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Lebs find car used in Gemayel murder
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
1 00:00 N guard [3] 
1 00:00 trailing wife [3] 
6 00:00 twobyfour [4] 
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1 00:00 Icerigger [3] 
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3 00:00 Gary and the Samoyeds [9] 
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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3 00:00 Jack is Back! [3]
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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1 00:00 Old Patriot [3]
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
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1 00:00 Woozle Elmeter2970 [3]
7 00:00 Atomic Conspiracy [4]
3 00:00 John Edwards [9]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Papers Shed Light on Envoy's '73 Killing
In the early morning of July 1, 1973, Col. Yosef Alon - a charismatic former fighter pilot who helped establish the Israeli Air Force - was gunned down in his suburban Maryland driveway. Thirty-four years later, the case is unsolved.

Many suspected that the 43-year-old diplomat was the target of Arab terrorists, but no evidence to support that theory surfaced. The FBI case was officially closed in 1976. There were no arrests. No murder weapon. Nothing. As far as the public knew, Alon's killing was a mystery with no real leads - the perfect crime. But that was not the case, according to six-month investigation by The Associated Press.

Recently declassified CIA documents, Alon's voluminous FBI case file and interviews reveal that years after the shooting, the agency received a tantalizing tip about who likely pulled off the assassination and how the deadly plot was carried out. Now, partly as a result of the AP's findings, former FBI agents who have never spoken publicly about the long-dormant murder believe the case should be reopened.

With the passing of decades and the FBI's ability to operate abroad, the dynamics of this case might have finally tilted in the favor of law enforcement. These agents say people might be willing to talk and provide answers about who killed Yosef Alon. "In all probability this could be solved," said Fred Burton, who briefly investigated the case in the late 1980s when he was a U.S. State Department counterterrorism agent.

"It's time to take another look at this," said Stanley Orenstein, 70, who helped run the FBI's initial criminal probe into Alon's death and retired in 1986. "It was important enough at the time, and it's important enough now."

read the whole thing
Posted by: ryuge || 07/01/2007 03:43 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  FBI destroying evidence to maybe cover up a retaliation hit but then there is this. "Mohammed Oudeh of Black September masterminded the Munich massacre and now lives in Damascus"

Why is this pecker head still above ground.
Posted by: Icerigger || 07/01/2007 7:16 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Keith Oldermann Fisks Larry Johnson!
Satire alert!
Interviewing Larry Johnson, one-time and now ex-security consultant to CIA

KO: Larry, this Glasgow airport attack-

LJ: oh, don’t jump to conclusions, Keith! We don’t know this is connected to Islam-

KO: WHAT? A car full of liquid gasoline, tanks of butane and nails?

LJ: a disgruntled-

KO: DRIVEN into the airport main entrance?

LJ: Well, like-

KO: Where he POURS gas on himself and ENJOYS BURNING HIMSELF?

LJ: You see, Keith-

KO: Shouting “Allah’u’Ackbar!” while a brave bystander punched him in the face and the police wrestled him to the ground?

LJ: See, Islam is a religion of peace-

KO: …and pulled a suicide vest off him?

LJ: I admit there are a few circumstantial connections-

KO: A few? A FEW? Mr Johnson, what will it take for you to allow yourself to ACCEPT the conscious, rational connection between THIS ATTACK and the Global Jihad?

LJ: uhmm….

KO: Sir?

LJ: I’m thinking…

KO: Well, THAT’s a pleasant change!
(Signoff)
Posted by: twobyfour || 07/01/2007 00:33 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  it's "Olbermann" - and he's still an asshole
Posted by: Frank G || 07/01/2007 7:21 Comments || Top||

#2  He is, but don't complain. If you're gonna slag him when he's wrong--and he is, and we do, and he has it coming every damned time--you've got to be willing to give him props when he gets it right. As B.F. Skinner said, positive reinforcement encourages repeat behavior.
Posted by: Mike || 07/01/2007 8:00 Comments || Top||

#3  agreed. How did Larry Johnson get above a clerical job? He's gotta be one of the biggest ass-covering knuckleheads
Posted by: Frank G || 07/01/2007 8:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Frank, no, it's Oldermann. Olbermann is an asshole.

Oldermann is a podcaster pundit and the name is likely a pen name. Perhaps designed to throw enemy into a state of utter confusion (and some friends too, it seems :-)).
Posted by: twobyfour || 07/01/2007 8:49 Comments || Top||

#5  I stand corrected and will now go sit in the corner. :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 07/01/2007 8:51 Comments || Top||

#6  I made B.F. Skinner
Posted by: A Fast Rat || 07/01/2007 10:17 Comments || Top||

#7  I remember that Rat. Is twobyfour in the box now?
Posted by: Walter Piegon || 07/01/2007 10:18 Comments || Top||

#8  No, he's too busy minding other peoples business.

Posted by: Peter Finch || 07/01/2007 10:19 Comments || Top||

#9  Hell I hate busy fucking bodies. Especially n00bs and especially during....

SHARK WEEK

No mercy, I put up with this shit for a year, now it's time.
Posted by: SHAMU || 07/01/2007 10:21 Comments || Top||

#10  tell walter I luvs SHARK WEEK!
Posted by: RD || 07/01/2007 17:04 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Taliban on the march in NWFP: Interior Ministry
A special report, which the New York Times claims to have been shown, warned President General Pervez Musharraf this month that Islamic militants and Taliban fighters were rapidly spreading beyond the tribal areas and that without “swift and decisive action,” the growing militancy could engulf the rest of the country.

The report said that security forces in the NWFP were outgunned and outnumbered and had forfeited authority to the Taliban and their allies.
The report prepared by the Interior Ministry said that security forces in the NWFP were outgunned and outnumbered and had forfeited authority to the Taliban and their allies. “The ongoing spell of active Taliban resistance has brought about serious repercussions for Pakistan,” according to the 15-page document. “There is a general policy of appeasement towards the Taliban, which has further emboldened them.” This report was taken up at the June 4 meeting of the National Security Council in Gen Musharraf’s presence. An unnamed Western diplomat called the document “an accurate description of the dagger pointed at the country’s heart,” adding: “It’s tragic it’s taken so long to recognise it.”

The NYT report filed from Pakistan said that the recognition of the scope of the extremists’ authority comes after heavy pressure on Pakistan from the United States to contain lawlessness in the tribal areas. According to the Interior Ministry report, even areas like Peshawar, Nowshera and Kohat are threatened by creeping Talibanisation.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 07/01/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  perv has encouraged the extremist to flourish as it keeps him in office!!!!!
Posted by: Paul || 07/01/2007 7:19 Comments || Top||


Africa North
33 Muslim Brotherhood students arrested in Egypt
Police on Saturday arrested 33 students affiliated with Egypt's largest opposition group, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, who were spending their summer vacation in the Mediterranean Sea city of Alexandria, a police official said.

Authorities allege the students were reviving the banned group's activities while at el-Agamy beach resort, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. The Brotherhood's official Web site said 35 students were arrested. It was not immediately known why there was a discrepancy in the number of arrested students. "The gathering was for a group of young men, and the security forces didn't find any outlawed documents with them," a statement posted on the group's site said.
Did we say 33? It's up to 50 now.
Posted by: Fred || 07/01/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood

#1  Let the "negotiations" begin!
Posted by: Zenster || 07/01/2007 4:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Do I hear 75? 75? 100? 100 to the men in truncheons. 125? Going once, going twice ...
Posted by: Steve White || 07/01/2007 10:22 Comments || Top||


Britain
Drudge: London mayor defends Muslims as bomb plot foiled
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/01/2007 14:28 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Britain

#1  Another pike for Tower Bridge.
Posted by: Excalibur || 07/01/2007 15:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Aye, Excalibur.
Posted by: twobyfour || 07/01/2007 22:36 Comments || Top||


Blair attacks 'absurd' Islamists, 'loopy loo' civil liberty absolutists
Tony Blair has launched a powerful attack on 'absurd' British Islamists who have nurtured a false 'sense of grievance' that they are being oppressed by Britain and the United States.

The former Prime Minister warns that Britain is in danger of losing the battle against terrorists unless mainstream society confronts the threat
In his most outspoken remarks on Islamists, the former Prime Minister warns that Britain is in danger of losing the battle against terrorists unless mainstream society confronts the threat.

Blair's remarks, in which he also attacks some civil liberty campaigners as 'loopy loo', were made in a Channel 4 documentary recorded last Tuesday on the eve of his departure from Downing Street.

'The idea that as a Muslim in this country that you don't have the freedom to express your religion or your views, I mean you've got far more freedom in this country than you do in most Muslim countries,' Blair told Observer columnist Will Hutton, who presents the documentary.
The reason we are finding it hard to win this battle is that we're not actually fighting it properly.

We're not actually standing up to these people and saying, "It's not just your methods that are wrong, your ideas are absurd. Nobody is oppressing you. Your sense of grievance isn't justified.

'The reason we are finding it hard to win this battle is that we're not actually fighting it properly. We're not actually standing up to these people and saying, "It's not just your methods that are wrong, your ideas are absurd. Nobody is oppressing you. Your sense of grievance isn't justified."'

Blair held out the example of the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan - criticised by Islamists as an example of the heavy-handed imperial West oppressing Muslims - to highlight unfounded claims of grievance. He asked how it is possible to claim that Afghanistan's Muslims are being oppressed when the Taliban 'used to execute teachers for teaching girls in schools'.

Blair added: 'How are [we] oppressing them? You're oppressing them when you support the people who are trying to blow them up.'

Blair, who normally chooses his language carefully when he talks about Islamists, also takes a swipe at critics who accused him of undermining civil liberties. 'When I'm trying to change the law in order to make it easier to deport people who engage in terrorism - the idea that that's an assault on hundreds of years of British civil liberties is completely absurd. Some of what is written on this is loopy-loo in its extremism.'


Posted by: lotp || 07/01/2007 10:09 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Global Jihad

#1  Blair, who normally chooses his language carefully when he talks about Islamists

Seems that predicament ended with the end of his tenure as PM.
Posted by: twobyfour || 07/01/2007 10:51 Comments || Top||

#2  And what about your 'absurd' immigration 'policy', Mr Blair?
Posted by: Maggie Shusort4353 || 07/01/2007 13:28 Comments || Top||

#3  'The reason we are finding it hard to win this battle is that we're not actually fighting it properly. We're not actually standing up to these people and saying, "It's not just your methods that are wrong, your ideas are absurd. Nobody is oppressing you. Your sense of grievance isn't justified."'

I think that one has been bubbling up inside him for quite a while.
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/01/2007 13:40 Comments || Top||

#4  I wonder what Mrs. Blair, esq. thinks of his sentiments?
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/01/2007 13:46 Comments || Top||

#5 
The reason we are finding it hard to win this battle is that we're not actually fighting it properly. We're not actually standing up to these people and saying, "It's not just your methods that are wrong, your ideas are absurd. Nobody is oppressing you. Your sense of grievance isn't justified."
Well, uh, who was in charge of how we were fighting it?

Nice words, Tony, but a bit late there.
Posted by: Tarzan Threck7932 || 07/01/2007 13:48 Comments || Top||

#6  Exactly. All this would have been better expressed on July 8 two years ago. And a cleaning out of the stables at the BBC with it.

You, apologist, you're fired.
You, with the Phakestinians, you're fired.
You, with the "V" sound in Wolfowitz, you're fired.
You, pronouncing Orc names with gusto, you're fired.
Posted by: Excalibur || 07/01/2007 15:05 Comments || Top||

#7  He asked how it is possible to claim that Afghanistan's Muslims are being oppressed when the Taliban 'used to execute teachers for teaching girls in schools'.

Uh, Tony, maybe they consider stopping those executions to be oppression.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 07/01/2007 15:51 Comments || Top||

#8  It's not just your methods that are wrong, your ideas are absurd. Nobody is oppressing you. Your sense of grievance isn't justified.

Refreshing language, if a bit tardy. However, no grievance is too small for skinless people in a sandpaper world.

Blair held out the example of the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan - criticised by Islamists as an example of the heavy-handed imperial West oppressing Muslims - to highlight unfounded claims of grievance. He asked how it is possible to claim that Afghanistan's Muslims are being oppressed when the Taliban 'used to execute teachers for teaching girls in schools'.

I'd attribute this to the usual confusion about Bugs vs. Features. Or as RC succintly noted:

maybe they consider stopping those executions to be oppression.

Sadly, most politicians still cannot bring themselves to comprehend how deeply inimical Islam is to Western culture.
Posted by: Zenster || 07/01/2007 16:18 Comments || Top||

#9  loo?

As in A toilet, loo, lavatory or WC is a plumbing fixture and disposal system primarily intended for the disposal of the bodily wastes: urine and fecal matter.

Well, it does fit the applicable and identified group.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/01/2007 16:33 Comments || Top||

#10  how deeply inimical Islam is to Western culture.

Friendly to other cultures?
Posted by: gromgoru || 07/01/2007 22:55 Comments || Top||

#11  Friendly to other cultures?

In their dreams.
Posted by: Zenster || 07/01/2007 23:24 Comments || Top||

#12  Before the clock strikes midnight and turns this thread back into a pumpkin, I wish to make one point:

Tony Blair has hit upon the reason the hard Left is so sympathetic to radical Islam. Beside sharing a general hatred of Western culture, the Left (which suckles at the teat of Marx) seemingly only exists to play one group against another based on supposed oppression and a succession of historical grievances.
Posted by: Grumenk Philalzabod0723 || 07/01/2007 23:56 Comments || Top||


1,600 Suspects Under Surveillance
MORE than 1,600 terrorist suspects are currently under surveillance by MI5, who believe there are 200 networks and 30 plots. A source said: "Some of these we are able to foil, some fall apart but there are always new ones springing up. We face a constant battle but our intelligence on these networks continues to grow and we are achieving better levels of penetration all the time." MI5 now has 3,000 officers based around the UK and plans another 500 by next year.
Posted by: Fred || 07/01/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Britain

#1  Is the wrong answer. Imprison all 1600 without trial and then concentrate intelligence resources on finding the next 1600, and then the next. Otherwise we'll have more episodes like 7/7 where the bombers managed to carry out their plans despite the fact that they'd already been under surveillance.
Posted by: Elmurong the Elder7700 || 07/01/2007 10:29 Comments || Top||


London mayor defends Muslims after bomb plot
Mayor Ken Livingstone urged Britons on Saturday to refrain from demonising Muslims after a double car bomb plot was foiled here amid fears of an Islamist terror threat. He also criticised Britain over its ties with Saudi Arabia, which he said had fuelled intolerance in the past through its Wahhabist form of Islam. “In this city, Muslims are more likely to be law-abiding than non-Muslims and less likely to support the use of violence to achieve political ends,” he told BBC Radio.

He said various groups had carried out terrorist acts in London over the years, including far-right groups and the Irish Republican Army. “All I am interested in as mayor is that we try to prevent all acts of violence whether it is by a disaffected young member of the (far-right) British National Party, or by an Islamist or a Wahhabist supporter,” he said. He made it clear that this did not mean all white men were potentially threats to society any more than all Muslims were. But he criticised the British government’s ties with Saudi Arabia, saying Riyadh could still be funding terrorist groups in Britain.
Posted by: Fred || 07/01/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Britain

#1  we need the image of Ken in red gortex
Posted by: mhw || 07/01/2007 0:08 Comments || Top||

#2  He's a little behind the curve. Its time to stop trying to demonize the IRA and start dealing with the current threat.

White guilt, folks. White guilt.
Posted by: Mike N. || 07/01/2007 0:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Also, he might not want to wipe his nose for a while. Its prolly his brains leaking out from his nose being too close to the sun.
Posted by: Mike N. || 07/01/2007 0:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Also, he might not want to wipe his nose for a while.

Too late. He's been kissing Muslim ass for so long he's using toilet paper to blow his nose.
Posted by: Zenster || 07/01/2007 2:33 Comments || Top||

#5  I hate the man. He's an communist, anti-semitic, leftist appeaser of terrorism.
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 07/01/2007 3:22 Comments || Top||

#6  i usually hate Red Ken who is mates with Gerry Adams and Qawdari.However he tells the truth abouth Saudi funding hatred throughout the world.Bush needs to look at this asap!!!!!
Posted by: Paul || 07/01/2007 7:15 Comments || Top||

#7  Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 07/01/2007 7:19 Comments || Top||

#8  Livingstone, taking it up the poop tube five times a day for Allen. Ken put the Burka on now and be done with it twit.
Posted by: Icerigger || 07/01/2007 7:19 Comments || Top||

#9  He made it clear that this did not mean all white men were potentially threats to society any more than all Muslims were.

Keep raping our women and that may change.
Posted by: Excalibur || 07/01/2007 7:46 Comments || Top||

#10  Damn, it's sure be alot easier to defend muzzies if they didn't have the nasty habit of going around and trying to blow up innocent people for Allan, eh Ken? I sympathize. You have a tough row to hoe.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 07/01/2007 18:27 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
NKor reactor closure date needs 6-way talks
BEIJING - The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog has clarified how to monitor the shutdown of North Korea’s nuclear facility and it is now up to Pyongyang and its five negotiating partners to decide on a date, an official said on Saturday.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) official Olli Heinonen said negotiations in North Korea had achieved an understanding on how to monitor the sealing and shutdown of the Yongbyon facility. But he stressed the timing of the long-negotiated shutdown needed consultation between North Korea and other countries in six-party talks to iron out the details.

‘The next logical step is that they talk with each other and agree on technical arrangements. The IAEA doesn’t have any role on that,’ Heinonen, IAEA Nuclear Safeguards Director told reporters in Beijing after several days of talks in Pyongyang. ‘I think that they will take the shutdown as soon as they agree with their partners about the timing,’ he added later.

North and South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and host China struck a deal on Feb. 13 under which Pyongyang would receive aid and security steps in return for moving to scrap its nuclear arms programmes. The IAEA, as the guardian of international nuclear safeguards, will monitor and verify the disarmament steps.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/01/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What would a rogue regime's reactor closure be without a round of 6-way talks?
Posted by: Zenster || 07/01/2007 4:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Really. Get a nuclear engineer, let him tell you the soonest it can be done. Job over...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/01/2007 8:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Don't worry about kimmie, he has plenty of plutonium to last him. He'll do just like he did with clinton, shut it down for a couple of years and start it back up over some supposed slight.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 07/01/2007 10:34 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Happy follow up: Missing Soldier's Wife Gets Green Card
We clearly need some good news today, so here it is. Courtesy FoxNews, via Drudge.

Yaderlin Hiraldo Jimenez, the wife of missing Army Spec. Alex Jimenez, no longer has to worry about being deported as she awaits word of her husband's fate. On Friday, Yaderlin walked into a Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Buffalo, New York. She left with a green card in her hand, guaranteeing she can stay in the U.S. for the rest of her life.

"Her immigration problems have been solved in their entirety and now her focus is completely dedicated to her hope and desire that she's going to see her husband again," her lawyer Matthew Kolken said.

The move came after U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said last month that his agency would terminate the deportation case against Yaderlin so she could stay in the country and apply for permanent resident status. At the time, Chertoff said in a letter to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., that "the sacrifices made by our soldiers and their families deserve our greatest respect."

Jimenez, of Lawrence, Mass., and a comrade, Pvt. Byron Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich. have been missing since their unit was attacked by insurgents in Iraq on May 12.

Jimenez had petitioned for a green card for his wife, whom he married in 2004. Yaderlin illegally entered the United States from the Dominican Republic in June 2001, paying $500 to a smuggler and walking three days from Mexico to California. Her husband's request for a green card and legal residence status for her alerted authorities to her situation.

She has been living in Pennsylvania and had been facing deportation but an immigration judge put a temporary stop to the proceedings after Jimenez was reported missing.

On Friday, the Pentagon changed the status of Jimenez and Fouty from "whereabouts unknown" to "missing/captured." The change reflects an official determination that the two were seized by hostile forces. The earlier designation is typically used when a soldier goes missing but military officials have not confirmed the circumstances.

The change does not mean the military has gained any new information about their whereabouts.

An Iraqi insurgent group claimed in a video posted on the Internet last month that the missing soldiers were killed and buried, but offered no proof they were dead.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/01/2007 18:29 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Occasionaly we get it right. Usualy after exhausting all other alternatives.
Posted by: N guard || 07/01/2007 19:28 Comments || Top||


Private Firms Gather Intelligence in Iraq
In Iraq, a Private Realm Of Intelligence-Gathering
Firm Extends U.S. Government's Reach
Front page WaPo, continued on page 20 and continued again on page 21, where the headline is, Firms Relieve Chronic Troop Shortage

I didn't see anything about troop shortages, just dirt on the British firm and ...oh, wait ... here it is:

The military relies on private contractors to offset chronic troop shortages. "If we had a 2 million-man army, we wouldn't be having this conversation," said Ed Soyster, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency
Posted by: Bobby || 07/01/2007 14:52 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Of course, it would be an essential part of such private organization's activities to recruit and train local people for HUMINT both inside and outside of Iraq.

The Pentagon got a bad surprise with its initial shortage of Arabic and other Muslim language speakers at the start of the WoT. They are strong believers that such problems need solutions.

By now, I imagine the CIA and other intelligence organizations, both government and private, have developed elaborate networks of such individuals.

With a premium for individuals who speak Farsi without an accent.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 07/01/2007 17:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Collecting, collating and disseminating open-source information and interviews from contracted personnel seems pretty above board to me. It sounds as if they provide a valuable product that would be inefficient for the military to provide for itself. In direct opposition to Mr Singer's views, I am certainly not adverse to seeing more intelligence gathering outsourced. Singer's argument that there is little Congressional oversight of this type of program seems more like a feature than a bug to me. I believe that "Congressional Oversight" is every bit as important as "UN Involvement."
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/01/2007 17:07 Comments || Top||

#3  We discussed this yesterday at our unit reunion. It seems that the problem is we're collecting so much data, it's overwhelming the interpretation and analysis of the data. The problem's being addressed, but it's going to take at least four or five years of constant growth and training to overcome. Using private firms to do the less intense and more more highly classified data is just another way to overcome the problems that exist in the short term. Private firms can (and often do) hire former military personnel with the appropriate training and experience - something the military can't do because of hiring restrictions, age and health restrictions, and other obstacles to using these people.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 07/01/2007 18:00 Comments || Top||

#4  We discussed this yesterday at our unit reunion. It seems that the problem is we're collecting so much data, it's overwhelming the interpretation and analysis of the data. The problem's being addressed, but it's going to take at least four or five years of constant growth and training to overcome. Using private firms to do the less intense and more more highly classified data is just another way to overcome the problems that exist in the short term. Private firms can (and often do) hire former military personnel with the appropriate training and experience - something the military can't do because of hiring restrictions, age and health restrictions, and other obstacles to using these people.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 07/01/2007 18:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Capitalism rocks!
Posted by: gromgoru || 07/01/2007 22:37 Comments || Top||

#6  Yea, it's twice as tasty! ;-)
Posted by: twobyfour || 07/01/2007 22:40 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
An Artist's Gift To Families Of Fallen Heroes
Video - Try and watch it without crying. I couldn't. HT to LC HJ Caveman82952 at Misha's. What a Lady!
Posted by: Frank G || 07/01/2007 15:42 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  it's been at least six months since I saw this last. I cried then, too. What a kindness the artist is doing! If there's a heaven, all those she painted will be waiting to greet her when she arrives.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/01/2007 18:02 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Lal Masjid mullahs warn Musharraf
The Lal Masjid on Saturday threatened forceful retaliation if the government launches an operation against it after President General Pervez Musharraf said it housed suicide bombers.

“We have read the statement by Mr Musharraf and we want to warn him that in case of an operation against our mosque and the seminary we will put up a very forceful retaliation,” Abdul Rashid Ghazi, from Islamabad’s Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa madrassa, told AFP. Gen Musharraf said a day earlier that many potential suicide bombers were inside the mosque, and militants linked to extremist groups, including Al Qaeda, were hiding in the mosque with explosives and could cause havoc in the event of an armed operation against them.
Posted by: Fred || 07/01/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Since Musharraf is terrified that a revolt will follow if force is used, how about flooding the mosque with chloroform or some other disabling gas instead?
Posted by: Grumenk Philalzabod0723 || 07/01/2007 4:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Perv is getting payback for years of supporting Taliban/extremism!!!!
Posted by: Paul || 07/01/2007 7:20 Comments || Top||

#3  how about flooding the mosque with chloroform or some other disabling gas instead?

contact Putin - he's got a bunch that apparently works
Posted by: Frank G || 07/01/2007 7:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Apparently some of the Lal Masjid students are the children of Pak Military brass.
Perv has to be very careful here...

Posted by: John Frum || 07/01/2007 8:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Cloroform is explosive, be a shame if an "Accident" happened.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 07/01/2007 11:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Surely chloroform would only work in a closed building?
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/01/2007 13:48 Comments || Top||

#7  Fentanyl
Posted by: Frank G || 07/01/2007 14:04 Comments || Top||


Jamali wants war on terror policy reviewed
Former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has demanded a review of the country’s policy on the US-led “war on terror”.

“We should look at it (policy) to know whether or not it is in our national interest,” Jamali said in an interview with Pushto-langue Khyber TV. The interview will be telecast on Sunday evening.

The former prime minister however stopped short of saying how he himself viewed the policy that he also pursued when he was chief executive. “Why should we fight others’ war?” he asked. “I say it must be reviewed and it should tell America and Europe that they need to understand ...” He said all this could be done when “we behave like a state and not like a set-up”. Jamali did not say he ever suggested to President Gen Pervez Musharraf that Pakistan should review its policy on the “war on terror” while he was prime minister from November 23, 2002, to June 26, 2004. He said provinces were not being given their due rights.
Posted by: Fred || 07/01/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Global Jihad

#1  I have a dream where kids in the kindergarten class want my crayons simply because the color was on their picture.
Posted by: newc || 07/01/2007 0:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Review completed. God in your image instead of another man's?
Posted by: newc || 07/01/2007 0:55 Comments || Top||

#3  I thought the headline said "Jimmeh." And nothing in the article disabused Me of that notion.
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds || 07/01/2007 10:50 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Two U.S. Troops Charged With Murder
BAGHDAD (AP) - Two American soldiers have been charged with premeditated murder for allegedly killing three Iraqis and then planting weapons on their bodies to portray them as combatants, the U.S. military said Saturday.

The three Iraqis were killed in separate incidents between April and June near Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of Baghdad, the military said in a statement. Fellow soldiers reported the alleged crimes to military authorities who launched an investigation, the military said, without giving further details on the killings or the victims.

One of the accused soldiers, Staff Sgt. Michael A. Hensley, from Candler, N.C., was put in military confinement in Kuwait on Thursday, facing three counts each of premeditated murder, obstructing justice and "wrongfully placing weapons with the remains of deceased Iraqis," the statement said.

Hensley's aunt, Patrician Stanberry of Candler, said he was an "all-American boy" who loved serving in the Army and would never jeopardize his career. He was on his third tour of Iraq. "He's not a killer," Stanberry told the Citizen-Times of Asheville, N.C. "Michael would never do anything like that."

The other soldier, Spc. Jorge G. Sandoval, was arrested Tuesday at his home in Laredo, Texas, and transferred to confinement in Kuwait. The two are assigned to the 1st Battalion, 501 Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, based at Fort Richardson, Alaska. Sandoval's mother, Alicia Sandoval, said her 22-year-old son was on a two-week leave visiting his family when authorities came and asked to speak to him. They said he would be back shortly, but she heard nothing since and had no idea where he was taken until an Associated Press reporter called. "I haven't had any news," she said in Spanish on Saturday from her home in Laredo. "It was all very sudden."

Iraqis often accuse American soldiers of unnecessary killings or abuse, and the war has seen U.S. service members face prosecution in several high-profile incidents.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/01/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas rejects int'l troops in Gaza
Hamas on Saturday rejected Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's call for deploying an international force in the Gaza Strip, warning that its men would attack any such organization. Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who heads one of two rival PA governments, said an international force was not acceptable. "We in Gaza and the Palestinian territories are under occupation and we don't need any more forces to pressure the Palestinian people," Haniyeh said during a tour of a home in Gaza City that belongs to the estate of Yasser Arafat. "We are able to solve our problems."

Abbas, who is trying to win US and EU backing for dispatching an international force to the Gaza Strip, raised the proposal during a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Friday. Abbas lashed out at the "putschists" of Hamas for their violent takeover of Gaza earlier this month, and said he hoped to stage presidential and parliamentary elections before the end of the current terms. "I proposed an international force in Gaza" to Sarkozy to ensure the elections can be held peacefully, Abbas said. "Elections necessitate a certain stability in security."

Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf states have rejected Abbas's call, urging him instead to resume dialogue with Hamas on the formation of a second Hamas-Fatah unity government. "Any force that enters the Gaza Strip will be dealt with as an occupation force," Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin Kassam, said in a statement. "We will receive them with rockets and mortars."

The group called on the international community to reject Abbas's plan because it "will be regarded as an attempt to add another occupation."

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, at a news conference with Abbas in Paris on Friday night after the two met, said only, "An international force cannot replace the peace process." Kouchner urged a renewal of broader Mideast peace efforts. "Our Israeli friends and our Palestinian friends can count on France."

Sarkozy offered solid support to Abbas and confirmed new French direct aid worth $20m. to the Palestinian Authority, renewed after a 16-month embargo following Hamas' election win last year. "We want your victory. You are the guarantor of peace," Sarkozy told Abbas, according to his spokesman David Martinon. "France's goal is the creation of a free, independent and viable (Palestinian) state," Sarkozy said. He reiterated, however, France's demands for the release of IDF Cpl. Gilad Schalit, captured by Palestinian terrorists a year ago.

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip, said it was strange that Abbas was demanding the deployment of an international force after his "corrupt security forces failed in their mission to defend the Israeli occupation and destroy Hamas." He said Abbas was now hoping international troops would be able to carry out that mission. "We see no difference between such a force and the Israeli occupation," Barhoum said.

The Hamas spokesman reiterated his movement's readiness to resume talks with Fatah. But, he added, Abbas has rejected Arab and Islamic calls to resume the dialogue with Hamas. "Abbas wants to talk to Hamas, but according to his preconditions," Barhoum said. "On the other hand, he goes to talk to the Israelis without preconditions."

Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas government, said his movement was totally opposed to "internationalizing" the Palestinian issue. "We should be talking about how to end the occupation and restore our rights, and not how to bring a foreign force to the Gaza Strip," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 07/01/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  we don't need any more forces to pressure the Palestinian people

Whaddaya mean? Why would anybody but the Israelis want to pressure the Palestinian animals people into behaving in a civilized fashion?
Posted by: gorb || 07/01/2007 4:50 Comments || Top||

#2  What country would be dumb enough to send their troops into that mess?
Posted by: Jiggs Flung6221 || 07/01/2007 15:51 Comments || Top||

#3  New cookie. I like it.
Posted by: Jiggs Flung6221 || 07/01/2007 15:52 Comments || Top||


Haniyeh tours Arafat's house in Gaza
The deposed Hamas PA prime minister toured the house of former Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat on Saturday and said he phoned the wife of the late Palestinian leader to assure her the property was not damaged during Gaza's civil war. The tour by Ismail Haniyeh was an attempt to counter allegations by the rival Fatah movement that Hamas gunmen had broken into Arafat's Gaza City home two days after the end of fighting.

During the visit, Haniyeh placed a phone call, and his aides said it was to Arafat's widow Suha in Tunisia. "I will send a video of my tour for you to be sure the house is safe and under protection," Haniyeh said on the phone, with reporters watching. "The house of Abu Ammar is one of the national symbols in Gaza ... and will remain under protection."

During Saturday's tour, there was no apparent sign of damage. One of Arafat's green military fatigues was spread on his bed on the ground floor. Furniture was pushed together in the middle of the room and covered with sheets. A gun, presumably belonging to Arafat, was visible in a display case.

In his tour, Haniyeh tried to harness Arafat's continued popularity, suggesting Arafat and Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin shared the same views. "We will follow the same path of President Arafat and Sheik Ahmed Yassin to protect the unity of Palestinian people," Haniyeh said in the phone call. "We will protect this heritage."

Posted by: Fred || 07/01/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  I await the word from the MOSSAD Suha.
Posted by: SHAMU || 07/01/2007 10:34 Comments || Top||

#2  "We will protect this heritage."


You're late asshole, reports said "Stripped to the wall tiles,
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 07/01/2007 11:25 Comments || Top||

#3  ...and steals the ashtrays, towels, soap
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 07/01/2007 13:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Why would Suha care about her old Faberware. If she was an activist she would be doing the human shield thing in the West Bank or somewhere in Lebanon.
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/01/2007 13:14 Comments || Top||

#5  The house of Abu Ammar [Yasser Arafat] is one of the national symbols in Gaza

That alone is enough to permanently condemn those who spew such bullshit.
Posted by: Zenster || 07/01/2007 20:28 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Pro-Syrian Lebanese shrugs off Bush travel ban
A pro-Syrian Lebanese politician on Saturday shrugged off a US travel ban, referring to it sarcastically as a “precious gift” that showed the Lebanese government was a tool in Washington’s hand.

President George W Bush on Friday banned 10 Syrian officials and Lebanese politicians, whom Washington accuses of undermining Prime Minister Fouad al-Siniora, from entering the United States. The list of Syrian officials includes Assef Shawkat, director of military intelligence and brother-in-law of President Bashar al-Assad, Hisham Ikhtiyar, an Assad adviser, Brigadier General Rustom Ghazali, former head of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon, and his assistant Brigadier General Jama’a Jama’a. The list includes six pro-Syrian Lebanese politicians — five former cabinet ministers and a former member of parliament.

Lebanese ex-MP Nasser Qandil, one of the six, said he would send a cable to Bush thanking him for his decision “which he sees as a precious gift that shows the true nature of the political conflict in Lebanon”. “The Lebanese are confronting the American policies and the (Lebanese) government is nothing but a tool of the American plan,” Qandil’s office said in a statement. Qandil said the ban also exposed Bush’s calls for promoting freedom of speech and democracy as “fraudulent”. He said he was considering legal steps against the US president.

The US move followed repeated calls for Damascus to stop fomenting instability in Lebanon, where Washington is trying to shore up the elected government of the embattled Siniora. The Lebanese opposition, led by the pro-Syrian Hezbollah group, has been demanding a national unity government since all its ministers quit Siniora’s cabinet nearly eight months ago. Siniora, backed by the United States, France and Saudi Arabia, has refused the opposition demand, which ultimately gives Syria’s allies veto power in his government.
Posted by: Fred || 07/01/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Syria's hit list sends Lebanese lawmakers abroad to seek safety
About 20 pro-government Lebanese lawmakers have temporarily left the conflict-ridden country this summer apparently seeking safety abroad amid mounting security threats and the assassination of an outspoken politician. According to an Associated Press count of legislators who have left Lebanon, more than two dozen, many from the leading majority party bloc, have flown out of the politically divided country over the past 10 days.

Though some of the legislators have since returned, 20 are still abroad. The trend reflects growing concern about their safety — and overall security in the country.

A senior Arab intelligence official said Lebanese lawmakers who are allied with parliament-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora have been advised to seek temporary shelter abroad after names appeared on a hit list. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 07/01/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  The road to Damascus is paved in rubble.
Posted by: newc || 07/01/2007 1:00 Comments || Top||


Syrian paper: Blair can't be peace envoy
A state-run Syrian newspaper on Saturday lambasted Tony's Blair's appointment as a special Middle East envoy, saying a man with "hands smeared with innocents' blood" cannot be a peace envoy. Shortly after stepping down as Britain's prime minister, Blair was named Wednesday as a Middle East envoy by the "Quartet" of peace mediators that includes the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia.

Blair, who handed over the reins to Gordon Brown, has said his task would be to prepare the ground for a future Palestinian state as an essential first step toward reaching a negotiated settlement in the region. "How could a liar, who is directly connected with Washington and who is a staunch proponent of the extremist rightist ideology, be a peace envoy?" the Tishrin newspaper said in a front-page editorial. "Who would trust his promises? Would he work truthfully for peace so long as he personally doesn't know, as we think, the meaning of the word 'truth'?"

In some Arab countries, including Syria, Blair has been criticized on the suspicion that he is a lackey of US President George W. Bush and for supporting the US-led war in Iraq. "Can we forget that the new peace envoy repeats literally what is being dictated upon him by the lowest-ranking official at the White House?" Tishrin said.

It added that Blair's "US-Israeli policy" was to blame for most of the "catastrophes and ordeals" that have befallen the Arabs, as well as his attempts to isolate Syria and impose sanctions on it. "We would not pin great hopes on his mission simply because a war man could never be a peace advocate or peace envoy," the paper said. "This is the first time in history that we see a peace envoy with his hands smeared with innocents' blood."
Posted by: Fred || 07/01/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
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trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2007-07-01
  Lebs find car used in Gemayel murder
Sat 2007-06-30
  Car, petrol attack at Glasgow airport terminal
Fri 2007-06-29
  Car bomb defused in central London
Thu 2007-06-28
  Brown replaces Blair
Wed 2007-06-27
  Lebanon arrests 40 Fatah al-Islam gunnies
Tue 2007-06-26
  Tony Blair to be confirmed as Middle East envoy
Mon 2007-06-25
  Boomer kills 6 UN soldiers in south Lebanon
Sun 2007-06-24
  Lal Masjid Students Free Chinese Women
Sat 2007-06-23
  Larijani admits Iran financing Hamas
Fri 2007-06-22
  Paks post reward for murdering Rushdie
Thu 2007-06-21
  Leb Army takes over Nahr al-Bared
Wed 2007-06-20
  Boom kills 78 in Baghdad
Tue 2007-06-19
  Pakistan: U.S. Missile Kills 32 Hard Boyz
Mon 2007-06-18
  Abbas' new PM outlaws Hamas
Sun 2007-06-17
  Looters raid Arafat's house, steal his Nobel Peace Prize


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