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Lebanese Government Resigns
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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Britain
Terror suspect admits plane plot
Terror suspect Saajid Badat has admitted involvement in a plot to blow up an aircraft. Badat, 25, was alleged to have conspired with fellow Briton Richard Reid and a Belgian terrorist to make a shoebomb to be detonated on a plane. He admitted the charge when he appeared at the Old Bailey in London on Monday and will be sentenced on 18 March. Badat was arrested at his Gloucester home in November 2003, after operations by the police and MI5. More than 100 homes in the city were evacuated during a police search of his house.
BINGO! But I thought his community said he was such a nice boy??


This article starring:
RICHARD REIDal-Qaeda
SAAJID BADATal-Qaeda
Posted by: Howard UK || 02/28/2005 6:09:47 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They did, Howard. I'm so confused!
Posted by: Bulldog || 02/28/2005 6:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes, and Hitler was known to be fond of blond, blue-eyed children and dogs.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/28/2005 6:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Actually, he like all kinds of dogs, not just the blond ones. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/28/2005 7:51 Comments || Top||

#4  On radio, BBC are reporting that the police found a shoe bomb at his address, and that he's admitted that he backed out of shoebombing at the same time as Reid was up to his japes - they were provided with the bombs, at the same time, in Afghanistan, and told to blow up airliners en route to the US.
Posted by: Bulldog || 02/28/2005 8:05 Comments || Top||

#5  I'm just amazed the Beeb are reporting this at all. Interesting.
Posted by: Howard UK || 02/28/2005 8:15 Comments || Top||

#6  Apparently he was a 'Walking Angel'
Posted by: Howard UK || 02/28/2005 8:41 Comments || Top||

#7  "From infant school and junior school he was a very quiet boy, very intelligent lad - never in any trouble, always teacher's pet, bit of a boffin as such, really. He kept himself to himself, never ever got into trouble, never had any enemies. It's a shock to hear his name come up in these circumstances."

Hmm. Toxoplasma gondii or hard-core Islam? As ever: hard to tell.
Posted by: Bulldog || 02/28/2005 9:31 Comments || Top||

#8  Bulldog,

Thats scary stuff (the bug, not the bomber). I wonder what else in our heads is the result of an infection ?
Posted by: buwaya || 02/28/2005 17:45 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Fox: Bin Laden Urges Zarqawi to Hit U.S.
Recent communications between Usama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi indicate that bin Laden has "encouraged Zarqawi and his group to focus on attacks inside the United States," multiple U.S. officials told FOX News on Monday. The sources would not get into detail about how the communication was made or how it was intercepted by the United States.
Heh.
They also said that there is nothing specific in the message, such as maps or references to particular cities or buildings. Rather, the communication simply encourages a "focus" on attacks inside U.S. borders, sources said.
Dan speculated that Zarq was not looking forward to the next communique from HQ following the Iraqi elections...
Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq and believed to be the inspiration of the ongoing bombings, beheadings and attacks on Iraqi and American forces, pledged his alliance to bin Laden last year and changed the name of his group in Iraq to reflect his ties to Al Qaeda. Iraqi officials said they expect to take Zarqawi soon; they recently nabbed a key associate and the driver of Jordanian-born terror leader.
Heh.
U.S. officials say Zarqawi has "his hands full" trying to stay out of U.S. or Iraqi custody in Iraq and they question whether Zarqawi's group would have the ability to pull off an attack inside America.
Heh.
Also, officials are wondering aloud what this means about Al Qaeda and whether it means the group is reaching out to its central leader because they are under significant pressure.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 02/28/2005 4:22:02 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Um, okay...

If we intercepted the communication, that kinda' indicates that we know where each of these guys was when that communication was made, right?

Just kill the bastards already instead of pussyfotting around with this kinda' bullsh*t!
Posted by: LC FOTSGreg || 02/28/2005 16:56 Comments || Top||

#2  If we intercepted the communication, that kinda' indicates that we know where each of these guys was when that communication was made, right?

No, just that we were able to tap into the transmission somewhere in between. If it's even true. Could just be playing with somebody's mind, too.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 02/28/2005 17:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Sounds like bin Laden is ready to fight on to the last dead Iraqi terrorist.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/28/2005 17:06 Comments || Top||

#4  Right. Here we are three and a half years into the war and Binny still hasn't strapped on a bomb belt and gone for broke. REMF.
Posted by: Matt || 02/28/2005 17:12 Comments || Top||

#5  Odd that he would choose the guy who's currently in a hot war on one front to go fight on another. It's like pulling Patton off his drive to Berlin to go fight in the Pacific. I guess his bench isn't very deep right now.
Posted by: BH || 02/28/2005 17:16 Comments || Top||

#6  Bin Laden: Hey Zarqawi, I know you are kinda busy, but do you think you could hit the US inside the US?

Zarqawi: Um, boss...I am moving nightly just to keep ahead of the infidels. My limo driver was just arrested and most of my agents are gone. I really don't have the resources to do that right now.

Bin Laden: I know that big Z, but it is starting to look like we are loosing here and we need a big hit on the big Satan. You know?

Zarqawi: As I said, I got my hands full with Iraq right now. Why don't you hit the US?

Bin Laden: I would like to, really. But my "safe" house is being watched. Almost every house on this block is and I can't stick my head out of the door without being seen. I have to use a decrepid poodle to deliver messages to people. I haven't seen poor Achmed for a week and I am starting to think he has been captured. Poor guy.

Zarqawi: Right... Listen I gotta go. Something is burning in the oven and ... stuff. *whispers off phone* Yes, I know the damn Infidels are coming I'll call you when I am ready to strike the US.

Bin Laden: Soon, right?

Zarqawi: Ya, soon. Don't worry. *click*
Posted by: mmurray821 || 02/28/2005 17:18 Comments || Top||

#7 
WHEN RADIO COMMUNICATION IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE...
Posted by: BigEd || 02/28/2005 18:11 Comments || Top||

#8  Two possibilities come to mind. First, that Bin Laden knows he's can't hit the US and he's hoping Zarqawi can after his limited successes slaughtering Iraqi's. Two, Zarqawi is finished in Iraq and Bin Laden knows it and is providing a face saving out for Zarqawi to quit the country without declaring a loss.

I'm betting on number 2 if the communication is real, I'm betting it isn't real though, or if it is it is all code and no substance.
Posted by: RJ Schwarz || 02/28/2005 19:06 Comments || Top||

#9  Who said we intercepted comms? What is said is that there were comms. We've also recently intercepted some of Zarqawi's senior lieutenants. You don't suspect they're singing like canaries, like most of these fearless jihadis once they're in our hands?

That said, AMZ has never expressed a desire to attack America, but to attack Americans in Muslim lands. His MO has been conspicuously consistent on that point. So if UBL is urging AMZ to attack America, either AMZ has convinced UBL he has weapons available to him, perhaps in the states, that UBL wants to direct the use of. AMZ could, of course, be lying, or just exaggerating. Either way, if UBL is urging AMZ to attack America, either his own nets in America are tattered and his C2 is shot, or he's just desperate. Or all of the above.
Posted by: longtime lurker || 02/28/2005 20:52 Comments || Top||

#10  lol - bet Zarqawi was real excited to get his new orders.... gonna be a bitch to swim with one leg, dammit
Posted by: Frank G || 02/28/2005 21:07 Comments || Top||


2 La. men first to face terrorism charges in Mississippi
via JihadWatch.org
Two Louisiana men have appeared in U.S. District Court on the first terrorist charges filed in Mississippi. Lamont Ranson and Cedric Carpenter, both of New Orleans, were arrested Feb. 18 and charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to defraud the United States and an attempt to provide material support to terrorists. Carpenter faces an additional charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute and criminal forfeiture.

The two men made their initial court appearance Thursday in federal court in Jackson.

A Jackson television station reported that the two men bragged they had contacts at the Mississippi Highway Patrol and could obtain material to produce false driver's licenses and other forms of identification. Court records indicate they agreed to do so in exchange for cash and heroin from Abu Sayyaf, a radical Islamic separatist group based in the Philippines, WLBT-TV reported.

"The information alleges they could obtain Mississippi drivers licenses, false documents that could be used by terrorists to enter the country, remain in the country, travel in the country," U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton said. "That is a very disturbing aspect and we've looked into it as thoroughly as we can."

Lampton says more court proceedings could come Monday.

If convicted, Ranson faces up to 85 years in prison and a $3 million fine, and Carpenter faces up to 35 years in prison and a fine of $750,000.
Posted by: ed || 02/28/2005 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Lamont Ranson? Cranstons understudy? The Shadows' Shadow?
Posted by: Shipman || 02/28/2005 14:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Ew whee, dey ass gonna wind up in Angola. Whoa.
Posted by: Remoteman || 02/28/2005 19:03 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
No Truce With Misuari Rebels in Jolo: Philippine Military
The military yesterday strongly denied it has forged a truce with followers of jailed Muslim leader Nur Misuari who were blamed for attacking soldiers in the southern Philippine island of Jolo. Sulu provincial governor Benjamin Loong earlier told reporters that he helped broker the agreement with rebel leader Habier Malik, who led an uprising in the island earlier this month. "There is no such agreement and the operation against Malik and his group still continue. Malik is in hiding and we are hunting him down," Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza told Arab News.

He said declaring a cease-fire in Jolo is entirely in the hands of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gen. Efren Abu. In Manila, presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Arroyo was considering a possible cease-fire and has ordered Abu to fly to Jolo this week to assess whether the government should forge a truce with the rebels. Bunye defended the initial assaults against the armed followers of Nur Misuari, founder of the former separatist rebel group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). "We need to assert the authority of the republic in the area, because without punitive actions, the attacks would possibly be repeated and repeated," Bunye said.
This article starring:
HABIER MALIKMoro National Liberation Front
NUR MISUARIMoro National Liberation Front
Moro National Liberation Front
Posted by: Fred || 02/28/2005 9:35:21 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Missouri rebels?
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 02/28/2005 8:27 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanese PM announces gov't resignation, Bush pleased
Severely EFL

Lebanon's Prime Minister Omar Karami has announced he and his government are resigning, two weeks after the murder of former PM Rafik Hariri.

The move came as crowds protested in Beirut, calling for Syrian troops to leave the country.

The Lebanese parliament was also debating an opposition-sponsored motion of no-confidence in the government. His announcement came after a break in the parliamentary debate, which was being televised live.

A cheer went up among more than 10,000 protesters who had gathered in Martyrs Square to demand the resignation of the government and the withdrawal of Syrian troops.

They had defied a ban on demonstrations, which Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh said had been made on the grounds of "supreme national interests".

From AFP: The White House welcomed the resignation of pro-Syrian Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karameh saying it should pave the way for elections and a new government that was "truly representative."

White House spokesman Scott McClellan also repeated a call for Syrian troops to leave Lebanon.

"The new government will have the responsibility to implement free and fair elections that the Lebanese people have clearly demonstrated they desire," McClellan added.

"The process of (forming) a new government should proceed in accordance with the Lebanese constitution and should be free of all foreign interference," the White House spokesman said. snip

"It is time for Syria to fully comply with United Nations Security Council resolution 1559 that means that Syria military forces and intelligence personnel leave the country," he said. "That will help to ensure that elections are free and fair." snip

The announcement was greeted with loud applause in Lebanon's national assembly, where the opposition had been seeking a vote of no confidence in Karameh's four-month-old government.

Tens of thousands of jubilant demonstrators in nearby Martyrs' Square in central Beirut broke into singing the national anthem.

Posted by: trailing wife || 02/28/2005 2:52:07 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I hope that the Lebanese get back their country. They have had the short end of the stick ever since the Arafish and his hordes of thugs set up shop in Beruit after King Hussein kicked the PLO's collective ass out of Jordan in the 70's.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/28/2005 16:05 Comments || Top||


Lebanese Government Resigns Amid Protests
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karami announced the resignation of his pro-Syrian government Monday, two weeks after the assassination of his predecessor, Rafik Hariri, triggered protests in the streets and calls for Syria to withdraw thousands of troops. "I am keen that the government will not be a hurdle in front of those who want the good for this country. I declare the resignation of the government that I had the honor to head. May God preserve Lebanon," Karami said. The announcement prompted cheers from more than 25,000 flag-waving demonstrators protesting against the government and its Syrian backers outside the parliament building.
Posted by: Frank G || 02/28/2005 12:05:52 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Whoa. Did we just see a revolution?
Posted by: ed || 02/28/2005 12:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Did not expect this... very interesting.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats || 02/28/2005 12:22 Comments || Top||

#3  It is beginning to look like dominos over there. If the Lebanese TRULY get their independance from Syria, then maybe the Syrians themselves can free themselves from the Assad mafia.

Let freedom ring!!
Posted by: Justrand || 02/28/2005 12:40 Comments || Top||

#4  Khaleej Times: Tens of thousands of jubilant demonstrators gathered in a sea of red and white Lebanese flags at the nearby Martyrs’ Square in central Beirut, broke into singing the national anthem on hearing the news. The crowd, estimated to number some 60,000, had defied a government ban and massed in the heart of Beirut as the parliament held the debate on Hariri’s murder in a huge February 14 bomb blast.
------------------------
Shouting “Syria out!” protesters descended on Martyrs’ Square where Hariri is buried as hundreds of heavily armed troops and police guarded nearby streets but did not prevent the rally. Many spent Sunday night at the square despite the ban on demonstrations coming into force. Shops, banks, schools and businesses, meanwhile, were closed in Beirut and other main cities following a call for a general strike.

“Through your resistance you are writing a new page in history, one of regained independence,” Druze opposition leader Walid Jumblatt said. “Together we want a sovereign and independent Lebanon, the departure of Syrian secret services and above all the truth: who killed Rafiq Hariri,” he said. “We want to be friends with the Syrian people but we want the Syrian army to go,” he said.
Some of the MPs in parliament wore scarves in the red-and-white of the “peaceful resistance”.


Posted by: Steve || 02/28/2005 12:44 Comments || Top||

#5  whoa! Stunning! That has to be the shortest and most bloodless revolution ever.

This falls into the too good to be true category.
Posted by: 2b || 02/28/2005 13:17 Comments || Top||

#6  Lahoud, the Prez, still hasnt resigned, just the PM and cabinet. In theory that means Laboud, who is backed by Syria, appoints the new govt.

Still and all, things are moving quickly.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 02/28/2005 13:18 Comments || Top||

#7  I just turned on the TV and both Fox and CNN were covering the Michael Jackson trial. Unreal!

Posted by: 2b || 02/28/2005 13:30 Comments || Top||

#8  Lahoud better stay inside.

Some of those Lebanese might be as good a shot as the Chileans.
Posted by: anonymous2u || 02/28/2005 13:31 Comments || Top||

#9  .....or does this mean the lease comes off Hezbollah? Syria can stand back saying, "See I told ya so!"
Posted by: TomAnon || 02/28/2005 13:44 Comments || Top||

#10  (sound of telephone ringing)

Lahoud's secretary: Hello...yes...just a moment, I'll see if he's still here.

Brief Pause.

Lahoud's secretary: President Lahoud? There's a Mr. Ceausescu wishing to speak with you on line one. Shall I put the call through?
Posted by: Mark Z. || 02/28/2005 13:51 Comments || Top||

#11  You all realize the Iranian people are watching this and getting their own ideas right? ;)
Posted by: Damn_Proud_American || 02/28/2005 14:03 Comments || Top||

#12  I love it when a plan comes together.
Posted by: Karl || 02/28/2005 14:15 Comments || Top||

#13  CNN, MSNBC, Fox - still all covering Michael Jackson, BTK Killer, Lacy Peterson and Life Coaches (people who help achieve goals) and the missing little girl.

I guess they've decided they can't compete in the News business anymore and have decided to chuck it in the hopes of acquiring coveted journalist positions at the Globe and Enquirer.
Posted by: 2b || 02/28/2005 14:20 Comments || Top||

#14  It's a quagmire I tell ya! Our troops are the problem! (glug glug glug) There are no WMDs in Lebenon and the people love to be occupied by another Arab country. (burp) The UN has not authorized the Lebonese to overthrow their Syrian puppet government. (ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)
Posted by: Teddy (hic) Kennedy || 02/28/2005 14:23 Comments || Top||

#15  Teddy (hic) Kennedy,

LMAO!!!! Nice impression!
Posted by: Damn_Proud_American || 02/28/2005 14:27 Comments || Top||

#16  I dunno about that impression. He didn't grope any women, so I can't give him more than an 8.5 out of 10.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 02/28/2005 14:45 Comments || Top||

#17  Is it to much to hope that the Middle East may start to resemble Eastern Europe after the Berlin wall fell.
Posted by: CanaveralDan || 02/28/2005 14:50 Comments || Top||

#18  Imagine that! Domino theory.
It is still a bit premature to say that the trend is entrenched... but if this pans out...I see el cubo moonbats squirming in paroxysms in my crystal ball. What a sight to behold!

(We may see liberalized ME withion a decade, but the Western Europe or parts of it may fall to jihadis, kinda ironic).
Posted by: Sobiesky || 02/28/2005 15:09 Comments || Top||

#19  He didn't grope any women, so I can't give him more than an 8.5 out of 10.

Hell, he didn't even drown anyone. I'll give him a 5.5. Can't even tell him apart from Sean Penn.
Posted by: BH || 02/28/2005 16:02 Comments || Top||

#20  Ted Kennedy didn't grope any women. Uh..you mean while the cameras were rolling? From what I've heard, Teddy does more than grope his "staffers".
Posted by: 2b || 02/28/2005 16:13 Comments || Top||

#21  2b...the comments were on the "Teddy (hic) Kennedy" impersonation.

The REAL Teddy gropes everything, without regards to sex or species!! So typing an impersonation of Teddy can only get you so high a mark...ya gotta grope 'em and drown 'em to approach a 10. and ya gotta grope 'em WHILE drowning 'em to do the FULL TEDDY!!

Still, it was a nice effort!
Posted by: Justrand || 02/28/2005 16:21 Comments || Top||

#22  DPA, that assumes that they're actually getting the news. :(
Posted by: Edward Yee || 02/28/2005 16:49 Comments || Top||

#23  The real shame, and sham, is that any principled promoters of world peace (if there are any such in the liberal-leftist gaggle) are missing the real revolution called expanded democracy.
Posted by: Hyper || 02/28/2005 16:55 Comments || Top||

#24  I remember a conversation with a leftist in the beginning of 2003. Let's go into Iraq and clean out the cancer, I says. No, she says, Iran and Kimmie are the bigger threat. Ever heard of hanging fruit, I says. Plus watch what will happen when Saddam goes down. I'm more satisfied for the average person in Leb., Iraq and soon to be Syria than I am for myself, but isn't it a great thing that the dominoes have started falling. I can only hope that the Lebanese keep up the pressure. In the end, it is they who will decide the matter. I am hopeful as it seems the freedom genie has been let out of the bottle.
Posted by: chicago mike || 02/28/2005 17:03 Comments || Top||

#25  chicgao mike, your leftist friend would have been against doing anything about iran or north korea too. She argued that point to attempt to stop the liberation of Iraq, not because she really believed it. If Iran was on the table she would have argued that Iraq was the bigger threat and how crazy it is to be focusing on Iran.
Posted by: Damn_Proud_American || 02/28/2005 17:50 Comments || Top||

#26  Damn Proud American> It's always easy to make claims of hypocrisy when you are judging not what people do, but what you *believe* they would have done had the situation been different.

It doesn't reveal their hypocricy ofcourse, it only reveals your prejudices. According to you nobody who ever opposed the war on Iraq can have been honest in their opposition, can they?
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 02/28/2005 18:31 Comments || Top||

#27  meaner while Barra bonds is free to keeper his face fat. i say outrage!
Posted by: half || 02/28/2005 19:00 Comments || Top||

#28  You're exactly right DPA, the leftists in this country have an anti administration agenda. They would have opposed any move in any direction, unless of course there was a Democrat in office.
Posted by: JerseyMike || 02/28/2005 19:14 Comments || Top||

#29  Aris, there is a simple hypocrisy trial method. If she now claims that US should not attack Iran, but rather Norks instead, the pattern would be established.
In fact, I've already heard that from LLL moonbats that were gainst Iraq liberation and pointed at the time their fingers at Iran and Norks.
Posted by: Sobiesky || 02/28/2005 19:18 Comments || Top||

#30  *snickers* look who's talking.... Someone who's probably made only three contributions tops without the purpose of criticizing someone.
Posted by: Ptah || 02/28/2005 19:38 Comments || Top||

#31  Ptah, I criticize people over what they do and say, not over what I wildly hypothesize they would have done and said had the situation been different.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 02/28/2005 19:47 Comments || Top||

#32  I would hope that the VOA or some radio station would be broadcasting the news of what is happening to Lebanon into Iran. Whichever way this goes, it is important that everyone in the ME has access to the facts of Lebanon. This is sorta like the Ukraine. The govt does dirty shennagans, the people smell a rat, and the rat is shown daylight.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/28/2005 19:55 Comments || Top||

#33  Aris, I have talked with people who were against the Iraq intervention on the grounds that war is NEVER an option, then said in their next breath that North Korea was a much bigger threat than Iraq or Iran could ever be and why isn't the Bush Administration doing something about North Korea
, including MILITARY intervention. These so-called liberals are the epitome of hypocrasy. They decry how President Bush is such a monster but defend Saddam Hussein as the legitimate ruler of Iraq. I think it safe to say I can accurately hypothesize what their actions will be on any given situation.
Posted by: Chinese Unomoger1553 || 02/28/2005 20:47 Comments || Top||

#34  Note: Crowds up near 200,000(per Captain's Quarters)..no one's leaving until the Prez packs it in...

I think I hear the fat lady warming up....
Posted by: Snump Huperesing6112 || 02/28/2005 23:11 Comments || Top||


Lebanon: Syrian troops pulling back
Lebanese Defence Minister Abd al-Rahim Murad has told Aljazeera that Syria has started pulling back its troops in Lebanon into the eastern Bakaa Valley of the country. In an interview with Aljazeera on Thursday, Murad said "the sixth stage of the redeployment of Syrian troops in Lebanon has started on Thursday".
"We're going! We're going! No need to get all excited!"
He added that according to the 1989 Taif Accord, all Syrian troops should withdraw to the eastern Bakaa Valley. "The Lebanese and Syrian leadership have met and decided on the sixth redeployment of the Syrian forces in Lebanon," Murad said. "They took the decision to start the redeployment in the next few hours. After this redeployment, all the Syrian forces will be in the Bakaa," he said. Further meetings would take place to "define the number of the troops which will remain in the Bakaa and to define the spots where they will be stationed in that area", he added.
Posted by: Fred || 02/28/2005 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  For more than two decades the Assad and their Syrian military allies have controlled the traffickng of narcotics in and from the Bakaa Valley. The Bakaa also serves as a site for the training of Hizbollah and other terrorists. Thus, the Syrians will not leave until they are forced from the place.
Posted by: Tancred || 02/28/2005 8:52 Comments || Top||

#2  ... the Syrians will not leave until they are forced from the place.

That looks like next week's schedule.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/28/2005 13:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Our cluster bombs cleared out a lot of valleys in Afghanistan in late 2001.
Posted by: Tom || 02/28/2005 13:38 Comments || Top||

#4  I heard that some black woman wearing long boots and pointed heels had something to do with it.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 02/28/2005 14:06 Comments || Top||

#5  Conid did look like she stepped out of "The Matrix".

Probably scared the hell out of the middle east.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/28/2005 16:52 Comments || Top||

#6  Looking at the photo reminds me of a passage one of BigEric's books:

Three little dinosaurs acting sorta cool...
Supersaurus wore his shades to school...
The teacher yelled, "Why that's against the rules!"
No more Supersaurus acting sorta cool...


from "10 Little Dinosaurs" by Pattie Schnetzler
Posted by: BigEd || 02/28/2005 19:09 Comments || Top||

#7  OS,

You've been gone a while. Hope everything is alright.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 02/28/2005 21:02 Comments || Top||

#8  Conid did look like she stepped out of "The Matrix".

Probably scared the hell out of the middle east.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/28/2005 16:52 Comments || Top||

#9  Conid did look like she stepped out of "The Matrix".

Probably scared the hell out of the middle east.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/28/2005 16:52 Comments || Top||


Lebanese attack statue of Syria's Assad
A bust of late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad was found knocked from its pedestal in southern Lebanon on Sunday in what looked like an outburst of anti-Syrian fury, witnesses said. The statue stood at the entrance to Qana village, which the witnesses said had also seen an exodus of hundreds of Syrian farm workers since the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, which many Lebanese blame on Syria.

It was not known who knocked the statue of Assad, who ruled Syria with an iron fist for three decades, to the ground overnight and struck at it. Authorities returned it to its pedestal. Calls from inside and outside Lebanon for Syria to pull troops and intelligence services from its tiny neighbour have grown louder since Hariri's killing. Thousands have taken to the country's streets chanting anti-Syrian slogans. Some protesters have directed their anger towards the roughly one million Syrian labourers in Lebanon, a source of much resentment among some Lebanese. Tents belonging to Syrian workers were burned down near the northern town of Tripoli a few days after Hariri's death.
Posted by: Fred || 02/28/2005 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder where the Lebanese got that idea.
Posted by: Matt || 02/28/2005 12:16 Comments || Top||

#2 

The head - before it began it service as a door stop.
Posted by: BigEd || 02/28/2005 16:09 Comments || Top||

#3 

I woner where the Syrians got THAT idea?
Posted by: BigEd || 02/28/2005 16:11 Comments || Top||

#4  ..before it began it service as a door stop.

At least it looks correct. The statue's head looks mushroom-shaped, just like the original ASS-ad.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 02/28/2005 19:49 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Tech
Aegis missile defense 'for real' after successful test
The United States has deployed its naval-based ballistic missile defense system in wake of a successful test of the Aegis emergency response capability.
In other words, it's ready for prime time!
The Aegis, which contains the Standard Missile-3 interceptor, destroyed a ballistic missile outside the earth's atmosphere during a flight test over the Pacific Ocean last week. Rick Lehner, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, said the SM-3 interceptor would continue to expand its presence in 2005.
The Feb. 24 mission — the fifth successful intercept for the SM-3 — marked the first full demonstration of the Aegis BMD emergency deployment capability. The test, which employed an operational version of the SM-3 Block I missile and Aegis BMD weapon system, also demonstrated the SM-3's third stage rocket motor single-pulse mode. Officials said Aegis would be installed on 18 additional U.S. Navy destroyers.
Raytheon has designed the SM-3 interceptor to include a third-stage rocket motor, with two pulses that could be ignited independently and expand the area of ballistic missile engagement. Lockheed Martin has developed the Aegis BMD weapon system.
"This successful flight test demonstrates the tactical, operational capability of SM-3 and the Aegis BMD weapon system in real-world conditions," Raytheon Missile Systems vice president Edward Miyashiro said. "Aegis ballistic missile defense is for real."
The Aegis weapon system, the primary component of the sea-based element of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System, integrates the SPY-1 radar, the Mk 41 Vertical Launching System and the SM-3 missile with its own command and control system. Aegis capabilities have been installed on 68 U.S. Navy cruisers and destroyers on station around the world. In 2003, the United States deployed an Aegis BMD cruiser in the eastern Mediterranean to help protect Israel on the eve of the war in Iraq. The Aegis has been selected by Australia, Japan, Korea, Norway and Spain.
Posted by: Steve || 02/28/2005 3:13:17 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ya gotta love the attitude: it's not a No-Dong, or a Big-Dong or a Prithvi, or a "here's our national self-esteem in a tube", it's a frigging STANDARD MISSILE-3

Bwahahahaha!
Posted by: Frank G || 02/28/2005 15:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Hey, the first try was Nike-Zeus.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 02/28/2005 15:31 Comments || Top||

#3  hehehe... would like to see one of these 'interrupt' a North Korean missle test.....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/28/2005 15:41 Comments || Top||

#4  You'll notice how they almost *never* mention the 747-carried lasers anymore? The objective here is to have layered defenses, which are the mirror image of the "overkill" offense. However, little mention is made of the shorter range uses of these defenses, except against Israel. How to protect the Arabian Gulf, etc.?
Posted by: Anonymoose || 02/28/2005 15:54 Comments || Top||

#5  she has a preetygood P shooter!!
Posted by: mygal || 02/28/2005 16:02 Comments || Top||

#6  Geez, what's the big deal????

Tom Clancy saved DC with this system years ago.


And from what I've been hearing about the Chinese in Siberia there may be MORE truth in The Bear & The Dragon.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/28/2005 16:46 Comments || Top||

#7 

In an effort to avoid being hit a return missile strike after his ICBMs fell harmlessly in the north Pacific, the dictator had a double created through facial plastic surgery. The real dictator left town. The problem was that no one believes that this person is the real dictator, because the rest of the body is all wrong! The real dictator's train has been spotted by satellite heading for the Chinese border...
Posted by: BigEd || 02/28/2005 18:20 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
(Iraq) All but won
Overly optimistic, perhaps? Well, anyway, I really liked the iraqi Darwin awards bit... like "Dumb and Dumber", only slightly more graphical.
The media can't see that Iraq is close to secure
Sunday, February 27, 2005

Lt. Col. Jim Stockmoe, chief intelligence officer for the First Infantry Division, roared with laughter as he recalled the increasing missteps of the resistance in Iraq in an interview earlier this month with British journalist Toby Harnden, writing for The Spectator.
"There were three brothers down in Baghdad who had a mortar tube and were firing into the Green Zone," Stockmoe said. "They were storing the mortar rounds in the car engine compartment and the rounds got overheated. Two of these clowns dropped them in the tube and they exploded, blowing their legs off."

The surviving brother sought refuge in a nearby house, but the occupants "beat the crap out of him and turned him over to the Iraqi police," Stockmoe told Harnden, "It was like the movie 'Dumb and Dumber.' "

"The nine election day suicide bombers averaged about three victims each, a strike rate so bad that Allah might soon start rationing the virgins to show his displeasure," Harnden wrote.

Stockmoe has heard so many similar stories that he created an Iraqi version of the "Darwin Awards." Created in 1993 by a student at Stanford University, the Darwin awards commemorate those who "contribute to our gene pool by removing themselves from it in a really stupid way."

The number of insurgent attacks has fallen off significantly since the Fallujah offensive last November, and the attacks that are being made are less effective.

There are about 50-60 attacks a day on coalition forces, about half the pre-Fallujah level. Almost all are within the Sunni Triangle, and most are ineffective. "Most of these are ambush-style attacks that result in no casualties," noted StrategyPage.com.

The news media report the attacks, but tend not to report, as StrategyPage does, that "dozens, sometimes over a hundred, of the attackers, or suspects, are arrested every day."

Unbalanced reporting has given Americans a false impression of how the war is going, said Austin Bay, a retired colonel in the Army Reserve who was called to active duty in Iraq last year.

"Collect relatively isolated events in a chronological list and presto: the impression of uninterrupted, widespread violence destroying Iraq," said Bay, who is also a syndicated columnist. "But that was a false impression. Every day coalition forces were moving thousands of 18-wheelers from Kuwait and Turkey into Iraq, and if the insurgents were lucky, they blew up one. However, flash the flames of that one diesel rig on CNN and 'Oh my God, America can't stop these guys' is the impression left in Boston, Boise and Beijing."

It will be some months before the news media recognize it, and a few months more before they acknowledge it, but the war in Iraq is all but won. The situation is roughly analogous to the battle of Iwo Jima, which took place 60 years ago this month. It took 35 days before the island was declared secure, but the outcome was clear after day five, with the capture of Mt. Suribachi.

Proof of this was provided by Sen. Hillary Clinton. Iraq is functioning quite well, she said in a press conference in Baghdad Feb. 19. The recent rash of suicide attacks is a sign the insurgency is failing, she said.

"When politicians like [Clinton] start flocking to Iraq to bask in the light of its success, then you know that the corner has been turned," a reader of his blog wrote to Bay.

More substantive signs abound. The performance of Iraqi security forces is improving, as are their numbers. Nearly 10,000 men showed up at a southern Iraqi military base Feb. 14 to volunteer for 5,000 openings. Only 6,000 had been expected.

Sunni Arab politicians have admitted they made a big boo-boo in boycotting the Jan. 30 election, and are pleading to be included in the political process. Some ex-Baathists are seeking terms for laying down their arms.

Those who get their news from the "mainstream" media are surprised by developments in Iraq, as they were surprised by our swift victory in Afghanistan, the sudden fall of Saddam Hussein, the success of the Afghan election and the success of the Iraqi election.

Journalists demand accountability from political leaders for "quagmires" which exist chiefly in the imagination of journalists. But when will journalists be held to account for getting every major development in the war on terror wrong?
Posted by: Anonymous5089 || 02/28/2005 2:04:00 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Unfortunately the terrorists have enormous resources left in money, people and munitions.

Even worse, they seem to have a steady stream of new money coming in from individual terrorist finaciers and they have plenty of young people who go to terrorist mosques.

The battle can still be lost.
Posted by: mhw || 02/28/2005 15:22 Comments || Top||

#2  "They were storing the mortar rounds in the car engine compartment and the rounds got overheated. Two of these clowns dropped them in the tube and they exploded, blowing their legs off."

I'll bet that the media was sorely disappointed when this happened. Two of their comrades, dead.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 02/28/2005 15:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Jack Kelly can write
Posted by: Frank G || 02/28/2005 15:28 Comments || Top||

#4  All those resources in people and money are not going to overcome the fact that most (80% +) of the Iraqi population hates them. And every bomb they explode and every murder they commit makes them hate even more. There is no way at all they can take over the country, given an effective government and army.

Consider Columbia, a government and society can survive constant terrorism, if the terrorists have little or no popular appeal.
Posted by: buwaya || 02/28/2005 15:40 Comments || Top||

#5  buwaya,

I'm not talking about surviving. I'm talking about winning.

Btw, in Columbia the terrorists do not have anywhere near the supply of munitions the terrorists have in Iraq. Nor do they have a functioning ideology corresponding to the Salafist uber alles ideology of the terrorists in Iraq. Nonetheless, I don't think you can say the war in Columbia is 'won'; and its been going on for over a decade.
Posted by: mhw || 02/28/2005 15:49 Comments || Top||

#6  I think mhw is right. Still can lose. But with the people in the middle east waking up, like Lebanon (causing problems for a big provider, Syria). The resourses may begin to dry up enough that thier recruiting will be diminished. At least, as this story shows, have a lower end recruiting class.
Posted by: plainslow || 02/28/2005 16:07 Comments || Top||

#7  enormous resources left in money - Terrorism is a business and with any business you ask where is the revenue stream? As far as the Baathists are concerned the suitcases of Saadam era cash will be running low and there is no obvious replacement since the Sunni economy has collapsed. They may have plenty of men and munitions but the money is definitely running out.
Posted by: phil_b || 02/28/2005 16:26 Comments || Top||

#8  The battle can be lost, but not the war. Look at Lebannon. It's winter. The mullahs have to be looking forward to spring break.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 02/28/2005 16:31 Comments || Top||

#9  I think there are separate issues here. The insurgency cannot topple the Iraqi government. Like the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka did to the majority Sinhalese, Sunni terrorists can stage mass casualty attacks. But they cannot topple the Shiite-majority government.

How Uncle Sam could lose in Iraq is by withdrawing before we get a political environment that we can live with. Having over 100,000 troops in Iraq gives us leverage. As long as our guys are in Iraq in significant numbers, the Shiites cannot do anything they want - including installing an Iran-style Shiite Islamist government.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/28/2005 18:19 Comments || Top||

#10  Not only is their recruitment probably diminishing but more importantly it sounds like their pool of intelligent willing martyrs has dried up. That is a problem they will have real trouble getting around.
Posted by: RJ Schwarz || 02/28/2005 19:19 Comments || Top||

#11  phil_b
I wish I could be as optimistic as you regarding the money. Frankly, I thought the terrorists would suffer a crushing blow when Iraq changed its currency. They suffered a blow but recovered. I presume they are getting funds from Salafist Saudis and probably some from the Iranian side and some from the proceeds of kidnapping, extortion and robbery. That's a lot of sources to shut down.

My hope is that they will start running short of munitions but that depends on a lot of factors for which I don't have a good theory.
Posted by: mhw || 02/28/2005 19:43 Comments || Top||

#12  What happened to the truck loads of money taken from the central bank?
Posted by: SwissTex || 02/28/2005 20:17 Comments || Top||

#13  That, ST, is an excellent question. I'm guessing Banque Paribas.
Posted by: Matt || 02/28/2005 20:50 Comments || Top||

#14  In the war against the insurgents do not expect a final "victory." There won't be one. The battle has been won - the war ongoing. The free Iraqis have won their first battle - the facsists are slowly losing their war.
Posted by: JP || 02/28/2005 21:31 Comments || Top||

#15  I'm still wondering if any of the bigger American (term used loosely in this context) journalists or their Eurotrash counterparts were on Saddam's payroll. All those zillions of dollars raked off Oil-For-Fraud can buy one hell of a lot of friendly press.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) || 02/28/2005 23:23 Comments || Top||

#16  JP is right. However, this will be a war of attrition. If Syria starts to fold, that may mean good news for the people of:
1. Lebanon--they could get their country back.
2. Iraq---it will greatly reduce terrorism by drying up the personnel and resources.
3. Israel---Hizb'Allah will lose a base and the northern terrorist threat to Israel will diminish.
4. Syria---they may get their country back from the thugocracy.
5. Iran---The MMs will become more isolated. The people and Just Plain Joes will see what is happening and will make demands of the MMs.
6. Saudi Arabia---More pressure will be put on the Princes to change or get the hell out.

Just like WW2, victory just did not happen. Little things went right, big things went wrong, more things went right than wrong, momentum built. But it was a long hard slog. Same here.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/28/2005 23:29 Comments || Top||


Iraq Tribunal to Try 5 Baathists
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Five former members of Saddam Hussein's regime — including one of his half brothers — will go on trial for crimes against humanity allegedly committed in retaliation for a failed attempt to kill the former dictator, a special tribunal said Monday. The announcement marked the first time the special court has issued referrals, similar to indictments, the final step before trials can start. No date was given. Due to a mandatory waiting period, at least 45 days must pass from Monday's referral before a trial can begin.

The five include Barzan Ibrahim al-Hassan al-Tikriti, one of Saddam's half brothers, and former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan. The three others were senior Baath Party members. The five officials are facing charges of crimes against humanity for their alleged involvement in a crackdown in Dujail, 50 miles north of Baghdad, that was organized in retaliation for a failed 1982 assassination attempt against Saddam. At least 50 Iraqis were allegedly executed in the Shiite town. "This case is one of several cases being investigated," the tribunal said in a statement. "The detainees of this case are also accused of other crimes still being investigated."

The referrals were the first of many expected to be issued in coming weeks, including one against Saddam's notorious cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as "Chemical Ali." In December, investigative judges summoned al-Majid for closed-door preliminary hearings for his role in poison gas attacks against Iraq's Kurdish minority. The three others on trial were identified as Awad Hamad al-Bander Al-Sadun, a former chief judge of the RevolutionaryCourt, Abdullah Kadam Roweed al-Musheikhi, and his son, Mizher Roweed al-Musheikhi. The latter two were local Baath officials in Dujail. Saddam was captured north of Baghdad in December 2003, and others have been in custody for nearly two years. U.S. military officials transferred 12 of the top defendants to Iraqi custody in June with the handover of sovereignty. They're being held at an undisclosed location near Baghdad International Airport, west of the capital, the tribunal said in a statement.

Another of Saddam's half brothers, a most-wanted leader in the Sunni-based insurgency, has been handed over to Iraqi officials by Syria. The arrest of Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan ended months of Syrian denials it was harboring fugitives from the ousted Saddam regime. Iraq authorities said Damascus acted in a gesture of panic fear goodwill. Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan was arrested along with 29 other fugitive members of the former dictator's Baath Party in Hasakah in northeastern Syria, 30 miles from the Iraqi border, officials said Sunday on condition of anonymity. The U.S. military in Iraq had no comment.
This article starring:
ABDULLAH KADAM ROWID AL MUSHEIKHIIraqi Baath Party
ALI HASAN AL MAJIDIraqi Baath Party
AWAD HAMAD AL BANDER AL SADUNIraqi Baath Party
BARZAN IBRAHIM AL HASAN AL TIKRITIIraqi Baath Party
CHEMICAL ALIIraqi Baath Party
MIZHER ROWID AL MUSHEIKHIIraqi Baath Party
SABAWI IBRAHIM AL HASANIraqi Baath Party
TAHA YASIN RAMADANIraqi Baath Party
Posted by: Steve || 02/28/2005 1:51:58 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Important technical point: Tribunals are not part of the Common Law. They are usually found in Roman and Napoleonic law countries. Whichever of these, or another legal system, is in place in Iraq will really matter in the course of these trials. Anybody know?
Posted by: Anonymoose || 02/28/2005 14:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Common law of Hammurabi.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/28/2005 16:53 Comments || Top||

#3  A brief glance suggests that Iraq law is probably a mix of tribalism, British common law, and Iraqi tradition all held together in a new, statutory framework that is an attempt to jumpstart a legal system that has not worked well for almost half a century. A historical overview of the Iraqi system (up to the fall of Hussein) can be found here, in a United States Institute of Peace article called Establishing the Rule of Law in Iraq. Among other things, this article notes that
the British established and staffed Iraq's modern, post-Ottoman judicial system. As a consequence, the judiciary had a tradition of independence from the executive that continued after the Iraqi revolution of 1958. During the period before the Baath Party came to power, the courts made a number of important decisions against the government. After 1968, the new Baathist constitution marginalized the judiciary by ending the separation of powers, making civilian courts subservient to the military court system, and creating special courts outside the regular judicial system. Iraq's civilian court system is composed of a high court, civil courts, and criminal courts and the criminal prosecutorial system.
The authority under which the tribunal is operating that will try Hussein and his henchmen is described here, in a statute being executed by the Coalition Provisional Authority, the Statute of the Iraqi Special Tribunal. The tribunal appears focused on the enforcement of law and order through trial and judgment, leading to the efficient punishment of universally recognized criminal activity (e.g., rape, enslavement, murder, genocide . . .)
Posted by: cingold || 02/28/2005 20:54 Comments || Top||


Our Best and Bravest
Posted by: Matt || 02/28/2005 10:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Great report. Thanks for posting Matt.
Posted by: GK || 02/28/2005 10:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Some 20-odd insurgents were captured by his company during the battle, but there was not a single Iraqi amongst them. Muslims from all over the world, they were aspiring jihadists who had found easy recruiting networks through their local Mosques in their home countries, which plugged them right into the insurgency.

Thats a lot of air and bus camel fare for the 20+ captured, the ones that ran away, and the ones who met some virgins.

Posted by: BigEd || 02/28/2005 11:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Sorry, I meant on put this on Page 1.
Posted by: Matt || 02/28/2005 11:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Thank you Fred.
Posted by: Matt || 02/28/2005 12:32 Comments || Top||


105+ killed by Hilla car bomb
At least 105 people have been killed in a massive car bomb south of Baghdad, local medical officials say. At least 130 others have been wounded in the blast in Hilla, 100km (60 miles) south of the capital. The car, reportedly driven by a suicide bomber, exploded near a queue of people applying for government jobs. A statement from local police said a suicide car bomb "hit a gathering of people who were applying for work in the security services", the Associated Press news agency reported. "Several people" were arrested in connection with the blast, the statement added, without elaborating further.

Witnesses reported seeing dozens of bodies and body parts lying on the ground after the blast. Footage showed pools of blood at the scene, with dozens of people helping to put body parts, including arms, feet and limbs, into blankets. Shoes and tattered clothes were piled up in a corner. The director of the Hilla teaching hospital, Mohammed Dia, told the BBC the explosion was far worse than anything the town had ever experience before. A medical official told the Reuters news agency that local people had been called on to donate blood and that expert assistance had requested from further afield. "We've called on doctors from Karbala, Diwaniya and Najaf to come and help and they have started to arrive," he added. Hilla is a mainly Shia town, and Sunni militants have been openly striking at Shia targets in an attempt to stir up sectarian strife, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad.
Posted by: Bulldog || 02/28/2005 6:40:42 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Looks like a major success for the Michael Moore Minutemen. Al-Beeb naturally has to attribute it to "sectarian strife" to maintain the all-important air of equivalency between terrorist savages and lawful processes like a hiring line.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 02/28/2005 8:20 Comments || Top||

#2  I read about these horrific crimes and wonder: how long before the Shiites decide they've had enough, form a vigilante group, and take down an entire Sunni village? I'm surprised it hasn't happened already.
Posted by: Captain Pedantic || 02/28/2005 8:36 Comments || Top||

#3  They are forming vigilante groups but they are more focused and are taking down perps only. They don't want to start the civil war, but they do want to eliminate the uncivil people.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 02/28/2005 8:38 Comments || Top||

#4  "Hilla is a mainly Shia town, and Sunni militants have been openly striking at Shia targets in an attempt to stir up sectarian strife, says the BBC’s Jim Muir in Baghdad."

"Militants" and "Shia targets" not "terrorist suicide bombers" and "job-seekers," and this is merely an effort to "stir up sectarian strife," rather like a quaint rabble-rouser holding forth in Hyde Park; and not a monstrous atrocity on a par with the Madrid bombings of 3-11-04.

The Beeb belongs in Hell.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 02/28/2005 8:40 Comments || Top||

#5  These mass homicides by suicide bombers create local havoc but don't help the terrorist cause in the long run. Beneath the surface, the battle of ideas continues, and Islamicist terrorists murdering Muslims don't advance the ball.
Posted by: Hank || 02/28/2005 11:22 Comments || Top||

#6  Gotta love liberal democracy. Just think, they'd really be killing each other if our boys hadn't arrived. Makes me damn proud to be an American, eh boys??
Posted by: Tractor || 02/28/2005 14:25 Comments || Top||

#7  Having a tractor "pull" in public is rather crass, wouldn't you agree?
Posted by: .com || 02/28/2005 14:26 Comments || Top||

#8  That's right trac, if the boys weren't there, the Sunnis would still be killin the Shiites and the Kurds. Only they wouldn't be doin it to get their 72 virgins, it would be make sure Saddam's feet was properly kissed or to keep theirselves outta one of them torture rooms.
Posted by: Hank || 02/28/2005 14:59 Comments || Top||

#9  If only we had invaded in 91 before Saddam was able to create terrorist infrastructure.
Posted by: mhw || 02/28/2005 15:25 Comments || Top||

#10  mhw---you hit the nail on the head. Saddam took over Kuwait. We kicked him out of there. He set of a huge ecological mess with oil wellhead destruction, oil spills, and fires (***crickets chirping, no ecological protests from the LLL***). Then we did not finish the job. Thousands died at the hands of Saddam's henchmen. All because the Arab members of the coalition did not want to take him out. We lost about 148 or so in that war. We have lost over 1300 in this war. Bad decisions cost us a lot of good people. I hope that we learn from this war that the job must be finished. If you kick the king, ya better kill him.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/28/2005 16:19 Comments || Top||

#11  And there is my own personal hell.

We had river crossing points set, phase lines drawn up, and logistics prepared for a "lightning thrust" stright up to Baghdad. And there was NOTHING in our way. We had rendered any significant surviving RG divisions combat incapable, had their comms and logistics networks down, hard - and had trashed the "secret police" units along the entire route of march.

Except for GHW Bush and his playing the Washington Insider game, not wanting to piss off "the international community".

So we stopped. And sat. And that was hell, for us and for the Iraqi people.

We watched while Saddams henchmen, safe on the other side of a demarcation line, started killing the locals who had dared to rise up becaue there were US tanks nearby. Old men, women & children. Shot. Or loaded on to trucks, never to be seen again. And we were ordered to sit on our damned hands. It was a disgrace.

And these troops over there now are paying the price for our failure to finish the war we started.

Thats why I do not like Bush the Elder - He was not really a conservative, nor was he that good of a president. He is why I voted Libertarian in 92 and let Clinton into office - I could not bring myself to vote for that Bush.

Thank God his son is nothing like him, at least in foreign policy.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/28/2005 17:00 Comments || Top||

#12  OS, speaking as a clueless civilian, let me ask you: if we had gone for Baghdad in '91 would Saddam have used chemical-biological weapons? And could we have handled that given the technical capabilities of our equipment back then?
Posted by: Matt || 02/28/2005 17:43 Comments || Top||

#13  So, this is the uprising wining the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, eh Teddy? Does anyone now doubt the utter insanity and irrelevance of Theodore Kennedy? Oldspook, I wish I had been there and wish I could go now but I'm too damn old and health is gone. These evil people need to be exterminated.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 02/28/2005 20:59 Comments || Top||

#14  And there is my own personal hell.

We had river crossing points set, phase lines drawn up, and logistics prepared for a "lightning thrust" stright up to Baghdad. And there was NOTHING in our way. We had rendered any significant surviving RG divisions combat incapable, had their comms and logistics networks down, hard - and had trashed the "secret police" units along the entire route of march.

Except for GHW Bush and his playing the Washington Insider game, not wanting to piss off "the international community".

So we stopped. And sat. And that was hell, for us and for the Iraqi people.

We watched while Saddams henchmen, safe on the other side of a demarcation line, started killing the locals who had dared to rise up becaue there were US tanks nearby. Old men, women & children. Shot. Or loaded on to trucks, never to be seen again. And we were ordered to sit on our damned hands. It was a disgrace.

And these troops over there now are paying the price for our failure to finish the war we started.

Thats why I do not like Bush the Elder - He was not really a conservative, nor was he that good of a president. He is why I voted Libertarian in 92 and let Clinton into office - I could not bring myself to vote for that Bush.

Thank God his son is nothing like him, at least in foreign policy.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/28/2005 17:00 Comments || Top||

#15  And there is my own personal hell.

We had river crossing points set, phase lines drawn up, and logistics prepared for a "lightning thrust" stright up to Baghdad. And there was NOTHING in our way. We had rendered any significant surviving RG divisions combat incapable, had their comms and logistics networks down, hard - and had trashed the "secret police" units along the entire route of march.

Except for GHW Bush and his playing the Washington Insider game, not wanting to piss off "the international community".

So we stopped. And sat. And that was hell, for us and for the Iraqi people.

We watched while Saddams henchmen, safe on the other side of a demarcation line, started killing the locals who had dared to rise up becaue there were US tanks nearby. Old men, women & children. Shot. Or loaded on to trucks, never to be seen again. And we were ordered to sit on our damned hands. It was a disgrace.

And these troops over there now are paying the price for our failure to finish the war we started.

Thats why I do not like Bush the Elder - He was not really a conservative, nor was he that good of a president. He is why I voted Libertarian in 92 and let Clinton into office - I could not bring myself to vote for that Bush.

Thank God his son is nothing like him, at least in foreign policy.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/28/2005 17:00 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Nepal Necropsies Numerated
Suspected communist rebels in southern Nepal ambushed an army truck, shot a police chief and attacked villagers Sunday, killing at least 14 people a day after lifting a highway blockade that crippled the flow of essential supplies in protest of the king's recent power grab. The rebels ambushed an army truck carrying soldiers on patrol near Patlaiya, about 160 miles south of Katmandu, killing eight of them, police said. Another 10 soldiers were injured and taken to hospitals, a spokesman at the army headquarters in Katmandu said. In nearby Butwal, suspected rebels fatally shot the town's police chief and his assistant before escaping. Separately, insurgents killed four people in overnight attacks on villages in the south, police said. Villagers in the area have shown rare defiance of the rebels, killing 21 guerrillas in the past few days.

The rebels announced Saturday they were lifting the blockade to ease the discomfort of the common people. However, they vowed to step up their campaign against the army. "We are going to start a new phase of movement increasing military resistance and mass movement of people," rebel chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as Prachanda, said in a statement. A Nepalese army spokesman declined comment.

On Sunday, some 40 oil tankers brought much-needed gasoline, diesel and kerosene to the capital, Katmandu, which had been facing a fuel shortage. Dozens of trucks loaded with fresh vegetables and fruits, rice, flour, chickens and milk also arrived. Buses and cars parked in garages for days ventured out onto roads snaking through the mountainous country.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/28/2005 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Socialism lives! in mountaineous Nepal, where burly men roam the hills brandishing Red Books.
"Revolution, Revolution, Liberate the Masses!"
Posted by: Tractor || 02/28/2005 14:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Is that the People's Truck? Property is theft, y'know, comrade...
Posted by: mojo || 02/28/2005 15:22 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Israel to reconsider further prisoner release
Posted by: Fred || 02/28/2005 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They really need to develop that implantable RFID, GPS, Microphone, Cam with small bomb to be implanted in all these guys before releasing them...
Posted by: 3dc || 02/28/2005 13:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Just give 'em a "free cell phone" on their way out.
Posted by: Tom || 02/28/2005 13:24 Comments || Top||


Israel Freezes Middle East Peace Moves
Israel yesterday froze the peace process with Palestinians and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon threatened retaliation for Friday night's Tel Aviv attack if the Palestinian leadership does not crack down on militant groups. At a Cabinet meeting, Israel decided to freeze gestures agreed on at a summit in Egypt on Feb. 8, where Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared a truce to end four years of bloodshed — turning control of five West Bank towns over to the Palestinians and freeing 400 more prisoners.

At the beginning of the weekly Cabinet meeting, Sharon said Islamic Jihad carried out the bombing on orders from its leaders in Syria. "We know this for certain,"' he said, but held the Palestinian Authority responsible as well. "There will be no progress politically, and I repeat, no political progress, until the Palestinians carry out a determined campaign to destroy the terrorist groups and their infrastructure," Sharon said, warning that if this is not done, "Israel will have to increase its military activities that are meant to protect the citizens of Israel."
Posted by: Fred || 02/28/2005 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Talkin' sense again, I see. Way to go, Arik!
Posted by: Dripping Sarcasm || 02/28/2005 8:10 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Iraqi officials say Syria handed over Saddam Hussein's half brother
Iraqi officials said Sunday that Syrian authorities captured Saddam Hussein's half brother in Syria and handed him over to Iraq in an apparent good will gesture. Sabaawi Ibrahim al-Hasan, who was also a former adviser suspected of financing insurgents after U.S. troops ousted the former dictator, was captured in Hasakah in northeastern Syria near the Iraqi border, two senior Iraqi officials said in Cairo, Egypt, on condition of anonymity. Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's spokesman confirmed that "the criminal Sabaawi was arrested on the Syrian-Iraqi borders." He declined to give further details.
Two possibilities: 1.) It's true. That'd imply Syria's bending over backwards to be accomodating toward us and toward Iraq — keep in mind that despite its current fairly dire straits, under normal conditions it's a much more significant power than Syria. 2.) It's false, we or the Iraqis caught him or some combination thereof. Thanking the Syrians for it drives a large wedge between them and the Bad Guyz, who can't afford not to believe it's true. I'd call it a win-win situation for the Good Guys.
The officials did not specify when Hasan was captured, only saying he was detained following the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut.
They'd claim that either way, true or false...
But Capt. Ahmed Ismael, an intelligence officer in the Interior Ministry, said Hasan was detained early Sunday.
Which'd likely be when he was detained by the Iraqis, assuming the Syrians (or the CIA or the Israelis or the Turks) had him until then...
A statement released earlier by the government did not say when or where he was seized or whether U.S. or Iraqi forces had captured him. It was expected to give more details at a news conference on Monday. The statement said he had "participated effectively in planning, supervising, and carrying out many terrorist acts in Iraq." It was also not immediately known whether U.S. troops had played any role in the arrest. The officials said Hasan was captured and handed over to Iraqi authorities along with 29 other members of Saddam's Baath Party. "The capture appeared to be a goodwill gesture by the Syrians," one official said.
Whether they want it to be or not. At least one segment of the Syrian power structure doesn't know whether to spit or go blind today. Possibly all of it...
A third Iraqi official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Syrian security forces expelled Hasan from Syria into Iraq after he and a group of supporters had tried to cross the Syrian border into Lebanon and Jordan. Hasan, an intelligence chief and one-time adviser to the former president, was number 36 on the U.S. military's list of the 55 most-wanted people in Iraq and one of only 12 remaining at large. Washington had put a $1 million bounty on his head.
Posted by: Fred || 02/28/2005 00:00:00 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Iraqi officials said Sunday that Syrian authorities captured Saddam Hussein's half brother in Syria and handed him over to Iraq in an apparent good will gesture.

"Well, Wilmer, I'm sorry indeed to lose you, and I want you to know that I couldn't be any fonder of you if you were my own son; but-well, by Gad!-if you lose a son it's possible to get another..."
- The Maltese Falcon
Posted by: Pappy || 02/28/2005 0:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Looks like Tony Orlando has finally been caught. Now, to capture Dawn....
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 02/28/2005 10:34 Comments || Top||

#3  It's does BAR.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/28/2005 14:12 Comments || Top||

#4  Are you sure that's not an old picture of Geraldo Rivera?
Posted by: BigEd || 02/28/2005 18:33 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Police arrests 20, seizes weapons in Quetta
Pakistani security forces detained 20 people and seized rockets and automatic weapons at the weekend during raids on tribal homes outside Quetta, police officials said on Sunday. Fifteen people were taken into custody on Sunday, while another five were arrested on Saturday night for having suspected links to militants in the restive region, Quetta DIG Pervez Rafi Bhatti said. Three rockets, 33 automatic weapons and a large cache of ammunition were seized during the raids, said provincial police chief Chahdhry Muhammad Yaqoob.

During the raids police also unearthed a private prison and a "torture cell" set up by the suspected rebel tribesmen, he said without giving details. Bhatti said that the raids were on a "fort" owned by tribal chief Nawab Bukhsh Marri in the Marri Camp area. He said 1,500 policemen were involved the operation. A Pakistani flag was hoisted atop the fort. Suspected militants threw a grenade onto the grounds of a state-run radio stations late on Saturday, breaking windows but causing no injuries, Bhatti said. "A grenade thrown onto the lawn of Radio Pakistan exploded late Saturday night and broke the windows of a room located at a corner, but no one was injured," he said, blaming insurgents linked to Marri tribesmen for the attack.
Posted by: Fred || 02/28/2005 00:00:00 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2005-02-28
  Lebanese Government Resigns
Sun 2005-02-27
  Sabawi Ibrahim Hasan busted!
Sat 2005-02-26
  Rice demands Palestinians find those behind attack
Fri 2005-02-25
  Tel Aviv Blast Reportedly Kills 4
Thu 2005-02-24
  Bangla cracks down on Islamists
Wed 2005-02-23
  500 illegal Iranian pilgrims arrested in Basra
Tue 2005-02-22
  Syria to withdraw from Lebanon. No, they're not.
Mon 2005-02-21
  Zarq propagandist is toes up
Sun 2005-02-20
  Bakri talks of No 10 suicide attacks
Sat 2005-02-19
  Lebanon opposition demands "intifada for independence"
Fri 2005-02-18
  Syria replaces intelligence chief
Thu 2005-02-17
  Iran and Syria Form United Front
Wed 2005-02-16
  Plane fires missile near Iranian Busheir plant
Tue 2005-02-15
  U.S. Withdraws Ambassador From Syria
Mon 2005-02-14
  Hariri boomed in Beirut

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