjugator; he that was wronged now becomes the wrongdoer; the humiliated becomes the arrogant."
"Many Arab writers have gone berserk cursing the U.S. night and day for taking its time establishing democracy in Iraq â but they refuse to enter into any talk about the [lack of] desire of the Iraqi people, with all its factions, to experience democracy. So far, no Iraqi side has agreed to sit with the other side to arrive at an understanding regarding Iraq âs future as a united and sovereign country. Everyone wants his piece of the pie, and everyone rejects the other. The inside [i.e. Iraqis from Iraq] rejects the [Iraqis returning from exile] and vice versa â the left rejects the right, the right eradicates the left from being present, and so on and so forth."
"Does the Iraqi model of dealing with the problem of implementing democracy mean that the culture of negating the other flows in the blood of the Arab peoples to the point where they are incapable of ridding themselves of the enslavement to dictatorship and of repressive regimes? Does this mean that the Arab peoples have become addicted to [the point that they] accept repression, brutality, and an iron-fist policy, to the point where any talk about democracy may cause them horror and hallucination?"
Posted by: 11A5S ||
07/10/2003 12:23:43 AM ||
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Wow. Deep.
Posted by: Rafael ||
07/10/2003 0:31 Comments ||
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Think of it as a disease. The Mother of All Diseases.
It can become extremely virulent within an infected population and is most contagious when present en masse as it then controls its own environment.
It manifests itself most apparently in Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Indonesia. It currently seems poised to spread into other Asian and African regions, as well as westward. Free, democratic, and industrialized (i.e. affluent) populations appear to have the greatest degree of natural resistance - as evidenced by visibly lower infection rates in many areas, but this immunity varies across a wide range. It seems that no population is totally immune.
Each locale displays slight variations in the symptoms (e.g. external appearance: facial hair or lack, headwear design, etc.), but the disease process is the same. It activates and attacks children when they first begin to comprehend language and, if allowed to reinforce the initial phase with concentrated ongoing exposure, the host is doomed. This readily occurs in saturated populations - becoming ever more virulent over time for the complete lifecycle of the host. In fact, this agent is so insidious that it threatens death to any host so bold as to contemplate any form of treatment, whether it is through escape from the infected population or any degree of active resistance within.
The disease process begins by destroying individualism, identity, and intellectual curiosity - replacing them with total compliance and acceptance of the authoritarian. The advanced state of the illness commonly expresses itself through repression, brutality, blind hatred, and psychopathic insanity. This occurs when a sufficient number of hosts have been infected. This critical mass - a saturated population, once reached, utterly destroys social tolerance and discourse - and yields a total loss of self, will, honor and respect for others.
In the most advanced cases, saturated populations have been observed actively killing potential hosts through external means - without bothering to infect them. At this stage, the clinician is likely to find himself bewildered - as it is counterintuitive: this behavior runs counter to all other natural processes; it just makes no sense.
For young children it has been observed, in the rare cases where it has been possible to do so, that removal from the infected population may halt the process - if done early enough and the child is completely isolated such that they only have contact with naturally immune hosts.
For the mature individual, however, if reared in an infected population - particularly one displaying the characteristics of an advanced stage - there is no known cure. It leaves no aspect, no potential, absolutely nothing of the individual host uncorrupted.
All identified vectors should be aggressively treated - with extreme prejudice and without hesitation - at the first signs of symptomatic behavior. Total eradication will likely be necessary to check the spread and prevent future outbreaks.
The only know pathogen with a human fatality rate of 100 percent: Islam.
Comes as a surprise, doesn't it? I know... Floored me, too.
DENPASAR: The Bali bombers were inspired by an edict issued by Osama bin Laden, according to a witness statement read to an Indonesian court on Thursday. Prosecutors in the trial of key Bali suspect Imam Samudra read the statement from another top suspect Wan Min bin Wan Mat, who is detained in Malaysia. Wan Min said he believed the bombings were intended as a "warning for foreigners — Americans and Australians who are setting their feet in Bali and who are infidels and enemies of Islam." He said the blasts were carried out "as a fatwa (edict) issued by Osama bin Laden and this was based on sermons by JI leaders such as Hambali between 1999 and 2000."
Ummm... Binny's not even an Islamic scholar. He's a guy with a lot of money and some gunnies. He's not qualified to issue fatwas, though if he was that's the sort of fatwa he'd issue...
Wan Min admitted he had sent 30,500 dollars in three instalments to Mukhlas to finance "operations in Indonesia as previously planned" in Bangkok. He said he had no idea what the money would be used for and was only carrying out orders by Hambali and Mukhlas. Wan Min said he had known Samudra since 1995 and Samudra had often visited Mukhlas at the Lukmanul Hakim Islamic boarding school in Malaysia's Johor state.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 21:18 ||
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BANDA ACEH: Indonesian troops shot dead a rebel leader from Peudawa Puntong, Idi Rayeuek, eastern Aceh, on Wednesday morning. The rebel leader, identified as Pawang Abubakar, was killed in an armed clash with Indonesian soldiers led by Capt. Rianto, spokesman of the Indonesian Military Operations Command in Aceh Lt. Col. Ahmad Yani Basuki said. During the operation, the Indonesian troops managed to seize a walkie-talkie radio, a cellular phone, a flag of the separatist movement and a motorboat, Basuki said.
No guns?
He disclosed that a gunfight between Indonesian soldiers and rebels also broke out in Makmur, North Aceh district, at about 3 p.m. on Wednesday. During the shootout, he said, Pvt Ali Sadikin sustained gunshot wounds to his leg and was taken to Lhokseumawe, some 270 km east of here, for medical treatment.
Ah, good. Casualties on both sides. Excellent!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 21:14 ||
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Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday urged Muslim countries to equip themselves with modern knowledge and weapons to fight oppression by world powers and restore their civilization to its former glory. "Especially weapons!"
In a speech opening an international conference of Islamic scholars, Mahathir chastised Muslims for their "weakness and backwardness" and said they are being humiliated in the U.S.-led international fight against terrorism. Muslims were once a global force in fields as diverse as military conquest, scholarship and architecture, but they failed to keep up with the development of Europeans, Mahathir said. Muslims "have not tried to catch up and surpass their detractors in knowledge and the capacity to produce arms, to have disciplined and well-trained forces for their defense," Mahathir said. The Koran makes a terrible operations manual.
"The Muslims will never be able to bring back the honor and the respect for Islam ... unless they become capable again of defending themselves," he said. But Muslims should not try to achieve these aims through violence and terrorism, he said. "Our salvation will not be achieved by blindly killing innocent people," Mahathir said. "No, you must have your eyes open to aim properly!"
About 800 delegates from 33 countries are attending the three-day conference in Malaysiaâs administrative capital, Putrajaya. They will consider issues facing Muslim nations, including economic development, misconceptions about Islam and terrorism. They still are in the "misconceptions about islam" phase.
Mahathir, 77, who has led this mostly Muslim country for 22 years, is respected as a moderate Muslim leader and is a U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism. But he has also been a critic of the way that fight has been waged, saying it has become an excuse for Western powers to attack Muslims. He has opposed the U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Heâs our ally in the fight against terrorism as long as the terrorists we fight arenât islamic.
"Although Muslims suffer much more from terror, only Muslims and Islam are linked to terrorism," Mahathir said Thursday. Wonder why that is?
"We must ask ourselves why the Muslims have to endure this humiliation presently," he said. "We know that the Muslims have not really tried to change their fate, their weakness and backwardness." Well, thatâs true.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/10/2003 9:14:15 AM ||
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At least five people are reported to have been killed and about 20 injured in a blast in a crowded market in the Philippines. The casualties in the city of Koronadal include a number of children, military spokesman Daniel Lucero told the Associated Press news agency. President Gloria Arroyo condemned what she called a "terroristic act", her spokesman said. No group has said it carried out the bombing in the predominantly Christian city of about 780,000 people, but the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front is active in the region. Thatâs my guess.
Ten people were killed by a bomb in the city in May which was blamed on the MILF rebels. This latest attack took place on the eve of an annual city festival. Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said investigations were under way to determine who was behind the blast. He said the attack should not affect peace talks taking place between the government and the MILF, who have been fighting for Muslim self-rule in the southern region of Mindanao for more than 30 years. Canât let a few bodies get in the way of peace.
Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu denied his group was responsible for Thursdayâs blast. "We highly condemn this act. This is entirely unacceptable to the MILF," Mr Kabalu told the French news agency AFP. "We have no reason to do something like this," he said, referring to the ongoing peace process. "We was framed!"
Posted by: Steve ||
07/10/2003 8:47:45 AM ||
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Confessed Bali bomber Ali Imron has told an Indonesian court the main blasts were detonated using cell phones in an operation that went off "as scripted". Imron's evidence is the most detailed testimony yet on the execution of the attacks. Imron, who has not yet gone on trial, was testifying in the trial of his elder brother Ali Ghufron, alias Mukhlas. Imron, who has acknowledged his involvement in the attack, drew bursts of laughter from Mukhlas when he admitted to a mix of happiness and regret over the bombings. Prosecutors allege Mukhlas, 43, was in charge of the Bali operation. He faces death if convicted on charges of plotting, organising and carrying out terrorist crimes.
But he doesn't think he's going to get it...
Jakarta has alleged Mukhlas is the operations chief of Jemaah Islamiah (JI).
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 00:16 ||
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I think heâd fit right in...
Jerry Springer, the talk show host who put wife-swappers, strippers and skinheads on the air and then watched the punches fly, will file papers to run for the U.S. Senate as early as Friday, advisers said. Like I said, Heâll fit right in.
Springer, 59, the former Cincinnati mayor, will not decide whether to actually run until later this month, said Mike Ford, his political adviser. Didnât the reason he lost the mayorâs job have something to do with hookers?
The early filing is necessary to avoid getting into legal trouble for raising money without officially declaring a candidacy, Ford said. Springer is airing 30-minute infomercials across the nation to raise money and build support for his possible run for the Democratic nomination next year. Do they feature incestuous trailer trash families hitting each other over the head with chairs?
The infomercial, paid for by Springer, is part biography and part fund-raiser. It explains how Springerâs parents fled Nazi Germany for England, then moved to the United States just before Springerâs fifth birthday. The ad seeks small donations and offers T-shirts, bumper stickers and CDs of Springer singing "rockabilly" music. Wow! Where do I sign up! Itâs worth it just for the CD!
The infomercial will air for about two weeks in several U.S. cities including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Memphis, Tenn., New Orleans, San Antonio and New York. Ford would not say how much it cost. It was not immediately scheduled to air in Ohio because of concerns over equal access, meaning TV stations would have to offer equivalent time to other candidates. The infomercial also addresses potential problems by Springerâs talk show, known for its profanity, fistfights, cheating spouses and incestuous relationships. Springer repeats a theme he has voiced several times in recent months â that his show is not responsible for problems in Ohio with schools, jobs and the economy. Believe me, folks. Keeping these people on my show and off the streets probably helps cut down on crime. At least for an hour or so.
The infomercial focuses on a comment by National Review commentator Jonah Goldberg on a Sunday morning talk show several months ago. Goldberg warned of new people brought to the polls by Springer, including "slack-jawed yokels, hicks, weirdos, pervs and whatnots." Was he talking about the Senate or the voters?
The infomercial offers that quote on a T-shirt and inserted into a signed photograph of Springer next to a sign for Hicksville, Ohio. Springer refers to the quote and talks about wanting to reach out to "regular folks ... who werenât born with a silver spoon in your mouth." This strategy worked for Huey Long...for awhile.
State Sen. Eric Fingerhut, a Democrat, has already announced his candidacy for the Senate seat. The Democratic winner will probably take on Republican Sen. George Voinovich. Eric Fingerhut???
"A half-hour infomercial doesnât wipe out what heâs been doing for a decade," Fingerhut said Thursday. "All it does tragically is identify Ohio with his level of entertainment." As opposed to what? Dennis Kucinich?
Severely edited--a must-read, though.
The RPG-7 has a rudimentary sighting mechanism, and is basically "point and shoot." You can be trained to use an RPG-7 in minutes. Anyone who is already a good shot with a rifle, can become quite accurate with an RPG-7 after firing a few rounds. After a few dozen rounds, amazing feats of accuracy can be achieved. For example, Afghans were able to use RPGs against the reactive armor on Russian armored vehicles by firing one RPG to detonate the reactive armor (blocks of explosives mounted on an armored vehicle, which exploded when hit by an RPG, thus destroying the armor penetrating effect of the RPG.) But once a section of reactive armor had exploded, it left that portion of the vehicle unprotected. Another RPG gunner would immediately fire another rocket and hit that spot (about the size of a window), thus penetrating the vehicles armor and destroying it. These tactics were used when the RPG gunners were within 50 meters of the vehicle being attacked. Still, it was a remarkably effective tactic that was used many times. Tanks were often immune to RPG rockets, at least their front armor. So the RPG gunners would either try for a rear shot, or hit the vision blocks for the driver, gunner and commander. Thus blinded, the RPG gunners could maneuver for a kill. Naturally, the Russians tried to protect their tanks and armored vehicles with infantry. But when an RPG rocket hit, it killed or injured most people within 10-15 feet of the explosion. Thus the Afghans would fire barrages of six or more RPG rockets at a Russian tank, to incapacitate or drive away the infantry so the vehicle could be taken out. It was the Afghans who first figured out how vulnerable tanks are to RPG shots at their rear end. Go read the full article!
Posted by: Dar ||
07/10/2003 3:21:58 PM ||
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It was the Afghans who first figured out how vulnerable tanks are to RPG shots at their rear end.
That's got to be wrong. Infantry from every army in the world know that tank armor is thinner around the sides, in the rear and on top. Most of the lessons regarding the limitations of anti-tank weapons vs tank frontal armor were learnt in WWII. US bazooka rounds, in particular, had a way of bouncing off the frontal armor of Tiger tanks. The same thing happened with GI's facing North Korean T-34's in the Korean War.
The Afghan mujahideen received coaching from the Pakistanis and reputedly from the British SAS, as well. They may have learnt anti-armor techniques on their own, but I suspect formal training had something to do with the methods they employed against the Russians.
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It's also worth noting that those "impressive Afghan RPG tactics" haven't been very effective against the U.S. Supposedly we're being hit with 13 attacks a day since May 1 (granted not all of them with RPGs), and we've lost 25 killed. There's defintely not anything like the effectiveness that was achieved against the Soviets.
Posted by: Ralph ||
07/10/2003 18:54 Comments ||
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Federal authorities on Thursday announced that 18 U.S. businesses were searched as part of a probe into arms shipments to Iran including components for fighter jets, missiles and other weapons. Agents with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Defense Criminal Investigative Service also served seven grand jury subpoenas on the firms, but no charges were immediately brought and no arrests were made.
The companies are suspected of violating the Arms Export Control Act by supplying prohibited military items to Multicore Ltd., a London-based front company that supplies the Iranian military, according to U.S. officials. The items include parts for Hawk missiles, F-14 Tomcat and F-4 Phantom fighters, C-130 Hercules transport planes and military radar. Multicore, also known as AKS Industries, has been under U.S. and British investigation since February 1999. "The lives of American war-fighters can be placed at direct risk through illegal transfer of military components," said Joseph Schmitz, Defense Department inspector general.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/10/2003 1:04:17 PM ||
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Yesterday, three student leaders were seized by the regimeâs goons and are now in capitivity.
Itâs useful to see the true face of tyranny - a face so familiar and comforting to the anti-American ideologues running the BBC.
Yesterday, the Beebâs leftists described the 1999 massacre of students as a "police raid." Yeah, and Tiananmen Square was a street fight. How do these BBC apologists for theocratic terror live with themselves?The BBC apologists are upholding the fine journalistic tradition of kowtowing to dictators that oppose western ideals - e.g., Stalin.
North Korea has successfully cloned two male rabbits who have gone on to reproduce, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said today. The rabbits, cloned a year ago by the institute of experimental biology under the Northâs academy of science, have since fathered dozens of leverets, the agency said in a dispatch monitored here. They got rabbits to breed? Quick, call the Nobel Prize committee!
"Researchers of the institute made two rabbits (male) in July last year by developing a somatic cell cloning technology based on fibroblast derived from 15-day-old foetus," the agency said."The one-year observation of these rabbits proved that they had fertility. The rabbits have already produced tens of leverets." What are they feeding them, White Slag? The people are eating all the grass.
Though bankrupt North Korea has suffered from chronic food and energy shortages, the Stalinist stateâs media says it is forging ahead with cutting edge biotechnology research. "Our next project is getting a chicken to cross the road. All we need is a chicken."
Posted by: Steve ||
07/10/2003 11:10:13 AM ||
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Iran strongly denied on Thursday an American accusation that it had moved some border posts several kilometres into Iraq. "I strongly deny it. Since before the American presence in Iraq until the present day there have been no changes in Iranâs border posts", the Islamic Republicâs government spokesman Abdollah Ramazanzadeh told Reuters. Then his lips fell off
On Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a Senate committee there had been reports Tehran had moved posts several kilometers inside Iraq. "Certainly that is behavior that is not acceptable and they should be staying on their own side of the border", he said. Or weâll blow them back shell by shell
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/10/2003 9:57:53 AM ||
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The Libyan government is helping to negotiate the release of 15 European morons tourists held for four months by a group of Islamic extremists in the Algerian Sahara, the Algerian newspaper Le Quotidien dâOran reported Tuesday. Citing unnamed Algerian security sources, the newspaper said Libya had proposed to pay a ransom of EUR 15 to 20 million on Libyan territory and had promised not to extradite the kidnappers to Algeria. Tripoli also offered them a change of identity and the protection of the Libyan government, it said. "Ya did good, kids. We could use some hard-working, motivated self starters like youze."
The newspaper reported that Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands were prepared to pay the ransom to free their special ed students kidnapped citizens. Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is said to support the plan. Bouteflika visited Tripoli on May 15 with several high-ranking officers of Algeriaâs intelligence services. Algerian security sources also reportedly said the dimbulbs hostages - ten Germans, four Swiss and one Dutch national - were still being held near the city of Illizi, in part of the Sahara desert about 1,200 kilometres south of the capital Algiers. Another 17 hostages held by members of the same Islamic group were freed in mid-May after what military authorities said was a pitched battle in which nine kidnappers and one soldier were killed. The 32 European tourists went missing between February 22 and early April while exploring the southern Algerian Sahara in all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles. Ugh. Next time I go ATVâing about garden spots like Algeria, and I get captured by Islamic hard boyz, donât fork over any dough for my worthless self. Have a drink, say a prayer, but for Gdâs sake, donât negotiate with terrorists!!!.
Posted by: seafarious ||
07/10/2003 1:33:04 AM ||
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Festivities Fighting among hundreds of gunmen from rival clan-based factions in northwestern Somalia has killed more than 40 people and wounded 90, clan members said Wednesday. The fighting around Awleh, a remote village about 500 miles northwest of the capital, Mogadishu, erupted Monday and continued Wednesday. Details were sketchy and it was not clear what caused the clashes between the Sa'ad and Dir clans.
I'm sure they had a good reason. After all, it was a Monday...
Ali Diriyeh Alloreh, a senior member of the Sa'ad, said 25 people from his clan had been killed and 50 others wounded in the fighting between gunmen armed with rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and pickups fitted with heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft guns. Abdullahi Mohamed Ali Dayib, a member of the Dir, said 18 men from his clan had been killed in the clashes and more than 40 wounded.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 00:53 ||
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#1
Ahh the Sa'ad and Dir clans.... pretty much the Montagues and Capulets of flea-bitten qhat-chewing hellholes
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/10/2003 9:46 Comments ||
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#2
Hey, the Hatfields and the McCoys signed a peace treaty about a month ago. If they can do it, so can these guys!
I just cannot determine what there is to fight about in Somalia. One clan has more dust than the other?
In an effort to avert a possible collapse of the fragile truce between Israel and Palestinians, Egypt has resumed its mediation efforts in Gaza for the purpose of reasserting the three-week truce, now endangered by increasing Israeli incursions into Palestinian population centers. On Wednesday, Col. Mustafa al Beheiri, Deputy-chief of the Egyptian Intelligence, arrived in Gaza to urge the leaders of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad to uphold the truce.
Gotta beg them to keep their word...
Al-Beheir, who played a pivotal role in convincing the resistance groups to accept the truce three weeks ago, met with Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Islamic Jihad leaders. Al Beheiri reportedly informed Palestinian leaders that attacks such as Sunday night's bombing near Netanya, north of Tel Aviv, in which two persons were killed including the bomber, would give Israel the pretext to break the cease-fire, and resume the open-war on the Palestinians.
Got it: IJ's breaking the ceasefire gives Israel the pretext to break the ceasefire. Gawd! I love pure reason!
Hamas leaders told al Beheiri that Israeli attacks and acts of assassination, as well as arrests of Palestinian activists, continued unabated, despite Palestinian restraint. "We told him that we are patient, but that our patience has limits,' said Ismale Haniya, a leader of the Islamic movement in Gaza. "The Zionist regime bears full responsibility for the collapse of the truce if it happens."
"No matter how many people we kill..."
Al Beheiri is expected to meet with leaders of the Islamic Jihad resistance groups later on Wednesday in an a bid to convince them to stick to the cease-fire. The Islamic Jihad, whose military Wing, Saraya al Qods (Jerusalem's regiments) took responsibility for the bombing, has reaffirmed its commitment to the truce. "This was an exception, it might be a warning to Israel that the Palestinians wouldn't stand idle while Israel continued to target and kill our people," said Muhammed al Hindi, a prominent leader of the Islamic Jihad in Gaza. Al-Hindi and other Palestinian leaders from Hamas and Fatah accused Israel of violating the truce on a daily basis by carrying out provocative incursions into Palestinian population centers and by assassinating Palestinian activists.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 00:43 ||
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#1
Americans to Asshat Pal Killers: Our Patience Has Limits.
And, BTW, this is your last chance to ever have a Pal "state" - whatever the phuck that means.
#2
c'mon PD it isn't ALL of Islam that is bad,
Just the Islamofascist fundamentalists. They are trying their hardest to win over/bully the secular muslims community, who are not a problem for anyone and who are part of life's rich tapestry.
As Daniel Pipes says: Islamism is the problem, moderate Islam is the solution.
#3
Unfortunately, PD americans through Bush are NOT saying to Asshat Pal Killers that their patience has limits.
Au contraire... they are saying proceed as you did at Oslo.
I hate to say this, I wish it were different BUT why the hell are they tolerating Paleo breaking of the peace, proceeding ahead with the Roadmap, and allowing Israel to be bullied into releasing Paleo terrorists?
They are STILL not acknowledging publicly that teh paleo terrorist groups do not accept Israel's right to exist and have declared a tactical ceasefire only - they do NOT agree to the roadmap.
Really the tanks would have rolled in by now if they were serious but they have not so I doubt the gumption behind it.
Watch the paleos go on bombing as if nothing has changed.
#5
Anon1 - I agree with all you said here. I do believe, however, that this IS their last and only bonafide offer for a non-apocalyptic resolution.
The roadmap is solely for political coverage - I certainly don't believe there's anyone over age 5 on either side who actually truly believes it will succeed.
What I think will eventually happen is that some Pal symp will get his hands on a WMD and use it. How effective it is will be all that remains in question. The certainty is that, thereafter, no end will come until there is utter obliteration of the Pals and those who've been stupid enough to be publicly aligned with them.
#6
Anon1 - maybe PD is over the top but he has some points. There are many people who do not think moderate Islam is possible in the long term. The hatred is latent in the Koran and the Hadiths. Many moderate anti-Wahabi muslims are filled with incandescent hatred (especially Jew hatred). I think Pipes knows this and considers moderate Islam to be only a temporary solution. The long term solution to Islam might be a mass movement of former Islamics denouncing Islam in arabic.
#7
Anon1 - You can teach a child to believe anything - absolutely anything - all you need to do is whack it across the forehead, day in and day out, for years. This, they do for a lifetime. They inculcate total obedience to and faith in the Imams and Mullahs - whatever they interpret the words to mean is IT. Period. Once a person has been thus immersed and indoctrinated, they are lost to reason.
Now I'd like to hear a recitation of the "moderate" Imams and Mullahs who have spoken out in Arabic in the Arabic Press with the same vehemence and indignity as the Islamozoids spew venom. Hasn't happened. Won't happen.
When I first went back to Saudi Arabia, I ASKED one of my Saudi "friends" why he wasn't pissed, absolutely pissed, that his religion had been hi-jacked by the extremists. His response, this from my moderate Western-world loving fast-car driving hard-drinking (in Bahrain) woman-chasing Muslim friend, was that the Jews and their supporters have it coming. I mentioned that this must certainly include America, and thus Americans, so it included me. His response to that was surprise and, after a moment, a shrug. He had never thought it through and his childhood hate training was running the show - and he was unaware of it or its consequences. And this was a BRIGHT Saudi guy - an administrator who would someday be a manager in Aramco. Needless to say, I told him to go fuck himself. He wanted to "repair" the "friendship" - but it was obvious that he was schizophrenic, and the important part of him was the indoctrinated child who was taught to hate without question and believe without question. Over the next 3 years, I found him to be the norm not the exception.
Daniel Pipes may be a smart guy. He may know things that I don't. But he doesn't know dick about Arabs, patricularly Saudi Wahabbi Sunnis and Pakistani Sunnis. I have neither seen nor heard anything significant come out of this so-called moderate Islam. Methinks it's a myth propagated by those who've "wished" this element into exsitence and want to think of themselves as fair and tolerant - and calling a spade a spade is too hard for them - they couldn't maintain the fantasy, if they did.
#8
When I first went back to Saudi Arabia, I ASKED one of my Saudi "friends" why he wasn't pissed, absolutely pissed, that his religion had been hi-jacked by the extremists. His response, this from my moderate Western-world loving fast-car driving hard-drinking (in Bahrain) woman-chasing Muslim friend, was that the Jews and their supporters have it coming. I mentioned that this must certainly include America, and thus Americans, so it included me. His response to that was surprise and, after a moment, a shrug. He had never thought it through and his childhood hate training was running the show - and he was unaware of it or its consequences. And this was a BRIGHT Saudi guy - an administrator who would someday be a manager in Aramco. Needless to say, I told him to go fuck himself. He wanted to "repair" the "friendship" - but it was obvious that he was schizophrenic, and the important part of him was the indoctrinated child who was taught to hate without question and believe without question. Over the next 3 years, I found him to be the norm not the exception.
Remember Solaiman Faizi (look him up in Google) of the Mustafa Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan? Same exact profile as your Saudi friend - he went to Rutgers, was quite a swordsman and drank up a storm in his college days. He drove a bright yellow Camaro. Whenever the subject of politics came up, he spent a lot of time railing both against America and against "the influence of Jews" in this country. And we went to school together. This is your moderate Muslim. I guess he's moderate compared to the Khmer Rouge or bin Laden, but I can't really see any other context in which he can be perceived as moderate.
Most Muslims are decent people but that is _despite_ Islam. Read the book. Oh you will find some admirable sentences but these are Mecca surates, they are superceeded by the later Medina surates and these are full of megalomania: "God and his angels pray for Muhammad" (Since when God has _needed_ to pray?), greed andhate: "Rid the Arabic peninsula of Jews and Christians". I will not mention the racism in Haddiths: "Arabs are the best of men" or the repugnanat actions of Muhammad like extermination of entire tribes because he coveted their treasures or wanted to arep their women.
So the problem is not Islamism, it is Islam.
I will also add that in the case of Saudis they have a political and monetary interest in Islam: it is Islam who makes them from an un important people (except for their oil but oil wells can be captured) into the center of universe (Mecca and the hadj business) and the beacon of humankind (It looks like Afghans were pised by their arrogance).
#10
The quickest way we (the US) can help bring peace there is to send more bricks and mortar to the Israelis and help finish their wall that much sooner.
Posted by: Dar ||
07/10/2003 10:01 Comments ||
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A casual statement by South African President Thabo Mbeki during a Wednesday news conference with President Bush has produced anger in neighboring Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe's opposition leader accuses Mbeki of making false statements to Bush about the crisis in his country by saying talks between Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and the opposition are progressing. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, told the BBC, "Such statements are manifestly partisan, designed to buy time for the beleaguered illegitimate Mugabe regime.
I wouldn't trust Thabo, either. Birds of a feather...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 00:35 ||
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JERUSALEM (AP) - Newly declassified transcripts back up Israelâs claim that its attack on a U.S. spy ship during the 1967 Middle East war was an accident, a Florida judge who has been investigating the case for 16 years said Wednesday. Israel has always maintained it thought the USS Liberty was an Egyptian military supply ship when it ordered its forces to attack on June 8, 1967, killing 34 American sailors and wounding 171. But critics charge Israel knew the ship was American. Questions about the case have long dogged U.S.-Israel relations.
Miami Judge A. Jay Cristol received transcripts of transmissions from two Israeli helicopter pilots, sent to check for survivors after the attack. The pilots referred to the ship as Egyptian and were surprised to discover it was flying an American flag. The recordings, in Hebrew, were made by a U.S. spy plane hovering over the site. The transcript of the transmissions records the air controller telling one of the pilots, "The ship is now identified as Egyptian, you can return home now."
Cristol told The Associated Press he received the transcripts after submitting a Freedom of Information request to the U.S. National Security Agency, which had kept the recordings secret for 37 years. After his request was denied, Cristol filed suit in federal court and forced their release. Agency spokesman Patrick Weadon confirmed Cristol had been sent the transcripts. "We provided the tapes as part of the historical record," Weadon said. "The agency takes no official position on what happened to the Liberty."
Cristol, who has written a book about the case, said, the tapes "show both the helicopter pilots and their controller ... believed the Israeli air force had targeted an Egyptian ship." A National Security Agency summary of the incident says the Israelis were confused over the stricken shipâs identity more than an hour after the attack. Cristol provided the summary and full transcripts of the pilot and tower recordings to The Associated Press.
Israel has long maintained the attack was the result of a tragic mistake during the heat of battle. Israel was at war with Egypt, Syria and Jordan at the time. An Israeli commission of inquiry concluded the Israeli air force believed the targeted ship was an Egyptian cargo vessel ferrying supplies to Egyptian troops fighting Israeli forces. However, some of the Libertyâs survivors and some officials in the U.S. defense establishment have rejected this view, contending Israel deliberately targeted the ship to keep the United States from learning that Israel was planning to attack Syria as part of its strategy during the war. The Israeli daily Haaretz, which first reported the disclosures in its Wednesday edition, quoted Cristol as saying the tape transcripts were the last classified intelligence about the Liberty. Iâd like to believe this, it makes sense given the inevitable fog of war. But still I wonder ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/10/2003 12:35:00 AM ||
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#1
Why did the NSA hide the evidence for 36 years?
#2
What has been clear from the beginning, and this transcript bears it out, is that the Liberty was clearly identified as American. The fact that the pilots can report it flying an American flag and be told "It's Egyptian" is evidence of that.
I do not believe that they intentionaly targeted the Liberty, as an American ship. They did, however, fail to come close to any reasonable standard of identifying their target properly before attacking. This could have been a cruise ship, or a ferry, or any number of civilian vessels. Really sloppy command and control, and, yes, I expect better from the Israelis.
#3
They did, however, fail to come close to any reasonable standard of identifying their target properly before attacking.
I think that's a bit excessive. Almost every war that Israel has fought could have resulted in the country's extinction. Given that fact, it is understandable if the Israeli instinct was to shoot first and ask questions later. Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6 - in this case, applied to an entire nation.
An American flag on a ship means nothing in the context of Arab treachery. False flag operations are not unknown in modern warfare. The Germans certainly did a lot of Q-ship maneuvers in WWII, and they were nowhere near as dishonorable as the Arabs are.
The answer lies elsewhere, somewhere up the chain of command in the US Navy, for not ensuring that Israeli forces knew about the presence of the Liberty. Note that it was the Israeli military that was in information overload mode, not the Pentagon, since the Israelis were fighting a war on all fronts. It was the Pentagon's job to make sure the message got through loud and clear through the clutter, and they dropped the ball big time.
#5
Chuck - well, though what you say makes sense to all in the here and now, I want to toss out a couple of observations:
this was WAR and it WAS 36 yrs ago when C&C was your radio, if it worked, and gut instincts. Their entire world was about the size of New Jersey - not much room for error in the non-aggressive direction. If anyone does learn lessons from war, it's the Israelis. Only a very few nations even think about training their military relentlessly in avoiding mistaken identity and collateral damage - at peril to themselves. Israel is probably now among those very few.
US President George W Bush says South African President Thabo Mbeki is "the point man" to resolve Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis, which Washington has warned threatens regional stability.
I wouldn't expect too much from him. Bob'll die of old age before anything Thabo sets in motion happens...
In a warming of relations, the two leaders publicly set aside differences over Mr Mbeki's opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq and presented a united front on Zimbabwe in hour-long talks that also touched on Liberia, AIDS and trade. Zimbabwe had been expected to expose fresh divisions. Washington had called for southern African states to pressure Zimbawean President Robert Mugabe to agree to political changes, while Mr Mbeki is reluctant to lean on his northern neighbour. But Mr Bush said after the talks in Pretoria he would not second guess Mr Mbeki's policy of "quiet diplomacy" on Zimbabwe. Mr Bush, whose rethink has been prompted by growing US reliance on Africa's oil and intelligence that Al Qaeda could use Africa as a hideout, says Mr Mbeki was working very hard on Zimbabwe. "He believes he's making good progress. I think Mr Mbeki can be an honest broker," he said, adding that they both wanted the same outcome in Zimbabwe. But he says Washington will continue to speak out "when we see a situation where somebody's freedoms have been taken away from them and they're suffering".
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 00:25 ||
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EFL
President Bush suggested Wednesday that any U.S. military help in ending brutal civil unrest in Liberia might consist mostly of advisers and trainers to avoid stretching American forces too thinly around the globe. ``We wonât overextend our troops, period,ââ Bush said at a joint news conference with South African President Thabo Mbeki, who had pressed him on what role the United States would play in the crisis.
African nations want the United States to do more to end the bloodshed in the western Africa nation. But U.S. lawmakers, including some leading Republicans, have questioned the wisdom of yet another major overseas military entanglement with so many troops already on the ground in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Still weighing a final decision, Bush noted that the Pentagon had already trained African peacekeepers, including those from Nigeria and Senegal. ``Itâs in our interest that we continue that strategy so that we donât ever get overextended,ââ he said.
Bush has invited U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the head of U.N. peacekeeping and the head of U.N. political affairs to the White House on Monday, according to a United Nations official in Washington. While it was not clear that Liberia was the topic, Annan has said in the past that he who would like to see the United States lead a multinational peacekeeping force there. We ought to play hard to get, really hard to get.
On the second leg of a five-nation Africa trip, Bush promoted his $15 billion, five-year plan to combat AIDS and proposals to increase trade with sub-Saharan Africa. His first stop was Tuesday in Senegal. Still ahead: visits to Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria. White House aides said the Iraqi war did not come up in the talks between Bush and Mbeki, who was critical of the U.S.-led military action there. But with U.S. troops in Iraq coming under increasing attacks, questions have been raised at home about whether Bush should commit still more troops to easing civil unrest in Liberia. Lawmakers of both parties have said that Bush should first get congressional approval for such an action. As it should be.
Both Bush and Mbeki suggested that the U.S.contribution might be mainly of a non-combat variety. ``We need a lot of support, logistics-wise and so on,ââ Mbeki said. Mbeki said that the military burden in Liberia peacekeeping ``really ought to principally fall on us as Africans.ââ Thereâs a good idea.
In Washington, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the president was considering the appropriate U.S. role. He said Bush has told world leaders that he intends to assist Liberia, a nation that was founded in the early 1800s by freed U.S. slaves and has retained close links with the United States. Rumsfeld noted that ``assessment teamsââ requested by the president are still in the region. Bush has said he will not make a final call until these teams report back.
On Wednesday, U.S. military advisers came face-to-face with the dreadful cost of Liberiaâs war, wading through wards at the once-prestigious John F. Kennedy Hospital in Monrovia that overflowed with wounded - some nursing bandaged stumps. Time to remove Charlie. Past time.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/10/2003 12:21:11 AM ||
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Western African countries are planning to send 1,000 peacekeepers to Liberia within two weeks.
How many people can be killed in two weeks?
A spokesman for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) says the regional bloc also expects help with logistics from the United States. Western African countries have pledged 3,000 troops to keep a ceasefire in Liberia but they want the same number of US forces with them to help end 14 years of violence in the country founded more than 150 years ago by freed American slaves. The executive secretary of ECOWAS, Mohammad Chambas, says the first African troops will be deployed soon. "Our sub-regional leaders with the UN secretary-general, they have seen the need to move within the next two to three weeks to position ECOWAS troops in Liberia as a vanguard of a force, a stabilisation force that will be deployed in that country," he said. UN secretary-general Kofi Annan says while western African nations will play an immediate role, other countries will eventually follow suit and deploy troops. "The immediate challenge has been taken up by the ECOWAS ... with the full support of the African Union and eventually I'm sure we will see African troops from other parts of the continent joining a force to pacify Liberia," he said.
And then all will be well. Is Chuck gone yet?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/10/2003 00:13 ||
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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.
