Drill geared toward âmen who serveâ, but published by UK firm
âFor men who serveâ proclaims the strapline, above a photo of the scantily clad supermodel Victoria Pratt, decked out in olive drab denim shirt and a camouflage bra. Inside, youâll find features on what itâs like to be a brain surgeon, martial arts, sex tips from Sergeant Rock, and a list of the 50 dumbest moments in rock ânâ roll history. The style is Loaded meets Soldier of Fortune. This is the new magazine for the U.S. military. And itâs straight from the UK.
DRILL WILL COME OUT this November, to be sold bi-monthly on newsstands for $3.25 in U.S. military bases and wherever U.S. forces may be sent. The men who serve might be surprised to know, however, that the publisher is John Brown Citrus Publishing, the British customer magazine specialist. For Simon Chappell, president of John Brown Publishing Inc, the companyâs U.S. division, thereâs little to be surprised about: âThe UK is way ahead of the U.S. in customer publishing. The quality of the creative in the U.S. is far behind.â JBCP was introduced to the deal through links with two U.S. entrepreneurs, whom Chappell declines to name. With an editorial team fresh from Maxim, Arena, Stuff and FHM, the style is definitely boyâs own. But what about the women, estimated to make up about 15 percent of U.S. active military personnel? Chappell shoots the question down: âIf this were a free magazine given out by the government, yes, it would be for women too. But we have chosen to target men, without alienating women.â
As the company proclaims, active duty personnel in the U.S. military earn more than $43.7 billion a year, and their subsidized food and housing keeps their disposable income relatively high. The list of advertisers includes Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Coors, Coca-Cola and Timex, paying between $3,000 for a quarter-page ad and $17,000 for a spread. Whatâs most striking about the magazine, though, is the sheer gall of the style â irreverent, adrenaline-rushed, irony-soaked, choked with military jargon. In fact, you canât shake off the suspicion that it might all be an elaborate piss-take, not so much celebrating the men who serve, as sniggering at them.
If it is, it'll crash within a year...
Chappell insists, however, that the tone is âpitched just rightâ. The title has undergone market testing, with a positive reception: âWe think we are up against the line, but we are not stepping over it.â With a circulation target of 130,000, and a 400,000 initial print run, heâll be hoping G.I. Joe gets the joke. Since we havenât seen it — and reportage & PR are notoriously riddled with bullshit — we canât be sure... But it certainly sounds like a fucking ripoff from an egomaniacal asshat. I think his numbers are bogus and FHM, Maxim, and Stuff? Hmmm, the "editorial" theme sounds very simplistic. Whatâs most remarkable about US forces, besides their fighting abilities, is how well educated and sophisticated many of the troopers are... From the article, it seems this wanker thinks theyâre all bumpkins with a woodie. Hey, maybe itâll be a hit and the story misses the mark. Of course, if I was this dink Chappell, Iâd make sure I stayed away from the BX while the juryâs out. Far away. At least 2500 yds, in fact.
Posted by: .com ||
08/16/2003 3:46:35 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Gee...just saw FHM, Maxim, and Stuff in the mag rack in the BX yesterday, along with Playboy. Though, I haven't seen Penthouse there in years. They did a morality sweep a couple of years back. However, for you youngun's, back in the o'70's & 80's, the independent OverSeas Weekly competed with the Stars & Stripes. It was commonly referred to as the Oversized weekly particularly for illustrations. The OW also had an attitude which are more in line with the line troops than S&S and without question it didn't censor its commentary.
The Army had their own internal PR print known as Soldiers, which in the non-PC days featured a comely young lady in the back cover. Then the (in)famous Women in the Military issue of Playboy hit the stands. The Army IG advised that the service had compromised its ability to prosecute the young soldier who posed because of its own pub. So the pin-ups disappeared.
Chappell's big problem is that anyone in longer than an initial tour has a very well tuned BS meter. That applies to external was well as internal, in service, stimulation. This isn't the Vietnam era draft Army. The attitude will sink really quick if the troops get the idea that they are being mocked.
From a marketing point thought, if the exchange is already carrying FHM, Maxim, etc, as well as SOF, what the hell can he really offer that's significantly different?
Posted by: Don ||
08/16/2003 8:58 Comments ||
Top||
Former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin has died in a hospital in Saudi Arabia, it has been reported. His eight years as president of Uganda were characterised by bizarre and murderous behaviour. Ugandan officials said Amin was 80 years old but other sources say he was born in 1925. He was responsible for the deaths of up to half a million Ugandans. Others were locked up and tortured by Amin and his regime. He had been on life support in hospital since July 18. He was in a coma and suffering from high blood pressure when he was admitted to the King Faisal Specialist hospital, where staff said he had suffered kidney failure. Amin was forced from Uganda in 1979, fled to Libya, then Iraq and finally Saudi Arabia, where he was allowed to settle provided he stayed out of politics. And the Saudis breathed a sigh of relief. I wish I believed in Hell so I couid say, and mean it, "Burn, baby, burn!"
Posted by: .com ||
08/16/2003 1:58:37 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
And the followup indicating it's true is here:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/953238.asp
He was in a coma and suffering from high blood pressure when he was admitted to the King Faisal Specialist hospital, where staff said he had suffered kidney failure.
Couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy.
I only hope that he gets what he deserves: Consciousness through the burial so that he may slowly suffocate and die in agony.
I wish I believed in Hell so I couid say, and mean it, "Burn, baby, burn!"
I'm with you there. The only change I would make:
"Burn, baby, burn with your tongue, your penis, and your digits in an industrial strength, dull and disgustingly rusty meatgrinder for eternity."
#3
I think the problem here is that the Saudi's don't know that you have to stake them to make them stay dead.
He'll be back.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
08/16/2003 9:21 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Dear Idi:
Rest in pieces
--Population of Uganda who remember your dastardly deeds
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/16/2003 14:19 Comments ||
Top||
#5
So did the Saudis put up Idi because they could not refuse a request for shelter from a fellow Muslim? Was that their excuse for harboring that overfed walrus?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/16/2003 14:35 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Noooooooooooooo......I had a kidney, some fava beans, and a nice Chianti all lined up!
#7
you'd think with the Saoodi aversion to pigs they would've stayed clear of the boy in the first place
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2003 19:43 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Adios, "Big Daddy"! The self-proclaimed "White Man's Burden"...
________________borgboy sez "Big Daddy" liked to be photographed while reclining on a litter being carried by four white guys...
All of Arnoldâs patriotic rhetoric doesnât square with his acceptance of the commie loving Buffetâs economic counsel. Buffet led the corporate worldâs kow-tow to China in May, aquiring several large PetroChina stock purchases gaining the company a total of 13 percent of the oil groupâs available shares which in turn constitute a 1.3 percent stake in the Chinese state-run oil giant, according the Financial Times. Warren Buffettâs Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has a stake in PetroChina Co., the nationâs top oil producer
A month after telling Berkshire Hathaway shareholders that shares of U.S. companies were too expensive, Buffettâs company upped its stake in PetroChina. Buffettâs vote of confidence in China
Shares of PetroChina, Chinaâs largest oil and gas producer, fell two percent Friday after news billionaire U.S. investor Warren Buffett sold some of the companyâs New York-listed shares. Buffett shifts PetroChina stake
Maybe he felt a twinge of self-conciousness after he announced his role in Arnieâs campaign and tried to divest. Backfired. Only drew my attention. Got yours?
Posted by: fullwood ||
08/16/2003 12:23:10 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
No.
This is a very tiny investment indeed. I would think he has a bigger position in the toilet paper industry.
Read the last link to the endto see where the money went and you will see it's chump change.
Quote; "China North Industries a subsidiary of Sinochem"
His investment is in PetroChina. Could the the dastedly link be... they are both chinese?
Posting should be removed as not news / not OT.
#2
dogsbody must be rich and secure. But money is only part of the issue. You can't complain about China's emerging threat and at the same time be oblique to corporate suck-ups who cozy up with the enemy. Why doesn't Arnie's new advisor believe in American investment. Too expensive? Should that be the standard? I don't think so. Buy American.
#3
If you don't think the post is valid then, hey web master, trash it.
Everything in China is state-owned. All of the revenue is used to subvert our interests here and abroad. Commie money is just that. Dirty.
I can't for the life of me figure why these traitors deserve any defense. To me their actions appear to undermine our national security interests as they contradict even this administrations efforts.
#4
My experiences in China seem to contradict that.
China is pretty solidly set on capitalism.
Jiang's 'Three Represents' are being added to their constitution.
I would even go so far as to say that they're more capitalistic than the French (though that may not be saying much).
As for 'investing in America', where do you think the bulk of Buffett's money is? Last I knew, Bershire-Hathaway was an American company.
#6
fullwood, are you sure you're name isn't fuu-woo? Just kidding.
I share your suspicion of China and wasn't Buffett a Dem? Why is he helping Republican Arnie? Hmmm. But I don't think investment in Petro China or Petronas or ElfAquitaine or whatever automatically disqualifies one from holding public office or designates one as an agent of sinister, hostile forces. You're gonna have to come up with a lot more if you want to convince people.
The funny thing is that there are probably plenty of Chinese nationalists who are pissed about Buffett's investment on the grounds that foreign investment and ownership in Chinese industry, real estate, etc. poses a grave danger to Chinese interests.
Posted by: Tokyo Taro ||
08/16/2003 7:51 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Buffet saw a chance to try an emerging market, but that's all - he didn't get in with both feet . I don't see this angle holding a lot of water. We'll have to wait and see what Warren / does and says over then next 7 weeks. I'll say this...he hasn't gotten off to a good start.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/16/2003 10:54 Comments ||
Top||
#8
If there's no great concern about Buffett's trading with the capitalist-communist enemy China, maybe Californians would resent Arnold's financial advisor's role in the manipulation of their energy market.
Dynegy Inc. sold its Northern Natural Gas Co. to MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., a firm controlled by Warren Buffett's Berkshire. Enron Corporation was acquired by Dynegy in 2001.
Buying Enron at a deep discount made Dynegy the dominant trader of electricity and natural gas.
Dynegy is or at least was being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Attorney General, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the California Attorney General and the California Public Utilities Commission for its role in the California Energy Crisis.
In its report released in March, FERC found that Enron, Dynegy, Mirant and other firms engaged in bogus trades that manipulated prices during California's power crisis, when wholesale prices soared fortyfold and millions of people and firms lost electricity.
At the time, Dynegy's auditor was Arthur Andersen. Dynegy had revealed that it overstated earnings by about $125 million.
This represents the falicy in defending these robber-baron capitalists who concern themselves with their own financial gain and who are, by all appearances, indifferent to the impact on the rest of America. So, how do Buffet and Arnold benefit average Californians with their money grubbing experience. Who's portfolio will they protect?
#9
Robber-barons! Has anyone else noticed a theme to fullwood's self-parodies?
The fact that California has been growing in population at an astonishing rate, and no new power plants have been built in 20 or 30 years due to the usual draconian California regulations had nothing to do with the power crisis, right?
Posted by: Uncle Joe ||
08/16/2003 11:43 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Have any of the posts "fullwood" made been on topic? From what I can recall, they're all just editorializing.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/16/2003 11:56 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Funny, I thought when the State started controlling investments and private decisions of investment came under the tyranny of the mob that we were on the way to Communism, a Communism I'm sure that fullwood is diametrically opposed to. . .
Posted by: Brian ||
08/16/2003 12:59 Comments ||
Top||
#12
fullwood said: dogsbody must be rich and secure
ROTFL!
A dogsbody lives from hand to mouth and on the cast-offs of the higher classes, that is, almost everybody.
#13
Have any of the posts "fullwood" made been on topic? From what I can recall, they're all just editorializing.
I suppose editorializing is in the eye of the beholder. Can you explain away all of the off-topic remarks made on this page?
Funny, I thought when the State started controlling investments and private decisions of investment came under the tyranny of the mob that we were on the way to Communism
Supporting the right to money-grub at the expense of your country and countryfolk may be fine and dandy as long as they haven't affected national security in any direct, unlawful way.
I don't have to like it though. And I wouldn't elect anyone who was indifferent to backpocket deals with the enemies of America.
Robber-barons! Has anyone else noticed a theme to fullwood's self-parodies?
Here's the theme for anyone who may have missed it: Traitorous money-grubbing fat-cats, in and out of government who profit from the enemies of our country while promoting policies which make our country less secure and prop up and enrich said same enemies of our country. Democrat, Republican, or whatever.
#14
The fact that California has been growing in population at an astonishing rate, and no new power plants have been built in 20 or 30 years due to the usual draconian California regulations had nothing to do with the power crisis, right?
In response to the price gouging by California energy companies, power prices have been kept artificially low to appease consumers by reinstating some price controls that were evicerated in the rush to deregulate, leaving the electricity industry wondering how new energy investment is going to be financed.
The lack of financing is exacerbated by the loss of property tax revenue through the enactment of Prop 13., and the out of control spending that is perhaps a result of the 'astonishing rate' of growth of California's population.
Davis asked for and got a committment by Bush in 2001 to waive environmental and saftey regs. to speed up the approval process for new plants.
They have to be paid for. They can't have everything there; low energy prices and more energy. They have to reduce consumption sometime or expansion of energy plants will never catch up with demand.
he'd have my vote were I a californian for this alone.
If you want the plumbing done, go to a plumber.
If you want someone to right the economy, go to an expert.
Not a twit with an economics degree and a safe tenure in the economics faculty at a university, but someone who UNDERSTANDS money, how to make it, how to keep it. Buffet fits that bill.
Learn from the rich if you want to be rich. Under Buffet's tutelage, California will turn itself around.
#18
To poster number 3. I am an American living in China. While you are entitled to whatever beliefs you have, at least base them on factual information. Otherwise, your beliefs are baseless. China's economy has slowly been privitizing for 20 years now. The state no longer "owns" all of the companies. The private sector is booming. How do I know this...well, I am involved in openning three seperate companies here. So, please do some research so you don't sound so ignorant. Isn't this website supposed to be for well thought out "rants?"
The Kingdomâs highest Islamic authority yesterday denounced terror attacks in the Kingdom, describing them as âserious criminal acts,â and pledged its full support for the government. âActs of sabotage such as bombings, murder and destruction of property are serious criminal acts and an aggression against innocent people... which warrant severe and deterrent punishment,â the Council of Senior Islamic Scholars said in a statement.
You got a fatwah on that? Or is that just opinion?
The 17-member council, headed by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, declared its support for the actions being taken by the state to track down terrorists in an effort to shield the country from their actions. The Islamic body called on the Saudi people to âstand behind the countryâs leadership and their scholars,â at these difficult times in the fight against âevildoers.â
The statement dubbed âmisguided and ignorantâ those who claim that terrorism was part of jihad, or holy war. It said people who provide shelter to suspected militants were committing a âgrave sin.â
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/16/2003 20:21 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
How about a multi-million dollar add campaign from "the people of Saudi Arabia" to "the people of Saudi Arabia".
In Jizan, police raided a terrorist cell located on the second floor of a building east of the city in Qarboos village. According to a report in Al-Jazirah newspaper, the cell consisted of 10 Saudis, one of whom was a police officer. Eleven Bangladeshis living on the third floor were also detained for questioning. Police arrived at the site about 2:30 p.m. and the actual raid began half an hour later. Initially, the police used tear gas and then explosives to break down doors. The weapons seized from the suspects included 93 bazookas, 53 hand grenades, a large cache of ammunition, machine guns, plastic explosives, walkie-talkies, chemicals, electronic equipment as well as three police uniforms and other personal items.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/16/2003 20:21 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The eleven Bangies are being held in a cell previousouly occupied by a Canadien who claims to have been tortured. CLAIMS!
Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, held telephone talks with US President George W. Bush on bilateral efforts to starve terrorists of funds and other efforts to battle extremism, the White House said. âThey talked about continued cooperation between the US and Saudi Arabia in the war on terrorism, particularly the ongoing cooperation on cracking down on terrorist financing,â said spokesman Scott McClellan. âIt was a good, positive conversationâ that ran some 20 minutes, McClellan said.
I wonder if G.W. managed to convince him that all money that goes to any terrorist group is money that goes to all of them?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/16/2003 20:21 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
Police have arrested two clerks who allegedly took part in the theft of $650,000 from the Iraqi Embassy, Yemeni security sources said yesterday. The clerks, who worked at the embassy here, are alleged to be part of a gang of four Iraqis that stole the money in the period after the April 9 overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
"Sammy's gone. Where's the money box?"
The security sources, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity, did not say exactly when or how the theft was carried out. Yemen has asked Interpol to issue arrest warrants for the other two Iraqis, who fled the country with the larger share of the money, the sources added.
Might want to start looking on the Costa Brava...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/16/2003 12:05 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
were they also in Moscow?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2003 16:55 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Prolly. Sounds like all the safes in all the embassies must've used Saddam's birthday as the combination. Each country should cancel the Diplo Passports for all Iraqi embassy personnel - worldwide. One-way plane tickets to Damascus, last Ba'athist stronghold left.
Tam picks up where Galloway left off...
A British member of parliament, long sceptical about Libya's involvement in the 1998 Lockerbie bombing, said on Saturday the fact that Tripoli had accepted responsibility for the attack still did not mean it was guilty.
"Nope. Nope. Never happened..."
MP Tam Dalyell said in an interview with the BBC the Libyans had this week accepted responsibility for the downing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie purely because they were "desperate to get back into the international trading circuit". "It is just a business deal," Dalyell said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/16/2003 10:54 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#4
Tell us about this Dalyell MP... Is this a one-off, or a way of life?
The guy's an old line pro-Soviet anti-American anti-Semitic Labor Party Bolshevik. Muslims are just his allies of the moment. He's not pro-Muslim so much as he is anti-American.
The girlfriend of one of the Sept. 11 suicide hijackers told a German court yesterday of their doomed love story as the trial of a Moroccan student allegedly linked to the plot resumed. Aysel Sengun, a 29-year-old doctor, said Ziad Jarrah was not a devout Muslim when they first met, but he changed after moving to the northern German city of Hamburg in 1997. That circle was led by Mohammed Atta, presumed ringleader of the hijackers who on Sept. 11, 2001, plowed two planes into the World Trade Center in New York and one into the Pentagon. Jarrah was on board a fourth plane that crashed in rural Pennsylvania after passengers fought back. He is believed to have been at the controls, as he was the only hijacker on board with flight training. Sengun was testifying on day two of the trial here of Abdelghani Mzoudi, a 30-year-old Moroccan accused of playing a key logistical role in preparations for the attacks. Mzoudi faces up to 15 years in jail if convicted of the charges of being an accessory to the murder of 3,066 people â based on the estimated death tolls of the attacks â and membership of a âterrorist organizationâ.
"Terrorist organizations" like to "kill people."
Prosecutors allege Mzoudi was a member of an Al-Qaeda cell in Hamburg that was led by Atta and which included Jarrah and Marwan Al-Shehhi, another of the hijackers, as well as other conspirators. Sengun, a confident and smartly dressed woman of Turkish origin, met Jarrah in 1996, but said he changed dramatically after moving the next year to Hamburg. âHe told me that I shouldnât dress immodestly,â she told the court. âWhen we met he was not nearly as religious but then he started letting his beard grow, following the dress rules (of Islam) and the rules of prayer."
"That's when I knew his mind was going..."
When asked by Judge Klaus Ruehle about Jarrahâs views on jihad or holy war, she said they did not speak about the subject often but that he had mentioned it on a number of occasions. âI didnât even know what it was â I had to ask some friends,â she said. Sengun, who is not suspected of prior knowledge of the attacks, said Jarrah kept her from meeting any of his friends in Hamburg.
And probably that was as much to keep them from meeting her...
She did not testify about the alleged role Mzoudi played in the Sept. 11 plot, but his lawyers focused on a key aspect of her testimony â how well she knew Jarrah. Asked by defense attorney Michael Rosenthal on that point, Sengun replied: âLooking back, I donât think I knew him. And yet I donât think there was anyone who knew him better than I did, not even his parents.â
Very metaphysical. Sounds like he kept a few secrets from his lady love. She's probably wondering what else there was — not that it would compare with this little list of items...
Mzoudiâs lawyers said on the opening day that they intended to show it was possible to know the members of the Hamburg group well without being involved in the conspiracy.
"Yasss... To know them was to cover for them..."
In 2000, Jarrah went for flight training in the United States, Sengun said. He stayed in touch with his girlfriend, and in January 2001 during a visit, he flew her in a plane to Key West in Florida, where she also observed him on a flight simulator, she testified. The last time they saw each other was in June 2001. They last spoke on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when he telephoned her.
"G'bye, honey! I'm off to be an Islamic hero!"
In evidence last year at the Hamburg trial of Mounir El Motassadeq, so far the only man worldwide to have been convicted over the attacks, Sengun said Jarrah told her three times during that phone call that he loved her.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/16/2003 12:13 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Sengun said Jarrah told her three times during that phone call that he loved her.
Agence France Presse, Arab News
The families of more than 600 US troops in Iraq have launched a campaign for their return, bitterly criticizing President George W. Bushâs reasons for going to war and what they see as his belittlement of the risks. âGeorge Bush said, âBring them on,ââ said Nancy Lessin, co-founder of Military Families Speak Out, referring to the presidentâs response to post-war attacks on US troops occupying post-war Iraq. âThose three words galvanized Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace and other veteransâ organizations to initiate the campaign we are launching today,â she said.
Looks like the antiwar, anti-Bush machine has found some more fodder...
âWe say, âBring them home now.â Bring them home because our troops should not have been in Iraq in the first place. Bring them home because there was no imminent danger to the United States. Bring them home because there were no weapons of mass destruction. Bring them home because there was no link between Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein,â said Lessin.
âWe are here today to say it was wrong for the US to invade Iraq, it is wrong for the US to be occupying Iraq, and there is no right way to do a wrong thing.â
It's a wrong thing to hate your country and try and subvert it...
Members of her group rallied in Washington on Wednesday and Thursday at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, home of the 82nd Airborne Infantry. They stressed that most of them were Republicans, had voted for Bush and had supported the war based on intelligence presented early this year.
I'd guess that's a flat-out lie. Not many Republicans were at the WTO protests in Seattle. Nancy's an AFL-CIO hack...
âFrom proud liberators in the great American tradition, our troops have become oppressors and occupiers in a hostile nation,â said Susan Shuman, whose son is in the Massachusetts National Guard serving in Iraq. âOur troops are stuck in a quagmire of urban desert guerrilla warfare for which they are not prepared or equipped,â she said.
âMy question to Mr. Bush is, âHow many more of our sons do you need to bring our children home?ââ said Fernando Suarez de Solar, whose son, Jesus Alberto, was killed in action in Iraq. âHow many American lives are worth one gallon of oil?,â he mused.
What's the going price for 3000 American lives?
Stan Goff of Raleigh, North Carolina, a 26-year career soldier and retired Special Forces master Sergeant, was bitter about the war. âYou know, in all the administrationâs fictions of weapons of mass destruction and nuclear programs and ... the phony Al-Qaeda connections that are being exposed as fabrications, this is not the rule of law,â he said. âThis is the rule of bombs and bullets. These are rich men in very expensive suits conducting statecraft like gangsters."
"The US does have a responsibility to Iraq and to the people of Iraq to clean up the mess that we have made,â said Charlie Richardson, co-founder of Military Families Speak Out. But, he added, âIt canât be done with US troops. In launching the âBring Them Home Nowâ campaign, we are calling on military families and others in the military and veterans communities to speak out against the use of our troops as cannon fodder ... against the reckless occupation of Iraq.â
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/16/2003 11:59 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
AlJizmo, Agence France Presse, and the Arab News?
Nice lefty hat trick, Fred.
#2
I saw these names before and I doubt that they number 600. If they do the recruiter, DIs, and NCOs did BAD job of training these soldiers. NOBODY likes to be in a place that is dangerous but they kind of prepare you for that in the military. This group is mostly Hippies and Wannabes that want 15 seconds of fame (and slander). I noticed in the U.S. News a LOT of these âprotestersâ are NOT the parents of kids stationed in Iraq. Itâs sad that they donât know how they are being used, itâs sadder still if they know and donât care.
#3
The left is starting to remind me of termites...eat away, eat away, eat away...and if they win, which I'm increasingly fearful they will, one fine day it'll all crumble from the inside...
Posted by: R. McLeod ||
08/16/2003 23:32 Comments ||
Top||
Like many people in Pakistanâs capital, college student Ali Raza agrees with a new edict by hard-line Islamic clerics that opposes the possible deployment of Pakistani troops to Iraq. The edict, or fatwa, is severe, warning troops they wonât be eligible for martyrdom if they die helping the US-led coalition forces. The clerics also said that the soldiers wouldnât deserve an Islamic funeral. It makes perfect sense to 20-year-old Raza, who yesterday strolled through the streets of Islamabad dressed in a shalwar kameez, a traditional outfit with baggy pants and a long tunic. âHow can someone helping the infidels be a martyr?â he asked. âInfidels should be fought, not helped.â
"It don't matter if you're helping the infidels throw out oppressors, nope, nope. It sez so in the Koran somewhere. You could look it up..."
The clerics issued the fatwa Thursday during Pakistanâs Independence Day at a rally of nearly 10,000 people in Rawalpindi, a city next to Islamabad. The religious scholars, part of an eight-member council, warned that troops sent to Iraq will be âdeprived of their wealth of faith.â
I'd really rather not have the Paks there, anyway...
Detail from Pak Daily Times...
The MMA claimed religious scholars from all Islamic schools of thought endorsed the decree, issued by a nine-member committee of the MMA. A former judge of the Supreme Court, justice (r) Muhammad Taqi Usmani, was also on the committee headed by JUI (S) chief Maulana Samiul Haq.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/16/2003 12:04 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Two Iraqis on a U.S. "black list" surrendered to U.S. troops hunting for Saddam Hussein, but problems with the export of vital crude oil highlighted Iraq's instability after the war that ousted its leader. The U.S.-led administration's attempts to revive Iraq's oil industry suffered a blow when a fire and technical problems halted oil in a recently reopened northern export pipeline. Saboteurs opposed to the U.S. occupation of Iraq have been blamed for a spate of fires and explosions along the pipe, but an Iraqi engineer said it was not yet clear what triggered the latest blaze. U.S. soldiers hunting the deposed president said two people on a list of 250 wanted Saddam loyalists turned themselves in over the past 36 hours. "I guess they decided they wanted to come to us rather than us coming to them," Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Russell from the 4th Infantry Division told reporters in Tikrit, north of Baghdad. One man was freed after interrogation, but Russell did not give details. The U.S. has a separate list of 55 most wanted, which includes Saddam and his top aides.
There's no confirmation as to why the pipeline caught fire, but we can guess...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/16/2003 11:09 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Technical problems maybe? Bad main steam valve...
More Leverage on the Hambone
KUALA LUMPUR: Hambaliâs Malaysian wife, Noralwizah Lee Abdullah, has been handed over to the federal police here by their Thai counterparts.
It is learnt that Noralwizah @ Lee Yin Len, who was arrested together with Hambali in the central Thai city of Ayutthaya on Monday, was flown into the country escorted by both Thai and Malaysian police. your husband? Oh...heâll be enjoying the evils of GITMO!
Sources said Special Branch officers from the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman then took her into their custody. However, it is not immediately known where she is being detained.
In Bangkok, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra confirmed that Hambali, dubbed by Western media as the Osama bin Laden of the East, had been planning an attack on the Apec summit scheduled to be held in Bangkok at the end of October.
âHe was not just using Thailand as a transit point. He came to mount a terrorist attack. The investigation uncovered an attack being planned for the Apec meeting,â Thaksin told reporters.
The meeting in the Thai capital will bring together 21 world leaders including US President George W. Bush.
However, Thaksin refused to state where Hambali, widely said to be terror organisation al-Qaedaâs point man in Asia, was now being held although news agencies reported that he was now in US custody. As Fred says: "I cannot say more"
Hambali is accused of plotting last yearâs bombings on Indonesiaâs resort island of Bali as well as a string of other attacks.
Sources said the 33-year-old Noralwizah, who followed her husband to go into hiding, would be able to provide valuable information regarding her husbandâs activities. They want to question her on Hambaliâs associates and their whereabouts. be a good check on his stories... "thatâs not what your wife said.."
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Norian Mai, who confirmed that Noralwizah was in Malaysian police custody, said: âWe requested for her to be handed over to us so that she can assist us in our investigations.â
Noralwizah, a Sabahan, married Hambali after they met at the Luqmanul Hakiem school in Ulu Tiram, Johor. The school was founded by Abdullah Sungkar and Abubakar Baâasyir - both known leaders of Jemaah Islamiah (JI), a militant group with ties to al-Qaeda.
Her sister Ai Lin @ Norfadilah Lee is married to Dandand Surman @ Abu Yusof, another JI member who is also on the run.
The sources said Noralwizah and Hambali shuttled between Thailand and Cambodia frequently.
Hambali allegedly used a fake Spanish passport while Noralwizah is said to have used her Malaysian passport.
The sources said that Hambali was wearing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt as well as a baseball cap and sunglasses when he was nabbed at the apartment complex where he and Noralwizah were staying. He looked like Elvis after the plastic surgery, big mistake
Thai newspapers also reported that police seized a substantial amount of explosives and firearms from him during the raid.
In Pekan, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak warned that there might be other JI terrorist cells in the region, reports ZULKIFLI ABDUL RAHMAN. ?
Najib said Hambaliâs arrest was the result of good co-operation between Malaysian and regional intelligence authorities, adding that the spirit of information sharing among the countries on terrorism should be applauded.
âHowever, we should not consider that his arrest means that the terrorism threat in the region is over.
âWe must continue to be on the lookout for subversive activities here or anywhere else at all times,â Najib said at a social gathering with soldiers and villagers.
a social gathering involving interrogations and searches?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2003 9:10:40 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Grrrrrrrr. You posted this just to piss me off, didn't ya, huh, didn't ya? You got me - it worked. ;-( Of course, there's another reason... later...
Malaysia, headed by the Izzoid Wacko Asshat Meglomaniacal Dictator Mahathir, is trying to insert itself into the Hambali thing. They contributed The Devoted Wife⢠- and, as far as I can determine, that's it. An aider and abettor. The fact that they were allowed to take her (as a Malaysian citizen) means that whatever she could contribute is compromised or filtered or lost. Mistake.
I fully believe Mahathir is involved and complicit in Izzoid terrorism - and that's why Malaysia has had no incidents on its soil. I'm sure that Thailand was compelled by treaty to release Noralwizah to them.
I am equally sure that the US agents working with the Thais were very unhappy to see a potential information source escape to Malaysia - and it was an escape from the real WoT types.
And this is the laugh of the day: "Najib said Hambali's arrest was the result of good co-operation between Malaysian and regional intelligence authorities, adding that the spirit of information sharing among the countries on terrorism should be applauded..."
Why, it almost implies Malaysia was actually involved in the Thai operation that captured them. Had that been true, I have no doubt that they would have mysteriously fled just before the raid. The sort of thing that happens a lot in "joint" investigations with the Pakis, the Saudis, and others whose true allegiance is correctly in doubt.
And isn't it cute that by some oddness, these Malaysian sisters and another terrorist have some sort of wacked out email addies for names.
Noralwizah @ Lee Yin Len
Ai Lin @ Norfadilah Lee
Dandand Surman @ Abu Yusof
Whassup with that? Second-best laugh of the day.
Pfeh. Mahathir and Malaysia will get their due before it's over - or there will be a sea-change when they get an up-close and personal taste of what they've fostered.
[OT]
And I am oh so sorry if I am demonizing the enemy or failing to attempt to persuade using softer, gentler, friendlier, language. Oh my. My bad. They're really good people just led astray - and I'm the bad guy for noticing. Yeah, I took a look back to a day earlier in the week when I posted a few comments early in my day and then began my visa-renewal ordeal to Burma. Tachiliek to be precise. And returned (Rantburg had rolled over to the next day) to find I had been rather skewered while gone for not being PC. Okay. I won't make that mistake again. And the zeros who think that their remote second-hand feel-good musings equate to or override my real world experiences can kiss my very hairy ass - you don't know WTF you're mewling about. I shoulda brought back that big thuggy-looking Burmese Colonel and sic'ed him on you - he'd do it for $100 in genuine USD, I'd wager. Take another swig of pablum and toddle off.
Ahhhh. That feels better.
[/OT]
#4
PD: Perhaps then you should learn to parse an English sentence then. My point wasn't that you should be more PC. It was that when you dehumanize (not demonize) your enemy, he is much more likely to beat you. Not because dehumanizing is politically incorrect or wrong, but because it non-pragmatic. I then in a humorous way, paraphrased Sun Tzu who said that he who does't know his enemy or himself, will lose every battle.
If you want to talk about about zeal how about this: I volunteered for a reserve tour in support of the current war on terror and served it out. In doing so, I lost my previous position at my company and now have half the responsibility that I had before. That's what my zeal led me to sacrifice. What sacrifice has your zeal prompted you to? I mean beside posting rants on the Internet and insulting folks. Don't you ever dare question my patriotism, my willingness to sacrifice to win this war, or my real world experience.
#5
I volunteered for a reserve tour in support of the current war on terror and served it out. In doing so, I lost my previous position at my company and now have half the responsibility that I had before. That's what my zeal led me to sacrifice.
I think your sense of duty is commendable. I did not volunteer because I feel that if there is a national need, the fairest way of choosing the men to go would be via a draft lottery. This way everybody sacrifices, instead of just the most patriotic.
My view is that the doves should be made to serve, just like the rest of us. Of course, if they're drafted, they can always move to Canada.
Fred - Closing comments to which I responded:
It's good that some Arab thinkers can recognize the sterility of thought that's prevalent throughout not only the Arab world but the entire Muslim world.
Sometimes I genuinely pity the entire Muslim world. Ignorant and oppressed, the women are reduced to breeding stock, the men to cannon fodder. They're forbidden to do things most of us barely think of in passing â singing, dancing, swimming (even skinny dipping), cracking jokes, getting drunk, occasionally getting laid. They're "educated" with a continuous diet of hatred and religious mumbo-jumbo instead of acquiring skills that would make them competetive in the world. It's sad, really â an utter waste of a large segment of humanity. Who would want to live in a world where his/her/its children's greatest aspiration would be to grow up to be dangerous?
Then some bastard hollers "jihad!" and the shootings and the bombings start up again and I realize they could all go straight to hell and I wouldn't really bat an eye.
.com -
Fred's summary really does summarize the dilemma.
I would add that the author is overgenerous regards Arab achivements - they stopped long before 1948 - they stopped when Little Mo's influence began to hold sway in the region.
Note: It IS Islam that created the sick twisted societies that Arabs accept as normal - they've had 1400 yrs of it, so it is their norm. Even when they go abroad long enough to begin to appreciate that it isn't the world's norm, they still revert to it upon return - for it is thoroughly institutionalized and enforced. They do not produce any lone wolves (free thinking people)in Islam - it is specifically bred out, in fact.
In the end, however, and as Fred uses as his closer, the tragedy of Islam becomes moot. Islam is a pathogen that causes a fatal disease.
*com, you are correct, but, if you want to persuade it is best not to insult everything about the culture and religion of those you wish to persuade.
It is best to provide a target that is part of the problem and that everyone dislikes (like the military and corrupt governments) and concentrate your shots there.
Posted by: Yank 2003-8-12 3:49:18 PM Comment Top Rantburg
Yank - I hear you, bro. I just have this little problem with lies and prevarication. I have never known how to lie nicely - nor to use the diplo-speak of partial truth. Call it a personality flaw and near-total lack of social skills. I know, I'm screwed - I'll never get elected to anything, but that's okay with me. Prolly why I eventually chose to be a programmer - where neither of those skills is of value, but accuracy and precision as well as maintaining a handle on the big picture are.
Here in Rantburg, I hope it's allowed to call 'em like we see 'em - and this is the final sum from my up-close and waay-too-personal experiences with Islam. 8-)
Posted by: ·com 2003-8-12 4:51:24 PM Comment Top Rantburg
De-humanizing your enemies is always a bad strategy. You'll end up underestimating them at the worst possible time. Some old Chinese guy told me that. He also said that it helps to know your own weaknesses and strengths, too.
I know that this must sound very sacreligious, but when I think about Dar al Islam, I sometimes feel like Abraham bargaining with God over Sodom and Gomorrah. Only it won't be God smiting the Muslims, it'll be us.
Switching from the religious to the secular, I once sat next to a psychiatrist on a long trip. She told me that what she does is de-program people from the crappy ideas their parents put in their heads. I have no idea how you deprogram so many people of so many bad ideas. Fear and utter defeat seem to be the only solutions. Hate so long as you fear, eh, Fred?
Posted by: 11A5S 2003-8-12 7:12:14 PM Comment Top Rantburg
[OT]
And I am oh so sorry if I am demonizing the enemy or failing to attempt to persuade using softer, gentler, friendlier, language. Oh my. My bad. They're really good people just led astray - and I'm the bad guy for noticing. Yeah, I took a look back to a day earlier in the week when I posted a few comments early in my day and then began my visa-renewal ordeal to Burma. Tachiliek to be precise. And returned (Rantburg had rolled over to the next day) to find I had been rather skewered while gone for not being PC. Okay. I won't make that mistake again. And the zeros who think that their remote second-hand feel-good musings equate to or override my real world experiences can kiss my very hairy ass - you don't know WTF you're mewling about. I shoulda brought back that big thuggy-looking Burmese Colonel and sic'ed him on you - he'd do it for $100 in genuine USD, I'd wager. Take another swig of pablum and toddle off.
Ahhhh. That feels better.
[/OT]
Posted by: .com 2003-8-16 10:52:49 PM
PD: Perhaps then you should learn to parse an English sentence then. My point wasn't that you should be more PC. It was that when you dehumanize (not demonize) your enemy, he is much more likely to beat you. Not because dehumanizing is politically incorrect or wrong, but because it non-pragmatic. I then in a humorous way, paraphrased Sun Tzu who said that he who does't know his enemy or himself, will lose every battle.
If you want to talk about about zeal how about this: I volunteered for a reserve tour in support of the current war on terror and served it out. In doing so, I lost my previous position at my company and now have half the responsibility that I had before. That's what my zeal led me to sacrifice. What sacrifice has your zeal prompted you to? I mean beside posting rants on the Internet and insulting folks. Don't you ever dare question my patriotism, my willingness to sacrifice to win this war, or my real world experience.
Posted by: 11A5S 2003-8-17 12:28:39 AM
1) Everyone has dehumanized their enemies during war since the beginning of time. Even if the Govt doesn't, the schmuck in the muck does. The US certainly has throughout its history - and with the advent of film, it reached new heights in WW-II - as I'm sure you well know. What you say is intellectual - and perhaps correct, but it isn't what actually happens. I doubt that words play any part in it. And, despite the Sun Tzu wisdom, we won every war we were allowed to win - which is to say all but one. I happened to have the misfortune to be in the one we weren't allowed to win - primarily due to political bungling, micromanagement, and gross mishandling of our military capabilities. I'll get over it when I die, I'm sure, but too many people went down, so I'm not over it yet. Sun Tzu's wisdom, though sage and wise, is an intellectualized exercise. Fine, but it doesn't happen that way. Shit, this is all irrelevant prattle, anyway. Moving on.
ISLAM
What's funny here is that all I did was characterize Islam as a pathogen. Every other word is drop-dead true and I have seen it and lived it. If you've lived in Saudi Arabia or Egypt or UAE and have different information, then feel free to post alternative views on Islam.
THAT IS THE REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCE IN QUESTION. GOT IT? POST IT.
2) This is what set you off, I'm sure: "And the zeros who think that their remote second-hand feel-good musings equate to or override my real world experiences can kiss my very hairy ass - you don't know WTF you're mewling about."
So, where is there any challenge to your patriotism? Parse it and tell me. I don't doubt your word in your last response, yet I fail to see the challenge of your zeal or patriotism. It's not there. I was talking about experience with Islam. What are you talking about? If you have first-hand experience, tell us all about it. Shoot my opinions down with knowledge, don't mischaracterize my words or intent so you can beat your chest. I thought much more highly of you than that - whether you believe it or not. You, on the other hand, think I am just an Internet ranter. Well, I'm in the right place, if that was the truth - are you? But that's not all I am...
As for my willingness, I am no longer physically fit to serve. I won't pretend to have old war wounds which prevent it - I just got old (50's) and slow and fat. As for zeal and experience, I do have my scars and a shitload of memories, but I was one of the lucky ones and walked away when the clock chimed and time in ratland was up. My most vivid memory is that last week when I was so short I could dive off a dime - and my thoughts of never having to sleep in a puddle of sweat ever again. So I definitely empathize with the guys in Iraq - hotter there but lower humidity - prolly evens out at night. Multiple tours in Nam was not something I wanted to do. If that makes me a coward in your eyes, then knock yourself out, tough guy, if you were there, you were damned quiet back then, not the breast-banger you are today. I did the one pass - others were optional, we weren't accomplishing dick except piling up the bodies and bombing suspected truck parks, and I decided a year of it was enough. Carve me up, super patriot. I think this sucks because you apparently have thin skin on this topic. I don't know why - nor care any longer. That's your problem.
My willingness is now moot, but don't YOU ever challenge MY patriotism or MY real world experience again without hard cold facts and relevant experience.
This is Rantburg, and I am a citizen of it. I contribute as much real experience here as you do. I don't much care if you don't like me, but I know what I'm talking about - and stay off topics I don't know about. If I offended you, I'm sorry, but you had to make the offense up, as far as I can see. You owe me an apology for assuming I'm some wimpy snot-nosed dyspeptic ranter who's never served nor been anywhere, much less in the muck and shit. I've earned my citizenship, too. I'll use Gump's Standard Close: And that's all I have to say about that.
#7
PD: I know your history well since you've never been shy about broadcasting it here. I never questioned your past. Only what you're doing in the present.
If you are going to attack me in an open forum (i.e. calling me a zero, etc.), you better expect an open response. I mean that's what you were trying to to do by digging up that old thread, wasn't it? Surely as a coder you understand causality?
#8
So that's your whole rationale?
Tit for tat playground logic?
Lessee, I didn't identify the thread nor the poster - open attack? Only in your mind.
From your posts, I certainly expected better than this. The facts are all right there, just above, but you just stick your chin out as if that's a response. I understand causality very well. In this case, it's push a hot button, get a knee jerk. Not at all classy, as I expected.
The Philippinesâ largest separatist group yesterday joined Manila in welcoming the capture of top terrorist suspect Hambali, saying it hoped the arrest would mean an end to terrorist attacks in Southeast Asia. âLetâs hope that Hambaliâs capture would put an end to terrorism in Southeast Asia,â Eid Kabalu, spokesman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) told Arab News in a telephone interview. Philippine authorities have linked Hambaliâs group to the MILF, a charge the separatist group had piously strongly denied. Kabalu said: âWe are not in anyway connected with Hambali nor has the MILF any association with him or links with the Jemaah Islamiya and Al-Qaeda network. MILF leaders have never met Hambali in the past or any of his followers or JI or Al-Qaeda members.â
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/16/2003 12:23 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Expands on yesterday's post...
Al-Qaidaâs alleged Asian mastermind is being interrogated at a secret location by U.S. investigators, Thai officials said Friday. What, they want us to televise it on Al-Jismra? Hambali, an Indonesian whose real name is Riduan Isamuddin, had been in Thailand more than a month when he was arrested following a tip off, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said. ``We had been following Hambali for several days and it happened that we just arrested him,ââ Thaksin told reporters. "Lands oâGoshen! Next thing we knew, WHAM, he was in the slammer!"
``Right now we are in the process of interrogating him with the allied countries. I cannot say where,ââ Thaksin said. He refused to elaborate or say whether the 39-year-old Hambali was still in Thailand. Military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Hambali, was handed over to U.S. authorities and flown out of the country on Wednesday. Gitmo, please let it be Gitmo!
Bagram. Or maybe Aleppo...
Several Southeast Asian governments said they also wanted to question the man suspected of being the operational head of Jemaah Islamiyah. Hambali was arrested Monday at an apartment building on the outskirts of Ayutthaya, a major tourist attraction with its dozens of ancient Buddhist temples. Thaksin said the arrest came after a tip from residents. ``We arrested the suspect after people notified police about the appearance of the foreigner. And after we checked his passport, we found that heâs the one thatâs wanted by several countries,ââ Thaksin said, according to Thailandâs state radio network.
That would seem to indicate that they had at least some of his false passports or aliases on record...
Plainclothes officers smashed down the door of Hambaliâs one-room apartment and took him away after a violent struggle, residents in the building told The Associated Press. "Sir, it looks like the arrest was a tad violent."
"Indeed. Well, slap another beefsteak on his eye and commence questioning."
Hambali had lived in the building, where all the other residents are Buddhists, for only two weeks, the other tenants said. It was prolly Hambali muttering under his breath, "kill all the damned infidels, die, die, die" that made the neighbors suspicious.
Hambali is suspected in a number of attacks blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah, including the Aug. 5 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people and the October 2002 bombings of nightclubs on the Indonesian island of Bali that killed 202 people. Authorities also say Hambali is connected to the Sept. 11 plot, although whether he played a direct role is unclear. Guess weâll just have to drag it out of him!
Baliâs police chief, Maj. Gen. I Made Pastika, who led the inquiry into the nightclub bombings, said Hambali was in U.S. custody and had not been brought to Indonesia. Hambali is also wanted by Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. They can have whatâs left after weâre done.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/16/2003 12:14:23 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Al Guardian? Islam Online. Al Jizzwadi? PakiWookieNews? Steve, old boy, I think you've hit the lap limit and need to come in for a pit stop. I have the Clinical Psych all lined up for your evaluation and we have a new wardrobe picked out: a kinda rugged set of "shirts" (all extra-long sleeved - in a slightly off-white - leather bits, buckles, very butch - you'll love 'em), flip-flops, silk jammy-bottoms, the whole Hugh Hefner kinda rig, with that little "extra" something, y'know? You've been in enemy territory far too long. Please phone home...
Maj. Gen. I Made Pastika
So did I! Was it good for you?
As for Al Guardian's dipshit story title ("...In Secret!") Oooooohhh! Call AI immediately! They can't even play their agenda game well. Squirrels. I wonder if their average reader, and this is where my concern comes in, Steve (BEG), even realizes that the title bit is unnecessary scare shit -- of course he's at an undisclosed location for questioning. Doofs.
I hope they heat up the pokers extra-hot for the Ham-Man and he sings like the entire chorus of Carousel. Gloves off. When they're done with him and have extracted every drop from his brain, I hope they then hand him over to ol' Maj. Gen. I Made Pastika for another round of fun or three. Singapore can certainly have a shot, too. They've been a big help. Malaysia can go fuck a coconut tree - Mahathir is one of them would likely engineer his "escape" - asshat Izzoid fuckwad.
If he survives Indo and Sing, then we should send his ass back to Gitmo (Oooooooohhhhh, Gitmo!) so he can be used as an object lesson for the others. For this to be effective, he should be very fucked up physically. A colostomy bag - with a demonstration of its use and care, should be the first order of biz for the other Gitmo (Oooooooohhhhh, Gitmo!) cretins when he returns.
#7
I bet you could charge $2 a pop to Aussies willing to help interrogate him and solve our California budget deficit. Any thoughts, Anon1?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2003 14:12 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Recycle, I say. Remember that we are getting short on medical test animals. Maybe cosmetics testing, heh heh.....Or something a bit more dashing, like maximum contaminant levels for toxic compounds. You know, a source of innocent merriment.......
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/16/2003 15:23 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Hello all!
I came late to this party (damn those time differentials!!!)
Well, I'd like to say: hear hear! hoorah for all of the above!
.com, Celissa! yep right on! Frank G - I'd pay!, Al-aska, Yes, that is my thoughts exactly! Why waste medical testing on animals when you get better results from human dregs like this?
Via Drudge
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - A missile was launched Saturday in a test of its flight performance and potential for use as part of a land-based defense system.
The prototype, launched from a silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base, is designed to intercept limited long-range ballistic missiles. The Bush administration wants a missile defense system to include rockets based at Vandenberg.
The launch did not test the missileâs ability to intercept an incoming rocket. Maj. Stacee Bako said more tests are planned this fall in the Marshall Islands.
The three-stage booster was designed by Orbital Sciences Corp.
Keep on working - it helps at the table with Kimmy if nothing else
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2003 8:28:48 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
The right of return for Palestinian refugees to their homes in Israel or the territories the Jewish state occupied in 1967 was guaranteed under the US-sponsored âroad mapâ for peace, the Palestine National Authority (PNA) Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said Friday.
Damn. You find something new in there every day, don't you?
"No condition has been set for a return (only) to an independent Palestinian state. The right of return is no longer an illusion. It is an integral part of the Arab peace initiative, which is one of the reference points in the road map,â Shaath said, speaking at a hotel in the Lebanese capital Beirut. "I want to be clear: this right includes returning to an independent state and to Palestinian cities in the Jewish state. Whether a person returns to Haifa (Israel) or to Nablus (West Bank), their return is guaranteed,â he confirmed, quoted by AFP. The minister was referring to the Saudi initiative adopted by Arab League summit meeting in Beirut summit in March 2002. It calls on Israel to withdraw completely from the lands it occupied in the 1967 war in return for normal ties with the Arab world, and says there should be a âjust solutionâ to the Palestinian refugee problem.
"And that, of course, is for the 'right of return,' Q.E.D..."
Shaath hailed the âroadmap,â which drafted and adopted by the EU, the US, the UN and Russia, as the "best peace plan for the Palestinians ever struck with Israel since the 1967 war.â
Which is why the Bad Guys are trying so desperately to torpedo it...
The âroadmap,â which foresees the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005, calls in its last phase for "an agreed, just, fair, and realistic solutionâ to the refugee issue in final status negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. "We see no other solution for our people, especially those in Lebanon, than to return to their homeland and this return is guaranteed,â said Shaath.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/16/2003 12:48 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
typical for the Paleos - encourage the high expectations based on the Big Lie⢠and declare Dire Revenge⢠when the Jooooos don't abide by it. Give it a couple months and this right-of-return provision will be a conventional wisdom, regardless of the fact nobody can point it out in the roadmap
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2003 13:57 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Perfect characterization, Frank. Typical, in fact, of all negotiations with Arabs. Buying a car there is a micro version of this - and just as frustrating at the individual level. Hell, everything is frustrating with these "people" - no matter how trivial the goal, it gets muddled and confused. They like muddled and confused - it's where they hide their margin.
Syrian President Bashar Assad rebuffed renewed US pressure to rein in Lebanese militant group Hezbollah during an unscheduled visit here by Washingtonâs top Middle East diplomat. Assad told William Burns, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, that Israel and not Hezbollah was the principal source of violence and instability in the region.
"Nope. Nope. It ain't us. It's them. Always has been, always will be."
âAppeals for calm and restraint should not be addressed solely to Lebanon, while a blind eye is turned to the massacres and assassinations being carried out by Israel,â the official SANA news agency quoted Assad as saying. The Syrian president questioned whether Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was even committed to a US-backed road map for Middle East peace, given his rejection of President George W. Bushâs calls for the abandonment of a security fence Israel is constructing through the West Bank. âSharon is continuing to build the wall of discrimination despite the opposition of Bush to the establishment of settlements and his army is launching incursions (into West Bank towns), destroying houses and killing Palestinians,â said Assad. âWisdom compels the United States, the worldâs biggest power, to help the Palestinians to recover their rights and to establish a just and durable peace in the region,â he said, accusing Sharon of a âstrategy of war and not a policy of peace.â
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/16/2003 12:21 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Fine. Then you won't mind if the Israelis bomb a few, I guess...
Peace talks between the government of Sudan and the rebel Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) in Kenya are âdeadlocked and on the verge of collapseâ, a rebel source told AFP yesterday.
They're always "on the verge of collapse." What is it this time?
The source said talks had reached a stalemate after the Sudanese government refused to negotiate on the basis of a framework document drawn up by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an east African regional body. âThe government delegation has asked us to loosely choose any topics which could be discussed on a face-to-face basis, but not to refer to the IGAD draft document,â the source said. The government delegation maintains that the document, rejected by the Khartoum government, should not be referred to in the talks. But the SPLA insists that the IGAD-approved text must be the basis for attempts to reach a settlement ending Sudanâs 20-year civil war. âThe draft document is the result of nine months of intensive negotiations with the IGAD mediators but the government delegation now wants it to be set aside, a condition the SPLA will not accept,â the rebel source told AFP by telephone from the talks in Nanyuki, central Kenya.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/16/2003 12:18 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Moroccan authorities have arrested a man believed to be a key link between international militant groups and local radicals accused of the suicide bombings in Casablanca in May. The Arabic-language Al-Ahdath Al-Maghribia, known to have good access to security and intelligence sources, said physics university graduate Saad Al-Houssaini was detained earlier this week near Meknes, 140 km east of Rabat. The May 16 Casablanca attacks killed 44 people, including 12 suicide bombers. The government blamed a shadowy Islamist movement, the Salafist Jihad, and said some of its members had indirect links to the Al Qaeda terror network. The newspaper said Houssaini was believed to be an aide of Mohamed El-Garbouzi, a London-based militant who set up the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, an organization the US State Department listed as a terrorist group in April. Trials of would-be suicide bombers and other suspects are under way in Casablanca and Rabat.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/16/2003 12:16 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Israel agreed on Friday night to hand over control of the West Bank cities of Jericho and Qalqilya to the Palestinian Authority and to allow Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian president, to leave his wrecked compound for the first time in over a year.
"Oboy! Now I can change my underwear!"
Israeli and Palestinian officials said that Friday night's agreement gave new life to a U.S.-led peace plan, which had floundered in recent weeks. Friday's pact also calls for talks to begin as early as Sunday for the handover, within two weeks, of two more significant cities: Tulkarem and Ramallah, the latter symbolic as the Palestinian administrative capital and home of Arafat. Israel also said it would allow greater freedom of movement for Palestinians around the West Bank, provided that the Palestinian Authority does more to guarantee Israelis' safety. "It's an effort on both sides," one senior Israeli official said. "It's an attempt to see how we can move this process forward."
I'd guess it'll be haltingly, punctuated by explosions and flying meat...
The proposals came at the end of an especially trying week for the U.S.-led peace plan, known as the road map, after two suicide bombings killed two Israelis and an Israeli raid in Hebron triggered further threats of revenge from Palestinian militants. The deal on Friday night would appear to tamp down some of that friction, especially if Arafat accepts the agreement for him to leave his compound and travel to Gaza — as a one-time trip — to visit the grave of his sister, who died this week, and return safely. But a Palestinian official said it was unlikely Arafat, who wants Israel to lift the travel ban on him entirely, will accept.
He's afraid he's going to go to Gaza, somebody'll explode in Tel Aviv, and he won't be able to come back to his palatial residence in Ramallah...
"Israel should allow the freedom of movement for President Arafat without any restrictions," the official said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/16/2003 11:14 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
keep the pig him tethered or exiled, don't let him roam at will
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2003 12:03 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Let the Afafish go to that stinking festering sh-thole Gaza. It is closer to exile. Just act like a check valve and do not let him back to the Ramallah Inn.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/16/2003 15:14 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Hey, the man loves his Pile of Rubbleâ¢. Gets homesick for his desk with the famous red binder and those stacks of paper (prolly Swiss Bank Wire Transfer Receipts and numbered Account Statements) which make him feel important and "wanted" - he is a General, after all!
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2003 19:55 Comments ||
Top||
#7
I think the correct term is lizardoid, Frank, but I could be wrong (yet again)! I r a Lizardoid (once a day) Rantburger (about 20x a day)... Was it the red binder that gave it away? Or that snappy salute to The General, perhaps?
JP - I'll hafta go back and check - I must've been off in Burma getting my visa renewed (an 8 hr trip, every month) when the Baby Wipes made their appearance - I can't remember those!
Libyan leader Muammar Kadhafi on Sunday said he was ready to have international inspectors verify that his country does not make weapons of mass destruction, in a bid to ease US concerns. Kadhafi said he was prepared to invite inspectors from international agencies, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to visit Libyan industrial sites that could be used to make biological or chemical weapons. "This is my proposal, yes. And I think this is the correct approach," he told ABC television news in a rare interview.
They'll become more common as the PR campaign gets under way...
The Libyan leader also said that "the file is about to be closed" on the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing, for which he has never accepted full responsibility for the attack, leaving his country under US and UN sanctions. In April, Libya accepted civil liability for the bombing of the Pan American Boeing 747 and agreed to pay $2.7bn in damages. In the interview, he again declined to accept the blame for the bombing, which killed all 259 people onboard plus 11 on the ground.
"Nope. Nope. Wudn't me. Ask Tam..."
Kadhafi said he was co-operating with US efforts to battle al-Qaeda, which described as a "cancer," while warning that the US campaign against Osama bin Laden was turning the terrorist network's fugitive leader into a "a prophet as far as the Islamic world is concerned."
Eventually to be a dead prophet...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/16/2003 11:01 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Breaking bread with fruitcakes is not a good choice. Mo is being pragmatic. He has not had an epipheny. I trust him and his arab friends as far as I can throuw this rock......
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/16/2003 14:25 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I suppose Muammar would just have everybody just back off at let sleeping dogs lie. Sure, you bet, live and let live.
Donât know if this was news elsewhere, but here in San diego, it was big.
A controversial order that largely barred 1,600 San Diego-based Border Patrol agents from stopping suspected illegal immigrants on city streets was rescinded yesterday by officials in Washington, D.C. The directive, issued in an Aug. 8 memo from San Diego sector chief William T. Veal, had provoked widespread fury among the agents and touched off a public outcry after the memo was leaked to the media earlier this week. leaked by outraged agents
Yesterdayâs announcement was made from the office of Robert Bonner, commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. A review of the memo "determined that it was an overly broad and restrictive statement of Border Patrol policy in the San Diego sector," bureau spokeswoman Gloria Chavez said. "Commissioner Bonner has directed that the memorandum of Aug. 8 be rescinded."
The directive grew out of an Aug. 2 incident in which a illegal alien Mexican family of five en route to the Mexican Consulate in San Diegoâs Little Italy neighborhood was stopped and arrested by Border Patrol agents within a block of their destination. They were sent back to Mexico within hours. The agents said they acted legally, but the consulate filed a formal complaint with the Border Patrol the same day. Vealâs memo went to Border Patrol stations countywide six days later. "We have a continuing obligation to prevent any public perception that the Border Patrol may be conducting âneighborhood sweeps,â " the memo read. "The operational priorities of the San Diego sector are geared toward maximum containment at the border." so, if you sneak in, itâs free and clear, and Gov. Davis will issue you a driversâ license too!
Under the directive, agents were barred from "any interior enforcement or city patrol operations in or near residential areas or places of employment." They were, however, allowed to check public transportation such as buses and trolleys, but only at stations or aboard the vehicles. Yesterday, calls to Vealâs office were referred to Customs and Border Protection officials in Washington. His ass should be fired - he basically was granting sovereign territorial rights to the Mexicans in any area they decided to get "outraged" about. "Dickhead" is too polite a word to describe this PC asshat
Bonner has directed Border Patrol chief Gustavo de la Viña to conduct a nationwide review of Border Patrol policies governing the authority — or lack thereof — of its agents to enforce immigration law in areas outside the immediate border. Many of those policies were a legacy of the old Immigration and Naturalization Service, which had overseen the Border Patrol, Chavez said. In March, the INS and 21 other federal agencies were folded into the Department of Homeland Security. "We are the guardians of our nationâs borders," Chavez said. "We recognize that preventing the entry of illegal aliens is necessary for the protection and safety of our citizens. Commissioner Bonner wants the Border Patrol agents in the field, the men and women risking their lives to ensure the safety of our nation, to know that he supports them and appreciates them for protecting the homeland."
Reaction among agents to yesterdayâs developments was positive. "We have received no formal word that itâs been rescinded," said Agent Joe Dassaro, president of Local 1613. "A lot of people donât believe itâs true. They think itâll remain as some sort of unwritten policy." Still, Dassaro was pleased by the news. "The important thing is, it sends a message to the smugglers and those people who would do our country harm that we will pursue them," he said. Dassaro credited pressure both from his union and angry residents, as well as media exposure, for getting the directive killed. "The average citizen out there is outraged by this policy," he said. The policy amounted to a de facto amnesty for illegal immigrants, he said. "This was being portrayed in the Mexican press as the law of the land," Dassaro said. "We were hearing things about illegal aliens (making obscene gestures) to our agents, challenging them in places where they hadnât been challenged before." He was just as upbeat about the mandated review of Border Patrol procedures. "Finally, somebody is getting on board and realizing we need to review these policies," Dassaro said. "This could be the break we need for the American people in terms of security."
And the opposing point of view...
Benjamin Prado of the Raza Rights Coalition said the quashing of Vealâs memo means that immigrant-rights groups must redouble their efforts to monitor the Border Patrol to prevent human-rights violations. "If they do raids in our communities, weâre going to have a presence," Prado said. All it will take to really seal the borders is a terror attack perpetrated by someone sneaking in along the Mexico border. Then the Army will be deployed even with all the hue and cry from "immigrant advocates"....bastards
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2003 10:00:37 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
oops - as you may have guessed: "His ass should be fired - he basically was granting sovereign territorial rights to the Mexicans in any area they decided to get "outraged" about." was my comment and should've been hi-lited LOL
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2003 10:22 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Yeah G*d knows no Mexicans got into California when Pete Wilson was governor! But I think this mass invasion is tolerated for the cheap labor which = business interests which = Republicans. I don't see this administration doing anything about the illegals already here.
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
08/16/2003 11:24 Comments ||
Top||
#3
If it all = Republicans, why does it happen when Democrats are in power, too?
Posted by: Uncle Joe ||
08/16/2003 11:30 Comments ||
Top||
#4
The newspaper headline makes it sound like the border agents have a new power to arrest illegals, when in fact thy've had this power all along, up until 10 days ago.
Kinda misleading.
Posted by: Uncle Joe ||
08/16/2003 11:33 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Democrats allow it for the demographics--and I don't like THAT either
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
08/16/2003 11:36 Comments ||
Top||
#6
NMM, pretty close to correct on both - the business ends want the cheap labor regardless of cost to America's society. The Dems/unions want the organizable labor and easy votes and pander to the balkanization. The biggest problem with the mexican immigration is the inability/refusal to integrate. Speaking spanish at home is cool, requiring it to be spoken at public offices, et al because they won't learn english is not, IMHO. This is the same issue with segregation by muslims. Staying in cloistered little communities without integrating/adopting our societal goals and habits will eventually be the downfall of America or these groups, or both, sad to say. In addition, the level of education in most of the mexican/central american immigrants is miniscule, and they commonly drop out of school at early ages, creating a poor uneducated class with little hope of progress.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2003 11:48 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Right on, Frank. Another third world, right in our laps.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/16/2003 15:56 Comments ||
Top||
#8
As someone who has spent 4+ of the last 10 years as the foreigner I can state categorically that language is far and away the key component for success or failure - for the visitor / immigrant. Segregation, education, economics, socialization - all of them turn on the success or failure to speak the native language adequately. It is wearing on both parties to try to communicate when each lacks the other's language. Soon you just stop trying because the success rate is so low and the disappointment due to miscommunication is so high. Even exceedingly gracious hosts, such as the Thais, tire of it.
Obviously, it is the visitor who should learn the host country's language. Expecting millions of natives to accommodate teh relatively few visitors / immigrants is backasswards and asinine. It's expensive for the natives in the short-term - and incredibly costly to the non-native in the long-term. Hey, baby, I GET it: Pohm poot pasah-Thai nit noy - rian sha-sha. Mai mee pahn hah.
Failure to integrate in large numbers is eventually fatal to the host. Still considering language as key, these closed communities are precisely like tumors. In affluent countries, such as the US, they send money out - back "home" - and invest little or nothing. They are parasitic - and non-contributing - not buying homes, paying real estate taxes, school taxes, hospital district taxes - the panoply of services they DO consume. Work the numbers... if a million CA Mexican immigrant families are wiring an avg of $100 a month back to Mexico... You've lost that important 4-5x rollover for every $ too... But let's not just pick on Mexico - there are probably 40-50 other groups in significant numbers who also send greenbacks home. This is a significant loss - and only the easiest economic fallout example from the failure to integrate - and it turns on language.
Other aspects have their consequences, too. The failure to integrate socially, again turning on language now combined with the economics, leads to: slums, barrios, gangs, chronic unemployment, chronic under-employment, chronic victimization, and chronic victimizing (crime, protection rackets, etc) are examples.
It all starts with language. If you can have a conversation with someone, they become real - not just another foreign face. They become peers, not just another underling or hired help. They become friends, not just another threat to your job, your school / healthcare / judicial / penal / political systems, your family / children - everything you work hard for - and a burden through higher taxes.
Those who refuse to integrate should not be welcome. Competency tests should be required for anything longer than a visitor's visa. And INS needs to actually DO what it was chartered to do, which we pay for, in spite of their non-performance.
The rainbow and diversity BS is a total load of shit. Lines between people are friction points and leverage points for asshats like Louis Farrakhan and David Duke and Jesse Jackson. Anything about a person which was not within his control is irrelevant (race, gender, country of origin, handicaps, etc). We should, however, hold everyone, native and immigrant alike, responsible for everything that is within his control - and competency in language, the pivot for success or failure in a society, is within each person's control.
Lessee is that 2 cents worth? No? You want change? Ha! Phuck off! ;->
Reports this week that Congress is trying to restrict U.S. military special operations in a move that may thwart Washingtonâs efforts to sneak up on terrorists around the world and nab them are "dead wrong," sources told Foxnews.com. The Washington Times reported this week that a classified report attached to the Senate intelligence authorization bill for fiscal year 2004 states a presidential order would be required before the militaryâs special operations forces are deployed on routine but secret operations. This approval is currently needed for covert intelligence operations carried out by the CIA. But "there are no new restrictions, no new rules, no new guidelines, no new interpretations â whether it be special operations, covert activities, nothing like that," Senate Select Intelligence Committee spokesman Bill Duhnke told Foxnews.com. "Some individual has chosen to read the language and chose in a selective way to leak it." hereâre the committee members — some likely miscreants (Durbin, Mikulski, or Levin especially), but it could be someone not on the committee too
On Thursday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said of the Times story: "Iâm told that itâs not accurate — we do not believe there is a constraint thatâs operative at the present time." Rumsfeld said that in the current security environment special operations forces "have been utilized to a much greater extent than previously, and undoubtedly, will be prospectively." Rumsfeld said the Senate Armed Services Committee "seems not to think itâs a problem," even though the language in question allegedly appeared in the Intelligence Committeeâs report and not that of Armed Services. Ms. Hillary?
"I certainly hope thatâs the case," Rumsfeld said. Both Armed Services and Select Intelligence committees have jurisdiction over the U.S. military. The Defense Department fiscal year 2004 spending bill is headed to a House-Senate conference. Senior Pentagon officials had told Fox News that language was included after senators misunderstood a briefing from Stephen Cambone, defense undersecretary for intelligence. "This has no chance in hell getting past September," when Congress returns from recess, one senior defense official told Fox News. "This is about a territory battle between the Senate Intelligence and Senate Armed Services Committee." Added a senior defense official: "The war on terrorism requires more flexibility, not less — and Congress knows that." Even the prospect of restricting SOFs raised some eyebrows. "Itâs a terrible example — of politics being played with your safety and mine," said Fox News military analyst Col. David Hunt. "This is a way people try to stop the momentum we need."
And the opposing point of view...
But others said presidential oversight of special operations will insure that the military and commander-in-chief are in sync on clandestine activities. "Thatâs basically a paper trail so the commander doesnât get hung out to dry if he gets caught," said GlobalSecurity.org founder John Pike. "If the thing fouls up, the president canât say âWhat idiot authorized this?â" SOFs are small units focused on strategic or operational â often politically sensitive â missions and include the Army, Navy and Air Force.
"It would clearly not be helpful for additional â any kind of additional restrictions to be placed on the ability to engage in the global war on terrorism," Larry DiRita, acting secretary of defense for public affairs, said Thursday. "We clearly need the kinds of flexibilities that weâve seen in use in Afghanistan, in Iraq, to be able to be agile and quick and capable of sort of short-notice targeting of enemy activities." After the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, President Bush gave the CIA wide-ranging authority to conduct secret operations. Rumsfeld boosted SOF forces to cover territory CIA operatives couldnât fill. "The holdback in using special operations soldiers was the lack of political guts to send them on the missions," Sgt. Maj. Eric Haney, founding member of Delta Force, told Foxnews.com. "After Sept. 11, the guts were there â thatâs the difference."
In Afghanistan, SOF assaulted targets associated with terrorist activity and the Taliban, confiscated huge caches of weapons and ammunition, scoped out landing zones and helped round up Al Qaeda. SOFs were in Iraq at least one month before the war actually started, laying the groundwork for future military action. They sought out potential regime defectors, established relations with opposition groups, set up coalition airstrips and sealed off roads to prevent regime members from fleeing. Haney said having the president sign off on more special ops isnât a bad idea. "All it takes is one person without the best of intentions somewhere in the political hierarchy to send them on a rogue mission and nobody knows about it," Haney said, pointing to the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s as a prime example of too many CIA rogue operations gone bad. Congress changed the oversight process for overseas covert operations after Iran-Contra blew up.
And with the world eying the United Statesâ efforts to track down terrorists around the world, Pike said Washington might need to cover its tracks now more than ever. "A lot of these things are dangerous, a lot of them could be potentially embarrassing if theyâre exposed â a lot of these things sound a lot better in the movies than they turn out to be in real life," Pike added. "Nobody in their right mind is going to pull a stunt like this unless the whole chain of command signed off on it." Sounds like some loose screws in the leftwingnuts wanna restrict the evil Bush from getting us into another quagmire like Afghanistan and Iraq, so we donât have alll those thousands of GIâs dead...oh, wait
Yeah. But the headline says the report's "dead wrong" and the text doesn't quite back up the statement.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2003 9:29:59 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Sounds like the "evil Bush" is just being asked to take responsibility for his orders so we don't have another Olllie North in the basement doing his own thing. And we know how Republicans like everyone to take responsibility for their own actions--except when it involves THEMSELVES
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
08/16/2003 11:31 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I ain't going back to the bad old days of moral preening from the left about our intel services.
God Bless the CIA and the ONI. Let them do their jobs.
#3
Some of these committee members have short memories. Sen Frank Church helped to inflict alot of damage to the intel apparatus. It took years of restrictions and neglect to get us ripe for a 9-11 or WTC-1. We do not need to step backwards.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/16/2003 14:39 Comments ||
Top||
#4
NMM You CANNOT run Intel and SpecOPs with lawyer rules. You give them the ROEs and let them loose. Flexibility is why our side is sooooooo good.
Todayâs Asharq Al-Awsat contained a story detailing how Ayman Al-Zawahiri, al-Qaedaâs second-in-command, and Imad Mughniyah, a top Hezballah leader, secretly left Iran only a few days ago, due to increased pressure from the Iranian government. Below is a summary of the article.
According to Asharq Al-aswat, Imad Mughniyah, a Hezballah leader and one of the worldâs most wanted terrorists, left Iran two days ago, after a 14-month stay. A reliable source in the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence revealed to Asharq Al-aswat that it is no longer safe for Mughniyah and his people to stay in the country, due to the new policy of the Ministry of Defense, to arrest and deport al-Qaeda elements. The Ministry of Defense, headed by Ali Yunasi, is submissive to the Khatemiâs government, while the Revolutionary Guard Intelligence is believed by the Iranian government to harbor terrorist elements in their facilities.
Just another manifestation of that "dual government" thing, party versus government. We see occasional manifestations of the same thing with every tin-hat dictatorship — f'instance, the Soviet Union versus the CPSU. What makes this case more interesting is that the theocrats and the Khatami government have much more pronounced differences...
Asharq Al-aswat learned that Saif al-Adel and Saad bin Laden, Osama bin Ladenâs son, did not leave the country yet, although there is a possibility that they will do so with the help of non-submissive security and military elements, as happened with Ayman al-Zawahari and other al-Qaeda leaders. The article describes a mysterious incident that had occurred two weeks ago in the Maher Abad airport. Apparently, three men, who were escorted by Revolutionary Guard Intelligence officers and declined to show any identification documents, were put on a flight to Turkey, on the V.I.P list. Although airport security attempted to thwart this move, Intelligence officers managed to put them on the plane in the last minute. This incident reveals the Revolutionary Guardâs plan to transfer al-Qaeda leaders outside of Iran, and, according to sources close to the Revolutionary Guard, is connected to Mughniyahâs decision to leave Iran, as it has become too difficult for the Revolutionary Guard to secure his safety.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
08/16/2003 4:34:32 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Iran. Black Hats. Amazing. Standing in a hole, what do they do? Dig.
(Take 10 deep breaths. Pull on ear-lobe. Count to 100. Get a fresh cup of coffee. Start typing...)
If true... I hope that Dubya ratchets up the pressure and announces publicly that the Black Hats are both liars (given all the recent press about them either trying or deporting these shits) and self-declared enemies; that letting these guys go is precisely equivalent to a declaration of war - real war not that Arab hyperbole drivel - as they have proven themselves the enemy in the Wot beyond a shadow of a doubt. Even the IndyMedia creeps will find it hard to defend this. Fuck the Black Hats. I am certain that there are ways to do this - both "John Clark" ways and TLAM and B2 and 4ID ways - and begin doing them IMMEDIATELY upon confirmation of this info. I seem to recall some power plants being built by the Russkies for them and some NorK rockets being shipped their way and their oil and LNG tankers and hundreds of BS little patrol boats and oil rigs in the Gulf and Big Fat Bandar Abbas Airbase down at the Straits of Hormuz - surely that's a danger to peace-loving people in the region. no? And surely we can find the Rev Guard HQ, too. Time for a full-scale demo. We'll just see if Allah gives a rat's ass about these shitheads. Lessee, what were those coords?
As for the destination of these cretins, if true and they are allowed to either transit or stay, instead of being arrested and turned over to the US, then Turkey should be immediately tossed out of NATO and our ambassador recalled - "signals" that they've stepped on their dicks and are now considered a self-declared enemy in the WoT. All bets should be off and Turkey made to feel the pain however possible and as soon as possible. I know there are numerous ways to administer it with Turkey. This is "rue the day" stuff - and they should know it. Obviously, no Turks should be allowed in Iraq - and if any are already there, summarily and unceremoniously thrown out and the border patrolled (combo US & Kurdish Peshmerga would be apropos) with a shoot to kill ROE - no buffer, no nothing. Fuck Turkey. Soon.
Okay. Fresh coffee and time to phone in my pizza order - Medium, Pan Crust, Italian Deluxe, of course.
#4
I hereby nominate the post by .com for "Rant of the day"... and support it with a solid "hear, hear", "I second the motion", "ditto", and other assorted agreeances.
#5
I consider this a belated public announcement by the Turkeys that, upon considering Bush's statement that "you are either with us or you are with the terrorists", they are with the terrorists.
It will be interesting to see if the Russians and the Turks become more bold in flaunting their anti-U.S. love affair in public now.
I thought they had made that announcement when they sent their troops into US-controller areas of Iraq without our knowledge.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/16/2003 12:04 Comments ||
Top||
#7
KCNA should hire PD :-)
I vote 'aye' on the motion by Mr/Ms Snellenr.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/16/2003 12:37 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Just remember that events will overtake debate. Iran has been playing hardball with IAEA inspections and that they will have all the components for fissile weapons by summer of 04. Time is running out, and Iran has lots of tunnels (that were probably built with NORK burrowing expertise) to hide things. So we and the Israelis are going to have to do something with Iran before we go for a stroll down Armeggedon Street. I feel that I am right now staring at a big sand hourglass, and I am very ill at ease.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/16/2003 15:04 Comments ||
Top||
#9
AP - It's almost comical how badly informed the Black Hats are about the US and public opinion in the US - note that with Dubya in the Big Chair, it doesn't matter what the Zeropean Elites think, just Ma & Pa Kettle.
Every time it seems they are gonna manage to stay below radar and get what they want, they step on their dicks and give us yet another reason, and more "political cover", to pre-emptively whack 'em. This little episode, if true, should do the trick.
I don't think Dubya was gonna let them get on-line with their reactors anyway, but this sure makes it easier for him to do the right thing. I am truly amazed by their arrogance - it's only matched by their stupidity. Thx, Asshats!
#10
. com, you've gotta remember that the smartest and most educated in Iran are gone. I work with quite a few who were sent over for engineering study during the shah's reign, and they are all educated, worldly, secular, and now loyal Americans. They hate the blackhats and proudly note that the only way those asshats stay in power is by intimidation and by keeping the rest of the persians ignorant as much as possible. Islam rules the ill-informed..so much for an Islamic renaissance...it would have all the ills of the Catholic heritage (mine) with none of the inventions and glory
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2003 20:40 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Frank G - From that generation - true. I worked with a woman on the same programming team for 3 years who had been sent over for school just before the Shah's fall. All of her familiy was still there, trapped. She did grow during the time I knew her - from a typically shy and reserved Muslim woman - to a real woman. It was way cool to see, but she was constantly sad and worried about them.
This generation is probably less well educated, since getting out requires some measure of proof of return or political / religious reliability - I but I don't doubt they're just as smart as their parents. They deserve a break - they're brave, progressive, and oppressed. I think they're about to get an assist from the outside, though I wish they had been able to do it themselves. It's obvious that the Rev Guard has them locked down pretty good and has no qualms about getting nasty. Well, they'll get theirs within the next 12-18 months.
I'm sorry, sniff sniff, but you being a Catholic is prolly fatal. Paraphrasing the Irish guy in Braveheart, the Lord's told me I'll be okay, but I think you're fucked. Sorry, bro. ;->
#12
These guys are commited to getting the bomb. I saw some Iranian asshat on CSPAN not long ago saying how they wern't devoloping nuclar bombers but it was their right to do so, wink wink. These guys are THE big problem even compared to NK. By the way its broth tonight in Pyong Yang or whatever!
A federal judge said Friday that he could postpone the Oct. 7 vote to recall California Gov. Gray Davis until issues raised by two civil rights groups were resolved. Oooohhh, civil rights groups - valid issues or not, just using this phrase makes it a hallowed process.
The headline coulda been "The Gray Davis calls up the reserves"...
NBC NEWSCHANNEL reported that U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel also ordered Monterey County not to mail out overseas ballots pending a final ruling in the cases, which argued that the hurry-up election was forcing changes in the voting process that required federal approval. So the original date goes out the window — absentee ballots must go out long before the polling date.
Under the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, any changes in the voting process must be pre-cleared by the Justice Department in localities such as Monterey County that have a history of low voter participation. Interesting restriction...
âI donât think there can be an election without pre-clearance,â Fogel said during oral arguments Friday. He scheduled another hearing for Aug. 29 and suggested that he could delay the election if federal approval had not occurred by then. This will drag out... So who benefits?
âThis court is extremely reluctant to intervene in or disrupt the electoral process unless it clearly is compelled to do so,â Fogel wrote, according to the Associated Press. âAt the same time, permitting voting or other forms of direct political participation to be affected by changes in voting procedures implemented in contravention of the Voting Rights Act cannot be countenanced.â It appears that none of that countenancing was to be had. Q.E.D.
The election, just 53 days away, is forcing some counties to make a number of money-saving changes that lack federal approval. The cases argued Friday focus on Monterey County, which, among other things, plans to cut costs by reducing its usual 190 polling places to 86 and hiring fewer Spanish-speaking poll workers. Read the rest...
So, Davis gets a momentary reprieve, and the hangman goes back on the dole.
Posted by: .com ||
08/16/2003 2:22:10 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
they're also protesting the fact that we use chad-punch ballots, although nobody can point to a problem here (oooohhhh Florida, stolen election) in ANY of the previous elections before the dems tried to steal an election by divining what each of the voters intended regardless of how they punched their cards. If you can't handle a fricking punch card ballot, then you aren't competent enough to vote, and the party that represents these morons should be ashamed to admit it...but, of course, won't. This judge needs to be countered by an adult higher up, quickly. I wonder if the Dems realize how much anger it will cause in thwarting this recall by legal tricks ?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2003 9:12 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The Left with a dagger, probing for soft spots.....
Watch your six Cal-ee-forn-ya!
(From a 5th and last generation Cal-ee-forn-yan)
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/16/2003 14:32 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The Feds apparently want to stop egregious uses of the graveyard vote. But exactly what gives them power over a purely internal state vote, hmmm?
#4
Mojo, the 14th Amendment does. Feds have the responsibility to ensure fair elections that don't discriminate against minorities. That's the wedge used to open every state and local election to scrutiny.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/16/2003 21:17 Comments ||
Top||
#5
The Judge hasn't stop the election yet, the counties (3) have to report if they can open all polling places for minority voters. Why they can't vote absentee like me is a strange?
Tens of thousands of famished Liberians flowed back and forth across Monrovia Friday in search of food and families after rebels released their month-long stranglehold on the capital. Aid ships docked in the devastated port, but security in Monrovia remains poor and government and rebel forces accused each other of attacking outside the city. The first two ships docked with high-energy biscuits and other supplies from the U.N. World Food Program and refugee agency UNHCR, but damaged equipment hindered unloading. A U.S. plane brought more aid.
With wheelbarrows, pots and plastic bags, hungry crowds surged toward the port area where West African peacekeepers were deployed with the help of U.S. Marines Thursday as rebels pulled back beyond the outskirts. Most of Monroviaâs aid stocks were in the port when rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) grabbed it last month in the most ferocious of a series of attacks since June that left some 2,000 people dead. Newly arrived U.N. envoy Jacques Paul Klein toured the crippled port and said international organizations still had food in Monrovia, but were afraid to open up stores because of poor security and the likelihood of looting. "Itâs a state that has collapsed," said the veteran American diplomat, sporting a U.S. Air Force jacket and name-badge displaying his rank of major-general. "The war, the fighting, the killing, the human rights abuses of the past, I donât think we must ever again allow those to occur here," Klein told reporters earlier, cigar in hand.
But rebels and government forces accused each other of attacking on the southeastern front. Rebels of the Model faction advanced to a village 8 miles away on the Monrovia side of a river which the U.S. Embassy said was an agreed demarcation line. With their mission to overthrow pariah leader Charles Taylor accomplished after he flew into exile Monday, the rebels agreed to pull back to give a chance to talks on ending strife that has wrecked Liberia for 14 years and poisoned the region. A few rebels hung behind and government forces loitered near the city center despite promising to pull back once rebels did. Leaders of the two rebel factions met in Ghana for a second day with a delegation led by new President Moses Blah, but it was unclear whether a deal would be signed Saturday as hoped. "We havenât resolved our differences yet," said Blahâs foreign minister, Lewis Brown. Rebel officials said they were discussing how to share out posts in a transition government due to rule for two years once Blah steps down in mid-October. Klein planned to go to Ghana Saturday to secure rebelsâ agreement on getting humanitarian aid into areas they control. The United States has warships offshore and Thursday deployed more than 100 Marines at the port and the airport, with helicopters and fighter jets ready to back up the Nigerian peacekeepers in case of trouble. And everyone lived happily ever after.
Posted by: .com ||
08/16/2003 1:38:24 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Schwarzenegger Tops the Other Calif. Hopefuls By William Booth
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 16, 2003
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 15 -- Before the first television ads have aired, the race to succeed California Gov. Gray Davis (D) if he is recalled came down to just two men, Republican action star Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz M. Bustamante, according to a nonpartisan statewide poll to be released Saturday. And in other news, California and Louisiana both announced that they would secede from the Union. Given that this was a balance of wacko extremes, neither the Bush Admin nor Congress even noticed. But, according to "sources close to the sources", the Demobrats lost their (free) lunch upon hearing the news.
The California Field Poll found 25 percent of registered voters opted for Bustamante followed by 22 percent for Schwarzenegger. Time to move.
The other candidates trailed in single digits: State Sen. Tom McClintock took 9 percent; businessman Bill Simon won 8 percent; former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth received 5 percent; all three are Republicans. Independent and columnist Arianna Huffington got 4 percent, and Green Party candidate Peter Camejo received 2 percent. Ralph Nader opined that he would have been able to keep CA on the straight and narrow. Asked if he would join the race, he is reported to have said, "Only if they beg me."
The poll also found Davis in deeper trouble. The beleaguered governor earned the dubious distinction of being the most unpopular governor in the 56-year history of the Field Poll, which put his approval rating at 22 percent, the lowest ever for Davis. The survey also showed support for the recall of Davis leaping, with 58 percent of registered voters supporting his ouster, compared with 51 percent last month. So, there you have it: solid proof that at least 22 percent of Californians are totally phreakinâ insane. But you prolly already knew that...
The seeming surge for Bustamante despite the avalanche of publicity surrounding Schwarzenegger surprised many. Latino feel-good Donk candidate Bustamante said he had expected to be favored all along. Then his sombrero fell down over his eyes and nose, knocking his lips off.
Luis Vizcaino, a Bustamante spokesman, said, "Weâre obviously pleased with these numbers. Weâre humbled by these numbers, but we realize we have a lot of work ahead of us." "Yes." (giggle) "Weâre pleased." (giggle)
Bill Carrick, a top Democratic strategist, said given all the media attention devoted to Schwarzenegger, he thought the film star would still be out front, adding that perhaps Schwarzeneggerâs reluctance to state his views and his choices of advisers are sending mixed messages to voters. "After the initial entertainment of his announcement thereâs been a lot of concern whether he is a serious candidate and where he stands on the issues," Carrick said. "But Iâm not casting aspersions on his veracity - Iâm just wondering if heâs for real and tells the truth to the voters. We always do, of course." Mr Carrick had more to say, but was unintelligible as his lips had mysteriously fallen off.
The Schwarzenegger campaign played down the survey. "Itâs the only poll in America this week that shows Cruz Bustamante ahead," spokesman Rob Stutzman said. "Every other poll confirms that Schwarzenegger is leading. Weâre confident in Arnoldâs position at the head of the field." Polls taken last weekend showed Schwarzenegger leading the field and Bustamanate (sic) a distant second. And Read the rest...
Posted by: .com ||
08/16/2003 1:24:33 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Posted by: El Id ||
08/16/2003 9:48 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Cruz is a lackluster party hack, benefitting from union-directed publicity. Simon and McClintock need to suck it up and drop out, otherwise they could do a "Nader" to the Reps, handing the office to cruz by splitting the vote. Neither of them has a chance to win. Some of my fellow Reps would rather have "ideological purity" than win
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2003 10:05 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Some of my fellow Reps would rather have "ideological purity" than win
That right there should be chiseled on the California GOP's tombstone. In fact, it has been, for the last umpty-some years.
I think McClintock is the best potential governor. He also has no prayer. He needs to throw the support to Arnold and get out of the way. Simon lost for good reasons already... he is an awful campaigner.
I hear the conservative faithful crying about Arnold's opinions on abortion, gun control, etc., which are not only not gubernatorial issues, but also done deals in CA. If they split this vote, they will take their ideological purity to their inconsequential graves.
Some Republicans cannot seem to do math, or geography (this isn't Idaho). Handing the office back to Davis or Bustamante for any reason is a betrayal of the resistance.
Posted by: Mark IV ||
08/16/2003 11:17 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Field poll almost always downplays the "Right Wing" position on most items. The Field poll continued inability to accurately predict the results should make it clear that its more often used as a propaganda device for the left.
Also note that the media is playing this as "Bustamante Wins in Poll" when the poll shows that the two candidates are both within the margin of error, and that a full 42% are still undecided.
Journalism, Where is thy sting?
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
08/16/2003 15:31 Comments ||
Top||
#6
These are great comments, folks, but of course you already knew that. ;-) But for someone who's been out of the loop, like me, they are very helpful to get a handle on this thing. If CA pulls its nuts out of the fire and removes some of the insanity, I might come back. I DO miss San Diego / Del Mar - food, climate, people, beach bunnies - but I don't miss the insane taxes and dumbfounding level of over-regulation and bureaucracy. THANX!!! Please, more!
#7
If you want to stay on top of the recall spectacle in the golden state, I highly recommend California Insider - the Sacramento Bee blog by Daniel Weintraub. He's really informed and unbiased.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2003 20:01 Comments ||
Top||
#8
People, people! Out of FIVE polls Cruz has a SLIM lead (out of 488 polled). The rest of the polls have Arnold anywhere from 10 to 25 points in the lead. Cruz is/was little more than a lap dog for Davis and the next Proposition we have out here will be to ELIMINATE his job. Like I predicted the Dems are trying to stop the recall throught the courts. A judge declared that minorities CANNOT vote asentee and must have a polling place open. Since all the polling places were not going to be open, the counties were sending out absentee ballots to those that wanted them. I live in one of those counties and I HAVE VOTED ABSENTEE FOR EIGHT YEARS. Save time and hassles.
#9
I think a loss for the Republican Party would not necessarily be a bad thing. Davis gets to dig the Democratic Party a bigger hole for 2006, after which the California electorate could decide to throw the Dems out for a generation.
Russiaâs evasiveness about its biological weapons program could slow efforts to get U.S. money to destroy of its chemical weapon stockpiles, a U.S. Senator said Friday. Ooops.
While Russia has made clear declarations about its chemical and nuclear stockpiles, ``still there is a sense of denialââ surrounding biological programs,ââ said Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., an architect of the Nunn-Lugar program to help the Soviet Union destroy and safeguard weapons of mass destruction. At a summit in June 2002, Russiaâs partners in the Group of Eight pledged up to $20 billion over 10 years to help Russia dispose of its nuclear, biological and chemical arsenals. Lugar said it appears likely the planned $1 billion for the coming year will be included in the U.S. budget. But he said evasive behavior by Russian officials authorities over questions about biological weapons gives members of the U.S. Congress a reason to seek to block funds. ``The denials with regard to the biological situation offer an avenue where opponents of spending Nunn-Lugar money can say âSee, still, we really donât know exactly,âââ he said. The United States believes that Russia had four military biological facilities in the Soviet era, Lugar said. He said itâs not clear what exactly those facilities contain. Wonder if any of those four have had any recent, um, deliveries?
Lugar cited problems he encountered on a visit last year, when a trip to one of the facilities was delayed when he was told his plane would not be allowed to land there. Eventually the flight was given clearance, but Lugar said he did not see the military personnel at the facility. Of the 44,000 tons of chemical weapons Russia says it possesses, just 440 tons have been destroyed, said Lugar. In contrast to our efforts, which are on schedule to be completed in 2007.
The focus in efforts to destroy chemical weapons is a facility in the Ural Mountains city of Shchuchye, which Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said is one of seven sites in Russia where they are stored. Lugar said the facility, under construction since March, should be completed in mid-2005 if there are no delays. He said Russian officials told him that the chemical weapons stored at Shchuchye, which are mostly shells containing nerve gas, would not be fully neutralized before 2012 - the current target date for the destruction of Russiaâs entire chemical arsenal. U.S. aid for construction of the Shchuchye facility was halted last year after Russia failed to meet commitments for aid established by Congress, but was resumed early this year after Congress allowed President Bush to waive the requirements. Despite the difficulties, Lugar said it is counterproductive for U.S. lawmakers to demand full Russian compliance with all its commitments on weapons of mass destruction before allowing funding. ``It is not useful to set up conditions in which there has to be 100 percent compliance before we do anything,ââ he said. The U.S. administration wants Congress to grant the president the permanent authority to annually waive Russian compliance requirements both for assistance for the Shchuchye facility and broader aid under the Nunn-Lugar program.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/16/2003 12:07:17 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
But what those Russians can do to a potato is beyond believe.
#3
aren't there shelf-lifes on these weapons? I'd heard the chem weapons were highly corrosive, and bio can only be held so long. I wonder if the motives here are more monetary than nefarious?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2003 19:54 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
