Hi there, !
Today Tue 08/05/2003 Mon 08/04/2003 Sun 08/03/2003 Sat 08/02/2003 Fri 08/01/2003 Thu 07/31/2003 Wed 07/30/2003 Archives
Rantburg
531692 articles and 1855967 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 32 articles and 123 comments as of 12:37.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area:                    
17 injured in Turkey blasts
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
1 00:00 The Artiste PD™© [] 
5 00:00 raptor [] 
5 00:00 ·com [1] 
0 [] 
1 00:00 Frank G [] 
7 00:00 raptor [] 
4 00:00 PD [] 
2 00:00 Jeff [] 
4 00:00 The Artiste PD™© [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
1 00:00 The Artiste PD™© [] 
9 00:00 Gromky [] 
6 00:00 Bomb-a-rama [] 
0 [] 
1 00:00 The Artiste PD™© [] 
18 00:00 © [] 
7 00:00 PD [] 
16 00:00 ·com [] 
1 00:00 PD [] 
0 [] 
1 00:00 The Artiste PD™© [] 
1 00:00 Dan Darling [] 
7 00:00 Watcher [1] 
1 00:00 Frank G [] 
0 [] 
4 00:00 The Artiste PD™© [] 
5 00:00 raptor [1] 
10 00:00 Zhang Fei [] 
6 00:00 Zhang Fei [1] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
-Short Attention Span Theater-
Further News on Soilder Illness




By PAULINE JELINEK
Associated Press Writer

August 1, 2003, 12:40 PM EDT

WASHINGTON -- The Army is trying to figure out what is causing a rash of serious pneumonia cases, including two fatalities, among soldiers serving in Iraq.

A six-person team of specialists was en route to Iraq Friday to investigate 14 cases of pneumonia serious enough that the soldiers had to be put on ventilators to breathe and evacuated from the region, the Army Surgeon General’s office said Friday.

Two soldiers died, nine recovered and three were still hospitalized as of Thursday, spokeswoman Lyn Kukral said.

The team on its way to Iraq includes infectious disease experts, laboratory officers and people who will take samples of soil, water and air.

Weren’t the Iraqis playing with some forms of Pneumonia as a potential biological agent back when?
So far, officials have identified no infectious agent common to all the cases. There is no evidence any of the cases were caused by exposure to chemical or biological weapons, environmental toxins or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), officials said.

A two-person team already has gone to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where most of the cases were treated after evacuation. The two teams also will review patient records and laboratory results and interview health care workers and patients, if possible, said a statement from the Army Surgeon General and U.S. Army Medical Command.

The teams will be looking for similarities among the cases, which so far have hit troops in geographically dispersed areas and from different units, said the Thursday statement. They also were spread over time, with two in March, three in April, two in May, three in June and four in July.

Though only 14 cases were considered serious, there have been 100 cases altogether since March 1 among troops that began deploying late last years to the Persian Gulf.

100 Cases boys and girls and we are not talking the sniffles here.

Army-wide, pneumonia cases serious enough to warrant hospitalization happen in about 9 of 10,000 soldiers per year. Given the number of troops deployed, the 100 cases "do not exceed expectations," the surgeon general’s office said.

Oh yes we expect to have guys die of organ failure associated with Pneumonia.

Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press
Posted by: SOG475 || 08/02/2003 8:32:15 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wild speculation: a reaction to breathing talcum powder-fine dust - clogging the alveoli and triggering a response of mucus generation?

I certainly went through a period in Saudi where I coughed a LOT for the first 2-3 months - and it was that fucking ariborne grit, I'm sure.

Steve White? Aren't you a medico? Can you lend some expertise?
Posted by: The Artiste PD™© || 08/02/2003 20:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Just a thought from an EMT. There are a lot of local, ratty-ass diseases that we never hear about because the locals are all immune by now. There have been a couple of mini epidemics in Afghanistan.

WMD implies more cases, and located in the same area. Gotta wonder about pnumonic plague, there have to be fleas in Iraq.
Posted by: Chuck || 08/02/2003 21:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Would this likely be true of any "biting" insect: flea, "sand" flea, chigger, mosquito (of course), biting flies, etc.? Could any of these by type be a disease carrier / vector? They have them all in the desert - especially if in contact with camels and such vermin.

BTW, Thx for response - I just went thru my first thorough introduction to the Chiang Mai bug collection (10 days of hell) which is different from the Bangkok collection - those don't "bug" me anymore. Now I'm a native (heh).
Posted by: © || 08/02/2003 22:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Yep, I'm a lung doc. Possible causes: strain of common bacteria (e.g., strep) for which we westerners don't have great immunity; new bacteria/parasite; or toxic reaction to something in the soil/air. Dust is less likely a cause. A vector would explain a lot. I hadn't heard of this til now, but I'll do some checking around.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/02/2003 23:13 Comments || Top||

#5  The deserts of Arizona has something called "Valley Fever"anybody who has spent time in the the Sonran Desert probably has it.Valley Fever is caused from a fungus prevalent in the soil. Symptoms range from mild flu/cold to Pneumonia.

Northern Arizona has a Hunta(spell check,Steve)virus,caused by air-borne dust from rodent droppings.We also have Bubonic Plaque in the North.
Posted by: raptor || 08/03/2003 7:25 Comments || Top||


'Little Bear' surprises Croat flasher
A drunken Croat flasher got more excitement than he bargained for when he pushed his penis through a woman's fence and her dog bit it.
"Yarrr, beppy! Ever seen one o' these before?... Ow!"
The visibly drunk man was seen walking down a street in the capital, Zagreb, and started swearing and shouting at the woman for no apparent reason. He then shoved his penis through her fence, unaware her dog Little Bear was on the other side.
"Heh heh! It looks like a pee-bug, only smaller. And bleeding."
Police say the man was not badly injured and will be charged with insulting the moral feelings of citizens.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 13:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Suppose he got lucky that her dog wasn't a "Big Bear"!
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/02/2003 13:47 Comments || Top||

#2  And insulting the moral feelings of the doggie....
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/02/2003 13:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Now in some countries he would probably sue the woman and win substantial damages.
Posted by: A || 08/02/2003 14:22 Comments || Top||

#4  should've called him Bobbitt
Posted by: Frank G || 08/02/2003 14:29 Comments || Top||

#5  Now you know that it had to sting,
But no curses did our poor Croat sing,
He was relaxed and hip
When his manhood got bit,
Guess it wasn't that big of a thing!
Posted by: Steve White || 08/02/2003 15:49 Comments || Top||

#6  Oh man, you sure know how to brighten up somebody's day. LOL!
Posted by: Raphael || 08/02/2003 16:45 Comments || Top||

#7  That bites!
Posted by: raptor || 08/03/2003 7:24 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Four Talibs banged
BAGRAM AIR BASE: US coalition forces killed up to four Taliban or Al Qaeda fighters during a clash in southern Afghanistan while Afghan troops unearthed a massive ammunition dump. “An estimated four anti-coalition fighters were killed last night (Thursday) after a larger group fired on Special Operations Forces on patrol north of Kandahar,” Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Lefforge told reporters at Bagram Air Base.
It's only an estimated four Bad Guys. I guess that's the smallest number that could be formed with the pieces they've got. I do wish either that LTC Lefforge had finished that sentence or that the reporter had written it down...
Two AH-64 Apache helicopter gunships were called in after the patrol came across 10 “anti-coalition fighters,” he said, referring to Taliban and Al Qaeda remnants.
"I dunno which they were. They wuz wearin' turbans and shootin', that's all I know..."
The fighters dispersed when helicopters arrived but the patrol then came under attack from another group of 15 gunmen on a ridge north of the main southern city of Kandahar. “The AH-64s were vectored to the ridge line and engaged the enemy fighters with its turret gun, killing four in the fight,” Lefforge said, adding that four bodies were found.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 02:12 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hmmm. Mebbe LtCol Lefforge would enjoy this little image seq taken by an American SpcOps a little earlier in the Afghan scrimmage. His job was to do the laser designation of the target. Try counting the bodies from the parts in this one. :-> I particularly enjoyed the secondary explosion... a grenade or RPG round, perhaps?

www.amble.com/images/taliban_attack.ppt
Posted by: PD || 08/02/2003 14:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Oops - I forgot to mention the file size is 337K and, I hope it's obvious, you need PowerPoint to view.
Posted by: PD || 08/02/2003 14:55 Comments || Top||

#3  fwiw: this file has been floating around for at least 4 or 5 years. I think I saw on Strategypage.com that it's actually Russian troops getting hit by Chechens, although I don't know how certain they were.
Posted by: Anonymous || 08/02/2003 15:13 Comments || Top||

#4  I have been in SaoodiLand™ (which means not living in The Real World) for 3 of those and was unaware it was common, as well as described otherwise - my apologies. Thx.

Nothing to see here. Move along. Move along...
Posted by: PD || 08/02/2003 15:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Well, it certainly looks like a Russian BTR, to me.
Posted by: CGeib || 08/02/2003 16:40 Comments || Top||

#6  PD - exemption granted, exceptional enthusiasm noted. stand down soldier ;-)
Posted by: Frank G || 08/02/2003 19:19 Comments || Top||

#7  PD - man! you guys in the east post early - Fred's daily clock rolls over 9PM PDT - what time is that in your hood? Thai was it?
Posted by: Frank G || 08/02/2003 19:21 Comments || Top||

#8  Frank G - I'm in Thailand - GMT +7 which is currently 11 hrs ahead of the east coast - and 13 ahead of you out there in the Mountain Zone (NV is MT, right?).

So Rantburg rolls over at 11:00 AM for me.
Posted by: The Artiste PD™© || 08/02/2003 20:15 Comments || Top||

#9  Sorry PD, those ARE Russians getting it in Chechnia. Saw it when it first came out...
Posted by: Watcher || 08/02/2003 21:39 Comments || Top||

#10  Watcher / CGeib - I appreciate knowing the truth. Now I will kick a little tail by email... the guy who sent it to me claimed "insider" status. BS artiste. And you never know - till you know... Thx!!!
Posted by: © || 08/02/2003 22:18 Comments || Top||

#11  CA (San Diego home - Family in NV) is 1 hr ahead of Continental/Mountain, so you must be + 8 PST?
Wild Turkey fog settling in.......
Posted by: Frank G || 08/02/2003 22:36 Comments || Top||

#12  take Fred's comment time and subtract 3 hrs for pacific coast time lol...
Posted by: Frank G || 08/02/2003 22:39 Comments || Top||

#13  Frank G - If CA, then you're GMT-8 - so 15 hrs diff when talking Standard Time, the Daylight Savings Time really screw it all up. My local time is 10:08AM - lessee what the server stamps the response at... (I know, don't end sentences with prepostions - fuck it!)
Posted by: ·com || 08/02/2003 23:05 Comments || Top||

#14  So I'm 11 hrs ahead of the Rantburg server, wherever it is. Comparing your clock to server post time will tell you the rest for realtive diff between our locations. On first blush, I think I'm 15 hrs ahead of CA, not counting any Daylight Savings foolishness.
Posted by: ·com || 08/02/2003 23:11 Comments || Top||

#15  are you sure *?
Posted by: Frank G || 08/02/2003 23:18 Comments || Top||

#16  Ah, yeah - 14 hrs ahead of CA - that's the ticket. His server is on East coast. I'm +11 and you're -3 = 14. Shit. Finally. BTW, I've inverted my days and nights here- cuz I'm not working and just feel like it, so it's past my phreakin bedtime. Later!
Posted by: ·com || 08/02/2003 23:33 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Report: al-Qaida Exploited Muslim Charity
Oh, say it ain't so!
Saudi Arabia's tradition of charitable giving to Muslim causes may have been exploited by al-Qaida to raise money for the Sept. 11 attacks, analysts said Saturday as the Saudi government refuted allegations of links to terrorists.
"Yeah. Dat must be it! Dey exploited da system!"
A Congressional report on the Sept. 11 terror attacks examines interactions between Saudi businessmen and the royal family that may have intentionally or unwittingly aided al-Qaida or the suicide hijackers, according to people who have seen the unreleased sections. The editor-in-chief of the pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat newspaper suggested that al-Qaida had knowledge of Saudi society and laws and took advantage of both to collect funds.
"Yup. Dat's it. Dey jus' snuck right in there an' stole 'em all away when we wudn't lookin'!"
"The reality that the (Congressional) committee sought not to admit is that al-Qaida is a highly developed organization, extremely secretive, and took advantage of the benevolence and naivete of Saudis," Abdul-Rahman al-Rashid wrote in Saturday's Arab News newspaper.
"Ever'body knows we're jus' a bunch o' babes in the woods. People are always takin' advantage of us 'cuz we're so trusting!"
Al-Hattlan said he received help when he first went to the United States to study in 1992, and later wrote checks himself to help fellow Saudi students. "If I lend money to someone, I don't track it down. I don't know if it's used to buy books or to hijack a plane. Before 9-11, there was no concept that this money could be used for terrorism," al-Hattlan said.
"Mostly it went for booze and long-legged blondes with big honkers..."
FBI officials are seeking to re-question Saudi businessman Omar al-Bayoumi, who knew hijackers Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi in San Diego and put down money for an apartment deposit and first month's rent. Unreleased sections of Congress' report suggest that one or two Saudi men who encountered the hijackers or their acquaintances were tied to Saudi intelligence. Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, on Saturday denied al-Bayoumi and Osama Basnan, who received checks from the ambassador's wife and was in San Diego around the time of the hijackers, were Saudi agents.
"Ummm... Nope. We don't do that sort of thing. Ever'body knows that!
"It is unfortunate that reports keep circulating in the media describing them as agents of the Saudi government with attribution only to anonymous officials. This is blatantly false," Bandar said in a statement. U.S. investigators are trying to determine if the connections are just coincidences or a pattern of terrorism support flowing from the wealthy U.S. ally, according to government officials familiar with those efforts.
One hit is maybe coincidence. You note it and move on. Two hits (aka an intersect) makes it a possible, so you keep an eye on it. Three hits makes it a probable. More than three and it's nailed. You can use it as a reference point for building further possibles.
Saudi analysts said there could be a simple explanation for the connections and the financial links that does not mean the kingdom sponsors terrorism. "I think it's a pure misunderstanding of Saudi culture," said Suleiman al-Hattlan, research associate at Harvard University's Center for Middle Eastern Studies. "Saudis abroad feel a social and religious obligation to help one another, even those they don't know."
Even if they intend to kill people. Assuming it's all coincidence, what's the penalty for innocent stupidity? If the net result's the same, why should it be any difference from the penalty for malevolence? In legal terms, it'd be called gross negligence.
Some families of Sept. 11 victims have accused Saudis of supporting terrorism, naming Saudi businessmen in lawsuits and citing evidence that al-Qaida operatives had accounts at their banks. Economist Bishr Bakheet said that though it was possible that Saudi-owned banks were used by terrorists, that was not a proof of guilt on Saudi Arabia's part.
"You ain't guilty if you close your eyes and don't see nothin'. And you didn't hear no warning if you put your hands over your ears and holler 'la-la-la-la' until the other guy's lips stop moving. An' it don't stink if you're holdin' your nose..."
"To accuse Saudi-owned banks of complicity because they were possibly used as vehicles to transfer terrorist funds is as sinister as accusing the United States Federal Reserve Board because U.S. dollars were used in the transaction," he said. Bakheet said it was difficult to prevent the transfer of funds for illegal uses. "The system is not able to predict that this money will be used to blow up towers," he said.
"So why bother even trying?"
Ihsan Buhaleega, a member of the government-appointed Shura Council, an advisory body to King Fahd, said the Saudi monetary system took additional measures after Sept. 11 as part of global efforts to combat money laundering for terrorism. "Laws have been passed that will criminalize the financing of charity organizations that are not proven to be clean," Buhaleega said. "All money going to charities abroad will be monitored through a national institution to make sure they have no terrorist links and make sure these are genuine charity organizations of well-established groups."
"Trust us on this. Have we every lied to you?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 17:55 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Qatar reforms security apparatus
Qatar plans to reform its security apparatus in wake of an attempted coup in the emirate. Qatari officials said the reform would result in a new security agency that would replace existing organizations. The agency would come under the direct supervision of Qatari Emir Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani. The emir has decreed the establishment of the new state security agency. The decree said the agency would be independent of other government bodies and come under the direct control of the emir. The official Qatari news agency reported that the law, termed No. 5, sets out the responsibilities of the new security body. The agency said the new unit would replace existing security and intelligence organizations.
Those would be the ones the Islamists were trying to riddle. Only problem now will be keeping them out of the new one. The emir doesn't seem to have been amused at the Soddies for trying to throw him out.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 02:27 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hmmm. The coup attempt was a long time ago... 7-8 months... maybe it took the Qatari Emir this long to be sure exactly who his friends were.
Posted by: The Artiste PD™© || 08/02/2003 20:54 Comments || Top||


Two in Saudi Arabia now a foot shorter
RIYADH: A Saudi and a Pakistani were beheaded by the sword in Saudi Arabia on Friday, the former for murdering a compatriot and the latter for smuggling drugs. The Saudi man, Rashed bin Modhesh al-Dosari, was convicted of fatally shooting Mohammed bin Moshen al-Dosari after a row and executed in the Riyadh region. Pakistani Rana Mohammed Shafik was caught smuggling heroin into the kingdom and convicted of drug trafficking, and was beheaded in Jeddah. The beheadings took to 28 the number of executions announced in Saudi Arabia this year, according to a tally based on official statements.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 02:19 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'll bet that the Al Dosari clan is the same as the Al Dossary - a very influential and successful (read: patronage) family that has several substantial businesses (incl a hospital, clinics, apartment complexes, etc.) in the Al Khobar - Al Dammam - Dhahran area. The vagaries of spelling Arabic names using Roman Characters is always a "flexible" propostition.

If so, then the only reason one of the family tasted steel was that he killed another scion of the clan.

As for the Paki Shafik, he was probably Shafuked by his Saudi "partner(s)" over money or cuz the cops were closing in and it was time to pull the plug. Nobody seriously thinks he has doing anything like trafficking drugs in SA sans Saudi bosses, do they? Heh, that's a no-brainer, folks. I'd bet my next paycheck he was the lowest expendable flunky of the enterprise who would be semi-credible to the coppers. I would also bet he had no clue who was at the top of his little marketing pyramid - puns intended. Find out who testified againt him and you can backtrack from there to find out which clan was running him as a mule or distributor.
Nobody makes a dime in Saudi Arabia without one or more Saudis taking a cut.

Speaking of cuts, Shafuked was scimitar fodder. Flash! Thud! Blink, blink!
Posted by: PD || 08/02/2003 2:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Notice the difference: when you kill a Saudi man you are beheaded. When you throw boiling water to a non-Saudi woman who ends dying you get four years (probably reduced to one for good conduct or enlisting in a jihad agaisnt kaffirs).
Posted by: JFM || 08/02/2003 3:00 Comments || Top||

#3  And a good time was had by all.
Posted by: Rafael || 08/02/2003 7:05 Comments || Top||

#4  Aie, when I saw the title I rashly assumed they'd cut a few feet (what's the crime for that?). Heh. Let's have a thought for the Saudi executioner who's training his favourite son to take over the role of Butcher General.
Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) || 08/02/2003 9:44 Comments || Top||

#5  JFM--Good call. I was going to add that, too!
Posted by: Dar || 08/02/2003 9:54 Comments || Top||

#6  I was VERY SURPRISED that the article failed to mention the vociferous complaints filed by Amnesty International against the brutal nature of these judicial acts!
Posted by: Flaming Sword || 08/02/2003 13:14 Comments || Top||

#7  FS - And I'll wager that the Saudi Royal Executioner Union is Very Jealous that your Sword is Flaming! ;->
Posted by: PD || 08/02/2003 13:52 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Harold agrees to talks with Australian force
The Solomon Islands' rebel militant, Harold Keke, has agreed to talks with the leader of the Australian-led intervention force. The special coordinator of the Solomon Islands Assistance Mission, Nick Warner, hopes to meet Keke within a week. The message from Harold Keke to Nick Warner was delivered to the leader of the intervention force late yesterday after Mr Warner returned from a separate mission to the Weather Coast, at which some of Keke's opponents agreed to give up their guns. "We have been making overtures to Harold Keke along the lines that we have to other ex-militant leaders, that is that the Regional Assistance Mission is willing to talk," Mr Warner said. "We've now heard back from him and I hope that we'll be able to hold those talks quite soon. For, I hope obvious operational reasons, I'm not going to be able to go into anymore detail."
Just don't let him sell you anything. And if he looks at you cross-eyed, string him up...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 11:46 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
17 injured in Turkey blasts; Commies claim responsibility
Two explosions shook a Turkish Justice Ministry training centre in Ankara on Friday, injuring 17 police officers, two of them seriously. A probe was under way into the cause of the blasts, apparently caused by potassium-based explosive materials, Ankara Governor Yahya Gur told reporters. "Our whole team is continuing its investigations. At the moment there is no information into the reason for the blast, who did it and why," Gur said. A leftist organization claimed responsibility for planting a bomb that exploded Friday in the Turkish capital, wounding 17 police officers, the interior minister said. "Let's not contribute to their propaganda by giving their name," Aksu said. The outlawed Marxist group, Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C, claimed responsibility for a Istanbul highway bombing directed at a bus carrying prosecutors, were injured in that blast.
Make up your damned minds. Are you a party or a front? Or do you just like booms?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 01:51 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm guessing just from the name that these guys are some variant of Revolutionary Armed Struggle(TM) who want to turn Turkey into the next version of North Korea.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 08/02/2003 10:46 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Fist fight at city govt meeting
KARACHI, Aug 1: The reported brawl in a high-level meeting of the city government has been deplored by the opinion leaders.
Tut. Tut.
Expressing concern over the incident, PPP Sindh president Nisar Khuhro said instead of finding a solution to the problem and taking those to task who were responsible for choked sewers, potholes in the old and newly-constructed roads, absence of health care and safe drinking water, the incident only amplified a "sickening phenomenon." Mr Salim Zia of Pakistan Muslim League (N) said Thursday's incident only showed the people who had infested the civilian departments were not answerable to anybody and were not under any organizational discipline. He said that in order to run an organization, there has to be a proper chain of command, distribution of duties and assigning of responsibility.
I think the concept of division of labor was invented sometime around 8000 B.C. It should catch on in Pakland soon, I'd think...
He emphasized that since nobody is responsible to anybody, there was a total chaos in these organizations. Central information secretary of the PPP, Taj Haider, said the flare-up at the city government meeting, in which retired Brig Zaheer Qadri, EDO (Works), city government, fractured the nose of acting chief of the water and sanitation department of the city government, Suleman Chandio "is a logical outcome of the on-going civil military row in almost every civilian institution". Mr Haider said sacking of the brigadier was in order. The malady, however, needs a total cure.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 12:02 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What - no one was packing their AK? Sheesh! This WoT with the Izzoids will never end if they don't step up the pace of offing each other at the drop of a hat over the most minor of differences. They breed too fast for fist fighting to do any good. Shit. I demand that all Pakis be allowed encouraged to do the old Concealed Carry™ within the folds of their dresses robe-thingies - no make that required - at all times when within the borders of an Izlamozoid country. Slackers.
Posted by: The Artiste PD™© || 08/02/2003 20:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Sounds safer than a New York City Council Meeting...
Posted by: Jeff || 08/02/2003 21:09 Comments || Top||


Worker killed in Pakistan rocket attack
An oil company worker has been killed and three of his colleagues seriously injured in a rocket attack on their camp in south-western Pakistan, officials said. "Four workers of state-owned Oil and Gas Development Corporation (OGDC) were seriously injured when a rocket fired by unknown tribesmen hit their camp in Barkhan," some 430 kilometres east of Quetta, district administration officials said. One of the injured died while en route to hospital, officials said. There were about 12 OGDC employees at the camp but the others were unharmed, officials said. The site was closed after the rocket attack. Authorities said four rockets were launched from the mountains some nine kilometres away. Two rockets hit an empty tract of land while one hit a local school causing some damage. Officials said they are investigating the attack. Tribesmen in the area have repeatedly fired rockets at the main gas pipeline passing through their area.
That would be the Bugtis...
In April they blew up two gas supply lines in southwestern Pakistan, disrupting supplies to almost half the country's industrial consumers three months after a similar attack in January. The tribesmen have been demanding baksheesh royalties from the company for the gas coming through their area and for jobs for their youth.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 11:51 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


NWFP governor bans carrying arms in Waziristan
PESHAWAR: North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Governor Lt Gen (r) Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah on Friday banned the carrying of firearms in Miranshah, Mirali and Razmak main bazaars and ordered the political administration to ensure its immediate enforcement. Addressing a tribal jirga at Shawal, the border area of North Waziristan Agency, the governor said the ban was necessary to improve law and order and protect life and property. He urged tribesmen to cooperate with the administration for peace in the agency. Appreciating the “patriotism” of the Shawal tribes, he said the government had deployed the army in tribal areas to protect tribal people and check illegal cross-border movements from Afghanistan. He also thanked the tribesmen for cooperating with the army.
"Okay, got that? No firearms in town."
"Can we still roll our eyes and make faces?"
"Sure you can, Mahmoud!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 02:06 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There may still be a few Earps running around. Hell, mebbe even some Mastersons. They could drop in and visit with everyone - "Jirgafest, The Series" - and explain how this armed conflict stuff works and how law and order and peace and property and cooperation and jello happen. I'm sure they'll cooperate, if the refreshments and entertainment are spiffy. More tea? Sweet.
Posted by: PD || 08/02/2003 2:22 Comments || Top||


Stink over Fr George Ibrahim’s murder
Minority members from the opposition parties in the Punjab Assembly walked out of the House on Friday in protest against the civil administration’s “failure” to arrest the killers of Reverend Father George Ibrahim. Christian member Najmi Saleem on a point of order said the Okara district administration had failed in arresting the culprits. She said no government official visited Renala Khurd to grieve Rev Ibrahim’s death and express solidarity with the bereaved family. She said even the House did not condemn his murder.
It's probably that thing about not taking Christians or Jews as your friends. I mean, don't even bother being polite. That's the Islamic way to do it...
Another Christian member, Pervez Rafique, said Sazina Sidiqui, who is named in the first information report (FIR), had not been arrested. He said it was a high profile case and the Okara district police officer (DPO) and the Renala Khurd station house officer (SHO) should be suspended for not arresting the accused. He demanded the immediate arrest and interrogation of Sazina Sidiqui. “The culprits should be arrested without any further delay and an anti-terrorist court should hear the case,” he said.
Hey, it's just some priest. They've got lots of them in Italy and places like that. It's not like he was a Muslim or anything...
Punjab Law and Local Bodies Minister Muhammad Basharat Raja informed the House that the culprits had been traced and would be arrested at an appropriate time, but he did not mention why the arrests were being delayed. He said Sazina Sidiqui was being interrogated and if found guilty, she would be arrested. He said Renala Khurd Deputy Superintendent Police (DSP) Younas Butt was investigating the case and the Okara DPO had assured the government that the culprits would be arrested soon. He said if the names of the culprits were disclosed now, they would run away.
This way they'll run away later. Either way, Pak's Keystone Kops prob'ly won't be able to find them...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 02:03 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Pakistan linked to 9/11 funds
An FBI official has told a Senate hearing here that investigators had “traced the origin of the funding of 9/11 back to financial accounts in Pakistan, where high-ranking and well-known Al Qaeda operatives played a major role in moving the money forward, eventually into the hands of the hijackers located in the US.” John S. Pistole, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counter terrorism division, did not specify how those accounts in Pakistan were funded.
I think we can probably guess the ultimate source...
He was testifying before the Senate Governmental Affairs committee on Thursday. The FBI has estimated that the 9/11 attacks cost between $175,000 and $250,000. The money was used to pay for flight training, travel and other expenses. The funds came to the hijackers from associates in Germany and the United Arab Emirates who reported to Pakistan-based Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is believed to have managed a great deal of the planning for the attacks. Pistole’s testimony did not make reference to reports that some of the financial support of the hijackers came from Saudi Arabia. Richard Newcomb of the Treasury Department said that some Saudi organisations had provided considerable support for terrorism. “The extent to which that takes place is not completely clear, but I would characterise it as considerable,” he said. He added that other federal agencies had at times quashed his office’s recommendations to freeze funding for certain organisations but refused to name those organisations.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 01:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They had to use Paki Banks. All they had in Afghanistan to work with was Abdul's First Jihadi and bin Al Rahgarden Savings and Groan. And neither would do wire transfers for less than $70 USD a pop. It was a nightmare, I'm sure. Ol' KS Moh'd had been a Citibank guy all his life, so he got the preferred client treatment (incl toasters) for moving hundred of millions of puki's (Paki Units) through the Corp Al Qaeda accts he controlled. I wonder if he ever shared any toasters with the other guys. Think OBL ever got a toaster? Well, maybe not yet, but we'll oblige him if he turns up.
Posted by: The Artiste PD™© || 08/02/2003 21:09 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Guess what Niger’s main export is?
From Hindrocket at powerlineblog:

So What Was Iraq Buying From Niger?

No doubt everyone is tired of the Niger uranium story. But this article by Terence Jeffrey in Human Events, linked to this morning by Real Clear Politics, caused me to think again about the practical reality of trade between Iraq and Niger.

Jeffrey’s article notes that in 1999, according to the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency, an Iraqi named Wissam al Zawahie was sent on a "trade mission" to Niger. The article’s main theme is that al Zawahie was one of the chief Iraqi advocates for the development of nuclear weapons by that country. Jeffrey also recounts that he tried to get more information on Zawahie’s contacts with Niger from the U.N., which interviewed him in Baghdad, but the U.N. refused to disclose any information that had not already been made public.

One of the unanswered questions that Jeffrey posed to the U.N. was: What did Zahawie say Iraq hoped to import from Niger? This caused me to wonder about Niger’s export economy. Niger is one of the world’s poorest countries; what, exactly, might it have to sell that Iraq would want to buy? Bearing in mind, of course, that there is no question that Iraq bought large quantities of uranium from Niger in the 1980’s.

(Read the rest of the article at the powerlineblog link above).
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/02/2003 8:49:58 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  (snicker) Hey, NMM, whaddya think? Or can you, objectively?
Posted by: The Artiste PD™© || 08/02/2003 21:17 Comments || Top||


Saddam's Sons Buried
Leaders of Saddam Hussein's tribe buried the ousted dictator's elder sons, Uday and Qusay, and a grandson Saturday, their bodies wrapped in Iraqi flags in a sign the family considered them to be martyrs. Uday and Qusay – two of the most powerful and feared men in Saddam's regime, after their father – were buried in the stony soil of a family cemetery in their hometown of Tikrit, the Iraqi Red Crescent Society and the U.S. military said. Buried with them was 14-year-old Mustafa Hussein, Qusay's son, who also was believed killed in a fierce gunbattle with U.S. troops July 22 in Mosul, the northernmost Iraqi big city. A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the ceremony was quiet and uneventful. There were no outbursts of violence reported in the city. The U.S. military had feared the gathering for the burial could get out of hand, with a huge backlash against the big U.S. troop presence in and around the city. Iraqi Red Crescent Society president Jamal al-Karboli said his organization had taken the bodies of Uday and Qusay from the U.S. military in Tikrit. Al-Karboli said Saddam relatives approached the Red Crescent four days ago, asking it to act as an intermediary in recovering the bodies. The bodies of the two men had been held in refrigeration at the U.S. base at Baghdad International Airport where they were prepared for burial according to Western – not Muslim – customs.
Scandalous.
The autopsies triggered a controversy, as Muslim tradition calls for bodies not to be embalmed or in any way retouched and for them to be buried before sundown on the day of death.
But then, they're not in charge.
U.S. military morticians had reconstructed the brothers' faces to look as lifelike as possible, and allowed Western journalists to videotape and photograph them, after Iraqi civilians were skeptical that Uday and Qusay were really dead. Images of the autopsied bodies were flashed across the Arab world by satellite broadcasters, dispelling doubts raised by still photographs of the brothers released shortly after their deaths in which their faces were obscured by heavy beards, blood and gashes.
Should have left them stuffed and mounted, with their heads on plaques over the bar of the officers' club...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 11:18 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "...to be buried before sundown on the day of death."

Hmmmm, if the guy dies at 5pm that could mean quite a rush?
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/02/2003 12:26 Comments || Top||

#2  TGA - Just like a child of Aristotle! Asking the UnAnswerable Question™ - you Troublemaker Infidel! ;->>
Posted by: PD || 08/02/2003 13:59 Comments || Top||

#3  The autopsies triggered a controversy, as Muslim tradition calls for bodies not to be embalmed or in any way retouched and for them to be buried before sundown on the day of death.

Tsk tsk, what a shame.

We now return you to programming already in progress.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 08/02/2003 14:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Explain to me, someone, just why we gave 'em back. They should have been cremated and scattered anonymously, not given to the Tikritis to drool and wail over.
Posted by: mojo || 08/02/2003 14:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Without Controversy, It Can't Be Islam™ (WCICBI™)

We are just so insentitive to Islam. It's no wonder they hate us and want to wipe us out, scum that we are. Sorta gets you right here, y'know? Sniff, sniff...
Posted by: PD || 08/02/2003 15:06 Comments || Top||

#6  PD, must be that we just don't get Islam. Really.

But what can you expect of infidels "raisin" hell (insert pun tags).
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/02/2003 15:26 Comments || Top||

#7  I'm a head-on-a-pike-and-keep-'em-there-till-the-flesh rots-off kinda guy myself. Shame we can't seem to engage in the kind of barbarity that can show the Islamists, we're assholes too, but only they will die.
Posted by: badanov || 08/02/2003 17:56 Comments || Top||

#8  Couple of months ago I got an e-mailed article from my cousin(tried to post it on Rantburg,couldn't get it to work).
It seems Black Jack Pershing(Co.general U.S.Expeditionary Forces posted to France WW1)and his troops were under constant attack from Moro,Muslem(Phillipines)insurgents.Pershing tied 6 captured insurgents to stakes,dug a pit in front of them.Then slaughtered a couple of pigs,letting the blood pool in the pit.Members of the firing squad dipped thier bullets in the pig blood and executed the Muslem insurgents.Thier bodies were thrown in the pit,the pigs thrown on top and buried.Almost all insurgent activity ended for 30 years.

Do you think 'ole'Black Jack may have known something we do not?
Posted by: raptor || 08/03/2003 8:41 Comments || Top||

#9  raptor: that's an urban legend. it's false.
Posted by: Gromky || 08/01/2004 14:53 Comments || Top||


Daughter: Saddam ’had a big heart’
AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- With tears in their eyes, Saddam Hussein’s two oldest daughters said Friday that they still love their father but wouldn’t talk about his role in the deaths of their husbands in 1996.
Such a wonderful father but he sucked as father in law.
"He was a very good father, loving, had a big heart, loved his daughters, sons, grandchildren," Raghad said. "He was the one we always go to."
He gassed Kurdish kids, let children in Basra starve to death, sent teen boys into battle against Iran as cannon fodder but apart from that...
Recently, the sisters and their nine children fled to Amman, where they were welcomed as guests of King Abdullah II. In 1995, the sisters and their husbands -- who were brothers -- were welcomed by Abdullah’s father, King Hussein.
Ahhh the time honored warm tradition of Arab hospitality...
Six months after they defected, they were lured back to Iraq by when Saddam promised forgiveness. Once they arrived, the men were killed in a shootout in a house near Baghdad. The shootout was believed to have been organized by Rana and Raghad’s brothers, Uday and Qusay, at their father’s request.
We might be interested in the daughter’s role in that "luring" as well?
The sisters declined to describe any angry feelings they might have against their father for leaving them widows.
Oh come, daddies have bad moments from time to time, no biggie.
"I hope we can start a new life with our kids and each other," Raghad said. "Now I can feel I’m home."
I bet you can if daddy told you how to access his billions in Swiss bank accounts. And there is always more room in the house for family members.
Earlier Friday, Raghad said her father’s regime collapsed because people close to him betrayed him, and she expressed negative feelings for Saddam.
"Unfortunately, people who my father trusted absolutely have failed him, have betrayed him," she told the Arabic-language network Al Arabiya. Without naming names, she said her father also felt he had been sold out.
Has happened to less bloody dictators. "Even if I don’t like him, in human terms, we should not betray a person. It is not in the Arab honor," she said.
You better brush up your knowledge of 14 centuries of Arab history. It’s a long long tale of betrayals.

Posted by: True German Ally || 08/02/2003 7:10:51 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "they still love their father but wouldn’t talk about his role in the deaths of their husbands"
Oh, them. Husbands. They were mere tools - useful only because they allowed us to fulfill our roles as Muslim Baby (Milk?) Factories - he was Daddy!

"she said her father also felt he had been sold out"
And exactly when did he tell you that, ma'am? And you were where, precisely?

"Even if I don’t like him, in human terms, we should not betray a person. It is not in the Arab honor," she said.
One could easily conclude the Arab Honor Cupboard is bare, in fact.
Posted by: PD || 08/02/2003 8:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Remember the Saddam tape, before this last one, where he says that if he had a 100 sons, he'd send them all out to be martyred like Uday and Qusay?

I heard that thinking, Yeesh, I thought my dad was bad.
Posted by: Ben || 08/02/2003 8:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Did Jordan ask for permission? maybe some Iraqi people would rather eliminate all of Saddam's family. I can't imagine any of them "Sodom daughters" being innocent.
Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) || 08/02/2003 9:46 Comments || Top||

#4  "He ...had a big heart..."

Hopefully, we'll see it on a stick. Soon.
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/02/2003 11:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Hmmm...with all that facial hair, how can we be sure these are really his "daughters?"
Posted by: Anonymous || 08/02/2003 12:09 Comments || Top||

#6  Yeah, so ol' Soddy's "big heart" is the explanation behind all those mass graves found in Iraq so far, is it?

Uhhh, no.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 08/02/2003 13:54 Comments || Top||


Troops capture Saddam cronies
U.S. forces grabbed two "important associates of the former regime" napping in their homes yesterday, seizing documents and photographs they hoped would help the search for Saddam Hussein. About 100 soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division carried out simultaneous raids yesterday afternoon in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit. They captured the men, who were being tracked for days, without many problems — partly because both were napping in the afternoon heat, commanders said. The military did not identify the captives, but Lt. Col. Steve Russell called them "important associates of the former regime." Soldiers seized documents and photographs from the houses, but Col. Russell said it was too soon to say how valuable they were. "I think it does bring us closer [to capturing Saddam]," he said. "We believe the information they may possess will further help destroy the regime." The two men emerged peacefully from the homes, separated by a vacant lot. One was luxurious with modern fittings, the other ramshackle with slit windows. No weapons were found in the homes, the military said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 01:42 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "we'll be safer if we split up - I'll take the luxurious one with modern fittings and air-conditioning, you take the other ramshackle one with slit windows - wake me if any soldiers come by"
Posted by: Frank G || 08/02/2003 14:36 Comments || Top||


U.S. to search cleric's house in Najaf
The U.S. military tomorrow will begin a major excavation in search of banned weapons components an Iraqi informant said were buried by Saddam Hussein's regime at a Muslim clerics's house in Najaf in December, three months before the war began. Pentagon officials told The Washington Times that David Kay, who is leading the CIA's search for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, briefed officials on the classified intelligence in Washington this week. The Iraqi informant told Mr. Kay's team that the weapons components were moved to the cleric's house in Najaf, south of Baghdad, and buried at the base of a wall. Since the Iraqi came forward, the U.S. military has been monitoring the site and is scheduled to begin digging tomorrow. If the informant's information proves true, it means Saddam was actively hiding weapons components at the very time U.N. inspectors had re-entered Iraq and were conducting searches. That team left Iraq shortly before President Bush ordered the March 20 invasion.
Some cleric's also got some 'splainin' to do...
A U.N. team left Iraq in 1998 after the regime repeatedly blocked access to suspected sites. Baghdad claimed it no longer harbored chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, or their components. Pentagon sources said that after Mr. Kay received the information, he asked the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), to study the Najaf site. A comparison of before-and-after images showed that the ground had been disturbed. Sources describe Mr. Kay as somewhat optimistic that weapons or their components will be found there. It was not on the CIA's list of suspected weapons sites before the war.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 01:23 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "It was not on the CIA's list of suspected weapons sites before the war."

Because-- as the CIA guy explained to us under-educated morons-- his patience with us wearing thin as he sipped green tea in the shade of his Alexandria, VA veranda-- "Y'see, Ba'athists are secular and socialist, while clerics are like, well, RELIGIOUS for christmas sake... Doncha get it?"

From such "deep" and "educated" thinking at the CIA also came obtuseness about the fact that Iran's Hizbo-loonies were charter members of the Yazoo Arafat Fan Club. And I'll bet those CIA chrome domes are now trying to figure out how's come the Iranian Hizbo-loonies have been and are making deals with the militantly atheistic NKORS-- have been in bed with Syrian Alawites for three decades-- etc. etc.

Well-- just my opinion!-- I think that the best solution for all concerned would be to (1) send the bulk of CIA "smart guys" back to the academic hothouses where they were created-- i.e., fire their damned asses!-- and (2) replace them with such smart and clear-eyed guys as PD, Liberalhawk, Zhang Fei and-- of course!-- Fred Pruitt.

Just a thought....
Posted by: TPF || 08/02/2003 3:07 Comments || Top||

#2  I just wish I belonged on the list! And all the killer posters you left off - shit! Never name names, my friend, you always forget someone!

To not write a book here is damned hard, so I'll be cryptic and hit 4 obvious problems:

1) CIA: the Frank Church witch hunt retired the real kick-ass field agents; pursuit of elint to the exclusion of, instead of in addition to, humint; NSA can read your mail and your mind, but the product overwhelms the pipeline's translation & cultural context capacity; obsession with hi-tech when most of our enemies are low-tech - but they don't seem to mind, they'll just use ours against us - and we'll even train them how...

2) INS: a lack of sense, will, and political stupidity, by both parties, for decades of decisions to under-fund, ignore, and mismanage the INS has left us wide open to infiltration and attack. Even with recent pushing, the INS seems unable to "get it" and has done very little to even map out how to correct our vulnerabilities, much less begin to correct them. Define "urgent" and compare to INS progress.

3) FBI: even less effective than the CIA; in the main, they are media-whores, not elite investigators; FBI management is utterly political; a standing joke among field agents that the only way to get ahead in the agency, is to give it; mainly good for explaining who did what after the crime has been committed - long after - and only true if they can build several "task forces" (each with separate resume-enhancing titles, er, management positions such as Super Special Agent In Charge or Special Task Force Liason) and lots of TV and Congressional "face time" and several funding increases.

4) Atty Gen'l & Homeland Security: Since this is where the rubber shall meet the fucking road, the truth is painful: added together, Ashcroft and Ridge don't equal one half of one Wild Bill Donovan - the kind of get-it-done type we need; everything they touch either turns to, or remains, shit - so far; political Ass-kissing Islamic apologists (and fundraising supporters for border-line or terror groups) such as CAIR, ISM, and a host of others are coddled and asked to advise - when they should be tossed out on their asses, or prosecuted, or held at least at arm's length; mishandling TIA (Poindexter - who's the moron who...); creating no-fly lists without oversight or a means of redress - stupid & unAmerican - we're going to need everyone on the same side, folks, and this will feed the IndyMedia fools with bona-fide issues; banning racial & cultural profiling when that is proven to be effective (ask Israel - the real experts) - whatever the fallout: it works; political games and funding ploys such as the recent threat to cut the Air Marshall pgm; taking granny's fingernail clippers away, but failing most bona-fide tests of weapons porosity at both first and second tier airports; ad infinitum, ad nauseum...

If we limp along without another major 9/11-scale attack before these fuckups are finally being effectively addressed and these agencies start to live up to what's expected of them, we'll be the luckiest mofo's in history. Just my opinion.
Posted by: PD || 08/02/2003 4:44 Comments || Top||

#3  The logical place for Saddam to have hidden his WMD's would be in mosques--especially the dozens he built after "getting religion" about 10 years ago. They'd be protected that way from prying infidels.
Posted by: Not Mike Moore || 08/02/2003 14:13 Comments || Top||

#4  I have many, many friends in NIMA. The problem doesn't reside there, but in the tasking arena, controlled mostly by CIA, and somewhat politicized. The intel functions of the military are still mostly controlled by people with common sense, but the major assets are "shared" - meaning the CI/NSA insiders take the lion's share, and the military gets what's left. The good news is, tactical intelligence-gathering has entered the 21st century with a vengence, and there's some pretty good stuff coming down the pipe.

Still wonder why the US doesn't lease one of the oil companies' MAD aircraft for a desert search for buried metallic objects. It's not pretty but it works.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 08/02/2003 14:38 Comments || Top||

#5  OP, we got lots of P-3's if that's all that would be needed. Oh, and when the cry of "Madman!" goes up, don't drop the Mark 48, mmmmKay?
Posted by: Chuck || 08/02/2003 19:24 Comments || Top||

#6  replace them with such smart and clear-eyed guys as PD, Liberalhawk, Zhang Fei

Thanks for the kind words. The funny thing is that I got a letter from the CIA requesting an interview while I was in grad school. (Nice logo, I remembered thinking). I ditched the letter, figuring that my career prospects were better-served in the private sector.

After getting a post-9/11 taste of the politically-correct gruel we're getting from the security services, I can't say I regret not flying out to Virginia to talk to these guys. I think the problem is institutional - one man isn't going to make a difference - the change has to come from the top.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/02/2003 23:54 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Troop movements stir up Manila
Reports of unauthorized troop movements less than a week after a failed coup by 300 soldiers had the Philippine capital on edge yesterday. Radio and TV newscasts said troops in southern and northern Luzon, the main island in the Philippine archipelago, were on the move in a potential attempt to rekindle an uprising that ended Sunday without bloodshed. Although military officials denied the reports, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo refused to lift the "state of rebellion" she ordered Sunday, saying it was necessary because "enemies of the state" are still on the loose. In Senate hearings yesterday, National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said last weekend's coup attempt by 70 junior officers and nearly 250 enlisted men was a well-funded effort that likely had support from more senior officers and even some politicians. "There is support from outside," Mr. Golez said. "We doubt very much if the young officers were capable of generating [so much] money from their own pockets."
Wonder if we'll ever find out where the money comes from?
Ramon Cardenas, a member of the Cabinet of former President Joseph Estrada, was arrested earlier this week in connection with the coup. And the government is considering charges against Sen. Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan. Both Mr. Estrada, in jail and on trial for charges of economic plunder, and Mr. Honasan have denied any role in last weekend's drama.
"Nope. Nope. Wudn't us."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 01:39 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front
Global Hawk rolls off production line
Link via Drudge
Pretty Cool Stuff

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Saturday, August 2, 2003.
By ALLISON GATLIN
Valley Press Staff Writer
PALMDALE - With a light show worthy of a rock concert, the latest star in the Air Force’s arsenal was unveiled Friday with the rollout of the first production-model Global Hawk.
The Northrop Grumman hangar at Air Force Plant 42 was filled with dignitaries and employees to cheer the bulbous, grey-and-white unmanned vehicle.

Like the Wright Flyer did 100 years ago, "Global Hawk will lead the way in another revolution in aviation - unmanned systems," said Scott Seymour, corporate vice president and president, Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems.

The futuristic-looking aircraft is a high-altitude, long-endurance, unmanned aerial reconnaissance system designed to provide battlefield commanders with high-resolution, near-real-time imagery of large geographic areas. Operating autonomously, it is capable of flying to 65,000 feet with a range of 14,000 miles and a flight endurance of 40 hours.

While the craft unveiled Friday is the first production model, the Global Hawk has already proven its worth in operations over Afghanistan and Iraq using the developmental versions.

"It’s the first production unit, and yet it’s been in combat twice already," Seymour said.

Of the aircraft’s 3,000 flight hours, half were logged during combat.

"Our experience in Operation Iraqi Freedom really validates the Air Force’s confidence in the Global Hawk system," said Col. G. Scott Coale, Global Hawk program director.

One demonstrator was used to fly 3% of the intelligence imagining missions over Iraq, accounting for 55% of the time-sensitive targets identified, he said.

"This experience in Iraq really demonstrates the potential of Global Hawk to transform the way we do fighting," he said. "It really is an impressive accomplishment."

It is the first time a developmental aircraft has been used operationally, before the production version.

This allowed for "lessons learned" in real-world use to be incorporated in the production version, before it came off the assembly line.

"This is a tremendous opportunity," said Carl Johnson, Northrop Grumman vice president and Global Hawk program manager. "They (the Air Force) get to say what they want ahead of time."

Some of those modifications will be incorporated in the production aircraft during its stay in the test fleet at Edwards Air Force Base.

"What is really exciting in this program is we haven’t even fielded this hardware, but we already have experience that we are incorporating," Coale said. "We’ll be having a better system when we field it."

The aircraft will depart for Edwards later this month. After four to six months of testing, it will be delivered to the new operational squadron at Beale AFB, near Sacramento.

A second Global Hawk is expected to be delivered to the Air Force by the end of the year, with two more in late 2004 or early 2005.

Eventually, 50 of the planes will be produced for the Air Force.

While virtually identical to the concept demonstrators, the newest version is more robust than its predecessors with greater capabilities developed based on operational use. It also has the capability to support future changes to the sensors on board.

The production craft are also produced under more stringent oversight and with more standardized procedures than their developmental brethren, Johnson said.

Global Hawk is built by Northrop Grumman, with final assembly at its facility at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, and has conducted flight test activities at Edwards Air Force Base since 1997.

Seven developmental Hawks were built and delivered to the test fleet at Edwards prior to the advent of the production model.

Three of these concept demonstrators have been lost, one during a test flight out of Edwards and two over Afghanistan.

The remaining four concept demonstrators will continue to be used for further developments to the system, as well as demonstrations for other uses.

The next milestone of Global Hawk production will be the introduction of the B-model.

This next version will be able to carry 3,000 pounds of payload, as opposed to the 2,000-pound capability of the A-model, and have a larger airframe, with the wingspan increased from 116 to 131 feet.

The first B-model - the 10th production craft overall - is expected to take its first flight sometime in late 2005.

Northrop Grumman also has a contract to produce two Hawks for the U.S. Navy. The U.S. Coast Guard is also looking at Global Hawk for its maritime surveillance duties.

Allies, such as Australia and Germany, have also expressed interest in the planes for their uses.

"This could potentially be a very major production program for the Antelope Valley," Johnson said.

Although the current Air Force contract calls for production of about seven aircraft a year, the manufacturing center is capable of producing up to 24 annually, he said
Let it be so
Posted by: Frank G || 08/02/2003 7:18:01 PM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The article doesn't give the cost per unit. Hmmm. It does have an impressive perf record, already.
Posted by: The Artiste PD™© || 08/02/2003 20:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Smile Abdulluh, you are on candid camera.
Posted by: SOG475 || 08/02/2003 20:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Aren't they testing some of these over Arizona?
Posted by: Anonymous || 08/02/2003 22:05 Comments || Top||

#4  Arizona, Yemen
Posted by: Frank G || 08/02/2003 22:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Predator, with its real-time operator and Mavericks is pretty spiffy, too.
Posted by: ·com || 08/02/2003 23:01 Comments || Top||


Africa: West
Pneumonia Killed Sierra Leone Leader (rats)
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) - Pneumonia and other ailments killed former Sierra Leone rebel leader Foday Sankoh, an indicted war-crimes suspect who died in U.N. custody, doctors concluded. Authorities turned Sankoh’s body over to his widow on Saturday after the autopsy.
I’m glad he’s gone but I rather wish an earless child had been the one to do him in.
Sankoh, 65, died Tuesday at the U.N. ward of a hospital in Freetown, the capital. Sankoh, a Libyan-trained guerrilla leader, led Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front in its brutal 10-year campaign to win control of the government and diamond fields. His fighters made a trademark of cutting off the hands, feet, lips and ears of men, women and children - even newborns. U.N. prosecutors estimate the war killed at least 75,000 people before outside military intervention crushed the rebels, ending the war in early 2002.

Sankoh had suffered a stroke since his capture in 2000. He appeared incoherent, and later mute, at his court hearings.
That incoherence thing was long-standing, wasn’t it?
Sierra Leone pathologists listed the causes of death as ``respiratory failure, massive pulmonary embolism, deep venous thrombosis and bronchopneumonia.’’
Aha! It was the PE that really got him, then. Good.
U.N. authorities provided a varnished wood coffin for the return of his remains to his family. Onlookers stood in drizzling rain Saturday to watch the transfer of the body, surrounded by dozens of Sierra Leone police. ``I have lost a great man who cares for his people and country,’’ widow Fatou Sankoh said. ``I will miss him forever.’’
You and no one else.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/02/2003 4:15:51 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  An eternity with children hacking off his limbs? karma in any religion
Posted by: Frank G || 08/02/2003 19:26 Comments || Top||


Chuck's going to step down August 11th. Really.
Liberian President Charles Taylor will step down on August 11, Ghana's foreign minister Addo Akufo Addo said after meeting the embattled Liberian leader.
"Really. This time he means it... Yep. Yep."
The Ghanaian minister and other envoys from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had travelled to Monrovia to tell Taylor to step down and head into exile.
"Well, yeah. We mean it. But he'll go along..."
Nigeria has offered him political asylum if he agrees to resign his post and allow international mediators to broker an agreement to end Liberia's latest bout of civil war. A 1,500-strong advance guard of Nigerian peacekeepers is due to start arriving in Monrovia on Monday, and ECOWAS had given Taylor an ultimatum that he must leave office within three days of the soldiers' arrival.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 12:06 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Chuckie's stepping down reminds me of the Firesign Theater audio skit when the highway signs were talking to the fellow driving down the freeway:

Antelope Road 1 mile
Antelope Road 1/2 mile
Antelope Road 1/4 mile
Antelope Road 1/8 mile
Antelope Road 1/16 mile
Antelope Road 1/32 mile
Antelope Road 1/64 mile
.............
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/02/2003 12:43 Comments || Top||

#2  That was Antelope Freeway
Posted by: Anonymous || 08/02/2003 13:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Antelope Freeway 1/128 mile

Thanks!
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/02/2003 13:08 Comments || Top||

#4  And I guess you could describe Liberia (Africa?) as something like the Genuine Imitation Wild West (Gunrack)?

"If you lived here, you'd be home, by now..."
Posted by: PD || 08/02/2003 13:47 Comments || Top||


Middle East
Militants arrested at Arafat headquarters
Palestinian security forces have arrested about 20 wanted militants sheltering in the Ramallah compound of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. The arrests were made in line with an agreement with the United States and Israel. Moving into Yasser Arafat's battered compound, Palestinian security forces rounded up about 20 wanted Palestinians, most of them members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. A senior Palestinian official says the raid was part of a deal with the United States and Israel, and the arrested men will now be transferred to Palestinian jails in Jericho and the Gaza Strip.
I'm sure their jug time isn't going to be extensive, but it shows that Abbas and Dahlan are smart enough to realize that the road map is pretty much a last chance thing. If it doesn't work, the Paleostine idea isn't going to work and the world's going to have to move on to something else. They're not going to get a better deal than the road map.
Israel has long accused Yasser Arafat of harbouring wanted militants in his Ramallah headquarters.

Followup:
FoxNews sez they're holed up in a room in Yasser's house and refuse to go. Yasser must have told them they don't have to if they don't want to.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 11:55 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I am always amused by the press' use of describing scum like these with the M Word (militant) instead of the T word (terrorist), which defines them to a Tee.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/02/2003 12:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Put it in the Yasser's "My-Little-Terrorist™"
scrapbook with the rest of his transgressions, attacks, lies, killings, corruption....etc
Posted by: Frank G || 08/02/2003 14:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Terrorism is a business.

There will be no peace in the middle east as long as Arafat is breathing.

His fingerprints are all over the homicide bombings and the shootings. He pulls the strings and handles the blood money for the families.

The fact that there were 20 terrorists in his compound only surprises me that there were not more.
Posted by: SOG475 || 08/02/2003 19:39 Comments || Top||

#4  I do like the visuals of Arafish and these cretins living in Ramallah Rubbleville chanting "Hell no! We won't go!" etc. Sweet. Now take 'em away and lose the key, Pal Security, if you're worth warm spit. Of course we know you're not so we'll prolly see them in Gay Paree next week - on the Left Bank, of course, being feted by Zeropean UnIntelligentsia.
Posted by: The Artiste PD™© || 08/02/2003 21:30 Comments || Top||


Home Front
More Serious Charges Possible in 'Va. Jihad Network' Case
The U.S. government is considering upgrading the charges against the 11 Muslim men indicted as part of a "Virginia jihad network," a prosecutor said in court yesterday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon D. Kromberg told a judge in U.S. District Court in Alexandria that one of the defendants had told investigators that the men's ultimate goal was "to fight American soldiers" and not just support a Pakistan-based militant group fighting India. U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema seemed surprised at the statement. "Is there a superceding [indictment] coming down the pike?" she asked. "I certainly hope so," Kromberg said.
Jihad isn't jihad unlss you're potting Merkins...
The 11 men are charged with supporting Lashkar-i-Taiba, which opposes Indian control of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, which has a mostly Muslim population. They all have pleaded not guilty.
L-e-T's been banned in Pakland (at least officially) since late 2001. It's been on the U.S. terrorist blacklist since before then. Book 'em, Danno. Next case.
Lashkar was designated a terrorist organization by the State Department in December 2001. Defense attorneys have argued that any contact between the men and the militant group occurred before that date.
"No, no! We wuz engaged in Armed Struggle™, but then youse guys said not to, so we stopped..."
Although U.S. authorities have presented the case as part of the war on terrorism, the men are not charged with terror crimes. They are accused under a seldom-enforced law known as the Neutrality Act, which forbids Americans to fight countries with which the United States is at peace. But Kromberg said yesterday, "This is not going to be a Neutrality Act case."
Good. But tack on a few years for that, too...
An attorney for one of the defendants denied that the man intended to attack U.S. forces. The statement about a possible new indictment was a sign of the prosecution's desperation, said Ashraf Nubani, the attorney for Randall Royer. "I do know they're ratcheting up the pressure, to get others to confess," he said, adding that the men were being singled out for their faith. "The whole Muslim world is involved with [al] Qaeda if we follow the logic of the prosecutors."
Only the nutty portion of the Muslim world. And L-e-T's definitely a member in good standing of the nutty potion...
The disclosure came during an appeal of an earlier decision to release one of the 11 men, Seifullah Chapman. Brinkema agreed with prosecutors that he should be detained. At a separate hearing yesterday, she rejected a bid by another of the defendants, Yong Ki Kwon, to be freed pending trial, scheduled for November. So far, three of the defendants have been freed on bond. Witnesses disclosed yesterday that one of the defendants had been cooperating with the FBI. Kwon's older brother, Yong Kwan "John" Kwon, 30, of Fairfax County, testified that his brother, a 27-year-old Muslim convert, had traveled to Pakistan in September 2001 and then had gone to his native South Korea, where he was told that the FBI was looking for him. The younger man returned to the United States in March 2003. Asked about his brother's activities when he came back to Virginia, the elder Kwon replied: "I believe he was cooperating with the FBI agents."
Korean jihadis. The mind boggles...
Brinkema said she denied bond for Kwon partly based on information under seal, which she discussed privately with the attorneys for both sides. The judge said she overruled the earlier decision to free Chapman, of Alexandria, because he had sold several assault rifles, one illegally, and because of discrepancies in the accounts of whether he had gone to a Lashkar camp in Pakistan.
Betcha he had some false passports, too...
Prosecutors introduced two documents yesterday to buttress the argument that the 11 men were involved in dangerous activities. One was a statement by an FBI agent that another defendant, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, had acknowledged firing at Indian military positions and said he wanted to die as a martyr. Al-Hamdi's attorney has denied that he attacked Indian soldiers. Chapman's court-appointed attorney, Veta Carney, said the statement was secondhand information and had no connection to her client.
"Yeah. The witnesses are all dead..."
Another document, found in the home of defendant Masoud Ahmad Khan, "expresses gladness for the 9/11 attacks," Kromberg. said. He said it was not clear who wrote it.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 11:36 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Y'know, when I read these articles and try to note all the Abdullah Abdullah Al Abdullahs, etc., I find myself looking for that one name we all know. No, not OBL, I'm referring to the legendary Heywood Jablowme. He'll turn up someday, I'm sure.
Posted by: The Artiste PD™© || 08/02/2003 20:34 Comments || Top||


Africa: North
Briton held in Morocco was in banned Islamist group
A British man held in Morocco in connection with the May suicide blasts in Casablanca that killed 44 people, belonged to a cell of a banned Islamic extremist group and had fought Russian forces in Chechnya, a press report said here Friday. The Al Ahdath Al Maghribia daily gave his name as Stewart Berri Anthony, 37, and said he was a convert to Islam arrested on July 25 in connection with an inquiry into the banned Salafia Jihadia group. Salafia Jihadia is accused of carrying out the May suicide bombings in the north African country's economic hub, and several of its suspected members are on trial in connection with the bombings.
Anthony seems to have been in all the best Islamic places. Having been to more than one of them argues against coincidence...
Nineteen of them appeared in court in Casablanca on Friday in the latest hearing of trials of those suspected of involvement in the attacks. Also Friday, a court in the northern city of Fez delivered jail sentences to Salafia Jihadia members ranging from three months to 30 years for "distributing tracts inciting violence, forming a criminal gang, abduction" and other crimes.
Because the Moroccans are tired of their nonsense...
Also known as Mohamed and Abou Yassine, Anthony joined the Fez cell of Salafia Jihadia at the request of two of its leaders, including a French national who has been charged in connection with the attacks, the report said. It added that the Briton, from the city of Birmingham in central England, was being held in Ain Qadous prison in Fez.
I hope he's very uncomfortable...
Anthony, who converted to Islam in 1994, was encouraged to travel to Morocco and marry a local woman by a Moroccan Islamic extremist he had met in Saudi Arabia, according to Al Ahdath Al Maghribia.
Where else? Another of those coincidences...
The paper said he had married one Moroccan in Casablanca and a second in Fez. The report claimed Anthony had also travelled to the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya to fight Russian forces there and had visited Afghanistan. Britain's Foreign Office on Thursday said a British man was being held in Morocco in connection with the blasts in Casablanca, but refused to name him or provide further details.
Thanks for your help.
The Foreign Office said it was informed Tuesday of the arrests of two British men in Morocco, after making inquiries on behalf of the suspects' respective families, who reported their disappearances in mid-June. A spokeswoman refused to confirm if the second man is suspected of terrorism.
Tell me how many hot spots he's coincidentally turned up in and I'll tell you...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 02:35 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Middle East
Hamas tests new Kassam missile
Hamas has been testing a new Kassam-class short-range missile in the Gaza Strip. Israeli military intelligence officials said Hamas has been firing the new missile as part of efforts to develop a Kassam with a range of up to 20 kilometers. The officials said the missile firings take place nearly nightly north of Gaza City toward the Mediterranean Sea. Hamas has sought to develop a missile with a range long enough to strike a major Israeli city. The officials said the Hamas target appears to be Ashkelon, the city closest to the Gaza Strip. Ashkelon also contains a major power station.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 02:23 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Am I the only one to notice the "roadmap" has taken a detour? I say it's time to close the road to nowhere and start plugging Islamic maniacs on a daily basis again. Abu Mazen sure as hell isn't ever going to do anything but talk and/or whine.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 08/02/2003 2:34 Comments || Top||

#2  You're on the money and far from alone. This is a "butt coverage" political effort for what will inevitably follow. Dubya's Boyz™ have prolly told him that it's an unavoidable drama he has to play out.

I don't expect he'll be doing any encores and, of course, with bad actors such as Hamas, push will finally come to shove and end this charade. I hope The Paleo Playground™ wall is completed in time.
Posted by: PD || 08/02/2003 3:10 Comments || Top||

#3  I don't know about anyone else, but tesing a missile seems to me to to be preparing for war rather than peace.
Posted by: badanov || 08/02/2003 3:38 Comments || Top||

#4  They could be developing a space program. You know, manned flights to the moon, or Mars... or Pluto.
Posted by: Rafael || 08/02/2003 7:28 Comments || Top||

#5  I hope that the Israeli's blow up each and every site where a missle is produced, stored, tested, or g*d forbid, used.
Posted by: Craig || 08/02/2003 11:19 Comments || Top||

#6  I don't think they really understand the situation - Israel has been really restraining themselves. Launch one of these into a major city and all bets are off
Posted by: Frank G || 08/02/2003 12:04 Comments || Top||

#7  I am certain that this Roadmap (to Hell)™ is a little charade to give the Paleos a final chance to work out a settlement peacefully, or to show that they are not willing or capable to act in good faith. Not even the EUniks will be able to justify their support to the PA and Hamas and Gunnies, LLC if the Paleos blow this one. The economic situation in Gaza is telling the story. The UN is running out of money and nobody is giving. Time is running out. If Hamas is test firing missiles, then they are giving the IDF vital targetting data for the big push. What a bunch or maroons.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/02/2003 13:07 Comments || Top||

#8  Frank G / AP - What? You aren't implying there's a limit to Paleo Self-Delusion™, are you? What evidence do you have? Ha™! Arrogant Infidel Children of Aristotle™! You are just like that arrogant TGA - asking such questions. We can shout, don't hear you! I am shock-ed! Shock-ed! I demand you produce this evidence forthwith! Ha™! 8->

(Yes, that's right: I'm claiming Trademark rights to Ha!) Ha™!
Posted by: PD || 08/02/2003 14:12 Comments || Top||

#9  Aha!© Call me a cynic!
Posted by: Frank G || 08/02/2003 14:38 Comments || Top||

#10  PD™©
Ho! Now you can't use the letters P and D together like that.

"Not even the EUniks will be able to justify their support to the PA and Hamas and Gunnies, LLC"

But I'm sure they'll find a justification nonetheless. Remember that the EU's job is to counterbalance American hegemony involvement in the region.
Posted by: Rafael || 08/02/2003 15:30 Comments || Top||

#11  Rafael™© that hurt.
Posted by: The Artiste formerly known as PD™© || 08/02/2003 15:51 Comments || Top||

#12  Ok, call it a truce. In the true spirit of Rantburg, I grant you an exclusive license to use "PD" however you wish. In fact I'm transfering all rights regarding "PD" over to you.
Posted by: Raphael || 08/02/2003 16:41 Comments || Top||

#13  Rafael - You're a Prince among mere men. ;->
Posted by: The Artiste PD™© || 08/02/2003 16:51 Comments || Top||

#14  I'm keeping Aha© - single use payments of a Carne Asada Burrito (or equal) will be extorted or whined about ;-)
Posted by: Frank G || 08/02/2003 19:46 Comments || Top||

#15  Be sure not to pronounce PD the French way though, you might definitely not like it!
Posted by: True German Ally sinisterly laughing at Trademarks || 08/02/2003 21:09 Comments || Top||

#16  TGA - go ahead and give me a phonetic rendition. It's been about 37-38 yrs since my one little semester of Phrensch...
Posted by: The Artiste PD™© || 08/02/2003 21:37 Comments || Top||

#17  You're a Prince

So you're calling me a Saudi now??? Fortunately (or unfortunately, no, fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, nahh definately fortunately) I am not part of that family.
Posted by: Raphael || 08/02/2003 21:41 Comments || Top||

#18  Rafael - Sorry - No slur intended! As for being one, not so bad if you hauled ass for Switzerland today, rather than trying to milk that very last drop blood out of the rock before the Saoodi world collapses... ;-)

Note new sig - TGA has skeered me off...
Posted by: © || 08/02/2003 22:00 Comments || Top||


Africa: West
Chuck's Family Seek Refuge in Gambia
Gambia is hosting the immediate family of Liberia's beleaguered president Charles Taylor, as his government's grip on Monrovia hangs precariously in the balance in the wake of the rebels' penetrating thrust towards the city centre. A West Coast chartered aircraft carrying Jewel Howard Taylor Liberia's first lady, her children, and other Liberian refugees touched down at 10 pm on Sunday at the Banjul International Airport as observers begin to ponder over the beginning of the end of Taylor's rule in West Africa's oldest republic. 135 people were on board the aircraft.

The airport terminal was a fleeting flurry of activities as security chiefs converged there to meet Mrs. Taylor and her entourage, which also included Gambian returnees and other refugees fleeing the humanitarian crisis in Monrovia, where recent days have witnessed a protracted military stalemate as rebel advance to capture the whole city had been halted by Taylor's ragtag army dug in and around the city centre. Jewel Taylor who is a trained economist and had worked in various international institutions had always defended the integrity of her embattled husband who faces an international travel ban and an indictment for his widely publicised support for rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone. It is not clear whether the Liberian first lady and her entourage are using The Gambia as a safe haven or a transit point as they sought refuge outside war-ravaged Liberia. Mrs. Taylor was whisked off to the VIP lounge of the airport, looking calm and serene despite the dreary report that her husband was being hemmed in by the rebel advance. Jewel who is President Taylor's third wife is being reportedly accommodated at the Paradise Inn along the Senegambia highway.
I'd call getting the Little Woman out of mortar range a good sign...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 01:47 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So, uh, who gets her SUV?
Posted by: PD || 08/02/2003 2:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Chuck can't be allowed the same courtesy. He'd spend exile stirring things up. Kill him...now please
Posted by: Frank G || 08/02/2003 11:04 Comments || Top||

#3  I don't think they want to kill him now. If they did, they wouldn't have anybody to hold talks with and they'd be expected to do something besides shoot each other. That's easier than setting up a stable gummint, running businesses, going to work every day and putting in crops.
Posted by: Fred || 08/02/2003 17:29 Comments || Top||

#4  think of the free trade? gems, (possibly) oil for ladies' undergarments
Posted by: Frank G || 08/02/2003 19:28 Comments || Top||

#5  I'm not sure this is a good thing for Mrs. Chuckie, after all the Gambian ambassador said the President of Gambia wanted to have her for lunch........and given some of the things they've been doing to each other these days, I'd ask for a clarification on that statement before accepting the invitation.
Posted by: SOG475 || 08/02/2003 20:35 Comments || Top||

#6  The lats graph is interesting. It reveals that she brought a few of Chuck's toolz with her:

Gambian returnees with her flight included notable dissidents...including Dodou Sanyang, Swandy Camara alias Swanby, Dawda Nyassi alias Campaori and Almami Sabally alias John Rambo ...The rats are deserting the sinking ship...might be sooner than anyone thinks.

Also, anyone want to bet these guys ain't Franklin, Jefferson and Washington, and Cincinnattus come out of retirement to save Gambia? If Gambia is smart, they'll have taken these guys out behind the pax terminal and give them a .38 caliber CAT scan...
Posted by: Watcher || 08/02/2003 21:50 Comments || Top||

#7  Wooo..that could have made a little more sense...too much coffee this morning.
Posted by: Watcher || 08/02/2003 21:55 Comments || Top||


U.N. votes to send force to Liberia
The U.N. Security Council voted last night to authorize a multinational force to help end fighting in war-battered Liberia and maintain security after President Charles Taylor steps down.
Which will be about the time he dies...
France, Germany and Mexico abstained from the vote.
"Nope. Nope. We ain't gettin' involved..."
The United States led the push for a vote to formally establish an emergency force as West African leaders prepared to send the first contingent of Nigerian peacekeeping troops to Liberia on Monday. The resolution authorizes the multinational force to remain in Liberia for two months when it will be replaced by a U.N. peacekeeping force — no later than Oct. 1. The United Nations, African countries and others have been pressing Washington to lead the force to help end a conflict between troops loyal to Mr. Taylor and rebels trying to oust him — but the draft resolution makes no mention of U.S. troops participating.
"Sorry. We're booked up right now..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 01:36 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Are not Fr.Ger.Mex. some of those pushing for U.S intervention?
Posted by: raptor || 08/02/2003 7:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes, Raptor. Makes you want to be a fly on the wall when the Fr., Ger. and Mex. were discussing which way to vote.
Posted by: Michael || 08/02/2003 11:37 Comments || Top||

#3  "France, Germany and Mexico abstained to protest a provision that would prevent the International Criminal Court from prosecuting participants in the multinational force from countries that haven't ratified the Rome treaty establishing the war crimes tribunal.
The United States vehemently opposes the court, fearing frivolous or political prosecutions of U.S. troops.
Germany and Mexico explained before the vote that this provision would also violate their national laws by preventing their prosecutors from investigating crimes against German or Mexico citizens in Liberia." (Washington Times)

To clarify: The first argument I don't quite understand because it concerns countries that have NOT ratified ICC. The second has more weight: Washington insists on allowing any crimes committed by peacekeepers to be prosecuted only by the peacekeepers' own governments. This would violate national German law that allows German prosecutors to go after crimes committed against Germans abroad. I suppose France and Mexico have the same laws. Strange though: Doesn't the US have similar laws? Wouldn't the FBI insist on prosecuting murder against a U.S. citizen abroad? If a soldier of an African country kills an U.S. citizen and that African country would let the killer slip away, wouldn't the U.S. insist on prosecution?
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/02/2003 12:21 Comments || Top||

#4  Hey folks - I've been waiting (obviously TGA is, as well) for one of you well grounded in law to answer TGA's question - and define the bounds of what the US does, when and how. Looks like a good question and I think I know, but...
Posted by: The Artiste PD™© || 08/02/2003 20:20 Comments || Top||


Home Front
Possible 'eco-terror' fire probed in SoCal
Federal agents were called in Friday to help investigate an arson fire in San Diego that might have been the work of radical environmentalists. KGTV television said a banner referring to the Earth Liberation Front was found near the scene of the pre-dawn blaze that leveled an apartment complex that was under construction in San Diego's University City district. Investigators said the "ELF" name had been connected to similar fires at construction sites in the West that were apparently set to protest urban sprawl in undeveloped areas.
Ah! Urban sprawl. A deadly threat, indeed. The preferred method of dealing with it is called "Smart Growth," an approach that takes land off the market, thereby driving up the price of housing to astronomical levels.
There was no definitive proof that eco-terrorists were behind Friday's blaze. It will take a few days for the site to cool down enough for arson investigators to get a closer look.
Yeah. Somebody just dropped their banner in the vicinity...
No one was hurt in the fire, however the five-story 80,000-square foot project was destroyed and a neighboring apartment building had to be evacuated.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 01:32 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, except it was in the middle of other sprawl, surrounded by other buildings. The heat was so intense it melted plastic patio furniture 300' away. This could've EASILY spread and killed others, so I think they'll be going after these idiots like gangbusters. Coincidentally, there's UCSD campus not very far away - I'd start my investigation there....couple hard lefty/eco groups on campus
Posted by: Frank G || 08/02/2003 12:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Now, Frank, we need calmness and coolness. How's about a someone setting up a computer to dial up and fax War and Peace to them over and over again. (Ahhhhhrgh! All those trees!)

Or hack a mail server to repeatedly send them emails with things like scripture and links to the FBI counter-terrorism website.

(wow, these are great ideas even if I do say so myself. Don;t have access to a mail server, but I do know Linux.)

Anyone game?
Posted by: badanov || 08/02/2003 18:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Colorado wants the nutcase that started a fire in Vail a couple of years ago. He/She/It has a date with a mountaintop. We've decide the sentence shouldn't be TOO severe - just six months staked to the top of Pikes Peak (14,110 feet/4301.9meters high).

In their birthday suit.

Beginning in November.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 08/02/2003 19:57 Comments || Top||

#4  @#$ing little eco-idiots.

I think they need to quit watching reruns of Bambi and Lassie and look in the mirror. Some of these clowns seem to forget that they are HUMAN FREAKING BEINGS and not some f#@#ing ground squirrel.

So they protect the environment by putting about six tons of soot and particulate matter in the air plus CO2, CO, SO2, H2S, etc., etc., these boozoos have put more stuff in the air than all of the San Diego rush hour traffic for a week.

If they like animals so much send them up into the Cascades, naked with no food, no shelter and no fire.

If these little perverts believe in Darwin, then they would have to admit that Mankind is at the top of the foodchain because are more adaptable and more versitile and can make tools and create things. I am still waiting for a Kangaroo Rat or a Arroyo Toad to create agriculture or develop a written language or cure a disease.

And these same dweebs that want us to spend millions to protect a species of animal that is at an evolutionary deadend will stand back and say that abortion is okay because it keeps the population of man on this planet down.
Posted by: SOG475 || 08/02/2003 20:43 Comments || Top||

#5  Every time I run across one of these eco-idiots I ask 3 questions:
What kind of automobile do you drive?
Where do you live?
How is your home supplied with power, heating/ cooling?(what no solar power,no wind generator,how about a heat-sink).

Awhile back(can't remeber the actress' name)there was a report on one of the news magazine shows of this actress saying Americans should give up thier SUV's,line dry thier clothes,etc...She said this from her 9 bedroom,12 bath home.With a limo in front of her 6-car garage.
Posted by: raptor || 08/03/2003 8:17 Comments || Top||


Korea
N.Korea Said Willing to Halt Nuke Program
North Korea might consider freezing its nuclear program if multilateral talks go well and it receives assurances from the United States that it will not be attacked, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said late Friday.
The voice of sweet reason from NKor. That means there's going to be another outburst of lunacy in the very near future...
He called for the talks on North Korea's nuclear program to get under way soon. Washington had long pushed for multilateral talks on the international standoff over North Korean's nuclear program. After months of insisting on bilateral talks, the North agreed Thursday to six-way discussions. The secretary-general was asked whether North Korea might freeze its nuclear activities during the talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia. "I'm not sure if there's indication that they will freeze it during these talks," Annan told The Associated Press. "But there has been suggestions that if there is a discussion and agreement and an assurance that their nation is not under threat, they will be prepared to consider freezing it and ... resuming inspection with (the) atomic agency. But I'm not sure that they have given an indication they will do it before the talks. I suspect it will be part of the outcome of the talks."
I'm sure they'll try and get as much in return as possible, too...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 01:27 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  OK, so its a case of hair spray, a dozen leisure suits and matching elevator shoes, and we have a truce?
Posted by: Anonymous || 08/02/2003 1:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Freeze? What a load of UN-think. The whole NorK house of cards has to come down, not just swallow a promise from a congenital meglomaniac that maybe he won't add to it. Kofi, go fuck yerself before you negotiate the world into oblivion. Don't you have a luncheon or something to attend?

And I really love this part of the NorK Foreign Policy Playbook™: We will stop doing bad things if you promise not to kick our ass. Sure thing, Dear Leader. And we'll make you another promise: We will keep that promise precisely as long as you keep yours.
Posted by: PD || 08/02/2003 2:07 Comments || Top||

#3  OK, so its a case of hair spray, a dozen leisure suits and matching elevator shoes, and we have a truce?

I wish I read this in the morning than late at night. Coffee is much easier to clean out of a keyboard than merlot.
Posted by: Jay Leno || 08/02/2003 2:54 Comments || Top||

#4  North Korea might consider freezing its nuclear program

Did someone promise Kimmi a tour of Graceland?
Posted by: Rafael || 08/02/2003 7:43 Comments || Top||

#5  Now that the Russians are planning a preemptive strike, NK is finally feeling the heat. Thanks, Vlad 'the Impaler' Putin.

The NK Kommies know the Russians, unlike the Japanese and the US, don't give a fuck about civilian casualties, and they will steam roller over everything Kim has built.

Maybe someone slipped the NK Moscow ambassador a note asking, "How do you like your gas? Regular or something a little stronger?"
Posted by: badanov || 08/02/2003 8:15 Comments || Top||

#6  badanov - "The NK Kommies know the Russians, unlike the Japanese and the US, don't give a fuck about civilian casualties..."
Good point - I have no doubt that Dear Leader saw the Moscow theater assault just as we did. Just a tad heavy-handed, some might say. Vlad, however, gave out medals and such, didn't he? Not exactly a PC response.

Ol' Vladeemeerkat took his sweet time in stepping into the NorK situation... Letting it get "hot" in hopes of gaining a little additional leverage, perhaps?

But badanov's right. We can sit tight giving away nothing until either they cave in, China reigns them in, Russia scares them into getting real - or we or the Russians finally get fed up with the game and decide the time is ripe to level NorK.

Interesting poker game - and the stakes are as high as they get.
Posted by: PD || 08/02/2003 10:23 Comments || Top||

#7  ...in other news, it's a bright sunny 10,000 degrees Farhenheit in Hell with no chance of let up in the forseeable future.
Posted by: Paul || 08/02/2003 15:21 Comments || Top||

#8  I was actually kind of hoping for snow in Hell. Pretty to think that NKor will have a neat solution tied up with 5 little bows, is it not? Kimmie's missing a slew of, ah hell, a whole lot of things (most of them involving sanity and rationale), so I think pretty solutions, recumbent with bows, are about as likely as children successfully playing tiddlywinks with man-hole covers. *sigh*
Posted by: Tadderly || 08/02/2003 16:02 Comments || Top||

#9  SDB thinks the Chicoms blinked. Interesting read.
Posted by: Anonymous || 08/02/2003 22:14 Comments || Top||

#10  SDB thinks the Chicoms blinked. Interesting read.

This is the nth time the North Koreans have said this. It's not over till it's over - the sneaky so-and-so's will make like Saddam up until we make clear we're going to send our guys in. But that threat's not even on the table, so we have no leverage. As long as the South Koreans continue their obstructionism, North Korea will find it convenient to dangle carrots they have no intention of handing over.

And the self-importance of the Chinese prevents them from seeing the danger to their interests of a war in North Korea. Mark my words - contrary to what SDB is saying, the Chinese are oblivious to the risk - so convinced are they about their importance in the world economy. (Check out the National Defense University's English translations of Chinese geostrategic views for a window into the smug and arrogant, yet paranoid, minds of Chinese strategists).
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/03/2003 0:06 Comments || Top||


Africa: West
African Envoys Try in Vain to See Chuck
The saga of President Charles G. Taylor's long-awaited departure took another turn today as arriving West African diplomats were met not by the president, but by a swirl of contradictory and unverifiable reports of his whereabouts, and fresh clashes dashing the calm of the day before.
"He can't see you. He's... ummm... washing his hair."
Officials from the Economic Community of West African States, or Ecowas, as the regional bloc is known, came here today to discuss the details of that deployment and lay the groundwork for Mr. Taylor's safe passage out of the country. Officials of the bloc said on Thursday that 1,500 Nigerian soldiers would arrive on Monday and that Mr. Taylor should leave within three days after that.
Chuck doesn't want to hear that...
This afternoon they said they had been told that the president was in the southeastern port city of Buchanan, where government and rebel forces clashed earlier this week. Later there were reports that he had not left the capital, that he might have been in his official residence the whole time and that he was annoyed that proper protocol had not been followed to inform him of the official visit. There was no response from the president or his aides about the three-day deadline.
He was miffed that nobody was fawning...
As diplomatic procedures were being considered, mortars pounded the heavily populated diplomatic quarter of the capital once again after a brief respite on Thursday. Downtown Monrovia was deserted again by midday, and the capital once again became a city of dread. This was the 14th day of a blistering assault on the capital by the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy. At least 12 civilians were killed in the fighting today, The Associated Press reported.
Wonder if Chuck'll be in his official residence when they come to call?
The executive secretary of Ecowas, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, took pains to point out that Mr. Taylor's representatives in peace talks in nearby Ghana were fully aware of the delegation's visit. Asked whether he believed that Mr. Taylor was in Buchanan, as a presidential aide had said, Mr. Chambas turned up his palms, shrugged and smiled, saying nothing. The delegation, which included cabinet ministers from Ghana, Nigeria and Togo, stayed at a hotel not far from Mr. Taylor's office and said they planned to meet him in the morning. "He will not refuse to meet with us," Mr. Chambas said. "We will wait."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 01:19 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front
US Judge Refuses to Free Muslim Cleric's Aide
A U.S. judge on Friday refused to grant bail to an Arabic translator charged with trying to encourage violent acts on behalf of the Islamic Group, described as a terrorist organization by prosecutors. The defendant, Ahmed Abdel Sattar, had been a translator for radical Muslim cleric Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who is serving a life sentence for his role in a plot to bomb U.S. landmarks.
Sounds like job security...
Kenneth Paul, Sattar's lawyer, asked U.S. District Judge John Koeltl to release Sattar on a $3 million bond and an order of home confinement.
Koeltl laughed his ass offf...
Koeltl declined, saying Sattar had a great incentive to flee, particularly as his Jan. 12 trial date grows closer. Sattar, a postal worker living in Staten Island, was jailed in April 2002 when he and Abdel-Rahman's lawyer, Lynne Stewart, were indicted on charges they had helped Abdel-Rahman communicate with the Egypt-based Islamic Group from prison. Koeltl denied Sattar bail at that time, finding that he posed a danger to the community and he was a flight risk. Stewart is free on bail. Last month Koeltl dismissed two key counts against Sattar and Stewart. He ruled that accusations that they conspired to support a terrorism organization were unconstitutionally vague.
What, precisely, is vague in the definition of "slaughter infidels"?
Other serious charges remain. One accuses Sattar of soliciting crimes of violence for trying to persuade individuals to carry out "terrorist operations worldwide" to achieve the Islamic Group's goals. That charge carries a 20-year prison term.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/02/2003 01:12 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
32[untagged]

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2003-08-02
  17 injured in Turkey blasts
Fri 2003-08-01
  Dozens Arrested As Security Forces Raid Mosque
Thu 2003-07-31
  Soddy Fatwah on Weapons of Mass Destruction
Wed 2003-07-30
  Foday Sankoh rots!
Tue 2003-07-29
  U.S. troops capture Sammy's bodyguard
Mon 2003-07-28
  8 killed in Soddy shoot-'em-up
Sun 2003-07-27
  Woman blows herself up at Chechen security base
Sat 2003-07-26
  Casablanca Trial of 35 Extremists Starts
Fri 2003-07-25
  Fazl sez Mujahideen should cease operations
Thu 2003-07-24
  Canucks yank ambassador to Iran
Wed 2003-07-23
  Indo brigadier killed in camp attack
Tue 2003-07-22
  Uday & Qusay: Doorknob dead!
Mon 2003-07-21
  Paleos Outlaw Violent Groups. Really.
Sun 2003-07-20
  Militias hold off rebels in Liberian capital
Sat 2003-07-19
  Liberia rebels take key bridge

Better than the average link...



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.
3.94.99.173
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
(0)    (0)    (0)    (0)    (0)