So far this year, U.S. bra imports from China have risen 71%, uplifted by firming demand for bras from China after trade rules were softened in 2002. U.S. trade officials called the big upturn in bra imports from China a "surge," a subversive and protectionist trade concept that gave the Bush administration a technical excuse to impose quotas on made-in-China brassieres. The quotas, also applied to bathrobes and other clothing products, triggered another sagging episode for the U.S. dollar and caused the Dow Jones average to droop. But it would be wrong, or at least premature, to talk of trade wars and global trade meltdowns. While risks exist, the United States may well have fallen into the bosom of a trade strategy that could save world trade. If there is anything that could avert trade confrontation, it has to be the laughable threat of a bra war. I wouldnât call the threat laughable, look what happens whenever a FBI agent gets near a Chinese brassiere.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/21/2003 2:41:00 PM ||
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It's that damn Liberian influence! Time to buy stock in wigs, too!
Posted by: Dar ||
11/21/2003 14:43 Comments ||
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#2
Hmmmm. Some of us actually ENJOY a bra gap now and then...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/21/2003 15:43 Comments ||
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A man changing a flat tire choked to death on a bag of marijuana he had stuffed down his throat in an apparent attempt to hide it from police who stopped to help him, authorities said. Nickolas Sandoval, 24, died Wednesday. Officers were unaware at first Sandoval had drugs when they spotted him on the highway in Corinth, about 45 miles northeast of Fort Worth, said Corinth police Cpl. Frank Lott. "Officers went from âOh, hey, here is someone with a flat tireâ to âHey, this guy is choking,â" Lott told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Sandoval, of Ponder, was pronounced dead at a hospital. Cause of death: Stupidity "asphyxiation due to aspiration of plastic bag," according to a spokeswoman for the Tarrant County Medical Examinerâs Office. Sandoval was convicted at least three times of marijuana possession, and pleaded guilty two years ago to a drunken-driving charge. Pot kills, well, the ziplock bag kills.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/21/2003 9:24:12 AM ||
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#1
Question: Why is this dumbass changing a tire with the baggie ON HIS PERSON??? Why couldn't he leave it in the glove or somewhere out of sight while he got his hands dirty?
#5
Front runner for the Darwin award for 2003. Somebody needs to send it in. (The Darwin award is given yearly for the person who does the most for the human gene pool by removing him/herself from it in the most spectacularly stupid way).
#8
Has anyone submitted Rachel Araflat for a Darwin?
St. Pancake? Sorry, there's this "separation of ethics and common sense" thingie that keeps getting in the way (I would say "Church and State, but in RC's twisted mind, the two were one and the same - and not that of the US!)...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/21/2003 15:46 Comments ||
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#9
Paranoia from the THC must have overcome this dude. Why was he assuming that the cops were going to perform a patdown on someone with a flattire? Probable cause? If he was worreid, he could have jammed the baggie down the front of his Jockey's and the only drug that would have come into the lawman's mind would have been Enzyte.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/21/2003 16:37 Comments ||
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Registration, EFL
In a surprising move, President Hamid Karzaiâs government has stopped thousands of young Afghan married women from attending school. The move, according to government sources, is aimed at discouraging fraternisation between girls and married students which can lead to âdiscussion on sexâ.
Ohfergawdsake.
The affected women have called the development âshockingâ and a âbig blowâ to female education. Interestingly, one of the charges against the ousted Taliban regime was the way it denied women their basic rights and freedoms, including the right to education. âAfter the Taliban regime fell, we thought the new dispensation would give women more opportunities to exploit their potential. That dream remains unfulfilled,â says an Afghan woman in Peshawar. TFT sources in Kabul disclosed last week that a mid-70s law stating that married women cannot attend high school was re-enacted in September this year by President Karzaiâs government and the education ministry in Kabul has ordered strict implementation of the rule across the country. Deputy Education Minister Sayed Ahmad Sarwari did not know the exact number of women who were expelled, but sources estimate the decision will âlikely impact more than two to three thousands married studentsâ. What makes the decision worse is the fact that in the Afghan society most girls are married off at a very young age. âThis means the majority of them will be unable to get high-school education,â says an observer. The Northern Alliance actually contains Islamist factions that could be considered moderate only in comparison to the Taliban. Although Ahmed Shah Masood was a pragmatist, his Jamaat-e-Islami party developed out of the Muslim Brotherhood, and many of its members are fundamentalists, including itâs leader, Rabbani. Their main dispute with the Taliban was over ethnicity and power politics, rather than on treatment of women.
The proponents of the move defend it by saying that it is only meant to âprotect unmarried girls from hearing explicit details about sex from their married classmatesâ. The opponents say by this logic married men must also be banned from attending school.
That sounds fair, but fair isn't a concept that does well in Muslimdom...
An Afghan woman TFT spoke with was livid. âAnd what would stop an unmarried woman from knowing about sex within the family circle or through friends outside the school. Would the government prevent girls from fraternizing with married women even at home?â she asks, adding: âThis is just incredible.â
Prob'ly. They want that wedding night to be a surprise. It's kinda like the old Benny Hill routine, where he wakes up with his wife pounding him with a shoe:
"Wot the 'ell is that for?"
"That's for bein' a lousy lover!"
Whereupon he proceeds to beat the little woman with a shoe.
"Wot the 'ell was that for?"
"'At's for knowin' the difference!"
Strong feelings of inadequacy, anyone? Little Pee-pee syndrome, perhaps?
After the Taliban were overthrown, one of the first signs that the authorities were putting the past behind them was the reopening of girlsâ schools. While the law on married women remained, it was not implemented while the liberal-minded Rasool Amin was the education minister. President Karzai did not pick him up after the cabinet was reshuffled in June 2002 following the Loya Jirga. The ministry is now run by a leader of the Northern Alliance. While western NGOs try to better the plight of Afghanistanâs lost generation of pupils, setting up literacy classes for girls who could not attend schools, religious leaders at places have banned these classes. âThey want to keep married women totally illiterate,â says an observer. Maulvi Abdul Haq, one of the clerics in Kabul, insists that women should be denied education âbecause Allah says in the Holy Quran that women should stay at home and not expose their beauty.â He added: âAt the literacy centres, male strangers visiting the classes may see the girls and that is not permitted.â
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
11/21/2003 12:06:09 AM ||
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Idiots.
"Hello Pres. Bush? Yes, Karzai here, well, uh... We've decided that modernization isn't really our bag. So we're going to keep our girls stupid and see if we can get back to the good old dark ages again. Thanks for all your help."
Posted by: joe ||
11/21/2003 0:27 Comments ||
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I actually think that Karzai's views towards women are pretty progressive, although it's hard to be sure, but at the very least the people around him seem to want Afghanistan to stay a backwards hellhole.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
11/21/2003 0:30 Comments ||
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Who do we hit for this? Is there any hope of talking or beating sense into these people?
Posted by: Tokyo Taro ||
11/21/2003 1:49 Comments ||
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Another point is that the EU and others reneged their own signature and never sent the economic help they had promised by treaty. Meaning that it is Saudi Arabia and similar who have filled the gap, more exactly 10% of the gap, but enough to to send Afghanistan backwards
#10
Remember, you can only rent Afghanis, you can't ever really count on them.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
11/21/2003 9:37 Comments ||
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New and Improved Taliban-LiteTM--now with fresh lemony scent!
Posted by: Dar ||
11/21/2003 9:40 Comments ||
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Remember, you can only rent Afghanis, you can't ever really count on them
Well, if the coalition "rented" Afghanis, it's not clear we've paid our invoices on time. Karzai has begged for money, help and a clear signal that the West is dedicated to helping him construct a functioning liberal democracy there. How much response has he actually received? Not all that much .....
Im not sure the aove policy really reflects the cultural beliefs of the majority of Afghans. I guess it depends on how assertive Afghan women really are, especially outside of Kabul. Everything ive read over the last few months indicates they are quite eager to be educated, and would take this poorly.
Friday Times is an island of sweet reason in the sea of Pak ranting journalism.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2003 11:05 Comments ||
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democracy doesn't drive culture; culture drive democracy.
Heading in the right direction, but not quite on centerline yet. Culture establishes the basis of Government (the purpose of government is to sustain the culture of the majority). Change the culture, and you affect the purpose of government (hearts and minds thinking). We're trying to change a culture of oppression and murder into one recognizing the rights of others to live as they choose. The closer we come to that ideal, the more likely a democratically based government will have of being successful. The Iraqi people are tired of the foot on their neck, are happy to have that foot removed, and aren't ready at the moment to let someone else put their foot where Saddam's was. Once the benefits of a representative republic trickle down to all the people, the less likely they'll let another demagogue gain power over them.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/21/2003 13:23 Comments ||
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Remember that Afghanistan has been clannish and into this culture for hundreds of years. There are alot of switchboards to rewire. It is frustrating to us as westerners to see such behavior perpetuating itself. Alot of the people do not have the tools to jump with both feet into the western ideas of equality of women, representative govt, etc etc.
"I want immediate gratification, and I want it now."
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/21/2003 13:37 Comments ||
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#18
It would come as no surprise if the all the cars over there only moved in reverse.....
#19
The fact that the West seems to have remembered Afghanistan exists for this long is encouraging. The process of forcing Afghan legal reform will take at least five years, metropolitan social cange will take a decade and social change in the hinterland will take a genertion or two. I have no qualification to make this assertion.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/21/2003 16:51 Comments ||
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LAST month, a 22-year-old Yemeni asylum seeker in Sheffield said goodbye to his son and his pregnant British wife and went to Iraq to blow himself up.
"G'bye, dear! I'm off to Iraq!"
"Shall I wait dinner?"
"No, I'm going to explode."
Jihadis trawling their websites have yet to locate which âcar of deathâ Wail Abdelrahman was driving, (UN? Red Cross? Italian Carabinieri?)
but have informed his family and friends in Yemen that he received a martyrâs burial. The dogs ate what was left of him, except for a few samples for the CIA gene bank.
Are jihadis so embedded in Britain? If so, Abdelrahman was the ultimate sleeper. Aside from a wisp of a goatee, there was nothing to suggest his extremism. He arrived in Sheffield penniless three years ago, after fleeing his Aden tenement for political asylum in Britain. "Political asylum" has a whole new meaning in the UK these days.
Some of his best friends were non-Muslims, and after bouts of tae kwon do fights, at which he excelled, they would all head down to the Den of Satan pub. He was so proud of a new three-piece suite he bought for his council house that he invited friends in to sit on it. His only hint of political commitment was two trips to anti-war marches in London. "The peace movement does not condone terrorism"
When he left last month, he told friends he was flying to Dubai because he was tired of racist neighbours dumping rubbish through his letter-box. Returning the complementary Korans he had sent them.
âWeâll meet again,â he tearfully told his tae kwon do coach, Andy Hill, who had signed his passport application and recommended him for the British Olympic Squad. But Abdelrahman was also well trained. He studied computers and was praised as a martial arts don. He ran a tae kwon do club in the annex to his local mosque, called Goodwill, packing sermons into his punches. The mosque grandees saw Abdelrahman as a star attraction, handy for keeping local youths off drugs and the streets. They said he was following in the tradition of âPrinceâ Naseem Hamed, the boxing champion and local hero who built the mosque.
"He was a quiet man, beloved by all..."
Should the police have been more suspicious? Some draw comparisons to the Finsbury Park mosque of Abu Hamza, an Egyptian veteran of the Afghan jihad, which housed a martial clubs in the basement until the security forces raided the premises. And Sheffield has a record of jihadi activity. Abdelrahman arrived shortly after another asylum-seeker and Afghan jihad veteran in Sheffield, Lamine Maroni, was caught plotting to blow up a Christmas market in Strasbourg. Only after Abdelrahman had flown did the security forces search his house, arrest four of his students on terrorism charges and interrogate colleagues. Before that, friends say, the authorities had approved his asylum application and issued travel papers. Whoâs running this asylum anyway?
Worrying stuff. Yet, in comparison to earlier jihads, the British deployment to Iraq has been a bit of a let-down. Bosniaâs war attracted British Muslims in their hundreds. The 2001 Afghan campaign helped fill some of the Guantánamo Bay cells with Taliban from Tipton, and a drop-out from the London School of Economics masterminded the killing in Pakistan of Daniel Pearl. Earlier this year, two British suicide bombers died in Israel. These days, though, long-faced Islamists are surprisingly subdued. âEven the collections and the preaching feel more restrained,â moans an Afghan war veteran. Did the failure of so many jihadis to return from Afghanistan cool the communityâs enthusiasm?
The growing zeal of the British security forces and waning enthusiasm from British Muslims could be to blame. But jihadis say there is a more important factor: the supply of bombers exceeds demand, and British bombers are too expensive. âFor the cost of equipping and transporting a British fighter into Iraqâabout $2,000âwe can shift 20 guerrillas into Iraq from neighbouring Arab states and Chechnya,â says a retired jihadi field officer. Arabs, he says, are also less likely to have visa problems. Yemenis, like Wail, need no visa to enter Syria, although, according to the retired jihadi, at least one Arab embassy is doing its best to accommodate by issuing passports to other nationals willing to thwart Americaâs war in Iraq. France, perhaps?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/21/2003 19:36 Comments ||
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Yeah Atomic--blame France--when your whole rtile was about the UK--the homeland for Euor/Islamo nutz--moreso than France! Typical conservative non-sequitor argument
#4
*sigh* Didn't Chirac admit that France's five-million-strong Arab population is part of why he refused to aid the US in Iraq? Hence the joke about France ...
... you do realize it was a joke, right?
Posted by: Lu Baihu ||
11/22/2003 0:13 Comments ||
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"Typical conservative non-sequitor argument"
I wasn't aware that it was an argument, but don't let that get in the way of a typical lib strawman or a good authoritarian pronouncement: "UK-homeland for Euor/Islamo nutzo...."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair failed on Thursday to wring concessions from US President George Bush on the fate of British citizens jailed at the US base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Good.
The treatment of at least nine Britons being held without trial as "enemy combatants" has been a note of discord in the staunch US-British alliance in the war on global terrorism. Speculation had grown that Mr Bush would use his three-day visit to London to announce that the Britons, mostly detained in Afghanistan, might be sent to Britain for trial. At a joint news conference, Mr Bush said discussions were continuing, but insisted that the court procedures in place would allow the detaineesâ cases to be handled fairly. "Justice is being done..." Mr Bush said. "And they are being treated in a humane fashion." Mr Blair added: "Itâs not going to be resolved today...Either they will be tried by the military commission out there, or alternatively, theyâll be brought back here."
US Secretary of State Colin Powell told BBC television on Wednesday that "we also expect to be resolving this in the near future". But it is not even clear whether Mr Blairâs team would really welcome the return of the detainees. Legal experts say it is possible a dearth of evidence gathered in Britain would prevent them being charged in a British court, meaning they could walk free almost immediately. Bet Blair has a different public and private policy on this. He doesnât want this hot potato in British courts.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/21/2003 2:09:46 PM ||
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But we DID promise to only beat them on alternate thursdays...
#2
Right-o Steve. Some people with big mouths and big amplifiers in the UK are trying to make an issue of the Brit-Gitmos. The old probing with the dagger trick of the left. Drive a wedge. After his appeal, Tony can now say that he made his best effort. Obviously, we have compelling reasons to keep the Brit-Gits in the jug.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/21/2003 15:28 Comments ||
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The 'british' mutts in Guantanamo aren't really British, they've just taken advantage of the UK's exceedingly liberal asylum policies. I don't think Blair's in any great hurry to spring a bunch of taliban.
At the cabinet meeting that morning, she was taken aside by M Chirac and given a stiff talking to. Afterwards, she rushed to her car, ignoring reportersâ questions. Later in the day, the government spokesman, Jean-François Cope, gave the official line. "Of course he doesnât wear one," he said. "And even if he did, it wouldnât be a big deal for a man of his age."
This is '03, and he's 71. In '07 he'll be... ummm... six years older. That'll make him 77. I plan to be well into my dotage at that age, sucking my gums and scaring little children on their way to school in the morning...
He dyes his hair and several years ago gave up his spectacles for contact lenses.
I have a strong suspicion Hosni dyes his, too, and he's at about the same stage of decrepitude at 75. Yasser's 74. Hmmm... Y'know, five years from now we might be rid of all three of them.
On television and in press conferences, M Chirac has increasingly had to ask for questions to be repeated or given replies indicating that he has not heard the question. This may, however, be an old politiciansâ trick. Keeping M Chirac from degenerating into an old geezer in the eyes of voters is the main preoccupation of his daughter and communications adviser, Claude Chirac.
That'd be the daughter Sarkozy dumped?
Besides recommending the hair dye and contact lenses, she also forced him to give up his 40-a-day cigarette habit and to give speeches using a tele-prompter, a trick she learned from another elderly leader, Ronald Reagan. Since Mme Bachelotâs gaffe, ministers have been bombarded with questions about the presidentâs hearing. The culture minister, Jean-Jacques Aillagon, said: "Itâs none of my business and I would never allow myself to make such an offensive observation." This prompted condemnation from Entendre, a group for the hard of hearing. "Deafness is not âoffensiveâ," said its president, Pascal Bouroukoff. "Itâs a problem to be corrected." He said he hoped M Chirac would be honest about his hearing and help to lift the "taboo". Theyâre right, of course - thereâs nothing shameful about deafness. Itâs the lying about it thatâs ridiculous.
It's the pretending his lamb when he's actually mutton that's ridiculous.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
11/21/2003 11:09:55 AM ||
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His mind may be closed, but he still has a cabinet of advisors inside.
Posted by: Charles ||
11/21/2003 11:21 Comments ||
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#3
It's tough keeping these French names straight:
"Dominique" - a woman's name, except when it is a man's name.
"Claude" - a man's name, except when its a woman's name...
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
11/21/2003 11:34 Comments ||
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Carl--Don't know about "Claude", but generally the women's version ends in "-que" and the men's in "-ck". I made the mistake years ago of writing to my then-gf in France and calling her brother Frederick "Frederique". Hilarity ensued.
Posted by: Dar ||
11/21/2003 11:47 Comments ||
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Carl is correct about Claude & Dominique; btw, self-consciousness about his age is one more sign that Chirac is probably going to run again in 2007. Just what we needed...
#6
i do not think it would be a bad idea for chirac to run in 2007 - keep france the laughingstock of the world!
Posted by: Dan ||
11/21/2003 14:31 Comments ||
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#7
Sure does make it hard on JFM, though. Wonder if he's given any thought to emigrating? There's a nice neck of the woods down near Baton Rouge where he'd feel quite at home...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/21/2003 14:47 Comments ||
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#8
Sure does make it hard on JFM, though. Wonder if he's given any thought to emigrating? There's a nice neck of the woods down near Baton Rouge where he'd feel quite at home...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/21/2003 14:47 Comments ||
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#9
What's the fuss about a hearing aid? It doesn't make Chirac any dumber than he already is. Unfortunately, it doesn't make him any smarter either.....
#12
I guess we won't see him on any Bob Dole type public awareness ad's anytime soon.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/21/2003 18:07 Comments ||
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TGA I find your remarks humorous to say the least given that Herr Schroeder has never missed a chance to diss the US--bottom line Germany sux. unfortunately for the Atlantic Alliance the French are more articulate in their disdain for Bush so they take the heat while the Germans ride the short bus into irrelevance
EFL:
Turkish investigators on Friday arrested suspects in the deadly suicide bombings on the British consulate and a London-based bank that have been blamed on al-Qaida. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul confirmed the arrests but would not give details or say how the suspects were linked to Thursdayâs blasts. The attacks came five days after suicide bombers hit two synagogues in Istanbul. The daily newspaper Hurriyet said police were interrogating seven people in the attacks, which killed at least 27 people. The paper also said police believe the suicide bombers were two Turkish men linked to the perpetrators of the synagogue attacks, which killed 23 people. So they believe both attacks were made by the same group.
Hurriyet quoted police sources as tentatively identifying the two bombers in Thursdayâs attack as Azad Ekinci, 27, and Feridun Ugurlu, whose age was not immediately known. The pair had been named in earlier Turkish newspaper reports as having links with the synagogue bombings. Hurriyet said Ekinci and Ugurlu traveled to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on Oct. 28 and identified Ekinci as a schoolmate of one of the men suspected in the synagogue attacks. These are the two guys that Dubai said yesterday they had no record of entering the country. Maybe they had Pak passports like one of the synagogue bombers.
Earlier reports said Ekinci had traveled to Iran, received military and explosive training in Pakistan between 1997-99 and fought in the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya. Thatâs a al-Qaida hallmark, heâd be at least a close friend if not a member.
An unidentified caller to the semiofficial Anatolia news agency said al-Qaida and a small militant Turkish group, the Islamic Great Eastern Raidersâ Front jointly claimed responsibility for both sets of attacks. Hurriyet reported that police in front of the consulate opened fire as the men approached the consulate, but failed to stop them before they detonated the explosives. Two of the dead where Turkish policemen.
Authorities arrested six people Wednesday in the synagogue bombings. A court charged five with "attempting to overthrow the constitutional structure," which carries a sentence of life imprisonment. The sixth was charged with "helping illegal organizations," punishable by five years in prison, Anatolia said. No trial date was set. The two suicide bombers who attacked the synagogues were identified as Turks who Gul said had visited Afghanistan. Al-Qaida and the Turkish IBDA-C also claimed responsibility for that blast.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/21/2003 9:09:18 AM ||
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Update from Al Bawaba: Meanwhile, a unit of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network said it carried out the the twin suicide bomb attacks on British interests in Istanbul. Abu Hafz al-Masri Brigades - which also claimed to have carried out the bombing of two synagogues on Saturday - said it had targeted the UK to "shatter the peace of Britain... which battles Islam". "The Abu Hafz al-Masri Brigades targeted the British consul, Roger Short, because of his extensive experience in combating Islam and because he is considered the mastermind of British policy in the region comprising Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran," the statement said. "Our cars of death struck the consulate building. As for the British bank headquarters, this is a bastion of the British economy and let Britain and its people know that is alliance with America will not bring it prosperity or security."
Posted by: Steve ||
11/21/2003 10:00 Comments ||
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Turkish investigators on Friday arrested suspects in the deadly suicide bombings on the British consulate and a London-based bank that..
Does this mean that mutilated corpses were arrested?? :)
Turkish investigators on Friday arrested suspects in the deadly suicide bombings on the British consulate and a London-based bank that have been blamed on al-Qaida. Foreign governments, meanwhile, warned more terrorist attacks could target Turkey. Turkish security forces were on high alert. Security was tightened at public buildings and foreign institutions, and Istanbul police were stopping and searching pickup trucks like those that shattered the British consulate and the HSBC bank building. British police anti-terrorist experts headed to Turkey to help the investigation. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul confirmed the arrests but would not give details or say how the suspects were linked to Thursdayâs blasts. The attacks came five days after suicide bombers hit two synagogues in Istanbul.
The daily newspaper Hurriyet said police were interrogating seven people in the attacks, which killed at least 27 people. The paper also said police believe the suicide bombers were two Turkish men linked to the perpetrators of the synagogue attacks, which killed 23 people. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to defeat the attackers, who struck during the Islamic month of Ramadan. "Those who bloodied this holy day and massacred innocent people will account for it in both worlds," he said. "They will be damned until eternity." well said. Unlike the tacit approval given to the terrorists by a lot of American Muslims.
In Washington, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said the attacks bore the marks of an al-Qaida operation. Saturdayâs synagogue attacks also were blamed on al-Qaida. The back-to-back attacks raised fears that Islamic extremists were targeting Turkey, because it is a rare example of a secular but mostly Muslim democracy, with close ties to the United States, European nations and Israel. Istanbul may have been targeted "because Turkey is a successful democracy, it is overwhelming Islamic, and in democracy and freedom recently elected an Islamic party ... that is also democratic and forward looking," said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who flew to Istanbul following Thursdayâs attack.
Britain warned citizens against nonessential travel to major Turkish cities. Straw said the decision to take that step was based on intelligence reports of a threat of more attacks. Other nations, including the United States, Germany and Australia, issued similar warnings â prompting fears that drops in foreign investment and tourism could hurt the countryâs recovery from its worst recession in decades. The Istanbul stock exchange remained closed Friday after plummeting 7 percent before it was shut down Thursday. In efforts to talk up the economy, Straw said Britain would intensify its backing for Turkeyâs long-standing bid to join the European Union. The bombings against British targets coincided with President Bushâs visit to London.
As with the synagogue bombings, most of the victims were Muslim Turks. At least 450 people were injured, said Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu. Istanbul Gov. Muammer Guler said four of the 16 dead at the consulate were British, including Consul-General Roger Short and his personal assistant, Lisa Hallworth. He also said that the death toll was likely to rise. One woman was reported brain dead Friday, although authorities did not immediately add her to the list of fatalities.
Hurriyet quoted police sources as tentatively identifying the two bombers in Thursdayâs attack as Azad Ekinci, 27, and Feridun Ugurlu, whose age was not immediately known. The pair had been named in earlier Turkish newspaper reports as having links with the synagogue bombings. Hurriyet said Ekinci and Ugurlu traveled to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on Oct. 28 and identified Ekinci as a schoolmate of one of the men suspected in the synagogue attacks. Earlier reports said Ekinci had traveled to Iran, received military and explosive training in Pakistan between 1997-99 and fought in the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya. An unidentified caller to the semiofficial Anatolia news agency said al-Qaida and a small militant Turkish group, the Islamic Great Eastern Raiders Front jointly claimed responsibility for both sets of attacks. Witnesses said one pickup truck exploded in front of the HSBC bank building. The second crashed through the gate of the British consulate destroying annexes to the main building. Hurriyet reported that police in front of the consulate opened fire as the men approached the consulate, but failed to stop them before they detonated the explosives. Two of the dead where Turkish policemen.
Authorities arrested six people Wednesday in the synagogue bombings. A court charged five with "attempting to overthrow the constitutional structure," which carries a sentence of life imprisonment. The sixth was charged with "helping illegal organizations," punishable by five years in prison, Anatolia said. No trial date was set. The two suicide bombers who attacked the synagogues were identified as Turks who Gul said had visited Afghanistan. Al-Qaida and the Turkish IBDA-C also claimed responsibility for that blast.
Posted by: Jarhead ||
11/21/2003 9:07:29 AM ||
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I think this is what's really bugging them:
(from yesterday's rantburg) The current head of Iraq's temporary Governing Council, Jalal Talebani, has arrived in Ankara earlier today. State Minister Kursad Tuzmen received Talebani at the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat. Tuzmen noted that the aim of the government was to improve the relations in trade and politics between Turkey and Iraq
also on yesterday's rantburg... A suicide bomb attack in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk has killed three people and injured at least six. The target was an office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, whose leader Jalal Talabani heads the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.
That, combined with all their blather about how all secular democracies are legitimate targets, makes it pretty clear in my mind that they are trying to intimidate Tapyippy not work with Iraq. That terrifies them for all of the obvious reasons and you can expect AQ to go ballistic until it stops.
Posted by: B ||
11/21/2003 10:16 Comments ||
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#2
AND>>>the article above ( on today's rantburg re: Short and the bank) cements it in stone. AQ wants to make sure their point is clear. Keep it up and so will we. Turkey wants those contracts. We should make them happen in secret and once the ink on all signature lines is dry, present the done deeds for the world to see.
It's a good strategy by AQ, to intimidate Turkey this way. But if Turkey and Iraq manage it, it will be make a huge, long-term impact. AQ can see that and they are going to do EVERYTHING possible to prevent it. Somebody needs to take over for Mr. Short, provide extra protection for all the players, and make it happen ASAP.
Posted by: B ||
11/21/2003 10:47 Comments ||
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#3
if a tree falls in the forest...
Posted by: B ||
11/21/2003 22:48 Comments ||
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#4
if a tree falls in the forest...
Posted by: B ||
11/21/2003 22:48 Comments ||
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Hat tip to Instapundit
EFL
About 100,000 people took to the streets of Berlin on Saturday to demonstrate against Chancellor Gerhard Schroederâs failure to support the United Statesâ War on Terror plans to trim Germanyâs generous welfare state, the biggest show of public opposition so far to his drive to revive Europeâs largest economy. These people should be ashamed of themsleves.
Answering the call of Karl Marx labor unions and left-wing groups including the former East German communist party, a huge column of marchers snaked through downtown Berlin, chanting slogans and carrying banners that mocked the governmentâs welfare and tax policy, saying "poverty for all" and "Why take from the rich while weâve still got the poor?" Yes! Why take from the rich? Good question.
Police and organizers estimated the crowd to be about 100,000, underlining the task facing Schroeder as he tries to counter a jobless rate of over 10 percent. The size of the protest could also embolden critics within his center-left coalition government, which has only a slender majority in the lower house. A 10 percent jobless rate! Isnât this on par with say, Mali?
Schroeder plans to bring forward by a year tax cuts originally scheduled for 2005 in an attempt to boost lackluster consumer spending and a thrid world rate of unemployment. Ah ha! That scheming demon! Tax cuts!
Speaking on Germanyâs ARD television, he insisted the welfare state had to be shaken up if it was to survive. What had to survive? The welfare stae or the German economy? Oopps. Welfare = German economy. My bad.
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
11/21/2003 8:04:58 AM ||
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I had no idea there were so many ex-pat Democrats living in Germany.
Posted by: Mark ||
11/21/2003 8:34 Comments ||
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#2
Mark I am not sure which direction they are migrating. But the Dimocrats want to make the U.S. economy mirror Europe. Anyone ready for 10% unemployment? How about 35% tax brackets for the POOR? Welfare for anybody who sets foot in the country? I don't think so.
#4
Sarge, That is what the Donks are working toward. What with practically giving the ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT .... sorry... undocumented worker the vote and rising entitlements oops... development programs.
#8
Perfect! If 100000 are protesting it means that things are moving. Actually Schroeder seems to mean business with reforms. People protest because they will hurt and unfortunately they will need to.
A lot of things are on the table now... sweeping tax reform (make your yearly declaration in 10 minutes plan, 25% maximum income tax), easier to open a business, cutting welfare etc...
On a side note, the economy slowly seems to be picking up and Germany again is world champion in exports. And this despite of a hurting strong Euro.
I guess we still make rather decent cars and other stuff...
People tend to forget that we incorporated a seriously rotten and bancrupt economy. If you've visited East Germany in 1989, you might want to take a look now... things HAVE changed there.
Unemployment is still too high. But the 10% we have are made up of 7,5 % in the West and 16% in the East. The South only has 5 to 6%.
#9
Super Hose--yeah--they will move their companies to Bermuda to escape US taxes while they make all their profits in the US--Tyco ring a bell moron? Of course the parliament of whores that is the GOP controlled House of Reps has no problem with that type of chicanery
EFL & Murat Analysts Say New Bombings in Turkey Suggest a Revival of Turkish Terror Groups Letâs see: a = b and b = c, therefore a = c.
The Turkish group that claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings in Istanbul today and two others on Saturday was well known in Turkey a decade ago. This does not bode well for Muratâs Bush and Blairâs well laid plans.
IBDA/C, the Turkish acronym for the Islamic Great Eastern Raiders Front, is suspected of killing a Turkish journalist in 1992 with a bomb placed in his car, and another reporter in 1993. Both had been writing about domestic Islamic terrorist organizations. The group is also believed to have carried out attacks on bars, discos and Christian churches. Because they are icky! All that dancing and having fun. EEeeeewww girls are dirty.
But the group had been mostly contracted by Al-Q inactive since the mid-1990s, and its leader, Salih Izzet Erdis, was arrested in 1996 and sentenced to life in prison last year. "All these terrorists groups were crushed by police operations," said Nilufer Narli, a Turkish terrorism analyst. "Their leaders were either killed [my prefrence]
or jailed. [most of Europeâs prefrence]
They lost their financial sources, they lost their lives human sources. These groups would like to re-emerge so they can easily attach themselves to an international terrorist organization." Okay. So, itâs time bring out the "crush" thing again, eh?
It is the size and style of the bombings that Turkish authorities say point to help from the outside. IBDA/C had never killed large numbers of Muslim civilians and had never mounted large-scale suicide attacks. Officials in Turkey and Britain suspect al Qaeda involvement. Duck walk, duck sound.
In Turkey, analysts say the IBDA/C claim suggests a revival of extremist activity in the country. Really now. Well, thatâs been solved. Move along.
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
11/21/2003 6:06:14 AM ||
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Analysts Say New Bombings in Turkey Suggest a Revival of Turkish Terror Groups
#2
People stare blind on the IBDA-C and AL Qaeda claims, who are supposed to bomb Turkey because they donât like secularism !?!!!! Hell did they realise that after 80 years of secularism in Turkey, does that make sense?
I donât believe a word of it, I rather suspect some terror organisations who copy the Al Qaeda attack in the US, namely with a few suicide bombers a major collateral damage. In this case the PKK is a much more realistic suspect than the Al Qaeda, since the PKK who has diminished since the capture of their leader Abdullah Ocalan has a bigger interest in spectacular attacks to prove they are not beaten yet. The IBDA-C and Al Qaeda phone call claiming of the bombings seem less realistic, especially the IBDA-C.
Posted by: Murat ||
11/21/2003 7:55 Comments ||
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#3
Murat, you REALLY can't let go of your desire to pull an Armenia on the Kurds, can you?
The more evidence of the attacks being the work of Islamists, the more you'll work yourself into a frenzy. It's gonna be fun watching you spin.
BTW -- England has been secular for MUCH more than 80 years, yet Muslims from England have carried out suicide bombings, and call for an Islamic state in England. The US has been secular since the Constitution was ratified, and yet we have Islamists calling for sharia.
What makes you think Turkey is immune?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/21/2003 8:32 Comments ||
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#4
why would PKK target Synagogues? Makes no sense.
Why would AQ target Turkey - cause its a target they can hit - theyre attacking wherever they can. And Turkey is adjacent to AQ operational headquaters in Iran.
#6
why would PKK target Synagogues? Makes no sense.
Well there are no proofs the PKK did it, neither there are proofs the Al Qaeda did it. No proofs yet, only a few shady claims made by telephone that could be anyone. But the PKK did suicide bombings in Turkey before, be it with smaller bomb attacks. A few weeks ago some PKK members suspected of being suicide bombers had been caught and some PKK took some judges hostage few days ago in an Istanbul court: Judges taken hostage in Kurd court protest .
It makes much more sense to suspect, read I underscore suspect, the Kurdish PKK who has diminished in power since their leader terrorist Abdullah Ocalan. They could copycat the AL Qaeda in bloody collateral damage attacks to emphasise they have not been beaten yet despite the loss of their leader. I say staring blind on the IBDA-C and Al Qaeda could be misleading, but on the other hand after the bombings in Saudia Arabia possible too, operations and investigations to catch the responsible are continuing, we have to await the results.
Posted by: Murat ||
11/21/2003 9:05 Comments ||
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#7
"They could copycat the AL Qaeda in bloody collateral damage attacks to emphasise they have not been beaten yet despite the loss of their leader."
If theyre trying to do that, shouldnt they claim responsibility?
#8
Murat, you didn't answer the question of why the PKK would carry out attacks "to prove they are not beaten yet" (YOUR WORDS!) and then fail to claim responsibility.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/21/2003 9:29 Comments ||
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#9
Not every terror attack is claimed, the terror attacks in Afrika where never claimed by Al qaeda either. The PKK could await the reactions first and then decide whether or not to claim the attack. At the moment nothing is clear and every terror organisation is a suspect, we have no steadfast proofs to leave out the PKK and accept the Al Qaeda as the sole perpetrator.
Posted by: Murat ||
11/21/2003 10:03 Comments ||
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#10
Robert Crawford aka Berxwedan use your real name please and be honest to tell everyone that you are a PKK symphatizer. If you don't I will link your post from the KM site.
Posted by: Murat ||
11/21/2003 10:23 Comments ||
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#11
Let's remind ourselves what the targets were again shall we, Murat? A British-based bank, and the British Consulate. You'd have a stronger argument if you tried to blame this on the IRA rather than the PKK...
#13
"At the moment nothing is clear and every terror organisation is a suspect, we have no steadfast proofs to leave out the PKK and accept the Al Qaeda as the sole perpetrator."
If all you're saying is that we cannot say at this point that its 100% certain that PKK was NOT involved, Id have to agree with you. But thats not saying very much.
At this point I'd give the following probabilities
AQ and local affiliates without PKK:65%
AQ with cooperation of PKK:20%
PKK alone:10%
Other:5%
This assumes the Synagogue bombings and the bombings at the British sites are linked. Which appears to be the case.
#14
No proof Murat. Haven't the Turkish authorities figured out who planned and carried out this terrorist attack. As well as the fact that these people travelled to Iran, Pakistan, Chechnya, and Bosnia.
Does the PKK operate out of these areas? It seems like you're wishing for something that's not true.
Posted by: Daniel King ||
11/21/2003 10:31 Comments ||
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#15
Robert Crawford aka Berxwedan use your real name please and be honest to tell everyone that you are a PKK symphatizer. If you don't I will link your post from the KM site.
What the hell are you talking about? Anything you THINK you have about my "real identity", post it. Seriously; out me. Go for it. It'll be fun.
BTW -- you still haven't explained why a group trying to prove it hasn't been beaten would not claim responsibility.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/21/2003 10:33 Comments ||
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#16
From AP
'Hurriyet quoted police sources as tentatively identifying the two bombers in Thursday's attack as Azad Ekinci, 27, and Feridun Ugurlu, whose age was not immediately known. The pair had been named in earlier Turkish newspaper reports as having links with the synagogue bombings.
Hurriyet said Ekinci and Ugurlu traveled to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on Oct. 28 and identified Ekinci as a schoolmate of one of the men suspected in the synagogue attacks. Earlier reports said Ekinci had traveled to Iran, received military and explosive training in Pakistan between 1997-99 and fought in the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya '
Does the PKK usually receive training in Pakistan? Do PKK people usually fight in Chechnya?
#17
Yes Bulldog but who where the victims? One Brit and how many Turks? I understand the Amerikan paranoya of Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda, but that shattered organisation with lost Taliban roots in Afghanistan is much less capable than what the PKK can do in Turkey, the investigations will proof.
Posted by: Murat ||
11/21/2003 10:43 Comments ||
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#18
Liberal hawk, I don't know, for Iran,Iraq, Lebanon and Syria I can say definitely yes, Pakistan and Chechnya is a question mark
Posted by: Murat ||
11/21/2003 10:46 Comments ||
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I thought you were going to expose me. C'mon, I wanna see what you think you've got!
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/21/2003 10:53 Comments ||
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#21
"but that shattered organisation with lost Taliban roots in Afghanistan is much less capable than what the PKK can do in Turkey"
all evidence is that while the central organization is shattered, the cells and affiliates are still quite active. Do you think the PKK is responsible for the Riyadh bombings? The bombing in Jakarta in August? And while the leadership in Pakistan - Zawhiri and Bin Laden - are probably isolated, the AQ leadership in Iran - Said el Adel, Saad Bin Laden, and probably Zarqawi - are probably easily able to keep in contact with cells in Saudi, Iraq, and Turkey.
#22
"Liberal hawk, I don't know, for Iran,Iraq, Lebanon and Syria I can say definitely yes, Pakistan and Chechnya is a question mark"
Well, the guys in question didnt go near Lebanon, Syria or Iraq as far as we know at this point. Ive never heard of a PKK connection to Pakistan and Chechnya - I HAVE heard of AQ connections to Pakistan and Chechnya - so until I see evidence otherwise, I suspect this is AQ or an affiliate, NOT PKK.
England hasn't been secular for much more than 80 years: it was only toward the end of 19th century that the last discrimanation against catholics were abolished.
Of course that does not mean Murat is right: tyhe islamists hate the secular nature of Turkey and consider Mustafa Kemal as an arch-traitor.
#25
IIRC limits on catholics (and Jews) voting and holding office in England were dropped in the 1820's. Only remaining legal restrictions on non-Protestants (aside from the kingship itself) were admission to Oxford and Cambridge. Am i wrong?
#26
Robert Crawford England hasn't been secular for much more than 80 years: it was only toward the end of 19th century that the last discrimanation against catholics were abolished.
True, not much longer.
I'm still waiting for Murat's expose'. I want to find out who I really am, dammit!
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/21/2003 12:59 Comments ||
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#27
What I find interesting as I listen to this thread is the clear picture that emerges of Murat's fear of the PKK.
I too think that you downplay Islamacist terror activity, Murat. But I understand the insecurity that many Turks have about the PKK and about the wider question of Turkish identity as your country moves away from a strictly enforced secularism in laws and culture.
#28
Murat, Liberalhawk:
I know this has been addressed before by you guys, but what are the odds of some faction of the PKK and AQ working together on something? Actually, this begs the question; what is Al Queda? Is it really an organization at this point or is it more like a brand name used by different groups with similar (if not the same) goals?
#29
I can't stop thinking that Iran is the main bank roller in this. They have the most motive I believe. Nukes, a destabilized SA, funding Kurdish fundies, A secular Turkey that is opposite their ideal.
The whole alphabet soup of islamomurder/drug runner/freedom fighter has a freind in Iran. Turkey should call a spade a spade. Take out the mullocracy in Iran, pogrom SA imans and you'll have a good handle on the problem. Turkey must step up to the challenge. They must take a lead, they'll have no better ally than the US. And Turkey could have a major impact on the reformation of the RoP. Murat, your at war!
#30
Murat - Yes the PKK is still a danger - but what you are saying is that there are no islamists in Turkey.....because of secularism for 80 yrs...... Your a bit off base. There is, was and will be danger of islamists in Turkey. But because you have a military deeply secular is the only reason you have had 80 yrs of securlism.
And remember Al-Queda is more of an ideology , especially since it base in Afganistan was destroyed and any country actively supporting could very well be the next country with GI's in country.
Posted by: Dan ||
11/21/2003 15:29 Comments ||
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#31
liberalhawk
It was only in 1872 that Irish Catholics then British subjects were allowed property rights, it was only in 1919 that British Catholics were allowed to let money to the Church for masses being told for them after their death. So until 1919 the UK was not fully secular.
The Dera Bugti district chief of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Amanullah Bugti, and two other men were killed in an ambush near Sui on Thursday, police said. Amanullah Bugti was also a member of the provincial executive committee of the JI and serving as an engineer at the Sui gas plant of the Pakistan Petroleum Limited. Police sources told Dawn by telephone that Amanullah Bugti and other three persons were going to Sui from Muthmandrani in a car. When they reached near Sui some armed men ambushed them killing Amanullah Bugti, Hakeem Khan and Liaquat Ali Hotkani. "Take that!"
The police sources said that one person, Sher Gul, was injured and admitted to a hospital in Sui. The cause of the killing was said to be a tribal enmity. Itâs Pakistan, of course thereâs a tribal enmity. And now, somebody else will get wacked over this.
"Yar! We be Bugtis! Who be ye, stranger?"
Posted by: Steve ||
11/21/2003 2:24:20 PM ||
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I think it was Samwise that said: "If this keeps up, half of our problem will be solved."
Posted by: SLO Jim ||
11/21/2003 15:31 Comments ||
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At least 26 people have been wounded in a bomb explosion in a mosque in western India, the authorities say. The attack took place soon after Friday prayers in Prabhani, a town about 400 kilometres (250 miles) east of Indiaâs financial capital, Bombay (Mumbai). Three men on motorcycles threw an explosive device into the mosque, a police spokesman in the town told the Associated Press news agency. The dread Motorcycles of Doom(tm).
Police are searching for the attackers, whose identities are not known. Dozens of worshippers were inside the Mohammadi mosque when the bomb exploded. State Home Minister Kripa Shankar Singh told the BBC that the number of casualties would have been higher if the bomb had gone off during the prayers. Mr Singh said that Prabhani had no history of clashes between the majority Hindu community and Muslims, of whom there are many in the area. Maybe somebody wanted to start some.
A string of bomb explosions has rocked the western state of Maharashtra over the last year, nearly all of them in Bombay. More than a 100 people died in the blasts.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/21/2003 8:41:14 AM ||
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Hey, aren't terror attacks from motorcycles straight out of the Al Qaeda Handbook?
In the wake of the governmentâs recent ban on the three reincarnated jihadi and sectarian outfits, another group, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) â the rechristened version of Lashkar-e-Taiba first banned in January 2002 â has decided to play down its presence even in cyberspace. A recent visit to the website of JuD threw up this message: âThe page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.â Sources say the group may have been asked to go offline or might have decided to do so to avoid the glare of publicity on its activities in the wake of the new ban and the official crackdown on three other groups. âThe idea is to cool down the jihadi rhetoric and could be a result of some deal between the groupâs leadership and the government,â an official source in the interior ministry in Islamabad told TFT. Other sources talk more confidently of a deal and at least one told TFT that âit was after the group agreed to become low profile that the government chose not to ban it and just keep it on its watch listâ.
Markazdawa.com is currently parked. They'll be happy to sell you all the things (Phentermine, Viagra, degrees from prestigious unacreditted universities, on-line casinos, home equity loans, etc.) people send you spam about. Spam and jihad — they go together, don't they?
The three groups the government banned November 15 had re-launched themselves under new names. The action, say most observers, came as a response to US ambassador Nancy Powellâs blunt statement in Karachi criticising the Musharraf government for allowing the banned outfits to reappear under new names. âThese groups pose a serious threat to Pakistan, to the region and to the United States,â she had said in her statement. Sources told TFT the Americans had handed over to Islamabad some evidence on the two banned groupsâ â Khuddam-ul-Islam and Millat-e-Islamia â involvement in jihad again. The government was also told activists of the two groups were going around collecting zakat and arranging for collecting fitrana money on the Eid day. Interestingly, similar evidence against JuD activities was also available but the government chose to simply put it on the watch list rather than banning it. The JuD activists still have their camps open for collecting fitrana.
Guess which group's on the "approved" list? Jaish has been involved in bumping people off inside Pakland. Hafiz has kept Lashkar e-Taiba out of that mess, and stuck with killing and maiming people in Kashmir.
But the most intriguing element pertains to Masood Azhar of Jaish. After the recent ban, the law enforcement agencies are reportedly raiding various places to get him. Observers find it incredible since he was supposed to be under house confinement after the Lahore High Court ordered the government to put him under house arrest. An Urdu newspaper reported on Oct 27 that Azhar spoke at a Lashkar rally in Pattoki (central Punjab) and blasted those who talk of concepts of âjihad-e-akbarâ and âjihad-e-asgharâ. He said that jihad only meant qitaal.
That'd be Urdu for "death and destruction," I'd guess...
It is a mystery how he managed to be in Pattoki if he were under house arrest. âThere is also no indication that the government has taken any action against any police official for allowing Azhar to escape,â says an analyst. On the issue of soliciting donations for the jihad, officials say groups are prohibited from soliciting donations for jihad. However, some say the order is vague and it is not clear whether it also covers collecting zakat and other religious funds.
You don't suppose it's intentionally vague, do you?
Media reports published early this year suggested that al-Dawa had raised funds worth 710 million rupees by collecting 1.2 million hides of animals sacrificed on Eid across the country. Sources said 40 per cent of the total hides of the animals sacrificed on Eid had gone to the collection centres of al-Dawa.
Cheeze. Wotta racket.
Meanwhile, after the ban on Tehrik-e-Islami Pakistan, one of the components of the six-party religious alliance, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, it is unclear what the composition of the MMA would now be. For now the banned Tehrik remains part of the MMA and could likely change its name again to fulfil the legal technicalities. âIt is just ridiculous,â Fazlur Rehman says, âthe government banned a certain group (Sipah-e-Sahaba), then allowed its leader (late Azam Tariq) to contest general elections, got him elected, used him for the election of pro-Musharraf prime minister and then again put a ban on the same group... It is purely a game played by (intelligence) agencies. They make and break sectarian outfits.â
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
11/21/2003 12:09:27 AM ||
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A recent visit to the website of JuD threw up this message: âThe page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.â
Jihadi 404
The Infidel Have Stolen The Page And Are Using It To Kill Palestinians
âBonaâ comes out of ground
According to Jang, a farmer in Qasur digging a tubewell on his land, came upon a foot-long âbonaâ (lilliputian) after having reached some depth. He pulled out the lilliputian and called the villagers who came to see it from great distances. After that, he threw the lilliputian back into the well. He told the reporter that people frequently found small creatures living underground. One indication was that wherever their little colonies lived no water could be found because they drank up all of it. He said the little creature was injured because the drill had cut his body. He had neglected to take its photograph.
TSNM declares jihad again
According to daily Pakistan, the dreaded Tanzeem Nifaz Shariat Muhammadi (TNSM) of Malakand in Swat had once again activated itself through the mosques and was calling on people to stage an uprising against democracy in favour of shariat. The organisation was banned in 2001 after it sent thousands of its followers to Afghanistan to fight the Americans, but the followers could not come back. Its leader Sufi Muhammad was put behind bars where he remains. Sufi Muhammad had declared war on Pakistan in Malakand as a result of which 41 men were killed, including 12 from the law enforcement agencies. In 1998, Sufi Muhammad proclaimed that anyone found opposing the shariat by word of mouth should be done to death. Jang reported that the warlord of Jalalabad, Hazrat Ali, had sold 33 Pakistanis from Dir to Uzbek warlord Dostam in Shabarghan. The Pakistanis had gone to Afghanistan in 2001 to fight alongside the Taliban but could not return. Dostam is known for buying and selling his Taliban prisoners at a very high price.
Uneatable sweets
According to dailies Jang and Insaf all the well-known brands of local sweets were in fact uneatable because they were made in unhygienic conditions. This was revealed after the government conducted raids on a dozen famous sweet-makers in Lahore with branches all over the city. The ghee used was impure and pots in which the sugar-and-saccharine liquid was collected were unclean and full of bugs. Insaf gave photographs in which the rooms where the sweets were made are clearly unhygienic, full of rats and cockroaches. The âfood squadâ also raided many burger-making joints and found that the ketchup there was fake and dangerous for health. Pakistan is one of the largest consumers of sugar-related products and Punjab leads the provinces on the basis of per head consumption. According to Insaf Lahoris had given up eating sweets after the report. They pointed to specific sweet-sellers and said that naked men were employed in making sweets and their sweat visibly fell into the sweets. All the famous brands in Lahore were found wanting in hygiene and purity.
Islamic Council against women MNAs
According to Jang, the Council for Islamic Ideology (CII) decided that it was against Islam to induct women into the assemblies or other bodies since they were not put through the competition of free and fair elections. In its annual report, the Council said that the LFO had allowed undeserving women of the political elite to enter the assemblies without merit, which was against the Islamic principle of adl. It said that some of these women belonged to the âWesternised and modernised classâ that was a stranger to the Islamic worldview and spoke in favour of sexual equality. Jang reported women MNAs as saying that the Council could only find evidence against women in the LFO. They said the clergy was against whatever minimal rights given to them.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
11/21/2003 12:07:20 AM ||
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Hope the CIA are working the Bona angle. Are they infidel? Perhaps they'd work for us for gold.
#2
Ok, somebody get the Irish consulate on the phone here because they're obviously needed. Buddy, when you capture a leprechaun you try to trick it into telling you where its pot of gold is -- you don't just throw it down a well. That's what the leprechaun WANTS you to do!
#3
the warlord of Jalalabad, Hazrat Ali, had sold 33 Pakistanis from Dir to Uzbek warlord Dostam in Shabarghan. Dostam is known for buying and selling his Taliban prisoners at a very high price.
Crazy Dostam's Used Taliban Dealership?
Posted by: Steve ||
11/21/2003 14:16 Comments ||
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#4
Crazy Dostam's Used Taliban Dealership?
I understand they make nice doormats...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/21/2003 14:44 Comments ||
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#5
Crazy Dostam's Used Taliban Dealership?
I understand they make nice doormats...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/21/2003 14:44 Comments ||
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#6
The organisation was banned in 2001 after it sent thousands of its followers to Afghanistan to fight the Americans, but the followers could not come back.
The followers probably could not come back because Dostum's guys just buried them in shipping containers.
found that the ketchup there was fake
I don't want to know how one fakes ketchup.
Perhaps they'd work for us for gold.
Leprachauns already have gold. Then again aren't they greedy and want more?
A Defense Department review of Halliburton Co. invoices for $655 million in Iraq reconstruction expenses has found no questionable billing, the Army Corps of Engineers says. The review by the corps, which oversees Iraqi building projects, is part of a continuing audit of expenses submitted under the no-bid contracts that the Pentagon awarded to rebuild Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion. Contracts for Halliburtonâs Kellogg, Brown & Root unit have been under particular scrutiny because of concerns raised by Californiaâs Rep. Henry Waxman and other Democrats that the company got the job because of its political connections. Vice President Dick Cheney was chief executive at Halliburton, the worldâs second-largest oilfield-services company, from 1995 to 2000.
"So far nothing untoward has been found," the corps said in a statement. "With the amount of publicity on this contract, auditors and contracting officers are being especially careful in reviewing all claim submissions." The Pentagonâs Defense Contract Audit Agency said in a statement that itâs devoting "substantial" resources to the contracts that have been awarded to Halliburton to make sure the expenses are valid and the price was appropriate. "The audits havenât found anything to date to red-flag," said Scott Saunders, a corps spokesman.
Kellogg, Brown & Root was awarded a contract March 8 to put out oil-well fires, repair pipelines and supply fuel. Through Nov. 18, it has orders worth $1.7 billion under a cost-plus-type contract that reimburses the company for all allowable costs and pays a base profit of 2 percent. The $655 million in invoices being audited include $13 million in profit, said Lu Christie, a corps spokesman. One portion of the contract is to deliver gasoline from Kuwait and Turkey. Waxman, in a letter released Nov. 5, contended Halliburton is charging $2.65 per gallon to deliver more than 60 million gallons - "more than double the price experts have said would be reasonable, which is $1 per gallon." The Army Corps of Engineers has defended those prices, saying they reflect the danger of theft and attack that impede fuel deliveries. Four types of fuel are involved: gasoline, kerosene, liquid petroleum gas and diesel. The fuel is distributed to sites designated by the Iraqi Oil Ministry, which, in turn, distributes the products for use in ambulances, firetrucks and civilian automobiles as well as for heating and cooking, said Wendy Hall, a Halliburton spokeswoman.
#4
Sure. I think there are only two companies in the country that have the capabilities. Halliburton's one of them, I forget the name of the other. The other company had the contract after Gulf War I.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2003 23:45 Comments ||
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#5
Chuck - it looks like you're putting the anchor in. You don't need the "<A HREF" part of it, just the http://www...
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2003 23:48 Comments ||
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#6
And let's not forget that Halliburton won its position in the expedited billing contract UNDER THE LAST ADMINISTRATION.
And I absolutely LOVE Waxman's complaint about gas prices in Baghdad. Apparently the "right" price there is $1 a gallon, while in Waxman's home state it's about $2 a gallon. Maybe Waxman should look into what's causing Californian's to pay so much...
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/22/2003 0:07 Comments ||
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#7
Fred the other company is most likely Bechtel, they're pretty damn big down there ;)
Posted by: Val ||
11/22/2003 1:25 Comments ||
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Lots of info, but wanted to exerpt the info about how we are handling the terrorist cells
The first of these operations took place 10 days or so ago, and we attacked a cell that we knew to be operating in what we call the 636 Mahallah (sp), which is located on the western edge of the Mansour district. And as you see there — well, first let me mention that when I talk about a cell, we look to find how a cell is organized by finding its leaders and its deputies, its financiers and its planners, its suppliers, recruiters and operators. And clearly, the better we do at defeating that cell from the top, that is to say by stripping away its leadership, stripping away its suppliers, the better off weâll do over time. And in fact, itâs a little more challenging when youâre going after those people. When youâre going after an operator, youâre likely to find the operator with a weapon or a piece of ordnance, some indication that youâre looking for a trigger-puller, fundamentally. Those individuals tend to be not as difficult to track down and defeat as the leaders of the cell.
In this case, we think we did get at that cell, by virtue of the fact that we captured its leadership; we captured many of its deputies; we captured people we know to be planners, suppliers; and we as well captured some of the operators. You can see there that we captured bombs, roadside bombs. Youâll hear us describe them sometimes as improvised explosive devices. We captured several of those in a state of readiness to be used against us. You can see there that you know youâre into a cell when you find things like fake passports and some of the literature that we tend to find. And then, of course, in this case, we were looking for someone involved in the rocket attack in the Rashid Hotel, and we were able to capture the leadership of the cell with a translated, fundamentally, hand-written rocket manual that clearly, in my mind, ties it back to those perpetrators... This shows that our professional soldiers are analyzing and addressing the problems pretty well.
EFL
For the first time since 1968, a sniper school is being held on foreign soil during combat. The National Guard Marksmanship Training Center sent the cadre of its sniper course to northern Iraq to train the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in skills that have proved to be useful during combat operations.
Soldiers from the divisionâs three infantry brigades discussed the need for sniper training. The request for the course went up the division chain of command until it was put to the soldiers who work at the training center. âAll this stuff starts off as a great idea by a private first class or a specialist, then makes its way up the ranks,â said Command Sgt. Maj. Marvin L. Hill, division command sergeant major. âThe 101st ran jump school in England, so why not the Air Assault school in Iraq? Why not the sniper school?â According to Malloy, the 101st soldiers appreciate being taught the techniques and skills that can be applied to their current situation in Iraq.
#2
And it took this long? Just why doesn't the 101st have its own organic snipers and spotters? Or do they and they over extended? The fight in Mogodishu should of driven the point home in spades. The two SF snipers who volunteered to go in and were killed (it saddens me that for the life of me I can not recall their names right now) saved the lives of how many men? A team of two spotters and one sniper in overwatch for the teams doing house to house searches shouild of been SOP from day one.
#4
I like the idea of mobile training teams being deployed to improve the a variety of skills among units that are stationed outside of the Sunni Triangle. We ought to be pretty liberal about swapping squads of soldiers to work with coalition units from other countries. I expect that flunent soldiers that have experience working closely with other coalition untis will be at a premium as the WOT progresses. I would like to see us get everything we can out of the billions we are spending.
With proper vetting, I would also like to see healthy numbers of literate Afghans and Iraqis hired by the US government to work in the US as translators with provisional citizenship contingent on their not introducing honor killings in the DC area - there is enough violence there already. No need to add a new flavor.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/21/2003 19:34 Comments ||
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#5
They use to run "in-country" schools in 'Nam all the time. I think my ole' man actually did LRRP over there. I love the idea. Rotate the lads to get more training, shit-hot bro's.
OP - if you're out there, you could chime in on this one.
I'm baffled that the 101 doesn't have organic snipers in their T/O. That can't be right? Do they have them and just want the school to cross train more? That would make more sense to me. You would at least figure each Battalion or company has scout/sniper teams attached like we do. Shit, that's sop.
#7
This is still bugging me. I can't BELIEVE we don't have snipers in the LRS detachments, at least at corp level. Nothing would make the mutts more leery of taking RPG shots than watching a few fellow 'martyrs' get their ugly heads blown off in the process. There should be sniper-spotters in apartments all over Baghdad, dug in around Tikrit, Mosul, Basra, all f*cking over! It took 8 months for some dipsh*t General to realize "Hey, snipers are a good idea"?!
I guess they're too busy court-martialing good officers and getting their staffs air conditioning. GRRRRR!!
Hat tip: Kim du Toit. Edited for brevity.
Last night, the Jihadi air defense pickets were trumped by an unidentified "satellite guided missile" with a 500 pound warhead which slammed into an Islamist training camp in Northern Iraq. The missile was probably an Army ATACMS artillery round, one version of which is GPS-guided. The system has a 300-kilometer range and is semi-ballistic. That gives it several very scary tactical properties, the first of which is that the projectile arrives faster than the speed of sound from the edge of space. You will never hear it coming. MANPADs cannot even begin to track it. The second is that it has a relatively short time of flight. Unlike air missions, which must often be planned hours or days in advance and may arrive after the enemy has scattered or gone to ground, a Special Forces reconnaissance unit can hammer a Jihadi encampment with a literal bolt from the blue upon transmitting the target grid coordinates.
In many ways, the ATACMS functions like a very long range equivalent of the Israeli helicopter missile ambush tactic, which has been responsible for killing many Jihadi terrorists, often while riding in their cars. The Israelis have always struggled with concealing the approach of the attack helicopter from their targets and have typically camouflaged its onset by flying a number of other aircraft in the vicinity. The ATACMS, being faster than its own sound, arrives unannounced. One disadvantage of the missile is its great cost and inability to engage a moving target. In that respect, the Israeli helicopter missile ambush is superior. And while its time of flight is short, ATACMS is not instantaneous. That limits ATACMS to targets that have momentarily stopped, such an encampments or safe houses. If the US Army can develop a cheap 35 pound round (105 mm equivalent) with an equivalent range, Special Forces or Iraqi agents working for the coalition could plink jihadi security positions, pickets, sentries, or columns at rest with complete surprise. Do you pronounce the ATACMS acronym as "Attack âems"? Thatâd be so fitting...
Posted by: Dar ||
11/21/2003 10:55:58 AM ||
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Dar, if they didn't before, they will now.
Posted by: B ||
11/21/2003 11:37 Comments ||
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I believe that ATACMS is pronounced "The Hand of God smiting the Wicked" in Arabic...
#3
From www.globalsecurity.org EFL
"The Army Tactical Missile System (Army TACMS) is a family of long-range, near all-weather guided missiles fired from the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) M270 launcher and deployed within the ammunition loads of corps MLRS battalions. The Army TACMS provides the joint task force (JTF) and corps commanders an operational fires capability for precision engagement of the enemy throughout the depth of the battlefield beyond the range of currently fielded cannons and rockets. It delays disrupts, neutralizes or destroys high payoff targets such as combat maneuver units, surface to surface missile units, air defense units, command/control/communications sites and helicopter forward area rearming/refueling points." The article goes on to say that the Block II version carries the "Brilliant Anti-Tank" (BAT) munition and is specifically designed for moving armored targets.
Use the full URL (Uniform reference locator - I.E., web address) for the first link, and a descriptive placename for the second link: I.E., Turkey bombings
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/21/2003 13:06 Comments ||
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Dakotah - AAARRGGHHH!!! Fred's programming is a bit too sophisticated for its own good. Email me, and I'll send you the information BEFORE Fred's program converts it.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/21/2003 13:08 Comments ||
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The system has a 300-kilometer range
300 clicks?? Holy Reach Out and Touch Someone, Batman!!
Doctrinally, the MLRS was supposed to be used for counter battery fire, but Good Lord, they can virtually strike air bases at that range.
EFL & EFGnat -- but itâs hard to trim Lileks...
You know what? Michael Moore is right. There are many Americans who are ignorant of the world around them. And theyâre all TV news producers. Two big bombs in Istanbul, and whatâs the big story of the day? Following around a pervy slab of albino Play-Doh as he turns himself into the police. I was stunned to discover last night that Nightline not only covered the Jackson case in detail, but bumped coverage of the Whitehall speech, which was the most important speech since the Iraq campaign began and arguably the most important speech of the war, period. Hereâs the email Nightline sent if you signed up for daily alerts:
This is a day in which the Nightline staff is pretty evenly divided. We have a meeting each morning when we talk out what we are going to do each night. Usually the plan is pretty well set, but not always. Todayâs meeting was pretty interesting. Our plan is to look at the Presidentâs visit to England, and at the plan his administration is putting forward to try to speed up the political process in Iraq that would allow for the withdrawal of at least some American troops. The approaching presidential election is clearly making this more urgent. This is a broadcast we have been planning for a while, and correspondent Deborah Amos will report on the plan for Iraq, and the Iraqi reaction, and Richard Gizbert will report from London.
But what about Michael Jackson?
Heâs serious. Yes, yes, Iraq, Britain, nice speech, hear-hear and all that, but what about Michael Jackson? Thatâs the problem in a nutshell: the war and Michael Jackson are items of equal weight. The only question is which will get better ratings. The email concludes:
So if he is arrested, should we cover that tonight on Nightline? The staff is about evenly split. Some think itâs a big story that we would have to do, others donât want any part of it. So what will happen? I guess weâll have to wait and see.
The staff was split. Nightline, supposedly the Thinking Personâs Late Night Show, was split about whether a repudiation of 50 years of foreign policy was slightly more important than the arrest of a washed-up, crotch-grabbing yee-hee! squeaking nutball who was probably the horrid pedophile everyone already thought he was.
The question is whether this reflects the mood of the country, or whether it reflects the mood of our Olympian betters who hand down the news from their lofty aeries. I think itâs the latter. I hope itâs the latter. Of course Jackson is an item of interest, but itâs a below-the-fold story. Itâs an artifact of the noisy empty 90s, the Jerry Springer era, the time when the networks sought out the people pasted to their sofas shoveling in Doritos and watching hapless fools throw folding chairs at their ex-lovers. Watching the nets fall over themselves covering Jackson makes you suspect that they yearn for those days, because they are profoundly ambivalent about the conflict in which we are engaged.
They fear Islamic terrorism, but itâs an abstract fear now. Their distaste of Bush is much more tangible and immediate; itâs part of the atmosphere in the newsroom. This is his war, not theirs. If it is a war at all.
Itâs going to take another attack to convince the fence-sitters: I hear this all the time. I donât think thatâs the case. I think the next attack on American soil will jolt whose whoâve moved on, whoâve forgotten the aching, clammy dread we all felt after 9/11. But others will believe that we brought it on ourselves. You already read it around the web â the bombings in Turkey were a response to Britainâs assistance for toppling Saddam; what did we expect? In other words: if we fight back, we get what we deserve. If we do not fight back, and we are attacked again, you can blame it on the crimes for which we have not yet sufficiently atoned. The only proper posture for the West is supine. Curl up and let them kick until theyâre spent. Give them Israel and New York and perhaps theyâll go away.
This is either going to end on their terms, or ours. Which would you prefer?
Oh, there you go again with the us vs. them, the good vs. evil, the with-us-or-with-the-terrorists. But these arenât my definitions; these are the definitions of the enemy. (Eyes roll; âenemy.â How dramatic.) They certainly believe itâs a matter of us vs. them; theyâve been acting that way for years before we caught on. They certainly believe itâs a matter of good vs. evil, although they believe they are Good. No - correction. They believe they are righteous. They obviously believe that sides have been drawn, allegiances chosen; why else kill Turks, for heavenâs sake? Yes, the attacks in Turkey were aimed at Jews and Crusaders, but they obviously knew there would be massive numbers of wounded Turks, and they didnât care. (The ones who are truly callous about the fate of other Muslims are the Muslim extremists. But, well, Muslims donât kill Muslims, so the Mossad must have bombed the synagogues. QED.) I repeat: their terms or our terms.
Iâm watching the news â RPGs hit the hotel where journalists are staying. The film looks like any big-city hotel â an atrium, subdued lighting, comfy modern chairs on the ground floor. The very existence of the Baghdad Sheraton is an example of the old order: who cares about the nature of your government, how many people groan in your jails, how many bodies are shoved into the desert graves? We can make money building a hotel. We can make money running it. We can all pretend that this city is a city like any other, like Paris or Des Moines or Singapore; same atrium, same muzak, same cigarette-smell in the rooms, same wrapped soaps and calcified showerheads, same portfolio of hotel services in the top drawer. (No Gideon Bible, obviously.) You could fly to Baghdad, stay at the Sheraton, have a meeting in the lobby bar, smoke cigars with an urbane minder in a nice suit, and leave with happy memories and a souvenir. It was like a visit to a parallel universe that looked like your own, but was founded on tribe and blood and death and fear. Itâs the opposite of the Hotel California - you can check out and you can leave, which is why no one ever cared whether the chambermaids had a girlfriend who vanished when her father said the wrong thing to a BBC reporter.
Snipping a good discussion about the WTC Memorial proposals
Finally: the Guardian ran letters welcoming Bush to Britain. Everyone piled on stupid old Harry Pinter, but I didnât see anyone note this contribution from blogosphere star Salam Pax:
I hate to wake you up from that dream you are having, the one in which you are a superhero bringing democracy and freedom to underdeveloped, oppressed countries. But you really need to check things out in one of the countries you have recently bombed to freedom. Georgie, I am kind of worried that things are going a bit bad in Iraq and you donât seem to care that much. You might want it to appear as if things are going well and sign Iraq off as a job well done, but I am afraid this is not the case.
Listen, habibi, it is not over yet. Let me explain this in simple terms. You have spilled a glass full of tomato juice on an already dirty carpet and now you have to clean up the whole room. Not all of the mess is your fault but you volunteered to clean it up. I bet if someone had explained it to you like that you would have been less hasty going on our Rambo-in-Baghdad trip.
To tell you the truth, I am glad that someone is doing the cleaning up, and thank you for getting rid of that scary guy with the hideous moustache that we had for president. But I have to say that the advertisements you were dropping from your B52s before the bombs fell promised a much more efficient and speedy service.
Hey, Salam? Fuck you. I know youâre the famous giggly blogger who gave us all a riveting view of the inner circle before the war, and thus know more about the situation than I do. Granted. But thereâs a picture on the front page of my local paper today: third Minnesotan killed in Iraq. He died doing what you never had the stones to do: pick up a rifle and face the Baâathists. You owe him. Smack!
Let me explain this in simple terms, habibi. You would have spent the rest of your life under Baâathist rule. You might have gotten some nice architectural commissions to do a house for someone whose aroma was temporarily acceptable to the Tikriti mob. You might have worked your international connections, made it back to Vienna, lived a comfy exileâs life. Whatâs certain is that none of your pals would ever have gotten rid of that âscary guy without the hideous moustacheâ (as if his greatest sin was somehow a fashion faux pas) and the Saddam regime would have prospered into the next generation precisely because of people like you. People who would rather have lived their life in low-level fear than change your situation. I understand; I would have done the same. Iâm not brave enough to start a revolution. I wouldnât have grabbed a gun and charged a palace. I would lived like you. Head down, eyes wary. When the manâs too strong, the manâs too strong. But let me quote from a Guardian story on your life:
"Like all Iraqis, Salam was familiar with the dangers. At least four of his relatives had gone missing. In the past year, for no apparent reason, one of his friends was summarily executed, shot in the head as he sat in his car, and two others were arrested; one was later freed and another, a close friend, has never returned."
Posted by: snellenr ||
11/21/2003 10:34:42 AM ||
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"Listen, habibi, it is not over yet. Let me explain this in simple terms. You have spilled a glass full of tomato juice on an already dirty carpet and now you have to clean up the whole room. Not all of the mess is your fault but you volunteered to clean it up. I bet if someone had explained it to you like that you would have been less hasty going on our Rambo-in-Baghdad trip.
To tell you the truth, I am glad that someone is doing the cleaning up, and thank you for getting rid of that scary guy with the hideous moustache that we had for president. But I have to say that the advertisements you were dropping from your B52s before the bombs fell promised a much more efficient and speedy service."
Given how many idiots keep saying "the US broke it" salaam's admission that it was terrible before and that its good we're there is very important, and im glad of it, especially as his opposition to the war gives him more credibility on the left.
I suspect Salaams perspective is shared by a large part of Sunni Arab opinion in Iraq,and as such its worth listening to.
#5
I'd also like to point out that Salam's been living the good life lately in LONDON. He hasn't been in Baghdad for many weeks, perhaps months. What exactly are his contributions to the reconstruction of his country?
He's also been posting more since Zeyad, Alaa, and the newer Iraqi bloggers have been stealing his thunder.
#6
Salam needs simply to get up from his keyboard, roll up his sleevies, walk out the door, and help our armies clean up, be it with a broom, information, or a gun.
He should spend no more than fifteen minutes per day blogging, and his subject should be what heâs done to make his country better that day.
Posted by: The Kid ||
11/21/2003 15:27 Comments ||
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Instapundit linked to this and a number of reactions to it, including one by Dan Drezner that is a bit out of left field. Check out the comments on Drezner's site. Lots of support for Lileks, a bit for Drezner, and a few moonbat trolls to boot. It's a regular "Let the expletives fly!" over there.
Posted by: Tibor ||
11/21/2003 15:36 Comments ||
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#8
Salam Pax is an Arab. Demanding, yet never reciprocating - perfectly normal. He ignores the incredible number of shoulders required for him to stand at such a great height and be a celebrated and feted moron -- and heard by anyone except his nearest neighbor.
America is responsible of almost everything in his world that he enjoys: freedom, internet, fame, et al.
His countrymen and co-believers are responsible for almost all of the things in his world that he decrys and fears: violence, chaos, destruction, et al.
Salam Pax is an Arab. That is the actual point to be taken from this - and the problem.
Lileks Rocks.
Posted by: tool of the jooos ||
11/21/2003 21:30 Comments ||
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EFL:
US forces have detained Arshad Yassin, a brother-in-law of ousted leader Saddam Hussein who was also his personal helicopter pilot and a senior figure in his close protection force until the early 1990s, a senior Iraqi police officer said Thursday. Yassin, who held the rank of airforce lieutenant general, and another officer of the protection force of the former president, Major Radman Ali Al-Huraimus were arrested Wednesday, in a village located 40 kilometers south of Kirkuk, the officer said. He said a US force was airlifted to the village and stormed the house where the two were hiding, disguised as peasants. He added US troops acted on a tip-off because they went straight to the house. "Surprise!"
The US army, for its part, did not confirm the arrests. Yassin is married to Samira Hussein, one of Saddamâs two sisters. Hope she doesnât look like her brother. Or maybe thatâs why Arshad was hiding out.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/21/2003 10:26:56 AM ||
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"He added US troops acted on a tip-off "
We couldnt do this without the help of anti-Saddam locals.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Thursday the United Nations could establish a regional office in Jordan or Cyprus to focus on activities in Iraq, including helping the country through elections to self-government. He said Baghdad is still too insecure for U.N. staff to return, but the United Nations is examining how it might help the Iraqi Governing Council from a safe distance outside the country, with workers making regular visits into Iraq. Brrracccck-buck-buck-buck, Brrrracccck!
"There would be constant back and forth and direct consultations with some people in Iraq — this is what we have in mind," Annan said.
"What with e-mail and video conferencing and all, it's almost like being there..."
"There are things that we could do even from outside, meddling offering advice, kibbitzing steering things right and back-seat driving going in and out." Annan said he also plans to appoint someone to handle U.N. operations on the ground "fairly shortly" and then a replacement "in the not too distant future" for top U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was among the 22 people killed in the Aug. 19 bombing of U.N. headquarters in Baghdad. The United Nations announced earlier this month that Ramiro Lopes da Silva of Portugal, who took over as acting head of the U.N. mission after Vieira de Melloâs death, was stepping down while independent experts assess responsibility for security lapses in the bombing of U.N. headquarters. Lopes da Silva was responsible for security in Baghdad at the time of the bombing. Missed something, did he?
Russia, Germany, France and others have been calling for the United Nations to take on a bigger political role in Iraq following last weekendâs agreement between the U.S.-led coalition and the Governing Council to speed up the handover of power. "Idiots! Hurry the hell up before the US finishes the job! Weâve got contracts to protect! And papers to hide. Lots of papers to hide."
Annan said he received a letter from Jalal Talabani, the councilâs president this month, "asking for U.N. support and help." But Annan said he and Security Council members are waiting to see the Governing Councilâs plans for drafting a constitution and holding elections. A letter outlining those plans is expected by Dec. 15. "I think many people outside Iraq and the US would want to see a U.N. role," Annan said. "We ourselves would want to help the Iraqi people, but one also has to be cowardly prudent." German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer told reporters after meeting Annan that "a strong role of the U.N. is indispensable for the transfer of power to an interim government." The transfer of power "should be made as quickly as possible," he said, stressing that there is a "very negative dynamic" at present that must be stopped. "Yes, theyâre making too much progress without us!"
U.N. diplomats said Monday that the United States wants a new U.N. resolution to endorse the agreement. Britainâs U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said once the Governing Council sends a letter on the agreement, "I would expect us to welcome it." Russiaâs U.N. Ambassador Sergey Lavrov said any resolution should include "the key components" of the political process — "the support of the Iraqi people, the involvement of all Iraqi groups, the involvement of neighbors and the leading role for the United Nations." And theyâll lead from Cyprus, unless the per-diems are good enough to lead from Rome.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/21/2003 2:30:02 AM ||
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the United Nations could establish a regional office in Jordan or Cyprus
Can we get them to transfer their NY office space over there too?
#2
These are the folks that the Europeans want to oversee Iraq? WTF!
Posted by: A Jackson ||
11/21/2003 2:57 Comments ||
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Why don't they set up their headquarters in Baghdad? New York's UN building would make a nice East River hotel. And parking would be a lot easier on the Upper East without all those illegally parked Mercedes, with diplomatic plates.
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler ||
11/21/2003 3:14 Comments ||
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He said Baghdad is still too insecure for U.N. staff to return.
And the Dim-o-Rats want to turn over Iraq's security to these cowards weasles? Are they nuts?
Oh, wait.... Never mind.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/21/2003 9:19 Comments ||
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DO you know how much it would cost to make the UN Building safe for occupancy? It doesn't have sprinklers. Heck, the cost of removing the tobacco stains would probably double the price.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
11/21/2003 9:54 Comments ||
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#6
Jeebus. Bend over and smile, the UN weenies are in town...
#8
Everyone criticizing the U.S. for not giving the U.N. a bigger role in Iraq (i.e., all of the democratic presidential candidates) are either retarded or dishonest (or both, I suppose): How do you give more responsibility to an entity that runs away from the limited responsibility it had before?
#9
The farther away the UN is from Iraq, the better. I predict that with a UN presence in Iraq, sooner or later it will become a nexus of domestic and foreign anti-US / pro-Baathist groups.
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
11/21/2003 12:26 Comments ||
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I think the UN HQ should be moved to a country where a U.N. 'Peacekeeping' operation has been sucessful.
#11
Just as Javier Solana's recent brain fart, this is absurd fool spew.
I think that the "F**king DUH" response goes in here somewhere.
Posted by: tool of the jooos ||
11/21/2003 21:34 Comments ||
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I thought Mogadishu showed everbody in the world what happens to those who retreat from an attack. Does the UN think that bad guys in the Congo or Liberia don't see them running?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/21/2003 22:14 Comments ||
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DO you know how much it would cost to make the UN Building safe for occupancy? It doesn't have sprinklers. Heck, the cost of removing the tobacco stains would probably double the price.
No sprinklers, eh? Sounds like it's time for operation " 8-year old with matches ".
Posted by: Charles ||
11/21/2003 23:33 Comments ||
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Secular-nationalist parties in Indonesia will have the vote of Muslim voters in next yearâs election. That is the result of a study carried out by the independent Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) which found the majority of respondents backed Golkar or President Megawati SukarnoputriâsIndonesian Democratic Party - Struggle (PDI-P). The findings underscore a pattern in Indonesiaâs post-independent history — especially the results of the countryâs most democratic elections to date in 1955 and 1999 — where Muslim parties have not been able to challenge the dominance of mainstream parties. The LSI survey found that a coalition of the Nation Awakening Party (PKB), the Justice Party (PKS) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) had the support of just one-third of devout Muslims and 16.2 per cent of secular Muslim respondents. When it came to parties that pushed for the shariah law or an Islamic state, support dipped even further — as low as 14 per cent, according to the survey. An LSI spokesman was quoted in the Jakarta Post as saying: âThe Muslim-based parties do not have enough support to win the majority of the vote in the 2004 election.â
Polling is still in its infancy in Indonesia, but the LSIâs findings are telling because they reinforce other surveys carried out in recent months in which the mainstream parties — PDI-P and Golkar — and their leaders are in front. Against a backdrop of terrorist attacks in the country, support for Muslim-based parties is receding, given concerns that backing for Islamic politicians could pave the way for hardliners to come to power. Observers believe that if any of the five major Islamic parties makes gains in the parliamentary election, it will come at the expense of the others. There are even doubts about whether they could forge an alliance. Torn apart by personal ambition and ideological differences, they are unable to unite behind a single presidential ticket that could challenge the secular-nationalist bloc.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
11/21/2003 3:02:45 AM ||
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sounds like good and important news. Secular democracy consolidating in the most populous Muslim country. 86% of voters opposing Sharia.
Here are your moderate muslims, people.
#2
It's always good to spend some time here at the Rantburg School of Continuing Studies in Political Sciences. It's even better when you can read some good news now and then. It's great to see a growing number of contributers, and a greater variety of original posts. The "tuition" is reasonable, and the company exceptional.
The only problem is, when is someone going to do the same thing for several other areas, such as US/European relations, relations with Latin America, and internal US problems and discussions? And the pay for visiting professors is waaaayyy too low! 8^)
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/21/2003 14:33 Comments ||
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#3
Indonesia actually has a pretty hindu-ized form of Islam, since that was the predominant religion before Islam. Also, Indonesia has a large Christian population, but that is a fact the government does not want publicized. IMHO The fanatic Islamofascist types really became a problem after they started getting shipped over from Iran, after the Shah was deposed.
The Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terror group maintains a training camp in the southern Philippines and is protected by some Muslim separatist rebels, officials here said. Tap, tap, tap ... there goes my surprise meter.
The deputy armed forces chief, Lieutenant-General Rodolfo Garcia, said a captured Indonesian militant had confessed that hundreds of JI recruits had trained at Camp Jabal Qubah since it was established three years ago. That would tend to imply that there are more than just "dozens" of folks being trained there, would it not?
The camp is located in dense jungles on Mount Cararao in Maguindanao province, a stronghold of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The rebels have been staging an armed campaign for an Islamic state in the south. It recently renounced terrorism, sealed a ceasefire with Manila and is seeking to reopen peace talks. Or so they say till they break it again ... Taufiq Rifqi, whom security officials identified as JIâs treasurer and logistics chief in the Philippines, said under investigation that the JI camp was set up after a JI training site within the main MILF camp was overrun by government forces in mid-2000. âHe mentioned that some elements of the MILF served as escorts or guides for the JI members through the area, to provide them with protection and training weapons. âSome commanders have protected them but maybe not the organisation,â Lt-Gen Garcia told The Straits Times. But I suspect the latter of the two ...
Rifqi was arrested in the southern city of Cotabato early last month and is being interrogated by the Philippine military. Intelligence sources said information unearthed recently about the activities of JI, the South-east Asian front of the Al-Qaeda terror network, prompted President Gloria Arroyo to declare the militant group the main national security threat last month. âOperationally, they are now on top of our list,â she said. Government forces are also battling the communist New Peoples Army, the MILF and the Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group. The government has passed on to the MILF a list of names of terrorists and MILF commanders who supposedly protect them. General Garcia said the MILF had pledged that the named JI members would not be given sanctuary by the group, but it denied that any of its commanders gave protection to the terrorist suspects. "Lies! All lies!"
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/21/2003 1:34:51 AM ||
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The MILF is currently negotiating "peace" talks with the Philippine government. My sources tell me they are close to an agreement. The problem they are faced with is the small splinter groups of the MILF.
If an agreement is met between the MILF and the government these splinter groups are going to find themselves in a world of hurt. I can say no more without betraying sensitive information and sources. Do not change that dial. (I usually post and comment under a different name.)
EFL:
The Islamic Great Eastern Raiders-Front (or IBDA-C) has claimed responsibility for the recent deadly attacks on Jewish and British targets in Istanbul. The following is a brief background on this Turkish group:
Islamic Great Eastern Raiders-Front advocates Islamic rule in Turkey and names the Republic of Turkey as illegal. By doing so, it has cooperated with various opposition elements which try to destabilize the current Turkeyâs system. However, the IBDA-C is unique in that it also supports a Trotskyist version of Communism that might be described as left-wing Wahhabism. It was established in the mid-1970 by a breakaway faction of the youth group of the then Islamic Salvation Party headed by former Turkish Prime Minister Nejmettin Erbakan. The group, a Sunni faction hostile to Iran and the Iranian Shiite revolution, had its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s. Indeed, IBDA-C has become increasingly violent in the last decade and it was estimated to have no more than 1000 followers. In the past, it staged small-scale attacks on left-wing and Christian targets. The group also used to attack pro-secular journalists.
One of its more famous attacks occurred in the eastern city of Sivas, when activists firebombed a hotel, killing 19 people. In February 2000, the group claimed responsibility for a quadruple bomb attack in Istanbul. Turkish police believe that in order to create a terrifying image, in the past, the group claimed responsibilities for attacks carried out by other groups. Which is why they donât believe them when they say they carried out the current attacks, I guess.
IBDA-C has a unique structure, which is called "Appear from Oneâs Own Dialectic." According to this tactic, the members independently organize themselves without any hierarchic authority. All the groupâs actions are held by the fronts, which were formed independently. Every front determines a function, a target and forms cells independently. Every member acts with the idea of "Great East" — they do not take commands. Thus, usually the other fronts do not have information about actions of other fronts. Good organizational structure, makes it hard to break up. Even when you catch one cell, they donât know who or where the others are.
Its leader, Salih Izzet Erdis, also known as Salih Mirzabeyoglu, 53, was captured in late 1998. He was detained by the Istanbul State Security Court and imprisoned in Metris Jail. Mirzabeyoglu was tried for "attempting to replace the Secular Constitutional order with Islamic Sheriah rules." He and other jailed members of the group have been responsible for instigating prison riots and taking wardens hostage.
Sounds like they miss the death penalty...
Mirzabeyogluâs lawyer claimed his client was tortured in jail. The ideas of IBDA-C are influenced by the works of Necip Fazil Kisakurek (1905-1983), who published 130 books on Islamic thought, Islamic arts and various issues. Kisakurek is considered by Mirzabeyoglu and other followers as the "pioneer" of Islamic thinking in Turkey and the architect of the notion of "Ideal Islamic Society". The basic principles of this society are described in his works. In general, Kisakurek sought to establish another Turkish caliphate throughout the entire Islamic world; his ideology called for a restoration of pure Islamic values. Kisakurek viewed the modern, secular Turkish state as an evil aberration; the stateâs secular basis, argued Kisakurek, is responsible for its acquiescence to Western imperialism. Kisakurek was not an associate of Osama bin-Ladenâs. The two never studied together, though it is possible to find various common lines between their ideologies.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/21/2003 10:13:54 AM ||
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WE should introduce the "Islamic Great Eastern Raiders" to the Oakland Raiders.
And their fans.
I know who would win that one.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/21/2003 10:51 Comments ||
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#2
well, isn't that where sports came from. Another way of settling disputes without bloodshed. If the Aq wants to get serious they should start training a team.
Posted by: joe ||
11/21/2003 10:57 Comments ||
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#3
Joe:
Without bloodshed? Have you been to a Raider's game?
Statement from the Jihad al Qaeda "Operation Islamic Iron Hammer"
We mentioned and we promised in our earlier statement: "As for the tails of America -- especially Britain, Italy, Australia and Japan -- who did not understand what was said by mujahideen leader Sheikh Osama bin Laden before Ramadan when he threatened that martyrdom operations would not stop inside and outside America... And if they do not understand words then the cars of death will make them understand".
And we said: "The cars of death will not stop... until Washington concedes to the conditions of the mujahideen (Islamist fighters)..." and here now are the cars of death reaping the (souls of the) allies of the tyrant of the era (America) every day... and by the will of God, America will soon look for someone to project it from the mujahideen on its soil.
In Turkey today, the vanguards of the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades targeted the British consul, Roger Short, because of his extensive experience in combatting Islam and because he is considered the mastermind of British policy in the region comprising Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. Our cars of death struck the consulate building... and by the grace of God, he was killed.
As for the British bank headquarters, this is a bastion of the British economy and let Britain and its people know that its alliance with America will not bring it prosperity or security...
We admit that the cars of death that targeted the British bank was put in an inappropriate place, which caused some casualties among innocents, and this pains us tremendously, but the media must share our blame because we have repeatedly warned Muslims not to go anywhere near the diplomatic, economic or military headquarters of America and its allies; for our real war, which will begin soon, will have no boundaries and will show no mercy towards the tyrant of the era and his allies.
As for you Turkey, isnât it time you left the Crusader army and returned to the Islamic nation? Isnât it time you withdrew your army from Afghanistan; stopped all ties with the Zionists entity; stopped providing American with soldiers for Iraq; left the Crusader Atlantic alliance? We consider the government of Turkey as a first-class agent for America and therefore it must choose â peace or America.
O Bush, what have you done to America and its allies... where is the security you promised them, where is developed Afghanistan, where is the free, secure Iraq?... By God Bush, youâve fallen into a trap (Iraq and Afghanistan) as we planned for you. Youâre engaged in a war with people who love death as much as you love life. So prepare yourself for what is coming.
Listen to us, you criminal, the cars of death will not stop until you concede to our demands and they include:
That they free our prisoners in American prisons, especially the prisoners of Guantanamo and the mujahid Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman and those in the jails of the Arab, Western, Persian and Jewish tails of America.
That they stop their war against Islam and Muslims around the world in the name of fighting terrorism.
To purify all Islamic land from the filth of the Jews and Americans, including Jerusalem and Kashmir.
For America to stop interfering between us and the tyrannical governments which rule Muslims and for us to set up an Islamic caliphate (state).
O Islamic nation, you must support the mujahideen to victory.... God is Greatest, Islam is on the way.
Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades (al Qaeda)
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/21/2003 10:01:27 AM ||
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Listen to us, you morons: You're dead.
-- The Turks
#2
Can we stop playing games and put a hurt on the entire Middle East and its Islamic nutjobs (and their bankers)?. Let's use our naval force and block the Persian Gulf ports for a month or two. Back it up by impounding and confiscating any money or assets the Middle East has in the Western world. If the Saudis don't have any money, they cannot continue to fund Jihad and the Wahabbi madrassas they've created all over the world. Without financial support, a lot of jihadis are going to start going hungry - to the point they have to sell their AKs for food. It'll do a hurt on the economy of a few places (Japan, Europe), but in the long run, may be less destructive of the world forces than this continuing blowing things up.
If that doesn't work, let's experiment with a MOAB or twelve on such pleasure spots as Quetta, Islamabad, Teheran, Qom, Riyadh, and Bandar Abbas. Expand the list as necessary (or when previous targets no longer exist). IF these weasels want to know what a TRUE "Iron Hammer" feels like, we should show them. Break the backs of the people supporting you, and you end up being a donkey without a job.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/21/2003 12:33 Comments ||
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"Youâre engaged in a war with people who love death as much as you love life."
It's so nice to have a conflict in which both sides get what they want.
#4
OP---it is definitely follow the money. We are funding our own headaches through Saudi Arabian oil. It is such a basic issue that it hurts to think about it. The madrasses, subsidized mosques world wide etc etc. Shut off Saudi prince money and the whole shebang starts drying up from lack of cash flow. That should also save alot of allied lives, too, in the long run. I wish I knew what the Plan was for the US vis a vis Saudi right now.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/21/2003 17:26 Comments ||
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EFL & Enshala! Ramadan, the Muslim holy month devoted to contemplation, prayer and fasting, has become a synonym for violence this year, with unprecedented suicide bombings of targets friendly to the West, around the Islamic world. And here is a subtlety we can all enjoy...
The Koran does not promote violence during Ramadan, but Muslim militants see it as an opportunity for jihad, or holy war. And the money quote comes from none other than...
"Radicals see jihad not principally as an act of violence or an assertion of power ... but as a spiritual act, a holy cleansing of the worldâs impurities," says Robert Spencer, author of "Onward Muslim Soldiers" and "Islam Unveiled." "In this view, if there is ever a time to fight Satan in all his various manifestations on Earth â including Americans and Israelis â it is Ramadan." Ka-Ching!!
The United States was criticized in 2001 by Muslim extremists leaders for continuing its bombing campaign in Afghanistan during Ramadan. They said any bombings during the holy month would interfere with thier own well laid plot to murder Jews could lead to major unrest in other Muslim countries. In the end, Bush administration officials decided the United States could not afford a pause in the campaign. This is why we like him!
The 28-day holy month is seen as a time when all good deeds are rewarded 10 times the faux virgins over; a time when the dead are guaranteed access to heaven and the gates of hell are closed, according to the Hadith, a book of mindless ramblings sayings by Muhammad. This yearâs Ramadan has left a bloody trail of death in Islamic countries worldwide.
Much like the other months in the year, in fact...
Ramadan is a time of Islamic fervor. Hezbollahâs satellite television channel Al-Manar is broadcasting this month a 30-part anti-Semitic Syrian-produced series titled "Al-Shatat" ("Diaspora") on the "criminal history of Zionism," according to the Syria Times. Described by the Middle East Media Research Institute, the show depicts gruesome frames of Jews torturing and killing Muslims. On Christmas day I open gifts.
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
11/21/2003 7:18:00 AM ||
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#1
This is nothing new : in Algeria, since 1992, the ramadan month was always marked by increased bloodshedding, as it was seen by especially favorable for holy war by local nazislamists. This is so well understood that, when it come to global jihad, european security services mobilize around christmas (infidels's celebration) and in ramadan. Only hypocrisy and "multiculturalism" prevent this from being acknowledged.
#2
"...if there is ever a time to fight Satan in all his various manifestations on Earth â including Americans and Israelis â it is Ramadan."
And if a bunch of Iraqis, Saudis, Lebanese, Kurds, and Turks get caught in the crossfire... well, I suppose Allah will kiss it and make it all better in the afterlife.
Posted by: Patrick Phillips ||
11/21/2003 7:56 Comments ||
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#3
"On Christmas day I open gifts. "
Likewise, during the Jewish High Holidays, I thank my Creator by praying, fasting, giving extra charity, and living with joy. It's said that Islam reveres the teachings of the Jews and Christians... it seems something got lost in the translation, yeah?
And before someone indignantly jumps up spouting, "religion of peace!", and ," those are just fringe groups of radical muslims", I'd just like to say that while every group of people has it's extreme element, I can't seem to recall ever reading a news report about Jews blowing themselves up in front of a Mosque on Yom Kippur, or Christians celebrating their Savior's birth by breaking into homes and machine-gunning mothers reading bedtime stories to their children.
Posted by: Ken B. ||
11/21/2003 8:15 Comments ||
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It's said that Islam reveres the teachings of the Jews and Christians
Well, that's said, but like many things that are said, it's a bald-faced lie. Islam claims Moses and Jesus as prophets, and says they preached exactly the same things Mohammed did, but that the Jews and Christians purposefully distorted and ignored those teachings.
So in their minds, we're the ones who lost the message in translation.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/21/2003 8:37 Comments ||
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#5
Well, not eating during the day leaves lots of time for ... bombing Jooos and Crusaders!
#6
in their minds, we're the ones who lost the message in translation.
Hmmmm. Seems to me I read that one of the Dead Sea scrolls was supposedly 2600 years old, and covered one of the early books of Moses. A translation by a SECULAR GROUP in England found there were very few differences between the Dead Sea Scroll and modern translations, and NONE of any true substance.
I.E., the West has truthfully transcribed the words of Moses in the Old Testament for 2600 years, but the upstart Muslims of 600AD (1200 years after the Dead Sea scroll was allegedly copied) say WE'VE made all the "translation errors". The other big problem is that the Quran has so MANY passages that are the direct antithesis of anything written in the Bible, either Old Testament or New Testament - especially the laws of the Jews found in the books of Moses.
Somebody has an attitude problem, and it ain't the folks of "the Book".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/21/2003 13:17 Comments ||
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Edited, obviously, altough it is all as good as you remember (and if you donât remember it you should read it now). However, this one sentence struck me as hauntingly prescient. It also seemed appropriately timed now. Also, as you read this, compare his speaches with, say GWB, and Dean. See who looks closer to the original democratic model.
Now the trumpet summons us again--not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need--not as a call to battle, though embattled we are-- but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle... a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyrrany, poverty, disease and war.
I am absoutely convinced this is more true today than it was nearly 43 years ago.
Posted by: John ||
11/21/2003 10:33:03 PM ||
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( From KOMO TV news site... beware of spin...)
Muslim and Chinese-American advocates are calling for the pretrial release of Army Capt. James Yee, a former Muslim chaplain at the Guantanamo Bay prison who is charged with mishandling classified information. A Chinese-American who converted to Islam after graduating from West Point, Yee was arrested Sept. 10 in Jacksonville, Fla., after federal agents said they found him carrying sketches of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he counseled al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners. They also have been watching him for some time to see who he associates with.
Agents also said Yee had documents concerning captured Taliban and al-Quaida fighters to whom he had ministered, and their U.S. interrogators. Found at his home.
Once a chaplain at Fort Lewis, Wash., Yee was charged Oct. 10 with disobeying a general order by taking classified material home and transporting classified information without proper security containers. The penalty for each charge is two years in prison and military dismissal. Yee is being held at a naval brig in Charleston, S.C. His wife, Huda Suboh, 29, lives in Olympia with the coupleâs two young children, and said it has angered her to hear people refer to her husband as an alleged spy. "James wants me to tell you all that he is innocent," Suboh, a Syrian native said, speaking through a translator at a news conference Thursday at the Islamic School of Seattle. "He is going to fight the charges with all his energy." Lies! All Lies!
Capt. Tom Crossan, spokesman for U.S. Southern Command, said the decision to detain Yee, who now goes by the first name Yousef, was based on evidence gathered during an ongoing investigation. "Yousef Yee was placed in pretrial confinement because a military magistrate determined he did something that warranted pretrial confinement," Crossan said. Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo, will decide whether the evidence warrants an Article 32 hearing, the prelude to a general court-martial. Military speedy-trial rules require that Yee be allowed to enter a plea by Jan. 10. But Miller granted a 45-day delay last month, pushing the hearing back until late February or early March. Yeeâs Washington, D.C.-based attorney, Eugene Fidell, called the length of detainment allowed in his clientâs case "a complete disgrace." Advocates for several humanitarian groups, including the Organization of Chinese Americans, Justice for New Americans and the Hate Free Zone Campaign of Washington, are speaking out in Yeeâs defense. What? No Hate Free Zone of Iran or Hate Free Zone of Syria? Damn.. this suprise meter must be broken again....
"Captain Yee has already been tried and convicted in the media before there were even charges brought against him," said Samia El-Moslimany, vice chairwoman of the Seattle chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "He was basically branded as a spy and a traitor to his country. We think this is happening because heâs Muslim and Chinese-American." No. Its because he took home CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS.
Yeeâs parents, Fong and Joseph, who live in New Jersey, prepared a statement that was read at the news conference: "James is not a threat to America. He is loyal to America. He is loyal to the Army."
"He's a good boy. Wouldn't hurt a fly..."
Two other former Guantanamo Bay prison workers have been charged in a probe of alleged espionage. Senior Airman Ahmed I. al-Halabi, an Air Force supply clerk who worked as an Arabic translator at the prison for about nine months, faces more than 30 charges, including espionage and aiding the enemy. He has pleaded innocent. A civilian interpreter, Ahmad F. Mehalba, was arrested last month in Boston hile returning to the United States from his native Egypt. carrying classified documents.
Heâs charged with lying to federal agents by denying computer discs he was carrying had classified information from Guantanamo on them. He has pleaded innocent.
#2
Support shouldn't be held against them. After conviction, their blind racial support and anti-american activities can be used to tell them to STFU...of course, this hasn't worked on CAIR, but we can always hope. Credibility should matter, shouldn't it?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/21/2003 23:30 Comments ||
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Sorry, Subscription Reqd. Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has quietly announced his recognition of the Iraqi Governing Council and acceptance of the U.S. timeline on the transfer of power in Iraq. The announcement speaks to a partnership that will direct the future course of Iraq. The alliance is of direct short-term benefit to both countries: The United States gains a partner to help combat Sunni insurgents, and Iran will be able to mitigate the long-standing threat on its western border. What is most notable is that, though there has been no secrecy involved, the partnership has emerged completely below the global mediaâs radar. Building an Iraqi/Irani Shiite balance to Saudi treachery? Could be messy, but pretty nifty.
#1
I'd much prefer it if we were negotiating with a secular, neutralist government in Teheran (installed with our assistance). Seems to me that our recent dealings with the citizens and government of Saudi Arabia should have permanently turned us off to dealing with Islamic whackjobs in any way other than adminstering a 9-mm migraine...
Posted by: Jeff ||
11/22/2003 1:54 Comments ||
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Ukrainian groups complained Durantyâs reports intentionally made no mention of the 1932-1933 forced famine in Ukraine that killed as many as 7 million people. Josef Stalinâs regime created the famine to force Ukrainian peasants into surrendering their land. I thought they were on a diet.
Link from Jihad Watch
Citing an "unimpeachable source," Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri are in Iran, according to a Fox News analyst. Al-Zawahiri was seen within the last two weeks, and bin Laden was spotted in July, says the networkâs foreign affairs analyst Mansoor Ijaz. The report dovetails with Pakistani President Pervez Musharrafâs announcement last summer that he had sent his own army into the northern tribal areas near the border with Iran to ferret out bin Laden. "That was an extraordinary admission at the time, one that I could not understand how he could make if bin Laden, in fact, was still in that area," Ijaz told Fox News host Brit Hume. "Well, it turns out that it was around that time that bin Laden moved from the Afghan-Pakistani border into Iran." Al-Zawahiri has been seen recently in Iran planning and plotting various terrorist attacks against U.S. interests and other countries, he said. If this is true, it is yet another act of war. Tehran should already be in our hands.
He explained that Iranâs provision of safe harbor, finances and logistical support for al-Qaida is a measure to counter the possibility that U.S. action in that region could result in democracies on both sides of the country, in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ijaz said a warlord who controls Afghanistanâs western provinces, Gulbuddin Hektmayer, is working with al-Qaida on a plan to bring a large army of Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops into Afghanistan during the winter months to attack U.S. interests and to try to take control of the entire country. That would actually be a terrible move by the Iranians. Bush would not ignore such an aggression.
#1
Moving a army into Afghanistan or Iraq would be rather stupid of Iran seeing that the U.S. is just chomping at the bit for an excuse to take them out as well.
#2
Iran doesn't have the manpower in armed forces to contain their rebellious population and do an incursion - that's why they provide funding to their proxies. I would welcome Iran's exposure - arm the populace for overthrow of the black turbans and take out the incursion with the new 21,000+ lb moab...win-win
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/21/2003 19:24 Comments ||
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#4
The iranians? Didn't they fight the iraqis to a standstill? Almost enough to make me want to reenlist. Hmmmmm, maybe I can wangle some 'civilian contractor' work.
#5
I posted this earlier today in the thread about Iran's oil production:
"They're just trying to fill their coffers before the US/UK blockade of the Straits of Hormuz cuts off their capacity to export.
"On a somewhat related note, Mansoor Ijaz claimed on Brit Hime's show on Fox News that bin Laden and Zawahiri are in Iran, bulked up a bit, and dressed/bearded like Iranian clerics (i.e., they switched from white turbans to black). He says the info comes from an "unimpeachable" source, and adds that, while Dr. Z is free to roam about the mullahcracy, bin Laden's movements are restricted. He also said that a significant number of the Revolutionary Guards were going to Afghanistan to join Hekmatyar in a winter offensive to drive out the US and recapture the country."
Posted by: Tibor ||
11/21/2003 23:02 Comments ||
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#6
Oh, no, in the harsh Afghan winter????
Significant # of RGs in Afghanistan means less in Iran. We can work w/that.
There has been another attack on the main British embassy compound in the Iranian capital, Tehran. An embassy spokesman said an incendiary device was thrown over the back gate of the compound but there were no casualties or significant damage. The embassy was the target of at least three shooting attacks in the first half of September. The attack was carried out during the afternoon on Friday, a day when the streets are quiet. First reports said a lone man stepped out of a car, threw the firebomb and then drove off, something that would not have been possible on a normal working day when traffic is heavy. An embassy spokesman said the device caused a small fire but no major damage or casualties. But it is clearly a worrying development for the mission. Security around the embassyâs two compounds was supposedly greatly tightened by the Iranian authorities after at least three shooting attacks in September.
The obvious question is how the firebomb attempt could be carried out without the culprit being stopped. The suspicion and fear is that it may have been the work of a lone hardliner, inspired by the attack on British targets in Istanbul just the day before. There is no other immediately obvious explanation for the attack on the embassy. A major irritant in relations between the UK and Iran, the extradition case brought by Argentina for a former Iranian ambassador living in Britain, was resolved last week. The man has since returned to Tehran.
#1
This is some pretty ineffective terrorism. What will they try next? I expect they will go with the burning brown bag of dog poop on the front doorstep with a good doorbell ring.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/21/2003 19:10 Comments ||
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"The U.S. military has had considerably more success in turning Iraq around than liberals have had in turning the ghettos around with their 40-year âWar on Poverty.â So far, fewer troops have been killed by hostile fire since the end of major combat in Iraq than civilians were murdered in Washington, DC, last year. How many years has it been since we declared the end of major U.S. combat operations against Marion Barryâs regime? How long before we just give up and pull out of that hellish quagmire known as Washington, D.C.?"
-From Ann Coulter, via Town Hall
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/21/2003 5:20:10 PM ||
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#4
My son lives in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and in the last year he's seen several shootings up close and personal. He's shipping out to Iraq sometime in January, says he figures it probably isn't any more dangerous there than where he is right now.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
11/21/2003 18:24 Comments ||
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#5
Rantburg needs little tags like Fark has:
"Lies, all lies"
"Dire Revenge"
"Yar, we be ______ "
and so on.
Dave D., I send your son my thanks and wishes for a safe return. Salute!
An Air Force cargo plane dropped the most powerful conventional bomb in the U.S. arsenal onto a Florida test range on Friday, producing a fiery blast and huge cloud in the last developmental step for a nearly 11-ton behemoth dubbed the "mother of all bombs." An MC-130 Combat Talon dropped the 21,700-pound satellite-guided GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, or MOAB, onto a test range at Eglin Air Force Base in northwestern Florida, said Jake Swinson, a spokesman for the Air Armament Center at the base. "It looked like a big mushroom cloud filled with flames as it grew and grew and grew," Swinson said after the afternoon test. "It was one of the most awesome spectacles Iâve seen."
The MOAB, the most powerful nonnuclear U.S. bomb, carries 18,700 pounds of high explosives, detonating just above the ground when the tip of the 30-foot-long bomb hits the earth, Swinson said. It was the final of four developmental tests for the "mother of all bombs" -- but only the second in which it was detonated. The previous live test on March 11 followed two inert tests. The United States in the past has had larger conventional bombs, but none are as big in the current U.S. arsenal. The MOAB is envisioned as a successor to BLU-82, the 15,000-pound "Daisy Cutter." The "Daisy Cutter" was used to clear helicopter landing areas in the Vietnam War and then was used in the 1991 Gulf War and in 2001 in Afghanistan. In the latter two conflicts, U.S. commanders used the "Daisy Cutter" partly for the psychological effect on the enemy of such a massive blast.
#2
This is the MOAAB mother of all american bombs. The British threw a 10 tons "Blockbuster" from Lancasters during WWII and adjusting for inflation :-) that makes them heavier than the MOAB. They also used a five ton bomb on the Tirpitz who opened her as a tincan.
Anyway the British still the record for the heaviest bomb used in anger.
#4
Do they have a 90-pound aspirin to go with it, to relieve the "mother of all headaches" you'll have if you're caught even remotely NEAR the blast zone?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/21/2003 16:59 Comments ||
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Hat tip LGF
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has instructed his security officers not to force inspections of ambassadors or their cars when they enter the world bodyâs headquarters in NYC. This despite repeated criticisms that security at U.N. facilities, both in the United States and abroad, is seriously deficient. The security memo, dated Oct. 29, 2003, and obtained by NewsMax, first explains that "all vehicles (and persons) entering UNHQ must be inspected." Then, in the next sentence, the memo says: "... if a permanent representative refuses [to permit an inspection] allow him to pass and enter, but note the delegateâs name, date and time." Other than the notation, no other action is called for. The decision came on the same day another memo from Andrew Toll, a U.N. assistant secretary-general to the U.N.âs chief legal counsel, Hans Corell, spoke of an "increase in comments and concerns from [U.N.] staff regarding security issues ... in New York, this seems to be felt even stronger." In 1994, an FBI investigation led to accusations that Libyaâs U.N. mission may have assisted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Wouldnât surprise me unduly.
It was believed the Libyans had intended to store vans loaded with explosives in the U.N.âs underground parking garage, which extends three stories beneath First Avenue. While security has improved at the U.N. facility, numerous officers say it is still "a joke," especially with more than 200 ambassadors and their cars immune to inspection. It should be noted that whenever President Bush visits the United Nations, the entire parking facility is normally shut down with no one (ambassadors included) granted access. The garage is also directly beneath the 38-story Secretariat building, which houses more than 5,000 workers.
#1
Fine, if the UN weenies ambassadors want it blown up by not submitting to sensible security, then let them have it that way. When the UN building comes down from such stupidity, then they can relocate the UN to France, who has so much more to offer. We'll even pick up the tab for the demo and hauling. What a bunch of asshats.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/21/2003 16:23 Comments ||
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#2
Hey no, if they relocate the UN it will be probably located near where I work. I don't want to breathe the same air than genociders, jihadists and kleptocrats. How about sending them to neutral territory like Antarctica, the moon, oblivion.
Iran has reached a crude oil production level of 4.2 million barrels per day. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh attributed the oil production increase to the completion of projects that expanded capacity. Zanganeh said Iran had additional oil production capacity and required the money to fund development projects. Uranium and plutonium production plants. Er, peaceful electrical energy projects.
"Undoubtedly Iran can boost its production to higher levels," the minister said. "The country needs to develop its oil sector to use the revenues for promotion of other sectors." About 75 percent of Iranâs hard currency revenue stems from oil exports. 25% Jihadi hospitality industry?
Zanganeh said oil exports play a significant role in the five-year NBC weapons development economic development plan.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/21/2003 3:35:06 PM ||
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They're just trying to fill their coffers before the US/UK blockade of the Straits of Hormuz cuts off their capacity to export.
On a somewhat related note, Mansoor Ijaz claimed on Brit Hime's show on Fox News that bin Laden and Zawahiri are in Iran, bulked up a bit, and dressed/bearded like Iranian clerics (i.e., they switched from white turbans to black). He says the info comes from an "unimpeachable" source, and adds that, while Dr. Z is free to roam about the mullahcracy, bin Laden's movements are restricted. He also said that a significant number of the Revolutionary Guards were going to Afghanistan to join Hekmatyar in a winter offensive to drive out the US and recapture the country.
Posted by: Tibor ||
11/21/2003 15:52 Comments ||
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#3
Its easy to get lots of work done when all the Jihadis are out of town.
Posted by: frank martin ||
11/21/2003 17:41 Comments ||
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#4
It would be impossible to blockade Hormuz without a state of war - declared or otherwise. You would have to be able to passify the Iranian coast. This became much harder when technology upgraded from the Silkworm to mobile Scud lanchers through the ME.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/21/2003 19:17 Comments ||
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#5
"The country needs to develop its oil sector to use the revenues for promotion of other sectors."
Put the surprise meters away, you wonât need them. From Bill Gertz at Wash. Times.
North Koreaâs communist government is successfully exploiting the openness and democracy in the South by infiltrating spies and saboteurs. Both Koreas remain technically at war with only a truce holding back conflict. As a result, the infiltration of South Korea by North Korean agents has continued apace since the 1950s. The official said the North Koreans initially sent teams of commandos in groups of up to 60 to land at night on South Korean shores and then enter society. South Korean military counterintelligence had a fair track record in hunting down and killing the commandos. Then in the 1980s the North Koreans favored using small submarines to conduct infiltration operations in the South. And some of them got clobbered, too.
But when South Korean society loosened up in the 1990s, the North began using different methods. "Now theyâre using agents with fake passports made in Pakistan who are posing as diners tourists," the officer said. The agents are sent for intelligence-gathering work and also for assassination and sabotage missions in the event conflict starts up. Army Gen. Leon LaPorte, commander of U.S. forces in South Korea, said earlier this week in an interview that North Koreaâs 120,000 special-operations commando force is the largest in the world and is the key element in Pyongyangâs "insanity" "asymmetric" warfare strategy. Iâd surround each US installation with those aroma-makers Disney uses in the Magic Kingdom, the ones that blow out the smell of fresh-baked bread. Thatâll stop the commandos in their tracks.
Another major security problem is a result of the Southâs pro-North "sunshine" policy of taking a foolish conciliatory approach toward Pyongyang. South Korean counterintelligence efforts against North Korean agents have decreased sharply. Fewer North Korean agents are being uncovered and those that are often get freed by the foolish government. "We call it catch and release," a second senior officer said. This officer said some spies have been caught in the last few years but many are being missed. How many American soldiers would die because of this if a shooting war started?
North Korean propaganda also has been given a huge boost by the sunshine policies. Once unthinkable, South Korean media now regularly feature pro-North Korean propaganda on both electronic and print outlets. "Weâll see reports from KCNA [the official North Korean news agency] replayed on South Korean media shortly after they come out," the senior officer said. Increasingly difficult for us to defend a people who donât want to defend themselves.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/21/2003 2:44:09 PM ||
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I hope that Rumsfeldt accelerates the 37K movement of US troops out of Korea. SKors have everything in assets to be strong and to resist the NORKS except the will to cut them loose and let them sink. The faster the NORKS crater, the faster everyone can get aid to the north and save some humanity, not supply the NORK army and Kimmie.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/21/2003 15:24 Comments ||
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Remember the last Nigerian riot?
A schoolyard row between 12-year-old girls escalated into a sectarian riot that left 11 churches burned, 40 shops looted and a young man fighting for his life, witnesses said here on Thursday. Thatâs right, the girls started it.
Muslim rioters took to the streets of the northern Nigerian town of Kazaure on Tuesday targeting Christian businesses and churches after a policeman shot a protester in the throat, police and officials said. Trouble had been brewing for two weeks after a Christian schoolgirl, responding to schoolyard taunts from Muslim playmates, allegedly insulted the Prophet Mohammed, an education official said. Oh, the horror!
On Tuesday a group of Muslim radicals descended on the school to protest the head teacherâs alleged reluctance to take action against the girl. I was right, I bet they did want her stoned.
Trouble spilled out into the street as the enraged mob ransacked and burned out around 40 businesses, starting with Christian-owned stalls but eventually also looting Muslim stores, including two owned by their imam. Snicker
A police source said that eight rioters had so far been arrested and that officers would swoop on the ringleaders after reinforcements arrived from Kano and Jiagawa State capital Dutse. He said the female head teacher had been taken into police protection. No wonder the mob didnât like her ruling, after all, sheâs just breeding stock.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/21/2003 1:57:29 PM ||
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Trouble had been brewing for two weeks after a Christian schoolgirl, responding to schoolyard taunts from Muslim playmates, allegedly insulted the Prophet Mohammed, an education official said.
What can you say about a religion that think God give's a rat's ass what a schoolgirl says about Him?
What can you say about a culture that abuses a schoolgirl, then riots when she responds?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/21/2003 14:14 Comments ||
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#2
The 'Religion of Peace' in action....
The funny thing is, is that their Iman was probably the one to incide them to riot in the first place. Now 2 of his businesses were looted. But not to worry... he will manage to blame someone else (the jooos) for it.
Officers of the State Security Ministry (MSS) closed down a Sunni mosque earlier this year because one of its leaders refused to put a copy of the Ruhnama (Book of the Soul), President Saparmurat Niyazov's book of spiritual writings, on the same stand as the Koran during Friday prayers, Forum 18 News Service has learnt.
Turkmenbashi felt the need to express himself. Naturally, it's the greatest literary work of all time...
A leading member of the mosque was twice interrogated by the secret police for several days, sources told Forum 18. The sources insisted that neither the individual nor the mosque â nor the town in which it is located â be identified for fear of further reprisals against those concerned. The Ruhnama, which officials have likened to the Koran or the Bible, plays a significant role in President Niyazov's massive cult of personality and is compulsorily imposed on schools and the wider public. All imams in large mosques are required to put the Ruhnama alongside the Koran during prayers and sources have told Forum 18 that most imams reluctantly comply for fear of being punished or jailed.
It's kind of like bowing down to the emperor's statue used to be, before Constantine and that thing at the Milvian bridge...
Trouble started for the mosque when a three-member television crew arrived during prayers and said they were to prepare a report about how the mosque was "abiding by state policy" and "supporting the current political system and the president's way". They explained that all they needed was to make a short video report of Friday prayers showing that the people in the mosque were using two books during prayers, the Koran and the Ruhnama. The mosque leaders strongly refused to allow the report, declaring that it would contradict the teachings of Islam which prohibits the use of any materials other than the Koran while praying. Several days later, one leading member of the mosque was detained and taken to the MSS. There he was repeatedly questioned for three days about why he refused to allow the Ruhnama to be placed in the mosque.
There are times when I can even agree with the Sunnis...
He was released only after he caved agreed to the report being made.
At least he avoided being thrown to the lions...
Gundogar also notes that Turkmenbashi's signed a new law on religious activity, banning more unlicensed sects.
Turkmenistan already had the tightest controls on religious activity before this new law came into force. All Shia Muslim, Baptist, Pentecostal, Adventist, Armenian Apostolic, Lutheran, Hare Krishna, Jehovah's Witness, Baha'i and Jewish activity was already treated as illegal. Believers have been fined, detained, beaten, threatened, sacked from their jobs, had their homes confiscated, banished to remote parts of the country or deported in retaliation for involvement in unregistered religious activity.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
11/21/2003 11:54 ||
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Since I didn't remember myself at first: Milvian Bridge.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/21/2003 12:41 Comments ||
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#3
Thanks, Steve! Geez, the things you learn here at Rantburg U. Every once in awhile, they're even relevant - at least moreso than on the average college campus!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/21/2003 15:48 Comments ||
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#4
Ruhnama (Book of the Soul), President Saparmurat Niyazov's book of spiritual writings - its all about the book tour.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/21/2003 17:50 Comments ||
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#5
If only the same thing happened in the US and got the Lutherans, Jehovah's Witnesses, Baptists to stop knocking on my door......
Iran reportedly tried to fool international nuclear inspectors by taking them to a decoy nuclear site. Middle East Newsline reported Thursday Iranian opposition sources in London claim Teheran took inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to a decoy site to make sure they would miss a secret nuclear facility. The sources told MENL the decoy site was established in an area identified by the United Nationâs IAEA as containing suspected nuclear activities. The sources said the decoy, in the city of Hashtgerd, was built to be similar to the suspected nuclear facility, located near the city of Karaj. But they still have nothing to hide ...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/21/2003 10:04:55 AM ||
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Wasn't this a Mel Brooks movie ?
Did they have cardboard cutouts representing the various nuclear plant workers ?
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
11/21/2003 11:41 Comments ||
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#2
"You're supposed to be building a uranium enrichment plant, not dancing around like a bunch of Qom City Faggots!"
Kyrgyzstanâs Supreme Court has banned four groups branded as terrorist and extremist, some of them allegedly connected to the al-Qaida terror network and its allies, officials said Thursday. Prosecutors in April had requested the ban, saying such extremist groups were ``the main threatââ to Kyrgyzstanâs national security, and that they had been seeking to strengthen their ranks across Central Asia. Sounds about right.
The ban allows law enforcement officials to confiscate the groupsâ property. ``Law enforcement agencies are taking measures to prevent the further spread of extremist movements advocating political and religious extremism, nationalistic and radical Islamic fundamentalism,ââ the chief prosecutorâs office said in a statement. Banned as terrorist groups were the Organization for the Liberation of Turkestan, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement and the Islamic Party of Turkestan - all linked to Chinaâs Turkic Muslim Uighur minority. I think that the ETIM is main wing thatâs connected to al-Qaeda and that the other two are semi-legitimate front organizations. Still doesnât justify what China has done to the Uighurs, but krazed killers are still krazed killers.
The fourth banned group was Hizb ut-Tahrir, or Islamic Liberation Party, labeled by the court as an extremist movement. That fundamentalist group, which seeks to establish an Islamic state in Central Asia, has not been linked to any previous attacks in the restive region. It has, however, faced harsh persecution by the authorities, particularly in Uzbekistan, where thousands of observant Muslims who allegedly sympathize with the party have been jailed. My guess is that HuT, at least in Central Asia, is acting as a front organization for the more militant jihadi factions.
Earlier this week, Kyrgyzstanâs security chief said al-Qaida and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a terror group that cooperated with al-Qaida in Afghanistan, were recruiting followers from Hizb ut-Tahrir. And that would be why ...
The IMU allegedly ordered two explosions that killed eight people over the past year in Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyz security officials have said that an unspecified Uighur separatist group helped the attackers obtain false passports. The IMU also is blamed for incursions in Uzbekistan and neighboring Kyrgyzstan in 1999 and 2000 and several hostage-takings. On Thursday, Kazakhstan handed over to Uzbekistan two Uzbek nationals suspected of belonging to the IMU, Kazakh security officials said. Azamat Iskandarov and Khaydar Makhmudov, both 24, were detained by Kazakh security officers in July, the Kazakh National Security Committee said. The Kazakh intelligence agency said the two had undergone training at terrorist camps in Tajikistan and Afghanistan and fought with the Taliban against Afghanistanâs Northern Alliance. The alliance backed the U.S.-led coalition that ousted the hard-line Taliban regime in late 2001. The two men came to Kazakhstan in July using false documents, officials said.
Any time they go anywhere they seem to use false documents...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/21/2003 9:59:42 AM ||
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Kyrgystan is an interesting slice of the world - having both US and Russian military bases.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/21/2003 17:52 Comments ||
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A soldier who refused to return to Iraq so she could care for her children has been released from active duty, the Army said Thursday. Spc. Simone Holcomb, whose last day is Nov. 29, will return to duty as a medic in the Colorado National Guard the following day. Lawyer Giorgio RaâShadd said Holcomb had wanted to be reassigned to Fort Carson to care for her children while fulfilling her active-duty commitment, which ends in April. "She didnât want to take the uniform off for one second, but that was the decision of the Army and she respects it," he said. "Thatâs a result that she can live with." Me too.
Army officials have said once Holcomb leaves active duty, she is no longer bound by military law and would not face charges from the Army. Well, yes, she could have been, but the Army has had enough of this hot potato. Her Guard unit will most likely have a long talk with her.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/21/2003 9:35:33 AM ||
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The PC myth that mothers should be combat soldiers (or for that matter active duty) continues to amaze me. What will it take before this country realizes that women in the military is at best a lack luster experiment?
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
11/21/2003 9:41 Comments ||
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#2
Oh please! Who is it who says, "you hear thundering hooves and expect to see zebras"?
Regardless of what you think about women in combat, this is hardly an example to make your point. The family made arrangements, the grandfather got cancer and the ex-wife filed for custody.
I guess by your logic, military men should not be allowed to fight in combat too...afterall, I'm sure, if I felt like looking for it, I could find at least one situation where a man's child-care arrangements for his children fell through due to illness, divorce, death or other emergency ...and he was unable to deploy.
#3
Her Guard unit will most likely have a long talk with her.
I suggest that the Army have a long talk with Vaughn Holcomb's ex-wife, and the judge in the child custody case.
As for women in the military, there's nothing wrong with that at all. The fact that what happened in this case isn't occurring with regularity in the ranks means that there isn't a bigger problem that needs addressing.
#4
This woman and her family were getting jobbed by the ex-wife and the judge. She was forced to choose between going back to Iraq and keeping her family -- which is no choice at all. Let's have a law that says "Back Off!!!" to the divorce lawyers et al. when both parents are deployed, and provide whatever the extra support is needed when both parents go in harm's way -- they deserve it, in spades.
I have as much respect and gratitude for the women who want to serve their country in the military as I do the men. Anyone who doesn't think that they can be just as much the warrior as a man ought to talk to Killer Chick.
#5
This is off topic, and kinda corny, but makes you appreciate those who serve.
TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,
HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF
PLASTER AND STONE.
I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY
WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
AND TO SEE JUST WHO
IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.
I LOOKED ALL ABOUT,
A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS,
NOT EVEN A TREE.
NO STOCKING BY MANTLE,
JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES
OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.
WITH MEDALS AND BADGES,
AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT
CAME THROUGH MY MIND.
FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT,
IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER,
ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.
THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING,
SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR
IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.
THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,
THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
NOT HOW I PICTURED
A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.
WAS THIS THE HERO
OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?
CURLED UP ON A PONCHO,
THE FLOOR FOR A BED?
I REALIZED THE FAMILIES
THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS
WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.
SOON ROUND THE WORLD,
THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE
A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.
THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM
EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS,
LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.
I COULDN'T HELP WONDER
HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE
IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.
THE VERY THOUGHT
BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES
AND STARTED TO CRY.
THE SOLDIER AWAKENED
AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
"SANTA DON'T CRY,
THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;
I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM,
I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LIFE IS MY GOD,
MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS."
THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER
AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN'T CONTROL IT,
I CONTINUED TO WEEP.
I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS,
SO SILENT AND STILL
AND WE BOTH SHIVERED
FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.
I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE
ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR
SO WILLING TO FIGHT.
THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
WHISPERED, "CARRY ON SANTA,
IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE."
ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH,
AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND,
AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT."
Posted by: Homer J ||
11/21/2003 11:54 Comments ||
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#6
In many jobs, women are not only the equal of men, but in some instances,even superior. That doesn't mean they should be in combat. Women are just NOT the physical equal of men, and are far more sensitive - something that is a detriment to combat, but essential in human relations. Women in the intelligence field usually do exceptionally well - frequently better than men - at putting together minutae and building a coherent picture. They usually make better linguists than men - who knows why, but it's proven data. And of course, their basic sympathies, inherent mothering instincts (even if some idiotarians want to destroy that symbology), and plain caring make them excellent caregivers, from mothers to nurses to whatever else calls for that type of personality.
Let them do what they do best, keep them out of harm's way (not necessarily for their benefit, but to keep down the idiotarian mob and the berserker mentality of some of our enemies), and let contribute as much or as little as they can. It helps us and hurts our enemies - the best reason to do ANYTHING.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/21/2003 11:59 Comments ||
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B-A-R, there is a bigger problem that needs addressing - you all just don't hear about in the news. Where I've been -It happens. Whether it's pregnancies, v.d. issues, or sexual harrasment issues. I've seen women break their pelvices because they couldn't handle the pack weight some of us have to carry during hikes. So the military lowered it for conditioning hikes at boot camp. Though this doesn't even reflect how much shit they'd have to carry if they we're really going somewhere & doing the real shit.
I'm going to take fire for this, but the issue Doug brings up is true. The article is not the right one to support it though due to the circumstances of this particular woman. I've witnessed worse incidents and seen the PC police handle it, totally screwing over good order & discipline of a unit, totally screwing the tax payer, and ultimately the country. IMO, she should be let out of the service point blank. And Snellenr, there maybe less than 3% of the military female pop (at most) that represent the warrior analogy you give. I will leave it at that as there are probably female service folks on this site and I don't want to spend all day fighting about this. I respect their Patriotism, just don't feel, imo, that the branch I'm in is for them. I base my observation on pure experience in the Corps. I hate to be this negative. My great aunt was even a female Marine from '44-46. She went in on the "free up a man to fight" slogan. I respect her service but don't want her humping a pack & rifle around.
#8
You can blame the ex-wife and the divorce lawyers all you want, but this is HER problem. The service IS NOT AN 8-5 JOB WITH GOOD BENEFITS. The Army did the Right Thing and took her off active duty, but she shouldn't have been in the service in the first place. And JH is absolutely right, standards have been completely watered down to accomodate women in uniform, strictly for PC reasons. Bottom line is she wanted all the good and none of the bad, and guess what? You agree to the bad when you sign the enlistment contract.
#9
I've always thought that nobody with kids below the rank of NCO should be allowed to serve in any deployable unit, or for that matter any military branch. At least not without the approval of their commander. I'd also look closely at recruiting any married people too. Ahh, you say, that would really cut into the available manpower needed for cannon fodder. I think not. Jarhead is right, the tax payers are getting screwed. With the money we'd save on all the crap that dependants of E4 and below require, you could pay those people alot more. An E4 or below, non NCO that becomes pregnant or impregnates, should be relieved of duty with a general discharg. That would really cut down on the slackers. Women in the Military means PC in the military.
#10
I read the score on this story as: "Sergeants 7, ex-wife 0". I believe the Army would have done the right thing whether or not the story got the congressional interest and media attention that it did.
Mom's troubles aren't over yet. She has to file a new family care plan with the CNG within 90 days. And she says she's out of options. The Colorado Springs Gazette has a detailed story here.
I'm proud of all those who serve; particularly when service is at the sacrifice of self and family. and don't forget the families left behind.
We all should be able to spare a bit of compassion since many of us "have been there".
#11
An E4 or below, non NCO that becomes pregnant or impregnates, should be relieved of duty with a general discharg.
No, they don't get relieved, they get stateside duty doing a job that has to get done. They take care of the kids just like any other working parent. But they can deploy into a stateside logistics, intel, etc. unit. These are good people. Don't throw them out, put them where they can be effective and still keep their kids.
Women in the military is a moot question: they're in. So now let's be smart about it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/21/2003 14:50 Comments ||
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#12
"Women in the military is a moot question: they're in. So now let's be smart about it."
-Steve, true enough. They do get stateside duty, but remember - usually a guy fills their billet overseas or goes on the deployment the female was supposed to go on. This does cause a big problem. Especially if the guy has a family, wife, and usually just came back from somewhere in the last year. I wonder who took this mom's spot in Iraq. The good guys will "suck it up", but that will only last so long. The problem is, we put stock that they are going to be able to do these things and then it falls through. (I'm saying in general, this particular situation has a different dynamic w/the ex-wife) I've seen it too many times. I will say this: they're not going anywhere and are country needs to have the balls to shift the way we do utilize them. As OP said, they can bring a lot to the table in various jobs. The rub comes when congress under pressure from the special interests make us open more combat like MOS's to females (i.e. combat engineers), when we know we can't really put them in actual harm's way. There's only so many of those jobs, they want females to fill a portion but they will never deploy for actual combat even though that's part of the deal. The males see through the pc illusion. Let's just call it like it is.
#13
First and foremost the guy's ex-needs a good bitch slapping,and the family court judge needs to be censored for hearing the case.
How the hell was this patriotic young mother supposed to know that the husbands ex- would take advantage of a bad situation.
It's a pretty good bet that the ex-was unfit,or did not want the kids in the first place or the husband wouldn't have had custod.We will probably never hear about it,but this probably about the ex-bitch trying to get her hands on the kids allotment.
#14
I'm surprised that the raping canard didn't get brought up. My wife and I watched Gulf War I stateside on CNN - my ship was pulled apart in the yards. I remember being shocked to see a CNN mugshot of a little guy who I remebered as a gymnastics coasch at USNA. Evidently, he had just been downed an captured and had beat his own face against a wall on purpose to appear to be a victim of torture in the Iraqi propoganda interviews. My wife says that I almost levitated off the couch in rage.
I beleive the guy received the old car battery to the testicles tre4atment while in the custody of the Iraqi's. My outrage over male soldiers being tortured, sodomized and/or shot, is no less thatn when a woman soldier is fonddled, raped, tortured or shot.
It amazes me that Sadaam can have scores mass graves of executed civilian children all over the country, but if an Iraqi touches a little blond girl, the gloves come off.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/21/2003 19:03 Comments ||
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#15
There's a big difference between a 19 yr old enlisted woman in a supply convoy, who had been inadequately trained for combat situations, and (for example) the older female pilot POW in Gulf 1, who had the physical, emotional and mental resources to deal with her sexual and physical abuse at the hands of the Iraqis. I have not undergone combat training myself, so perhaps I don't really have a basis for having an opinion on this topic. But I work with young female officers-in-training as well as young men. The women I teach, and whose training I've observed, have just as much mental toughness on average as their male counterparts of the same age. They are in superlative physical condition, some are top athletes, and they train as hard as their male peers. I can't comment on their suitability for infantry combat conditions, but I'm pretty sure that some of them could be and probably will be pilots in combat zones, for instance. And every one of them, male and female, knows there's a good chance they will go to Iraq or Afghanistan or some other hotspot within the next 12 months. They know what the score is and in their own ways, they are all getting themselves ready for what may come.
I suspect that the women-in-combat issue isn't an either/or situation. There are many combat roles other than the foot soldier or marine that are important, dangerous and require courage, endurance, mental and physical strength, aggressiveness and leadership. "EVERY soldier a rifleman." EVERY soldier should be trained - mentally, physically, emotionally and tactically - for combat. The old distinction between those who fight and those who support from the rear has blurred almost beyond recognition, as PVT Lynch's experience underscores.
Jarhead, there are few of these young women I know who could perform physically to the level of Marines in combat. Agreed. But that's not the only important combat role in our military services.
Super Hose, I'm with you - both male and female soldiers are susceptible to torture and abuse and it is a barbaric outrage when it happens to ANY soldier, seaman, airman or marine.
Just some possibly-off base observations fr om someone who spent a few decades cracking glass ceilings in a different environment - which may or may not be very applicable experience for this question.
#16
RKB, I respect your opinions. I'm not sure which branch you work w/as far as the officers-in-training go. USAF? I could go all day on the combat pilot thing from my experiences though. I saw the Corps spend millions of dollars training females to be Harrier pilots when they could never put the physical weight on to handle the event of the ejection seat. That was not the female's fault, that was the fault of an over zealous politician in the uniform of a Marine trying to get some 'window dressing' to appease congress. I know Hornet pilots personally, I've gotten their stories first hand as well. I never said females were incapable of doing any combat MOS, my point is that the costs we've incurred to put them through have not resulted in the benefits *imo* that were supposed to result. For example, I knew a female SAR helo-pilot (Search & Rescue) who was damn good, could count on her anytime, anywhere. I've know top notch female D.I.'s. They are out there. I just don't buy into the media hype about the subject - simply because I've been around it too long. An ajenda is being pushed as usual. Lynch's story was one of poor training by her command as you describe. She never got a shot off, dirty weapon (unforgiveable actually) or whatever (she's lucky they didn't kill her). And like I said, there are some really tough ones out there. I've not seen enough to change my mind though on the combat roles; support roles - yes. Again, all my statements are based on my experiences w/grunt units, on deployments, and in training recruits. You can take what I say w/a grain of salt, as maybe your experiences have been different from mine.
#17
Jarhead, and I respect yours. I do know that I don't know the realities in combat first hand. ;-) Although I do suspect that ejection seat handles on the Harrier could be redesigned. Or maybe not because they must be mechanical only? Wonder what the F16 has ..... hmmm.
Anyway, I work with Army right now. No doubt training cadets over the course of 4 years, to become commissioned Army officers, is and should be different from training Marine recruits, in lots of ways .... plus I can't claim to have gone through or even observed all their training directly. I have been part of a number of discussions on this whole topic though, with both male and female officers, some of whom were in theatre in Kuwait/Iraq during Gulf 1, in Bosnia and in Afghanistan.
Perhaps a year or two from now, the experiences in Iraq will offer useful data for this whole debate. Some women might well decide they don't belong in or near combat. Others might prove themselves well in various non-infantry roles. It will be interesting to find out.
#18
Hi,
My name is Debbi Piland. I am the biological mother of Dustin and Taylor
Holcomb. All the media attn that Simone Holcomb (AWOL MOM) got was for nothing. She lied about every aspect to get sympathy from the public. Vaughn and I have joint Custody. I was awarded temp sole custody while they were deployed
and the grandmother had visitation.All the articles said that the grandmother was returning to Ohio because her husband was sick. Her husband flew out here when Vaughn and Simone came home and stayed for nearly a month. The real reason the grandmother went home is because she resented taking care of children that weren't her biological grandchildren. I never tried to get custody while they were gone. Simone is just a coward that used her children and my children for her own gain.Her own biological children could have went to their respective fathers.The youngest, Harley spends most of the time with her dad, and the boys have three fathers between the four of them that they spend the summer with.If she can trust them for the summer, she could trust them while she was deployed.. The judge never ordered her to stay. There is an article in the Gazette telegraph that interviews judge miller and he says that he didnt tell her to stay..Simone duped the world in a susan smith fashion and then sold her story for a made for tv movie. We should stop honoring people like her and honor real soldiers like Jessica Lynch and the soldiers that gave their lives for freedom over there..
Family, Army loyalty not only conflict in battle for custody
BILL HETHCOCK and JOHN DIEDRICH, THE GAZETTE. The Gazette. Colorado
Springs, Colo.: Nov 8, 2003. pg. A.1
Copyright Freedom Newspapers, Inc. Nov 8, 2003
Spc. Simone Holcomb, a soldier and mother to seven children, has been portrayed as a woman forced to choose between family and duty.Court records, however, tell a more complicated tale of what is the latest twist in a custody case that has boiled for four years The case highlights challenges soldiers and the Army face when
parents must pull on uniforms, kiss their children goodbye and ship out for war.Simone Holcomb and her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Vaughn Holcomb, have seven children between them. They went to Iraq this year, Simone Holcomb with the Colorado National Guard and Vaughn Holcomb with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.Vaughn Holcomb's mother and his ex-wife were caring for the children when a dispute arose. Vaughn and Simone Holcomb returned on
emergency leave, and Simone Holcomb stayed, saying she could lose two of the kids to the ex-wife if she goes back to Iraq.The Army wants her back, and Simone Holcomb has said her commanders threatened to list her as absent without leave, or AWOL, when she didn't return Oct. 9.
Army officials could not confirm Friday if she had been declared AWOL. The decision would be made by commanders in Iraq, who did not respond to inquires from The Gazette.Simone Holcomb's dilemma soon may be resolved.Her attorney, Giorgio Ra'Shadd, said Friday he had heard "encouraging" news from the Army.Simone Holcomb, who did not return phone calls for this story, may
be stationed temporarily at a unit in this area, giving her time to figure out care for her children before returning to Iraq, Ra'Shadd said.It isn't clear who in the Army told Ra'Shadd about the possible resolution. The Army had no comment.
The deal could hinge on when Vaughn Holcomb returns to Fort Carson from Iraq. He is supposed to be back in a month or so, a spokesman in Sen. Wayne Allard's office said.Fort Carson officials said Friday they don't have a date for when Vaughn Holcomb is supposed to return to the post.
Allard understands Vaughn Holcomb would stay with the kids and Simone Holcomb would return to her duty in Iraq, said the senator's spokesman, Dick Wadhams.However the Holcombs' case is resolved, it shows the challenge of balancing family and duty to country, especially when unforeseen circumstances arise.The Army says it tries to be sympathetic to the needs of soldiers with children, but in the end it must be able to count on those parents to be ready for war."We understand she has a responsibility to her children," said Maj. Steve Stover, an Army spokesman. "On the reverse side, she has a responsibility to her country and the Army."The custody case behind the national stories started when Debbie and Vaughn Holcomb's nine-year marriage ended in May 1999. They have sparred since about custody of their children - an 8-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl.Debbie has remarried and taken the last name Piland. Vaughn married Simone.Piland and Vaughn Holcomb agreed in August 2002 he would get custody
of the children except for three weekends a month and four weeks in the summer, when Piland would have custody.In Vaughn's absence, Simone Holcomb would serve as the primary parent, according to the agreement.Piland, however, said Friday she misunderstood the agreement when she signed it and thought it gave her custody in Vaughn's absence.She regrets that and resents what she sees as Simone Holcomb using the custody dispute to shirk her duties."I love my kids more than anything in life," Piland said. "I feel like I should have them with me. Instead, she's using them to get attention."Piland sought custody in March based on Vaughn Holcomb's deployment to Iraq. Simone Holcomb had deployed.Judge David Miller temporarily transferred custody to Piland for the period of Vaughn Holcomb's deployment.Miller ordered Vaughn Holcomb's mother, Sue Bearer, to care for the two children while Piland was at work. Bearer had moved from Akron, Ohio, into the Holcombs' house at Fort Carson to help take care of the Holcombs' other five children during their deployment.Relations soon soured.Piland wrote a letter Sept. 2 to the judge and to child-advocate lawyer Elizabeth Hoover complaining Bearer was undermining her attempts to teach her children about religion.Simone Holcomb called Hoover from Iraq and accused Piland of hitting the 8-year-old son, cursing at the children and leaving them alone with her boyfriend in violation of a court order. Holcomb said she based her allegations on what her children told her.Vaughn and Simone Holcomb returned Sept. 11 to Colorado Springs from Iraq because of concerns about the safety of their children.When they arrived, they found Bearer no longer could help care for their seven kids because she needed to return to Akron to care for her ailing husband, Ra'Shadd said.After her father-in-law fell ill, Simone Holcomb tried to postpone her return to Iraq until she found someone to care for all seven children, but she never refused to go back, Ra'Shadd said."She loves that uniform, and it was never her choice to come back early," he said.There's no way to plan for every contingency, Ra'Shadd said."There are just some things that happen that we call life, and life happened to them," he said, referring to the custody battle and the father-inlaw's illness.Hoover, the child-advocate lawyer, filed a Sept. 16 report detailing more allegations.The Holcomb's attorney, Roberta Earley, said Piland took the kids to see faith healer Benny Hinn, where Piland told the crowd she had a hole in her heart, then was healed.Piland had been preaching to the children about how they were going to hell, Earley said.Piland denies the faith-healing incident and denies telling the kids they were headed to hell.Miller vacated the temporary order Sept. 17, denying Piland's
custody. The judge ruled Vaughn Holcomb should have custody - as outlined in the August 2002 agreement - because he was no longer in Iraq.Earley sought the court's permission Sept. 26 to allow Simone Holcomb to maintain custody when her husband returned to Iraq. The motion states Vaughn Holcomb would be sent back to Iraq, but Simone Holcomb "will be remaining in Colorado."Records show Miller - a former Air Force lawyer - did not order
Simone Holcomb to defy the Army's deployment orders or risk losing custody, as some media accounts have suggested.Simone Holcomb said National Guard commanders told her she could stay in the area, Earley said.Based on the assumption she wouldn't return to Iraq, Miller went back to the old plan and gave her custody.
Miller took the step "to stabilize the children," according to the order.Miller appointed a parenting coordinator Thursday. That person will evaluate the situation and recommend a solution within 90 days.The Holcombs represent a challenge for the Army: soldiers who are married to each other with children.Of the 495,000 soldiers in the Army, about 11 percent, or nearly 55,000, are married to other soldiers, the Army said.The Pentagon couldn't say how many of those two-soldier families have children, but nearly half of the entire force has children.In addition, 7.5 percent of soldiers, or 37,000 men and women, are single parents.Single parents and two-soldier families must have a plan in place at all times, spelling out who will take care of their children in the event of a training mission or deployment, said Stover, the Army spokesman.The Army can't hold those people back from deployments, even if it means shipping out both parents, he said. It wouldn't be fair to other soldiers.Soldiers sometimes have problems with their care plans. Caregivers get sick or can't do the job for some other reason.
The Army generally gives soldiers 30 days to come back and find someone else to take care of their children.
If they can't fix the problem, the soldiers are offered a chance to get out of the military as a hardship case, Stover said.Those decisions are made by commanders, he said.
Simone Holcomb doesn't want to get out of the military, Ra'Shadd said. She just wants more time to find good care for the children.The Army can't let Simone Holcomb come to Fort Carson when her unit, Colorado's 109th Area Support Medical Company, is deployed to Iraq, Stover said. About half of the Army is deployed around the world, he said, so everyone is needed.The Army is concerned about the precedent Holcomb's case could set for the thousands of soldiers in Iraq who have others taking care of their children at home."If you make special consideration for one, it is going to impact a large number of soldiers who are adhering to the Army's policy on family care plans," Stover said.
For the first time in six years, Chinese grain harvests are falling short of demand and reviving the question: Will China be forced to rely on imports to feed itself? Since late summer, wheat prices in the northeast have shot up by 32 percent; corn prices have doubled and rice prices are up by as much as 13 percent, according to official reports. Prices of edible oil, vegetables, meat and other food products have also jumped. Grain harvests this year are estimated to have fallen for the fifth year in a row — hit by a double whammy of bad weather and cutbacks in acreage. Too many toy factories and not enough wheat fields.
"Theyâve got a problem with their stocks and the crunch is hitting now, partly because of the weather," says Rich Herzfelder, executive vice president of the China Food and Agricultural Services, a Shanghai-based consultancy. Beijing was poised to sign agreements on importing American grain during Premier Wen Jiabaoâs visit to Washington next month — part of a buying spree to ease trade friction that has also included luxury cars and Boeing aircraft. But a U.S. decision to limit Chinese textile exports is rankling trade relations, and China aborted a buying mission to the United States that was to seal deals on a range of U.S. farm products, including soybeans and cotton. We can store the grain. How long you fellas want to wait to eat?
Given its history of famine, China has made self-sufficiency in grain a strategic priority, viewing a stable food supply as key to national security and stability. But because of rising demand, environmental limits and the opening up of markets, China may now be forced to loosen its policy of virtual self-reliance. In the early 1990s, Beijing boosted imports to alleviate potentially destabilizing inflationary pressures. Grain output peaked at 392 million tons in 1998 and has fallen ever since. With this yearâs harvest just in, there are no signs of shortages yet. But China already has stopped signing contracts for future corn exports. Soy imports are forecast to hit a record 25 million tons this year, up from 21 million tons last year. Chinaâs state-run media, seeking to calm worries over inflation and fears of shortages, insist there is ample grain. Older Chinese remember all too well the desperate years of famine during the early 1960s, when tens of millions starved to death due to ill-advised economic policies. Yeah, Great Leap ... ah, something, right?
Rising prices tend to fan public resentment, particularly among consumers who spend about a third of their incomes on food and for most of the past decade have counted on paying a nearly steady price for their daily helpings of rice and steamed buns. "If the leaders canât keep prices steady, then theyâre doing a lousy job," said one irate shopper, who gave only his surname, Wang. Some economists argue China should stop trying to supply its own grain, given its huge population and relative lack of arable land. With $400 billion in foreign reserves, it can afford to import. More butter, fewer guns!
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/21/2003 2:41:49 AM ||
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#1
One of these years we will see a climate event like the 'year without a summer' that occured around 1870. There were multi-year crop failures in temperate regions. I recall reading about mass starvation in Finland.
It will be huge destablizing event and when it does it will pay to be in country like the USA or Australia that will be able to feed itself.
#2
Anyone want to start taking bets on whether we're seeing the beginnings of economic warfare between China and the US? I remember reading somewhere else that a lot of US companies and those in Japan and South Korea have just recently consolidated their arguments regarding patent violations in china, or in other words intellectual property rights violations. Apparently they're planning stick chinese companies with something around $21 billion worth of fines.
Posted by: Val ||
11/21/2003 5:34 Comments ||
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#3
How much of the Chineese governments legitamacy still rests on the Iron Ricebowl? Are they still subsidizing staples?
#4
IIUC this i parly a result of prosperity. As chinese incomes rise, people eat more meat - since animals are less than perfect converters of plant protein to animal protein, this increases demand for grain.
#5
liberalhawk - Good point. If things start to go downhill (I'm talking before famine type levels here) then families who once were able to afford better food and meat will see these things go up out of their price range. Since the government takes credit for everything, it seems to reason that it would also get the blame. They could get some level of unrest before things go out of hand.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
11/21/2003 9:09 Comments ||
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#6
China is strung about as tight as a nation can get without coming apart. I commented on China's economic problems yesterday - the food situation is only part of it. The recent industrialization is placed a huge strain on the infrastructure, especially the transportation and power grid. China has always been a marginal food producer, which is one reasons Chinese emperors have always wanted states such as those in Southeast Asia and the Pacific as suzeranities, paying tribute in food. The fact that Taiwan, ten percent China's size, with even LESS arable land, is almost China's equal in terms of economic productivity is especially galling to the mainlaid - but Taiwan, because of the threat from the mainland, did what was necessary to be as self-sufficient as possible.
China is a huge country whose population is extremely diverse, both in education, ethnicity, and economic development. There are pockets that live in every century, developmentally, from the tenth to the 21st. The authoritarian, top-down management style that collapsed in the old Soviet Union is not being significantly more successful in China, where the problems are different, but no less demanding.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/21/2003 12:08 Comments ||
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#7
The fact that Taiwan, ten percent China's size, with even LESS arable land, is almost China's equal in terms of economic productivity is especially galling to the mainlaid
Taiwan - Population (22,603,001), Land Area (32,260 sq km), 2001 Nominal GDP ($0.282T)
China - Population (1,286,975,468) Land Area (9,326,410 sq km), 2001 Nominal GDP ($1.159T)
Taiwan has 1.8% of China's population, 0.34% of its land area, but 24% of China's GDP. Now that's galling.
#9
Sorry, LH, but you need to do a bit more research. Taiwan is virtually food-independent. Yes, agriculture, including forestry and fishing, "only" account for about 12% of their GDP, but they are a net food EXPORTER - quite a similar situation that the United States enjoys at present (agriculture a small portion of GDP, but most internal needs met by internal production, and food exports far exceed food imports). Percentage of GDP is unimportant, as long as you can still satisfy the needs of your population. Famines occur when you can't, and China has repeatedly suffered from famines. Quite a few of them have resulted in changes of governments.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/21/2003 14:00 Comments ||
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#10
And, the Tom Clancy psychic vision is coming in to play here. In one of his novels he suggests that the huge cash reserves generated by the imbalance of trade with the United States are committed to military purchases (and I would suggest infrastructure, as well). Do they have the cash to buy food and oil if they need to? That is the key issue.
As Old Patriot points out, China is a country in name only. The vast differences in economic situation, language, culture, etc. amount to the Central Governement juggling balls in the air. Whenever the Central Government has dropped a ball in Chinese history, it has meant chaos, warlords, civil war, and the breakup into smaller, regional states.
Every nation in modern times that was a forced union of diverse people has broken apart. Soviet Union and Yugoslavia as examples. The diversity of the United States only works because we are not a union of diverse regions, YET.
One could argue that China has collapsed. The technocrats of the southeast owe little but nominal allegiance to Peking, and the nature of the PLA being the largest industrial organization in China adds to the strength of that theory. Army units run regions, warlord-like, not the civil (and supposed legal) government.
#12
i didnt mean to say Taiwan didnt have efficient agriculture - im sure they do (and IIRC they had a very successful land reform program as well:) )
Just to point out that the 24% figure didnt necessarily match up with the land data.
Re: china collapsing - yeah thats always possible, but dont forget that after every collapse China ALWAYS reunites. Despite their diversity, they are much more of a genuine nation than former SU or Yugo.
#13
dont forget that after every collapse China ALWAYS reunites
But every single time, it's been different. The Chinese empire has both expanded AND shrunk during its long history. (During the Sung dynasty, the Chinese empire was at best a quarter of its present size). The inhabitants of Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Tibet and East Turkistan (50% of China's territory) are not necessarily happy to be part of China, and were not part of historical China. Nationalism has not been part of the Chinese experience, but once Taiwan declares independence, people are going to start asking themselves why they have to be under Beijing's yoke. If the locals had their druthers, they'd prefer to be learning their own languages in the schools rather than Mandarin.
Despite their diversity, they are much more of a genuine nation than former SU or Yugo.
The minorities in the Soviet Union were pretty Russified, until they decided they wanted no part of the Soviet Union. Serbs, Bosnians and Croatians speak the same language and would have held together, if not for Milosevic's fascist gestures, and unfortunate American intervention. China is divided by language, customs and its vast geography. There's not a lot of national (i.e. ethnic) consciousness at this point, but that can certainly change in a heartbeat, just as, at the beginning of the 20th century, Arabs of the Ottoman caliphate decided they wanted no part of the Ottoman empire, and the Slavs in the Austro-Hungarian empire decided to opt out of an empire dominated by ethnic Germans and Magyars.
Reports Abou Tourab, head of Algeriaâs most feared Islamic rebel army, arrested at his parentsâ home near Boumedres. Last we heard he was dead, but okay ...
Algerian security forces have arrested Rachid Abou Tourab, the head of the north African countryâs most feared Islamic rebel army, the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), newspapers reported Thursday. Thereâs another one to add to the collection ...
Abou Tourab was arrested at his parentsâ home near the northern town of Boumerdes, 50 kilometers east of the capital, Le Soir dâAlgerie and Akher Saa dailies wrote. One family reunion Iâm sure heâll remember for years to come ...
But the security forces have neither confirmed nor denied the reports, which are not the first to say that a hardline extremist leader has been captured or even killed in Algeria. Thatâs the great thing about being Mastermind(R), you get multiple lives ...
The press reported in July that Abou Tourab was one of 15 armed Islamic extremists killed during a security forces operation in the Tamezguida forest, known to be a GIA stronghold in the Medea region, 80 kilometers south of Algiers. Either way it works out for me.
Algerian newspapers had also reported the death of Abou Tourabâs predecessor, Antar Zouabri, several times before he was confirmed killed in a gun battle with security forces in the town of Boufarik, just south of Algiers, in February 2002. Did they cut off his head just to make sure?
The GIA is notorious for carrying out civilian massacres in Algeriaâs nearly 12-year-old civil war. The GIA and the much larger Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) both rejected a partial amnesty under President Abdelaziz Bouteflikaâs 1999 reconciliation pact, and are said to be the only two Islamic extremist groups still active in Algeria. The war was sparked in 1992, when the army stepped in to prevent certain victory in legislative elections for the now-banned Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), which had vowed to set up an Islamic state in Algeria. After succeeding Zouabri as the head of the GIA, Abou Tourab vowed to murder all Algerians who disagree with the radical groupâs views. Thatâs pretty much the extent of the GIAâs ideology right there ...
"We will continue to destroy their harvests, take their goods, rape their women, decapitate them in the cities, the villages and the deserts," Abou Tourab said after taking over leadership of the group.
"That's because we really care."
"Neither truce, nor dialogue, nor reconciliation, nor security, but blood, blood, destruction, destruction," said Tourab, who had served as Zouabriâs lieutenant and bodyguard since 1998. Pleasant fellow, isnât he?
The hardline stance of both Abou Tourab and his predecessor Zouabri has led to rifts within the GIA, with at least four dissident factions breaking away from it including the GSPC, which has vowed to target only members of the security forces and government. Though the amount of civilian corpses they continue to create tend to put to lie this claim ...
Allegedly linked to Osama bin Ladenâs militant al-Qaeda group, the GSPC is the best armed and organized armed group in Algeria, with an estimated 400 members, according to a security source. The bloodier GIA has only about 60 fighters, based south of Algiers, according to a top general of the Algerian army. Last I heard, the GIA was at 800 and the GSPC at about 1,200. Iâm not sure if the Algerians are deflating the numbers or if the recent military offensives have been just that good.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/21/2003 1:42:20 AM ||
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"Abou Tourab was arrested at his parentsâ home"
maybe his mother despised the little brat and turned him in.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has identified Russia, China and Pakistan as probable suppliers of some of the technology Iran used to enrich uranium in its suspect nuclear programmes. The diplomats declined to say how the agency established the probable origin of the equipment. Reacting to earlier reports linking it to Iranâs enrichment programme, Pakistan had denied all involvement. Moscowâs public nuclear link with Tehran is a still-to-be-finalised US $800 million deal to help build Iranâs first nuclear reactor. On Wednesday, Washington rejected a proposed European draft resolution that would urge Iran to continue cooperation with the agency but refrain from harshly condemning it for concealing parts of its nuclear programme, saying it was prepared to opt for no resolution rather than a toothless one.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
11/21/2003 12:28:27 AM ||
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That Russia is a member of the triad, along with Pakistan and China, that provided technology to Iran is not surprising. Russia has always been more Oriental than European.
#2
So why did France and Germany sell stuff to Saddam? and why have the europeans been so protective of the Iranians? Russian policy on Iran is easily explicable in power poliitcs terms - no clash of civs stuff is needed.
#3
From what I read quite a while ago, the Bushehr reactor project is mostly cash to Russia in exchange for design, CM, and technicians. The USSR big line of credit days are over.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/21/2003 16:18 Comments ||
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#4
What have the French and Germans got against the Iranians? I demand that they sell nuclear technology to all rogue states on an equal basis.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/21/2003 19:20 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
