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Law, order restored to outskirts of US Embassy in Damascus
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Afghanistan
Nato fails on Afghan troops plea
No formal offers have been made by Nato states in response to requests by commanders in Afghanistan for 2,500 extra troops, Nato says.
Members are meeting in Belgium amid pressure from the International Security Assistance Force, which is fighting in southern Afghanistan.
Differing rules of engagement between Nato states are creating difficulties.
However, a Nato spokesman said there were "positive indications" some might consider sending forces in the future.

There are at least 18,500 foreign, mainly Nato soldiers in Afghanistan in addition to about the same number of US troops deployed.
Half of them are in the south where Canadian and British forces are sharing the burden with US aircraft support and special forces on the ground.
In the latest violence, Afghan police say they killed 16 Taleban fighters in a fierce gun battle overnight in Helmand province.
The fighting came as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned that Afghanistan was at risk of becoming a "failed state".

All nations were represented at the meeting in Mons, near Brussels, and Nato's Supreme Command was to solicit offers for a reserve battalion of ground troops.
Alliance spokesman James Appathurai told a news briefing that "no formal offers were made at the table".
However, he said the extra troops were not needed to complete the continuing offensive in Afghanistan.
"Operation Medusa is going well and achieving its operational objective," Mr Appathurai added.
Correspondents say Nato will be hoping for a firm commitment by a meeting of alliance defence ministers in two weeks.
Nato officials also said there had been a positive signal that some members with troops in northern Afghanistan, under restricted rules of engagement, might be willing to operate more flexibly.

"The Canadians, Brits and many others are fighting very, very hard and they're stretched thin, and they need overall support," Mr Appathurai said.
The Dutch, Australians and Estonians are also in southern Afghanistan but correspondents say many other countries have been reluctant to commit troops to what is currently the most dangerous part of the mission.
Earlier, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said it was of "fundamental importance" to security that the "the job in Afghanistan is done properly".
"We should never forget that the reason why our troops are in Afghanistan, along with other Nato countries, is because out of Afghanistan came the terrorism of 9/11," he said.
On Tuesday US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Afghanistan's strategic position meant it risked becoming a haven for militant groups.
Referring to a US decision to leave the country after the withdrawal of the Soviet Union in 1989, Ms Rice said, "We all came to pay for that."
Speaking in Canada, she explained that the US should learn its lessons from Afghanistan.
"If you allow that kind of vacuum, if you allow a failed state in that strategic location, you're going to pay for it," she said.
Last month, Nato commanders took over from US-led coalition forces but there has been a resurgence of Taleban attacks, above all in the south.
Posted by: john || 09/13/2006 18:02 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Little Red Hen . . .
Posted by: ex-lib || 09/13/2006 18:15 Comments || Top||

#2  From the people who for a little over 45 years lived upon the military welfare of the United States, what do you expect? Just enough of a palace guard to look important, but nothing underneath the hood to do much beyond shooting up the (ex-)colonials.
Posted by: Unomomble Thins6414 || 09/13/2006 20:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Nato fails on Afghan troops plea

There - fixed that for ya'.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 09/13/2006 20:40 Comments || Top||

#4  The USA needs to look to its own interests. We need to conserve our resources for our own purposes.

No more military support to NATO, and no more UN peacekeeping missions.

Cut our financial support to the UN to something more appropriate to its value to us. Foreign aid should only be given where support for the USA is returned.

We should face the fact that we are on our own except for the Australia, Israel, snd Japan. And maybe India and Canada.
Posted by: SR-71 || 09/13/2006 21:35 Comments || Top||


Measuring the Impact of Taliban Losses
In Afghanistan, government officials, tribal leaders and NATO generals are trying to makes sense of the seemingly suicidal, and pointless, Taliban tactics. For the last six months, the Taliban has been conducting a lot of raids, ambushes, and suicide attacks. This is reasonable for an irregular force. But they've also been carrying out a lot of operations that involve larger forces (e.g., on platoon, company, and occasionally higher scale). Moreover, these troops don't "melt away" as soon as Coalition/Government troops turn on the heat, but fight back. They Taliban tend to lose these stand-up fights, and they don't inflict very many casualties. In fact, the Taliban have been losing 10-20 men for every NATO or Afghan soldiers they kill. Even by Afghan standards, this appears insane. So what are they up to?

It's possible that increased activity has allowed them to reestablish their influence in a lot of areas, particularly along the Pakistani frontier, since they can pitch even their defeats as victories to the largely illiterate tribesmen from whom they recruit.

It's also possible that they're trying to wage a war of attrition. Most analysts, right as well as left, civilian as well as military, believe the Taliban is trying to raise the Coalition casualty count to the point where Europeans, who are so sensitive about their soldiers getting killed, will decide on a withdrawal. But despite some reservations, the current rate of deaths doesn't seem likely to do that.

The Taliban may be hoping that, even though they incur seriously heavy casualties, if they can, in just one battle, inflict really heavy loses on Coalition troops (wipe out a platoon, perhaps), they might be able to trigger the withdrawal of some of the NATO contingents. But doing that might cost the Taliban hundreds of more dead followers.

Piling up the number of casualties may actually serve as a recruiting tool, since it may attract recruits seeking to avenge the deaths of kinsmen (a popular pass-time in the region) as well as many of the most ardent among the faithful who want to seek martyrdom themselves. But how long can they keep this up? Sooner or later the pool of volunteers is going to dry up. American and NATO intelligence officers are readying informer networks that will report on what the "chatter" is, over the Winter, in pro-Taliban areas. Considering the heavy losses the Taliban took this year, are their supporters eager for another round in 2007, or are they dismayed and discouraged? There may be enough chatter to analyze, by the end of the year, to form some conclusions.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 09/13/2006 13:39 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


'Rules of Engagement' prevent US from killing hundreds of Taliban at Funeral
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 09/13/2006 12:27 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Jags who wrote this rule should be boiled in oil.
Posted by: 3dc || 09/13/2006 12:30 Comments || Top||

#2  I'll bet my next few retirement checks that this policy will be "revised" before the sun sets today.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 09/13/2006 12:39 Comments || Top||

#3  3dc, fair nuff, as long as we can also toss in the pantywaist commander who couldn't bring himself to ignore it.
Posted by: exJAG || 09/13/2006 12:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Stuff like this makes me want my son out of the military.
Posted by: Marine dad || 09/13/2006 12:47 Comments || Top||

#5  Meanwhile, leftest donk anti-war protestors picket the funerals of brave GI's killed in the GWOT..... and our own gummit says virtually nothing.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/13/2006 12:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Notice the Taliban had no "Rules of Engagement" preventing them from suicide bombing relatives at the funeral of a governor.
Posted by: ed || 09/13/2006 12:51 Comments || Top||

#7  We are at war with these guys, right?
Could the thing have dropped hundreds of subpeonas on them? Is that in the ROE?
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/13/2006 12:55 Comments || Top||

#8  LOL, tu3031. Sounds like US origami...
Posted by: flyover || 09/13/2006 12:57 Comments || Top||

#9  So instead of fixing the problem, the US way is to leak information, giving a heads up to the enemy, so that even if we change the rules, the targets won't be stupid enough now to go to funnerals in mass.
Posted by: plainslow || 09/13/2006 13:03 Comments || Top||

#10  Ya know, I remember that the old Squad Leader game had a map set dedicated to cemeteries (light cover from gravestones, AFAICR), which suggests that fighting DID happen in cemeteries during WWII. The SL designers were, to put it mildly, anal about their research.

So this is a new policy, one of those invented during the last few decades during the orgy of "how not to fight wars" "laws", right?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 09/13/2006 13:07 Comments || Top||

#11  If they've not done so already......wonder how long it will take the bad guys to exploit this "get outta jail free card" and use "funerals" as staff meetings and bombing details.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/13/2006 13:14 Comments || Top||

#12  Actually, the Najaf campaign which almost bagged Tater was largely fought in the gigantic cemetary next to the Ali moskkk. Imagery
Posted by: flyover || 09/13/2006 13:16 Comments || Top||

#13  As much as I hate to say it again...this administration apparently does not have the cajones to do what it takes to get the job done. The ROEs are there to protect our guys as well as indiscriminant or excess use of force. However, it is BS ROEs that will allow dozens of terrorist-fighters to live becasue they are among "civilians". The "civilians" are terror supporters because they are at the funeral for gosh sakes.

I say again, we too often do not have the cajones to do the hard things...and it is compounded by hand wringing associated with Murtha-itis and November-itis.
Posted by: anymouse || 09/13/2006 13:31 Comments || Top||

#14  Its bullshit like this that drove me out of "the business" in the 90's.

We are at WAR - and we just passed up a chance to blow out their main leadership? Who is the jackass that made this rule - he woudl have prevented us from strafing Rommel or nailing Yammamoto. Jackass lawyers.

Whoever made this decision needs to be rousted from his Pentagon desk, issued a full set of gear and put on the next transport over to Kabul. Then have him put as a patrol leader the ass-end provinces where these terrs operate. Humping a pack and a rifle, seeing the innocent civilians the Talib butcher in the name of Allah. Bit of reality might wake him up if he doesnt get himself killed first.

NOBODY should be involved in making ROE if they havent commanded an infantry platoon or other combat arms unit FIRST.

gaddam REMFs.
Posted by: Oldspook || 09/13/2006 13:32 Comments || Top||

#15  Bin Laden in sights. Mullah Omar in sights. Same old, same old. Even the military has developed a law enforcement, spitting legalistic hairs, ass covering mentality to fighting head choppers and genociders.
Posted by: ed || 09/13/2006 13:42 Comments || Top||

#16  Although the argument is that we don't want to offend the locals and therefore make them hate us, the argument is dead wrong. What matters is they fear us. These people don't sit around over tea afterwards and appreciate how sentitive we were to not kill them. They see it as weakness. Kill them early and often. Michaiavelli was right.
Posted by: Sgt. D.T. || 09/13/2006 13:45 Comments || Top||

#17  I'll merely paraphrase .com.

Before the war on terrorism is over we're going to drop all this "Order of the Garter" shit like a live grenade.

Right after 9-11 mullah Omar had a huge assemblage of Taliban in Kandahar. That we didn't lob in several cruise missiles was a crime against the Afghni people. The same applies here. Whoever it was that restrained our forces from blowing this scum to hell and back again should be drummed out of the service with reduction in rank and half pension.

Allowing these slimeballs to live means the death of more American soldiers. There is no other way to read the equation. I mean, hell!

THEY WERE ALREADY IN A FRICKIN' CEMETERY

No extra funerals, no extra processions, no extra wreaths, just lots of dead terrorists. Applying the rules of engagement to an enemy who routinely pisses on same is suicidal treason.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 13:52 Comments || Top||

#18  Notice the Taliban had no "Rules of Engagement" preventing them from suicide bombing relatives at the funeral of a governor.

BINGO, ed!
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 13:53 Comments || Top||

#19  While I take a seat to nobody in my disdain for allowing JAG types to overrule real soldiers in the field, this particular situation might have a diffferent dimension to it. Here's a verbatim copy of an email sent to K-Lo at The Corner:

Don't underestimate the Taliban's capability to round up a bunch of non-combatants and have them stand at attention begging for a Hellfire. The media whirlwind that would have stemmed from an American "massacre" at a funeral would have been worth it's weight in gold. Don't think that the Taliban didn't learn a lot from Qana.

Unless the leaker can prove that there were eyes-on intelligence and not just a flyover, I think that the military might have made a good call.


Given the above, I'd personally be inclined to invoke the 48-Hour Rule before heating up the big pot for the JAGs.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) || 09/13/2006 13:58 Comments || Top||

#20  We should've honored their dead by creating more of the them
Posted by: Captain America || 09/13/2006 14:00 Comments || Top||

#21  I respectfully disagree, Abu Babaloo (love that nym!). Even if the Taleban had merely set up these attendees for a publicity coup, we still would have nailed a few hundred Taleban collaborators. Screw the negative publicity. We'd still have sent the vital message that following Taleban advice gets you killed.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 14:04 Comments || Top||

#22  Well, it's too bad our troops, or at least a few SF, couldn't mobilze to the area quickly enough and wait for the funeral to be over. As Taliban exited the cemetary, it'd be a turkey shoot.

Also--I'm SURE the Taliban knows full well about our Rules of Engagement, and that we tend to abide by our word, so I'd look ahead to lots more "funerals."
Posted by: ex-lib || 09/13/2006 14:04 Comments || Top||

#23  Ricky, it seems readily apparent from the context and the photos that these were indeed Talibs, who felt secure in congregating because they too are aware of the 'rules of engagement'. They all probably had a good laugh about it back in their caves. Non-talibs already know not to congregate with combatants in the areas with combat activity. We need a rules revision now. They'll just start burying their dead in secret and not in large groups in broad daylight, but at least we'll be sending the message that they have NO safe haven.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 09/13/2006 14:07 Comments || Top||

#24  Because they scattered in small groups back to their mountain hideouts?
Posted by: ed || 09/13/2006 14:08 Comments || Top||

#25  Again, while that target was tempting and perhaps we could have dispatched something to engage the bad guys, the commander on the ground can not be faulted for following the ROE. Yes we like commanders who take the initiative but given the politics of the day no commanders going to disregard them no matter how juicy the target seems at the time. We had a phrase in the service “Do you bet your stripes?” because sometimes you were literally betting your career on you decision. Now if we explicitly forbid attacking bad guys in a cemetery we might want to amend that to state “Unless there is a high concentration of bad guys (10 or more or HAVA targets).” Or perhaps after careful contemplation maybe we need ditch the rule entirely and state “if you find them kill them. “ FYI this type of policy is not new and happens under Democrats as well as Republican presidents. Just remember that in 1984 the Marines in Beirut were ordered to carry there weapons unloaded by the Reagan administration.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 09/13/2006 14:22 Comments || Top||

#26  This time, I might grudgingly agree with the JAG.

The reason being that funerals are culturally sensitive anywhere in the world. Imagine the public response if one of Fred Phelps family went to a military funeral in Kentucky and blew themselves up, killing and wounding dozens? The whole family would be lucky of the authorities caught them before they were lynched, even by little old ladies. The public would go mad.

So the question becomes, did the JAG order it out of general principles, or did he do it because he was advised that tens or hundreds of thousands of Aghans would get totally bent out of shape about it?

There are people who would know, one way or another. Ask some Special Forces type about the Afghan personality.

So far, the Taliban have horribly mucked up the PR battle with the typical Afghan. This has helped us enormously in defeating them, because we get vast amounts of help from the Afghans who hate and fear the Taliban.

We *don't* want to muck that relationship up.

Sure, it's a heck of a lot harder to hunt down and whack that hundred Taliban when they are far afield. But sometimes slow and steady wins the race.

Again, this is not not a hypothetical. Someone who knows the Afghan mind would know if the JAG is solid and right-on, or if he is a pencil pushing weenie.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/13/2006 14:24 Comments || Top||

#27  Or perhaps after careful contemplation maybe we need ditch the rule entirely and state “if you find them kill them.

Works for me, Cyber Sarge.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 14:24 Comments || Top||

#28 
So the question becomes, did the JAG order it out of general principles, or did he do it because he was advised that tens or hundreds of thousands of Aghans would get totally bent out of shape about it?


'tain't a JAGs job to make decisions based on the potential PR. JAGs are only supposed to make judgements based on the laws of war.

If the laws of war prevented this, we need to rethink them. If a JAG prevented this for a reason other than the laws of war, we need to court-martial that JAG.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 09/13/2006 14:32 Comments || Top||

#29  With all due respect, 'moose, the time to be "culturally sensitive" is long past. We are now in a fight for the Western world's survival. Shitholes like Afghanistan have no real value to us except as enemy shooting galleries. At the risk of trotting out and old saw, only killing the enemy swiftly and in large numbers will get us any respect.

I no longer care what the enemy thinks of us so long as they are titsup. We need to begin applying overwhelming military force whever we go. This is no longer about hearts and minds. It is about grabbing the short-and-curlies until they scream in pain, then squeeze some more until they pass out.

Islam gives not a fig about what we think of them. They also do not care how many of them we kill or in what way. They are a death cult whose deepest wish must be granted by us wholesale if we are to survive. Nothing else matters except dispatching these maggots to their paradise whenever the opportunity presents itself.

To hell with their funerals, their mosques and their stinking Koran. At days end, these will all be historical artifacts, not any part of functioning society. Islam has to be eliminated. This is the only operative guideline required until all Muslims around the world begin offing the terrorists like the blood-sucking parasites that they are.

Until then, we keep offing any and all who rise up against us. Their culture means nothing so long as it harbors the enemy. Muslims must be made to realize that their tacit consent to terrorism is a death sentence that will be carried out with all due haste. They must be confronted with simple extermination as the alternative to an immediate and authentic reformation of Islam. Only the threat of extinction will inspire Muslims with sufficient alarm and fear to begin revising their priorities.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 14:40 Comments || Top||

#30  too bad the Afghan Govt didn't have a spare helo gun ship in the vicinity; they could have taken out the taliban and blamed it on a rouge commander; the rouge commander could then be temporarily put on the shelf and then brought back with a new identification for the next funeral
Posted by: mhw || 09/13/2006 14:41 Comments || Top||

#31  This is so idiotic. If we follow laws of war, we can never drop a nuke....never.
Posted by: wxjames || 09/13/2006 14:51 Comments || Top||

#32  This is a case of the ROE not being overruled when the reward far outweighs the risk.

THAT is where they have made the error - so enamoured with the process, they have forgotten about RESULTS. The process is the most important thing to the REMFs in the rear with the gear, or sitting a desk far away from the action.

ROE are supposed to be general guidelines for normal situations, but this can and should be overruled in extreme situations - and done so quickly - such as in cases such as this.

If they are worried about bad publicity, simply bomb it again then napalm the remains then bomb that again. By the time that burns down there will be no survivors nor any "evidence" of civilians. And send in the Rangers to clear the site for intelligence gathering.

Tell the world the truth - we saw talib leadership there, and wanted to be sure they were dead dead dead. We are at war - and it was THEY who started it and declared it back inthe 1990's. IT wa THEY who set the rules by their attacks on civilians and funerals. They've called the tune, so its their turn to pay the piper.

People in the Pentagon, Press and Politics need to remember this isnt a prize fight - there is no reward for being more humane if you "finish in second place". No sportsmanship award for not kicking your pooponents ass when you have the chance to obliterate him.

Just ask the people in Afghanistan, and the victims of 9/11:

Slavery under the bootheel of Islamists we "spared for humane reasons" is still slavery, and dead by terrorists we were "culturally sensitive to" is still dead.

Posted by: Oldspook || 09/13/2006 15:19 Comments || Top||

#33  Being culturally sensitive is the job of the looser.
Posted by: Mark E. || 09/13/2006 15:31 Comments || Top||

#34  We're still not serious.

Of course we weren't serious in fall of '01, either, when Franks let a JAG stop us from zapping Mullah Omar.

WTH?
Posted by: JSU || 09/13/2006 15:32 Comments || Top||

#35  AP is reporting the military are going after whoever it was that released the photo. Guess the legal Fu*&s are ass covering.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 09/13/2006 15:34 Comments || Top||

#36  JSU, You are correct. We don't have the will. I am firmly convinced it won't change till a city is nuked.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/13/2006 15:44 Comments || Top||

#37  Do they prevent the US from striking the Taliban as they exit into open territory?
Posted by: Jules in the Hinterlands || 09/13/2006 16:31 Comments || Top||

#38  SO
GAS them with a sleeping gas
sort
kill
Posted by: 3dc || 09/13/2006 17:49 Comments || Top||

#39  Zenster: Enough of the Us and Them attitude, unless you really do mean to wipe out 1 BILLION Moslems.

I am getting real tired of the "drop a nuke on 'em and be done with it" crowd. That is too stupid an idea to even be used in frustrated jest anymore. It's just not funny, or wry, or witty.

Industrial total warfare today could be carried out in ways repulsive to the einsatzgruppen. We could do everything they did and ever so much more. We could spray chemical weapons or biological weapons. We could drop a nuke whenever we *felt* like it, spreading death and contamination enough to make Hell appear on Earth. It is EASY to do.

Bodies piled as high as skyscrapers, crawling with millions of rats and billions of flies. Death, death, death! All EASY.

Bush could order it, and screw the treaties. Wipe out whole peoples from the face of the Earth. Kill as if we were worshippers of Kali. No one would stand in our way.

Spare no one, for they are all to die. Women, children, all exterminated.

It's just not funny anymore.

Our civilization is not going to fall for many centuries at the earliest. This entire WoT is a mosquito on an elephant. It does not threaten us. It never has. The barbarians were defeated 75 years ago. They just don't know it yet. They have fought and lost the Darwinistic struggle, and are becoming extinct.

So drop a nuke on 'em. Drop a nuke on 'em.

All that comment warrants anymore is a hearty:

STFU. Just STFU.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/13/2006 17:50 Comments || Top||

#40  It does not threaten us. It never has.

Would you be so quick to say that if Europe went Islamic/dhimmi?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/13/2006 18:10 Comments || Top||

#41  Our civilization is not going to fall for many centuries at the earliest. This entire WoT is a mosquito on an elephant. It does not threaten us. It never has.

Will you be willing to say that after a nuclear terrorist attack on American soil?

Although I have adopted a "Us and Them" attitude, I'm not totally advocating nuclear annihilation of Islam, just yet. Quarantine the Islamic countries? You bet. Deport Muslims back to their countries of origin? That too.

What sort of hits are you willing for America to take, 'moose?

Do you deny that one single nuclear terrorist attack could set the American economy back a solid decade?

Is that a risk you're willing to take? If it is, I'm here to tell you that I'm sure as hell not willing to take that kind of risk.

Nowhere in post #29 did I advocate the use of nuclear weapons. While I've mentioned their possible use many times, I am also a strong proponent of using conventional force at all times and reserving atomic bombs for use as a response in kind. I'm pretty sure that you're aware of that.

What I am sick of is using limited war against an enemy that has essentially declared unlimited war against us and feels free to use any sort of weapon they can lay their hands upon, right down to nuclear arms.

We need to spell out the consequences to Islam in no uncertain terms.

Do you argue that another 3,000 people die needlessly every single day due to how so much funding is being diverted to the fight against Islamic terrorism?

How long should we be willing to put up with this monstrous loss of human life because Islam has foisted their housecleaning duties upon us?

Do you ever foresee a tipping point where it will be more trouble to live with Islam than to simply exterminate it?

Do you agree or disagree with Wretchard's "The Three Conjectures"?

I'm curious.

PS: STFU is not an acceptable answer.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 18:42 Comments || Top||

#42  The total war approach is a theoretical exercise at this point. We have no idea of either the short or long term effect of such an approach, other than lots of people will be dead.

We really don't know how the locals will react if the collatoral damage rate skyrockets and towns are turned to rubble. Will that scare off those funding terror or will every muzzie in the world send all their disposable cash to aid the fight? Will their fear cause them to reflect and say this kaka ain't worth it, that izzzzzlam needs to change because its led them to ruin? Who knows. The comparative experiment has not been done yet. We haven't fought with a focus on wanton destruction on any front in this war. Personally I think it will be near impossible to justify without our getting hit and hit hard again.
Posted by: remoteman || 09/13/2006 19:43 Comments || Top||

#43  Any threat can be made to seem impressive.

"But what if the Hottentots are marching down Wall Street, and waving their spears? Will you think America is threatened by them *then*?"

What ifs don't win wars. My point is that as soon as America realized there was a threat, we began to kick their ass. And we haven't stopped. We have not had a single defeat, or even a single major reversal. In fact, the only way we could lose at this point would be for a democrat to withdrawl all our forces from around the world, and to order them not to fight anymore.

And even then, we would not lose civilization. The barbarians would still have lost. Though they might be annoying in parts of the rest of the world, they would not matter. In fact, only one country could even be pestiferous, and that is Iran. And then only to Europe.

Even if they got a nuke, it would probably max out at under 5kt. Enough to destroy a few buildings. But not enough to destroy civilization, by any stretch of the imagination.

So the bottom line is that there is no *reason* to behave like monsters. We don't have to "bomb Islam back to the stone age". We can still choose what amount of force we want to use, we are in such control.

As far as a "send them back to their own country" attitude, were you aware that lots of Moslems come to the US precisely to *escape* the oppression they had back home. No different than most of the Germans who came here in 1848. We send them home and their own government will kill them.

There *are* lots of different kinds of Moslems. And yes, Islam as a whole does need a reformation.

But it was only 70 years ago in the US when there were enormous protests to kick out Catholic immigrants "because they only had loyalty to the Vatican, and kept guns in their basement to prepare for the overthrow of the US government."

Early on in the Iraq war there were lots of cries to slaughter the Iraqis. But now we are soon to have an Iraqi Corps of 10 Divisions, supporting a democracy, where before there was a dictator's cesspit and WMD factory. Other democratic change is everywhere in the ME.

Civilization is making inroads in places where it has been denied for the better part of 500 years. And it is doing so at the expense of barbarism. And every democrat we create is an ally against non-democrats. And our revolution continues to spread.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/13/2006 20:07 Comments || Top||

#44  And our revolution continues to spread

Wow Moose you sound like Che! LOL
Posted by: 49 Pan || 09/13/2006 20:19 Comments || Top||

#45  Moose, the 'revolution' ends as soon as the Donks get power again and the helicopters head to the sunset. It will all go down into another Somalia. Then one day a bright one will indeed light up somewhere in America. Game over. Mongol time.
Posted by: Unomomble Thins6414 || 09/13/2006 20:34 Comments || Top||

#46  Thank you for making some sort of reply, 'moose. Would you please address some of my questions, particularly:

Do you argue that another 3,000 people die needlessly every single day due to how so much funding is being diverted to the fight against Islamic terrorism?

How long should we be willing to put up with this monstrous loss of human life because Islam has foisted their housecleaning duties upon us?

Do you ever foresee a tipping point where it will be more trouble to live with Islam than to simply exterminate it?

Do you agree or disagree with Wretchard's "The Three Conjectures"?

I'd appreciate your answers to these questions. As for myself, I find it simply outrageous that Islam has somehow shifted the burden of purging jihadis from its ranks over onto the West's shoulders. We have been handed a task that is neither our obligation nor one that we can adequately address. There needs to be some palpable penalty for Islam's refulsal to abandon terrorism.

We need to get back to assisting other nations in time of need. To fighting starvation and famine. To curing disease. To ending illiteracy and preventing female genital mutilation. Many of these things are a direct offshoot of Islamic government. How long should these supremely destructive forces be allowed to remain in place?

Finally, there needs to be some sort of deterrent established. This is something I've tried to address ever since my arrival here at Rantburg. Do you feel there is any way to deter terrorism? If so, please elaborate. If not, please explain why.

You've now taken the position that slow and steady wins the race. Does that include continued negotiations with Iran over its nuclear weapons program or do you advocate its immediate decapitation?

Should or should not that same policy begun to be used against the other Middle East terror sponsors?

Just curious.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 20:35 Comments || Top||

#47  Wow Moose you sound like Che!

He should. He's talking about the most revolutionary country in the history of man. We threaten the existance of virtually every other country in the world, both literally and figuratively. 400 years ago we didn't exist. 300 years ago we were wilderness settlements less sophisticated than a current Boy Scout Reservation. 200 years ago no one knew if our little experiment in constituional republicanism would last past its founders and 100 years ago we had an army fit to fight stone age aboriginies. Now under the oldest functioning constitutional government around we have enough military power to defeat any nation in the world, we attract the most competent and talented to leave every country to find fulfillment and profit here, for better or worse we entertain the world, we create most of its knowledge and educate it. Do they fear us? You bet! They wonder what we will do in the next 100 years. And it is going to be more than any can imagine.

And they know they can't keep up. If they had any sense they'd apply for statehood. Instead, they just keep sending us their doctors and engineers to get rich and prosper.

Moose is correct there is no way they can win. But I think him naive in the cost their defeat may entail.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/13/2006 20:48 Comments || Top||

#48  [REDACTED BY REQUEST]
Posted by: mjh || 09/13/2006 21:09 Comments || Top||

#49  Mods - I'd bump it, as requested - seems s incere and legit. However, I'm in San Diego and can't do a damn thing.....
Posted by: Frank G || 09/13/2006 21:25 Comments || Top||

#50  [REDACTED BY REQUEST]
Posted by: mjh || 09/13/2006 21:26 Comments || Top||

#51  I have also been avidly following this thread ( Thank you NS, Zen, Moose).
If you think that you have seen adnan shukrijumah, and it is bothering you this much, you have to use the telephone.
If you are square the FBI won't hurt you.
Posted by: J. D. Lux || 09/13/2006 21:28 Comments || Top||

#52  fwd'd it, mjh
thx
Posted by: Frank G || 09/13/2006 21:30 Comments || Top||

#53  JD

I'm sure you are right...I will call tomorrow.
Posted by: mjh || 09/13/2006 21:34 Comments || Top||

#54  Thx Frank. It's sad that I have more confidence in the power of blogs, than I do in the federal agencies responsible for protecting us.
Posted by: mjh || 09/13/2006 21:35 Comments || Top||

#55  JD and Frank are right. Report it. If you get blown off by the FBI go to the DC police. They may not have answers for you but they will take it as real. Be sure to have date time etc... for them.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 09/13/2006 22:06 Comments || Top||

#56  I'm gonna quote you on this NS. Well said.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 09/13/2006 22:13 Comments || Top||

#57  report it to the FBI ASAP
Posted by: Frank G || 09/13/2006 22:15 Comments || Top||

#58  [REDACTED BY REQUEST]
Posted by: mjh || 09/13/2006 22:17 Comments || Top||

#59  With all the ranting about the FBI and their roll in this war, they are good at running stuff to ground. They will take it as real, go to tapes and track him. They will be polite take the info, be noncommital, and never reply to you after, unless they capure him and need you. Just do the right thing.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 09/13/2006 22:22 Comments || Top||

#60  Reported. Sorry for hijacking. Back to normally scheduled program. Stay safe Rantburgers.
Posted by: mjh || 09/13/2006 22:23 Comments || Top||

#61  np - thx mjh - your duty done!
Posted by: Frank G || 09/13/2006 22:30 Comments || Top||

#62  But I think him naive in the cost their defeat may entail.

So do I. How strange ironic that someone should interrupt this thread with the potential sighting of a terorist operative who may be plotting to detonate a nuclear device on American soil.

'moose, I'm quite serious about what sort of answers you have to my questions. You are an extremely well-versed contributor here and I'd like to read your opinions.

Per many of my earlier posts, I feel we really need to put in place some sort of deterrent. Be it the capture or destruction of Mecca, retaliatory bombing (nuclear or conventional) of rogue nations or whatever, there needs to be some sort of program.

Those countries that sponsor terrorism need to be held accountable. Per .com's suggestion, seizing some of Saudi Arabia's oil fields to pay for fighting terrorism makes a lot of sense. Wahabbism is the root cause of a huge percentage of terrorism.

If Islam wants us to solve its problems for it, we should make sure that service comes with a price tag attached.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 22:48 Comments || Top||

#63  https://tips.fbi.gov/

Asks for a lot of personal information, but you don't have to give it. Just the facts, ma'am.

Zenster: First of all, funding diversion rarely kills people. When it does, in economics it is called "opportunity cost". But it is often deceptive. The democrats frequently use false opportunity costs like "If you don't raise taxes, then old people will have to eat dog food."

So 3,000 people a day die from something. I have no idea who, or how, such data could be collected. Sounds questionable to me.

As far as Islam cleaning its own house. Arabs a long time ago were sick of Islam's corruption and tried to clean their own house. Boy did that backfire. They decided to use socialist Baathism, which proved itself just as worthless as Islamic government. Finally, somebody not only gave them a chance at democracy, but a disciplined democracy. And once that is firmly in place, not only will it be an almighty bitch to uproot, but it will pester every other regime in the ME.

At some point, I expect some Moslem democrat to discover that all along, western style liberal democracy was clearly enunciated in the Koran. Laugh if you will, if it works for them...

The only two Islamic countries left that are totally unmanageable are Syria and Iran. Coming in a close third is Pakistan. However, we are playing them all in an astounding game of Stratego. Unfortunately, it takes a heck of a long time for us to "get our ducks in a row", so that when push comes to shove, we win everything.

That is an interesting American concept, planning a war so thoroughly that we leave *no* advantage to our enemy (see Napoleon), but also none to our allies, the neutrals, and those pretending to be neutral who covertly support our enemy. We want the absolute minimum casualties on our side, and we even try to minimize enemy casualties in getting everything we want. We want it all.

It will never be "us against the Moslem world", because there will be just as many, or more, Moslems quietly rooting for us than for the other side. When the Moslems with us take on the attitude that we, infidels, are helping to "liberate" Moslems, that will be a big step.

Conjecture 1: Terrorism has lowered the nuclear threshold

No it hasn't. In the Cold War there was an intense effort all around, an assumption, that everybody was going to try and sneak nukes into everybody else's country. Nobody has mentioned it, but even in the 1980s, our ports of entry were watched big time for gamma signatures.

Small nuclear weapons, while not rare, are problematic to a degree. This is why we are only really concerned about somebody like Iran making one and giving it to terrorists. Radiation bombs are very overrated.

Conjecture 2: Attaining WMDs will destroy Islam

This should say, "attaining nukes", because both chemical and biological weapons are in their hands and have been since the 1980s. I might add that Pakistan is Islamic, has nukes, and are humming right along. So this conjecture is flawed.

Conjecture 3: The War on Terror is the 'Golden Hour' -- the final chance

Again, no. There have been a LOT of Moslem uprisings in the past, and they all settle down after a while. Ask the Brits. Much of the European blase attitude we see today is basically, "Oh look, the Arabs are cutting up rough again."

For them, in might be broader in scale, but the theme is the same. Kipling wrote about the Wahabbis. This is why many of them think the US is overreacting. And yet, at the same time, many of them crack down on the Arabs even harder than does the US, because "that is what you do to Arabs."

In the big picture, the WoT only matters because it has been a golden opportunity for Bush & Co. to totally take to the field, diplomatically, on the other side of the world. We are doing this to prepare for a war with China.

Now *that* will be a real war. And Bush has done astounding things in that region. Made friends and alignment with India. Got access to a Chinese built state of the art deep water port in Pakistan for our Navy. Alerted all of South Asia to the Chinese threat. Boxed China in, in all sorts of ways. Is neutralizing their ballistic missile threat. Etc., etc.

This is where the *real* action is. The ME is just a warm-up, and it's almost over. Once Iran and Syria are cleaned, China will be our bitch.

Bottom line, Moslems we can live with. We've won this one hands down, and implanted the seeds of democracy. Once they are real democrats, living in a stable society, they are our friends.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/13/2006 23:03 Comments || Top||

#64  Thank you for responding, 'moose.

This is where the *real* action is. The ME is just a warm-up, and it's almost over. Once Iran and Syria are cleaned, China will be our bitch.

Here, I could not agree with you more, save for the "almost over" part. The Middle East will take much longer and the duration anticipated makes possible an Islamic atrocity of such dimensions that the nuclear option comes into play.

That said, I have always maintained how the Islamic terrorists are like a bunch of naughty boy scouts in comparison to the "real terrorists", communist China.

Bottom line, Moslems we can live with. We've won this one hands down, and implanted the seeds of democracy. Once they are real democrats, living in a stable society, they are our friends.

I wish that I could be as optimistic as you are. The toxic meme of Islam does not at all promise to be so cooperative as you might hope. Islam is famous for its belief that "silence is consent". Ergo, it is quite difficult for me to believe that the Thundering Silence™ of Muslims world-wide is actually them "quietly rooting" for America's efforts. This notion is further disspelled by how conspiracy theories continue to abound even now and how they remain so popular, despite repeated al Qaeda videos taking credit for the 9-11 atrocity.

I hope you're right, but as others and myself observe about thwarting Islam, you may be a bit "naive in the cost their defeat may entail."

I will reiterate that I do not relish the thought of incinerating a quarter of this world's population. However, if that is the price of preserving the progress of western civilization, then so be it. Over the last millennia or more, Islam's legacy has been one of constant bloodshed. If it proves unable to abandon this modus operendi, then it is of no further use.

funding diversion rarely kills people.

The 3,000 people a day concept derives from the statistic that some 3,000 African children die each day as it is. Therefore, it is a small leap of imagination to consider how the millions of dollars being spent each day fighting terrorism could be saving some or all of those lives instead. I do not consider this to be a false "opportunity cost".
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 23:58 Comments || Top||


Taliban melt away from battle
God love the Canucks!
PANJWAI DISTRICT, AFGHANISTAN — Hundreds of insurgents have fled scattered from a grinding Canadian military advance in Panjwai district, as soldiers punched into a former Taliban stronghold in a cascade of dust and flying rubble.

A few days ago, the Canadians were convinced that this warren of buildings, code-named Objective Cricket, harboured at least 100 determined insurgents. Some locals estimated as many as 1,000 Taliban were lurking in the region after the rebels overran a strategic belt of farmland southwest of Kandahar city this spring.

But the Canadians gained new intelligence during the weekend, suggesting they would find only scattered groups of two or three fighters opposing them. The likelihood of so few fighters, perhaps with booby traps or suicide bombs, represents a significant reversal as the rebels had appeared to be prepared for an all-out fight.

NATO forces hammered the buildings with a barrage of artillery and air strikes, then the Canadians threw themselves into the maze of mud walls and farmers' fields.

"It's Sept. 11," said Major Geoff Abthorpe, commander of Bravo Company, speaking to his troops as they prepared for the attack. "Is that symbolic? Damn right, it's symbolic. It's the reason why we're here."

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White || 09/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  but, but...the MSM says we're doomed, doomed I tell ya
Posted by: Captain America || 09/13/2006 0:25 Comments || Top||

#2  They never fight head on, because they'll lose. But, they'll be back to sneak up on you another day. Kill as many as you can, while you can. You've been doing a magnificent job. Keep it up.
Posted by: SOP35/Rat || 09/13/2006 0:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Active defence?
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/13/2006 2:14 Comments || Top||

#4  "It's Sept. 11," said Major Geoff Abthorpe, commander of Bravo Company, speaking to his troops as they prepared for the attack. "Is that symbolic? Damn right, it's symbolic. It's the reason why we're here."

I've never been more proud of our Northern neighbors than today.

I only wish I could buy Wiser's Oldest in the States. I'll have to settle for O'Keefe Extra Old Stock or Moosehead.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 2:45 Comments || Top||

#5  "Just in time for the dreaded fall offensive."

And then comes, horrors, the dreaded Afghan Winter. Haven't we learned from the MSM that no one can survive that?! Oh, wait... the Canucks are laughing their asses off... LOL.

Wow. I, too, am extremely gratified and happy to read how the Canucks have handled these mooks - and have risen to the challenge, and beyond. Fantastic!

There must be groans and grumbling galore in Quebecistan, LOL. I'm sure they, the same as our own Moonbats, pray daily for piles of dead Canadians - simply so they can make political hay.

Thank you Harper and sensible Canadians! Thank you, Mjr Abthorpe! Thank You Troopers! On Canada!
Posted by: flyover || 09/13/2006 4:54 Comments || Top||

#6  Hats off again to CAF personel who do a damn fine job.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 09/13/2006 5:49 Comments || Top||

#7  This battle was on the Beeb the other night (9/11) - those Canucks seem a determined bunch. They weren't leaving much standing in their wake either - much as the Beeb tried to ham up the threat of the Taliban.. The item also featured a few healthy bursts of A10 cannon fire in the background - the noise that sounds like a supersonic vacumn cleaner.
Posted by: Howard UK || 09/13/2006 5:55 Comments || Top||

#8  There must be a healthy level of cognitive dissonance in those Beeb stories, lol, Howard.

Do you watch Beeb for the (unintended) comical aspects? How many "news" outlets do you have available on TV? Can you get or have Fox, for instance? Despite it's flaws, which are several, it is an improvement over all the others I've seen, IMHO.

Just curious, bro. :-)
Posted by: .com || 09/13/2006 6:02 Comments || Top||

#9  They just installed satellite in the secure unit so now we've got hundreds of channels... I need the Beeb to get me fired up on a daily basis and remind me what this scraps about. Yes, we get Fox/CNN etc.. Tend to stick to Sky for a dose of reason/rationality.
(Good to see you back you old bugger!)
Posted by: Howard UK || 09/13/2006 6:07 Comments || Top||

#10  Lol. Bugger? Me? Now hold on a minute... that better be a figure of speech with a different meaning, lol!

Sky is Fox's "sister" network, but the reporting I've seen them run, for the big events in the UK they always defer to Sky, has been much more PC in tone than the "normal" Fox stuff - or at least that's my opinion.

Regardless, it's great to hear you have your pick across the spectrum, now. Your mental defense mechanisms must be pleased, lol. :-)
Posted by: .com || 09/13/2006 6:15 Comments || Top||

#11  Sky is the least PC of the UK channels which may not be saying much - things continue to get more Orwellian by the day here - we still seem to attack most strongly those who take the threat seriously rather than those elements causing the threat itself. I love Big Brother.
Posted by: Howard UK || 09/13/2006 6:22 Comments || Top||

#12  "Officially, we got new orders to leave the area," the commander said. "But the truth is that we ran out of bullets. We had nothing to fight with."

What's the Pastun equivalent for "Buck-buck-braaaawk!"
Posted by: Mike || 09/13/2006 7:06 Comments || Top||

#13  Lol, insh'allah, bitch.
Posted by: .com || 09/13/2006 7:13 Comments || Top||

#14  A food wrapper inside hinted that the insurgents were eating packaged food aid intended for the poor.

So we stop shipping food over.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 09/13/2006 7:43 Comments || Top||

#15  "Dammit, I ordered that you all were to fight to the death! By running away, not only do you not inflict a casualty or two on the infidels, but you make me look bad!"
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/13/2006 9:01 Comments || Top||

#16  a Russian zigzag pattern
Did'nt they beat the Russians?
I am planing next summer's vacation, it will be somewhere in Canada. Thanks canada.
Posted by: plainslow || 09/13/2006 9:12 Comments || Top||

#17  Ah, they're no better than the US guys... They get ready to hammer us, and we 'melt away', like the famous Afghan winter.

Those that fight, and run away

live to fight another day.
Posted by: TalibBobby || 09/13/2006 9:16 Comments || Top||

#18  It's still not great to think you have the enemy surrounded and then have them successfully slip away. It sounds like the Taliban got about 100% of their force out somehow. It's not easy to locate and isolate large pockets of guerilla forces and so when you do finishing them off is important.
Posted by: Odysseus || 09/13/2006 9:18 Comments || Top||

#19  Thank You Canucks! Jules, give 'em a big pat on the back from us.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 09/13/2006 9:19 Comments || Top||

#20  We always loved to see the A-10 flying over us. It is a great CAS plane. Go Canada!
Posted by: DarthVader || 09/13/2006 9:23 Comments || Top||

#21  Off topic, but nice to see ya, .com!
Posted by: docob || 09/13/2006 10:39 Comments || Top||

#22  More ominously, a Taliban fighter reached by telephone yesterday said the fleeing insurgents have a plan to regroup. "We will get new orders in seven or eight days," the fighter said.

Is he in the yellow pages?
Posted by: SwissTex || 09/13/2006 10:49 Comments || Top||

#23  Apparently, there is more than Taliban on folks minds.
Pete&Condi
Posted by: john || 09/13/2006 11:31 Comments || Top||

#24  Bad link for me, John.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/13/2006 11:34 Comments || Top||

#25  Try this one

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/13/
washington/13diplo.html?hp&ex=
1158206400&en=b644c254a687e555&ei=
5094&partner=homepage
Posted by: john || 09/13/2006 11:37 Comments || Top||

#26  It worked.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/13/2006 11:59 Comments || Top||

#27  I was in Vancouver (our system was being used in a movie there) last week. We were talking about the war and I was telling the locals how great their boys were doing in Afghanistan. The locals said that they hardly ever see any coverage of their military's efforts. One guy's nephew was killed the weekend before in a friendly fire incident by one of our A-10's. He was not bitter at all. Said sh*t happens. Anyway, they were glad to hear about their boys great work.
Posted by: remoteman || 09/13/2006 13:07 Comments || Top||

#28  The Canadians are coming around. I was worried, they were hanging out with bad friends and showing certain signs of being in the Tranzi Closet. But it looks like a vigorous election fueled by newly cheap back bacon has rekinded the whatever it is that Canada had that made them want to build the Awesome Avro..

Posted by: 6 || 09/13/2006 17:22 Comments || Top||

#29  I can't believe they canceled that for the BOMARC.
Posted by: 6 || 09/13/2006 17:23 Comments || Top||

#30  It was never canceled, it was just rebuilt as the RC-A5 Vigilante.
Posted by: remoteman || 09/13/2006 19:45 Comments || Top||

#31  The Canadians are coming around.

Don't count your chickens yet...The Liberals are in a holding pattern waiting to pick a new leader, and as soon as they do it's a vote of non-confidance in Harper and we're off to the elections. Whether Harper keeps power depends on whether Canadians agree with Layton: "Layton says Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan should focus on humanitarian aid, reconstruction and peace negotiations instead of combat." Source.

Personally I think Harper comitted several mistakes by giving the appearance of cozying up to the US. Layton is already calling him an American puppet and this will be a major theme in the next elections. So instead of a Harper majority, as it was hoped even not too long ago, it could be a Harper minority, if he should keep power at all.
Posted by: Rafael || 09/13/2006 21:46 Comments || Top||

#32  hola Raphael. Actions speak louder, and your troops are kicking ass. If you're ashamed of that, say so
Posted by: Frank G || 09/13/2006 22:13 Comments || Top||

#33  I didn't read his comment as more than straightforward analysis, Frank. Welcome back, Rafael -- I hope you're feeling better after your rest.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/13/2006 22:32 Comments || Top||

#34  np - I gave him the option to express opinion. We can all express facts.
Posted by: Frank G || 09/13/2006 22:44 Comments || Top||

#35  :-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/13/2006 22:57 Comments || Top||

#36  Good gawd. First we *celebrate* 5 safe years of no new attacks on the homeland. Then, .com pokes his head in ("poke" may be an unwise use of terms for .com)! My, my, what a week! Good to see ya, .com!
Posted by: BA || 09/13/2006 23:02 Comments || Top||


26 militants killed, 28 held in Afghanistan
KABUL: Security forces killed 26 Taliban rebels and captured 28 others in separate operations across Afghanistan as NATO pushed on with a major operation in the south, officials said Tuesday. The latest violence came as the top British general in charge of NATO forces in Afghanistan said that his men were defeating the ousted Islamist regime that is now waging a bitter insurgency.

Sixteen Taliban fighters were killed in two gun battles with Afghan troops and police Tuesday in restive Ghazni province, south of Kabul, local government spokesman Abdul Ali Fakuri told AFP. He added that an Afghan soldier had been killed and two policemen had also been wounded. Three Taliban fighters were killed late Monday in a village in southern Kandahar province, where the Taliban originated and which forms the area that has seen much of this year’s violence, said provincial governor Asadullah Khalid adding, “The Taliban entered Afghanistan from Pakistan. Fighting erupted and three Taliban were killed.”

NATO forces say a major offensive codenamed Operation Medusa in Kandahar’s Panjwayi and Zhari districts has resulted in the death of over 500 rebels since September 2. However, the Taliban have rejected the figure.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  giving the name "rebel" a bad name
Posted by: Captain America || 09/13/2006 0:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Is this an AP rewrite or is this another source that it wasn't Hek they captured on the border?
Posted by: Mitch H. || 09/13/2006 8:46 Comments || Top||

#3  I thought the ROE required integer-multiples of 20 killed?
Posted by: Frank G || 09/13/2006 11:30 Comments || Top||

#4  LOTP got that policy changed.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/13/2006 11:31 Comments || Top||

#5  I don't hear of US operations anymore unless there is a major offensive or a high value target is captured. I wonder what damage they are doing below the radar.
Posted by: ed || 09/13/2006 11:47 Comments || Top||


NATO Forces Recapture Afghan Territory
ZHARI, Afghanistan (AP) - NATO forces have recaptured territory in southern Afghanistan from Taliban insurgents during an 11-day operation that has killed at least 510 suspected militants, the alliance said Tuesday.

In southern Kandahar province, thousands of NATO and Afghan forces, backed by intense U.S. airstrikes, have killed at least 510 suspected Taliban holdouts, the alliance said. The campaign, called Operation Medusa, began Sept. 2. NATO said Tuesday its forces have regained control of 65 percent of "contested areas" in Kandahar's neighboring Zhari and Panjwayi districts, an area of roughly 50 square miles.

Purported Taliban spokesmen reject the death tolls as exaggerated.
"Lies! All lies!"
Journalists have been unable to travel freely in the region because of the campaign.

In Kabul, the capital, a top American general said violence has increased in the south because of operations mounted by Afghan and foreign forces in "Taliban sanctuaries." "Five years ago, the Afghan national army was zero," Maj. Gen. Robert Durbin, who heads the training of Afghan soldiers and police, told CNN. "We now have sufficient forces, that's why there is some tough fighting down in Kandahar."
Posted by: Steve White || 09/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Allahu akbar!
Posted by: gorb || 09/13/2006 5:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Isn't that supposed to be "allahu snackbar"?
Posted by: Random Thoughts || 09/13/2006 11:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Journalists have been unable to travel freely in the region because of the campaign.

Unable or unwilling? Or have the NATO Euros told them to stay out? Or is the lack of bad news the problem?

Or is it just that there are no good hotels even in Kabul?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/13/2006 11:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Journalists have been unable to travel freely in the region because of the campaign.

I guess somebody finally figured out that "journalists" are on the other side. Keeping them out provides greater operational security, and allows greater flexibility of response by those doing the fighting. I hope it's a permanent situation.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 09/13/2006 16:11 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Qaeda "leader" claims he cut Sudan editor's head off
A man purporting to lead an African branch of al Qaeda claimed responsibility on Tuesday for the beheading of a Sudanese newspaper editor who was found dead last week. The man, in a statement distributed to Sudanese newspapers, called editor Mohamed Taha a "dog of dogs from the ruling party", and accused him of insulting the prophet Mohammad.

“'Three individuals from this organisation undertook this operation and they are now outside Sudan'... ”
The statement was signed by Abu Hafs al-Sudani, who said he was the leader of al Qaeda in Sudan and Africa. Taha, an ally of the government who was himself an Islamist, was reported kidnapped from outside his home in the capital Khartoum a week ago, and was found dead last Wednesday. "Three individuals from this organisation undertook this operation ... and they are now outside Sudan," said the statement, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

“Colleagues say Taha had also begun to criticise the government's policy on Darfur and recent price rises to fill a budget gap...”
Taha's killing heightened political tensions in Khartoum as the government headed on a collision course with the international community over its rejection of a U.N. Security Council resolution to deploy more than 20,000 troops and police to war-ravaged Darfur. Taha had drawn protests from Islamic groups last year by reprinting a series of articles questioning the roots of the Prophet Mohammad. Colleagues say Taha had also begun to criticise the government's policy on Darfur and recent price rises to fill a budget gap.
Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No fear, Kofi is on the trail
Posted by: Captain America || 09/13/2006 0:28 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egypt discovers weapons cache intended for Gaza
Egyptian security forces on Tuesday discovered a weapon cache that police said was on its way to being smuggled into the Gaza Strip through an underground tunnel. The weapons included 32 automatic rifles, 28 pistols, large amounts of ammunition and some explosives, said Capt. Mahmoud Ali of the North Sinai police. Acting on intelligence information, security forces were keeping a close eye on the border for possible arms smuggling, Ali said. The weapons were found near a tunnel in the border town of Rafah. No one was arrested in the operation, he said.
Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As opposd to an aboveground tunnel?????
but at any rate, here are some weapons that aren't going to be delivered as promised.
Posted by: USN,Ret || 09/13/2006 0:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Obviously the export tax wasn't paid.
Posted by: Pappy || 09/13/2006 1:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Egypt discovers weapons cache intended for Gaza

Only because some of their troops tripped over it and injured themselves.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 2:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Damn, Mohammad! That's going to take at least 10 minutes of our time to find replacements for that lost cache!
Posted by: gorb || 09/13/2006 5:10 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemeni tribesmen threaten to kill French hostages
Yemeni tribesmen holding four Frenchmen hostage on Tuesday threatened to kill them if troops attempt to storm their hideout in a mountainous region in eastern Yemen, tribal officials close to the negotiations said. Talks with the kidnappers remained stalled, and negotiators were consulting with the government over the next step, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media. Tribesman kidnapped the French tourists Sunday in Shabwa province.
Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The elders are on the way! (Dual passport/citizenship tourists?)
Posted by: Phineter Thraviger1073 || 09/13/2006 1:58 Comments || Top||

#2  I expect we may soon hear that four more infidels have seen the truth and embraced Allah and his Prophet whilst touring scenic Yemen.
Posted by: Baba Tutu || 09/13/2006 3:17 Comments || Top||

#3  I thought that in Islam if you do something you wouldn't normally do because you are under duress that it doesn't count. Does that include converting to Islam?
Posted by: gorb || 09/13/2006 5:12 Comments || Top||

#4  There's no free will in Islam, so there can be no duress. Problem solved.
Posted by: ST || 09/13/2006 6:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Yep, me and the wife are really looking forward to that vacation in Yemen...
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/13/2006 10:34 Comments || Top||

#6  Yawn. They're going to do what now?
Posted by: Iblis || 09/13/2006 12:13 Comments || Top||

#7  Fred I think these stories need AN ADVENTURE OF TINTIN GRAPHIC! I found this that could be edited for these stories see: http://ftp.cwi.nl/dik/strips/KUIFJE/gold.19a.jpg
I still remember reading some where that these people wanted to get kidnapped as part of an adventure vacation. The kidnappers took very good care of the hostages untill the neighbors returned the goats or whatever. Everything was hunky dory untill the Yemeni gov't tried a rescue one time and everyone was killed in the crossfire.
Posted by: bruce || 09/13/2006 17:47 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
235 Chechen fighters lay down their weapons
(KUNA) - A total of 235 Chechen fighters surrendered their arms during the past two months in the North Caucasian region, Interfax news agency said on Tuesday. Interfax quoted Russian parliamentary sources as saying that the fighters responded to the calls of Russian authorities urging them to stop violence. In last August, head of the federal security department Nikolay Patrushev offered the fighters to study objectively the conditions that lead them to join the illegal armed groups if they stop fighting.
Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  235 Chechen fighters lay down their weapons

It was lunch time.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 0:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Looks like you are a busy poster tonight Zen. You either live on the left coast or you're a real night owl.
Posted by: Intrinsicpilot || 09/13/2006 0:37 Comments || Top||

#3  You either live on the left coast or you're a real night owl.

All of the above.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 0:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Living on the left coast. "The voice of one crying in the wilderness...."
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 09/13/2006 8:26 Comments || Top||

#5  "The voice of one crying in the wilderness...."

It feels like it sometimes. However, few things can beat living in the technological engine of the entire world (i.e., Silicon Valley). I do appreciate the sympathy though, mcsegeek1.

Maybe a left coast Rantfest is order ...
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 13:36 Comments || Top||


Europe
German police raid neo-Nazi apartments
Police raided apartments of suspected neo-Nazis in three German states Tuesday, seizing swastika flags, ski masks and fake pistols. The raids centered on the Oberlausitz area of the eastern state of Saxony, near the Polish border, where 20 apartments were searched. Other residences were searched in the state capital, Dresden, and in the southern states of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg. Police said four men, between ages 20 and 30, are being investigated on suspicion of spreading racial hatred and possession of banned Nazi materials.
Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sweet tooth acting up. Longing here for a fresh Wuerttemberger and a steamy cup of koffee.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/13/2006 2:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Guess it was the Rottenbergers, my memory is fading. They were delicious anyway.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/13/2006 2:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Now if they'd only put the same effort into raiding jihadis.
Posted by: Spot || 09/13/2006 8:21 Comments || Top||

#4  About 75 years late?

Headline in 2075: German Police Raid Neo-Jihadi Apartments

Pray it doesn't end thus: German Authority for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vices Raid Neo-Infidel Apartments...
Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) || 09/13/2006 10:15 Comments || Top||

#5  Mmmmmmmmm ... Rottenburgers
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 20:19 Comments || Top||


Seven dead in Turkish explosion
A bomb blast has killed seven people and injured at least 10 in southeastern Turkey, according to Turkish TV station CNN-Turk. Five children were among the dead, according to the Turkish station NTV news. A hospital made an appeal for blood donations after the injured were brought in to be treated. Some of the casualties were in serious condition and were being operated on, officials at the hospital said on Tuesday.

The cause of the explosion which occurred near a park in the city of Diyarbakir, the Kurdish capital of the southeast, was not immediately known. An official from the local governor's office said the authorities were investigating the possibility that it could have been a bomb left in a package.

Turkey has been plagued by a spate of bombings in recent weeks, which have killed a total of 12 people and wounded dozens, including 10 British tourists. The Kurdistan Liberation Hawks (TAK), the rebel group which claimed the previous attacks in late August, has threatened to turn Turkey into "hell".
Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What -- not another kitchen gas cannister giving up the ghost?
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/13/2006 14:02 Comments || Top||

#2  the rebel group which claimed the previous attacks in late August, has threatened to turn Turkey into "hell".

Too late.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 16:02 Comments || Top||

#3  It looks like Türk Intikam Tugayı (Turkish Revenge Brigade) has claimed this attack.

They are part of the MHP/Gray Wolf/Gladio Gang that engineered the 1980 coup with the CIA. They were involved in similar murderous activity in Turkish-occupied Cyprus, and they were responsible for the attempted assassination of Akin Birdal (head of the Turkish Human Rights Association--IHD).

More recently, too, they have been sending death threats to Kurdish politicians and members of IHD.
Posted by: Azad || 09/13/2006 17:35 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Two P-3C anti-sub aircraft reactived for Pakistan "to fight terrorism"
Lots of Taliban under the sea?

Two old P-3C Orion surveillance aircraft, after being grounded for five years, have been reactivated for Pakistan's terror war as a roll out ceremony was held Tuesday in southern Pakistan's naval air base, according to a statement released by Pakistan Navy.

Addressing the ceremony attended by U.S. diplomats and engineers from the aircraft manufacturers Lockheed Martin and OGMA, Pakistani Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Afzal Tahir reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to the maritime component of the U.S.-led counter terrorism coalition in the region "Operation Enduring Freedom" which was launched in late 2001.

"Re-activated P-3Cs would contribute significantly to this end, besides PN (Pakistan Navy) ships which already make an important part of Coalition Maritime Campaign Plan," he said, reiterating Pakistan Navy's pledge to continue playing an active role in the global war on terrorism, according to the statement.

Extending his gratitude to the U.S. government for its generous support in re-activation and operationalisation of the aircraft, the Pakistani navy chief hoped that it would bring a major transformation in Pakistan's naval air arm in terms of assets and capability.

P-3C Orion is a four engine, highly maneuverable, all weather aircraft primarily designed for reconnaissance, anti-submarine and anti-surface vessel operations. Being 116 feet long and with a maximum speed of 410 km, P-3C Orion is one of the fastest turbo prop aircraft and most widely used Long Range Maritime Patrol ( LRMP) aircraft in the world.

The two P-3C aircraft were manufactured in 1990 at Lockheed's plant in California, and with the overhaul of both the aircraft becoming due, they were grounded for a period of 5 years, said the statement.

Later a contract to re-activate the two P3C grounded aircraft was signed between Lockheed and U.S Navy in January 2005 and maintenance work on both the aircraft was undertaken concurrently by Lockheed and Pakistan Navy personnel and technicians from OGMA, it said.

Local reports in September 2005 quoting officials said that Pakistan Navy had acquired free of cost eight P-3C Orion reconnaissance aircraft worth one billion U.S. dollars from the United States and the delivery of the aircraft would be made in phases in and after 2006.
Posted by: john || 09/13/2006 17:52 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hey, if I had a nickel for every time a P-3C Orion helped me win a game of "Harpoon," I'd have a lot of nickels. Although exactly how the Pakis plan to nail Osama with a full load of sonobuoys and Mk-48 torpedos is a mystery to me.
Posted by: WhiteCollarRedneck || 09/13/2006 19:50 Comments || Top||

#2  This can't be making our Indian friends happy.
Posted by: DanNY || 09/13/2006 19:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Heh, this is prolly the payoff for the permission for certain US forces to operate in Pakiland...
Posted by: DanNY || 09/13/2006 19:59 Comments || Top||

#4  IIRC, the P3c's combination of ON BOARD sensors (Radar, IR, visual) that were designed to independently search and sift data from large areas were successfully used to locate, classify, track and kill targets in Afganistan. Although expensive to own and operate, they do work.
Posted by: Angineter Theater7747 || 09/13/2006 19:59 Comments || Top||

#5  Low cost JSTARs?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/13/2006 20:04 Comments || Top||

#6  Although exactly how the Pakis plan to nail Osama with a full load of sonobuoys and Mk-48 torpedos is a mystery to me.

Didn't play around with the load-outs in Harpoon? You can put Harpoon missiles on an Orion.

Yeah, they finished off a few fleets for me, too.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 09/13/2006 21:23 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
NATO allies deaf to US call for help
SOME of the US's closest NATO allies have abandoned Washington on the key battleground ofthe war on terror - the bloody struggle against Islamic militants for control of southern Afghanistan.
Five years after the world stood "shoulder to shoulder" with the US in the aftermath of 9/11, The Times has learned that many of the countries that pledged support then have now ignored an urgent request for more help in fighting a resurgent Taliban and its al-Qa'ida allies.

Turkey, Germany, Spain and Italy have effectively ruled out sending more troops. France has not committed itself either way, but military sources in Kabul said there were no expectations that the French would contribute to a new battle group, especially now they were providing a substantial force in Lebanon.

They have rejected an appeal from General James Jones, the American Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, for 2500 more troops to fight alongside American, British, Canadian and Dutch soldiers. The 26-nation alliance has not volunteered a single extra combat soldier.

Britain, which has 5400 troops in Afghanistan, has told its NATO partners they must do more if the line is to be held against the resurgent Taliban. The conflict has cost the lives of 33 British troops since June.

Battles were raging in Afghanistan yesterday, where NATO estimates 600 Taliban fighters have been killed in its new offensive. Twenty NATO soldiers, including 14 British servicemen who died when their Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft crashed on the first day, have been killed.

Only the newcomers to NATO have indicated they would be prepared to send more soldiers. Latvia, with an army of 1817 soldiers, plans to increase its presence in Afghanistan from 36 to 56 people. Neither Norway nor Denmark is planning to send reinforcements. The Netherlands is already playing a significant role in the south.

"Terrorism remains a threat to all of us. This is why we are in Afghanistan, the cradle of 9/11," said NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

The muted response from NATO members casts a shadow over solemn tributes in the US and Britain yesterday for the almost 3000 people killed on 9/11.

US President George W.Bush travelled from New York to Pennsylvania and finally to the Pentagon for memorial services at the sites where the four hijacked airliners came down.

"My job is to protect this country," Mr Bush said. "And I am going to, within the law. And it gets second-guessed all the time by people who don't live in the United States."

In a clear dig at his critics abroad, he added: "Let me remind you: September 11th for them was a bad day; for us it was a change of attitude."

The tone could not have been more different from the atmosphere five years ago when allies, and even some traditional foes, of the US lined up to offer Washington military assistance, intelligence and diplomatic support, in particular for its aim to destroy al-Qa'ida and overthrow the Taliban regime in Kabul.

NATO forces in Afghanistan admitted they were dangerously overstretched, but there was no suggestion the Taliban and its al-Qa'ida allies were winning the battle for control of the country.

The Taliban are more ferocious and more determined than at any time since they were overthrown by US-led forces in late 2001.

As well as carrying out suicide bombing, they are also fighting hand to hand, occupying and controlling towns and districts for days at a time under the noses of NATO troops.
Posted by: Oztralian || 09/13/2006 21:07 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just withdraw all our forces from, say, Germany, all at once.

Let's see them defend themselves.
Posted by: Snereting Omeretch6894 || 09/13/2006 21:14 Comments || Top||

#2  or better yet just withdraw from NATO and let them defend themselves
Posted by: sinse || 09/13/2006 21:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Is there an international organization that's worth spit? The UN, NATO, Red Cross, etc.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 09/13/2006 21:25 Comments || Top||

#4  Red Cross supplies doughnuts at least.....
Posted by: Ulinens Sneck2067 || 09/13/2006 21:27 Comments || Top||

#5  Red Crescent has weapons deliveries on demand...
Posted by: Frank G || 09/13/2006 21:35 Comments || Top||

#6  The UN, NATO, Red Cross, etc.

I *know* you used the word "international", but I feel it is worth pointing out that the American Red Cross is not the feckless and sucky International Red Cross.
Posted by: SteveS || 09/13/2006 21:54 Comments || Top||

#7  Our friends. Should be a big surprise to no one.
Posted by: Jules in the Hinterlands || 09/13/2006 22:08 Comments || Top||

#8  I thought we'd concluded that a large part of their problem is they just haven't any more combat troops to send?
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/13/2006 22:30 Comments || Top||

#9  TW, they may have a couple more of them troops, butall this cost money. The dole recipients are a priority.
Posted by: twobyfour || 09/13/2006 22:53 Comments || Top||


Kofi: "Iran has offered to help US leave Iraq
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan during his recent trip to the region that the US-led invasion of Iraq and its aftermath were "a real disaster," Annan told reporters Wednesday.

"Most of the leaders I spoke to felt the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath has been a real disaster for them," Annan said. "They believe it has destabilized the region." Iran offered to help the United States leave, Annan said, though he refused to elaborate.
Posted by: Captain America || 09/13/2006 11:44 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I bet they did. The UN is a real disaster. Iran is just becoming a pariah. You are fired Kofi. Pack your bags and leave.
Posted by: newc || 09/13/2006 11:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Destabilized? No. Upset the dictator's status quo? Yes.

STFU Kofi. No one likes you anymore.
Posted by: DarthVader || 09/13/2006 11:57 Comments || Top||

#3  In a similar vein, I want to "help" the staff at the local Ferrari dealership to leave. I'll hang around to look after things.
Posted by: PlanetDan || 09/13/2006 12:00 Comments || Top||

#4  "Most of the leaders I spoke to felt the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath has been a real disaster for them," Annan said.

The hysterical part is the "for them" at the end of that sentence, LOL. I don't doubt this in the least, especially when you consider who he went to see, such as Syria and Iran.
Posted by: flyover || 09/13/2006 12:04 Comments || Top||

#5  I don't suppose he cared to talk to the Iraqi people. Of course not! Only his Muslim masters.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 09/13/2006 12:14 Comments || Top||

#6  I think it was part of Bush's plan to stir up stuff in this region, giving them a chance to make some changes. Sounds like it's working.
Posted by: Sherry || 09/13/2006 12:26 Comments || Top||

#7  Kofi says the (3 year old) US invasion of Iraq has been a real disaster. Whereas Kofi's (then 12 year old) Oil for Food program had been a stunning success.

Iran has offered to help the USA leave Iraq. Allow me to offer to help anyone wishing to see the UN leave the USA. We'll be better off in the long run.



Posted by: Mark Z || 09/13/2006 12:38 Comments || Top||

#8  I'll gladly help the UN leave the US.

Where would they go? To HELL would suit me just fine.

Their seats are already reserved there - it won't hurt a thing if they arrive a little early.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 09/13/2006 12:50 Comments || Top||

#9  I think the UN ought to relocate to someplace more in line with its current relevance, Gaza City. Think of all the poor starving Paleos they could put on the payroll. Of course the normal UN rules concerning exploiting the local female population might cause a few problems.
Posted by: RWV || 09/13/2006 13:13 Comments || Top||

#10  Iran offering us help is like the Nazis offering the Jews "help" in leaving Poland.

The UN is a joke. Kick them out, stop funding them, and make a League of Nations again - this time acall it hte Leage if FREE Nations - with qualifications for voting, such as economic activity, free and open elections, etc. Mugabe the Mullahs and Kim et al, need not apply except as supplicants or targets. Leadership is provided by vote - and money is the terms of the vote: whomever writes the biggests checks (like a corporation - biggest stockholders hold sway).


Posted by: Oldspook || 09/13/2006 13:22 Comments || Top||

#11  According to all natural and scientific law, this asshole's head is supposed to explode when he says outrageous shit like this. Someone needs to help things along with this terrorist facilitating turd.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 13:40 Comments || Top||

#12  Now Zen, you're insulting turds. Turds are formed through normal, natural processes and serve a purpose. Kofi satisfies neither of those requirements. He's more along the lines of Mad Cow Disease. You know, the scummy residue left on the bottom of the gene pool after it's empty.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 09/13/2006 13:46 Comments || Top||

#13  You're right, Silentbrick. I humbly and abjectly apologize to all turds everywhere.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 13:57 Comments || Top||

#14  This person truly must live in an alternate world from the rest of us, becusae the scum has not an iota of shame. The assholery that passes for speech from him always astounds me for it's actual cluelessness.

Kofi GTFO and be gone.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 09/13/2006 14:07 Comments || Top||

#15  Everything rises and falls on leadership. The UN has been in the habit of appointing Secretary Generals who are America-hating Asshats for quite some time now. Thus, it has lost any relevance. If they want to continue, fine, but it shouldn't be on American soil.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 09/13/2006 14:36 Comments || Top||

#16  ." Iran offered to help the United States leave, Annan said, though he refused to elaborate.
If it's through Iran, we should think about it.
The UN should be in SUDAN right now, so they can look out thier window and say "See, no problems here a little oil for food can't handle"
Posted by: plainslow || 09/13/2006 14:51 Comments || Top||

#17  From the sinktrap, appology excepted, Zenster.
Posted by: wxjames || 09/13/2006 14:55 Comments || Top||

#18  Serious question.
What the fuck is wrong with this guy? Is he naive, stupid, retarded or the most corrupt bastard on the planet?
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/13/2006 15:01 Comments || Top||

#19  He's the consummate African boneheaded communist. The continent is full of them.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/13/2006 15:03 Comments || Top||

#20  I'd bet a donk publicly agrees with him and lauds him for his wisdom before the day is out.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/13/2006 15:04 Comments || Top||

#21  I do wish someone would bump this idiot off on a "dark and stormy night". His license to consume oxygen ran out following Rwanda. Someone needs to enforce some "natural laws" around here...
Posted by: Old Patriot || 09/13/2006 16:17 Comments || Top||

#22  He's the consummate African boneheaded communist. The continent is full of them.

Bingo!
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 09/13/2006 16:22 Comments || Top||

#23  Reminds me of an unsolicited remark that a feller from Nairobi offered to me during a flight from Japan:

"Africans are just useless at Government."

When we do march out of Iraq, it ought to be through Tehran and Qom.
Posted by: eLarson || 09/13/2006 16:52 Comments || Top||

#24  Kofi, the cretin.
Posted by: SR-71 || 09/13/2006 18:56 Comments || Top||

#25  This is outrageous. Cut the UN contribution now.
Posted by: SR-71 || 09/13/2006 21:37 Comments || Top||

#26  Meanwhile, Saddam's boyz continually firing at UNO-sponsored recce aircraft over Iraq = UN protected "no fly zones" enhances/promotes UNO credibility to no end.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/13/2006 22:31 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Ali Khamenei Apes Kofi On US Out of Iran
"Once the occupiers are out, many of Iraq`s problems will be resolved," Iran’s Ali Khamenei tells visiting Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki Wednesday

He attributed part of Iraq’s problems to “foreign occupiers” and “the performance of the former tyrant regime” for another. Iran considers it its duty to extend practical assitance to the Iraqi people and government, including backing Iraq’s recovery of its sovereingty. In Baghad , car bombs killed 22 people in Baghdad Wednesday and police found 60 bodies bound, tortured and shot - most in Sunni districts but some also in Shiite districts neighborhoods of the capital.
Posted by: Captain America || 09/13/2006 14:04 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But of course, because if the US actually "Fixes" Iraq, and it is left stable, the mullahs in Iran will have nothing left to stand on. It is all Ideological from here on out. Iraq can solve it's own problems better withought Iran putting it's paws on it. We had a Democracy in the middle east for 10 years - it is called Kurdistan. We did pretty good with them. Imagine what happens to the Middle East if Iraq ends up in the same light?
Posted by: newc || 09/13/2006 18:03 Comments || Top||

#2  "Once the occupiers are out, many of Iraq`s problems will be resolved,"

This sound an awful lot like a reheated version of the same old Arab pap.

"Only after the Israeli-Palestinian crisis is resolved will there be any forward progress in other Arab governments."
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 18:25 Comments || Top||


Baghdad death squads kill 60 as bombs kill 22
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Police recovered 60 bodies over the past day across Baghdad, most bound and tortured, officials said on Wednesday, highlighting how sectarian death squads are still plaguing the Iraqi capital despite a major security drive.

Two car bombs targeting police killed 22 people during the morning and wounded another 76 people. The first killed 14 outside Baghdad’s traffic police headquarters, a second targeted guards at an electricity station in the east of the city.

The death of another U.S. soldier was confirmed in Anbar province, where the commander denied suggestions his force had lost control to al-Qaida and other Sunni insurgents but said stabilizing the western desert region would be a job for Iraqi politicians and their U.S.-trained troops and police.

A U.S. soldier was also killed overnight near Baghdad.

U.S. and Iraqi leaders say that the biggest threat to Iraq no longer comes from the three-year-old revolt among ousted president Saddam Hussein’s fellow Sunni Muslims but from a civil war between Sunnis and the Shiite majority now in power.

Iran calls for immediate U.S. pullout
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki met Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran. Fellow Shiite Islamist leaders there have pledged support and security for Iraq, drawing a wary response from Washington which accused Tehran of funding militants there.

Khamenei, echoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called on the 145,000 U.S. troops to leave Iraq: “Most problems in Iraq will be removed with the departure of occupiers. So we wish for their immediate evacuation,” state media quoted him as saying.

Maliki says he wants the Americans gone, but not until Iraqi forces are capable of handling the violence they face.

An Interior Ministry official and sources at Baghdad police headquarters said a total of 60 unidentified bodies were found, freshly killed, in various parts of Baghdad over the past day.

Four others, one a woman, were fished out of the Tigris river just south of the capital -- another daily occurrence.

The tally was among the highest of late, despite a month-old security crackdown by reinforced U.S. and Iraqi troops.

“But we’ve had worse days,” the Interior Ministry official said. “Sometimes we sent 65 or even 100 to the morgue.”

Fifteen bodies were found scattered, some in roadside garbage heaps, close to the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City in eastern Baghdad, he said. In the southern district of Saidiya, the bloodied remains of five bakers were discovered.

Most of the dead were bound and shot in the head and many bore signs of torture, the official said -- marks of sectarian death squads and kidnap gangs.

Daily toll
The United Nations estimated two months ago that about 100 people a day were being killed in a covert sectarian dirty war.

U.S. military commanders have said the increased presence of troops on the street, sweeping through violent neighborhoods to prepare them for Iraqi police control, had reduced the ”murder rate” by more than 40 percent in August. That figure included individual shootings but not bigger attacks such as bombings.

Last week, the U.N. office in Baghdad said the number of unidentified bodies taken to the city morgue in August fell by about 17 percent from the record month of July to 1,536. Morgue officials, who have stopped giving data to the media, say that about 90 percent of the bodies they see are victims of violence.

The Health Ministry has yet to publish its full data for other violent deaths in August. Figures for July put the total at more than 3,000 people, concentrated in Baghdad, where more than one in four of the 26 million Iraqis live.

The killings have made tens of thousands flee areas where they are in a minority, hardening a divide along the Tigris between mainly Sunni west Baghdad and the mostly Shiite east.

Maliki’s four-month-old unity government is pursuing a "national reconciliation plan" to avert all-out civil war but major strains are clear between rival factions, notably over how far the oil-rich Shiite south can have autonomy from Baghdad.

Parliament’s Sunni speaker met leaders of major blocs to try to break deadlock over proposed legislation ahead of a looming constitutional deadline. Further talks were set for Saturday.

Saddam’s trial for genocide against the Kurds in 1988 continued in Baghdad with the prosecution, in an unusual move, asking the judge to resign for being too lenient in letting the defendants make speeches and intimidating comments to witnesses.

The judge refused.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 09/13/2006 12:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is there any breakdown on who is getting tortured and murdered? Is this torture for information, revenge, or pleasure?
Posted by: Penguin || 09/13/2006 12:22 Comments || Top||

#2  "Khamenei, echoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called on the 145,000 U.S. troops to leave Iraq: “Most problems in Iraq will be removed with the departure of occupiers. So we wish for their immediate evacuation,” state media quoted him as saying."

and of course Iranians will not be considered occupiers when the stroll on in and steal this fledgling democracy that is Iraq. Nope no occupiers here just us fun loving, sharia living Jihadis...
Posted by: TomAnon || 09/13/2006 13:27 Comments || Top||

#3  I wonder how many of the killed just happened to be Iranian spies?

I am also suspicious of the torture element. When you have an effort at ethnic cleansing in full swing, torture is usually less, as opposed to just killing. Torture takes time, time that could be used in driving out the hated minority.

But revenge, on the other hand, is far more quality than quantity. So I suspect that in the vast majority of the cases, it is targetted killing, not just sectarian.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/13/2006 14:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Khameini: Most problems in Iraq will be removed with the departure of occupiers.

Yeah, I suppose we'd see a lot of the "problems" rush home to Iran if we marched our troops out of Iraq and into Qom.
Posted by: eLarson || 09/13/2006 17:08 Comments || Top||


Militants kidnap 14 students in Iraq
(KUNA) -- Unknown militants kidnapped 14 students on Tuesday who had been re-sitting their final exams in the area of Shula, said a source at the Armed Forces Command. The source told KUNA that details of the kidnapping would be announced in a statement later today.

Meanwhile, a multi-national forces statement Tuesday reported that US warplanes struck houses used by militants in western Al-Habbaniya city, 80 km to the west of Baghdad. The statement did not report whether the operation was targeting senior officials of Al-Qaeda organization. The militants opened fire and the coalition forces fired back, it was said. A helicopter carrying a medical team is also reported to have come under hostile fire while evacuating a person injured in the confrontations but it is reported the evacuation succeded. It was not reported whether military operations were still ongoing in the region.

Baghdad had also witnessed yesterday the killing of an Iraqi and wounding of 10 civilians and four policemen in a dual bombing targeting two police patrol vehicles near the Ministry of Culture. Three civilians were wounded when an explosive device blew up near their vehicle as they were heading to work in central Baghdad.

In Al-Mousil, four civilians were shot dead when gunmen broke into their house. In other incidents, seven men were killed and 11 others were wounded when gunmen attacked a Shiite shrine late Monday in Baqubah and blew it up, Al-Iraqiya Television which is financed by the Iraqi government said. The militants launched missiles at the coroner's office as it received the victims, Al-Iraqiya added.
Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In Al-Mousil, four civilians were shot dead when gunmen broke into their house

Its a quagmire. Something like that would never happen in Philadelphia, or LA, or Detroit, or...wait...oh, never mind.
Posted by: Jort Chitle9044 || 09/13/2006 7:57 Comments || Top||


Violence kills six civilians, policeman, four gunmen in Iraq
(KUNA) -- At least six Iraqi civilians, an Iraqi police officer and four gunmen were killed Tuesday and several others were wounded in separate violent incidents in various parts of Iraq. Iraqi security source told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that a booby-trapped car exploded in Al-Mansour area in the Iraqi capital killing two civilians. Another 15 civilians were wounded and several stores were destroyed as result of the explosion, he added.

In Mosul, gunmen opened fire and killed Iraqi police Captain Ziad Ramzi, an Iraqi police source told KUNA. The source added that anonymous gunmen opened fire on a number of civilians in Al-Zahraa district to kill four Iraqi civilians and wound another.

Meanwhile, four gunmen were killed today in clashes between the Iraqi army and an armed group South-West of Kirkuk City, a source from Iraqi army told KUNA.
Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli court extends custody for 18 Hamas officials
Follow-up from yesterday.
OFER MILITARY BASE, West Bank - An Israeli military court on Tuesday ordered 18 Palestinian Hamas party members charged with belonging to a terrorist organisation to remain in custody for at least 48 hours.

The judge initially ordered the release of the 18 officials, including parliamentary speaker Aziz Dweik, but agreed to a demand from the military prosecution to keep them in custody pending an appeal. Dweik and his 17 colleagues, who were arrested in a massive clampdown on Hamas after its armed wing claimed responsibility for the capture of an Israeli soldier, have been charged with ‘belonging to a terrorist organisation’.

‘The judge’s initial decision counts for nothing. What counts for me, is to see these people free and with their families,’ one of the defence lawyers, Jawad Boulos, told reporters.
So they can get back to do what they do best.
The appeal against the decision to release the officials from the governing Palestinian party will be heard on Thursday. The judge said his decision to release them, albeit on bail at 25,000 shekels (5,700 dollars) a head, was because he was ‘not convinced’ their continued detention was justified.
This guy could be a Federal judge in Detroit ...
Boulos quoted the judge as saying that if they are ‘terrorists’ as the army maintains, then the military should have arrested them ‘before or during’ the parliamentary elections that Hamas won by a landslide on January 25. ‘Israel approved the holding of the elections and even facilitated them,’ Boulos quoted him as saying.
And then Israel jugged them. Kinda neat how that works.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So the "bargaining chip" thingie still applies, eh?
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 0:10 Comments || Top||

#2  "agreed to a demand from the military prosecution to keep them in custody pending an appeal"

LOL. Flight risk, maybe?
Posted by: flyover || 09/13/2006 1:50 Comments || Top||


IDF arrests Bethlehem Tanzim leader
After a two-hour standoff on Tuesday, IDF troops in Bethlehem arrested Tanzim head Ali Salaha. The suspect gave himself up after soldiers from an elite unit surrounded a building in which he was hiding. During the two-hour standoff, clashes erupted between soldiers and local residents. An IDF officer and a border policeman were lightly wounded by a grenade and by rocks, Israel Radio reported. Palestinians at the scene reported that a 13-year-old boy had been killed by IDF fire, and said that another boy and a woman were wounded.

Salaha's arrest comes some three weeks after members of the Border Police's Yamam counter-terrorism unit, operating jointly with the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), arrested two Tanzim leaders in Tulkarm who were allegedly behind attempts to manufacture homemade rockets that could be fired at cities in the Sharon region.

Members of the Yamam unit arrested Hassan Ufi and Watar Amara in Tulkarm at the end of August. Ufi and Amara, security officials said, received logistical and financial support from Hizbullah. During the arrest, security forces discovered a large weapons cache including several rockets in the midst of being assembled and several sacks filled with explosives.
Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Palestinians at the scene reported that a 13-year-old boy had been killed by IDF fire, and said that another boy and a woman were wounded.

Let's fix this:

Palestinians at the scene reported that a 13-year-old boy had been killed by IDF fire, and said that another boy and a woman were wounded as Ali Salaha returned fire while crouching behind them.

There, all better.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 16:44 Comments || Top||


Exclusive: Hamas MPs may be part of Shalit deal
A day after Hamas and Fatah agreed to establish a national unity government, a military court decided Tuesday to release 18 Hamas lawmakers pending an appeal, in what a senior Palestinian Authority official in Ramallah claimed was part of a deal that would ultimately lead to the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

Military Judge Maj. Ronen Atzmon decided to release the Hamas men on NIS 25,000 bail each. The 18 will still stand trial for illegal membership in the Hamas terror organization. According to the ruling, however, they could spend the duration of the trial at home. Prosecutors appealed the ruling and the 18 are to remain in custody until the court reaches a final decision on Thursday. "It's no coincidence that the Hamas officials are being released a day after the agreement to form a national unity government," the PA official told The Jerusalem Post.

On Monday, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh announced in Gaza City that they had reached an agreement to form a unity government on the basis of a political program that implicitly recognizes Israel's right to exist. "President Abbas received assurances from Israel, the US and other European countries that the Hamas leaders would be released shortly after the agreement," the official said. "These assurances convinced Hamas to accept the unity government idea."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No one goes home until all> of the soldiers are freed. Screw child-killer Kuntar and his Hezbollah buddies.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 0:20 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Law, order restored to outskirts of US Embassy in Damascus
(KUNA) -- Law and order was restored to the outskirts of the US Embassy in Damascus, in the aftermath of the bloody terrorist attack targeting it earlier Tuesday, a statement by the Syrian Interior Ministry said. "The attack, which led to the death of three of the attackers and killed wounded a fourth one, also injured a Syrian security officer standing guard at the gate of the embassy as well as a US Embassy security officer together with 11 other people including seven Syrians, two Iraqis ( a man and a woman) and one Chinese national," the statement said. The injured attacker was caught and is now being questioned by the authorities, the statement said.
"Big Mahmoud, you may begin the questioning!"
"Aaaaaiiiieeee! Rosebud!"
"Effendi! I hardly even touched 'im!"
"There, there, Big Mahmoud! Don't take it so hard! There'll be another one along!"
"[Sniff!] Promise, effendi?"
The US Embassy had said that all its staff were safe.

The attack took place at a short distance from the Syrian President's residence at Rawda and close to some embassies including the Iraqi and Chinese ones. According to eyewitnesses, three men drove to the embassy's outskirts in two separate cars and started shooting and throwing hand grenades.
Uhuh. Brilliant tactics.
Syrian authorities have cracked down, in recent years, on fundamentalist groups such as Jund Al-Sham and confiscated arms and ammunition in their possession.
Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Great pic!!
Posted by: Captain America || 09/13/2006 0:33 Comments || Top||

#2  WINDSOFCHANGE.com + other blogs > in near term, the attack probably failed due to heavy/pervasive Syrian surveilliance of the embassy + surrounding area. In LT, cannot prove = disprove YET as to whether Syria ordered or staged the attack.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/13/2006 2:41 Comments || Top||

#3  This unusual headline found on Timesonline: "Terrorists killed in US Embassy attack"
Posted by: Ulelet Uniting8249 || 09/13/2006 13:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Useful information, JosephM. Thanks!
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/13/2006 14:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Dead men tell no tales.....

"Dammit, Achmed, you were supposed to be on a suicide mission. Now I gotta get my burnoose all icky..."
Posted by: Ulurong Cragum8967 || 09/13/2006 16:35 Comments || Top||


Fourth US embassy attacker died of his wounds
(KUNA) -- Syrian State television said Tuesday evening that the fourth attacker - who belongs to an armed religious extremist group which targeted the U.S. embassy in Damascus - died of his wounds in clashes with Syrian anti-terror forces.
"Dr. Quincy, your 9 o'clock appointment is here!"
The fourth attacker was arrested on the scene in the embassies district in Abu Ramanah area, after being injured from clashes with police and where three of his accomplices died, Syrian TV said. Syrian TV also said that identities of all attackers were not yet determined.
Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Convenient.
Posted by: Pappy || 09/13/2006 0:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Inevitable.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/13/2006 0:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Dead
Posted by: Captain America || 09/13/2006 0:34 Comments || Top||

#4  Somebody helped him
Posted by: Matt K. || 09/13/2006 2:27 Comments || Top||

#5  Somebody helped him

The fifth one.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/13/2006 2:52 Comments || Top||

#6  I heard a RAB consultant was in town. I suspect a crossfire incident.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 09/13/2006 5:54 Comments || Top||

#7  Good, I'm sure his parents are proud of his wasted life. Allen Akbar and all that...
Posted by: 49 Pan || 09/13/2006 8:28 Comments || Top||

#8  FATHER: But I don't want to think I've not lost a son, so much as... gained a daughter!
[clap clap clap]
For, since the tragic death of her father--
GUEST #2: He's not quite dead!
FATHER: Since the near fatal wounding of her father--
GUEST #2: He's getting better!
FATHER: For, since her own father, who, when he seemed about to recover, suddenly felt the icy hand of death upon him...
BRIDE'S FATHER: Uugh!
GUEST #2: Oh, he's died!
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 09/13/2006 8:30 Comments || Top||

#9  Unfortunately, I agree with Pappy. These guys kill themselves on a daily basis for the 'love of allan' anyway. It would be pretty simple to get a few to provide a feint so that pencil-neck's government looks good to the Tranzis, MSM and LLL.

The rest of us hopefully understand this as a stunt.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 09/13/2006 8:42 Comments || Top||

#10  I have a conspiracy theory. Syrian intelligence hired these guys, telling them that the Syrian embassy guards would let them through, but double-cross them. This sends a message of "Here's what you'll be dealing with if you topple Assad." Those dumb enough to lap this up as a sign of Syrian goodwill are icing on the cake.
Posted by: Perfesser || 09/13/2006 9:20 Comments || Top||

#11  Thanks Perfesser, I'll add that to my 'list'.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 09/13/2006 9:26 Comments || Top||

#12  And Amesty International is investigating.
Posted by: plainslow || 09/13/2006 9:30 Comments || Top||

#13  Does Jesse Jackson know about this?!?!?
Posted by: DarthVader || 09/13/2006 9:34 Comments || Top||

#14  i think theres a good chance perfessor is right.

OTOH, while such a black flag op can help the regime internationally, domestically it still makes them look weak. If they are willing to take that hit to get the US to stop supporting the opposition, its a sign of how desperate they are.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 09/13/2006 9:39 Comments || Top||

#15  Kind of a combination of "See,we have terrorist problems too" and a warning shot across the US' bow.

What I meant by 'convenient' ws that the fourth suspect died and is now unavailable for... comment.
Posted by: Pappy || 09/13/2006 9:51 Comments || Top||

#16  "What were his last words?"

"Hmmm, Lemme see... 'URK!', looks like."
Posted by: mojo || 09/13/2006 10:30 Comments || Top||

#17  Need another pillow there, Achmed?
No. For the front...
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/13/2006 10:37 Comments || Top||

#18  My idea is not, it turns out, oringal. Walid Phares' post of September 12 has a more detailed and subtle argument.
Posted by: Perfesser || 09/13/2006 10:59 Comments || Top||

#19  I can't get that damn "Allahu Snackbar!" comment from yesterday outta my head
Posted by: Frank G || 09/13/2006 11:31 Comments || Top||

#20  Dead men cant talk!!!!!!
Posted by: Chating Elmang3305 || 09/13/2006 12:07 Comments || Top||


Good morning
MNAs mesmerised by ‘bikini girl’Law, order restored to outskirts of US Embassy in DamascusExclusive: Hamas MPs may be part of Shalit dealYemeni tribesmen threaten to kill French hostagesTaliban melt away from battleIran promises to help establish security in IraqQaeda leader claims he cut Sudan editor's head offQaeda leader claims he cut Sudan editor's head off51 dead in Yemen stampede
Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I believe I'm "In The Mood" for a ... Geranium.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/13/2006 2:11 Comments || Top||

#2  LOL. I didn't notice that, Bosoeker. :)
Posted by: flyover || 09/13/2006 2:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Besoeker - sorry... still distracted, LOL.
Posted by: flyover || 09/13/2006 2:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Now that's a do!
Posted by: elbud || 09/13/2006 4:43 Comments || Top||

#5  She's certainly not indicating don't, lol.
Posted by: .com || 09/13/2006 5:55 Comments || Top||

#6  Ann, that knot looks loose to me. Let me fix that for ya....
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 09/13/2006 8:23 Comments || Top||

#7  I don't know, that hairdo is kind of... intimidating. I swear it's *looking* at us. And isn't particularly happy.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 09/13/2006 8:42 Comments || Top||

#8  It's turning me off. I'm going to go shave my head.
Posted by: wxjames || 09/13/2006 9:28 Comments || Top||

#9  Not to mention the linebacker shoulder pads.
Posted by: lotp || 09/13/2006 10:25 Comments || Top||

#10  Apologies for being O/T, but check Drudge. There are at least 7 or 8 very interesting stories up...
NOVAK: ARMITAGE DID NOT TELL ALL (this link will probably change soon)
George Clooney Will Speak To UN Security Council
Test nonlethal weapons on U.S. citizens, official says
Bibi: Iran president more dangerous than Hitler
World has tapped just 18 percent of global oil supplies, Saudi executive says
Baker surfaces as key adviser to Bush on Iraq
Posted by: flyover || 09/13/2006 12:40 Comments || Top||

#11  For you uninformed and unimaginative types:

About the do -- very popular in the early forties. Kind of a combo of French chic and well, uhm, don' t know how to communicate this discreetly, but is an abstract of an entirely different part of a woman's body . . . that's all I'm going to say, except that half the fun would be undoing the do, and then getting on with other things.

Okay, I'll shut up now. But it's true.

Posted by: ex-lib || 09/13/2006 12:51 Comments || Top||

#12  ex-lib, are you sure the girls knew the hairstyle was intended to suggest other bits? Because I surely didn't until just now... and I'm forced to wonder if the french braid I wore in my younger days had meaning beyond keeping the hair out of my eyes during back handsprings.

Besoeker, lovely two-fold connection there -- the geranium and "In the Mood". I may be oblivious about the subtler signals of hairstyles, but I pick up the important things. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/13/2006 13:27 Comments || Top||

#13  Many hears ago, Mrs. Besoeker and Ek were in a Gasthaus beer garden in Fusen enjoying a quiet dinner, listending to splendid organ music under Bavarian summer stars. I asked the musician in my best German if he could play that old Glenn Miller song. He performed an absolutely superb rendition. The bar maids were twirling their towels and dancing behind the counter, everyone applauded wildly.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/13/2006 13:50 Comments || Top||

#14  Trailing Wife: Ms. Sheridan's hairstyle is not a french braid, per se. And yes, I'm sure, but remember that humans do lots of similar things, albeit unconciously. I could go on and on about fashion and hair and sexuality, but it's fun to keep up with it on your own. I happen to like the hairstyle because it's a very suggestive "power-do," while still being demure. What's wrong with that? It's a lot better than stupid Madonna et.al.
Posted by: ex-lib || 09/13/2006 14:09 Comments || Top||

#15  Not even close to a french braid, ex-lib. I would have classed it as a twist or roll variant, very popular at the time in all their variations. The classic french twist went through a revival not long ago for dressy evenings. No criticism meant of your knowledgeability or subtle appreciation, just my own ignorance and obliviousness. Someday we'll get you to do a Rantburg seminar on the subject, I hope. :-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/13/2006 14:21 Comments || Top||

#16  Not offended at all, trailing wife. The kind of observational analysis I offered doesn't have any real practical application anyway--the fact is, so much of everything has to do with some sort of sexual expression--especially fashion. It's just life. And I think it's okay.
Posted by: ex-lib || 09/13/2006 15:41 Comments || Top||

#17  so much of everything has to do with some sort of sexual expression--especially fashion. It's just life
Have you read the Ascent of Man?
Posted by: Dr Bronowski || 09/13/2006 17:10 Comments || Top||

#18  Let's just hope that suggestive hairstyles never become popular for men!
Posted by: ryuge || 09/13/2006 17:14 Comments || Top||

#19  Lemme see, here... Tomorrow: Not too skinny, no funny haircuts, no swimsuits...

Picky, ain'tcha?
Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2006 22:14 Comments || Top||

#20  lol - I read it for the articles
Posted by: Frank G || 09/13/2006 22:15 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2006-09-13
  Law, order restored to outskirts of US Embassy in Damascus
Tue 2006-09-12
  Bush rallies nation to ‘struggle for civilization’
Mon 2006-09-11
  Five Years: Never Forgive, Never Forget, Never "Understand"
Sun 2006-09-10
  NATO troops kill 60 Taliban in Afghanistan
Sat 2006-09-09
  5 more suspects held in Danish terror probe
Fri 2006-09-08
  Blasts near Indian mosque kill 20
Thu 2006-09-07
  Iraq hangs 27 on terrorism charges
Wed 2006-09-06
  7 held in Denmark after anti-terror sting
Tue 2006-09-05
  Peace deal signed in Wazoo
Mon 2006-09-04
  British police search 17 terror suspects' homes
Sun 2006-09-03
  Ayman sez "Convert or die!"
Sat 2006-09-02
  "Star Wars" zaps target in Pac test
Fri 2006-09-01
  IAEA submits Iran report
Thu 2006-08-31
  Ex-generals to Halutz: Go home!
Wed 2006-08-30
  Brits Charge 3 More in Jetliner Terror Plot

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