#3
Hope you've got the truncheons and giggle juice ready, Fred. Or just delete the bastard.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/11/2003 1:13 Comments ||
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#4
Naw. We should keep the troll as a pet for a while like Murat. He just has to realize the posting etiquette - guys like this are a little slow, or their too self absorbed and self righteous to notice or care what's going on.
As for his identity, I think it's this guy. Quick google search results indicate but this is not a certainty. If it is, he's a late night DJ on a popular bilingual radio station in Tokyo and an outspoken war critic (shudder at the thought of Japanese junior high schoolers listing to his garbage).
His wife left a comment and she is an insufferable snob. She informed us that she went to Stanford, Tokyo University (Todai) and speaks Burmese then called Rantburgers dumb white people for not knowing that Aung San Suu Kyi's real name is Daw.
All in all, should make for entertaining trolls if they lurk around for a while.
Posted by: Tokyo Taro ||
07/11/2003 2:02 Comments ||
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#5
It is a hoot, allright, and it probably is "Mike in Tokyo" -- let's call him M.i.T. He's a little too much in love with the reverberations in his head -- must be the overly-tight headphones he wears at the radio station.
My vote, for what it's worth -- dump 'em.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/11/2003 2:46 Comments ||
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#7
Dump him. It's a waste of time (mine, at least, to wade through this and yours to sift through it) and space (your space). The one thing we can never recover is the time spent reading something only to find it is from a troll, and therefore probably very suspect.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
07/11/2003 7:10 Comments ||
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#8
Isn't there a way for those posting articles to leave emails, and for the scripting you use here to send an email seeing if it is a good one? And recording the IP, etc. Could help reduce the trollage we must endure.
#12
Z. We wouldn't want to impugn on Rick Cranium's right to free speech. As long as he follows the rules of "Civil, well-reasoned discourse" I don't have a problem with him posting. Haven't you ever hit a piñata before =)
#13
Note to Fred and all other Rantburgers,
I'm on my way out of town for a week. While I'm gone, I'll be meeting with a couple of old friends who just returned from Iraq. If they have anything worth saying, I'll try to send Fred an email with the contents, which he can post or not, as he chooses.
As for trolls, I'm in the process of developing a "troll gun". Once I've tested it, I'll be offering its services where needed. Having a good friend who is a C++ hacker extroidinaire does have its positive points now and then.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/11/2003 11:01 Comments ||
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#14
OP -- I'd like to see some of that myself. I've posted a letter I received last week from a friend who's over in Baghdad now. He's an MP in the 307th MP Co. I wouldn't mind reading some of your friends' stories as well.
Posted by: Dar ||
07/11/2003 11:27 Comments ||
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#15
OP: Please tell them thanks.
Posted by: Matt ||
07/11/2003 12:03 Comments ||
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Greece has declared war on bad cheese and vowed to form a special "feta police" after three tons of the famous Greek product arrived in Norway tainted with listeria. Agriculture Minister Giorgios Dris said in comments published Friday that a cheese-control squad was needed to avoid further blows to the reputation of one of Greeceâs main exports.
"We will be merciless," Dris said, who dubbed the new unit the "feta police." So many possible puns, so little time.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/11/2003 1:21:48 PM ||
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#1
The phrase "Cheese it, the cops!" obviously comes to mind.
Looks like it was already deleted.
This is in response to the person who posted the item about cuts in military pay,housing,etc.
Just checked:
Military.com
Military City.com
Armytimes.com
And yet not a word about these "spending cuts." Looks like you are a lying sack of troll crap!
Posted by: raptor ||
07/11/2003 8:59:01 AM ||
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#1
I was going to say that reading the submitted (now deleted, thankfully) article, it was hard not to notice it was full of editorializing: Not something you see ever on Army Times, from my experience with the paper.
Those folks at Army Times are dutiful, business-like and professional, sorta like the whole of the US military. It is quite unlike them to publish such a slanted article.
The submitted article raised a red flag ( no pun intended ) with me and it's why I googled it as well.
The only thing worse than an anonymous troll is one who lies so effortlessly...
#2
Raptor, Military has INCREASED since the outset of Iraqi Freedom, it would be impossible to sustain the opertaion otherwise. Noteworthy: Nobody cares about Military Pay except those in the military. Some elected offricials show mock concern when there are hostilities, but that soon dies down like the battles. I was in the military for twenty years and that largest pay raise I ever got was 4% (once) but most of the time they range between 1.5-2.5%. This was during those 'boom' years when the economy was go good that Congress gave themselves huge pay raises. When I arrived in for Basic Training my TI told us that 'You will never get rich in the Military.' He was right!
#3
Hey everybody it's Yoko Ono and Mad Mike - The Milk Money Shakedown Victim (Had to give Yoko top billing because we know who owns the pair in that relationship)
They were here to display their "co-puter skillz". I guess Yoko taught Milk Money (with her fancy edumacation) how to spam a site.
Yoko / Milk Money >> If you're going to list your name and anon posts at least be smart enough not to use your "Funky O" in both posts(it tends to reveal the source). Ass(es).
11A5S > Nice draw out. You pulled these Trolls' rational thought process out for a brief period. I was actually impressed that YO and/or MM actually gave coherent and rational liberal responses to your questions.
Unfortunately their liberal side fought back with "Fists of Fury" forcing them to immediately blow their "rational gasket" and once again begin spewing the loony left lies/doctrine.
Cyber Sergeant > Oh my GOD! You made a typo!!! You bastard!
You misspelled "attacked".
For future reference the correct spelling you should have used is:
"Yoko/MM your lips, my ass, get the picture?"
Their posts were also a good example of "How to bend your sanity and become a member of the looney left."
1) Tell outrageous lies so often that it becomes part of your "reality".
2) Quote sources that don't exist to prove your point.
3) Attempt to make it look like actual people (with brains) agree with your posts by writing them yourself and signing them anon. (Yoko this where that fancy edumacation SHOULD have paid off. Just so much money down the drain I guess.)
4) Finally, when the shite gets deep your brain ends up crashing, just like the site. Blue screen of death. Non-recoverable hardrive failure.
Instant looney leftist!
Posted by: Paul ||
07/11/2003 18:50 Comments ||
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Several Afghan opposition leaders, including senior members of the ousted Taliban, have met near the Pakistan border to plot coordinated attacks on government and foreign troops and aid workers, a provincial governor said on Friday. The governor said Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of a radical Islamic party, and two commanders of the ousted Taliban — Jalaluddin Haqqani and Saifur Rahman — drew up the strategy at a meeting in Pakistanâs lawless tribal area near the Afghan border. Pity we couldnât have paid them a visit.
"We have reports they met recently and talked over launching coordinated attacks," the governor of Ghazni province, Haji Assadullah, told Reuters by telephone. All three opposition leaders are on a U.S. military wanted list. Assadullah said he did not know exactly when or where the meeting took place. The rebels planned assaults in Wardak and Ghazni provinces southwest of Kabul and in southeastern Paktika, Paktia and Khost provinces, Assadullah said. A U.S. military convoy was attacked with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades in Khost on Thursday while a U.S. airfield in Kunduz, in the north, came under small-arms fire, a U.S. spokesman said. There were no serious injuries or damage. Officials have blamed remnants of the Taliban, their al Qaeda allies and followers of Hekmatyar, leading to some fears the hardline Islamic militia was regrouping. Theyâve been regrouping and plotting and threatening from their safe haven in Pakistan for almost two years and getting nowhere. Theyâll keep doing it till someone cleans them out.
But U.S. commanders hunting the Taliban and members of al Qaeda say they are not unduly worried by such talk. Assadullah also said government forces could confront and foil any conventional attack, but the rebels could launch hit-and-run strikes. "They do not have the ability to carry out large-scale attacks. They are not a serious threat," Assadullah said. "But I think we may see an increase in the sort of terrorist attacks weâve been seeing." Yup.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/11/2003 10:03:02 AM ||
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"A dependence thatâs so strong itâs almost like a narcotic. You donât question the pusher." It may sound like the language of drug addiction, but in fact Robert Baer, a former CIA agent in the Middle East, is describing American dependence on Saudi Arabia and its oil. In "The Fall of the House of Saud" (May Atlantic), Baer details the United Statesâs absolute reliance on oil from a country that is deeply, dangerously unstable.
The history of U.S. involvement in Saudi Arabia goes back nearly to that nationâs birth. In 1933, a year after the kingdom was declared, the first American oil concession was granted. Over time, U.S. interest in Saudi oil evolved into a company called Aramco, which controlled all of the oil in Saudi Arabiaâ25 percent of the worldâs total. Aramco was a private company held by four large U.S. oil companies, with immense influence on the U.S. government. (It is now wholly owned by the Saudi government.) Moreover, the relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia extends beyond this private interestâas early as 1943, President Franklin Roosevelt asserted that protecting the kingdom, and its oil, was of vital economic importance to the United States as a whole. The precedent of maintaining a friendly relationship with Saudi Arabia, for both public and private reasons, has remained unchanged in the intervening years.
The United Statesâ policies on Saudi Arabia, Baer argues, are built upon the delusion that Saudi Arabia is stableâthat both the country and the flow of its most precious commodity can continue on indefinitely. Sustaining that delusion is the immense amount of money (estimated at $19.3 billion in 2000) exchanged between the two partners: the U.S. buys oil and sells weapons, Saudi Arabia buys weapons and sells oil. Oil and the defense contracts underpinning its protection bind these two countries together in such a way that when Saudi Arabia fallsâa fate Baer feels is absolutely certainâthe U.S. falls too. Perhaps not all the way down, but, if we donât curtail our dependence, he argues, a failure in Saudi Arabia could have catastrophic consequences for the United States.
Our relationship, however, continues unabatedâeven as the corrupt royal family bleeds the Saudi treasury, Wahhabist extremism heats up, and Saudi Arabian citizens kill American citizens in acts of terror. Baer maintains that we must look at Saudi Arabia with a more objective lens and examine the foundations of that country, since they are, in some sense, the foundations of our own. Read the entire interview, itâs fascinating.
Posted by: Bent Pyramid ||
07/11/2003 11:22:24 AM ||
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#1
There are no alternatives to oil. There will be alternatives to Saudi Arabia, once oil exploration efforts unearth reserves in other parts of the world. The high oil prices of today are fuelling that exploration. In fact, embedded in current high prices are the seeds of the next oil glut. When that glut arrives, Saudi Arabia's exploding population count will significantly reduce its ability to continue funding terror.
Robert Baer is another one of those detail guys who can't see the forest for the trees. He goes on and on about the tactical details of CIA operations that could have or would have. Bush did the grand strategic thing, toppled governments and threatened others, and assassinated America's enemies. Baer's still addicted to tactical approaches because it was the only tool he ever had, even though it only treated the symptoms. Bush cut out the tumors (in Iraq and Afghanistan) and got a lot of people all riled up but it will prove a more lasting solution than an eternity of Baer-style tactical cloak-and-dagger operations.
#2
I'm in agreement with Zhang Fei. At present, there is no practical alternative to oil. I would amend that to include natural gas. Out here in Colorado, a battle has begun over the impending natural gas crisis which Alan Greenspan has now felt compelled to warn about in June and again this week. The Bush Administration is trying to swiftly act and relax the permitting process and other regulatory constraints to get new drilling in the pipeline (pun intended) for natural gas preserves, and mining of coal deposits in Wyoming and contiguous area.
The left, led by Denver's Congresswoman Diana DeGette, has been frantically pushing a p.r. agenda to get areas with the potential best and richest gas deposits offline. They are pushing the Administration to declare these areas as Federal Wilderness areas. This has become a very heated battle out here in Colorado in just the past three weeks. Our heating bills are projected to increase by 63% due to the impending natural gas shortfall.
#3
Everyone starts with the premise that oil is ONLY used for automobiles, like those evil SUV's. The petrochemical industry is actually responsible for just about every piece of plastic you see, all the glues used to put things together, medicines, fertilizers and a ton of other stuff.
Any significant cutback in the use of oil results in a lifesyle rather similar to that of the Solomon Islanders discussed in other stories on this blog. And probably results in the deaths of 3/4 of the world's population. Just try to clean up 6 billion bodies; talk about your pollution.
Oil makes it possible for us to have just about everything we have. Cutbacks mean that each of us gives up significant portions of our lifestyles, including the lefty loons who can't quite seem to grasp that they'll go hungry along with the rest of us.
#4
I'm nowhere as optimistic as Zhang and Colo on oil production. While it is possible that non OPEC oil production based on conventional and 2nd/3rd generation drilling technology will increase somewhat, large increases are unlikely except:
1. If Iraq can ramp up to the 4 million barrel/day range or
2. If there is a breakthrough in the technology needed to produce oil from the low quality type resources, e.g., shale, tar sands, heavy oil.
#5
Note to mhw: Cost of extraction from shale is about $11, and falling. Canadian oil companies are very profitable (see: Alberta).
While we can't and shouldn't avoid the use of oil and its benefits, we should plan to completely cut off trade with Saudi Arabia (the fields there should have remained US property, or seized back, but it's a bit too late for that).
One thing that can be done is to invest in nuclear energy production. Eastern Europe and South Korea have been doing that in recent years. The US can solve the energy crisis if it stops listening to the envirofascists.
Drill in Alaska and develop nuke power, or support Islamofascism.
You would like Jefferson County - the western suburbs of Denver or Colorado Springs. Both a re solid conservative areas; i.e. right-thinking, in both senses. You need to get the hell out of California before your vehicle taxes and income taxes go up to cover Davis' spending habits and mismanagement.
#7
If oil were to dry up overnight... in the best case scenario, we'd have 60-80% survival worldwide. That could have some unpleasant environmental impacts.
As long as the world is kinda sorta shiny-happy, there's a fairly low probability of resorting to the brief, widespread use of fusion. That'd have some nasty environmental ramifications, too.
A lot of pseudo-enviros don't think it through all the way, or try to deny human nature.
It doesn't work the way they want it to. I'd really prefer if they didn't try to take me with them in their attempted suicide.
#8
MHW: I was addressing gas, not oil, production. Out here in the Rocky Mountain West our electrical power is produced primarily by coal, but natural gas makes up an ever-increasing portion of the electrical production mix. Either we increase coal and natural gas production, or like Kalle states, we need to look at other practical alternatives like nuclear energy. (And no wind and solar are not practical on a large-scale basis.)
Check out what Colorado's PUC chairman had to say on the subject (and he has been pilloried for it by the environmentalists):
#9
I agree! I think the biggest mistake the West made in my generation was to become so totally dependant on middle eastern oil. A Saudi Arabia in chaos would cause just massive economic disruption. I guess the good news is with troops in Iraq, the USA could probably secure the oilfields fairly quickly, but most of the Moslem world would then go up in flames.
Posted by: Phil B ||
07/11/2003 18:37 Comments ||
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About 200 rebels surrounded the prime ministerâs office in the Solomon Islands on Friday, demanding money so they could return to their home island. They were dispersed by armed police officers. The rebels were from the Malaita Eagle Force, which had fought bloody battles with a militia from the main Guadalcanal island since 1998, which led to a coup in 2000. The former fighters were demanding "repatriation" cash so they could return to their homes on neighbouring Malaita island before the intervention force arrives — possibly by the end of the month. Going home to hide their weapons?
But the country is bankrupt. Public servants have not been paid for months. And if the government flunkies canât get paid, nobody else is getting any cash either.
MPs in the capital, Honiara, on Thursday voted to allow the foreign troops to operate in the country. The legislation is expected to be passed at a parliamentary session next week. The Prime Minister, Sir Allan Kemakeza, had told parliament the country was simply not capable of dealing with its problems. He said any parliamentarian who voted against the proposals would have to answer to future generations. If there are any.
Teams of Australian and New Zealand defence and police officials are already in Honiara planning the arrival of the troops. The troops are expected to confiscate weapons; help reform the police, court and prison systems; and protect key government institutions such as the finance ministry. Donât forget to shoot Harold Keke.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/11/2003 9:26:13 AM ||
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Germanyâs Bild newspaper is organising a free flight for Germans to the Italian resort of Rimini in an attempt to prove wrong the Italian minister who called Germans "hyper-nationalistic", loud and arrogant. "Bild will show how friendly, cheerful and pleasant German holidaymakers really are," the top-selling daily said, continuing a campaign against the comments from Italian junior minister Stefano Stefani that prompted Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to cancel his Italian holiday. Bild staged a "beach demonstration" in front of the Italian embassy in Berlin yesterday with topless models on deckchairs to prove how "beautiful, sexy and charming" the Germans are. The embassy was not immediately available for comment. Too busy looking out the window at the boobies. Bild also published a list of Italian phrases German tourists may need in "these difficult times". The phrases include:
"Take your greasy eyes off my wife",
"Great wine, do you have any other warm drinks?",
"May I offer you my deckchair", and
"Do you mind if I spend my euros here?"
Oh, yeah, thatâll help.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/11/2003 11:01:30 AM ||
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#1
Boy, what an opportunity to produce a Pythonesque German-Italian phrase book!
#2
Bild staged a "beach demonstration" in front of the Italian embassy in Berlin yesterday with topless models on deckchairs to prove how "beautiful, sexy and charming" the Germans are.
What the Italians will probably end up with are the same type of Germans I saw in Mombasa: middle-aged, heavy, surly, and arrogant.
#4
Now why don't the French try to woo American tourists back this way?
Kalle--Man, some of the most beautiful women I have ever seen were in Germany! I can still remember vividly this one long, tall, gorgeous blonde with the sexiest accent I have ever heard--a mixture of German, Oxford English (from her native-English English instructors), and American South (from spending time as an exchange student in Texas). Yowsa!
Posted by: Dar ||
07/11/2003 13:31 Comments ||
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#5
"Izzat you' husband or somebody leave 'im here?"
"Yeah. 'At wine, she's-a pooty ruff an' red, but she'sa no make-a you burp like-a dat beer!"
"I like-a babes wit' bosoms and no moustaches!"
"You like-a some sauerkraut to go wit' that linguini?"
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2003 13:43 Comments ||
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#7
I agree Dar, we have beautiful women here (and not so beautiful ones of course). And they do shave.
This has all turned out to be a ridiculous affair. Schroeder is once again resorting to a "popularistic" stance to divert attention from other problems. Nice side effect: The Berlusconi government seems to run into troubled water.
Not to fire the guy responsable for tourism who insults German tourists (German tourists account for 40% of all visitors and spend nearly 10bn of Euro a year in Italy) is not the smartest thing to do though.
Suspected Kurdish rebels raided a village in southeastern Turkey, killing four villagers and injuring another, a Turkish official said Friday. The raid took place Thursday evening in the Bingol province village of Yenikoy, nearly 900 kms southeast of the capital Ankara, Bingol Gov. Huseyin Avni Cos said on the private NTV news channel. Cos added a group of "terrorists," kidnapped and tortured five villagers, killing four and severely injuring another. Kurdish rebels are active in Bingol and there have been several clashes recently. Well, this ainât gonna help any.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/11/2003 10:21:39 AM ||
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When these "Kurdish rebels" kidnapped those villagers (who actually had ties to the REAL Kurdish rebels), the villagers alarmed the local Turkish gendarmerie station. Guess what. The Army never came... Hmmmm.. Plus "Kurdish rebels" that doesn't know Kurdish? Hmmmm hmmmm hmmmm...
EFL TONY Blair is to press for the repatriation of the two British al-Qaeda suspects held at Guantanamo Bay when he meets George Bush next week, in an effort to defuse the most serious transatlantic rift since the end of the Iraq war. The Prime Minister will raise the issue personally with the United States president in Washington, Downing Street said yesterday. "Thanks for sharing, Tony, but unfortunately the answer is no."
The two British suspects at the camp are due to be tried by a military commission, directly appointed by Mr Bush and without access to basic standards of justice. It meets the standards for a military tribunal anywhere in the West.
With more than 160 MPs, mostly Labour, protesting at the summary justice, Mr Blair was caught between mollifying back-benchers or offending his closest international ally. The Prime Minister has so far adopted a diplomatic silence on the matter, but Downing Street indicated yesterday that he will now raise the fate of the British detainees at next weekâs meeting. The government has previously refused to intervene on behalf of the "British Taleban" - Feroz Abbasi, of Croydon, and Moazzam Begg, from Birmingham, who have been held at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for more than a year. With the issue threatening to provoke further divisions within the Labour Party, Downing Street made clear the British government had "strong reservations" about the use of a military commission which would see the trial conducted behind closed doors with the suspects defended by a lawyer hand-picked by the US military. Hereâs a potential compromise: the Brits can appoint a co-counsel for each of the rat-birds, but they have to play by the rules. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, has spoken twice in the last week to his counterpart, Colin Powell, to make representations about the means of justice, which the British believe will not try the suspects humanely, and the prospect of them facing the death penalty if found guilty. "We have made clear to the United States that the detainees should be treated humanely," said the Prime Ministerâs official spokesman. "We have also got strong reservations about military commissions and those reservations have been raised and will continue to be raised with the US at various levels." The spokesman denied that David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, had rejected an offer by the US to repatriate the two men if the British could guarantee they would stand trial.
Not something we want to do. If we do it for them, then we're obligated to do it for the rest. That way they'd get a quick shariah trial in Soddy Arabia or Pakland and be back on the streets in no time flat...
It is the latest in a number of issues to unsettle the "special relationship" between London and Washington and could take the gloss off a gala reception for the Prime Minister when he becomes one of the few overseas leaders to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for his support for the US over Iraq. An MoH? What??
A Downing Street official said negotiations on Guantanamo were being conducted in a mature manner, but admitted: "The US have their views and we have ours. We have repeatedly said this is a highly unusual and difficult situation and obviously we would want to bring an end to it as swiftly as possible."
In addition to differences over Guantanamo, the close relationship forged by Mr Blair and Mr Bush is in danger of unravelling in the face of growing sceptism over whether Saddam Husseinâs weapons of mass destruction will be found. There is increasing frustration in Britain that the White House and the Pentagon have undermined Downing Streetâs defence of its intelligence-gathering operation by refusing to stand by the claim that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa for a nuclear weapons programme. It was an erroneous report, and Bush did right to backtrack on it.
In another setback for Mr Blair, Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, raised doubts about whether No 10 had exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam by conceding the US had "no dramatic evidence" about Iraqâs weapons of mass destruction before the war. Downing Street yesterday shifted its position by downgrading claims that chemical or biological missiles will be found, saying the Iraq Survey Group may only turn up evidence of "products" linked to the weapons.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/11/2003 3:12:21 AM ||
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"the Congressional Medal of Honor",I thought the MoH is a military award for Exceptional Courage Above and Beyond the call of Duty.The civilian equivlant is the Medal of Freedom.
Chances are pretty good the reporter covering the story was daydreaming and heard the ass end of something regarding medals, looked it up on the internet and came up with the CHM.
You are right: The medal of freedom is the highest civilian award. The second best thing we can do for Tony. The best, of course, is to offer him US citizenship. ;o)
#5
By birth? He was born in the castle of his uncle the Duke of Malborough. Did you still get American nationality when only your mother was American (in those times tryhe child usually took the nationality of the father) and you were born and grew in a foreign country.
#6
The two British suspects at the camp are due to be tried by a military commission, directly appointed by Mr Bush and without access to basic standards of justice.
Actually, if this is done in accordance withthe UCMJ, the standards of justice are higher than a civilian court.
Then again, these bozos couldn't tell the friggin' difference between the MoH and the MoF. If they can't get such mundane details right, the more serious stuff is suspect as well.
#7
Did you still get American nationality when only your mother was American (in those times tryhe child usually took the nationality of the father) and you were born and grew in a foreign country.
If either parent is American, the child is automatically entitled to citizenship. Whether he chooses to apply for it is another matter - my point is that Churchill was an American in more than an honorary sense.
The cry of a muezzin echoed from a hilltop overlooking the Alhambra as Granada, the former seat of Moorish rule in Spain, unveiled its first mosque in 511 years. Dignitaries from Arab and Muslim countries worldwide attended the opening Thursday of the Great Mosque of Granada, crowning a fitful and emotionally charged project that began in 1981. With repeated shouts of ``Allahu Akhbarââ (God is great), Sheik Sultan bin Mohammed al-Qassimi of the United Arab Emirates, which paid half the cost of construction, drew back a blood-red curtain to display crates of AK-47âs a stone plaque inaugurating the building. Later, a muezzin clad in white climbed atop the mosqueâs thick, square minaret and called Muslims to prayer for the first time in their new house of worship. ``This is a moving day for Muslims all over the world,ââ said Hassan Seddadi, a 25-year-old Moroccan who lives in Granada. It also comes at a sensitive time in Spainâs relationship with its Muslim population, and with neighboring Muslim states across the Straits of Gibraltar. The worldwide hunt for terrorists since the Sept. 11 attacks has led to arrests of Muslims in Spain, and the Spanish government has angered many Muslims with its robust support for the war in Iraq. Too bad.
The mosque commands a sweeping vista of one of historyâs prime pieces of real estate: the Alhambra, the reddish 14th-century palace and citadel from which Moorish caliphs governed in scented splendor until King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella expelled them in 1492, ending 800 years of Muslim rule in southern Spain. These days, Granada has a Muslim population of about 15,000, one of Spainâs largest, but until now its half-dozen mosques were makeshift affairs in apartments, storefronts or garages. Makes it tough to hide a weapons cache.
The new, $4.5 million building is Granadaâs first purpose-built mosque since the last Moorish king, Boabdil, rode into exile 511 years ago. His humiliation ended a dynasty that oversaw a culture rich in art, poetry, music and architecture. From a mountain vantage point, Boabdil is said to have looked back on the Alhambra one last time, the morning sun shining brightly on its towers and embattlements, and wept. ``When did misfortune ever equal mine?ââ he wailed from a spot now known as The Pass of the Moorâs Sigh. Right about the time a JDAM hit a certain cave in Tora Bora?
The new mosque is a white brick building with a red-tile roof, tucked between a Roman Catholic nunnery and church in Granadaâs old Moorish quarter, the Albaicin. The ceremony was held in blazing heat in a garden dotted with pink and purple touch-me-nots, orange chrysanthemums and miniature palm trees. ``I want to praise and thank God, who let us finish this project and launch a new and fascinating era that begins today,ââ Malik Abderrahman Ruiz, president of the foundation that runs the mosque, told the audience of several hundred. Spainâs Muslims say that after decades of keeping their faith quiet in a predominantly Roman Catholic country, they are growing in both numbers and transparency. A government census says Spain has 500,000 Muslims - about 1.2 percent of its 40 million people. ``Islam has gone from being something hidden or invisible in Spanish society to something dangerous visible,ââ community spokesman Abdul Haqq Salaberria said. The mosque property was purchased with Libyan money in 1981, six years after the death of Gen. Francisco Franco. But the project was delayed for years by lawsuits from local residents, the discovery of Roman ruins at the site and the death of King Hassan II of Morocco, another of its benefactors. I recall that OBL mourned the loss of Andalusia like it was yesterday. Wonder if the Spanish really know what theyâre doing here?
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/11/2003 3:04:18 AM ||
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#1
Oh well. Just get it's GPS coordinates. The US Navy can remove it when they're ready.
Sort of off topic, but it does deal with military people returning to the US...
ABILENE, Texas â Nine people connected to the military have been quarantined in Texas after some reported respiratory problems similar to SARS (search), officials said.
A group of military personnel passed through the Toronto Airport recently, and some reported mild to moderate respiratory problems earlier this week after returning home, said Capt. David May of Dyess Air Force Base (search) in Abilene.
Is SARS that contagious that if (theoretically) they hang around a bit with somebody in the airport they could have picked it up?
Only one person in the group fits the definition of a suspected SARS case, and no one has been officially diagnosed with SARS or been hospitalized, May said. But he said the military travelers and some people theyâve come in contact with, nine people in all, are now under home quarantine.
Officials with the Abilene-Taylor County Public Health District said Thursday that there is no reason for alarm.
Federal officials lifted a SARS-related travel alert for Toronto on Tuesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said more than 30 days had elapsed since the last SARS case in the Canadian city developed symptoms.
Last week, the World Health Organization said SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, had been contained. More than 800 people worldwide have died of SARS since the outbreak began in Asia late last year.
Seems like the odds are that the Toronto Airport connection is just coincidence, but given the number of times Canada has said its under control and then more cases show up, its noticable that the new, FOX in this case, immediately noted the connection to Toronto.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
07/11/2003 12:56:25 PM ||
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#1
Bullshit. Everything is SARS now. SARS in Toronto was *always* contained. I've been to the airport twice and didn't see anyone panicking.
Posted by: Rafael ||
07/11/2003 13:52 Comments ||
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It's not very contaigous at all, unless you do some really dumb things like many of the infected medical people in Toronto did. There are, I believe, no known cases worldwide from casual contact, like airports.
These were Air Force guys, right? {sniffle} Musta missed a shower along the way.
#3
I didn't think them going through Toronto had anything to do with it. I just found it interesting/amusing how the media will taint every story of SARS or possibile SARS with even the faintest link to Toronto (or any other place that had an outbreak).
Just lazy scaremongering style reporting.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
07/11/2003 14:52 Comments ||
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#4
I think the concern would be that they picked it up from a surface in the airport; there have been reports in hospital settings of the virus staying alive for longer than expected on surfaces. I think heat kills it, which is why it could be expected to die out over the summer. Of course we don't know what the vector is either.
The United States has delivered a highly sophisticated radar to India under a military sales agreement worth $190m. The mobile Firefinder radar uses a combination of radar techniques and computer technology to detect the location of artillery weapons, almost as soon as they open fire. In all, 12 Firefinder radars will be delivered to India over the next three years. This will put a crimp in Pakistanâs cross border artillery shoots. The turbans will have a cow over this.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/11/2003 9:46:59 AM ||
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US counterbattery equipment is the best in the world. The Soviet figured about three minutes for displacement after firing a mission before counterbattery return fire.
I can't imagine how, understanding how poorly trained and educated Islamic countries' militaries (and general populations, for that matter) generally are, they are going to be able to beat such counterbattery fire.
I guess the upside is that it will be that many fewer Islamic radicals the US military has to kill later on.
Or as they are known locally, targets.
The first buses to travel between India and Pakistan for 18 months have left Delhi and Lahore, resuming a direct service between the two countries. The service had been suspended since December 2001, following an attack on the Indian parliament. The Lahore-bound bus, carrying more than 30 passengers, mostly journalists, set off in heavy monsoon rain at 0600 on its 12-hour journey. Another bus left Lahore for the Indian capital soon afterwards and has now crossed the border with India. The two luxury vehicles, which have television and telephone service, had planned to set off at the same time, but the bus from Delhi started the 500-kilometre journey first. Heavy security is in place, with police escorting both buses. Passengers were frisked and had their luggage checked before boarding the bus. Get your bets down, how long before the first one goes boom?
Posted by: Steve ||
07/11/2003 9:38:05 AM ||
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carrying more than 30 passengers
Actually, aren't they required to carry at least 100 passengers?
A man who took up arms 56 years ago believing Kashmir should become part of Pakistan has urged that a peaceful solution be found to the long-running dispute. Khan Shah Afridi - now aged 100 - picked up his shotgun and went off to fight in 1947 but now he wants to see successful peace talks between India and Pakistan over the disputed territory before he dies. The Pakistani tribesman is strikingly tall but now the legs that once carried him for miles to cross into the disputed Kashmir valley and fight for its "liberation" are paralysed. Boo Hoo
Like his fellow fighters, Mr Khan believed that because the majority of Kashmiris were Muslim the country should accede to Pakistan. Itâs mine all mine, in fact Birmingham and Bradford should also accede to Pakland
The dispute has sparked a series of wars between India and Pakistan most recently with the two countries rattling their nuclear sabres in a truly terrifying display of brinkmanship. In 1947, following partition, thousands of Pashtun tribesmen from Pakistanâs north-west tribal belt invaded Kashmir. Many got killed in the fighting. Some were lucky enough to make it home. Khan Shah is one of them. Although he resorted to taking up arms to achieve his aim at that time, his view has changed after fifty-six years. He wants the Kashmir issue resolved not only through negotiations but in his life-time as well. He vividly recalls his march past Baramullah and until they were a few kilometres away from Srinagar, the Kashmir capital. "On the way we fired at whoever came in our way. I donât remember how many we killed, but they were quite a few," he recalled while one of his sons cooled him with a fan in the oppressive heat. What noble warriors they were
He said he had no support from anyone and went to fight on his own. "I took my own shotgun and bullets. No one not even the Pakistan Government helped us," he says. Mr Khan gets breathless if he speaks too much or tries too hard to recall those faraway events. Now his whole life is restricted to a small room in a mud house in the village of Mattni, 40 kms south of Peshawar. He is probably the only surviving tribesman from the semi-autonomous tribal area who, on the call of their spiritual leader Pir of Maniki Sharif, led a group of men to fight in Kashmir. Those fucking Mullahs again. "Jihad, Jihad, Kill, spittle, drool, Infidel"
Asked how many joined him for the journey to Kashmir, he said there were a lot. "There were Mohmand tribesmen and we Afridis. Everyone carried his own gun."
"All the best people, really. Not riff-raff, like the Bugtis..."
"The Pir of Maniki Sharif told us we will have to fight. [We were told] it was a war between Muslims and infidels and that we will get Kashmir freed." Those poor muslims, always the victim
Mr Khanâs duty was to organise the men and encourage them to fight. "I used to tell them after an attack that you have come here to fight, not to run away as chickens. You will not run away," he said. He recalled that he spent a night in Baramullah, now under India, before proceeding towards Srinagar. He also admits to some looting by the invading tribesmen but denies that they raped women, something they were charged with. "They were mainly people from Azakhel who looted. We did not put our hands on women. We did not put our hands on wrong things." But we put our hands on plenty of loot
He claims that the local Kashmiri population was very cordial to them. "They would give us bread, milk and other things that they could spare. They were happy to see us." Those kashmiris that we didnât shoot
Asked whether he remembered the massacre of Christians in a convent in Baramullah, he said: "Our leader Suhbat Khan was not a good man. He used to put hands on such people." Our leader was not a good man but we followed him anyway into war and did what he told us.
The success of their military foray into Kashmir was short-lived. The Indian Army was quick to respond attacking the fighters with aeroplanes and artillery. "We all were forced to take shelter in the fields," recalls Mr Khan. "They inflicted heavy human losses on us and we were disgraced. A large number of our men died." Those damn Infidels, didnât they read the script
Mr Khan knows that at 100 he is in the twilight days of his life. Yes so hurry up and die
But now 56 years after he went to war over Kashmir, he wishes the issue to be resolved peacefully through talks. Thereâs no 72 virgins waiting for him after the mess he created
"Both sides are suffering huge losses because of the continued tension and disturbances in the valley," he says. "It will be better for both to get over with this problem once and for all. And I wish it happens in my life-time." Not likely, too many mullahs around to allow that
Posted by: rg117 ||
07/11/2003 8:54:05 AM ||
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Jihadi urban renewal.
KARACHI — A huge explosion ripped through a multi-storey commercial building in this southern Pakistani port city early on Friday, killing at least two people and injuring others, police said. No one took responsibility for the early morning explosion on the main boulevard that leads into Karachi from its international airport. Police said the security guard outside the building died in the blast. A second body was found later. Explosive experts and dozens of police were at the scene rummaging through the debris for clues. One of the pillars inside the building was badly damaged indicating the bomb may have been placed against it, said one police officer at the site. Police have so far refused to speculate on who may have been behind the bombing.
We can guess, though...
Posted by: 11A5S ||
07/11/2003 12:35:37 AM ||
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Where have you been? These incidents have been happening since the founding of Pakistan in 1948. If Musharraf finds a way to stop this, he'll be the first Pakistani leader to get a grip on this problem. The problem with liberal America-haters is that they only notice foreign news when they spot an angle they can use to bash Uncle Sam. It would be nice if they followed foreign events other than soccer every so often.
What the hell--itâs Friday after a long week and I bet you could all use a nice "feel good" story! Edited for brevity.
Toddler Hiyam Kadhem couldnât contain her excitement when she spotted Robert Garcia entering the compound. Flashing a big smile, the 18-month-old Iraqi girl ran to the Marine officer and threw herself into his arms. Safe in his embrace and with a disarming laugh, she playfully removed his camouflage hat and placed it on her own tiny head. Hiyam, her five siblings and parents have found themselves in a peculiar situation. Their apartment in an abandoned school sits in the middle of a U.S. Marine base. "She is my favorite," Garcia, of Paterson, N.J., said of Hiyam, a bubbly child with curly hair and a ready smile. "She is the most gregarious of them all and thatâs why she is my favorite."
In an Iraq where encounters between ordinary people and American soldiers are increasingly fraught with tension and suspicion, Hiyam and her family are a rare example of a close relationship between Iraqis and U.S. occupation forces. When the Marines moved into the Shiite Muslim holy city of Karbala in April, they decided to make the school their base. Hiyamâs father Kadhem Abdel-Hussein pleaded with the commander to be allowed to stay, and he agreed. Now, the family shares the grounds with about 180 U.S. Marines.
Posted by: Dar ||
07/11/2003 1:24:53 PM ||
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Can't find the original source for this one, either. This was originally part of a three-article post. I've split it up and edited it a little, and cut one article because it's redundant. I'm assuming Mike didn't just make the whole thing up...
CNN Thursday 10 July 2003
For the first time since the start of the war in Iraq, Pentagon officials have released the number of U.S. troops wounded from the beginning of the war through Wednesday. Responding to a request by CNN, the Pentagon said more than 1,000 U.S. troops have been wounded or injured in Iraq since March 20, when a U.S.-led airstrike started the war. The Defense Department provided these figures:
791 troops were wounded or injured during combat
253 troops were wounded or injured in action not related to combat operations, such as traffic accidents or accidental gunshot wounds. The Pentagon [did] not disclose the type of wounds or injuries sustained. But the numbers shed more light on the overall toll the fighting has taken on U.S. troops during the war and subsequent occupation of the country. From the time President Bush announced the end of major combat operations May 1, U.S. troops have been enduring sneak attacks on almost a daily basis around the country, resulting in deaths or injuries.
According to Pentagon numbers, between May 1 and Tuesday, 73 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq.
29 by hostile fire around Iraq
44 troops from non-hostile fire or in accidents
Since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, 211 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq.
143 troops by hostile fire
68 troops by accidents or other non-hostile incidents
As for the dollar cost of the Iraqi war and occupation, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a Senate committee Wednesday that it is projected to cost the Pentagon an average of nearly $4 billion a month through September.
Posted by: Mike Rogers (Mike in Tokyo) ||
07/11/2003 10:52 ||
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#1
we realize that if we lose this one, nothing else matters.
Are you seriously entertaining the thought that we could lose this one? Excuse me while I let out a bellylaugh. Media hyperventilation and wishful thinking aside, there is zero possibility we will lose it. Anyone who says that the peace will be more difficult that the war that preceded it is full of it. War is hard - extremely hard, but typically short in duration. Compared to war, enforcing the peace is easy, but can take a lot of time.
It was 25 years before we drew down our presence in Japan. Nothing much happened there after an initial period of sporadic attacks lasting several years. (An example - soldiers would disappear, never to be found. AWOL or murdered and buried? These incidents decreased as time progressed. You draw your own conclusions). Almost 60 years later, we're still in Japan.
Everyone thinks of Iraq as a bottomless rathole. But before Iraq, there was Mesopotamia. This country has real possibilities. I believe that by the time we leave Iraq, five or six decades later, it will be the strongest and richest country in the Mid East, perhaps even an ally of Israel.
What the media perceive as problems in Iraq aren't even real problems. Iraq has oil. Unlike Japan and Germany in the postwar period, most of Iraq's cities aren't flattened. Iraq's bridges and power stations are intact, except for a little looting. (In WWII, Allied forces made a lot of river crossings on pontoon bridges because the Germans had destroyed the existing structures). Iraq is in better shape than most Allied cities after WWII - Allied troops destroyed many of these cities in order to get at the German troops who were holding the line.
The media can only see what's in front of their noses - they have no sense of perspective. What they see in Iraq is different from peacetime conditions in their own countries, so they point out all the differences. They are congenitally anti-American and doing a comparison to what happened in the past would destroy the anti-American angle, so they skip the comparison altogether.
Bottom line - take the gloom-and-doom talk from reporters with a few cupfuls of salt. Understand that many liberal hate-America reporters will lie without compunction if there's an anti-American angle in a story.
#2
That's pretty normal. In the other major wars of the past hundred years, the list of wounded was far higher, and was roughly in proportion to the high rate of soldiers killed in action. During WWI and WWII, many of the wounded who might have been saved, if evacuated immediately, died because the intensity of the fighting prevented an early evacuation. And helicopters hadn't been invented yet. (Helicopters are a real life-saver for medical evacuation because they can land anywhere, they're faster than motor vehicles and don't have to deal with lousy road conditions, which can, in some cases, kill the wounded by causing the resumption of previously stanched bleeding).
#4
By the way, 3,000 Americans were killed in the World Center attacks. Hundreds were injured and thousands have post-traumatic stress disorder and respiratory problems from being in the vicinity of the Muslim-sponsored attacks. Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers are out of work because of the terrorist attacks.
What the heck does the injured list have to do with anything? War is hell. So is fighting fires. So is being a cop. What's he trying to tell us? That we shouldn't fight fires or chase criminals? 50,000 Americans are killed in auto accidents annually - maybe we shouldn't drive.
#5
I don't want to sound heartless but 1000 casualties in a operation involving 250,000 is not very high. It's not even one percent of the force involved. The report is probably right but it's sensationalizing the number. 1000 casualties represent about one-half of one percent. It sad when even one person dies but war is a dangerous business. Get ready for the left to call for our surrender and withdrawal.
An unknown Iraqi group has started to rally Iraqis for jihad against US occupying forces, issuing a death threat to all Iraqis working with the US-led administration, according to a pamphlet reportedly distributed at a Baghdad mosque this week. From a mosque? Whoâd have guested?
"We are calling for a jihad," said the message on the pamphlet, vowing "a battle from hell that will terrify the Americans. We will attack with such force that they wonât know what hit them. Whomever stands with them or works with them is a coward and traitor of Allah and his prophet. Each traitor that came with the enemy or opened the doors of Iraq to the enemy will be killed," the English version of the pamphlet said, according to AFP. "This applies to everyone who works hand in hand with this dog Paul Bremer," the top US civil administrator in Iraq. "Be warned. We forbid you to work with the American dogs." The anonymous message in the pamphlet also calls for a general strike and for imams to urge Iraqis to join a holy war. It also urges Baath Party members, the Special Republican Guard, army intelligence services and Fedayeen militia fighters from the ousted regime to regroup and get ready for a long drawn war. "This is the time to prove your manliness. You will spill your blood to erase the bad record that has plagued the Iraqi People. And know that when the American dogs flee and take cover, death will follow them. Start to regroup because you know who you are and organise yourselves... and support the Mujahedeen in this war so that the people will forgive you for the past," it added. "Support the Mujahedeen", Iâll bet, means our old friends from Iran are stirring things up.
It also appealed to Iraqis to stay away from US bases to avoid being harmed in attacks launched against occupation forces. Yes, stay away. Gives us a clear field of fire.
I don't think it's the Medes and the Persians behind it. The rhetoric is Baathist, despite its call to jihad. This is Sammy's boyz, vowing to gnaw our ankles off.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/11/2003 10:31:25 AM ||
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I guess the upside is that it will be that many fewer Islamic radicals the US military has to kill later on.
That's a good idea. No use allowing U.S. forces to be the exclusive exterminators of Islamofascists. Spread the capability around amongst our acquaintances. :)
#2
Some of my fellow liberals think we went to war without a plan for the occupation. They are wrong.
The problem is that we went to war with TWO plans for the occupation. An army/State/CIA plan that was based on relying on a large allied/un peacekeeping force. And a Department of Defense plan based on using the Iraqi National Congress to quickly organize an Iraqi security force on the ground. The hawks vetoed the degree of UN concessions it would have taken to quickly get a big peacekeeping force - and the Powellite "moderates" vetoed relying on the INC. So we went in with only our troops (plus 12000 brits of course) and that was and is plainly less force then would be desirable (not that it dooms us to quagmire - we may have just enough troops to handle this if we get lucky - but it doesnt seem wise to count on that) Hopefully now the admin will move forward on BOTH the hawk/neo-con and the moderate/multilateralist agendas - IE BOTH more rapid empowerment of Iraqis and build up of Iraqi security forces using reliable Iraqis INCLUDING exiles to do the vetting - and ALSO going more multilateral - beyond the 8000 poles, danes, spanish and italians who are coming. Hopefully most NATO states will be willing to come in under NATO command, so we can avoid establishing a UN command there. If they wont, we will face the dilemma of needing to establish a UN command there (not desirable for a number of reasons) versus going on without any more help.
Now here is a headline I did NOT expect.< grin, shake head >
Mongolia is to send 200 soldiers to Iraq for peacekeeping and restoration duties, an official at the Mongolian army headquarters said Friday. Ragchaa, the deputy commander of the Mongolian army headquarters, said the team includes builders and medical workers, the Xinhua news agency reported from the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator. Does anyone know anything about the Mongolian Army ?
Doesnât this mark a return engagement for the Mongols ?
Itâs only been what 800 years ?
He told a press conference that the soldiers all volunteered but had to meet strict criteria, such as having served in the army for more than three years and being younger than 40. Xinhua quoted him as saying they were prepared to work under tough conditions, but the Mongolian government reserved the right to withdraw its troops at any time. According to Ragchaa, the Mongolians will stay in Iraq for six months and be engaged in protecting humanitarian aid, construction work and check-point duties. No details were given on when they would leave. Hey France ! pound sand ! we have the Mongol Army on our side !
"Lookee here, you Baghdadis: If your boyz don't stop trying to pot infidels, we're gonna sic Hülügü here on you. There's more where they came from, y'know...
Posted by: Domingo ||
07/11/2003 9:03:36 AM ||
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In modern tactical doctrine, is a "horde" a company- or battalion-sized unit, or something bigger? To put it another way, do 200 Mongols (one or two companies, depending on how you define "company") constitute a "horde," so that CentCom could order them to attack by simply shouting, "Unleash the Mongol Horde?"
Posted by: Mike ||
07/11/2003 10:45 Comments ||
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Communications will be a problem, I suspect. I don't think our Army has a lot of Mongolian speakers.
Chuck, that shouldn't be a problem, there has been a steady stream of Mongolian troops going through the english language school here on Lackland. Very friendly folks, and the Mongolian babes are hot!
PENTAGON OFFICIALS have avoided divulging the size of the force they anticipated for Iraqi occupation and reconstruction, but a Defense Department report sent to Congress last week conceded that demobilization has not been as rapid as planned. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the monthly cost of operations in Iraq is roughly $3.9 billion. The military has already had to shift about $3.6 billion from an Iraq contingency fund and other military accounts to cover unanticipated costs, according to the report. And the current force in Iraq — about 150,000 troops — will likely remain in the region into the next fiscal year, which begins in October, the report said. Before the war, Defense Department officials hinted that the peacekeeping force would be 40,000 to 60,000 troops. âThe presumption was always that the burn rate would decline rapidly,â said Loren B. Thompson, a defense analyst at the conservative Lexington Institute. âItâs pretty obvious now that the peacekeeping function substantially exceeds what was anticipated.â
Pentagon officials and defense analysts in Congress say the $62.6 billion emergency spending bill that Congress passed just after the war began should cover war costs through the end of this fiscal year. But the messy aftermath — with its guerrilla-like attacks, looting and sluggish rebuilding efforts — threatens to drain the Treasury well into next year and beyond. The $3.9 billion monthly spending rate is nearly double the rate anticipated for longer-term peacekeeping operations, a House Appropriations Committee aide said. Indeed, signs of strain are already beginning to show, according to Defense Department documents. In its most detailed assessment of the cost of the war, the Pentagon said it has already incurred $900 million in unanticipated personnel costs and about $4.1 billion in weapons depot maintenance costs that are âbeyond the scope of the ... programs to absorb.â An additional $612 million in family separation allowances and imminent danger pay demanded by Congress will also have to be covered by shifting funds from other accounts. The military hopes to spend $232 million to replace Air Force transport equipment, $217 million to buy new Tomahawk cruise missiles, $638 million on munitions, $389 million to convert.
Posted by: Anonymous ||
07/11/2003 12:45:33 AM ||
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Gee. that's almost $16/month/person based on 250,000,000 people in the U.S. IF we're going to make progress on the War on Terror that, it certainly seems to be worth it to me.
Posted by: Ralph ||
07/11/2003 2:42 Comments ||
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#2
Is this one of those bogus military cost articles? For example, is it including the normal costs of having these troops, regardless of where they are? Does it include ordinance that would've been used in practice activity, food they would've eaten anyway, and other NORMAL costs? Etc. Etc. Etc.
Sometimes the miltary reports it straight - $X is the additional cost of Mission X. Sometimes, when they're playing the budget-busting game to get more for next cycle, they fudge and include normal costs of doing business with the troops in their barracks on normal duty cycles.
Sometime the US has played this game when funding came from foreign sources, such as Gulf War I & the Saudis / Kuwaitis. We made a fucking profit.
This is another Anonymous. Way too many fucking Anons, hereabouts.
These postings by Anons of anything they can dredge up that they hope is liberal enough to qualify as a troll post is your call, Fred. But this is the last time I'll comment on an obvious troll article or on one posted by an Anon.
#3
Is this one of those bogus military cost articles?
Probably - for the military brass, Iraq is going to be the mother of all scrounging expeditions (from the Federal budget) - not for them personally, but for their respective service branches. It's like Enron's infamous off-balance sheet accounting - every Christmas wish list item will have its day - the costs will simply be buried in Iraq expeditionary costs.
For example, shipments will be reported lost to Iraqi attacks that aren't actually destroyed, and orders for new equipment will turn up in the $3.9B funding request. Operational contingencies will somehow dictate that something on the Christmas wish list will be purchased. Why? Because the actual equipment that was supposed to be destroyed still exists - the whole point of all this paperwork, from the military's standpoint, was to get other nice-to-have-but-not-strictly-necessary things that were deleted out of the original military budget.
Other symptoms of scrounging could involve stories about how desert sand mysteriously fouled up equipment in ways that did not show up in tests involving sandblasting prior to military-wide deployment. The result? More requests for equipment replacements that get reallocated / reclassed for other wish list items.
This is another Anonymous.
His specialty appears to be posting articles that serve up information completely out of context.
#4
His specialty appears to be posting articles that serve up information completely out of context.
Actually, I was giving too much credit to the reporter who wrote the article. The big problem with some of these reporters on the military isn't only that they're liberal America-haters - it's that they have absolutely no idea of how the military works - either from an operational (i.e. war) or a bureaucratic perspective.
#5
The only instances where DemocRATS and their accomplices in the media are concerned about the cost of a government program are a) on defense spending and b) independent counsels investigating other DemocRATS. Screw 'em.
Soldiers stress is a key concern as the Army ponders whether to send more forces.
By Ann Scott Tyson | Special to The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON â US troops facing extended deployments amid the danger, heat, and uncertainty of an Iraq occupation are suffering from low morale that has in some cases hit "rock bottom."
Even as President Bush speaks of a "massive and long-term" undertaking in rebuilding Iraq, that effort, as well as the high tempo of US military operations around the globe, is taking its toll on individual troops.
Some frustrated troops stationed in Iraq are writing letters to representatives in Congress to request their units be repatriated. "Most soldiers would empty their bank accounts just for a plane ticket home," said one recent Congressional letter written by an Army soldier now based in Iraq. The soldier requested anonymity.
In some units, there has been an increase in letters from the Red Cross stating soldiers are needed at home, as well as daily instances of female troops being sent home due to pregnancy.
"Make no mistake, the level of morale for most soldiers that Iâve seen has hit rock bottom," said another soldier, an officer from the Armyâs 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq.
Such open grumbling among troops comes as US commanders reevaluate the size and composition of the US-led coalition force needed to occupy Iraq. US Central Command, which is leading the occupation, is expected by mid-July to send a proposal to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on how many and what kind of troops are required, as well as on the rotation of forces there.
For soldiers, a life on the road
The rethink about troop levels comes as senior military leaders voice concern that multiple deployments around the world are already taxing the endurance of US forces, the Army in particular. Some 370,000 soldiers are now deployed overseas from an Army active-duty, guard, and reserve force of just over 1 million people, according to Army figures.
Experts warn that long, frequent deployments could lead to a rash of departures from the military. "Hordes of active-duty troops and reservists may soon leave the service rather than subject themselves to a life continually on the road," writes Michael OâHanlon, a military expert at the Brookings Institution here.
A major Army study is now under way to examine the impact of this high pace of operations on the mental health of soldiers and families. "The cumulative effect of these work hours and deployment and training are big issues, and soldiers are concerned about it," says Col. Charles Hoge, who is leading the survey of 5,000 to 10,000 soldiers for the Walter Reed Institute of Army Research.
Concern over stressed troops is not new. In the late 1990s, a shrinking of military manpower combined with a rise in overseas missions prompted Congress to call for sharp pay increases for troops deployed over a certain number of days.
"But then came September 11 and the operational tempo went off the charts" and the Congressional plan was suspended, according to Ed Bruner, an expert on ground forces at the Congressional Research Service here.
Adding manpower to the region
Despite Pentagon statements before the war that the goal of US forces was to "liberate, not occupy" Iraq, Secretary Rumsfeld warned last week that the war against terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere "will not be over any time soon."
Currently, there are some 230,000 US troops serving in and around Iraq, including nearly 150,000 US troops inside Iraq and 12,000 from Britain and other countries. According to the Pentagon, the number of foreign troops is expected to rise to 20,000 by September. Fresh foreign troops began flowing into Iraq this month, part of two multinational forces led by Poland and Britain. A third multinational force is also under consideration.
A crucial factor in determining troop levels are the daily attacks that have killed more than 30 US and British servicemen in Iraq since Mr. Bush declared on May 1 that major combat operations had ended.
The unexpected degree of resistance led the Pentagon to increase US ground troops in Iraq to mount a series of ongoing raids aimed at confiscating weapons and capturing opposition forces.
A tour of duty with no end in sight
As new US troops flowed into Iraq, others already in the region for several months, such as the 20,000-strong 3rd Infantry Division were retained in Iraq.
"Faced with continued resistance, Department of Defense now plans to keep a larger force in Iraq than anticipated for a period of time," Maj. Gen. Buford Blount, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, explained in a statement to families a month ago. "I appreciate the turmoil and stress that a continued deployment has caused," he added.
The open-ended deployments in Iraq are lowering morale among some ground troops, who say constantly shifting time tables are reducing confidence in their leadership. "The way we have been treated and the continuous lies told to our families back home has devastated us all," a soldier in Iraq wrote in a letter to Congress.
Security threats, heat, harsh living conditions, and, for some soldiers, waiting and boredom have gradually eroded spirits. An estimated 9,000 troops from the 3rd Infantry Division - most deployed for at least six months and some for more than a year - have been waiting for several weeks, without a mission, to return to the United States, officers say.
In one Army unit, an officer described the mentality of troops. "They vent to anyone who will listen. They write letters, they cry, they yell. Many of them walk around looking visibly tired and depressed.... We feel like pawns in a game that we have no voice [in]."
Posted by: Anonymous ||
07/11/2003 12:43:31 AM ||
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It looks like Mike in Tokyo, but it could be his wife too. Or should that be "wife"?
Posted by: Rafael ||
07/11/2003 0:56 Comments ||
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What is needed here is to send in National Guard personnel to relieve regular troops. Army troops are not trained to carry out police duties, which is basically what is needed in Iraq right now. And if a long term presence in Iraq is where things seem to be heading, then a fair and orderly personnel rotation needs to be set up.
It's in the nature of soldiers to complain. But these guys actually have it easy compared to most of the major conflicts we fought in the 20th century WWII (with the exception of Desert Storm). Vietnam War draftees had to deal with a 12-month tour of duty, during which an average of 30 KIA were sustained every day. Korean War draftees suffered an average KIA rate of 30 a day. WWI and WWII average KIA losses per day were in the hundreds - and WWII losses were mainly of draftees, not professional soldiers. (In many cases, these draftees served till they were killed). Relative to their historical counterparts, the professional troops in Iraq have nothing to complain about - they've been in Iraq for little more than 3 months and the war has been a picnic compared to the other major engagements in in the past century.
#5
Morale indicators are the length of the MP blotter report, # of Article 15's and Article 32 investigations, # of Courts Martial, # of AWOLS and desertions. We're waaaaaay below those numbers compared to those of peacetime mid-70s when the military was suffering true morale issues in the post-Vietnam era.
Posted by: Don ||
07/11/2003 9:13 Comments ||
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I keep on hearing about soldiers regularly getting 4 hours of sleep a day. If that's what their commanders are putting them up to, these higher-ups need to be given a good shaking. No one can function of 4 hours of daily sleep for months on end, even their age bracket is between 18 and 21.
#8
IIUC biggest morale problem was in the third ID, which has been there for about seven months, and had no specified date for rotation out. Now Rummy indicates 3rd will be out by September, with some leaving already (I heard 1st Cav will go in to replace them)
It will certainly help when more allied forces are there.
#10
Zhang Fei, hate to burst your bubble, but I operated on about 4 hours of sleep (sometimes none)for months at a time each time I deployed aboard ship. The last cruise, I was in my 40s. It isn't optimal, but it can be and is regularly done by our folks in the Armed Services.
Posted by: Bill ||
07/11/2003 11:54 Comments ||
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read further -- and consider what these 200 folks will be doing....
"engaged in protecting humanitarian aid, construction work and check-point duties."
I'm thinking, these are just the skills that our soldiers are mostly complaining about, obviously because this is not their training.
Releases a lot of our guys from those checkpoints... letting some of that 3rd ID go home.
Thanks, guys and gals --
Posted by: Me ||
07/11/2003 13:57 Comments ||
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BAGHDAD (AFP)-- US forces in Iraq were the target of several mortar and rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attacks in the last 24 hours. Troops came under RPG attack in Tikrit, the hometown of deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein 175 km north of Baghdad, but no injuries were reported. There were three separate mortar attacks in Ramadi, 100 km west of Baghdad. No casualties were reported in these attacks either. A logistics base near Balad, some 75 km north of the capital, was hit by mortar fire, leaving a vehicle badly damaged. Meanwhile, a US soldier died in a non-combat incident in Balad.
Posted by: Anonymous ||
07/11/2003 12:40:32 AM ||
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How can it be "heavy attack" when there are no casualties?
Wouldn't "ineffective attack" be a more appropriate description?
Posted by: Ralph ||
07/11/2003 2:40 Comments ||
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No Ralph. You're not thinking like a reporter or an editor. You they must convey the dire nature of everything - the impending calamity. Iraq is in danger of turning into Vietnam not yet utopia and things are still violent, which is really shocking when you think about it.
Posted by: Tokyo Taro ||
07/11/2003 3:39 Comments ||
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How can it be "heavy attack" when there are no casualties?
This is another anonymous posting. To liberal America-haters, a "heavy attack" is any engagement where the assailants are using anything heavier than pistols.
#5
"Several" means less than what ? 100 ? 50 ? 20 ? rounds. I would guess that training exercises expend more ordnance than these "heavy attacks"
Can you imagine veterans from WWII, Korea, and Vietnam being subjected to this "heavy attack" ? Would they have batted an eyelash ?
Can't find the original article on this one. I assume it's there someplace...
By Robert F. Worth with Kirk Semple The New York Times, Thursday 10 July 2003
In another wave of adversity for American troops in Iraq, two more soldiers were killed by insurgents and an Iraqi police contingent demanded that the Americans who trained them leave the police station. The casualties occurred late Wednesday in two separate ambushes. In one incident, a soldier was fatally shot when his convoy came under attack from small-arms fire near the city of Al Mahmudiya, the United States Central Command said today. In a separate attack, another soldier was killed and one wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade at an undisclosed location, the military said. The military also reported that a soldier died on Wednesday from "a non-hostile gunshot incident."
At least 37 members of coalition forces, 31 of them American, have been killed in combat since May 1 when President Bush declared the end of major combat operations, the military said. An additional 46 coalition members have been killed in non-hostile incidents. President Bush said today, hours after the attacks, that the United States would not be deterred from its mission in Iraq despite the persistent security threat posed by Iraqi insurgents. "There's no question we've got a security issue in Iraq," Mr. Bush said in Gabarone, Botswana, where he arrived today on his five-nation tour of Africa. "We're just going to have to deal with it person by person. We're going to have to remain tough."
Also today, Iraqi police officers in Falluja, 35 miles west of the capital, staged a protest and demanded that American soldiers move out of the police headquarters, saying the American presence was unnecessary, according to a report and video footage broadcast by Al Arabiya, a Middle Eastern television station. The Iraqi police officers threatened a mass resignation if the Americans did not heed their demand. "We have the ability to protect these sites," said Riyadh Abdel-Latif, the town's police chief, according to The Associated Press. "The presence of Americans endangers us. We asked the Americans more than a month and a half ago to leave Falluja." It was the first major sign of tension between the American military and the Iraqi police force, which is being trained by Americans under the supervision of Bernard F. Kerik, former New York City police commissioner. Some members of Iraq's newly trained police force have said they worry that working alongside coalition soldiers will put them at risk. On Saturday, seven police recruits were killed in Ramadi, 40 miles west of Falluja, when a bomb packed into a utility pole exploded during the town's first police graduation ceremony.
Falluja, where today's demonstration took place, has been the center of numerous attacks and angry protests against the American presence in Iraq. Many local residents blamed the soldiers for the bomb attack on Saturday, and for another explosion in a mosque in the town last week in which an imam was killed. The American military said that the blast was caused by people building bombs in the mosque.
So what's their beef?
Posted by: Mike Rogers (Mike in Tokyo) ||
07/11/2003 12:05:49 AM ||
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Oh my! They attackef us? By all means lets pack up all our stuff and head home. That would be the 'safe' way to handle it. Also we should pull our troops from the Balkans and Afghanistan. Only then would we be sure that nobody else can fire on them. Wake up and grow a pair!
Franks: U.S. May Stay in Iraq for Years
American troops could still be in Iraq four years from now, the war's former commander told members of Congress concerned about persistent, deadly attacks. Gen. Tommy Franks gave the stark assessment Thursday as President Bush conceded there is a security problem inside Iraq and the Senate expressed its own uneasiness by unanimously urging the administration to consider seeking outside help from NATO or the United Nations.
The resolution's author, Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., said the administration's reluctance to enlist the French and Germans in postwar Iraq "continues to make us a target there."
Congressional critics kept up their questioning of the administration's justifications for going to war and its characterizations of the current outlook in Iraq. "I'm deeply disturbed by the kind of happy face we're trying to put on this situation," Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., said during a sharp exchange with Franks, who stepped down Monday as head of the military command overseeing Iraq and Afghanistan.
Much of the criticism has focused on Bush's main justification for the war — that Saddam Hussein's government had chemical and biological weapons and was working to build more of them and develop nuclear bombs. No such weapons have been found in Iraq. The White House acknowledged this week that Bush's State of the Union reference to Iraqi attempts to buy uranium in Africa was based on intelligence that turned out to be false. CNN, CBS and ABC reported that the CIA warned that the information was not credible enough to use in the State of the Union address. But the White House used it anyway, citing British intelligence.
In his testimony, Franks warned that the number of U.S. troops in Iraq probably won't decline significantly from the current 148,000 until sometime next year and that the kinds of hit-and-run attacks that killed two American soldiers Wednesday will continue. "We need to not develop an expectation that all of these difficulties will go away in one month or two months or three months," Franks told the House Armed Services Committee. "I anticipate we'll be involved in Iraq in the future," Franks added later. "Whether that means two years or four years, I don't know."
Bush asked for patience Thursday, saying the United States would "have to remain tough" in Iraq despite the attacks that Franks said were coming at a rate of 10 to 25 a day. "There's no question we have a security issue in Iraq, and we've just got to deal with it person to person," the president said in Botswana during his tour of Africa. "We're going to have to remain tough."
Secretary of State Colin Powell, in remarks taped for CNN's "Larry King Live," said: "I regret that we are still losing troops and young men and women are being wounded, but they're being wounded by people who don't want to see the Iraqi people free."
Franks said he was confident that his successor, Gen. John Abizaid, and the civilian administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, would succeed in bringing stability and representative government to Iraq. "We must be there for the entire journey (to democracy), and we will not fail," Franks said.
The House panel's top Democrat, Ike Skelton of Missouri, said he worried "we may find ourselves in the throes of guerrilla warfare for years." And Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., spoke up to Franks and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld about what she said was a reluctance to talk about guerrilla warfare. "Why are we playing word games when our troops are facing a trained and determined enemy every day in Iraq?" Sanchez challenged Franks. "It does not bother me if someone refers to this as guerrilla or insurgency warfare," the general replied. Franks said he wouldn't use those terms because the attackers in Iraq don't have broad public support or signs of nationwide coordination. More than 70 American soldiers have died since Bush declared major combat over May 1. "It's going take more than 90 to 100 days for people to recognize the great joys of freedom and the responsibilities that come with freedom," he said. "It's very important for us to stay the course, and we will stay the course."
Franks said he didn't think Bush overstated the threat and said he was confident "we will either find the weapons or find the evidence of the weapons of mass destruction." At one point during the war, Franks said, the United States intercepted Iraqi military communications suggesting a chemical attack was imminent. An Iraqi commander issued orders that included saying, "Blood! Blood!" — which U.S. intelligence analysts thought was a reference to chemical weapons called blood agents, Franks said. Blood agents are chemicals containing cyanide compounds that are carried through the blood to cut off oxygen to the body's tissues. Franks said he did not know why Iraq didn't use chemical weapons or why U.S. forces hadn't found any.
The Senate voted 97-0 Thursday urging Bush to consider requesting a NATO force and calling for United Nations help in rounding up troops for stability and security work in Iraq. Several NATO nations already have troops in Iraq and the alliance is helping Poland organize a division of several nations' troops.
Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, a Democratic presidential candidate, said the United States should do more to bring international troops into Iraq. "We now know that the administration went to war without a thorough plan to win the peace," Kerry said. "It is time to face that truth and change course, to share the postwar burden internationally for the sake of our country."
Besides the 19 countries with forces in Iraq, another 19 are preparing to send troops and 11 are discussing it, Franks said. The United States hopes to have two divisions of about 20,000 international troops in the next few months, one led by the British and one by the Poles. "The United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, Spain, Italy, others are making their contribution now," Powell said.
Posted by: ||
07/11/2003 12:03:02 AM ||
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#1
Alrighty, Mike, take your meds now. Then you can sleep...
#4
So Mike, what's your plan? OK, let me play along with you for a while. We went into Iraq and fucked up bad. What do we do now? How do we make things right for the Iraqi people? How do we deal with the mullahs? The Baathists? Do we just leave right now? What about Bush? Do we impeach him? What about Cheney? Rumsfeld? Give me some positive recommendations.
#5
Hmm looks like an anonymous person is spamming Rantburg..lovely ain't it folks? Just remember this is what the really far left looks like and its all about the ooooiiiiiilll ;)
#6
"Give me some positive recommendations"
He would like to, but he just physically can't. "He, he, he.... You right wing losers are, well, losers."
Is this Mike, or his wife? Hard to tell.
Posted by: Rafael ||
07/11/2003 0:53 Comments ||
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So Mike, what's your plan?
(Better get our asses back to the UN, say sorry and get some help.)
OK, let me play along with you for a while. We went into Iraq and fucked up bad. What do we do now?
(Well. Good no longer in denial, eh? What do we do now? See above. I am not a politician. I am an anti-war activist. I do not appreciate Americans getting killed for some twisted government policy. Let's face it; Neither you nor I really give a rats ass about the Iraqi people. I would never give one of my sons so that people on the other side of the world could be free. If you could, then you are quite an unusual person.)
How do we make things right for the Iraqi people?
(Certainly not by bombing, shooting them. Raiding their homes in the middle of the night. They probably thought that shit was going away with Saddam. But no, we turn around and do the same goddamned thing. What do we do? I guess go back to my first answer. Regardless, it doesn't matter what you or I say or think. And this homesite, spread half-truths and lies is part of the problem. As far as you are concerned, get informed.)
How do we deal with the mullahs? The Baathists?
(If the Iraqi people want a despotic bunch of people ruling them, why should you or I care? If they have elections, like we promised them -then broke the promise and they vote in a bunch of religious fruitcakes. I don't care. It's called freedom of choice.)
Do we just leave right now?
(Our young people are dying. For what? For Bush's machismo? For the illinformed American public's entertainment. Fuck that. And Fuck Saddam. Fuck Bush. Fuck Bin laden. They are all extremists. The best thing would be to have all their asses at the Hague tried for war crimes.)
What about Bush? Do we impeach him?
(Yes. We have no choice.)
What about Cheney? Rumsfeld? Give me some positive recommendations.
(Hey, I'm sorry. Really. It hurts me greatly to see what's going on. I'm sorry to hurt your feelings. I don't mean to....
What should we do? I guess we all have to start telling the truth. Just like it says in the bible (or whatever religion you choose.) Then we must demand that our elected officials do the same.
Damn! If we Americans didn't go and allow our government to get us into a mess again that we will be damned if we do, damned if we don't.
I don't blame you. This is just as much my fault as it is yours. Take care.
Actually, I liked Bush more than Gore. This is so depressing.)
#9
Hmm looks like an anonymous person is spamming Rantburg.
Not much of a problem. If the person is stupid enough to be using a personal account to do this, then uncovering the identity of the person is only a matter of time. If this is coming through a compromised machine/network, that can be taken care of promptly. Computer systems compile many logs, so very few actions go undocumented.
#10
Why do you have to be such a troll? 6 articles in a row? No editing or highlighted comments? Only now are you finally getting down to real discussion and opinion here, but only because 11A5S prompted you.
I don't agree with your complete isolationism one bit. The problems of the Middle East are our problems too for many reasons (please do not start in with the oil issue). No Rantburger believes in sending soldiers to die just to save the Iraqis.
The whole region is a threat to the U.S. and we just eliminated our most powerful and outspoken declared enemy. Things are changing fast and the whole regional dyanamics are shifting. You shouldn't get hysterical yet because we'll have to wait and see if we get the desired outcome - democratic Iraq and Iran and general reform throughout the region (or at least halfway there); or the nightmare scenario, fundamentalist Pakistan (and Iraq).
Contemplate these scenarios and then come back with serious opinions. Isolationism is not an option and the U.N. is corrupt and ineffectual.
Posted by: Tokyo Taro ||
07/11/2003 1:44 Comments ||
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Anonymous: My personal belief is that as long as there are violent men in the world, they must be confronted by violence. The Hague is a good start, but how do you get any of the folks you mentioned (including Bush) before it without force? Read some of the postings here. There are an awful lot of people in the world dedicated to destroying not just America, but Western civilization. All of it. I don't know how to respond to that without violence. I wish I did, but I don't.
I don't think that any of the commentators I know and like here are totally convinced that Iraq was the best course of action. But sometimes, you have to kick the door in and find out what's on the other side. Iraq was probably the best place to start, if you truly believe the threat to civilization is as grave as I do.
You might say, where's the threat? What did Iraq do to us? Nothing overt, but it is the only place where we can get face to face with the Islamists that have vowed to destroy us. This is my belief, based on my own search.
I don't think that there is a meeting point between our beliefs. It's good that you care so passionately about your own. Good night and good luck.
P.S. A lot of us here are veterans of our nation's misadventures. I can't speak for all of them, but I mourn every casualty.
#13
Poor devil, he's just lost. As it says on the sign at the city limits, this is Rantburg, the friendly home of civil, well-reasoned discourse. (Our Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, and Convention & Visitors Bureau welcome you! No unlicensed door-to-door solicitors. Truckers, please do not use your compression brakes within city limits.)
Ratburg, where all the rats who don't tell the truth live, is a couple counties over. Go back out to the Interstate and turn left . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
07/11/2003 7:06 Comments ||
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#14
I log on here to read the truth (aka what the right is saying), not what Mike and his communist friends want us to believe. Trolls have sufficient other means to spew their lies and hatefulness.
#15
Michael, if you are indeed in Tokyo, then I would think you would have learned a little r-e-s-p-e-c-t. Try it. And remember Michael its not personal.
#16
BJ Clinton promised we'd be in Bosnia for only one, count it, one year. The lefties haven't had stroke over that LIE. But, then again, it's all about POWER. They lost it and anything or any act is justified to get it back. Those of us who are historically aware know we've have troop committments in Europe since the end of the second world war even though the western europeans have had a greater combined population and GNP than the US for decades. Where were the whiners for all those decades when we could have cut back the military and redirected considerable sums of money to social welfare programs just like the europeans? Sorry, Anon, many of us realized that this wasn't a quick in and out [like BJ in Somalia] because that only leads to another 9/11. We're in it for the long haul, to include the eventual increase in funding it because we realize that if we lose this one, nothing else matters.
Posted by: Don ||
07/11/2003 9:27 Comments ||
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#17
This troll is channeling what he believes to be the conservative viewpoint about Iraq. Of course, it's a load of horsepoop. He liked Bush more than he liked Gore, but changed his views because of the Iraq war? Tell me another one.
What I would sorely like to do is to grab him and hand him over to one of those Baathists he's always defending. Of course, he might find himself in pig heaven, actually convert to Islam and become a Baathist member himself. The Baathist Party espouses many of this troll's values - a superiority complex (vis-a-vis ordinary Americans), rabid anti-Americanism and a contempt for the skill and courage of the American soldier.
#18
We wouldn't want to impugn on Rick Cranium's right to free speech.
This troll's got the right to say whatever he wants on his own website. What he's doing is comparable to a vandal spray-painting a political slogan on someone else's car. But hey, it's up to Fred.
#19
I can't help but note the comparison between Fred's site here and "The Democratic Underground" that booted me out, cancelled my log in and erased my e-mail after one posting. And I didn't hide behind anonymity but proudly posted my handle. Come to think of it - that's probably why I was booted out. Liberals love to tout diversity but can not stand diversity of opinion. I know this firsthand from going to law school in the lefty enclave of Boulder, Colorado.
#21
The only conclusion one can draw is that for liberal Democrats, Americaâs strategic interests are not just an irrelevance, but also a deterrent to intervention. This is a perversity born of moral vanity. For liberals, foreign policy is social work. National interest -- i.e., national selfishness -- is a taint. The only justified interventions, therefore, are those that are morally pristine, namely, those that are uncorrupted by any suggestion of national interest.
I agree, but I also believe that a contributing factor is the underlying notion among liberals that we rich white Americans must proactively assuage our collective guilt for being ... well ... rich and white. The "we are not worthy" ethos as expressed by Wayne and Garth in "Wayne's World". Thus, the American left believes that we most prove to the world that we really are good people at base. Then, maybe perhaps they will like us - "They like us, they really really like us!" Of course, when the enemy hates you regardless of what you do, the premise is invalid and dangerous.
EFL
The city police said the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Abu Sayyaf had joined forces in the Thursday bomb attack at the public market here that killed three people and wounded at least 27 others. City police chief Supt. Jose Gili told reporters the bomb attack was carried out after city officials failed to give protection money to the two armed groups.
Koronadal Mayor Fernando Miguel has told local radio station dxms that 30 minutes after the blast, he had received a call from a man identifying himself as Abu Sulaiman, who claimed to be an Abu Sayyaf leader, and who told him they were responsible for it.
âI recognized his voice. He was the same guy who called up on May 10, owning responsibility in the bomb attack [that day], but there is no use talking to him,â said Miguel. The mayor said the same man had been calling him since February, demanding P1 million to avoid bombings. Gili said, âBased on our intelligence efforts, the bomb attack was carried out by the MILF in tandem with the Abu Sayyaf. The motive is extortion.â Just another group of gangsters pretending to be rebels.He added that one basis for their conclusion is the reported arrival in a coastal town in Sultan Kudarat province a few days ago of an Abu Sayyaf group headed by Khadafi Janjalani. This was reported by the 601st Infantry Brigade commander Brig. Gen. Alexander Yano. MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu denied, however, that the Front was to blame because the MILF abhors terrorist activities that inflict damage on civilians. "We just attack the military..and their families."
But Gili said the way it was carried out âwas similar to the three earlier bombingsâ at separate places in this city since February, which have all been blamed on the MILF.
But Brig. Gen. Agustin Demaala, commander of the 601st Infantry Brigade, said, in Zamboanga City, he is most likely to believe it was the handiwork of an extortionist group that had demanded P1 million from the Koronadal City government. He added that there is no report available saying that the MILF or the Abu Sayyaf are involved although the name Abu Sulaiman had been mentioned. Sulaiman is one of the top Abu Sayyaf leaders sought by the United States for the kidnapping and murder of two American citizens. âPerhaps, [the extortionists] are only using the name of Abu Sulaiman but this is extortion. They are demanding money from the city government.â Demaala said, however, that Thursdayâs bombing and that on May 10 have âalmost the same patternâ except that the explosive used in the latest incident is smaller than that in May. President Arroyo vowed to give justice to the victims of the blast but did not categorically blame the MILF. Sheâs still hoping the peace talks will work.
Clad in outdoor working attire, the President told reporters at the public market, âAll the perpetrators will be brought to justice. Nothing in the peace process will deter us from punishing terrorists and bringing them to justice.â On the impending peace talks with the MILF, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who spoke in Tokyo before journalists, said his government had not made a decision yet on the request made by President Arroyo on Wednesday during his brief meeting with her in Malacañang.
Manila had asked Malaysia to lead the cease-fire observer team and had also requested other Islamic countries including Bahrain, Bangladesh and Brunei Darussalam to participate in the monitoring team. Oh yeah, Iâm sure they will be very unbiased.
Diplomatic observers believe the success of the peace negotiations with the MILF will boost the countryâs bid for observer status in the influential Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). What, so you can observe part of your country be turned into another islamic hellhole?
Posted by: Steve ||
07/11/2003 2:05:10 PM ||
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Instead of murdering in the name of 'Allah' you'd think these lice-infested morons would put their creative talents into something tangible like toilet paper and a better mud house but NO!!!!!!
Posted by: Ned ||
07/11/2003 0:22 Comments ||
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Police have arrested four more suspected members of the Jemaah Islamiah Muslim network and seized more than 20,000 bullets, large amounts of chemicals and detonators, police said on Friday. The arrests in the Central Java capital Semarang, which police said were linked to last October's Bali bombings, are on top of three announced earlier by police in Jakarta. "The discovery of these high explosive substances is no joke," Central Java police chief, Comr. Gen. Didi Widayadi, told radio El Shinta, adding the arrested men had been trained in the Philippines.
Bet we can guess approximately where in the Philippines, too...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/11/2003 13:20 ||
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The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) is loosing its own strength after a junior commander overseeing Lingie Simpang Gajah area in Aceh Tengah regency gave himself up to military authority in Jambi's regency of Batanghari. "The commander, Abdullah alias Asmadi, surrendered on Thursday at about 9 a.m. and pledged his allegiance to the republic," commander of Batanghari Military District, Lt. Col. Sarum, told reporters on Friday. "Abdullah received military training in Libya and is one of the most wanted GAM figures in Jambi. He is the subordinate of Musa and Marzuki who were captured on June 19." Sarum said that Abdullah had been in Jambi since 2001 and worked as a forklift operator at a local timber company, PT Loka Rahayu.
Interesting, about him getting training in Libya...
Also on Thursday, Jambi Provincial Police captured another GAM figure, Muhtar, who is responsible for information and communication affairs.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/11/2003 13:17 ||
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JAKARTA â Indonesian police said on Friday they had arrested several senior members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terror organisation. Police spokesman Brigadier-General Edward Aritonang denied local media speculation that one of the suspects was the group's fugitive head, Hambali.
That's too bad. That's the guy they need to catch. But they'll probably have to go to Pakistan to get him...
He declined to give any more details, including how many suspects were arrested, saying that police are still after more suspects and did not want to 'jeopardise' ongoing investigations. He added that police would 'soon' release more information. Police have arrested scores of the group's operatives since the Oct 12 blasts, but have said that several key figures remain at large.
Followup, from Jakarta Post. This is the article Steve was referring to in the comments. Perhaps I should change the headline to read "Tragic Suicide in Jakarta Crapper"...
Suspect Ihwanuddin grabbed an M-16 rifle from a policeman who was questioning him and ran to the bathroom. Police fired tear gas at Ihwanuddin, 28, but he was later found dead in the bathroom with a gunshot wound in his chest, it said. "He indeed killed himself," Jakarta police chief, Comr. Gen. Makbul Padmanegara, told reporters.
"Yup. That boy's doorknob dead."
The two other suspects were identified as Pranata Yuda and Suyono, who were arrested on Tuesday in the town of Bekasi just east of Jakarta. Ihwanuddin was arrested in South Jakarta before dawn on Friday. Police said Yuda had admitted to being a regional leader of JI and that both Yuda and Ihwanudin had trained in Afghanistan and fought against the Soviets there. Yuda was also a military instructor at the Hudaibiyah camp in the Southern Philippines, they said.
That would be one of MILF's camps, I'd reckon â not that they train terrorists, mind you...
The three "are suspected of having planned terrorist acts in Jakarta and several other areas in a campaign of killings and bombings," the release said. Police found an M-16 gun, four bullets, two binoculars, JI documents, a booklet of church service schedules as well as CDs and cassettes on JI from a house belonging to Yuda's brother. At Ihwanuddin's house they found an M-16 rifle, one bullet cache and 1,640 bullets.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/11/2003 08:20 ||
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Fred, you missed the best part:
One militant died in police custody. Police said the man, who was hand-cuffed, grabbed a M-16 rifle, loaded a magazine and ran to a toilet where he shot himself in the chest.
What happened to the tried and true; "shot trying to escape"?
Posted by: Steve ||
07/11/2003 9:16 Comments ||
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Steve, at least he didn't fall down the stairs, repeatedly.
One of the worldâs most influential Islamic leaders has condemned all attacks by suicide bombers at an international conference for Islamic scholars. Grand Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi of the Al-Azhar mosque of Cairo - which is seen as the highest authority in Sunni Islam - said groups which carried out suicide bombings were the enemies of Islam.
Speaking at the conference in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, Sheikh Tantawi said extremist Islamic groups had appropriated Islam and its notion of jihad, or holy struggle, for their own ends. He called on Muslim nations to open themselves to dialogue with the West saying Islamic nations should "wholeheartedly open our arms to the people who want peace with us".
"I do not subscribe to the idea of a clash among civilizations. People of different beliefs should co-operate and not get into senseless conflicts and animosity," he added. Sheikh Tantawi was addressing a gathering of nearly 800 scholars and representatives from various non-governmental organisations.
"Extremism is the enemy of Islam. Whereas, jihad is allowed in Islam to defend oneâs land, to help the oppressed. The difference between jihad in Islam and extremism is like the earth and the sky," Sheikh Tantawi said. Sheikh Tantawi said Muslim suicide attacks, including those against Israelis, were wrong and could not be justified.
His comments echoed those by Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammed who said, at the opening of the conference on Thursday, that salvation could not be achieved through the killing of innocent people. Dr. Mohammed also said Islamic countries needed more modern weapons, the BBC seems to gloss over that. Makes me wonder what Sheikh Tantawi really said.
Worried that Islamâs image is being damaged by terrorists who have hijacked the religion for their own ends, delegates also considered banning books which fuel extremism. "We have to block them from channels that are meant to spread Islam," Sheik Husam Qaraqirah, head of an Islamic charity association in Lebanon, said. "Their books must be banned and lifted off the shelves of mosques, schools, universities and libraries," he added. Deeds, not words, Sheik Qaraqirah. Pull them and we can talk.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/11/2003 2:21:39 PM ||
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The carrier Reagan - Ahead of its class
Greatly edited for length. Great article though, go and read the whole thing.
The huge $5 billion warship, being readied for its commissioning Saturday at the Norfolk Naval Station, is the product of a long struggle.
The Reagan is the ninth ship in a class of carriers begun in 1975 with the commissioning of the Nimitz. The ships look alike to the untrained eye -- each is about 1,000 feet long and displaces 97,000 tons of seawater -- but the Reagan has about 1,300 significant design changes from its immediate predecessor, the Harry S. Truman.
After the next carrier, the George H.W. Bush, the Navy intends to unveil a new design; it will be roughly the size of a Nimitz-class ship but with automated systems that could cut the shipâs company of 3,200 by one-third or more and a new reactor able to power electromagnetic catapults and directed-energy weapons.
The first of those carriers, CVN-21, is projected to cost about $12 billion. It should reach the fleet around 2014.
Though they tout the Reagan as far more powerful than any threat it might face, Navy leaders insist that the massive cost of an even more powerful ship is easily justified.
Retired Rear Adm. Bryan W. Compton Jr., the first skipper of the Nimitz, said he knew immediately when he boarded his ship, years before its commissioning, that he had charge of the signature vessel of the Navy. But, he said, itâs beyond dispute that a new design is now needed.
The cost, bulk and complexity of the Nimitz ships have discouraged imitators. Other nations operate aircraft carriers, but the largest of those has perhaps half the firepower and two-thirds the bulk of a Nimitz. Even at the height of the Cold War, when it challenged American superiority in submarines, destroyers and cruisers, the Soviet Union never fielded a carrier that could seriously compete with a Nimitz.
But while big carriers have been the centerpiece of the Navy and perhaps the worldâs most recognized symbols of American military power since World War II, struggles like the Reaganâs have marked their history.
In the 1980s, as President Ronald Reagan oversaw a massive peacetime expansion of the U.S. military, a group of reformers argued that carriers were easy targets.
Unfortunately, no mention of Secretary John Lehman - the guiding force and "father" of the "600 ship Navy" which gave the USA maritime supremacy in the 1980âs and beyond.
``It has been reported in the press that aircraft carriers may be vulnerable, that their survivability might be in question. Some day that may be true. But itâs not true today,ââ Adm. Vern Clark, the chief of naval operations, asserted last year. ``For now and the near term, there is no more powerful, no more capable platform, anywhere in the world, than Americaâs large deck aircraft carrier.ââ
The performance of the carrier fleet in wars in Afghanistan in late 2001-02 and Iraq this spring has at least temporarily quieted carrier critics.
The Navy cleared its fighters from the decks of the Kitty Hawk, a Nimitz-sized but conventionally powered flattop, to make it a base for Marine helicopters and troops operating in Afghanistan, then used other carriers to launch strike missions on targets more than 500 miles inland.
For the war in Iraq, carriers in the eastern Mediterranean gave the United States the ability to hit enemy targets from the north as well as from the usual land bases and carriers to the south in Kuwait and in the Persian Gulf.
Air Force advocates note that while the Navy flew the most sorties into Afghanistan, Air Force bombers dropped more bombs. But in Iraq, the Navyâs ability to operate at will, from neutral waters, contrasted sharply with the tough and not-always-successful negotiations the United States had to conduct with Iraqâs neighbors for permission to fly land-based aircraft across their territory on the way to the war zone.
The carriersâ endurance -- their reactors run for 20-plus years without refueling -- and their flexibility are the real keys to their value, said retired Vice Adm. Dennis McGinn, a former director of air warfare for the Navy.
McGinn said the shipsâ awesome size and power also give them and their sailors a certain swagger, valuable when policymakers want to demonstrate to potential foes that America means business.
When a Nimitz carrier shows up off a foreign shore, everyone understands that America ``cares enough to send the best,ââ he said. Love that last line.
#3
FYI: To clarify The Bush would be the last Nimitz class CVN. Not the Reagan. The Reagan may not even be the jump that's expected with the George H.W. Bush, the carrier that the yard is now ramping up production on. The Bush, also known as CVN-77, is set for completion in 2008 and is expected to be the last of the Nimitz-class ships.
For good or for bad.
On Saturday, after more than eight years that included budget battles and many design changes, the Ronald Reagan will join the fleet as the Navyâs most advanced aircraft carrier
A hat tip to Instapundit for this.
Through an unusual set of circumstances, I have been given documentary evidence of the names and positions of the 600 closest people in Iraq to Saddam Hussein, as well as his ongoing relationship with Osama bin Laden. I am looking at the document as I write this story from my hotel room overlooking the Tigris River in Baghdad.
One of the lawyers with whom I have been working for the past five weeks had come to me and asked me whether a list of the 600 people closest to Saddam Hussein would be of any value now to the Americans. I said, yes, of course. He said that the list contained not only the names of the 55 ââdeck of cardsââ players who have already been revealed, but also 550 others. When I began questioning him about the list, how he obtained it and what else it showed, he asked would it be of interest to the Americans to know that Saddam had an ongoing relationship with Osama bin Laden. I said yes, the Americans have, so far as I am aware, have never been able to prove that relationship, but the president and others have said that they believe it exists. He said, ââWell, judge, there is no doubt it exists, and I will bring you the proof tomorrow.ââ So today he brought me the proof, and there is no doubt in my mind that he is right. The document shows that an Iraqi intelligence officer, Abid Al-Karim Muhamed Aswod, assigned to the Iraq embassy in Pakistan, is ââresponsible for the coordination of activities with the Osama bin Laden group.ââ
Sammy's embassy in Pakland, was it? Careful with that feather! You almost knocked me over, dammit!
The document shows that it was written over the signature of Uday Saddam Hussein, the son of Saddam Hussein...
That is the story of the ââHonor Roll of 600,ââ and why I believe that President Bush was right when he alleged that Saddam was in cahoots with Osama and was coordinating activities with him. It does not prove that they engaged together in any particular act of terror against the United States. But it seems to me to be strong proof that the two were in contact and conspiring to perform terrorist acts. Up until this time, I have been skeptical about these claims. Now I have changed my mind. There is, however, one big problem remaining: They are both still at large and the combined forces of the free world have been unable to find them. Until we find and capture them, they will remain a threat â Saddam with the remnants of his army and supporters in combination with the worldwide terrorist organization of Osama bin Laden.
French peacekeepers in Bunia in war-torn northeast Democratic Republic of Congo killed at least five ethnic militia fighters. "There was an exchange of fire" on the outskirts of Bunia, said Commander Xavier Pons. "We did not suffer any casualties but five or six militia fighters from the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) were killed."
They will be missed, 'cuz the Frenchies didn't...
The UN-mandated peacekeeping force's mission is to restore security in Bunia.
That's five or six of 'em who're nice and peaceful...
"The force also seized munitions, grenades and assault rifles and will proceed to destroy certain UPC vehicles found there," said Pons. Soon after its arrival in Bunia early last month, the French-led multinational force banned weapons from the streets of Bunia and forced the rebels to billet outside of town. Earlier Friday the security force asked Thomas Lubanga, the leader of the UPC, to reduce his bodyguard, as efforts continue to keep weapons off the streets. Lubanga rejected the request.
So they reduced it for him...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/11/2003 13:30 ||
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"Frenchies bang five hard boyz."
Man, I thought that was going to be something completely different than it was.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
07/11/2003 17:17 Comments ||
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Thousands of Nigerian Muslims protested in the streets of the northern city of Kano at the imminent arrival in Nigeria of US President George W. Bush.
Hey! Not to worry! It's not like they're gonna have a beauty contest or something...
Following Friday's weekly Islamic prayers, worshippers thronged the streets of Kano chanting slogans bearing placards reading "Death to America" and "Death to Israel."
I think when I get off work tonight, I'll throng the streets and chant "We don't like you, either! Never did!"
Large numbers of armed police were deployed to watch over the marchers, but there were no reports of violence or arrests. Bush left Uganda on his Airforce One jet on Friday and was due to arrive in the Nigerian capital Abuja at around 7:00 pm on the last leg of a whistle-stop five nation tour. More than 2,000 police have been deployed in Abuja, which is 400 kilometres south of Kano, to protect the US party, and there was no sign in the capital of any imminent protest.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/11/2003 13:26 ||
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Liberiaâs main rebel faction warned on Friday that any peacekeeping force that deployed before President Charles Taylor stepped down would have to be prepared to fight it. West African countries plan to send a 1,000-strong force within two weeks to prevent chaos when Taylor quits under U.S. pressure. Taylor says he will only go once a force arrives. Hopefully, the first thing the peacekeeping force does is arrest and/or shoot Chuck.
"While we hope for the best we are braced for the worst; therefore any troops deployed before the departure of Taylor must be prepared for a fire-fight," said the statement from Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). Thanks for the warning.
LURD began its war to topple Taylor more than three years ago and now controls about 30 percent of the ruined country. Its fighters struck into Monrovia twice last month, leaving hundreds dead. Rebels known as Model hold another 30 percent of Liberia. The United States is still debating whether to send its own peacekeepers to Liberia, a country founded by freed American slaves in the 19th century. But President Bush has said the United States will back African efforts.
Taylor has accepted an offer of asylum from Nigeria, which is also likely to be the biggest contributor of troops to the emergency force.
"Any troop deployment before the departure of Taylor shall be viewed as a means to prop up Taylorâs regime and further prolong the crisis," LURD said. If they donât wack Chuck first thing, then LURD could be right.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/11/2003 11:59:37 AM ||
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Am I the only one being pissed about leftist intellectuals from the Ivy league being so eager to send blue collars from Oklahoma or Texas in Kosovo or Liberia to be shot at just for intellectuals feeling good. What about them enroling in the Army and going there? Just imagine that the 83d Division "All American intellectuals" or the 102d Division "Screaming Berkelyites". I am sure the bad guys would flee in terror just at hearing their names.
Scoop by Drudge? No reports yet on Fox, CNN, MSNBC, or AP sites to confirm...
Secret Service just arrested a stowaway who made it onto the Bush press charter plane in Pretoria, South Africa this morning and flew unmolested to Entebbe, Uganda, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned...
After getting on and off the 747 with absolutely no credentials, he boarded a bus with the rest of the White House press corps and was taken to the Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel on the shore of Lake Victoria -- the same hotel where Bush arrived 90 minutes later! MORE....
The White House staff noticed that no one seemed to know the guy, so they alerted Secret Service, who arrested him at the hotel. There was a lot of shouting from the guy as he was hustled off to jail. Secret Service Agent Mark Sullivan assured reporters the president was never in danger, although he didn't say whether the same held true for the press. After all, there are reports of Al Qaeda presence in Uganda. MORE...
Man had no weapons, sources tell DRUDGE, and no passport. Man being charged by Ugandan authorities with illegal entry. He was nabbed after actually trying to enter the part of the hotel complex were the president was making his appearance... MORE...
There was the usual contingent of three Secret Service agents on the press plane. Also, although authorities stopped this guy from getting into the Bush event, some uncredentialed journalists gained entry!
Posted by: Dar ||
07/11/2003 11:56:42 AM ||
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"Rev. Jackson, what are you doing here?"
Posted by: Steve ||
07/11/2003 13:01 Comments ||
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I was sure that it would be Helen Thomas, but the report indicates that it was a man.
Posted by: Tom ||
07/11/2003 14:08 Comments ||
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A Canadian woman arrested in Iran and allegedly beaten into a coma has a 50% chance of surviving, according to doctors at the hospital where Zahra Kazemi remains bruised, unconscious and strapped to a life support system.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is struggling to confirm Ms. Kazemiâs condition, but physicians have told Canadian consular officials in Iran that the Montreal-based photojournalist, who suffered a mysterious brain hemorrhage two weeks ago, may not survive her ordeal.
"Itâs not good," said the childhood friend, who spoke to the National Post on the condition of anonymity. "Her face looks dead."
Ms. Kazemi, 54, was arrested on or about June 23 on suspicion of espionage after authorities in Iran found her snapping photos of Evin prison, a correctional facility in the capital city of Tehran.
It is believed the freelance photographer was covering one of the student protests, which ended when dozens of people were taken into custody. Her family suspects authorities were upset that she was shooting pictures of the prison where the protesters were taken.
The only certain fact, said Reynald Doiron, a Foreign Affairs spokesman, is that Ms. Kazemi has suffered some level of brain damage. How it happened is still a mystery.
"Is it hypertension?" he asked. "High blood pressure? A blow? Who knows?" Reynald Doiron. Sounds frog to me. Myst be. I mean, high blood pressure usually doesnât cause brain damage.
Canadian consular officials visited Ms. Kazemi yesterday, but for the second day in a row they were only allowed to view her from behind a plate-glass window. As of last night, she was alive and under the constant care of doctors, Mr. Doiron said.
"Our people can see that she is not conscious," Mr. Doiron said. "But does that mean that she is sleeping? Does it mean that she is knocked out? Does it mean she is dying? We donât know." "No, really, sheâs just very tired," doctors told Mr. Doiron. "Those beatings--um, the beating hot sun takes a lot out of a person." Mr. Doiron concurred, saying, "Yes, it is hot in Iran."
Not to make light of the situation. I truly hope this woman does not die. If only she could be transported to a real hospital.
Posted by: growler ||
07/11/2003 11:55:44 AM ||
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Actaully, growler, high blood pressure is one of the precursors to stroke, i.e. brain hemorrhage.
I think the doctors are doing their best. Most times it's up to the body to heal itself in these cases. They can only work with what they were given, and if she had been badly beaten...
By Charles Krauthammer - Washington Post - Friday, July 11, 2003;EFL
He really hits the nail on the head on this one.
It was the left that led the opposition to war in Iraq. Now it is the left that is most strenuous in urging intervention in Liberia. Curious.
No blood for oil, it seems, but blood for Liberia. And let us not automatically assume that Liberia will be an immaculate intervention. But Liberia has three warring parties, tons of guns and legions of desperate fighters. Yet pressure is inexorably building to send American troops to enforce a peace.
There are the usual suspects, Jesse Jackson and the New York Times, but the most unapologetic proponent of the no-Iraq/yes-Liberia school is Howard Dean, Democratic flavor of the month. [I love that line.]
"I opposed the war in Iraq because it was the wrong war at the wrong time," says Dean, but "military intervention in Liberia represents an appropriate use of American power." [What a bunch of crap. This is the leading light for the Democrats?]
What is it that makes liberals such as Dean, preening their humanitarianism, so antiwar in Iraq and so pro-intervention in Liberia?
The same question could be asked of the Democratic Party, which in the 1990s opposed the Persian Gulf War but overwhelmingly supported humanitarian interventions in places such as Haiti and Kosovo.
They all had a claim on the American conscience. What then was the real difference between, say, Haiti and Gulf War I, and between Liberia and Gulf War II? The Persian Gulf has deep strategic significance for the United States; Haiti and Liberia do not. In both gulf wars, critical American national interests were being defended and advanced. Yet it is precisely these interventions that liberals opposed.
The only conclusion one can draw is that for liberal Democrats, Americaâs strategic interests are not just an irrelevance, but also a deterrent to intervention. This is a perversity born of moral vanity. For liberals, foreign policy is social work. National interest -- i.e., national selfishness -- is a taint. The only justified interventions, therefore, are those that are morally pristine, namely, those that are uncorrupted by any suggestion of national interest.
Hence the central axiom of left-liberal foreign policy: The use of American force is always wrong, unless deployed in a region of no strategic significance to the United States.
The guys from Powerline quibble slightly with this axiom. To wit: "Actually, I think that this statement of the central axiom of left-lilberal foreign policy and the pure essence of the Clinton Doctrine needs to be refined slightly. It is: "The use of American force is always wrong unless it is deployed for a purpose that bears no relationship to the national interest of the United States." http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/003941.php
This is the core lunacy of Democratic foreign policy. Either it has no criteria for intervening militarily -- after all, if weâre going into Liberia, on what grounds are we not going into Congo? -- or it has a criterion, and its logic is that the U.S. Army is a missionary service rather than a defender of U.S. interests.
What should be our criteria for military intervention? The answer is simple: strategic and moral necessity. Foreign policy is not social work. Acting for purely humanitarian reasons is wanton and self-indulgent.
You donât send U.S. soldiers to die to assuage troubled consciences at home. Their lives should be risked only in defense of their country.
Should we then do nothing elsewhere? In principle, we should help others by economic and diplomatic means and with appropriate relief agencies. Regarding Liberia, it is rather odd for the Europeans, who rail against U.S. arrogance, to claim that all the armies of France and Germany, of Europe and Africa, are powerless in the face of Charles Taylor -- unless the Americans ride to the rescue.
America will share the burden with them if they share the burden with us where we need it. And that means peacekeepers in Iraq. The world cannot stand by watching us bleed in Iraq, and then expect us to bleed for it in Liberia.
Posted by: ColoradoConservative ||
07/11/2003 10:45:32 AM ||
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I know this firsthand from going to law school in the lefty enclave of Boulder, Colorado.
Very distressing. I was hopin' to move to CO sometime in the near future (not Boulder though). Of course, I can't imagine it would be worse than being here in CA...
#2
I am a fan of the Kraut Hammer, but I have to disagree: the main grounds for the opposition of the "left-liberal" and "liberal Democrat" to the Persian Gulf War and their support of the later Kosovo/Haiti interventions, is due to the fact that Bush was Republican and Clinton was a Democrat.
IMO, supporting US foreign policy according to party affiliation of the administration is still lunatic, but...
Posted by: Carl in NH ||
07/11/2003 12:51 Comments ||
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JFM - LOL at your comments.
Carl - I disagree. Partisan orientation only partially explains the left's motives. The underlying premise of its/their actions is as Krauthammer describes.
Palestinian security officers shot and wounded a member of the Islamic militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip as Security Minister Mohammad Dahlanâs convoy drove past after talks with Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz. Security sources said on Friday Dahlanâs bodyguards opened fire late on Thursday when they believed the man posed a threat to the security minister following the talks. "Hey, that guys looking funny at us. Shoot him!"
Witnesses said Dahlanâs bodyguards shot into the air and then fired at the man. Security sources said the man, who was standing at the side of the road, was armed. Who in Gaza isnât armed?
The witnesses said Hamas militants later gathered outside the Palestinian security forcesâ office and fired their rifles in the air before throwing three hand grenades at the office. Dire Revenge(tm) time.
Hamas official Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi identified the wounded man as Mohammed Assimri and denied he had represented a threat to the convoy. "We maintained restraint but things will return to normal only when the people who fired at Assimri are prosecuted," he told Reuters. I thought shooting people at random was normal in Gaza?
Posted by: Steve ||
07/11/2003 10:16:20 AM ||
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Remember how we armed the Afghan warlords against the Taliban? Maybe we can arm Mohammad Dahlan against some of the Palestinian terrorists.
#2
...but things will return to normal only when the people who fired at Assimri are prosecuted..."
I'm sorry, but my brain just nearly blew a gasket trying to process this sentence. First of all, you mean its' not normal for armed palestinians to carry weapons and fire in the air? It's seems like they'll do that for any occasion these days, funerals, 9/11, photo-ops, etc...
Next, when they claimed to have maintained restraint, were they aware that lobbing grenades at the PA security office is kind of like a throwing a temper tantrum ... with shrapnel? Maybe what they meant was, "We had 20 grenades, but we only used three."
#3
Dahlan to Mofaz: We need more prisoners released for street cred.
Mofaz to Dahlan: You want prisoners released you need cred with us. We've seen only a handful of PA actions against ticking bombs, and one of them you released.
Dahlan to aides: Shoot a Hamasnik, please.
Hamas: We know what hes trying. Well he isnt going to use us like that - lets show him we mean business.
Now Abbas/Dahlan have to either crackdown or backdown.
#4
The witnesses said Hamas militants later gathered outside the Palestinian security forcesâ office and fired their rifles in the air before throwing three hand grenades at the office.
Jeez... you solve this problem by firing your rifles not in the air, but at them while they're firing their rifles in the air -- and before they toss some grenades at you.
Just when you thought things couldnât get worse. EFL:
UN health officials are helping Algeria to investigate an outbreak of plague in the west of the country which has claimed at least one life. A team from the World Health Organization and other international bodies went to the Oran region after reports of plague emerged last month. Algeriaâs health ministry has announced 10 laboratory-confirmed cases to date and one probable case. France, the former colonial power (snicker) which has a large ethnic Algerian community, has tightened sanitary controls at its ports to guard against contaminated rats and insects. As opposed to their domestic rats and bugs.
The WHO said preliminary studies had been carried out but more work was needed to establish the source of the plague which has taken both bubonic and septicaemic forms. Of the 10 confirmed cases, eight were of bubonic plague and two of the deadlier septicaemic kind, one of which proved fatal. Deadlier than bubonic plague?
The French health ministry said in a recent report that no cases of plague had surfaced in France itself but it was taking precautions at ports. It also reminded travellers to take greater precautions if visiting areas with a plague risk. Visit beautiful Algeria. Come for the terrorists, stay for the plague!
Posted by: Steve ||
07/11/2003 9:01:50 AM ||
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My recollection is that the plague can take three forms: bubonic, pneumonic(?) and septicaemic. The last being the worst. With septicaemic, everything just kind of shuts down, all at the same time.
Bubonic: fatal around 50% of the time, travels through the lymph system. Black plague responsible for the big extermination just prior to Defoe's era (he was just a little kid too young to remember).
Pneumonic: Most deadly. Attacks pulmonary, lung system. Almost 100% fatal. Spread via aerosol human-human not from rat fleas. Outbreaks burn out quickly as all victims die.
Septicaemic: spread by rat fleas. Symptoms within hours, death within days.
#6
France, the former colonial power (snicker) which has a large ethnic Algerian community, has tightened sanitary controls at its ports to guard against contaminated rats and insects.
In all seriousness, it's a major concern for the Linchpin in the Axis of Weasels. A lot of the cargo shipments between France and Algeria are done by sea. There are not many air links into Algeria (Air France only resumed flights back into the country a few weeks back).
To Mike in Tokyo and to other site spammers: You, too, can have your very own blog, absolutely free of charge. Go to http://www.blogger.com and sign up today! Then you can blog to your little heart's content, free from the distraction of annoying readers.
Rantburg isn't hosted on Blogspot. I pay for its, with periodic help from readers, and it ain't cheap. I wrote the software. I also control the content.
I enjoy having other people post, even when we have differing opinions. I enjoy "civil, well-reasoned discourse." I don't enjoy having to clean up messes left by people who are too important to be bothered by rules.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/11/2003 08:28 ||
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EFL President Bush wants Ugandaâs journey out of the dark scourge of AIDS to serve as a model for his $15 billion global initiative to contain the pandemic. Bush will meet Friday with President Yoweri Museveni and tour an AIDS clinic in Uganda, the fourth stop on his five-nation tour of the region of the world most seriously affected by AIDS. His trip ends Saturday in Nigeria. Uganda, an Oregon-sized nation in east-central Africa, is a model for stemming its once spiraling rate of HIV infection. It stands in sharp contrast to Botswana â another stop on Bushâs African journey â which is struggling with the worldâs highest HIV infection rate. Bushâs five-year AIDS plan is modeled after a program in Uganda, which stresses abstinence, monogamy and condom use. Bushâs plan also helps provide disposable medical supplies for the docs and nurses â that will also cut the HIV infection rate. Wonder if M.i.T. knows this?
Bush spent several hours Thursday in Botswana where almost four of 10 adults carry the AIDS virus. The country recently launched a public program to give free AIDS drugs and treatment to anyone who needs them, a first-of-its-kind effort in Africa. ``The people of this nation have the courage and the resolve to defeat this disease and you will have a partner in the United States of America,ââ Bush said to applause Thursday before lunch with Botswanaâs President Festus Mogae. ``This is the deadliest enemy Africa has ever faced and you will not face this alone.ââ Uganda has managed to put the brakes on a rising HIV infection rate that had decimated the country in the 1980s and 1990s. About 1 million Ugandans are infected, out of a total population of 24 million. A massive public education campaign helped drop the infection rate to about 5 percent. Condom use is widespread, the average age of first sexual contact has been raised and the average number of sexual partners has been reduced. The governmentâs latest awareness campaign promotes the ``A,B,C,Dââ of HIV - ``abstain,ââ change ``behavior,ââ use ``condoms,ââ or ``die.ââ Catchy turn of phrase.
Bushâs $15 billion AIDS plan would target prevention and treatment assistance to a total of 14 hard-hit countries â two in the Caribbean and a dozen in Africa. In Washington on Thursday, a House panel has approved only two-thirds of the $3 billion it had authorized for the first year of Bushâs battle plan for global AIDS. Administration officials have said they can live with the cutback, but Democrats and AIDS activists say U.S. credibility would suffer if Congress does not allot the full $3 billion called for by law. Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters in Pretoria on Thursday that the administration will be aggressive in making sure that whatever money Congress appropriates for Bushâs AIDS proposal goes for ``worthwhile programs that deal with education, deal with teaching young people to abstain, be faithful (and) use contraceptives.ââ ``Weâre only going to be investing in those programs that will have a demonstrated payoff and we can see results,ââ Powell said. Results-oriented foreign aid? Thereâs an idea. If only the UN would follow along.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/11/2003 2:57:57 AM ||
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And... once you've seen elephants doing it, not much else matters.
EFL (see, M.i.T., this is how itâs done)
In a region characterized by conflict and autocratic leaders, Kenya stands out as a stable country that has come close to meeting the democratic standards set by the worldâs major powers. But when President Bushâs five-nation Africa tour takes him to East Africa — cited as a key battleground in the war on terrorism — Kenya will be passed by. Horrors! Whatever could be the reason?
Instead, Bush heads to neighboring Uganda on Friday — a country where multiparty politics are banned and whose government has been accused of fueling vicious tribal conflict in war-ravaged Congo. A 17-year insurgency also continues to wreak havoc in northern Uganda. Kenya has avoided conflict and is at the forefront of efforts to end a 20-year civil war in Sudan and more than a decade of violence in Somalia. And itâs the only eastern Africa nation that can boast a smooth transition of power from one political party to another. But thereâs a major blot on Kenyaâs record — its failure to deal with the threat of terrorism. Ding-ding! We have a winner!
In November, at least 10 Kenyans and three Israeli tourists were killed when suicide bombers exploded a car packed with explosives outside a hotel on Kenyaâs coast. When Bush was planning a January trip to Africa, Kenya, a longtime U.S. ally which boasts the regionâs most important economy, was penciled in. That tour was canceled and Kenya has since become the focus of U.S. terror alerts. The embassy in Nairobi was closed for four days last month because of the threats. GWB is brave enough, but heâs not stupid. Thereâs no need to expose him to any increased risk.
A 1998 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi killed 219 people, including 12 Americans. The embassy blast and the November attack were blamed on al-Qaeda. But to the ire of U.S. officials, Kenyan authorities havenât convicted a single suspect. And now the chickens are home to roost.
The United States does, however, have strong ties with Kenya. The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi is the largest in sub-Saharan Africa in terms of personnel and regional operations. The United States is the third-largest bilateral donor to Kenya, which is one of the largest African recipients of U.S. aid. The nation has also benefited from the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a trade initiative that gives nations duty-and quota-free access to the U.S. market. And it is likely to gain from Bushâs $15 billion plan to fight AIDS, a disease that has ravaged Kenya. But the terror alerts issued by the United States and Britain in May caused consternation in Kenya with many people complaining that the alerts were unjust and hurt the countryâs economy. So, clean out the terrorist cells in your country.
However, Information Minister Raphael Tuju said the government fully understands Bushâs decision not to come to Kenya. ``Symbolically, it would have been great if he came but we have to understand that it would not have been appropriate for him to come when the travel advisory has not been lifted,ââ Tuju said. ``We are engaged with the United States in a very meaningful way.ââ But others say Bush will not be missed. ``I donât think heâs come to Africa for the good of anybody else but himself,ââ said Rachel Mutheiri, a student. ``Bush is ignorant of African affairs and his presence here wonât benefit people in any significant way.ââ You mean, other than the AIDS initiative, the development funds, etc. Bush is walking the walk, all Clinton did was talk.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/11/2003 2:51:52 AM ||
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``I donât think heâs come to Africa for the good of anybody else but himself,ââ said Rachel Mutheiri, a student. ``Bush is ignorant of African affairs and his presence here wonât benefit people in any significant way.ââ
Nice to see Kenya's students are as clueless as those in the States...
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.
