After no communication with his field commanders since 9/11, Taliban chief Mullah Omar has emerged from the shadows this year and inspired his troops to plan a major offensive against US-led forces in Afghanistan, reports weekly magazine Newsweek. According to the report, written by Sami Yousafzai and Ron Moreau, Taliban field commander Ghul Agha Akhund has received two communications from Omar this year, the first since 9/11. One message congratulates Taliban fighters for “getting even with the infidel invaders” last year and urges them to launch “a more intensive jihad” this year. “This message from our leader is like tonic medicine,” Akhund says. “It makes us stronger.”
Earlier in January, Akhund received an audiocassette of Mullah Omar praising the virtue of self-sacrifice. “Carry out your Islamic responsibilities as I carry out mine,” he quotes the tape as saying. “Don’t look for promotions or benefits. Just serve the jihad.”
The message electrified Ghul Agha. “For the last few years, we heard only rumours about Mullah Omar,” he says. “Now we hear from him directly!” The commander and his men are energetically preparing to launch an offensive as soon as the snow melts; he hopes this year they will cut off the provincial capital.
The Newsweek correspondents viewed a new recruiting video in which Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah Akhund addresses an audience of some 400 men who are described as trained suicide bombers. “Our suicide bombers are countless,” he says in a videotaped response to questions from Newsweek. “Hundreds have already registered their names, and hundreds more are on the waiting list.”
Dadullah claimed last week to have more than 6,000 armed guerrillas in underground hideouts, awaiting the moment to strike. “The attack is imminent,” he told Al Jazeera.
Western forces are bracing for one. Thousands of reinforcements have deployed to Afghanistan, bringing the coalition’s total armed strength to nearly 50,000. The Newsweek report says an estimated 3,000 Taliban fighters died in last year’s engagements alone. “But replacing those losses has been easy - thanks largely to the 47-year-old Mullah Omar.” It notes that the group’s recruiters “owe much of their continued success to his saintly reputation. To his followers, Omar stands in bold contrast to the corrupt thugs who have returned to control many parts of Afghanistan and to the foreign-influenced Kabul government.”
The report says Omar “effectively vanished” after the Taliban’s fall, but “he gradually emerged from hiding and in 2004 began travelling from camp to camp in remote Taliban-held areas, riding on the back of a motorbike to rally his old troops and recruit new ones”. Only a few trusted assistants know where the fugitive leader is now, but “wherever he’s hidden, Omar is closer than ever to many of his followers,” says Newsweek. While previously it could take six weeks for senior Taliban officials to send a message to Omar and get a reply, “Now, thanks to the Taliban’s military gains and growing network of messengers and mobile phones, the Shura can send Omar a question and get his answer within 24 hours.”
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
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Joe to Omar - How's your eye been doing these years?
#3
Omar, how many countries will you lose, how many battles will you lose, and how many of your men will die before your followers decide you are a terrible General, planner, or battle commander?
#4
Only a few trusted assistants know where the fugitive leader is now, but “wherever he’s hidden, Omar is closer than ever to many of his followers,”
#5
I've always seen Blinky as like the Howard Hughes of Jihad. Batshit crazy, sitting naked up in his suite at the Quetta Hilton with the windows painted black, pissing in milk bottles, watching goat porn while his ISI handlers shoot him full of heroin. Then every once in awhile they have him sign a couple of communiques to keep the rubes signing up and the gravy train rolling.
(Xinhua) -- Prosecutors for the International Criminal Court on Tuesday named a former Sudan minister and a militia commander as the first suspects for war crimes in the Darfur conflict. Concluding an investigation lasting 20 months, the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said there are reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects were jointly responsible for 51 counts of alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed against civilians in Darfur between 2003 and 2004.
Ahmad Muhammad Harun, former Sudan Interior Minister in charge of the western Darfur region, was allegedly in conspiracy with the militia to carry out indiscriminate attacks against civilians in a counterinsurgency campaign by the Sudanese government against the rebels. According to ICC prosecutors, Harun helped recruit, fund and arm the Arab Janjaweed militia "that would ultimately number in the tens thousands."
Ali Kushayb, one of the key leaders commanding thousands of militia, was accused of victimizing the civilian populations through mass rape, killings, torture, looting and other alleged criminal acts.
A pre-trial chamber of the ICC will decide whether to start trial over the case and may issue international arrest warrants or summonses to the suspects to appear in court.
The ICC criminal investigation was triggered after the United Nations Security Council referred the Darfur situation to the Hague-based court in March 2005, a decision opposed by Sudan, which insisted on its own prosecution. The ICC is only supposed to intervene when national courts are unwilling or unable to act. But the ICC prosecution said their case would be admissible because it covers more extensive allegations than the investigations launched by Sudan.
The ICC, the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal, was established in 1998 by a multinational treaty called Rome Statute,which entered into force four years later and has been adopted by 104 countries. The court tries persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern, namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Fighting in Darfur flared in early 2003 after rebels took up arms against the Sudanese government. The UN says some 200,000 people have died as a result of the conflict, while another 2.5 million have been forced from their homes.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
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I expected them to focus on George Bush and Dick Cheney. Give it time, I suppose.
Tripoli, 28 Feb. (AKI) - Five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death with a Palestinian doctor by a court in Tripoli on charges that they deliberately infected 426 children with the HIV virus have asked for a Bulgarian lawyer to represent them in a new trial, the Sofia news agency reported on Wednesday. They now face new charges of slandering local police officers whom they claim raped and tortured them into giving false confessions in the HIV case.
The nurses have now reportedly demanded that a lawyer from their own country defend them in the new case together with Libyan attorney Osman Bizanti, who is representing them in the appeals trial, as they don't think it fair to have five people represented by the same attorney, the Bulgarian news agency said.
The six medics have lodged an appeal against the death sentence with the country's highest appeals court in a final attempt to escape capital punishment. The supreme court could reportedly rule in mid-May.
The medics, who have been jailed in Libya since 1999, have long claimed they are innocent and are being used as scapegoats for unsanitary conditions in the Benghazi hospital where they worked and where they say the HIV virus already existed before they arrived in 1998. Of the infected children, 52 have died.
A court on 19 December last year found the six defendants guilty of deliberately infecting the Libyan children and sentenced them to death. The medics had been sentenced to death by firing squad in a previous trial in 2004, but Libya's supreme court ordered a retrial in December 2005.
An international group of physicians and scientists has urged Libya to free the medics, saying that accusations against them were unfounded.
An independent report by leading experts including Luc Montagnier, who co-discovered the HIV virus, supported the medics' claim that the HIV infections started in the Benghazi hospital before their arrival and were caused by poor hygiene standards. Yeah, but so they're innocent, big deal, but how else is libya gonna exonerate itself from that Aids epidemic AND ransom the kufrs?
North Korea is technically capable of building a long-range missile that can hit the United States despite a test failure last year, a senior US military intelligence official said Tuesday. Lieutenant General Michael Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said North Korea has probably learned from the failure of its Taepodong-2 missile during a test in July, and made changes to its other missiles. "I believe they have the technical capability, as we saw by the Taepodong, but they have not successfully tested it yet," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Range of 6,000 miles, accuracy ± 6,000 miles.
Asked how long before North Korea would have a missile capable of reaching the United States, he said, "I would probably estimate it's not a matter of years."
Having one that's reliable might take a while longer. Especially since we'll knock down the first one that flies farther than the Sea of Japan.
Maples made the comments in testimony about global threats that singled out North Korea and Iran as the two states of greatest concern. In the case of North Korea it cited proliferation fears heightened by the July missile tests and North Korea's nuclear test in October.
North Korea agreed on February 13 on steps toward disabling its nuclear program in return for US supplies of fuel oil or other economic assistance. Michael McConnell, the national director of intelligence, said US intelligence was unable to monitor North Korea compliance with the agreement "at the level we would like."
"We can verify many of the conditions from external observation, but not at the level you're asking about in terms of detail," he said. "There's some open questions, but so far the indications are in the positive direction," he said.
Which should raise a few questions about why we signed onto the new agreement.
North Korea has a known nuclear reactor at Yongbyon but US intelligence also believes it was secretly pursuing a separate uranium enrichment program, which also would be covered by the agreement.
Another intelligence official, Joseph Detrani, said US intelligence had high confidence in 2002 that North Korea was acquiring equipment for a uranium enrichment program. US intelligence still believes the program exists, but its confidence in that assessment is now "mid-level."
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
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Wrong question, ask "When will the USA have a missle able to reach North Korea? Answer, About 1979"
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/28/2007 9:44 Comments ||
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The United States has all sorts of missiles capable of hitting North Korea, and plenty of other ordinance besides. The problem is there is no one on God's Earth who believes the United States will use them.
One atomic weapons used on one target now - Pyongyang, Qom, Mecca, I'm game for all three - would be a useful reminder many decades overdue from Nagasaki. It is a lesson that would not have to be repeated any time soon and might serve to sufficiently concentrate the minds of our adversaries such that hundreds of thousands of Americans will not have to die in nuclear fire. I doubt it is a lesson this supposedly hard-line President has the stomach to teach. And so doom slouches its way to some citadel of the West while we sit on our hands and wait.
TERROR suspects could be given taxpayer-funded counselling for being angry or having low self-esteem. Under the proposal, the Federal Government would provide psychological counselling and anger management support to terror suspects and those subject to control orders.
But secrecy surrounds the initiative because the Australian Federal Police has refused to reveal the specifics of its proposal. Scant details were released through a Federal Government question on notice.
"Some of the options considered include religious education, psychological support and assistance with issues such as anger management, low self-esteem, social identity and family separation," the AFP said, responding to a question on voluntary education programs for terrorists. "The AFP continues to examine how education and counselling may be used within the context of control orders.
"Programs developed overseas in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia are also being examined as part of broader AFP considerations."
The AFP refused to say how much the program would cost.
The Opposition has also demanded to know what research shows a link between terrorism and people with low self-esteem. The battle for answers started back in October when Opposition Justice Minister Senator Joe Ludwig asked about voluntary programs for terrorists.
And during a Senate Estimates Committee on Wednesday, Senator Ludwig again demanded more details from the Government. "Labor was interested in whether there was a link between terrorism and these pathological and behavioural problems and we are looking forward to the AFP's response," Senator Ludwig said yesterday. "The other issue that Labor is interested in is whether or not these programs, which are constructed overseas, are appropriate for an Australian context."
It's understood counselling and education programs would not be forced upon alleged terrorists. In their answer provided last week, the AFP said it continued "to examine how education and counselling may be used with the context of control orders".
"Any education and counselling which might be employed will need to be tailored to the individual circumstances of the person placed under the order."
It said it would examine how education and counselling could be used within the context of control orders, which impose a range of restrictions and need the Attorney-General's approval.
#2
Will they be strapped to a chair, the Wagner blasting, the strobes popping, and their eyes taped open while they get the thousand frame a second slide show?
Norwegian anti-immigration politicians in Bergen have promised to chase off Muslims with pigs feet and squealing noises if Bergen's central square is used for prayers.
Kenneth Rasmussen told newspaper Dagbladet's web site that Bergen residents should hang up pig's feet and play pig squeals over loudspeakers to scare off Muslims, and claimed these tactics worked when he was a soldier for the United Nations in Somalia and Lebanon in the 1990s.
#5
Do something a bit more permanent, Norwegians. Look to your history and check the part about invasions of Ireland. Just treat the Muzzies like you did the Irish. Trust me, they'll get the message.
Posted by: mac ||
02/28/2007 18:46 Comments ||
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Over the last few hours, the more than 400 comments appended to the Huffington PostÂ’s news item on the attack in Afghanistan on a base being visited by Vice-President Dick Cheney have been expunged from the site. At first the comments were closed, then gradually shrunken and for a short time completely expunged from The Huffington Post as the heat on the Cheney hate fest built up over the day.
For earlier reports on this go HERE. (And here.) And for the PDF of the original file of the now erased Huffington comments, courtesy of Michelle Malkin, go HERE.
The comments now visible are evidently cherry-picked out of the original thread to give some sort of “tone” to the thread that it did not originally possess. It is really amazing what you can do to history with just a few strokes of the keyboard.
Now it is one thing to close comments, another thing to erase them, but something else altogether different to actually “edit” the thread to give a false impression. That seems to be what has been done here. To what purpose and on whose orders is not known.
So far, the nearly 400 commenters whose words have been erased from The Huffington Post are, well, “unvailable for comment.”
Posted by: Mike ||
02/28/2007 09:56 ||
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I hope the boys at the Secret Service are casting a stern eye over this material. I was under the impression it is a criminal act to call for the assassination of the Vice President (but I am a foreigner and relying on American films to reach this conclusion).
#3
A direct threat against a president or vice-president ("I'm gonna kill that sonofabitch Warren Gameliel Harding!") is a federal crime. A tasteless wish that someone would die, without threatening to do someone in ("I wish that sonofabitch Warren Gameliel Harding would drop dead alreay!" or "They tried to shoot that sonofabitch Warren Gameliel Harding; too bad they missed!") isn't. Because of the First Amendment protection of free speech, the authorities tend to be conservative in deciding whether or not to prosecute comments that are borderline threatening. The Huffablog commenters seem, from the examples I saw (I didn't read all 400+), to all have been tasteless, but not threatening enough to prosecute.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/28/2007 10:24 Comments ||
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Well, Huffing posts have the same issues as RB. No public blogger wants statements advocating the killing of national, state, or local officials, or officers.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/28/2007 16:33 Comments ||
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Edwards is working in familiar territory. As a trial lawyer, Edwards made a living second guessing corporations when the results of the corporation's decision were known to have caused injury. He played the role of the Monday morning QB with knowledge of how events played out demonizing the real time decisions that were made. Does that experience qualify him to be president? Presidents make real time decisions.
Senate Democrats on Tuesday deferred debate on revoking President George W. Bush's Iraq war authority, after failing to reach consensus on the best way to hasten the end of US military involvement there. The Senate had considered taking up an amendment proposed by Democratic senators Carl Levin and Joseph Biden which would revoke the president's 2002 authorization to wage war in Iraq.
The bill, one of several Iraq-related measure slated for debate, was to have been introduced as an amendment to homeland security legislation which went to the Senate floor Tuesday. But Democrats decided to hold off on the de-authorization debate out of deference to the survivors of the September 11, 2001 attacks, some of whom had voiced concern that the domestic security legislation would get bogged down in a raucous floor debate over Iraq. "The idea is not to do it on this bill because of the concerns of the 9/11 survivors and families," Democratic Senator Russ Feingold told reporters.
And they'll find another excuse not to do it next week.
Democrats, who supposedly were elected in November with a mandate to change the course of US policy in Iraq, are united sorta in their desire to craft an exit strategy from the wartorn country. Feingold said however that they are divided by "a variety of viewpoints" on how to achieve that aim. "There is a problem with disagreement about this war and what we should do -- particularly about the funding issue," Feingold told reporters.
Oh yeah, they're real united.
"Disagreements will come and we'll have to work them out," Feingold said.
This article starring:
Carl Levin
Joseph Biden
Russ Feingold
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2007 01:04 ||
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You POS vote 100% to let Petraeus handle it and then turn around two months later with leglislation to cut him off at the knees. Go ahead, Face me. Pull my finger. I will break your house. Misery will follow. You do not listen so it has already started.
#2
heh - they've been home getting the biz from their constituents, and seeing the political risk in abetting the nutroots
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2007 8:44 Comments ||
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Yes, debate more amongst yourselves! The longer they work on how to make it happen... somehow... the less likely they are to pull it off. In the meantime our guys are winning over there, and the President can sign emergency funding authorities or something.
#4
Hey, Feingold? Aren't you worried that your son in Iraq may be further endangered by cutting off funding? And that's on top of your treasonous rhetoric that is aiding and abetting the enemy?
Oh, that's right. Your one of the 95% or more Congressmen/Senators whose families have carefully avoided military service to protect this country.
#5
Wave the next hijacked airliner through to washington D.C.
Posted by: ed ||
02/28/2007 10:46 Comments ||
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The dhemmis are just going to debate it ad nauseum. They will keep it alive in the press for as long as they can. They won't pass this because of the political cost to them. Anything they pass will be non-binding anyway.
#7
My God! While I was reading the Murtha Bill I thought I was reading an enemy plan to DEFEAT our troops in the field! I bet that after tehy had a chance to read it (along with a good portion of their voters) they too came to the same sad conclusion. They will find some other BIG issue to work on while this one slowly goes on the back burner.
March 5, 2007 issue - Increasing tensions between Washington and Tehran have revived New York Police Department concerns that Iranian agents may already have targeted the city for terror attacks. Such attacks could be aimed at bridges and tunnels, Jewish organizations and Wall Street, NYPD briefers told security execs last fall, according to a person with access to the briefing materials who asked for anonymity because of the sensitive subject matter.
Iran would make this mistake exactly once. Unless a Democrat is in charge, as in the first WTC bombing of 1993.
NYPD officials have worried about possible Iranian-sponsored attacks since a series of incidents involving officials of the Iranian Mission to the United Nations. In November 2003, Ahmad Safari and Alireaza Safi, described as Iranian Mission "security" personnel, were detained by transit cops when they were seen videotaping subway tracks from Queens to Manhattan at 1:10 in the morning. The men later left New York. "We're concerned that Iranian agents were engaged in reconnaissance that might be used in an attack against New York City at some future date," Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly told NEWSWEEK.
A spokesman for the Iranian Mission in New York said he was aware of the allegations but had no immediate comment.
Not even a ritual, "Lies! All lies!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2007 00:51 ||
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If I lived in NY, I would ask my friends to take an empty camera and appear to be taking pictures of the Iranian mission for the U.N. Let them sweat for a change.
Former "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla was sometimes kept in a blacked-out cell without a mattress at a U.S. military prison but the injection he thought was LSD was actually a vaccine, his former jailer testified on Tuesday. "It was a flu shot," Sanford Seymour, technical director at the military brig, testified in a hearing to determine whether Padilla is mentally fit to stand trial on terrorism charges.
Padilla, a 36-year-old American, is scheduled to go to trial in April on charges he conspired with Islamist extremists to murder and maim people overseas. Defense lawyers claim he was drugged and subjected to extreme isolation and sensory deprivation during the 3 1/2 years he was held in the brig before being charged in the civilian court. Doctors who examined him for the defense said that caused traumatic brain injuries that left Padilla mentally unfit for trial.
Seymour's testimony was the first public comment about the alleged al Qaeda operative's treatment by his military jailers, a description that in many ways echoes that described by foreign captives formerly held at the Guantanamo navy base. But U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke strictly limited Seymour's testimony to a retelling of his hour-long phone conversation with a Bureau of Prisons psychologist who later deemed Padilla mentally fit for trial.
Seymour, a civilian director at the Naval Consolidated Brig in South Carolina, confirmed defense allegations that Padilla had no contact with any other prisoners. He said that "for periods of time" Padilla's cell windows were blacked out, he slept on a bare metal bunk with no mattress, his Koran was removed and he had no clock.
Seymour said the Bureau of Prisons doctor had not asked him to elaborate, so the court did not permit him to say how long those conditions lasted nor why they were imposed or by whom. Nor was he permitted to explain why Padilla was required to wear shackles, black-out goggles and sound-blocking earphones when taken to see a dentist.
Seymour said he twice saw Padilla weeping in his cell but knew of no physical abuse inflicted on him. He said he had mistakenly told the Bureau of Prisons doctor that Padilla's interrogation lasted only four months, but was not allowed to say how long it actually lasted nor whether he had observed interrogations. He said Padilla was at other times allowed to receive visits from an Islamic military cleric, and to go to an outdoor recreation area to shoot a basketball and sit in the sun.
Defense lawyers had alleged that noxious fumes were pumped into Padilla's cell. Seymour said those came from a nearby paper mill and "We often had a nasty odor throughout the facility."
Padilla bowed his head throughout the testimony and never looked at Seymour, who once described Padilla's behavior in the brig as docile like "a piece of furniture."
Padilla was arrested in Chicago in May 2002 upon his return from Egypt and Pakistan. President George W. Bush ordered him held in military custody and his administration accused Padilla of plotting to set off a radioactive bomb. He was never charged with that and while a challenge to Bush's authority to hold him without charge was pending in the Supreme Court, Padilla was indicted in Florida and transferred to civilian custody last year. He faces life in prison if convicted of providing money and recruits to Islamist extremists. The mental competency hearing resumes on Wednesday. If the judge finds Padilla fit for trial, she would then consider a defense request to drop the charges because of "outrageous government conduct."
This article starring:
JOSE PADILLA
al-Qaeda
Sanford Seymour, technical director at the military brig
U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
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Obviously and infidel zionist plot to make him impotent. Or Sterile. Or both.
DAVID Hicks has renounced Islam, his American military lawyer confirmed yesterday. Major Michael Mori declined to say why Hicks was no longer a Muslim, saying it was a personal issue for the suspected terrorist. What is he this week? A Jew or a Hindoo?
Hicks adopted the name Dawood when he converted to Islam in Adelaide in the late 1990s. Maybe he's adopted Shinto and changed his name to Chirigami...
Tell everyone he's a Bi'hai and drop him into Teheran ...
He was captured in Afghanistan in 2002 and has spent five years in the high-security US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. A former Guantanamo inmate has claimed Hicks was denounced by Muslim prisoners for his change of faith. "Arrrrr! He must be killed!"
Major Mori, who spoke to 300 delegates at a human rights conference in Melbourne yesterday, later condemned Australia's law officers. "Liars and thieves, the lot of 'em!"
He described as "strange and foreign" comments by Solicitor-General David Bennett, QC, in the Federal Court that a general obligation for the Federal Government to protect citizens abroad "is simply something that the law has never recognised". Consulates are for bringing citizens cigarettes in jug when said citizen happens to get his/her scrotum/bosom in a wringer. They're not for springing people who're actually guilty of crimes in other countries, believe it or not. Nor are they for the purpose of retrieving citizens who've been caught fighting for the other side on the field of battle.
"It's frustrating for me to see an Australian being abandoned and being pushed towards a cliff for this system that is not acceptable for Americans," he said. It's frustrating for us to see him still using up oxygen.
Major Mori said Hicks might have to wait another three years to face trial if there were a Supreme Court challenge to the legitimacy of the military commission. Major Mori will speak to Victorian MPs today.
This article starring:
DAVID HICKS
al-Qaeda
Major Michael Mori
Solicitor-General David Bennett, QC
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
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"A system that is not acceptable to Americans?" I could see a privately paid civilian defense attorney spewing this meme. But I'm absolutely blown away that detailed defense counsel, an active duty Army JAG officer, would go abroad and publicly agitate this way.
TDS (Trial Defense Service) lawyers may be required to "zealously represent" the interests of their clients, but that duty ends at the courthouse door. It doesn't negate their obligations as military officers, like that of refraining from seditious public statements or giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
Mori "spoke to 300 delegates at a human rights conference in Melbourne yesterday? Will speak to Victorian MPs today"?!?! The PAO must be having kittens. I'd be very interested to know (a) if he's making these appearances in uniform, (b) if he sought approval from his superiors, and (c) if US taxpayers are footing the bill for the trip. Even if the answer to all three is no, this is outrageous.
#2
Exjag, I agree. I know bugger all about the US military justice system, but Mori has been way out there in his statements for a long time. Looks to me like he is pitching for some plum civilian job.
#3
This is the first I'd heard of this Mori douchebag. Watada with a law degree -- and a Marine, no less. Looks to me like he's pitching for a SOCO investigation, a referral to his state bar disciplinary committee, and/or a court-martial.
Christ, I once had an SJA threaten me with an ethics investigation because he (erroneously) thought I was allowing an imprisoned client to address me by first name. That's it. So I can't believe no one has told Mori to stuff a sock in it or reassigned him to a nice quiet admin job in some forgotten outpost. That's the least he deserves.
#6
I could see a privately paid civilian defense attorney spewing this meme
I'm not in the legal profession, but based on decades of astonishment at the public frothings of high profile defense lawyers, I can only conclude some form of brain damage is part of the job description. Amazing that any of them still have their lips attached.
#8
SteveS, the JAG Corps bears no resemblance to the civilian profession. We're trained to be military officers first, and to never forget that we're all on the same team. We all have to serve time as both prosecutors and defense attorneys; we don't get to pick our jobs, or stay in the same one for more than a few years.
It's true that after a while, some attorneys develop a preference for one or the other, and try to get assignments according to their personal inclinations. But even "defense-minded" JAG officers never forget that their duties are constrained by their allegiance to the United States, and do not run amok violating DoD publicity directives.
Mori's conduct is totally unhinged, totally without honor, and totally beyond anything I ever observed on AD -- not to mention illegal. I agree that brain damage must be a factor here, but kindly do not generalize to the entire profession, particularly those in uniform.
#10
“A former Guantanamo inmate has claimed Hicks was denounced by Muslim prisoners for his change of faith.”
Why make the announcement at human rights conference? Well…no one should be surprised when next weeks angle will be that it’s too dangerous for him to be incarcerated with a population that now wants to kill him for his “conversion”.
#12
Simple, DepotGuy.....now all his fellow traveler/useful idiot allies can say that he needs to get out of there. I mean, he'll get killed, right? And it will all be the Americans fault if he gets hurt, too, since those savages don't know any better detainees are just following their religion.
That Mori's a devious little bastard, I'll give him that....
#13
Time to let David loose into general population in the yard maybe?
Agreed. But let's not forget to have a big announcement made over the Gitmo PA system announcing his apostasy. Say maybe five times each day. Just before the "call to prayer". Each day. For about the next 30 days. That should do it.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
02/28/2007 15:00 Comments ||
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exJAG, things must have changed drastically since you left the military. Mori is the darling of the Socialists in Australia.
Mori, who received a sustained standing ovation, gave a power-point presentation detailing the violations of Hicks’s basic democratic rights and the illegal nature of the US military tribunals. He pointed out that while Hicks was incarcerated in Guantánamo, the Bush administration had released and repatriated over 200 prisoners, including Afghan Taliban members. Mori said Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, a former ambassador-at-large for the Taliban, was, in fact, now studying at Yale on a US student visa.
Hicks’s detention, he said, was continuing because the Australian citizen “had not violated any international law, but because the US had to invent charges and then create an unfair system that would rubber stamp the charges without question”.
“Every time the Australian government says ‘we cannot charge Hicks’,” he continued, “they are admitting that David has not violated any law. But instead of demanding his immediate return, they use this as a reason to abandon him.”
Mori punctured ongoing government assertions that his client was an Islamic terrorist and accused the Australian government of “blindly following” the US Defense Department and “deliberately rejecting overwhelming evidence that the military tribunal system was illegal”. He warned that the new system being prepared in Washington to try Guantánamo prisoners would not be any fairer and would not even begin hearings for at least another 12 months.
Isolated and deeply concerned by the popular response to Mori’s tour, senior government ministers, who have collaborated with Washington in denying the physical and psychological torture and other crimes being committed in Guantánamo, categorically refused to meet him.
GUANTANAMO Bay detainee David Hicks wanted to join the Australian army but did not have the education, his US military lawyer said today. Wasn't good enough for the Aussie army, so he joined al-Qaeda? Major Michael Mori, who is in Australia seeking legal advice on his client, was responding to claims Hicks had fought with the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) before he was arrested alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2002. "David never fought there. I've been over to Kosovo and spoke to people who knew him there, and (they) said he never fought," Maj Mori said on ABC radio. "Other guys did. He just talked about it. Really, y'all should just let him go..."
He said Hicks received five weeks' basic military training with a wooden gun but never used a real firearm in the Serbian province. "They wuz afraid he might hurt hisse'f."
The Adelaide-born detainee was no different from other Australians who joined the NATO-led KLA and had not violated any laws. "I don't think anybody has heard me say that David didn't want to be a soldier," Maj Mori said. "He tried to join the Australian army, couldn't. I know it's really strange, here in Australia - a lot of people think that wanting to shoot a gun here is very strange. Obviously as an American it's very odd. We have armed militias in our country that are preparing to overthrow the US government if it becomes necessary. I think it's a different mindset." I'm not too sure about the mindset of somebody who really worries about the U.S. government being overthrown by militias.
"So it's not so shocking to me to see an Australian who wants to learn and wants to be a soldier." Except that first of all, al-Qaeda aren't soldiers, and second of all, normally when you want to be a soldier you either join your own country's army or the Frenchy Foreign Legion.
"I wish he'd (Hicks) had the education to get into the Australian army, where this whole situation may never have come about."
This article starring:
DAVID HICKS
al-Qaeda
Major Michael Mori
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
al-Qaeda may have been that desperate, but the Aussies aren't.
#2
This is my rifle, this is my gun.
This is my...
Wait. Let me start over...
Posted by: David Hicks ||
02/28/2007 9:35 Comments ||
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#3
I'm thinking this will backfire on him. He wanted to join the army so he could frag his buddies. That's how it's going to be seen, and that's definately going to bite him in the ass.
Moved to Wednesday for additional commentary. AoS.
Special Operations forces will grow by 17,000 active-duty members over the next six years, a senior military official said today at the 18th annual Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict Symposium here. “We are fielding … the largest growth in special operations history without sacrificing quality along the way,” Navy Vice Adm. Eric T. Olson, deputy commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, said.
The admiral said SOCOM’s role has been enlarged since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In 2003, “the secretary of defense said, ‘I hereby designate special operations the lead combatant commander for planning, synchronizing and, as directed, conducting defense activities against terrorists and their networks,’” Olson said. “This was a huge charter for us.”
Military planners are using a carefully vetted threat model to develop direct and indirect strategies in combating terrorism, he said. “The direct approach is the one that gets the headlines,” he said. “It’s often kinetic and sometimes violent; it’s about finding terrorists and engaging them directly in order to render their networks less effective.
“Most importantly,” he said, “the direct approach buys us time for the other, longer-term, indirect approach.”
The indirect approach changes the environment by building U.S. partnersÂ’ capabilities, reducing local support to prevent terrorist safe havens, and eroding underlying conditions that contribute to terrorism, he said.
Olson cited the Jan. 28 battle in Najaf, Iraq, that reportedly killed 200 insurgents, to illustrate special operations’ direct and indirect approaches. “The Iraqi military forces attacked on their own and fought for 45 minutes before the arrival of the first U.S. forces, which was the Special Forces A-Team,” he said. “That A-Team commander took charge of his piece of it and contributed as best as he could,” Olson said. “He posted snipers, called in fixed-wing air support (and) began to turn the tide of what had been sort of an inconclusive fight.”
Snipers picked off targets, a quick-reaction force arrived, and the A-Team coordinated what became a more complex fight that “ultimately became a significant victory,” Olson said. “The Iraqi forces provided most of the manpower and most of the fighting forces,” he said. “It was Iraqi forces that had been trained by U.S. forces; (they) responded quickly, took initiative to launch their own assault; … and they were there as the victors.
“The beauty of this is that it all worked,” Olson said. “That is a complex international incident that we would not have thought possible not too long ago.”
Efforts to deny terrorists safe havens in Iraq and Afghanistan are important, Olson said, but the global threat is not limited to those two countries. “Direct and indirect activities must be carefully synchronized to be most effective,” he said. “To help synchronize these efforts, SOCOM, other agencies in departments of our government and our partner nations are beginning to build a global combative terror network.”
The admiral cited the 2002 U.S.-Philippine combined action against the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group as an example of the international cooperation needed to effectively combat the common threat. “Terrorists in the southern Philippines associated with the al Qaeda network (were) an intimidating presence for many years until the arrival of American forces led by Army Special Forces,” he said.
U.S. Special Operations Forces there trained and assisted Filipino forces, Olson said. “At the end of the day, through persistent military training and local humanitarian efforts, Abu Sayyaf was essentially run off Basilan Island, and they’re struggling now to make their presence known in other areas of the Philippines.”
The struggle there continues, but it was “a great local success of a different flavor and another powerful demonstration of how this is coming together as a synchronized global effort,” he said.
#1
Of course, the Democrats in congress will fund and support the increased training needs and equipment supplies...or not. Would be hard for them to justify scrimping on this...heh heh
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/27/2007 21:14 Comments ||
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#2
Just make sure that sensitivity training and global warming awareness programs are part of the training and the dems will be onboard...
#3
I'm all for it tu, excepting that "global warming" won't mean to the SpecOps what "global warming" means to Pelosi, lol!
Posted by: BA ||
02/28/2007 11:12 Comments ||
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#4
I seem to recall that there was to be a program to create a kind of Special Forces junior varsity, that could take on assignments that needed SF-type skills, but not as extreme as the SF guys take on. Are they going to be counted in this 17,000 or are they in addition to that? Also, what is that on a percentage basis versus current? Finally, how does that compare, on a percentage basis, to the planned growth of the Armed Forces? I realize that with so many having gone on tour -- and multiple tours -- to Iraq, Afghanistan and other war zones, there will be plenty of troops ready to significantly improve their skills...
A report released on Monday by researchers at the United States-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) suggested that Washington seriously consider the possibility that its post-9/11 relationship with Pakistan has run its course.
In an article for the spring issue of The Washington Quarterly magazine, Craig Cohen and Derek Chollet noted that while the White House’s strategy of enlisting Pakistan as a frontline ally against Qaeda and resurgent Taliban militants “has forestalled disaster for five-plus years ... there is no Plan B”. Yet, they warned, the “costs of crisis in Pakistan are too great to live without workable options”. They said that it was therefore “worth asking whether US policy has reached its limits” and was “now being guided more by inertia than strategy”, raising the possibility that “US alliance with Musharraf may have run its course”.
The report said while the US had given Pakistan more than US $10 billion in military, economic and development assistance in the five years since the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, there was “little accountability in how Pakistan spends US money”. Many key officials in American agencies did not know the full extent of assistance provided.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Blah, blah, blah.
And what are YOUR alternatives oh great and wonderful OZ?
In case you forgot, Pakiwaki has the bomb. Other than supporting Perv what / who will keep that out of the hands of the ISI Islamofascists?
I don't like Perv, but, I've heard of no good alternative, have you?
#2
Bush has done a heck of a lot to help insure several things:
1) Pakistan is allied with us, not China.
2) After the Chinese built the Paks a great big modern deep water port, the US Navy gets to use it too.
3) We still want Perv to run his whole country, not just parts of it.
4) We cooled down the nuclear fuss with them and India, and it will stay that way.
For every annoyance that Pakistan gives us, we get a lot of good in return. We know that Perv is in much the same position as Damocles, but if we can slowly tip the balance so he becomes strong, eventually he *can* put the blocks to the bad guyz in his country.
#3
the US had given Pakistan more than US $10 billion in military, economic and development assistance in the five years since the Sept 11, 2001 attacks
Al Qaeda is re-establishing training camps in Pakistan’s tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zwahiri are probably there too, the new US intelligence chief said on Tuesday. “To the best of our knowledge the senior leadership [of Al Qaeda], number one and number two, are there,” retired admiral Michael McConnell, the new director of national intelligence, told a congressional hearing. He said Qaeda is still the top danger to the US, but Iran is also on the rise and on course to produce nuclear weapons early in the next decade.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Or Bridgeview, IL, Northern VA, Dearborn, MI and the universities/colleges of FLA.
Pakistan, which on Monday responded to reports of a "tough message" from U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney to President Pervez Musharraf during his brief visit here, with the declaration that it would not take "dictations" from anyone, has since clarified that it will take "whatever action is necessary" to prevent the Taliban from launching attacks in Afghanistan. 1. Cheney shows up in Pakland
2. Cheney tells Perv to get the Talibs under control
3. Perv gets huffy
4. Cheney leaves Pakland
5. Talibs try to boom Cheney
6. Cheney invites Perv to go shooting quail
7. Perv will take "whatever action's necessary" The Foreign Ministry issued the clarification late on Monday. "Pakistan is determined to continue its fight against terrorism, in particular against Al-Qaeda. We are equally determined to curb Taliban militancy and Talibanisation in the tribal areas [of Pakistan]," the Foreign Ministry said. "Yes, sir, Mr. Cheney, sir! We'll get right on it!"
Mr. Cheney was in the Pakistan capital on Monday for talks with Gen. Musharraf. The American media reported that Mr. Cheney slapped delivered an "unusually tough message" to Gen. Musharraf. The Foreign Ministry clarification said Mr. Cheney shared U.S. concerns and assessment about the situation in Afghanistan with Gen. Musharraf, and that he also praised Pakistan for its "pivotal" role in the "war on terror". A statement from Gen. Musharraf's office provided more details. It said Mr. Cheney expressed "apprehensions" that the Al-Qaeda was regrouping in the tribal areas "and called for concerted efforts in countering the threat".
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Lets see if the threat of funding cuts makes him act.If not we have no hope re Perv!!!!
#2
Given that both the Army and the Air Force refused a direct order to move against a madrassa a few weeks ago, you can save time by writing Perv off now.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/28/2007 13:07 Comments ||
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#3
Uncle Pervy's protection racket works both wayy (he does 1 for us, then 1 for the Talibunnies). I say pull the foreign aid and let the Waki-Paki's implode, then we can bomb the madrassas with impunity.
#4
It seems to me that the only thing that we REALLY have to worry about is PakNukes. Secure them and let Muslim Entropy take its course and the country can fall apart. The only thing holding up PakLand is funding from the US and the Saudis. Otherwise they are a basketcase.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/28/2007 23:04 Comments ||
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The UNRWA: Celebrating our fourth generation of Palestinian "refugees".
A United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees launched an appeal on Tuesday for $26 million to improve the living conditions of approximately 18,000 Palestinian refugees living in a camp near Aleppo, Syria. Oh, damn. My wallet's in the car. Let me get it. You wait right here...
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) launched the appeal in Amman during a regular meeting of its advisory commission, attended by co commissioner general, Karen AbuZayd. Okay. How much are we begging for this year?
The Neirab camp near Aleppo in northern Syria originally housed World War II troops, but was given to Palestinian refugees who fled their homes following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Six decades later, the refugees are still living in the same barracks, which have never been renovated. Awwww. That's a damn shame... But since they've been living there for SIXTY FRIGGIN YEARS, I'll assume they're kinda used to it by now.
The appeal is intended to fund the second phase of a two-phase plan to improve Neirab. The first phase is aimed at relocating 300 families from Neirab to new houses constructed on a plot of land made available by the Syrian government close to the nearby Ein al-Tal camp. The second phase targets the rebuilding of Neirab itself, including housing units and community facilities. Don't forget the "metal shops"....
AbuZayd urged donor countries to support the implementation of the second phase of the project. UNRWA's director in Syria, Panos Moumtzis, said the top priority for the refugees is the improvement of education and health facilities. He also said Neirab needs open public spaces, leisure facilities and nurseries. Leisure facilities? So they got someplace to go after a hard days work?
#1
Sorry, no. They're "temporary facilities", so no need to renovate. Check back in 60 years. Buh-bye, and thanks for playing
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2007 16:15 Comments ||
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#2
60 years? 60 YEARS?! 60 DAMNED YEARS!?!? And they want SYMPATHY? Like Hell! Screw the lot of them. Run 'em out, close the camp, make these Paleo parasite canaille either fend for themselves or starve. Personally, I'd prefer the latter; however, if they had to work for a living maybe they'd have less time for seething and gun sex. Worthless scum.
Posted by: mac ||
02/28/2007 18:44 Comments ||
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#3
I'll probably be sink-trapped, but the only kind of "camp" I support for them is the kind I.G. Farbin used to make.
#4
It is illustrative of the Palestinian problem that in the SIXTY years that they lived in the camp, not one of the welfare recipients lifted a finger to maintain, let alone improve the place in which they lived. Whatever they might once have been, they have become parasites unable to exist without sucking the blood and life force of their host. The health of the Western world has been improved through the years by the eliminating or, at the least, controlling parasites.
#5
I don't think they're permitted to work outside the camp for money, nor to purchase property. Catch-22. That's why the ambitious ones get an education and leave.
While Russia told visiting Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on Tuesday that it will try to convince the Quartet to lift the boycott of the Palestinian Authority government, Moscow will have its hands full as both the European Union and United Nations reaffirmed Tuesday that they were not interested in "playing ball" with the PA until it accepts the three international requirements.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made the US position on this abundantly clear during her meeting in Jerusalem last week. The Quartet is made up of the US, the EU, Russia and the UN. Mashaal was greeted in Moscow on Tuesday, the second time since Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative elections last January, by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in what appeared to be a crack in the Quartet's solidarity to keep Hamas at arm's length until it accepts the three principles.
Lavrov said after the meeting that Hamas had pledged to end missile attacks and violence against Israel. "Hamas should use its authority to stop violence including missile attacks against Israel," Lavrov said. "We received confirmation that such steps will be taken."
This article starring:
Condoleezza Rice
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
KHALED MASHAAL
Hamas
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
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A pledge from Hamas and a promise from Mashaal.
I'm sold.
Let 'em eat sand.
(Xinhua) -- Mohammed Dahlan, a senior Fatah lawmaker, said on Tuesday that an agreement has been reached between Hamas and Fatah to rebuild the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). "We are also interested to restore the PLO's dignity on the basis of partnership between every party," said Dahlan during an interview with reporters of the local Palestinian media in Gaza city.
Dahlan added that a preliminary meeting for the Palestinian factions would be held in Damascus and Cairo to discuss the reshuffle of the PLO. Hamas, which will lead the forthcoming national unity government, rejects to join the PLO until it is reformed. Fatah and Hamas agreed to form the coalition government earlier this month after rounds of talks in Mecca. "Hamas has reached agreement over a new concept of partnership away from dismissal policy and Fatah has reached a new notion away from domination," Dahlan said. He also called on the international community to "push for stabilizing this new political system and partnership."
Meanwhile, Dahlan expressed dissatisfaction due to decisions by some factions to refuse to join the unity government, including the Islamic Jihad (Holy War) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Dahlan asserted that Hamas and Fatah have also agreed to work on lifting international siege on the Palestinians" and present solutions to our people if the government's program failed to overcome the siege."
This article starring:
MOHAMED DAHLAN
Palestinian Authority
Islamic Jihad
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I am becoming more and more convinced that the Hamas and Fatah lesadership are from another planet. How could anyone but an alien use the terms "PLO" and "dignity" in the same sentence?
I feel sorry for Condaleeza Rice. If I was her, I would refuse to talk to anyone who was not demonstrably sentient.
Russia says it supports the lifting of political and economic sanctions imposed on the Islamic militant group Hamas over its refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist. The offer of support came during a final day of talks in Moscow with the exiled political leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal. VOA's Lisa McAdams is in the Russian capital with details.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Moscow supports the Palestinian power-sharing agreement that has been reached between Hamas and the rival Fatah party because he said it shows wisdom, reason and responsibility. Lavrov told Meshaal during their talks in Moscow Tuesday that he could count on Russia's continued support.
Lavrov said Russia would be pushing the other members of the so-called Middle East Quartet, the United States, European Union and United Nations to support the power-sharing process agreed to during crisis talks in Mecca earlier this month. Lavrov said support from the Quartet should include the lifting of international sanctions, imposed after Hamas won last year's Palestinian election.
The other members of the Quartet have demanded that any new Palestinian government recognize Israel's right to exist, before the sanctions can be lifted - a condition Hamas continues to resist. The Quartet also wants Hamas to renounce violence and agree to adhere to past peace agreements.
For his part, Meshaal thanked Russia for taking what he called the brave step in hosting a meeting with a Hamas leader. Russia last hosted a Hamas delegation in 2006, a move that was sharply criticized by Israel.
Meshaal also thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for his recent speech in Munich, during which he criticized the United States for making what he called unilateral foreign policy moves. The speech sparked a good deal of comment in the days that followed and was widely viewed as part of a long-standing effort by Russia to raise its status in world affairs like the Middle East. Tuesday's talks secure Russia's place in the spotlight - as the sole supporter of Hamas - heading into the next round of talks scheduled by the Quartet for March 13.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
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A graduate student whose bomb and anthrax threats shutdown the University of Missouri-Rolla was charged Wednesday with making terrorist threats and assaulting a law enforcement officer, the county prosecutor said. The student, 22-year-old Sujithkumar Venkatramolla, Calling all experts! Muslim name or not? Is this kind of thing becoming an optional attention-getting behaviour for distraught young adults, analogous to attempting suicide by pills?
was arrested on campus early Tuesday after walking into a civil engineering building armed with a knife, holding paper bag and saying he had a bomb and anthrax, according to authorities. Police eventually subdued him with a stun gun after he refused to drop the knife, interim Police Chief Mark Kearse said.
Kearse said the student was depressed and apparently distraught over grades.
The bomb and anthrax threats were determined to be phony. Extensive searches of the campus building Tuesday found no trace of explosives, and preliminary tests showed that a white, powdery substance found on the man was nothing more than powdered sugar, said Lt. Col. David Boyle of the Missouri National Guard at Fort Leonard Wood.
Venkatramolla was charged Wednesday with armed criminal action, resisting arrest, false report of a bomb threat, making terrorist threats, and first-degree assault of a law enforcement officer, said Phelps County prosecutor Courtney George.
Venkatramolla, a civil engineering student, is from Nazambad, India, university spokeswoman Mary Helen Stoltz said. She was not aware of any previous disciplinary issues.
Posted by: ed ||
02/28/2007 16:52 Comments ||
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#6
a civil engineer wouldn't do this. He'll have to change majors, now
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2007 18:04 Comments ||
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#7
NEWSMAX > Cuban defector claims Cuba has BIOWEAPONS. *Surprise, surprise, RUSSIAN DELEGATION = RUSSIA had allegedly visited Bio facility back in 1992.
Jerusalem ----- February 28, 2007 .... An Israel security official told the Israel News Agency that the recent launch of a missile from Iran into space illustrated a direct threat to both Europe's and US national security.
On February 25, Iran launched a missile reaching space. "Iran has successfully launched its first space missile made by Iranian scientists," the head of Iran's aerospace research center, Mohsen Bahrami, was quoted as saying. On Saturday, Iran Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said Iran was planning to build a satellite and launcher.
"Iran has no plans to land a man on the moon," Col. Adam an Israeli security source told the INA. "The same technology is used to build intercontinental ballistic missiles. This Iran space launch is not a threat to Israel. The Iranians need not reach a space orbit to attack Israel, but such a high orbit would be needed to deliver a nuclear payload into Europe or the US." This is a little garbled. Orbit is not required for an ICBM payload. If an object reaches orbital velocity, it is in orbit. If so, it will by definition go all the way around the Earth. It will therefore go halfway around the Earth at something short of orbital velocity. As a very loose rule of thumb, an ICBM's potential orbital payload is about half its weapon throw weight, ie weapons payload.
Iran launched its first satellite, Sina-1, into orbit from a Russian rocket in 2005 and has said it planned to modify its Shahab-3 missile, which Iran says has a range of about 2,000 km (1,250 miles), to launch satellites. Bahrami said the missile was built by his center in cooperation of the Defense and Science Ministries. He gave no further details. Despite announcing what would be a major advance in Iran's missile technology, the news was mentioned only once by the main state TV news channel and was not carried by other Iranian official media.
"Take a look at the news media, you don't see a word about this launch today," said Adam. "Western governments were not prepared for Iran to have a nuclear delivery system up and running. Intel is hard to come by regarding Iran. It is very difficult to have real time Intel coming from Iran as it is difficult for operatives to penetrate Iranian society. Most of our Intel comes from external sources, and these sources are reactive, passive, not proactive."
"If we don't see severe economic sanctions coming from Europe in the next few weeks, we will witness a catastrophe," said a source at the Israel Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The source would not give his name because he would lose his position, but the matter of urgency had him staring at this writer praying to get the message out.
"Iran is no different than Nazi Germany", the MFA source said. "They too built up an army, resources and created the V-2." The V-2 was the first man-made object launched into space, during test flights that reached an altitude of 189 km (117 miles) in 1944. "While Germany was putting the finishing touches to the V-2 which was eventually used against Britain, the world stood by wanting to talk. Now we have Iran repeating history, declaring to "wipe Israel off the map" while planting bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, one which nearly killed US Vice President Cherney during his visit there a few days ago."
"We have two options. The West can attack Iran which would provoke both Iran and Syria to respond with chemical weapons or we can place immediate and severe sanctions on Iran, thereby reducing their ability to create and use atomic weapons against the West. One should understand Iranian fundamental mentality. These people are not threatening the "infidels" of the West, they are promising to attack as soon as they have both the delivery and nuclear weapons capability."
Security analysts in Europe state that two overriding EU security interests are at stake: avoiding a war with Iran and preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power. These two apparently contradictory interests can be reconciled and translated into a common strategy by adopting a three-pronged approach based on efficient isolation, effective containment, and direct negotiations.
The U.N. Security Council has recently slapped sanctions on Iran that bar the transfer of technology and know-how to Iran's nuclear and missile programs, a move that was pushed for by the West because of fears that Iran is seeking to build atomic bombs. Tehran says its nuclear program is purely civilian and aims to generate electricity. The Iran defense minister was quoted by a newspaper as saying: "Building a satellite and satellite launcher, as well as (previously) launching the first Iranian satellite called Sina with Russian cooperation, and becoming a member of the space club, are part of the Defense Ministry's plans."
It is up to Europe to prevent the two worst developments in Iran - war and nuclear armament - by acting jointly and with determination. Vital European and transatlantic interests are at stake. It is thus Europe's responsibility - and especially Germany's, as the current EU president - to act now.
Iran said yesterday it would never suspend uranium enrichment as demanded by the West, a day after world powers agreed to work on a new UN resolution to pressure Tehran to back down over its nuclear program. Officials from the five permanent UN Security Council members - the United States, France, Russia, China and Britain - plus Germany, who met in London on Monday, also said they were committed to a negotiated resolution to the standoff. The United States, which says "all options" are on the table while insisting it wants a peaceful solution, has ratcheted up pressure by sending a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf.
"Suspending uranium enrichment is an illegal and illegitimate demand ... and it will never happen," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying. Another agency said he backed atomic talks but without preconditions. Iran's open refusal to halt enrichment, a process it insists it only wants to make fuel for nuclear power plants, is echoed by some Iranian officials in private, suggesting the public pronouncements are more than just rhetoric. US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said after the London meeting world powers would hold phone talks on Thursday to discuss elements of a new resolution.
Clearing its stand on the Iran nuclear standoff, China has said that it did not favor the use of sanctions on Iran. Beijing has called for the peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomatic means. "Sanctions are not the purpose," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Qin Gang said. "Any move of the Security Council should help resolving the issue through peaceful and appropriate means," he said adding hat Beijing's stand on the issue is consistent. "We advocate a peaceful solution through diplomatic negotiation," he added.
China has significant business ties and energy interests in Iran.
"Iran which denies that a European Holocaust ever took place, is now planning to create a second Holocaust in Europe and in the US," said the Israel MFA source. "Europe will be first to feel this nuclear suicide bomb, as London, Moscow, Madrid, Rome and Paris are now in range of Iranian missiles. We no longer have the luxury of time to implement sanctions. This is not a movie. This is not the "24" TV series about nuclear terrorism. This is real. Sanctions worked against North Korea, they can and will work against Iran."
Again, "in space" is a long way from being "in orbit" but if the Shahab-3 has the claimed range, orbital flight is not too far away. For this range, burnout velocity is on the order of M10, 6800 mph. All it will take for orbital flight is a couple more upper stages and a satellite in place of the warhead. Shahab SLV at Encyclopedia AstronauticaThe only barrier to using this as an ICBM is payload. The intercontinental throw weight is very unlikely to be enough for the kind of bulky nuclear warhead Iran is likely to build in the foreseeable future. It could easily toss such a warhead to Europe however.
Personally, I have a very bad feeling about this. The Euros are fundamentally incapable of taking any effective action against such a good business partner and sanctions are worthless without them. What good that will do when Rome or Munich goes up in mushroom cloud is anybody's guess, but it might be time for folks to read up on fallout hazards and stock up on duct tape and potassium iodide pills here in the States.
#1
Thanks for the info on space flight and throw-weight, AC.
I can see it now: the EU-niks crawling through the bomb-blasted radioactive slag heap that was once Brussels/Darmstadt/Marseilles/Zurich/take your pick, gasping, "Sanctions! Must . . . impose . . . stronger . . . measures!"
Posted by: Mike ||
02/28/2007 8:13 Comments ||
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#2
Mike,
No, they will be crawling around, cursing Bush and Israel for not taking stronger action.
#4
A lot more information on the SHAHAB series of missiles, including range charts and throw weights. Use the drop down menu in the upper left to select missile class.
#5
#3: To save Europe a third time, or not. Oh the choices!
I vote "Not" Three strikes and "You're OUT"
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/28/2007 11:35 Comments ||
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#6
This is a little garbled. Orbit is not required for an ICBM payload. If an object reaches orbital velocity, it is in orbit. If so, it will by definition go all the way around the Earth.
And once in orbit, you use a small retro-blast to de-orbit when desired. Range is then unlimited, you can then hit anywhere on earth that you set your initial orbit to pass overhead. "Down" is usualy not a problem.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/28/2007 11:42 Comments ||
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#7
it might be time for folks to read up on fallout hazards and stock up on duct tape and potassium iodide pills here in the States.
AC, I grew up during the era of above ground open air nuclear testing. Still here with all my parts and not suffering from much that can actually be tagged to the exercise. The Iranians are a way off from being able to have anything significant than a 'last great act of defiance' throw before they are removed from the high annoyance list to the 'who?' list.
#8
Orbit - is a nebulous altitude above the earth. Presumable Low Earth Orbit and upwards where we tend to send the shuttle and dump ISS money*.
Orbital Velocity - The difficult to achieve speed that allows an object to stay up in orbit without running the engines all the time. Usually an object at this velocity will circle the Earth every 90 minutes.
It's not all that hard to launch something up to "orbit" but very hard to get it going fast enough to stay. A missile might just suborbital up through the orbital zone and drop back down on target.
*I'm aware that the money is not "dumped" in orbit. It's dumped into Russian and European bank accounts to laundery it and pretend we're paying for the chunks of the ISS they build in the hopes they are not building rockets for the Iranians. A dubious proposition.
#12
RADIO ISRAEL > Mossad Officio > IDF & Mossad believe IRAN IS READY TO ATTACK AND INITIATE NEW TERROR BOMBING OFFENSIVE AGZ WEST [including USA?], April-May 2007, this time using de facto CBR materials.
(Xinhua) -- Russia will try to prevent the possible use of force by the United States against Iran in the dispute over its nuclear program, the foreign minister said on Tuesday. "We cannot ignore statements made by high-ranking U.S. officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney," the minister, Sergei Lavrov, told a news conference.
Cheney, speaking on a trip to Australia last week, refused to rule out the possibility of taking military action against Iran, saying "all options are still on the table."
"We are convinced that this (use of force) has no prospects and we will do all we can to prevent this scenario," Lavrov said. He called on Iran to show flexibility.
The West accuses Iran of trying to produce nuclear weapons under a civilian cover, a charge Tehran denies. Iran says it needsto enrich uranium as a peaceful, alternative energy source. The UN Security Council gave Iran a 60-day deadline, which expired last week, to suspend uranium enrichment or face further sanctions. But Iran refused to heed the Security Council's demand.
Six major nations -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- agreed on Monday to work on a new UN Security Council resolution to press Iran to halt its nuclear program but remained committed to seeking a negotiated solution, British officials said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
So have the Ruskies been listening to Ahmadinutbar's threats against the US, Europe and Israel?
#4
Ima thimpkin dont nobody care what Russia thinks. They can't stop action in Iran anymore than they could Iraq.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
02/28/2007 8:11 Comments ||
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#5
No, but by their actions, they have already made efforts by providing weapons to help the Iranians to kill Israelis and Americans.
The way around the Russian obstacle is for Iran to attack our forces first, hopefully ineffectively. Russia would be cowed by such an attack, losing any justification to defend Iran.
#7
Best response would be to ensure the Ukraine is removed from the Russian orbit.
Posted by: ed ||
02/28/2007 11:06 Comments ||
Top||
#8
We have mishandled Russia totally since Putin took power. Crap, Condi is supposed to be a Soviet expert, certainly some of that knowledge must work with the rubble that remains after the wall collapsed.
Everytime a Russian says something like this the US should suggest Ukraine join NATO and that a growing laundry list of nations should get Permenant Seats in the security council to dilute the Russian power and further erode away the usefullness of that council while gaining the US kudos amung the third world.
And Bush should joke that we're considering nuking Putin's house hoping the fallout will help chill out the global warming. A little joke, off the record like that, would be reprinted in every major publication around the world in minutes. Putin might get the hint.
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/28/2007 12:49 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I think if they paint little piggies all over their cabs to indicate their restrictions on alcohol then potential customers can identify them and avoid them.
#3
no. They lose their license. Discriminate in your private life if you want - as a public transit licensed operator, you can't. Fuck them. Take the first 10 and pull their license - and bar them from unemployment payments. Then see how strongly the remainder feel.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2007 12:56 Comments ||
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#4
Airport tells Muslim cabbies to enjoy their new line of work...
#5
Not only the licences, double-check the greencards.
They don't act like a group that has been harrassed since 9/11. The Muslim community seems to act more like one that expected abuse, didn't get it, and is now trying to push back against percieved weakness.
#6
The Muslim community seems to act more like one that expected abuse, didn't get it, and is now trying to push back against percieved weakness.
Bingo. It's the old forward drive; as long as they are not opposed resistance, they keep on pressuring. And when they're faced with some, they play the victim card, held so dear in our tranzi societies.
#7
yes, what Frank said.
What's the hold up? Fire them!
Posted by: Jan ||
02/28/2007 15:16 Comments ||
Top||
#8
While I personally like the 'fire em' line of thought, the other: paint little piggies or different lights or something on the cabs would be just as efficient; let the marketplace decide. Hangs very prominent signage in the airport in the halls that outbound PAX canot miss, that describes the full service vs. NoBoozeTowleHeadCabCompany and let the paying customer decide. i would wager that within 6 months of that shit, there would be a significant drop off in the use of the NBTHCC that a lot of them would seek employment elsewhere.
#9
These guys have to queue up to pick up passengers. If they choose not to pick up a passenger for religious reassons, fine, just pull out and circle to the end of the queue. Don't sit and look self righteous, just quietly get out of the queue. If you won't, then you should be arrested for disturbing the peace.
#10
Several laws are being violated, including Americans with Disabilities Act. Should be enough to preclude eligibility for citizenship. Deport their asses to beautiful downtown Mogadishu.
Posted by: ed ||
02/28/2007 17:05 Comments ||
Top||
#11
To repeat, once again, the proper solution: DEPORT THEM IMMEDIATELY TO COUNTRY OF ETHNIC ORIGIN AND BAR FUTURE ENTRY TO US FOR ANY REASON.
It's not that hard a problem to figure out. Let's see how good a living they make carrying people away from Mogadishu airport.
Posted by: mac ||
02/28/2007 18:35 Comments ||
Top||
#12
How about if the customers carrying alcohol just put it inside their cases, so the cabbies can't see it? What Allan doesn't know, won't offend him.
#13
bring a bottle of JD, put it on your head. Bring a blind dog and claim it's a Seeing Eye Dog. Sue the Cab companies for all they're worth. Or....better yet, just say: "cut the shit, listen up and do what we say or find a new fuckin' job and new kneecaps to pray on, capisce?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2007 21:08 Comments ||
Top||
#14
Pull the license, deport their asses and if they have ties to terrorist organizations shoot them.
FuckingJeezeLouise I'm tired of being given the shaft so self righteous idiots can get special treatment.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
After no communication with his field commanders since 9/11, Taliban chief Mullah Omar has emerged from the shadows this year and inspired his troops to plan a major offensive against US-led forces in Afghanistan, reports weekly magazine Newsweek. According to the report, written by Sami Yousafzai and Ron Moreau, Taliban field commander Ghul Agha Akhund has received two communications from Omar this year, the first since 9/11. One message congratulates Taliban fighters for “getting even with the infidel invaders” last year and urges them to launch “a more intensive jihad” this year. “This message from our leader is like tonic medicine,” Akhund says. “It makes us stronger.”
North Korea is technically capable of building a long-range missile that can hit the United States despite a test failure last year, a senior US military intelligence official said Tuesday. Lieutenant General Michael Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said North Korea has probably learned from the failure of its Taepodong-2 missile during a test in July, and made changes to its other missiles. "I believe they have the technical capability, as we saw by the Taepodong, but they have not successfully tested it yet," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
TERROR suspects could be given taxpayer-funded counselling for being angry or having low self-esteem. Under the proposal, the Federal Government would provide psychological counselling and anger management support to terror suspects and those subject to control orders.
The comments now visible are evidently cherry-picked out of the original thread to give some sort of “tone” to the thread that it did not originally possess. It is really amazing what you can do to history with just a few strokes of the keyboard.
Senate Democrats on Tuesday deferred debate on revoking President George W. Bush's Iraq war authority, after failing to reach consensus on the best way to hasten the end of US military involvement there. The Senate had considered taking up an amendment proposed by Democratic senators 
Former "enemy combatant" 
Al Qaeda is re-establishing training camps in Pakistan’s tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zwahiri are probably there too, the new US intelligence chief said on Tuesday. “To the best of our knowledge the senior leadership [of Al Qaeda], number one and number two, are there,” retired admiral Michael McConnell, the new director of national intelligence, told a congressional hearing. He said Qaeda is still the top danger to the US, but Iran is also on the rise and on course to produce nuclear weapons early in the next decade.
The Foreign Ministry issued the clarification late on Monday. "Pakistan is determined to continue its fight against terrorism, in particular against Al-Qaeda. We are equally determined to curb Taliban militancy and Talibanisation in the tribal areas [of Pakistan]," the Foreign Ministry said. 
While Russia told visiting Hamas leader 
(Xinhua) -- 
Russia says it supports the lifting of political and economic sanctions imposed on the Islamic militant group Hamas over its refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist. The offer of support came during a final day of talks in Moscow with the exiled political leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal. VOA's Lisa McAdams is in the Russian capital with details.
By Joel Leyden 
