RIYADH — Three weeks after King Fahd was taken to hospital with pneumonia Saudis are waiting anxiously for news of their frail and elderly monarch, skeptical about repeated official assurances that his health is improving.
Us too.
Fahd, who is in his early 80s, has been treated amid relative secrecy at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in southwest Riyadh since his admission on May 27. A medical source who saw the king in recent days told Reuters he is on a respirator to help maintain the illusion he's alive his breathing as he continues to battle decomposition the pneumonia. From the outset, his brothers have said Fahd's health is improving and he could be out of hospital "within days."
Well, one way or the other
But many Saudis remain unconvinced. "There is a deliberate media blackout on the real state of his health," said Ahmed Otaibi, a 32-year-old owner of a health clinic, adding that the policy might be aimed at avoiding "domestic or international problems."
I'll take domestic fight for power for $500, Alex
"I just want the king to be well," he said. The royal family is anxious to give the impression of business as usual in the world's biggest oil exporter, which has been tackling a two-year wave of violence by supporters of Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. Interior Minister Prince Nayef -- Fahd's younger brother -- traveled to the United Arab Emirates this week to discuss a border accord and Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal flew to Egypt for talks, apparently to show that Fahd's illness has not paralyzed affairs of state.
----snip-----
The usual early summer transfer of Saudi Arabia's royal court from the capital Riyadh to the Red Sea city of Jeddah has been delayed because of uncertainty surrounding the king. Diplomats say Fahd's continued hospital confinement, despite first-class medical facilities at his royal palaces, show that the monarch remains gravely ill. Officials say Fahd was born in 1921 or 1923 -- at the time few records were kept in the impoverished desert kingdom his father was still creating before the discovery of oil.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/17/2005 09:19 ||
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The King's not gonna get well, pal. The King's been a veggie for years, and is only alive because he's a convenient front.
"You should be killed and your body thrown to the pigs!" was the daily curse that mothers of children killed in last September's Beslan school attack hurled at the sole surviving hostage-taker, Nur-Pashi Kulayev, when he went on trial in a Vladikavkaz court last month.
Yet as Kulayev's version of events inside the school unfolded, it contradicted the version put forward by the authorities in crucial details. As the hearings continued, the women's attitude began to change. After having heard officials publicly lie about the number of hostages inside the school and make other contradictory statements during the crisis, the mothers said they had no confidence in the prosecutor's version of events and found Kulayev's testimony more plausible. Some even started to show signs of sympathy for the suspected terrorist as he told his story of the storming of Beslan's School No. 1, in which more than 330 hostages, many of them children, died. "They've dumped the blame onto this one man; they've found a scapegoat," said a voice from the crowd of relatives and witnesses at the North Ossetian Supreme Court as a handcuffed Kulayev was led past them on Tuesday.
The relatives say they believe this haggard and gloomy young man, who avoids looking them in the eyes and speaks in stumbling Russian from the defendant's steel cage, is their only hope to learn the truth about what happened to their loved ones. They say they are even prepared to ask the judge for leniency or a pardon, if Kulayev can tell them the truth. "We need him to tell the truth. And we need for no force to be used against him by interested institutions. ... We need to be confident that he won't die of a heart attack or fall down the stairs," Susanna Dudiyeva, who leads the activist group Committee of Beslan Mothers, said in court Tuesday.
At a hearing last week, Kulayev testified that a bomb that had been set up by the hostage-takers detonated on Sept. 3 after Russian snipers shot a gunman who was keeping his foot on the detonators. This contradicted what the authorities said, which was that a bomb in the school gym, where the more than 1,200 hostages were being held, went off after it fell from a basketball hoop. The official version had the bomb going off after tape fixing it to the hoop came loose because of heat and humidity, causing it to fall. The explosion set off the storming of the building by security services and local vigilantes, in which hundreds of hostages died in a hail of bullets and explosions.
Kulayev was among a group of 33 gunmen who had been sent by Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev and had arrived at the school early on the morning of Sept. 1. He told the court that there were other gunmen inside who opened fire into the crowd of children and parents in the schoolyard. He testified that the gunmen had so much arms and ammunition that they could not have brought it all with them. Kulayev's account tallied with claims by Beslan residents that the terrorists had prepared the raid well in advance and hidden supplies of weapons at the school. Federal officials have denied that such a weapons cache existed, though several witnesses among the hostages said it did. Kulayev's statements also contradicted the official account that there were only 33 attackers, and that none of them managed to flee the school.
Prosecutors say they are not surprised by Kulayev's revelations. "This is his line of defense," Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolai Shepel, the lead prosecutor in the case, said last week. But for those who have lost relatives, Kulayev's testimony appears to fit with their suspicions of a coverup by the authorities, whom they blame as much as the terrorists for the bloody conclusion to the hostage-taking drama. "I will claim all the compensation from the state. What use is there in seeking damages from Kulayev?" Alexander Gumetsev, whose daughter was killed in the school, said at the courthouse on Tuesday.
In total, 1,343 people are registered as plaintiffs in the case, in which Kulayev faces life in prison if convicted of all charges. He has denied all but one charge: participating in an illegal armed formation, the legal term the state uses for rebel fighters in Chechnya. After survivors and hostages' relatives showed irritation with Kulayev's long hair on the first day of the trial, Kulayev's head was shaved. During the trial, Kulayev said that his testimony in court was different from what he was reported as saying during the investigation because of his poor knowledge of Russian and that he had signed interrogation protocols without reading them.
Dudiyeva asked him Tuesday whether he had been beaten during the investigation. "How come they haven't been beating me? Of course, I was beaten," he said.
What followed, no one predicted. "If you tell the truth, we are ready to appeal for a pardon for you," Dudiyeva said. "Just tell the truth about what you know."
Prosecutor Maria Semisynova reacted by saying in a mocking tone that maybe Kulayev's status in the trial should be changed from that of defendant to victim. "Who set up the booby traps and hung the bombs in the gym that exploded and killed your children?" Semisynova said. "Were these people not terrorists?"
Also on Tuesday, the plaintiffs announced that they would demand to have Kulayev's court-appointed defense lawyer, Albert Pliyev, changed, citing Pliyev's inertness in defending his client. In an interview with Izvestia last week, Pliyev said that he had agreed to take Kulayev's case after being begged to do so by the head of North Ossetian lawyers' association. Other lawyers in the republic had refused to defend Kulayev.
Another witness and mother of one of the children held hostage, Ella Dzasarova, told the court Thursday that she saw Kulayev run around the gym on the first day of the hostage-taking, shouting curses at hostages and threatening to shoot them, the agency reported.
Two psychiatrists who offered differing expert opinions in another high-profile North Caucasus court case, the murder trial of Colonel Yury Budanov, said they did not believe that survivors of the Beslan attack were suffering from "Stockholm syndrome," a condition that can occur when hostages come to sympathize with their captors and blame the authorities for their plight. "For this to happen, people need to put themselves in the place of a hostage-taker, to understand his motives," said Lyubov Vinogradova, a director at the Independent Psychiatric Association. "This is probably not the case at the Vladikavkaz court."
The Serbsky Institute of Psychiatry's Tamara Pechernikova, a senior psychiatrist who during the Soviet era was involved in the cases of several prominent dissidents, said that the plaintiffs were pursuing the only available, and absolutely rational, strategy for learning the truth about the events that affected their lives so tragically. "Kulayev is the only person whom they believe may tell them something in the court that would allow them to demand punishment of all those guilty in what happened," she said. "After his sentence is announced -- and it will most probably be a long one -- these victims will demand more punishment for him," she said.
This article starring:
Alexander Gumetsev, whose daughter was killed in the school
Colonel Yury Budanov
Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolai Shepel
Kulayev's court-appointed defense lawyer, Albert Pliyev
Lyubov Vinogradova, a director at the Independent Psychiatric Association
mother of one of the children held hostage, Ella Dzasarova
Natalya Salamova, whose daughter -- a teacher at the school -- died in the attack
NUR PASHI KULAIEV
Chechnya
Prosecutor Maria Semisynova
Roza Alikova, who lost two sisters and three nephews in the attack
Serbsky Institute of Psychiatry's Tamara Pechernikova
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/17/2005 11:39 ||
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Dmitri Kozak, presidential envoy to the North Caucasus that includes Chechnya, has told Vladimir Putin in a report that his policy of nominating rulers in the region could spawn the chaos it is meant to prevent, the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily reported Thursday.
Kozak, who was sent to the North Caucasus after the Beslan school seizure, accused regional leaders of handing out top jobs to their kinsmen. "As a result, the whole system of checks and balances has been destroyed which is leading to the spread of corruption," he said.
Many analysts have said the Kremlin's policy of opting to support a single group over others could be fatal for stability in a region that depends on a balance of clan interests.
The report, leaked from Kozak's circle and confirmed by his aide, amounts to a highly unusual warning that Kremlin policies in the tinderbox region are bound for disaster.
It came about six months after the adoption of a new law that cancels direct elections in the Russian Federation and allows Putin to appoint regional leaders directly.
At the time, officials said the new law would allow the Kremlin to break the back of criminal clans. But Putin has chosen to keep leaders like Ingushetia's Murat Zyazikov — blamed by the opposition for allowing the 10-year Chechen war to spread into his region, Reuters points out.
He also kept the clan surrounding North Ossetian leader Alexander Dzasokhov — blamed by survivors of the Beslan hostage-taking last September for failing to stop the tragedy that killed 330 people — in power after the veteran leader resigned.
Kozak's report said some regional leaders were so corrupt they were alienating their people. "The dominating clan-corporate groups ... have no interest in creating mechanisms that would allow feedback and lead to open dialogue with people," he said.
"The arbitrary nature of the authorities has created social apathy in a large section of the population... In many regional areas the authorities do not have any public support."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/17/2005 11:37 ||
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Pyongyang, June 16 (KCNA) -- Leader Kim Jong Il sent thanks to all the agricultural workers who have successfully carried out the spring farm work and to the servicepersons, blue-collar and white-collar workers, students and dependent family members who have assisted agriculture materially and morally through a general turnout in supporting farms. The Workers' Party of Korea set the agricultural front as the main front in socialist economic construction this year and called upon the whole Party, state and people to render labor and material assistance to the rural districts, focusing and mobilizing all efforts in doing good farming.
The agricultural officials and workers had made substantial preparations for farming from the outset of the year, true to the Party's policy of agricultural revolution. The weather was unfavorable and a lot of things fell short of the need, but they successfully ensured the farm work including the growing of rice seedlings and transplanting as required by the Juche-based farming method.
The servicepersons, blue-collar and white-collar workers, students and dependent family members who turned out in response to the Party's order call for general mobilization in rice-transplanting rendered sincere assistance in farming, thus making a significant contribution to the completion of rice-transplanting in the most suitable time in the main areas across the country and the qualitative progress of overall farming in good time.
The agricultural workers and supporters to the rural districts all over the country once again demonstrated the true advantages of the Korean socialist system by displaying a high degree of beautiful traits of collectivism in the Songun era in the period of the farming campaign.
The proud successes registered in spring farming this year are a precious fruition of the wise leadership of the WPK. And they are manifestation of the steadfast spirit of devotedly defending the leader and the spirit of devotedly carrying through his policy displayed by the army and people who remain loyal to the Songun idea and leadership of Kim Jong Il and noble patriotism of all the agricultural workers and supporters determined to bring an autumn of bountiful crops to the country without fail.
And this is a demonstration of the might of the single-minded unity of the army and people of the DPRK who rise up like a mountain at the call of the Party and successfully fulfill its appeal, ready to go through fire and water, and convincing proof of the validity and vitality of the Party's policy in setting the agricultural front as the main front of socialist economic construction this year.
Pyongyang, June 16 (KCNA) -- Ambassador Ruben Perez Valdes and officials of the Cuban embassy here helped the DPRK-Cuba Friendship Hwasong Co-operative Farm in Ryongsong District, Pyongyang, in field work on June 15. While looking round the history room, the visitors were briefed on the farm which was associated with the leadership exploits of President Kim Il Sung and then weeded maize fields together with farmers who were hastening the immediate farm work.
Finally, some one with experience in sucessful collective farming, oh, wait...
At the break they conversed and sang songs with farmers, deepening friendly feelings. The ambassador said the friendly relations between the two countries were growing stronger day by day under the deep care of Fidel Castro Ruz and leader Kim Jong Il. He wished the farmers sizable fruits in agricultural production this year.
"Good luck, you'll need it"
Pyongyang, June 16 (KCNA) -- Great efforts have been channeled into the land management in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Kim Kwang Ju, a section chief of the Central Forestry Designing and Technology Institute under the Ministry of Land and Environment Conservation, was interviewed by KCNA on the occasion of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought which falls on June 17.
Damm, I meant to send a card
He said: Today the content to combat desertification comprises not only the dry areas but also all the lands degenerated by forest destruction. Land management has been raised as a pressing issue in the DPRK, a mountainous country which has limited arable land, no more than 17 percent of the territory, and thick population. In particular, the climate changes by abnormal high temperature phenomenon on the globe have brought about natural disasters such as landslide, flood, submersion and drought to the DPRK, too. For the recent ten-odd years, the country has had more than 1.5 million hectares of forest and not a small acreage of cultivated lands destructed or degenerated.
They're losing what little farm land they had
The DPRK government has formulated policies to manage land well and to make an effective use of it. And the sustained land management is guaranteed in the DPRK by various laws including the land law, environment protection law, land designing law, forest law and water resources law.
It has set up months of general mobilization for land management every spring and autumn to arouse all the people in the land management campaign such as afforestation, river improvement and land rezoning. As a result, over 130,000 hectares of forest have been created and hundreds of kilometers of rivers and streams improved every year.
The land rezoning projects have been undertaken according to annual plans as a state affair, with the result that some 293,700 hectares of paddy and non-paddy fields have been turned into large standardized fields and the arable land expanded over the last 7 years.
Taking small working farms and converting them into large collective farms. Nice move, blockheads
For a few years following the completion of the Kaechon-Lake Thaesong Waterway Project, gravity-fed channels extending 280-odd kilometers have been built, creating a safer environment for agricultural production. Along with this, the work for putting the management and utilization of land resources on a scientific and IT basis has been undertaken. Regular work for analyzing soil of each plot and surveying land erosion is carried on throughout the country once with an interval of 4-5 years.
The DPRK, a member nation of the Convention to Combat Desertification, will strengthen the international cooperation in the efforts to realize the sustained land management, Kim Kwang Ju stressed.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/17/2005 14:34 ||
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#1
Juche-based farming method
and World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
Somehow I think these are related, and not in the way the Glorious Leader would have us all think.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/17/2005 15:31 Comments ||
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#2
So this means that nobody has to send them any food this year right?
#4
"At the break they conversed and sang songs with farmers, deepening friendly feelings. The ambassador said the friendly relations between the two countries were growing stronger day by day under the deep care of Fidel Castro Ruz and leader Kim Jong Il."
I think I'm going to cry - that's so sweet. *sniff*
"He wished the farmers sizable fruits in agricultural production this year."
And I wish their leader sizeable hemorrhoids every day.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il plans to meet Friday with South Korea's unification minister, a ministry spokesman said. A South Korean delegation has been visiting North Korea to celebrate the five-year anniversary of a historic joint summit between both nations. The delegation was to return Friday but decided to stay when Kim agreed to meet them. The North Korean leader rarely meets officials from other countries.
The reclusive Kim last talked with a top South Korean official in the North's capital in April 2002, The Associated Press reports. Before that, a June 15, 2000 meeting between Kim and then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung resulted in a declaration by the two leaders that is credited with helping to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The current South Korean delegation is led by Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, who is to brief Kim on concerns by other countries about North Korea's nuclear program. On Thursday evening, Chung met the North's No. 2 leader, Kim Yong Nam, who said his country could treat the United States as a friendly nation if Washington acknowledges its regime. "If the United States recognizes North Korea's system, North Korea too will treat them as an ally," Kim Yong Nam told Chung, according to the Unification Ministry.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/17/2005 00:00 ||
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System? They have a system? Lol! I'll accept the word "systemic" is useful in describing them, but I had no idea they thought they had a system. Systemic self-delusion.
#2
"IF the United States recognizes North Korea's system..." - IOW, since Commies throughout their bloody history only recognize themselves, what Kimmie is actually inferring is that AMERICA WILL HAVE PEACE ONLY WHEN AMERICA BECOMES COMMUNIST, as per CLINTONISM the only good FASCIST is a COMMUNIST - you know, Hitlerists-for STalin, Germanists-for-Asia, Rightists-for-Leftism, etc.!? Looks like the 50+ years it will gen take Norkie and othe Commies currency(s) to attain purchasing power parity with the USD ISN'T GOING BE SHORTER/LESS ANYTIME SOON, as compared with SOLYENT GREEN.
#7
Saipan is great, especially if you like WWII history. Nice beachs complete with sunken landing craft. I liked pointing those out to all the Japanese tourists that overrun the island.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/17/2005 9:43 Comments ||
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Ima jump on the Joe for UN Ambassador bandwagon. Looser's leap is supposed to be purdy at Saipan.
ISLAMIC leaders have accused Muslim cleric Taj al-Din al-Hilaly's spokesman of inflating the mufti's role in securing the freedom of hostage Douglas Wood.
The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils has spent thousands of dollars funding Sheik Hilaly's trip to Iraq, where he worked closely with local religious and community leaders to try to negotiate the Australian engineer's release.
AFIC leaders are angry at Sheik Hilaly's Sydney-based spokesman Keysar Trad claims that the sheik had advanced knowledge of Mr Wood's "release" and that he had been dropped off by agreement at a safe house rather than rescued in a random military raid.
One AFIC leader said Mr Trad's claims appeared to contradict the Federal Government's official version of events and could jeopardise the cleric's standing in the community.
Mr Trad said the sheik had played a "key role" in winning Mr Wood's release, despite flying to Cairo last week because of security and health concerns.
He said negotiations about paying money to the kidnappers had been continuing this week, despite the Government saying no ransom was paid.
Mr Trad was unrepentant yesterday, saying he regularly telephoned the sheik and was simply passing on the cleric's knowledge of the situation.
He said Sheik Hilaly had played a fundamental role in Iraq in extending the first deadline set by the kidnappers.
"I have been in regular contact with the mufti and am passing on information that everybody in the country wants to hear. They can't just turn around and shoot the messenger. This is what AFIC has to understand."
AFIC president Ameer Ali said Mr Trad did not belong to the leading Islamic body nor to the influential Lebanese Muslim Association in southwestern Sydney.
But other leaders from AFIC, an umbrella body for Muslim community groups, were seething over Mr Trad's comments. AFIC, which has kept a low profile since the kidnapping, paid for the sheik to fly business-class to Iraq and will pick up his phone and hotel tab, and that of a Sydney-based Iraqi who travelled with him.
Mr Ali said the whole story of his involvement would not be known until Sheik Hilaly returned to Sydney, possibly as soon as this weekend.
Mr Ali revealed that former prime minister Malcolm Fraser and founder of aid organisation Care Australia, had asked AFIC and Sheik Hilaly to help win the release of Care's kidnapped British director in Iraq, Margaret Hassan, last year but Ms Hassan was murdered before they could mobilise.
PARIS - Trust between the French and Americans has slumped to its lowest level in 17 years, more than two years after a bitter feud over the Iraq war, an opinion poll showed on Friday. The TNS-Sofres survey of 1,000 people in each country showed only 31 percent of French people have any "sympathy" for Americans, down from 39 percent in 2002.
Only 35 percent of Americans like the French, a drop from 50 percent in 2002, according to the poll, published in the Le Monde newspaper.
French President Jacques Chirac infuriated Washington and helped create anti-French feeling by his opposition to the Iraq war and his advocacy of a world in which the European Union would counterbalance U.S. power.
Americans retaliated by renaming French fries "freedom fries" and some even stopped buying French wine. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited France in February to help repair ties. She was greeted warmly and her visit was deemed successful.
The survey showed an overwhelming 70 percent of French people believe the United States is not a loyal ally. Fifty-six percent of Americans said France was not a reliable partner. French people with left-wing views are most likely to be hostile to Americans, the survey found. Left-wing French voters drove France's rejection last month of the EU constitution. Many who voted 'No' said they feared the charter would impose U.S.-style free-market economics on Europe.
In the United States, Democrats and the black community have a better image of France while 39 percent of Republicans said they do not like France. French people openly supported French-speaking Democrat John Kerry in last November's presidential election, infuriating President Bush's Republican supporters.
Are you kidding? We welcomed their support of him and made sure everyone knew about it.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/17/2005 14:20 ||
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What trust?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/17/2005 14:39 Comments ||
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Love it, Raj...too true.
I think the WashUpPost is being generous saying that "35% of Americans" still trust the Frogs.
Hatred of the French is the most universal sentiment I've found in the 2+ years since they put that fine Sabatier cutlery in our posterior.
Let's face it, the French weren't that popular here before they betrayed us...
#8
The lack of trust coefficient between the US and the French has fallen so low that it can only be expressed as a negative number times the square root of negative 1.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/17/2005 18:07 Comments ||
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Judge Pedraz, ie the guy who wants to trial American soldiers involved in the death of a Spanish journalist at the Palestine Hotel during the last stages of OIF
Now he is allowing ETA terrorist De Juana Chaos to walk free (but Spanish DA is appealing). De Juana Chaos had been sentenced to three thousand years for many, many, many acts of terrorism. He has purged eighteen. But by using some pitfalls of Spanish law like the top on a penalty and discounting for having taken univeristy courses De Juana Chaos has been able to ask for liberation. Except that it appears that several of the term reducing steps of De Juana Chaos never existed. And except that while in jail he has continued activities for ETA thus voiding the effect of whatever term reducing activities he performed while in jail.
And De Juana Chaos is no ordinary terrorist: after the assasination of a young man and his wife (leaving two small daughters) he said: "I like to see the pain-difformed faces of the family", he is a fervent partisan of an alliance between ETA and the islamists, and a partisan of ETA causing a big bombing, one with hundreds or even thousands of victims. Several failed attempts those last years.
This is the guy, judge Pedraz, wants and when say wants I do not mean because the law ties his hands, it doesn't, but because he likes the idea. It says a LOT about that judge who wants to trial American soldiers.
(1) The journalist himself commented on TV, just hours before his death, that the hotel was being used by Baathist officials and armed elements. That made it a legitimate target. And according to Geneva it was the duty of the journalists to evacuate the hotel if at all possible instead of, by their presence, interfering in retaliatory fire by Americans against any attack or artillery spotting from the hotel
Note on Spanish, French and possibly most European judiciaries.
In European countries the people has no say direct and indirect (ie nominated by President and validated by Senate) over judges nominations. Judges cannot be removed by the political power suposedly to preserve their independence. I will pass on the indirect ways for influencing them. The interesting point is that French and Spanish judges become judges by passing an exam on law. The N best performers (N being fixed by the budgetary needs) enter a special school for judges but graduation from this school is automatic or nearly automatic (you rellay need to spend your scholarity being drunk for n,ot graduating) if you have entered it. Once there the candidates are under the supervision of professors and senior judges but they don't have the power of expelling a candidate for being a complete moonbat (that would be, shock horror, political) just giving him bad eveluations who would force him to take an unapalatable post in a god forsaken town when he leaves academy instead of the prestigious ones leading to Supreme Court (in French system the best pupil picks first, then the second and so on). It is also of interest to know that appliants to Judge school are young and unfiltered (they are graduates in law not senior lawyers) be it about opinions or about experience of their acting.
So a guy becomes judge without the people having a say on his nomination and then he cannot be removed by the people whatever shocking are his decisions: he is above the people. And even above the law, since he will not be sanctionned if his decisions are not conformant (they will be reverted by a higher court but he will not be punished for it) and even if he does something illegal (like filtering elements of the case to the press thus vilating the presumption of innocence) the sanctions are usualy limited to the judge being displaced to a more unpalatable town.
Three radical imams have been ordered to leave the Netherlands after the country's intelligence service said they represented a security threat, the Justice Ministry said on Thursday. The clerics from Eindhoven's Al Fourkaan mosque are the first to face expulsion after the Dutch government vowed to crack down on militants following the murder last November of a filmmaker critical of Islam. The AIVD intelligence service said the men worked to radicalise Muslims and turn them away from Western values and tolerated the use of their mosques as recruiting grounds for militancy.
Just good holy men being discriminated against for keeping weapons preaching to the flock ...
"The AIVD has come to the conclusion that the imams willingly and knowingly contributed to the radicalisation of Muslims in the Netherlands and were also responsible for the creation of a breeding ground for a Jihad," the ministry said. It added one of the imams had already left the Netherlands -- home to 1 million Muslims who are mostly of Turkish or Moroccan descent -- and that if the other two did not leave they would be expelled.
"Get the hell out and stay out!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/17/2005 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/17/2005 7:45 Comments ||
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"The AIVD intelligence service said the men worked to radicalise Muslims and turn them away from Western values and tolerated the use of their mosques as recruiting grounds for militancy."
I assume the last is MSM euphemism for recruit for terrorism. I have zero, repeat, zero problems with expelling Imams who recruit for, or incite, any kind of violence.
I think weve done some of this with regard to that mosque in New Jersey, Hoboken was it?
We should be on the alert to any other Imams who do this. I would approve sending agents into mosques to check for this. The best folks to do the watching would be (vetted) muslims working for the FBI, etc.
Edited for new stuff:
WASHINGTON — After a barrage of criticism, Sen. Dick Durbin went to the Senate floor Thursday evening to repeat a controversial statement he made two days earlier and insist he said nothing objectionable. In remarks first expressed on the Senate floor late Tuesday and then re-read verbatim on Thursday evening, Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, read the report of an FBI agent who described treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Among the descriptions, the report noted one case in which a detainee was held in such cold temperatures that he shivered, another in which a prisoner was held in heat passing 100 degrees, one in which prisoners were left in isolation so long they fouled themselves and one where a prisoner was chained to the floor and forced to listen to loud rap music.
Following those remarks, the Illinois senator clarified that he was not comparing U.S. soldiers to Pol Pot, Nazis or Soviet guards, but was "attributing this form of interrogation to repressive regimes such as those that I note. "If this indeed occurred, it does not represent American values. It does not represent what our country stands for, it is not the sort of conduct we would ever condone ... and that is the point I was making. Now, sadly, we have a situation here where some in the right-wing media have said that I have been insulting men and women in uniform. Nothing could be further from truth," Durbin said, following up under questioning by Sen. John Warner, R-Va., that he does not know if the interrogators cited in the FBI report were Americans or not.
Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he had inquired as to whether the FBI's descriptions are true. "I was trained as a lawyer, many years as a prosecutor dealt with the bureau, have the highest respect. But I do not accept at face value everything they put down on paper until I make certain it can be corroborated and substantiated. "And for you to come to the floor with just that fragment of a report and then unleash the words 'the Nazis,' unleash the word 'gulag,' unleash 'Pol Pot,' I don't know how many remember that chapter, it seems to me that was a grievous error in judgment and leaves open to the press of the world to take those three extraordinary chapters in world history and try to intertwine it with what has taken place, allegedly, at Guantanamo," Warner said.
The military operates under strict guidelines that are widely distributed. Only mild non-injurious physical contact is allowed, such as light pushing. Sleep deprivation is used along with stress positions, but they are limited in time. One knowledgeable official familiar with the memo cited by Durbin as well as other memos said the FBI agent made no such allegation and that the memo described only someone chained to the floor. Anything beyond that is simply an interpretation, the official said.
"Fake, but accurate", Senator? Where did you get those memos, Lucy Ramirez pass them to you at the Chicago Stock Show?
Posted by: Steve ||
06/17/2005 12:58 ||
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Yeah, c'mon, Dicky, give us the memo. Show me the money, Dicky!
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/17/2005 13:31 Comments ||
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#3
Anything I say to him would likely result in a visit from the Feds.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/17/2005 15:20 Comments ||
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#4
Oh, and since this touches on a recurring subject:
Any bets on when he'll be removed from his post? Or when Democrats will criticize him AT ALL?
He's the "No. 2 Democrat in the Senate" -- hard to say he's just some fringer withot any following.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/17/2005 15:22 Comments ||
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#5
Dicky Turban may just be the one to defecate on himself if this spins out of his control. He was just looking for a meme he could hang his political hat on with the Blue imbeciles in SecondCityLand, methinks. I hope he lives to regret it, since he's now a traitorous asshole, crossing the line giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
#7
The Chicago Tribune, which supported Durbin in his last election, dropped the hammer in an editorial this morning. Their conclusion?
We know what Durbin thinks about the treatment of Guantanamo prisoners. So what's the proper treatment of our coverage-hungry senior senator when he displaces the ever-present microphone long enough to insert his foot in his mouth? Ignore him. That would be torture.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/17/2005 17:28 Comments ||
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#8
"Now, sadly, we have a situation here where some in the right-wing media have said that I have been insulting men and women in uniform. Nothing could be further from truth,"
Mmmm-hmmm. Funny how so many of them seem to be insulted by those remarks.
The general leading the force to free the captive enemy from the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, and inflict a humiliating defeat on the United States is so-called ''civil rights'' and ''Constitutional'' attorney Michael Ratner. It was Ratner who led the way in recruiting elite lawyers to defend the enemy combatants being interrogated at Gitmo. But Ratner is a long-time leader of two pro-Communist and anti-American organizations who have for decades have lent aid and comfort to America's enemies in the Cold War and beyond.
Michael Ratner is a lawyer who began his legal career in the late 1960s at the National Lawyers Guild, a Soviet created front group which still embraces its Communist heritage. He worked his way up through the NLG's radical ranks to become its president, then moved on to hold the same position at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which share's the NLG's anti-American radicalism and was founded by pro-Castro lawyers Arthur Kinoy and William Kunstler. Among its many outrages, the CCR has defended domestic and international terrorists, and has honored Ratner's NLG colleague and convicted terrorist enabler Lynne Stewart, a modern Legal Left idol. Since 9/11, Ratner and his comrades have attempted to extend undeserved ''civil rights'' on Islamist murderers with notable success. On this front, Ratner and the Legal Left have dealt America its few setbacks in the War on Terror.
One year ago the U.S. suffered its first major loss in this war, a strategic and propaganda defeat, related to America's abilities to imprison and interrogate enemies that it captures. Abu Ghraib was a huge propaganda victory, both for Islamists, who used it to ''justify'' their violent attacks, and for fifth column leftists, who made use of the media's saturation coverage to portray the U.S. as the world's biggest oppressor, the Bush administration as a cabal of Nazi thugs, and the Iraq as an immoral undertaking. The gross overplay of that prison scandal in concert with other overblown and sometimes fabricated stories â€" like Newsweek's ''Koran in the toilet'' canard â€" emboldened Islamic terrorists, eroded U.S. public support for the War on Terror, and damaged America's credibility around the world.
...
Ratner's CCR has almost always received modest funding, most of it from far-Left organizations and leftist-run foundations. But funding of CCR increased by leaps and bounds after Ratner adopted his post-9/11 high profile.
The George Soros-funded Open Society Institute, the Tides Foundation, and other leftist support groups began heavily funding Ratner and CCR's anti-Bush, antiwar, anti-American agendas.
Thanks to these forces, the proper relationship between prisoner and guard, deemed vital for successful interrogation, has now been damaged and the Department of Defense (DOD) faces a dilemma. Ratner's suit has already somewhat undermined its effectiveness at Guantanamo Bay. If the DOD closes Gitmo, the prisoners are set free or are moved to the U.S. where it will be nearly impossible to deny them access to U.S. courts. If the department moves the prisoners to another location outside of U.S. jurisdiction, Ratner and his fifth column legal army will simply begin another high-profile fight for the prisoners' ''rights,'' and the propaganda battle begins anew with continued erosion of popular and political support for the War on Terror.
Though the battle for Guantanamo's prisoners is not yet over, but from the time the first plane-load of lawyers touched down in Cuba, two things became abundantly clear: Islamist psychopaths had won a major victory against America's resolve to fight them.
And Michael Ratner, George Soros, and a host of prestigious American law firms helped them.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/17/2005 10:59 ||
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#1
I don't see a problem here. If we must close Guantanamo detention facility, simply take all the inmates offshore - WAAAYYYY offshore - in a "fredom boat" - preceded by a "chum dispensing boat" - and then declare the detainees "free" - and invite them to swim home - after, of course - we apoligize for the minor misunderstanding that brought them to the sunny Caribbean. 'Give 'em each a box of (bloody) Omaha steaks, just to show there are no hard feelings. Then invite them to un-ass the boat.
"Walking the plank" in shark-infested waters - that should appeal to the sense of bravado of these "Lions of Islam". Personally, I'd invite the US lawyers to accompny their terr clients on the long swim.
The sharks probably won't mind a little "halal" cusine.
Details removed, See if you can guess where:
"In the spring of 2003, accounts of two egregious incidents made headlines in the (XXXXXXX XXXXXXX) when a jail investigator and two correctional officers came forward to corroborate the prisoners' accounts of the abuse. In one incident, an elite squad of 40 guards took over a maximum-security division of the jail in (XXXX) for the sole purpose of beating and terrorizing the prisoners. A jail investigator determined that the guards' misconduct was covered up by (XXXX XXXXXX) medical personnel, who filed false reports and refused or delayed treatment to the prisoners, and by the (XXXX XXXXXX) inspector general, who refused to cooperate with the investigation. In the other incident, five inmates in a special incarceration unit of the jail alleged that they were beaten by 20 or more officers in 2000 as they lay cuffed and shackled on the floor."
"Last month, I interviewed a prisoner who said he was beaten unconscious by guards who had wrapped handcuffs around their fists to make the beating worse. When I met with the prisoner several days later, the whites of his eyes were nearly obscured by the red from blood vessels that had ruptured during the beating, and deep lacerations were held together by staples that had been applied to his scalp. Late last year I visited another prisoner who told of being dragged by several guards through a fire of burning paper and debris that had been raging in the cellblock. His account of this abuse was substantiated by blisters and deep burn marks on his leg."
Nazis? Pol Pot? Gulag? Gitmo? Nope. The Cook County Jail, run by Cook County Sheriff Michael Sheahan, Senator Dick Durbin's political ally and fellow Democrat in Chicago. Any comments, Senator?
Posted by: Steve ||
06/17/2005 10:18 ||
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Whoa! Don't be taken in by the peaceful colour, greenman carrys a rapier-like rapier.
Posted by: Senator Dick Durbin ||
06/17/2005 12:17 Comments ||
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#3
On a related topic, yesterday Drudge reported that the Defense Department will soon be releasing approx. 150 Abu Ghairab POW mistreatment photos ( old ones- GI's punished already) to the public, as a result of an ACLU lawsuit. That should add to the media frenzy about Gitmo "mistreatment." Moral of the story - just shoot the jihadists on the field. Forget about this warehousing nonsense.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/17/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm telling you, folks. The left is pulling out all the stops for a run for the senate in 2006. They are doing their dead level best to stampede incumbent republicans into pissing off their own base. They have got to be making calls to as many rinos as they can to get them nervous.
The left knows if they can do that, they can cause conservatives to stay home, especially in light of gains by republicans. The left knows that kowtowing to the antiwar left culd be a political disaster for conservatives.
We have to remind out senators that we should be controllng the agenda, not the left.
#2
The headline is not as bad as the free paper in DC, which headlined it as "Congress " wanted a pullout, but when you read on, it's four folks. Out of ...um ... 435 Representatives. Yeah, they speak for Congress.
So "Call" seems more fair, but "whine" would've been more accurate.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/17/2005 7:40 Comments ||
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Karl Rove is asleep at the wheel.
You're telling me that in all the active, reserve, and National Guard, there is no one nearing their 20, has had an Iraq tour, has combat scars, with a clean record and wants 'to serve'? If the state and national party organizations would get their heads out of their respective rectal orifices, they'd be recruiting these servicemembers to run for office in the next election cycle. Since public trust of the military is at an all time high the the politicians wading around below swamp level, the best opportunity since the end of WWII for a new crop of representatives to be sent to Washington is presenting itself. When the opponent presents you with an opportunity like this, you exploit it because they can never recover from it.
#4
badanov - while it's true that the left has been effective in undermining the WH, I believe that the President has not taken advantage of his bully pulpit to speak directly to Americans - he is very popular personality to Americans ( both left and right) and even though he is not as articulate as Cheney or Rice, Bush is far more believable and likeable than either ... when he speaks naturally ( and not just reciting tired speech writers lines - eg. "we'll leave Iraq when the mission is accomplished" boring ), he can be very persuasive. Talking about SS and immigrant guest worker cards is not what Americans want to hear now. That's why they're losing patience and confidence in the war - they see no leadership trying to connect with them on the subject,and to allay their fears and pessimism.
If the President could give American voters some numbers, for example, about down sizing US military in Iraq, I believe that would be a big help. This wishy washy "no deadline" for pull out has everyone on edge. As for the WH line that pull out schedules would give comfort to "the enemy" - why is that? - the enemy should get much more worried if they know the coalition forces will be handing over Iraq to the Kurdish Peshema and Shiite soldiers/militia on Jan. 1, 2007. No Geneva Convention nicey nicey Western troops to walk softly around civil rights. No Int'l Red Cross invited to inspect the jails to see if "POW's" are getting 3 squares and nightly prayer readings from the immams. Also, a definite date might make the locals perk up and apply themselves QUICKLY to building a fighting force if they knew the bottom might fall out of their "democracy" unless they started standing up to the "insurgents/foreign fighters" in their neighborhoods. Geez, all Iraqis have many weapons in their homes - what's with the cowering in their broom closets and allowing the bad guys to run amok in their streets?
The GOP politicians are just responding to what the polls are telling them that American voters are thinking about the Iraq War. And the polls are not good from left wing polls to right wing polls- the results are either very bad or lukewarm bad - no ringing endorsement of the Iraq War. Many of the GOP politicians are up for re-election in 2006, not Cheney not Rice. The President could try to use the power of his likeable personality and SOME NEW IDEAS to get the American public on board again about the Iraq War to help the skittish GOP politicians win the 2006 elections. It ain't going to be pretty if the GOP loses seats in Congress in 2006.
#1
Not only that but why should any country adhear to the GC and treat our men humanely if there is no downside? If we will treat theirs humanely no matter what?
Al-Q regularly targets, beheads, tortures, and kills civilians with impunity because they are not being held accountable. Why should they stop when , even if they are caught, they get treated like royalty at Club GITMO?
(Also I think this belongs on the 'Opinion' page :).
There are unconfirmed reports that a soldier from the Tri-State kidnapped in April in Iraq has been killed, WLWT has learned.
Pfc. Matt Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio, a member of the 724th Transportation Company, was captured April 9. His convoy was attacked by gunmen using rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons.
According to military representatives close to the Maupin family who spoke to WLWT, sources are reporting that the Al Jazeera TV network has a videotape of Maupin being shot.
The military has not changed Maupin's status, and the report of his death has not been confirmed.
A tape showing Maupin being held by guerillas was released about a week after Maupin was reported missing.
June 17, 2005: While there have been no Islamic terrorist attacks in the United States since September 11, 2001, this is not reassuring to analysts at the Department of Homeland Security. This is because most of the counter-terrorism effort in the United States since September 11, 2001, has been wasted. Over four billion dollars was spent on security equipment that didn't work, and numerous new procedures were implemented that didn't work either. The most obvious of these have been those encountered at airports.
The money was spent, and new procedures implemented for political, not security, reasons. People had to be reassured. Politicians could lose elections if they did not appear to be doing something about security.
But that's not the scary part.
When analysts look closely at what has been preventing terror attacks, the most important reasons have nothing to do with the Department of Homeland Security. First, there's the active participation of Americans themselves. On aircraft, passengers realize they have to act quickly if anyone tries another hijacking. There have already been several incidents where a flight attendant called for help, and the troublesome passenger was suddenly buried by other passengers. This is far more effective than seizing nail clippers or cigarette lighters, and patting down grandmothers just before boarding.
Then there's the FBI. Still a bit stiff and unresponsive, the FBI does have a lot more good leads coming in. The feds reached out to the Arab-American community and got the help it needed. Local police have also benefited from grassroots counter-terrorism efforts. People are much more alert about the terrorist threat. That has made it a lot more difficult for any al Qaeda, or their supporters, to get anything going. The Islamic radicals are trying, but with the American media still going bonkers with real, or imagined, terrorist plots, there are too many eyes and ears alert for any of these amateur operators to get something started. These guys are trying, because they keep getting caught. While many of their plans are half-baked and pathetic, it means the threat is still there. So Americans will keep paying attention. That is the mightiest counter-terror weapon out there.
And then there's Iraq. If you check out the Islamic radical web sites, you see a lot more talk about the need to run the infidel soldiers out of the Middle East, than for attacks to be made on American cities. Islamic terrorists are overwhelmingly headed for Iraq, not North America. The March bombing in Madrid gave the Europeans a wakeup call, which has made it easier for al Qaeda to recruit European Islamic radicals to go fight in Iraq, than to try and pull something off in Europe. The army and marines are killing Islamic terrorists who might otherwise have found their way to the United States, or made attacks on Americans elsewhere in the world.
Operation Roach Motel, they check in and never check out
So this leaves the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wondering what they can do to fight terrorism. Nothing they have done so far has made much difference. But like any new bureaucracy, they have to appear as if they are doing something, and making a difference. So more billions will be spent on anything that can look good in a press release, and more Americans will be annoyed, just to let them know that DHS is on the job.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/17/2005 11:02 ||
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#1
Perhaps we need something like a modified Riot Act, requiring the immediate physical aid of the citizens. I suggest perhaps the bylaws of the Hell's Angels might be worth peeking at.
ABOARD A-STAR HELICOPTER - The pilot flew deep into Sweetwater Canyon, the downdraft from the whirling helicopter blades kicking up mesquite branches to show eight people in a huddle.
"Surprise, boys," grinned Border Patrol pilot Randy Herberholtz, circling the group of undocumented immigrants from 800 feet above the rocky canyon, about five miles north of the U.S.-Mexican border.
As summer approaches, top U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection officials are ramping up air power above Arizona's deserts to an unprecedented level. The agency has assigned 52 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft there, more than double from just a year ago and the greatest concentration along the 1,950-mile Southwestern border.
The reason for the increase is a simple, basic fact that smugglers have known for ages and agents now reluctantly concede.
"The only way to patrol this," Herberholtz said, his hand sweeping over a map of Arizona's remote deserts, "is with aircraft."
The added air power is a key component of the federal government's push to gain a degree of control along Arizona's 389-mile border with Mexico, the most popular and deadly crossing point for undocumented immigrants. In March, officials announced reinforcements as part of the second phase of the Arizona Border Control Initiative and temporarily deployed aircraft normally assigned to other stretches of the U.S.-Mexican border, hoping to drive down the record-setting death toll in Arizona.
So far this fiscal year, which started Oct. 1, the helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft have been credited with netting more than 69,000 arrests, compared with almost 51,000 in all of last year. At the same time, the pilots, who are paired with search-and-rescue agents, have participated in about 95 percent of the Tucson sector's 260 rescue attempts, helping about 447 undocumented immigrants in distress, according to Customs and Border Protection statistics. But with the deadliest months still to come, the Border Patrol in Arizona is on pace to break last year's record of 172 deaths with 113 fatalities so far this year.
On topographic maps, it's clear that large stretches of deserts are too vast, canyons are too deep and mountains are too steep for regular patrols. Certain areas, such as the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range or Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Refuge in the southwestern part of the state, are off-limits to the Border Patrol or only accessible on established roads, agents said.
Even with ATVs and Humvees, some areas simply are too hard or impractical to patrol on the ground. The result: Smugglers gamble and cross through some of the most treacherous deserts in North America, betting that agents will be less likely to follow them.
On the June morning, Herberholtz buzzed over the desert in the A-Star helicopter with a search-and-rescue agent riding shotgun. The helicopter flew over places found on few maps but with picturesque, if misleading names: Bluebird Pass, Locomotive Rock, El Camino del Diablo (Devil's Road). Particularly during the summer months, the helicopter response time in such remote areas becomes crucial, said Ron Bellavia, commander of the Tucson search-and-rescue squad. Rescues that would take 12 to 18 hours for agents on the ground, are reduced to two to four hours...
"One of our main goals on the search-and-rescue team is to shorten the amount of time someone is out there in the middle of the desert," Bellavia said. The helicopters, he said, "increase our chance of finding those people alive and increase our ability to stabilize them. It's a very valuable asset."
#2
Elements within the USAf reportedly are calling for the dev of AIRBORNE AIRCRAFT CARRIER [mostly UAV] plus large dedicated UAV payloads for convertible or near-term aircraft types.
#3
"Surprise, boys," grinned Border Patrol pilot Randy Herberholtz, circling the group of undocumented immigrants from 800 feet above the rocky canyon, about five miles north of the U.S.-Mexican border.
And circling them does, what, exactly? Why not do something useful -- drop a load of dye-filled balloons on them.
Or, if that's considered too cruel, just use cluster bombs. They're invaders, after all.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/17/2005 7:44 Comments ||
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Check out Dale Brown's last few"Dreamland"novels,RC.Way ahead of you.There area lot of people that do not like Clancy and Brown for not being realistic enough,but they always seem to be ahead of the curve in talking about new,developing tech.
#5
A much more practical idea are the blimps deployed against drug smuggers in the region. No longer as restricted to low-level surveillance, because of better cameras, a single airship could cover a wide area. Once again, remember that much of the border is "impassable", in that there is nothing for many miles on either side of it; so entry routes are much narrower than supposed. The most important concept is not to try and stop *all* infiltration--that is not cost effective--just try and stop the great majority of infiltration.
#6
What is needed is a "virtual fence" until a real one can be made in the hardest areas (Later the virtual can be used in the more flat and open areas).
Too bad nobody has even bothered to bring this up in Congress except possibly Tom Tancredo from Colorado (whom the press loves to misrepresent as a maniac, at least outside of Colorado).
Virtual fence as follows:
Initial satellite surveillance for suspect movements, comunications, and imagery changes-over-time (with satellites we already have up there - all they need is tasking), then 2-layer Static automated observation blimps as tippers (think something like an aerial GSR/IR with an image processor, and a data link, one up at 100K feet above the weather, and several around 10K feet for better resolution, all with interlocking areas of observation). Moving target analysis software invented for the JSTARS could be used by a ground site that takes feeds from all these airborne automated radars, and "decultter" it, providing better targets - ones that are highly probable as humans in the terrain, ones fitting the profiel of an illegal border intrusion.
Then use UAVs as confirmer/trackers off the tips generated by satellite and surveillence blimps. THey fly up to the area, with better cameras, and the aility to chang their angle so as to see "under" overhangs by taking up "off angles" and different perspectives. Also, they would provide live visual and IR pictures for getting a description and count, so the border patrol will know how many they are after.
Then they woudl send in heliborne (armed) QRF to do the bust via air assault into bad terrain, or sels wheeled assets in reachable terrain. As a bonus, they can medevac of any that are hurt or in bad shape = humanitarian mission too. In addition the traditional scattered foot patrols would be used to back up the sensors and provide a visible physical presence.
NExt, regional ground transport would be there from van sized, to "cattle truck" sized elements. They woudl meet up with the "bust" teams after all were in custody. They would "tag, transport & transfer" the illegals from the QRF site back to Mexico. This would also include a processing element, on the spot. The processing element would include a judge, a medic to address & treat minor mrdical issues, a logistic person to be sure they prisoners are fed and watered, and a third party observer to insure fair witness to the process. These people would ride up in a single vehicle, and all the gear needed would likely fit in a van or large SUV (or even a Humvee set up like the command vehicle Humvees the Aarmy has)
Also the portable processing center is datalinked back to DHS/Border/FBI databases. On the spot the illegals would be digitially photogrphed, iris and fingerprint scans taken, their case held in front of a specially appointed US judge, IMMEDIATELY. Followed by their IMMEDIATE deportation back to Mexico, in the same transports they were picked up in.
The part is important - justidce delayed is justice denied. These are not US Citizens nor are they lawful residents, they are breaking US law, they were caught in the act of breaking US law, (thanks to the satellite/blimp tracks) therefore when they see the US judge (comes with the transport proccessing center) and are presented along with the track data and video directly showing them comitting the illegal activity, judgement can be rendered on-the-spot, and then they should be immediately deported as the sentence. Even if it means just dumping them at the border sitee where they previous came from, with a humanitarian MRE & a cheap plastic bag of water, thats what shoudl be done - and if the place is remote, they get a courtesy phone call form the border patrol HQ to the Mexican government to come get the illegals at those coordinates.
Of course there is an exception to all this for obvious "coyotes", DoD "persons of interest", or US residents (citizen, green card), who are held & examined, and if found guilty of smuggling, are jailed for a long time.
Repeat offenders (via the biometric ID part of the bust process I mentioned above), would be held, tried and jailed, and deported after their jail term. Multiple offenders (i.e. they get caught again after jail) would be sentenced to longer terms, this time in federal prison instaed of border jails.
This system has the advantage of being redeployable to percieved risk sectors, and being expanded as needed, in a modular fashion (say, for example, up to Canada). It could even be deployed over a maritime area, with foot patrols of coastal areas, and maritime boarding troops from the Coasties and firepower from the US Navy.
But its primary purpose would be to "lock down" an area while the fence for that area was being built. Fence off the hardest areas to patrol for us, making it an much longer and more difficult route for the illegls, which will funnel them thru easier to patrol areas. ANd contoinue to observe the "hard" areas, because that is where only someone desperate (i.e. criminal) to get into the US without being observed will go.
Not that hard, and the technology for all this is already there (and its not all that manpower intensive either). All thats lacking is the budget and the political will.
Oncve we had this system in place, then fully implement President Bush's "guest worker" card, and as part of it, be sure to take biometric data (fingerprints, photo, eye scan).
Anyone busted without one of these gets the same treatment as border illegals. And anyone that is a repeat offender (i.e. busted more than once) is barred from the guest worker program.
Any employer found to be using "undocumented" aliens woudl be subject to fines of $10,000 per person per incident. 10 percent of this fine would go to the local government, 10 percent to the state government, and 10 percent to whomever tipped off the border patrol (including guest workers - rat out the cheaters, make money). This fine would not be dischargable in bankruptcy, and would attache to the corporate officers and board of directors in the case of corporations.
As for the workers themselves, they have a choice to make when they apply:
1) Accept the laws of the US, including tax laws, and minimum wage laws and OSHA regs, and agree to be bound by them (and report when they are vciolated). You do this, you get full acvcess to US social services, including midcare, schools, etc.
or
2) Declare yourself to be free of US employement laws. This means you work for whatever you cvan negotiate. It also means you and anyone with out that has not agreed to (1) abovve is ineligible for OASH, workman's comp, minimum age, social servicves, schools, medicare, etc.
Either you pay into the system to take advantage of it, or you exist completley outside the system (and get none of it). Fair is fair, especially to those immigrants who came here and did things the hard way (green card, etc).
It will all be there on the guest worker card and the computer record - so if you change your mind, visit the US cvourthouse and file an affadavit to cvhange your status, get a new card issued after verification of your biometric data, and go on your merry way.
This way everyoneis happy: businesses can negotiate freely like they do now with illegals, without fear of repurcussions, and the social safety net is available to guest workers who desire it and play by the rules that US Citizens are bound by.
Bottom line: If you want to work here, come on in, legitimately and make a deal to get what money you can. If not, we will find you, and throw you out - and eventually jail you. If you hire illegals, you will pay the price -and will be PERSONALLY responsible. And local/state governments will have a fiscal incentive to root out illegals.
I wouldn't trust but a handful of 'em, they'd pull all the teeth and stoke up the yummy-gummys.
Puhleeeze - If there is anyone here with a personal relationship to a Congresscritter or Senator - who isn't gutless or on Kool Aid (same thing?), please, please, PLEASE forward OS's posts to them. We would all be grateful.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/17/2005 00:00 ||
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So ripping or burning pages from the Koran is a hate crime, and the local muslim spokesperson is certain the police would consider it a hate crime if the Bible or Torah were ripped or burned.
Simpleton. It's "free speech", or maybe "freedom of expression", just like muslim-Americans stomping all over the flag. Somebody bought some Korans, or got them free from reading Rantburg, and torched them. The only crime would be littering on the property of the local mosque.
Hate littering.
Buring the mosque would be a hate crime.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/17/2005 7:34 Comments ||
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#2
The whole idea of "hate crime" is a null concept. It's either a crime or not, motivation doesn't matter.
#6
I drove by a Haliburton facility a few Ks from my house (in Perth) today. It stood out because it was so neat and it gave no indication what its business was. We have had some unusual tornados in the last few weeks and they seem to be clustered around the same area. Did anyone mention the Haliburton Tornado Machine?
#7
Did anyone mention the Haliburton Tornado Machine?
No one mentions the Tornado Machine.....and lives.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/17/2005 10:40 Comments ||
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#8
Some answers to some of the public's questions since the news of this contract was released to the media.
1. No. We will not be building a shark tank adjacent to the facility.
2. No. The sprinkler heads will not be designed to spout fire when activated.
3. No. We will not "switch around" the current signs pointing the inmates at Mecca.
4. No. There will not be a branch of Victoria's Secret built at the Guantanamo location.
5. No. The Zionist Scream Machine will not be installed at the Guantanamo location to blast Christina Aguillera music at pain level decibels.
6. No. The Koran Shredding Machine has been eliminated from the project.
7. No. We have no control on the use of Koran brand toilet paper.
We here at Halliburton: Terrorist Prison Construction Division welcome your questions and appreciate your interest. We look forward to serving you in the future.
#10
2. No. The sprinkler heads will not be designed to spout fire when activated.
Images at link are disturbing. You've been warned: Been done. Just ask Sen. Durbin.
Posted by: ed ||
06/17/2005 14:26 Comments ||
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#11
Ah-hah! Just like they said on Democratic Underground!
Posted by: Mr. Moonbat ||
06/17/2005 14:49 Comments ||
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#12
ed - Following your link to the excellent My Pet Jawa, then following his link (one of many) to the excellent Protein Wisdom, then reading the comments -- I hit the following drop-dead, carve it in stone, it don't get no better than thispost from Jeff Goldstein. It is the penultimate catch-all response to moonbattery. My face still hurts from laughing.
Please, click the link, believe me --- you will be amply rewarded, lol!
EFL:VIENNA, Austria (AP) - The U.N. atomic watchdog agency on Friday agreed to create a committee to help crack down on nuclear proliferators but left it without the teeth sought by the United States. Jackie Sanders, the U.S. chief delegate to the board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, hailed the move as "an important step" that meets a 2004 proposal by President Bush to fight rogue states trying to make the bomb and their black market suppliers. Bush had said such a committee should "focus intensively on safeguards and verification." "The proliferation challenges of today, including ... North Korea and Iran and the revelation of nuclear procurement networks, call for more evolution," Sanders told reporters. "This new committee should play a key role in helping us meet those challenges."
That's it! Form a committee! Brillient!
But the language of the document creating the committee was stripped of specific U.S. proposals, including authority to recommend U.N. Security council action against - and special inspections for - suspected proliferators.
Instead, its mandate was vague and reduced to considering "ways and means to go strengthen the safeguards system and to report ... with recommendations," to the board.
Both the rejected U.S. proposals and the restricted U.N. document setting up the committee were made available to the AP by diplomats who demanded anonymity because they were not authorized to pass on such information to the media.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/17/2005 09:13 ||
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#1
Phear our strongly worded and non-binding resolutions!
#4
Stripping it of the US proposals, the UN's cowards and apologists turns a possibly effective idea into yet another guaranteed pointless toothless wank-o-matic UN circle-jerk. And I'm sure someone will think that the US should increase its UN dues to pay for it, too. It was our idea, after all.
The UN is permanently and fatally broken. Flush it.
The US threw its weight behind an expansion of the UN security council that would take in Japan as a permanent member yesterday but not the other prime contender from the developed world, Germany. Nicholas Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, said Washington backed a limited expansion from 15 members to about 20, with "two or so" new permanent ones, including Japan.
The secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, confirmed American support for Japan's permanent council seat in a telephone call to the country's foreign minister.
Mr Burns said the new permanent members should have the same veto powers as the existing five - the US, Britain, France, Russia and China. He did not specify which other country should take a new permanent seat, but US officials have been quoted as suggesting that the candidate come from the developing world.
That's a bad idea. SC countries with a veto have to have the economic, political and diplomatic power to make things happen. Only developing country that could meet those criteria would be India. Otherwise just expand to include Japann and be done.
He said the US hoped the restructuring of the security council would be part of a comprehensive reform of the organisation to be discussed at a summit in September.
Washington's strong backing of Japan, and its failure to mention other contenders by name, was a blow to Germany, which has been campaigning for a permanent seat.
And not the least bit unexpected, especially here at Rantburg.
The structure of the security council has not changed for more than three decades, since China joined the main victors of the second world war as a permanent member. Along side the permanent five, there are 10 other seats which are rotated every two years.
Mr Burns said the US accepted that the time for change had come: "The United States recognises that the security council needs to look more like the world of 2005 than the world of 1945." Germany, Brazil and India had lobbied for a bigger expansion, with six extra permanent seats and four rotating ones bringing membership to 25. Mr Burns said that would make the council unwieldy.
He said the US would propose new criteria for choosing security council members next week. Geographical balance would play a role but other criteria would include the size of a country's economy, population and armed forces as well as its ability to contribute to peacekeeping missions. He said the candidate country's record on democracy, human rights, UN contributions, counterterrorism and non-proliferation should also be taken into account.
Ms Rice said the restructuring should not take precedence over the other reforms the US is seeking. "We will not let the security council reform sprint out ahead," she said.
The Bush administration believes the UN should operate under stricter financial and management controls, and has secured the appointment of a state department financial officer, Chris Burnham, as the UN's newly-created under secretary for management.
There's a score.
Washington is also backing reforms suggested by the secretary general, Kofi Annan, in cluding the replacement of the human rights commission, in which dictatorships often sat in judgment on democracies, by a smaller council that would exclude all countries that lack personal liberty and the rule of law countries under sanction for abuses.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/17/2005 00:03 ||
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#1
Oh yeah, the ChiComs will sit still for this, lol!
I cannot see anything that all five perm UNSC members agree on and would all vote "Yes" on. This expansion thing, unless somebody seriously screws up or pulls a massive under the table deal, just won't happen - especially if a veto is attached.
Tear it up and start over. What we have just won't work - it's fatally flawed. It's worse than worthless, it's expensive and divisive over everything, from trivia to genocide. *flush*
#3
.Com, if the Chinese will never allow the addition of Japan then the US has nothing to lose and everything to gain by championing the Japanese seat. We can look good to the Japanese while showing the world how impossible the UN really is when the number 2 economy in the world doesn't qualify.
#4
RJS - I would agree if I thought it could be / should be reformed - and was thus attempting to rally support. But I don't think that at all. I think it's a dead rat on the kitchen floor. :-)
#5
Whilst I agree the UN is unreformable, it doenst mean the US shouldn't play the game. The US is saying 'if we are going to reform the UNSC, this is how we would do it using our criteria.' I think the un-named second country is India. The 'reforms' can now progress towards their inevitable failure, without the US being seen to obstruct the process. Otherwise I think the new members should have vetos, not least because it dilutes the French/China/Russia vetos.
#7
remember how, when you were a kid, you sat at the kids' table and decisions were something you got on a rare basis? Remember how later, you got to sit atth eadults' table but didn't get all teh adult privileges? Like how Mom got Jack Daniels in a water glass....
oh, wait, nevermind
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/17/2005 20:31 Comments ||
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LANGKAWI, June 16 (Bernama) -- Police believe that the 10 pirates who attempted to hijack the oil tanker Nepline Delima in Langkawi waters on Tuesday have connections with an international syndicate.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Musa Hassan said Thursday that this was because they had to sell their ill-gotten gains to others. He also did not discount the possibility that more crewmen of the vessel would be arrested on suspicion of providing insider help.
Speaking to reporters at the Langkawi International Airport here after being briefed on the incident and investigation, [Deputy Inspector-General Musa] said police were investigating the possibility that the pirates, believed to be Indonesians, were also involved in an earlier hijacking of a commercial ship in the Malacca Strait.
...police had sent a team of divers to the scene to look for weapons because the pirates were believed to have thrown their weapons into the sea before surrendering.
Musa said the pirates' motive was to seize the tanker and sell the RM12 million worth of diesel that it was carrying... he said police had no proof that the pirates came from a mother ship because at the time of the 4am incident they only used a fibre glass speedboat.
He said that with the speedboat, they could flee to any of the islands in Malaysian or Thai waters after hijacking commercial ships or tankers. Asked whether the pirates had links with separatist groups in Indonesia, he said the matter was being investigated.
He said investigations so far showed that insiders in the form of crew members were involved... two Indonesian crewmen and the 10 pirates had been remanded and would be charged once there was sufficient evidence against them while the other crew members were still here to help in the investigation.
Musa, in a ceremony at the Bukit Malut marine police base here, presented commendation letters from the Inspector-General of Police to Mohamed, 28, and 24 officers and personnel of the marine police patrol boat PZ15 that arrested the pirates.
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed by a truck filled with explosives, say UN investigators. The head of the team, Detlev Mehlis, told reporters this contradicted widespread speculation that the explosives were buried under the road. Some Lebanese believed recent road works near the attack site suggested officials may have been involved in a plot to assassinate Hariri. His death led to protests calling for the withdrawal of Syria from Lebanon. Syrian troops withdrew last month following a wave of opposition protests blaming Damascus for the assassination. Correspondents say the investigators' report opens up the field of possible suspects to beyond Lebanon or Syria.
Trying to find some way to pin it on the Jews?
It is still not clear whether the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, Mr Mehlis said. "The explosion was beyond any reasonable doubt above ground," he said. "There was no indication of an underground explosion." Mr Mehlis, whose team arrived in Lebanon at the end of May, said he would question officials in charge at the time of the attack - including Syrians. "We will of course investigate everyone who was in one way or another responsible for security in Lebanon at the time of the crime," he said. Mr Hariri was killed in the bomb attack in Beirut on 14 February, along with 19 other people. Syria denies any involvement. The investigation continues as Lebanon holds staggered parliamentary elections over four Sundays with the last round being held this weekend.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/17/2005 08:39 ||
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Opposition politicians campaigned hard against Syria and its Lebanese allies Thursday, telling voters to reject pro-Syrian candidates in this weekend's elections which will decide the face of Lebanon's new parliament. In Sunday's polls in north Lebanon, voters will elect 28 legislators, and the anti-Syrian opposition needs to take 21 of these seats to win a majority in the 128-member legislature. The staggered elections began May 29 and finishes Sunday.
From the northern mountains to the Mediterranean coastal cities, opposition politicians this week delivered one message: drive out the symbols of Syrian power and don't let them hold any seats. The theme focuses on resentment against Syria's 29-year military presence in Lebanon, which ended in April when the last Syrian troops withdrew following mass protests after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February. "Say 'no,' a thousand 'noes,' to the intelligence regime (of Syria and Lebanon); 'no' to (Syrian) guardianship over Tripoli, the north and Lebanon," Saad Hariri, Rafik's son and political successor, told a crowd of thousands in the northern port of Tripoli on Thursday. The rally responded with roars of "Syria out!"
Competition picked up in north Lebanon this week after a strong showing by Michel Aoun in central and eastern Lebanon. Aoun, a Christian and former commander of the national army, broke with the main opposition groups early in the campaign and ran on an anti-graft ticket. His success in last weekend's polls threatened to jeopardize the opposition's plans to win a parliamentary majority. On Thursday, Saad Hariri spoke in Tripoli, a predominantly Sunni Muslim city, and criticized Aoun for allying himself in the north with an allegedly corrupt former Cabinet minister who is pro-Syrian. "How can they say they are fighting corruption while they are allying themselves with the head (of corruption)?" he asked. "To the people of the north, it is your responsibility to act. The north must rise and speak its mind."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/17/2005 00:00 ||
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The Palestinian Authority is quietly bracing for the prospect of collapse. PA officials said numerous officials have fled or plan to leave the West Bank for Jordan and other Arab states. They said the assessment of many in the PA leadership is that the authority could collapse by late 2005 as the split within the ruling Fatah movement widens "The Fatah is split between the young guard who wants to take over now and the old guard who wants to remain at all costs," a PA official said. "Whatever happens, the fate of Fatah is linked to the PA." Officials said PA security services have been unable to stem the increasing violence in the streets of Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They said Fatah factions have been engaged in gun battles in Ramallah, the center of Palestinian government, while police largely stood by.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/17/2005 23:47 ||
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#2
The bombs lack stabilising fins, making them far from precise.
They are a freaken area effect weapon moron! You drop them from 20 ft and hit within 10 ft of your aiming point and an area some 75ft is covered. Close enough for government work, as the saying goes.
#3
American officials lied to British ministers over the use of "internationally reviled" napalm-type firebombs in Iraq.
Bush lied . . . and bad guys fried!
Posted by: Mike ||
06/17/2005 13:42 Comments ||
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The international community hates any weapon aimed at the enemies of freedom.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/17/2005 14:38 Comments ||
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"the gel sticks to structures and to its victims"
VICTIMS?? You mean the guys wearing enemy uniforms, bearing arms, firing from prepared positions at coalition troops? These were not victims, they were TARGETS.
How do they expect anyone to take them seriously when they automatically slant the language of their reporting?
#6
I'm sorry, #2 and #5 together you made the point the article soft-pedaled - "they are far from precise", meaning we aimed them at targets, but napalmed innocent civilians , knowing full well this would happen, and not caring, because these were third-world muslim innocents.
Yeah, that's what they meant to say.
Besides, see #4.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/17/2005 15:36 Comments ||
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These were not victims, they were TARGETS.
Or, to use another appropriate description, "the enemy".
#8
...a new generation of incendiary weapons, codenamed MK77, in Iraq.
However, the British loved incendiaries. Just ask the citizens of Lubeck, Rostock, Hamburg, Dresden. Now we get all worked up over tactical use in direct combat support as opposed to area bombing of cities.
#10
I'm sorry, can someone explain to me the reason I should actually care about the usual load of BS from the left in the House of Commons? Given the recent statments by Senator Durban (sp?) I think we have issues of treason and sedition to deal with here at home without bothering a rip about some socialist loon in London.
Posted by: Just About Enough! ||
06/17/2005 22:59 Comments ||
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#11
Just About, a great many Rantburg readers are neither Americans nor resident in the States. Quite a few of them, in fact, are British subjects. So you don't have to care, but they may well do.
Plans by the CIA to fly Sudan's intelligence chief to Washington for secret talks aimed at cementing co-operation against terrorism triggered such intense opposition in the Bush Administration that some officials suggested arresting him.
The row over the visit by Major-General Salah Abdallah Gosh, whose government Washington accuses of committing genocide in the western Darfur region, goes to the heart of a wider dispute about the CIA's alliances with foreign intelligence services.
Critics say dealing with countries such as Sudan sends a signal that the US is not serious about promoting democracy and human rights. Intelligence experts say Washington has no choice but to rely on some governments with questionable human rights records to it in its fight against terrorism. General Gosh's agency has allowed the CIA to question al-Qaeda suspects living in Sudan and detained foreign militants moving through the country on their way to joining Iraqi insurgents. The trip was intended to help strengthen the relationship.
With plans for the visit on the point of collapse, sources said a compromise was struck with opponents of the April 18-22 visit in the state and justice departments: General Gosh was allowed to come, but a scheduled meeting with the CIA director, Porter Goss, was cancelled.
Ted Dagne, a specialist on Sudan with the Congressional Research Service, said State Department officials believed General Gosh's trip would "send a political signal to the [Sudanese] Government that Darfur would not prevent Sudan from winning support in Washington".
Disclosure of General Gosh's visit also angered some in Congress. A Democrat congressman, Donald Payne, told a State Department official who was giving evidence on Capitol Hill last month that bringing General Gosh "to visit Washington at this time is tantamount to inviting the head of the Nazi SS at the height of the Holocaust".
But one senior US official defended the trip. "Mr Gosh has strategic knowledge and information about a critical region in the war on terror. The information he has is of substantial value to law enforcement, the intelligence community and the US Government as a whole," the unnamed official said.
The CIA's relationship with Sudan is especially controversial because of its previous ties to Islamic radicals.
The US continues to criticise Sudan for human rights violations. In September the then secretary of state, Colin Powell, accused Sudan of committing genocide in Darfur. President George Bush reiterated that charge earlier this month.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/17/2005 11:11 ||
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In case all of the explosions weren't subtle enough ...
The al-Qaeda network in Iraq has threatened anyone who collaborates with the Iraqi government with serious consequences, whether they take part in the creation of the new Iraqi constitution, or enter into direct talks with the Iraqi government or cooperate with them. The threat comes as Sunni Muslims struck a deal on Thursday with Shiite leaders in the government to allow more Sunnis to join the committee that will be drafting Iraq's constitution.
A message, attributed to the terrorist network and published on the internet, said that "whoever deals with the Iraqi government in one way or another will be hit with the wrath of the mujahideen and, we swear to God, we will kill all those who enter into talks with the Iraqi government or have links with them."
The threat follows an announcement by certain tribes and prominent citizens of the northern city of Mossul, who have agreed to collaborate with the Iraqi government to hand over extremists and the terrorists found in the city, especially those that are part of the al-Qaeda linked militant group, Ansar al-Sunna, the main terrorist group believed to have its strognhold in Mossul.
Following Thursday's agreement Sunni Muslims - who largely boycotted national elections in January and are underepresented in Parliament - are also set to provide additional members to the panel that will draft Iraq's new constitution. In a deal with the Shiite-led government, the Sunnis were allowed to take 15 of the panel's 55 seats as well as having 10 advisers.
According to some observers, the al-Qaeda network is fearful of these talks between Shiite and Sunni groups in the political process and in particular that it will serve to boost the role of those that are in the committee for the new constitution.
Sunni leaders have denied any support al-Qaeda, and want to proceed alongside with the Iraqi government to curb the number of terrorist attacks in Iraq.
In another development, the Islamic Union of Kurds, a group of Muslim scholars, have received a letter addressed to them on the electronic mail of some local newspapers, threatening to kill them, threatening those "who throw themselves into the arms of the [Iraqi] authorities to return to the righteous path before death strikes them."
According to Muhammad Kanzi, the president of the Union of the Ulama' of Kurdistan and the minister of religious affairs of the regional Kurdish government in Iraq (under the administration of north eastern eastern Iraqi city, Sulaymaniyya), announced that his group did not directly receive any message with similar content, defining this as a "desperate attempt on the part of some extremists who are picking on the sons of the Kurdish people, among whom are also men of faith."
These threats, he said, did not affect them, but that they will continue to take part in their obligations to their religion and their people.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/17/2005 10:48 ||
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I don't think they have enough hit men to kill everyone! Just anyone. So its like cops pulling you over for speeding in any major city. Roll the dice.
In a June 15, 2005 editorial titled "All the Evidence Proves that Al-Zarqawi is an American Agent," a leading Egyptian government daily Al-Akhbar's states that Al-Zarqawi is working for the U.S. and is massacring Iraqis in an effort to extend the occupation in Iraq. [1] The following are excerpts from the article:
"All Evidence Proves that Al-Zarqawi Works for America"
"All the evidence proves that Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi is working for America, because his victims are Iraqis and not [members of] the coalition forces under the command of the American occupation forces in Iraq. Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi's official title is 'leader of Al-Qa'ida's faction in Iraq.' Osama bin Laden is the commander of the Al-Qa'ida organization, and this proves that [Al-Zarqawi's commander,] bin Laden, has [also] been an American agent ever since he operated against the USSR forces in Afghanistan in favor of the Americans!
"Let's read the statement issued two days ago on behalf of Al-Zarqawi in Iraq after he killed and wounded dozens of people from among the Interior Ministry and Iraqi army forces, by means of booby-trapped cars in a number of cities in Iraq!
"Raising a few questions is unavoidable in order to clarify the situation and [to understand] who this Al-Zarqawi with Jordanian nationality is.
"One of the questions is: which of the two should Al-Zarqawi oppose — the American occupation army and the foreign coalition forces, or the Iraqi military and police forces?! The statement issued by Al-Zarqawi and his organization says that they struck and killed dozens of [members of] the Interior Ministry and Iraqi army forces, whereas there was no mention of Al-Zarqawi targeting the American occupation forces and the coalition forces of the various nationalities. [In fact,] the statement did not even mention the occupation army in Iraq!"
The Massacre of the Iraqi People is Aimed at Strengthening the U.S. Occupation in a Region Vital to American Interests
"Another question [to be raised] is whether the world is so naive as to believe the American statements, which claim that Washington has allocated $25 million for Al-Zarqawi's arrest or for information leading to his arrest. [After all,] why arrest Al-Zarqawi and allocate all these millions while he is working for America?
"In addition, why is Al-Zarqawi massacring innocent Iraqi citizens and [members of] the Iraqi National Guard, the Iraqi army and the Iraqi Interior Ministry? Al-Zarqawi undeniably aims to harm the Iraqi people and members of the Iraqi forces, who undergo training to protect [their] homeland in the future. This massacre of the Iraqi forces and the Iraqi people is meant to strengthen the American occupation of the region [that is known to be] the main route to Central Asia, formerly under USSR control, [and that is] rich in oil wells, and surrounds Iran and the Caspian Sea..."
Wow, man, that's heavy shit! Pass the bong over here, will you.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/17/2005 10:40 ||
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Posted by: Howard UK ||
06/17/2005 11:00 Comments ||
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#2
They've graduated from blaming Mossad for everything, then. Is that progress or regression?
#3
Some of the best fiction in modern literature these days comes out of the arab press. They have great imagination but it always seems to find expression through the same well-worn variations on the theme of the crafty enemy of the arab nation. Poor bastages can't help themselves.
#9
Golly, the Disinformation Department is really doing a great job planting stories like--oooops, uh, never mind. Shouldn'a said that. "Top secret" and all that.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/17/2005 16:06 Comments ||
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The US and the UK have closed their consulates in Nigeria's biggest city, Lagos, citing "security fears". A spokesman at the US embassy in the capital, Abuja, said: "The embassy is reacting to a security incident and we thought it prudent to close." The Foreign Office in London said the UK had shut its mission in Lagos as a precaution following the closure of the US consulate, which is just 100m away.
The threat was of "mutual concern" to the US and Nigeria, diplomats say. No further details have been released.
Nigerian police are investigating the incident and the BBC's Anna Borzello in Lagos says there is a high security presence in the area.
Police are stopping passers-by and checking their bags, she said. The AP news agency reports that a Nigerian police bomb disposal squad van was parked outside the US mission. Other consulates on the same road on Victoria Island, Lagos, had also closed, a Foreign Office spokesman said. These include the missions of Germany, Italy and Russia, AP reports.
We haven't heard from the African branch of al-Q for a while. They're about due for another booming
Additional: The United States, Britain and Germany closed their consulates in Nigeria's largest city Lagos on Friday due to a threat from foreign Islamic militants, U.S. military and diplomatic sources said. Intelligence from foreign Islamic militant channels indicated a specific threat to the U.S. presence in the oil exporting country, diplomatic sources said. "There was some kind of terrorist threat made. It was a terrorist threat that was called in. They knew about it yesterday and decided to close the embassy," said Major Holly Silkman, a spokeswoman for the US European Command, at a military training exercise for West African forces in Senegal.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/17/2005 08:26 ||
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DEAR SELLER GOOD DAY TO YOU. I WISH TO PARTAKE IN A PURCHASE OF YOUR WIDESCREEN TELEVISION. I WISH FOR YOU TO SHIP TO MY STORE IN AFRICA. I WILL SEND YOU THE DHL DETAILS SO YOU CAN COMPLETE THE SHIPMENT. ONCE THE PICKUP HAS BEEN MADE I WILL FORWARD THE WESTERN UNION PAYMENT DETAILS TO YOU.
GOOD DAY TO YOU SIR, CHARLES AKWUMBLUIO
Posted by: CHARLES AKWUMBLUIO ||
06/17/2005 10:23 Comments ||
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Hey Charles,
I'm still waiting for the 3.4 million dollars your daughter needed me to store in my account.
"Significant" extra funds for fighting the Afghan drug trade have been pledged by the most industrialised nations, the UK home secretary has said. Charles Clarke announced the deal after G8 justice ministers met in Sheffield. But he admitted the British-led effort to counter drugs in Afghanistan, which produced 90% of the world's opium in 2004, had been disappointing.
Despite the toppling of the Taleban regime, last year saw a near-record opium poppy harvest in Afghanistan. Mr Clarke said there had been "major problems", which he blamed on the need for more resources and the difficulty of ensuring money goes was channelled by an effective agency.
He said the UK would continue its work on the issue. And he said he was confident Afghan President Hamid Karzai would be able to produce an answer alongside the G8 nations.
Mr Clarke said the new agreement covered intensifying efforts on three fronts. "Firstly, more money - and everybody agreed that more resources were necessary," he said. "Countries committed around the table to the principle of putting more resources in." He refused to put a figure on the new funding but suggesting it was "significant".
Significantly significant?
Mr Clarke said the G8 would also work closely with the Afghan Government to ensure resources were shared around the country. "Thirdly, we agreed that we needed to work more co-operatively in the region," he said.
Russia had been positive about work it could carry out on its border with Afghanistan.
I'm sure the Afghans are really encouraged by that.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/17/2005 00:28 ||
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Mr Khan says the ISI first made contact with the JKLF in early 1987, through the organisation's senior leader Farooq Haider. He says Mr Haider made a deal with the ISI whereby the JKLF was to bring young Kashmiris willing to fight Indian rule to Pakistan-administered Kashmir. They would then be given military training and arms by the ISI, he says. The objective was to start an insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir. "After lengthy deliberations, we asked them to start the insurgency on 13 July, 1988. But for some reason, the insurgency could not begin before 31 July when the Amar Singh Club and the central post and telegraph office in Srinagar were bombed."
Posted by: john ||
06/17/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
This demolishes the fiction that the insurgency in Kashmir was an "indigenous" struggle that arose from "election vote rigging" and that it was only later utilized by Pakistan.
According to this JKLF terrorist leader, it was an ISI operation from day one.
Posted by: john ||
06/17/2005 20:06 Comments ||
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Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman Yasin Malik on Thursday said that a Pakistani English newspaper published concocted and unfounded contents while reporting his June 13 speech. "My speech never carried contents like training camps or guns, but the newspaper showing professional dishonesty included these unfounded and baseless sentences as part of my speech," he told reporters before leaving for Muzaffarabad.
The newspaper had reported Yasin Malik as saying that Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed had patronised a training camp for Kashmiri militants. He lamented the Indian External Affairs Ministry for reacting on the alleged disclosure without confirming the veracity of the report. "The External Affairs Ministry should have seen the video tape of my speech prior to issuing their reaction on the subject," he said. "I did not make the speech in front of a camera. Around 100 reporters were present there. It is a simple case of journalistic dishonesty," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/17/2005 00:00 ||
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Lol!
"The External Affairs Ministry should have seen the video tape of my speech prior to issuing their reaction on the subject," he said. "I did not make the speech in front of a camera. Around 100 reporters were present there. It is a simple case of journalistic dishonesty," he said.
Lol - That just makes no sense at all. Shoulda looked at the tape, but it wasn't taped. Right. Aw hell, who cares?
The opposition in the Senate on Thursday suspected the involvement of intelligence agencies in terrorist activities in the country and urged the government to investigate the matter and punish the officials involved. Speaking on a point of order, Senator Farhatullah Babar of the Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) said that according to news reports an intelligence official was arrested from Pirwadhai with one kilogrammes of explosive material. "The said official was handed over to the military police for interrogation and an anti-terrorism case was registered against him," he said, adding that this was a matter of concern and needed to be pursued vigorously as intelligence agencies' role had been suspicious in the past.
Senator Babar referred to a November 28, 1994, report of the house committee on terrorist activities in the country. Two sitting members of the house were also among the members of that committee, he added. The report, which is part of the Senate record, had stated that internal as well as external intelligence agencies had been involved in terrorist activities in Pakistan. "The committee had also directed the government for strict vigilance of intelligence agencies like the Military Intelligence (MI), Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)," he quoted the report. Senator Prof Khurshid of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) said that it was unfortunate that Pakistan's own agencies were involved in creating law and order situation in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/17/2005 00:00 ||
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Shiite politicians succeeded at including Sunni Arabs in the work of drafting Iraq's new constitution. Senior members of the Shiite-dominated parliament committee writing the charter reached agreement with Sunni groups on their representation on the panel, a political breakthrough just two months before a deadline to prepare the charter. The stalemate over that issue had threatened Iraq's political process as it was about to enter its final stretch, with two key nationwide votes planned for later this year _ a constitutional referendum in October and a general election in December.
The constitutional process, and attempts to open channels with some militant groups not tied to extremists, are touted by the United States and Iraq's government as a way to help defuse the insurgency. "Those who are terrorists, those who are al-Qaida and al-Zarqawi, and those who are Saddam elements, we have (nothing to) say to them," Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said Thursday. "But other Iraqis who are dissatisfied with something and believe that struggling with weapons will not lead to achieving their demands, we are ready to listen to them and permit them to come back to the democratic process in Iraq."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/17/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
seems like even the Sunni Arab Iraqis are capable of seeing the writing on the wall, and finally realizing the train was leaving the station and they couldnt haggle for a better deal. So now the guys who boycotted the election, who demanded an end to debaathification and withdrawl of all US and coalition troops, are willing to join the process in return for 15 reps, 10 advisors,and a promise decisions will be made by consensus? Big improvement, I say.
It will be hard for them to finish a constitution by August though.
Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi held talks on improving relations with Washington with the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs on Thursday, Libya's official news agency reported. Assistant Secretary David Welch met Gadhafi for more than an hour at the end of a three-day trip to Libya, JANA reported. Welch is the former U.S. ambassador to Egypt. The report said Welch expressed Washington's appreciation of Libya's efforts to bring peace to Darfur, the west Sudanese region where a rebellion and counter-insurgency has led to the death of at least 180,000 people during the past two years. Welch also said the United States was interested in developing economic and political relations with Libya, JANA reported. In Washington, State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper would not confirm the meeting, but he did say that Welch was in Libya this week for "broad-ranged bilateral consultations" with the Libyans.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/17/2005 00:00 ||
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I'll bet we presented him with a fine set of Shimano derailleurs, gold-plated, of course.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/17/2005 3:14 Comments ||
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He has set the gold standard other tin-pot dictators aspire to. Is that a gold tipped cane or a riding crop in his left hand? Wait, it has to be one of those swagger sticks you see in old Brit war movies.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/17/2005 8:22 Comments ||
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GAZA - Hamas said on Thursday that European Union diplomats had met some of its newly elected mayors, an apparent shift in the EU's position towards the Palestinian group it designates a terrorist organisation.
The EU has shifted from appeasing terror to bowing before it ...
Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri's comments coincided with an Israeli newspaper report that the EU had given some low-level diplomats permission to meet representatives of the group's political wing.
There was no immediate comment from the 25-nation EU, based in Brussels.
"Please don't ask us to say any more!"
Masri said the mayors, elected in local council polls over the past several months, had discussed international assistance and the current de facto ceasefire with Israel with EU diplomats in recent meetings. "Hamas is open to dialogue with all countries except the Zionist enemy, which occupies the land and kills our people," Masri said.
In an unsourced report, the Haaretz daily said the EU decision had surprised the United States -- a co-sponsor with the EU, Russia and the United Nations of a Middle East peace "road map" -- and raised Israeli concerns. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw disclosed last week that diplomats from his country had met officials from Hamas's political wing on two occasions. He said Britain would not have contacts with Hamas leaders until the group renounced violence.
This article starring:
MUSHIR AL MASRI
Hamas
Hamas
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/17/2005 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
RIYADH — Three weeks after King Fahd was taken to hospital with pneumonia Saudis are waiting anxiously for news of their frail and elderly monarch, skeptical about repeated official assurances that his health is improving. 
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il plans to meet Friday with South Korea's unification minister, a ministry spokesman said. A South Korean delegation has been visiting North Korea to celebrate the five-year anniversary of a historic joint summit between both nations. The delegation was to return Friday but decided to stay when Kim agreed to meet them. The North Korean leader rarely meets officials from other countries.
ISLAMIC leaders have accused Muslim cleric Taj al-Din al-Hilaly's spokesman of inflating the mufti's role in securing the freedom of hostage Douglas Wood.
Three radical imams have been ordered to leave the Netherlands after the country's intelligence service said they represented a security threat, the Justice Ministry said on Thursday. The clerics from Eindhoven's Al Fourkaan mosque are the first to face expulsion after the Dutch government vowed to crack down on militants following the murder last November of a filmmaker critical of Islam. The AIVD intelligence service said the men worked to radicalise Muslims and turn them away from Western values and tolerated the use of their mosques as recruiting grounds for militancy.
Former Lebanese Prime Minister 
Opposition politicians campaigned hard against Syria and its Lebanese allies Thursday, telling voters to reject pro-Syrian candidates in this weekend's elections which will decide the face of Lebanon's new parliament. In Sunday's polls in north Lebanon, voters will elect 28 legislators, and the anti-Syrian opposition needs to take 21 of these seats to win a majority in the 128-member legislature. The staggered elections began May 29 and finishes Sunday. 
The Palestinian Authority is quietly bracing for the prospect of collapse. PA officials said numerous officials have fled or plan to leave the West Bank for Jordan and other Arab states. They said the assessment of many in the PA leadership is that the authority could collapse by late 2005 as the split within the ruling Fatah movement widens "The Fatah is split between the young guard who wants to take over now and the old guard who wants to remain at all costs," a PA official said. "Whatever happens, the fate of Fatah is linked to the PA." Officials said PA security services have been unable to stem the increasing violence in the streets of Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They said Fatah factions have been engaged in gun battles in Ramallah, the center of Palestinian government, while police largely stood by.
Mr Khan says the ISI first made contact with the JKLF in early 1987, through the organisation's senior leader Farooq Haider. He says Mr Haider made a deal with the ISI whereby the JKLF was to bring young Kashmiris willing to fight Indian rule to Pakistan-administered Kashmir. They would then be given military training and arms by the ISI, he says. The objective was to start an insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir. "After lengthy deliberations, we asked them to start the insurgency on 13 July, 1988. But for some reason, the insurgency could not begin before 31 July when the Amar Singh Club and the central post and telegraph office in Srinagar were bombed."
The opposition in the Senate on Thursday suspected the involvement of intelligence agencies in terrorist activities in the country and urged the government to investigate the matter and punish the officials involved. Speaking on a point of order, Senator Farhatullah Babar of the Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) said that according to news reports an intelligence official was arrested from Pirwadhai with one kilogrammes of explosive material. "The said official was handed over to the military police for interrogation and an anti-terrorism case was registered against him," he said, adding that this was a matter of concern and needed to be pursued vigorously as intelligence agencies' role had been suspicious in the past. 
Shiite politicians succeeded at including Sunni Arabs in the work of drafting Iraq's new constitution. Senior members of the Shiite-dominated parliament committee writing the charter reached agreement with Sunni groups on their representation on the panel, a political breakthrough just two months before a deadline to prepare the charter. The stalemate over that issue had threatened Iraq's political process as it was about to enter its final stretch, with two key nationwide votes planned for later this year _ a constitutional referendum in October and a general election in December.
Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi held talks on improving relations with Washington with the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs on Thursday, Libya's official news agency reported. Assistant Secretary David Welch met Gadhafi for more than an hour at the end of a three-day trip to Libya, JANA reported. Welch is the former U.S. ambassador to Egypt. The report said Welch expressed Washington's appreciation of Libya's efforts to bring peace to Darfur, the west Sudanese region where a rebellion and counter-insurgency has led to the death of at least 180,000 people during the past two years. Welch also said the United States was interested in developing economic and political relations with Libya, JANA reported. In Washington, State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper would not confirm the meeting, but he did say that Welch was in Libya this week for "broad-ranged bilateral consultations" with the Libyans.
