Edited to get to the point, we've previously published details of the Baghlan attack.
MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Nov 20 (IPS) - Militancy, which has turned southern Afghanistan into a conflict zone, has spread to the northern provinces that have been relatively peaceful since the Taliban regime was ousted from Kabul in end-2001.
Some 79 people were killed, including six parliamentarians, schoolchildren and teachers, in Baghlan province on Nov. 6 in a suicide attack, the bloodiest incident in six years. The attack occurred when the parliamentarians were visiting a sugar cane factory in the industrial city of the province. Two people, including a spiritual prayer leader, have been detained on charges of the attack.
Gen. Dieter Warnecke, commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Regional Command North, called it a "cowardly" attack. He said: "The cowardly suicide attack arouses deep consternation among the ISAF soldiers. It seems to be one of the biggest attacks over the last years."
Mohammad Alam Ishaqzai, governor of Baghlan province, called it a suicide attack and said the governments enemies were behind it. Speaking to IPS he said: "It was a terrorist act. We cannot accuse any particular party for the attack, but it was done by the governments and peoples enemies."
The governor, who was accused of wavering over ensuring adequate security for the visiting parliamentarian, said the authorities had not expected an attack on such a scale. "Northern Baghlan has always been safe. Who knew what was to happen?" he added.
It was your job to provide adequate security and you failed.
Gen. Abdul Jamil, chief of the Baghlan security command, has accused the Taliban insurgents of the attack. "Taliban have always been behind the suicide attacks in Afghanistan. This could have been done by them," he added saying the investigations will soon reveal the truth.
Rohullah Mojadidi, a political analyst in Mazar-e Sharif, commented that the Taliban are flexing muscles in the north of Afghanistan as well. "Taliban are regrouping in the northern provinces," said Mojadidi "They are coming from the south to disrupt the security situation here. It is now up to the government to take decisive measures to defuse their attacks and eliminate them in the region, before they infiltrate."
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/21/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Mohammad Jamshid, who lost a daughter in the attack, said he has lost confidence in the governments ability to provide security. "My daughter was studying when she was brought to welcome the delegation. She was 12 years old. How dared they kill her?" he lamented. "The government has to give me an answer," he said in tears.
"I lost my 11-year-old daughter," cried Mastora, who is a widow. "Fighting during the Taliban claimed my husband. Now, I lost my daughter. What shall I do? I will never forgive the government," she bitterly added.
The Afghan government immediately announced a compensation of 100,000 Afghanis (2,000 US dollars) to the relatives of each victim. The injured would be given 5,000 Afghanis (100 dollars) each.
The families want the government to find the people behind the attack. "I have lost my cousin," said Mohammad Jawad, who runs a shop, "What shall we do with money? What kind of government is it? Why do they not ensure peoples security?" he added.
Yet hasn't there been times when Karzi and others complained when the Coalition has rode the Talibunnies down hard and killed them?
It'll be nice when the Afghanis have fully trained Special Forces.. Then they can work with us or be turned loose on every enclave of Talibunnies.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
11/21/2007 2:19 Comments ||
Top||
#2
WAFF.com > STRATFOR/TIMES OF INDIA - PAKISTAN NUKES ALREADY UNDER US CONTROL. Pakis nuclear weapons. Artiiikle also indics that US warned Pakis that it may have no choice but to attack and destroy any and all Paki NUCFACS, etc. iff the Paki Govt can't secure its nuke weapons. * RELATED TO PUTIN'S ANTI-NATO RANT/WARNING TODAY???
#4
It seems possible that the Baghlan attack occurred in the relatively peaceful north BECAUSE it was relatively peaceful - it was easier to attack there and the attack would have more impact. Nobody can protect everywhere all the time against an unidentified single person. Not to say security could not or should not have been better, but it is entirely unrealistic to expect it to be perfect (I am AMAZED we have not been hit since 9-11!)
#5
Red Dawg, they'll need both Special Forces and a decent Air Force. I think Hueys and Skyraiders would do ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/21/2007 12:24 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Mohammad Alam Ishaqzai, governor of Baghlan province, called it a suicide attack and said the governments enemies were behind it. Speaking to IPS he said: "It was a terrorist act. We cannot accuse any particular party for the attack, but it was done by the governments and peoples enemies."
So long as the popularly elected government continues to uphold terrorism's Root Cause, the attackers are neither theirs or the people's enemies. Ban shari'a law and watch how fast things turn around for Afghanistan. Don't ban it and continue to have terrorists swim with impunity in the government-approved public sea.
#7
instead of blaming the government why not try blaming the taliban and the drug taffickers and trade for the attack. turn your hatred towards these 2 things and maybe your country will see peace one day. But for some reason that may make sense thus impossible too do.
I really don't believe this. Imam is in jug, and I'm guessing that an Egyptian prison has characteristics similar to that of a Turkish prison, except not as nice. When the gaolers finish using their number 7 truncheons on him he'll write pretty much whatever they want just so he can get out. Then he'll vamoose somewhere and renounce all this writing as mere taqiyya.
CAIRO, Nov 20 (IPS) - The ideology al Qaeda rests on to justify its activities suffered a major blow this week. The Al-Jihad Group, partly responsible for killing former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981, and the nest for some of most aggressive smaller violent groups, has begun publishing a "review of its positions" in two Arabic language newspapers.
The leading al Qaeda faction -- once led by al Qaeda's number two man, Ayman al-Zawahri -- has altered its traditional course by publishing this series of critiques of the religious justifications long relied on in calling for followers to take up arms against ruling regimes and foreign powers.
In the new "document", al-Jihad Group's founder and leading ideologue, Sayed Imam, supposedly renounces violent activities and calls for ceasing all armed operations in Egypt and in other Arab or Muslim countries. Imam -- al-Zawahri's teacher and long time friend -- is currently in custody at a high-security Egyptian prison.
Must want out pretty bad. Then again, he's in an Egyptian prison. I'd want out pretty bad.
Analysts here say that the Imam's initiative -- not directed at Egyptians, Arabs or even Muslims alone, but directed specifically at al Qaeda -- derives its strength from the weight of its author.
"This al-Jihad initiative is very important, it is directed mostly to the outside world and more explicitly to the leaders of al-Jihad Group and al Qaeda because the author of those reviews is Sayed Imamal-Sharief, the very same person whose former writings are the point of reference for the al-Jihad members," said Diaa Rashwan, an expert on Islamic groups at al-Ahram Center for Strategic Studies in Cairo.
Imam was the first Amir, or leader, for the al-Jihad Group in 1968 and the first leader of an armed cell who ever decided to fight fellow Muslims. Imam also authored, "The Principle Book for Preparations", a reference book that al Qaeda uses to justify its operations and win new recruits on religious grounds.
That's pretty much what he thinks right there, and the latest writing will be seen by the hard-boyz as either revisionism or duress.
Al-Jihad Group is responsible for one of the bloodiest campaigns against the authoritarian regime of President Hosni Mubarak in the1980's and 1990's that drew in hundreds of young recruits and cost dozens of lives. For decades, Imam's writings have also formed the backbone for the philosophical arguments touted by several other armed groups to validate their attacks.
But in the new review he now says his group "erred enormously from an Islamic point of view" by allowing "killing based on nationality, color of skin and hair or based on religious doctrine". "Those are actually the methods of secular revolutionaries and not the methods of Islam. There's no such a thing as the goal justifies the means in Islam, even when the goals are noble are legitimate. Muslims worship God by using legitimate methods too," he wrote.
Imam contends that those who target innocent people are working outside the parameters of the Islamic Sharia, or law. "They place their own desires and will before that of Allah's," he argues in this new milestone study.
Imam says the Islamic rules for war stipulate that if Muslims are not certain about the true nature and make-up of the enemy "then it's compulsory under the rules of Islam not to take up arms against them" for fear that innocent people might be included and harmed. The review calls for an end to targeting of "all civilians", and "tourists of all races".
The al-Jihad Group and its offshoots have in the past targeted local police and military officers, foreign tourists and other Muslims who disagree with their philosophy.
Imam says he was prompted to write the review after noticing persistent "violations" by members of the al-Jihad Group in its decades-long fight with authorities that has included excessive bloodshed, random killings and targeting of civilians. Al-Jihad Group has traditionally been the most militant of the Islamic groups, refusing for the past ten years to follow in the foot-steps of al-Gamaa al-Islamia (Islamci Group), another militant group that renounced violence ten years ago.
Splitters!
This change is a severe blow to al Qaeda, whose deputy chief Ayman al-Zawahri headed al-Jihad group in Afghanistan after his teacher, Imam, was arrested in Egypt. Al-Zawahri is widely expected to come out strongly against the plan known as "the non-violent initiative".
The documents that are being serialized simultaneously in a local newspaper and a Kuwait newspaper are also important because they are expected to rekindle a debate in the Muslim world that is likely to include academic scholars, religious scholars and political activists over the methods employed by some of the militant groups and the true meaning of armed Jihad in Islam. "A huge debate will happen after those documents are finished," said Kamal Habib, an independent expert on Islamic groups who was formerly a member of Islamic militant groups.
A member of al-Gamaa al-Islamia, Essam Derbala, said the initiative was welcome news for all active Islamic groups, especially those who took up arms in the past, because it helps Muslim groups "work peacefully to strengthen their societies" against what he called Western "attempts to dissolve the Islamic nation" and against "the state of occupation we are experiencing" -- referring to the U.S. occupation of Iraq and Israeli occupation of Arab land.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/21/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I think this change may be real, but it gives me no sense of security. First, al Qaeda is looking pretty bad from a main stream Arab perspective because of the number Muslims killed in their operations. Second, if Sayed Iman is looking down the road 20 years, why fight now when demographics will do the work without destroying buildings and infrastructure. All Islam has to do is have patience and lots of babies.
Posted by: ed ||
11/21/2007 8:36 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Before Al Qaeda could claim authority for their actions as the purest Muslims. This document weakens that position, showing as it does that they prey on other Muslims not for reasons of ideological purity, but for petty human reasons like racism and jingoism... and many have heaerd stories of forced marriages, protection payments, and other examples of Al Qaeda greed instead of pious humility. While those already in Al Qaeda will not be swayed, the ocean of sympathizers active and passive will start to drain.
The question is whether it will happen quickly enough. But Al Qaeda has visibly lost the war on what it said was its main battlefield to establish the Caliphate: Iraq. It can no longer claim with assurance to be the strong horse so beloved of Muslims, and especially of Arabs.
Posted by: trailing wife in Buffalo for Thanksgiving ||
11/21/2007 19:39 Comments ||
Top||
read and weep
Counter-terrorism officials are rethinking their approach to tackling the radicalisation of Muslim youth, abandoning what they admit has been offensive and inappropriate language. They say the term "war on terror" will no longer be heard from ministers. Instead, they will use less emotive language, emphasising the criminal nature of the plots and conspiracies. The government in future, they add, will talk of a "struggle" against extremist ideology, rather than a "battle".
"We hadn't got the message right," said one senior official. He added: "We must talk in a language which is not offensive." Another said that the terrorist threat must not be described as a "Muslim problem".
The change in tactics came as Jonathan Evans, the head of MI5, is expected to tell MPs today that the amount of time for which terrorist suspects should be detained without charge is a matter for parliament and the police. MI5 believes it is not for the security and intelligence agencies to advise the government on this issue. Unlike the police, MI5 does not have the power to arrest or detain suspects.
He is due to appear in private before the Commons home affairs committee, which wants to question him about government plans to extend detention without charge beyond the existing 28 days.
Though the two initiatives - extending the pre-charge detention period and adopting a more conciliatory approach towards potential extremists - appear contradictory, officials say they are linked.
Evans warned earlier this month that terrorists were radicalising people as young as 15 to carry out acts of terrorism in the UK. But he also said close attention must be paid to "our use of language...we are tackling a threat which finds its roots in ideology, so words really do matter."
MI5 chiefs were among the first to argue that the term "war on terror" was inappropriate, as it exaggerated the nature of the threat and even legitimised the actions of the bombers.
The change in approach by counter-terrorism officials is part of plans by the government's Research, Information, and Communications Unit to counter al-Qaida propaganda and win hearts and minds. The unit, headed by Jonathan Allen, is part of the Home Office, but will work closely with the Foreign Office and Department of Communities and Local Government.
Whitehall officials are being asked to draw up "counter-narratives" to the anti-western messages on websites designed to influence vulnerable and impressionable audiences here. They will set out to explain what one official called the government's "foreign policy in its totality", counter the accusations made by al-Qaida sympathisers and extremist groups and pinpoint the weaknesses in their arguments. The unit will also support "alternative voices" in the Muslim community.
Counter-terrorism officials recognise that mistakes were made in the past, not only in the use of language, but in the way in which the officials were slow to appreciate the influence of radical ideology on elements of Britain's youth.
But they admit that the counter-radicalisation campaign may be jeopardised if it is not reflected in the actions and operations of the security and intelligence agencies and the police, including how they use the powers the government plans to give them.
#7
You are giving up in small increments.
That's all it is, and if I can see it the Mooks can see it and the go crazy when the smell blood.
Good luck, you will all be lucky if you don't end up lying in the street with a muslim love letter pegged to your chest by a butcher knife, like Theo Van Gogh.
#8
"...the radicalisation of Muslim youth... must not be described as a 'Muslim problem'..."
Why don't we just call it a jihad problem and then the non-jihadis won't be offended. Or maybe we could just call it Gretrude with a wink.
And the message is, "You're all dog meat". Like bigjim says, giving up in small increments. We are witnessing a voluntary version of the death of a thousand cuts. If the message to your enemies is not offensive, you're doing something very, very wrong.
#12
Lord, I've lost any confidence that the Brits have a chance. Couple this capitulation by the police and their outflow of citizens as the influx of muslims continuies, and the country is no longer really Britain
Posted by: No More BS ||
11/21/2007 14:57 Comments ||
Top||
#13
They will get precisely what they are trying to avoid: rivers of blood.
One only has to wonder whether they are so stupid or so deliberately suicidal.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday that U.S. President George W. Bush belonged in a mental asylum for referring to the possibility of World War Three if Tehran developed nuclear weapons. The remark is the latest in a long line of insults the outspoken left-wing leader has leveled at Bush, whom he has also called "the devil", a genocidal assassin and a donkey.
On October 17, Bush warned that a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to World War Three as he tried to shore up international opposition to Tehran amid Russian skepticism over whether Iran was really seeking nuclear weapons, as the West believes and Tehran denies.
"Bush spoke of the possibility of this Third World War and the use of the atom bomb," Chavez told a news conference in Paris, where he met his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy. "A Third World War? With an atom bomb? He said it, with an atom bomb. There would be no more world. The world would end. Humanity would no longer exist," he said, speaking through an interpreter who translated his comments into French. "I think he has to be put in an asylum. He has to be put in an asylum," said Chavez, an ally of Tehran, adding that Iran was not building nuclear weapons, echoing Iran's own denials.
On October 17 Bush told a news conference "We've got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel. So I've told people that, if you're interested in avoiding World War 111, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Hey Hugo: STFU!!
(Not the first, but at least it's a trend)
The United States and North Korea ended a fourth round of talks on Tuesday that aim to teach Pyongyang that counterfeiting, money-laundering and secrecy are not tolerated in the global financial system.
The United States has accused the reclusive Communist state of such illicit activities but the talks are part of a thawing in U.S.-North Korean ties since Pyongyang agreed to abandon its nuclear arms programs. The discussions follow the resolution earlier this year of a long-running dispute over about $25 million in North Korean funds held in tainted accounts at Macau's Banco Delta Asia bank. "There are concerns about compliance with international standards relating to money laundering, relating to counterfeiting, relating to transparency," said Dan Glaser, the U.S. Treasury's deputy assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes, who led the U.S. delegation. "These are things the international financial community expects of all of members and our goal within this group is to work with our North Korean counterparts to put them in a position where they can comply with those standards," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
The opposition leader who leads in polls ahead of Australia's November 24 election has vowed to pull some troops from Iraq, but experts predict few other changes in relations if he replaces pro-U.S. Prime Minister John Howard. Australian Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd has promised to pull combat troops out of Iraq and "to ensure that Australia once again has its own voice in the affairs of the world" -- stances designed to set him apart from Howard who maintains a close friendship with President George W. Bush.
But U.S. analysts say a Rudd victory, which would end 11 years of conservative rule, would probably not lead to a dramatic shift in an alliance forged in World War Two and formalized in a 1951 treaty. "Generally U.S.-Australia relations are pretty solid and I don't see that changing fundamentally from the current administration to the next," said Walter Lohman, director of Asian studies at the Heritage Foundation in Washington. "There would probably be a change in tone and nuance, as the domestic debate there seems to be focusing on a need to change the way that Australia relates to the United States even if it doesn't change much of the substance of it," he said.
The most salient difference the conservative Howard and Rudd is over the 1,500 Australian troops in and around Iraq. Howard, who was in Washington during the Sept 11 attacks and was also quick to commit to the U.S.-led war against Saddam Hussein in 2003, has promised Australian forces will remain in Iraq until it can look after its own security. Rudd has promised to withdraw 500 combat troops from Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Instapundit
ANOTHER HOLLYWOOD SUICIDE BOMB: Wagner James Au emails:
Not sure anyone's pointed this out yet, but *Redacted* was a giant bomb, I mean just disastrous in relation to profile, ranking *50th* place in last weekend's box office receipts.
Grossing $25,628 in 15 theaters, which means an audience of roughly 3000 people *in the entire country*. It's not even doing well for an indy movie; for example, note that a Joe Strummer documentary playing in less theaters still made more in its third week. This despite an A list director, a huge wave of publicity, high praise in the Times, the New Yorker, left-leaning sites like Salon, etc.etc.-- not even many people who presumably agree with the movie's anti-war movie thesis made the effort to see it.
Ouch. Lions for Lambs isn't exactly raking it in, either.
Posted by: Mike ||
11/21/2007 06:42 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
From the Raking it in link, and adjusting for demographics (R-rated versus PG-13) -
What does it mean if movies about Iraq are as popular as any other films? Probably that Americans have a complex relationship with the war and are willing to consume entertainment that confronts them with evidence or viewpoints that can inform their thinking.
The war has been, after all, terribly mismanaged. Yet it seems to be turning around. Many good men and women have paid a terrible price for the conflict, but many bad men have met justice. We want it to end, but worry about the consequences of retreat. Any rational human being would have complex emotions about such a circumstance, and talented artists and performers can help viewers navigate those emotions. Unlike the Vietnam War, the fighting in Iraq isn't over. Voters' attitudes toward the conflict may determine its outcome. That is why hoaxes such as the Iraq war movie curse are in ready supply, and why it's so important to expose them.
So they are not terribly unpopular, they're just averagely unpopular, but with above average budgets, directors, stars, and publicity.
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/21/2007 7:42 Comments ||
Top||
#2
how about this theory (from the NYSun article),
"..Citizens are sick and tired of the Iraq war; they blame an unpopular president and his party for the horrible mess we are in; and they're so repulsed that they can't even bring themselves to watch films about the war or war-related themes. This contrasts with Americans' attitude toward movies about other U.S. wars. They flocked to see "Apocalypse Now" and "The Deer Hunter," despite the unpopularity of the Vietnam War. If they don't go see movies about Iraq, then this war, in a way, must be worse than Vietnam."
So, according to this theory, if more people saw Redacted it would mean the Iraq war was going better.
#3
Probably that Americans have a complex relationship with the war and are willing to consume entertainment that confronts them with evidence or viewpoints that can inform their thinking.
Yes, for example, fully half the country needs to be confronted with the idea that the jihad is evil, the jihadi prophet was a paedophile, and that once again the last, best hope for mankind against existential evil is the sword and the arm of the United States of America. Half the country needs to be confronted with the idea that the war was and is just, that tens of millions of people have some hope for liberty thank to a man they have vilified as a liar and a war-criminal, and that the greatest heroes on earth are to be found in the ranks of the United States Marine Corps, the British Army, the Australian SAS, Canada's Princess Patricia Light Infantry, and their fellows from Poland and Denmark and Tonga and ... and... and ... Most important, half the country needs to be confronted with the idea they have been engaged in a tantrum instead of debate, that they have no constructive alternatives to offer, that they have objectively allied with the worst enemies of women, gay men, unions, social democrats, artists and minorities of any stripe since the Nazis.
A movie telling that story would be a blockbuster.
#7
"pretty obviously 7 years of Chimpy Bushitler has numbed the American public's intellectual curiousity. In order to make sure the public is educated properly, taxpayer subsidies to the movie industry (the right people, of course, not Bruce Willis...) to ensure a profit, as well as mandatory viewing of our 'art', should be required"
/Hollywood Left Who Make Direct-To-DVD Crap
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/21/2007 9:06 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Frank G: That is pretty much exactly Canada's film production model.
#10
the '300' made a nice piece of cash. So, it's got to be the director/producer/writer that can't make movies that sell. All else is a desperate and unsuccessful attempt to rationalize/justify one's own existence. "Non Cogito, ergo non sum."
If a tree falls in a forest...If a movies falls in the theater...
We now know the answer to - What if there was a movie and no one came.
#13
talented artists and performers can help viewers navigate those emotions.
I love this. Our betters (despite having beeen underperformers at school and have destroyed the little brains thbeey had with drugs and alcohol) are coming to tell us, little people, what we must should think.
#15
It really bugs me that nobody has yet figured out that if they could scrape together just one or two million, they could hire a whole bunch of recently discharged vets as actors, take the whole lot to Iraq and make a movie with margins near as big as The Passion of the Christ.
Get this, they would be the first movie to be made "with the cooperation of the entire US military", not just a single branch, so they would get free access to a HUGE store of file film footage the Pentagon has. And a LOT of other stuff. I'm sure Michael Yon would be a great consultant.
They could even hire a whole lot of friendly Iraqis to *act* as al-Qaeda. Iraqis still really pissed off at al-Qaeda, so that they want to show them as the just utterly worthless and murderous scumbag animals they know they are.
The movie could be as graphic as hell, it could show Iraqi military as honorable, professional soldiers fighting to defend their country, and Muslims working side by side with Americans and our allies to kick the snot out of al-Qaeda.
The plot would be focused on real war stories and heroism, and there would be NO, ZERO efforts to tear down any of our soldiers or even mention shit like war crimes or anti-war bullshit.
There would be some scenes like an al-Qaeda suicide bombing of an elementary school, with US and IA soldiers rescuing horribly wounded and dying children, then having a good cry afterwards.
And for some really disgusting villains other than al-Qaeda, you could depict cowardly "journalists", hiding in the Green Zone and getting phone-in lies from al-Qaeda propagandists; and actual speech bites from assholes like John Murtha.
To hell with even trying to put it in the theaters. Have it go direct to DVD, and avoid Hollywood altogether. Since nobody in it is ever probably going to act again, no need for any union people, or Hollywood types at all.
And be sure to copyright every original bit in it, so that segments can only be rebroadcast on FOX, not the other networks.
#16
If they don't go see movies about Iraq, then this war, in a way, must be worse than Vietnam.
Blame Bush and get in a deft twist of the quagmire blade. Unreal.
'moose, with clockwork regularity you are once again spot effing on. The most signal failure of this administration has been in the realm of propaganda specifically and communications in general. In this one respect, our enemy beats us like a drum.
An in situ depiction of al Qaeda's wartime atrocities would go a long way towards waking up the complacent American public. I still maintain that the most desperately needed propaganda piece is a realistic portrayal of the entire Islamic world being annihilated after a nuclear terrorist attack on American soil. Andto be perfectly clearit ain't Americans who need to be watching that one.
#17
The hollywooders have it all figured out, just like their friends, the brave lions if islam. Look how well it's working out for them...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/21/2007 14:21 Comments ||
Top||
#18
Zen and 'moose, you guys are BOTH spot-on, as usual. I'd even go a step further to link all the muzzie attacks worldwide in some sort of quasi-documentary or timeline. Link the sort of yahoos in control of Afghanistan pre-9/11 (the Taliban) to the jihadi "schools" in Pakistan, through the Saudi-funding arm of those madrassahs.
But, outlining the attacks (in a coordinated, timeline-centric mode) leads the average Joe with half a brain to see the level of State-sponsorship and coordination it takes to pull these attacks off. Yes, it would be awfully graphic, but I think that the average 'merican can take it.
I had thought about starting at Tehran 1979, but that's so old that the average American would not want to see the historical record. Start with 9/11, then show the Bali bombing, the Paris suburbs' car-b-q's by "disgruntled yoots", the Madrid train bombing, the Moscow theater seige, the 7/7 bombing in London, etc.
But, the piece-de-resistance (sorry, that's redneck typin') would be the individual stories to show the true horror that is Islam. Show the genital mutilation, the abject state of women in Islam, but also relate the absolute horror of the attack on kids in Beslan, the beheading of Daniel Pearl, the Paleos using 12 year old retarded kids for suicide bombers, yesterday's story on the 1 year old as suicide bomber in the attempt on Bhutto's life in Paki-Waki, the beheading (online no less) of Nicholas Berg and that Italian contractor (can't think of his name right now), the broad daylight stabbing of Theo van Gogh (and give some story time to Ms. Ali), etc. It's these individual acts of barbarity and inhumane treatment of men, but especially women and children that will tug at America's proverbial heart strings and make us all face the common thread in all of these attacks...Islam.
My eyes were opened when I just searched "terror attacks" on wikipedia. Someone has linked every single major attack worldwide on there. I was astonished (and I, like many here, consider myself a LOT more informed than the average Joe of the threat that Islamofascism poses) at how many smaller attacks happen worldwide that we don't hear about or we forget. Someone should make a film just linking all of these events to show how violent Islam truly is wherever it has a foothold.
Posted by: BA ||
11/21/2007 18:39 Comments ||
Top||
#19
I'm betting old war movies are getting reasonable ratings when shown on TV or the DVD sales are still good despite Iraq war weariness. I think everyone knows why these movies aren't selling and they are just trying to fudge the issue.
#22
I'm betting old war movies are getting reasonable ratings
Several of the Cincinnati PBS stations have been showing a multi-part documentary on WWII for the last two weeks or so, I think, one or two hours each night. The other night President Roosevelt warned after the Pearl Harbour attack that the war was going to be very long and very difficult. So even the PBS audience is deemed interested in certain kinds of pro-war productions. The Buffalo PBS station just advertised The Longest Day to be shown on Friday. The station manager seems to think the same audience that watches the Israel Philharmonic's 70th anniversary performance with Zubin Mehta and Pinchas Zuckerman likes old WWII movies about the invasion of Normandy.
Posted by: trailing wife in Buffalo for Thanksgiving ||
11/21/2007 22:09 Comments ||
Top||
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf could quit as chief of the army and take oath as a civilian president by Saturday, a senior official said, meeting a key demand of critics at home and abroad of his imposition of emergency rule.
The Supreme Court is expected to clear the last legal obstacles to Musharraf's continued rule on Thursday. The Election Commission can then confirm his victory in November's presidential election.
Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Musharraf would quickly quit his army post and be sworn in for a new five-year term. "It may happen on Saturday," Qayyum said. "I know the president, and he will honor his commitment." He added, "Who can you trust if not a general who seizes power in a coup?"
Posted by: ed ||
11/21/2007 09:02 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I know they have different rules, but I fail to see whether or not he's in uniform makes a bit of difference, our President IS the "Commander in Chief" same job description, whether in plainclothes, uniform or not.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/21/2007 15:50 Comments ||
Top||
* Interior Ministry says fate of detainees facing criminal charges to be decided by court
* Sacked judges free to move
Interior Ministry Spokesman Brig (r) Javed Iqbal Cheema said on Tuesday the government had freed 3,416 political workers and lawyers arrested since the imposition of emergency on November 3. Federal and provincial authorities have released 3,416 detainees and another 2,000 will be freed soon, Cheema told a weekly press conference.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Just in time for Thanksgiving.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
11/21/2007 9:05 Comments ||
Top||
Chief of police Azhar Ali Farooqui has confirmed that the twin explosions that took place on October 18 were suicide bombings and two bombers had attacked the convoy of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairperson Benazir Bhutto.
The investigation team is very close to reaching a conclusion but I cannot yet disclose anything to the media regarding the involvement of Qari Zafar or any other militant group, Farooqui told Daily Times.
Responding to a question on reports that explosive material was attached to the body of a small child and went off inside a police mobile unit, Farooqui said that everyone had their own interpretation but they had not found anything in their investigations to substantiate these reports.
The PPP leadership has refused, however, to accept the statement and the investigations by the police. We cannot trust the police investigation because they did not preserve the crime scene, they lodged an FIR without consulting the PPP leadership and did not use any international support or call any foreign expert, PPP leader Nisar Khuhro said to Daily Times.
He alleged that the police had not sincerely worked on the case which is why the party demanded that they provide proof if these bombings were, indeed, suicide attacks. We will only say something when the police and the government answer our questions.
Meanwhile, sources told Daily Times that several people had been taken into custody. The (alleged) involvement of inmates Mullah Sultan and Khalid had been confirmed, sources said, but that of groups such as Qari Zafar and Mufti Ilyas, which have previously been involved in incidents such as Nishtar Park and the killing of Shia cleric Allama Hassan Turabi, has yet to be confirmed.
Sources said that investigators had mainly focused on three groups of militants Amjad Farooqui, Mufti Zakir, and Sultan and Akram alias Lahori and have been interrogating them.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
Madame Corruption would take an even harsher turn against the terrorists. Her bleeting about "freedom" was only politics. She wants her hand back in the curry jar.
A United Nations panel rebuked Myanmar, Iran and North Korea on Tuesday for human rights abuses, overcoming objections by developing nations that the move amounted to "demonization" of some states.
The resolution on North Korea expressing concern about systematic and widespread rights violations won the strongest support in the U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee, passing by 97-23, with 60 abstentions.
Another resolution strongly condemning the use of violence against peaceful demonstrators in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, was passed by 88-24, with 66 abstentions, in what Britain said was "a declaration of support for the Burmese people's desire for change."
A third vote expressing deep concern at rights violations in Iran was passed by 72-50, with 55 abstentions.
The non-binding resolutions will be sent to the 192-member General Assembly, which generally votes in the same way as the committee.
The representative from Uganda was among several members of the Non-Aligned Movement, which groups 115 mostly developing nations, who argued against singling out some states. He said such issues were best left to the U.N.'s Human Rights Council and should be addressed through dialogue rather than what he called the "demonization" of some countries.
Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee condemned the resolutions as "manipulation and abuse of the United Nations human rights mechanism," and slammed Canada, which introduced the resolution on Iran, over its own rights record.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
NAJAF, Iraq - Gravediggers uncovered the remains of at least 13 people from a mass grave on Tuesday which Iraqi officials said was the work of Saddam Husseins bloody crackdown on a 1991 Shia rebellion.
Gravediggers crouched in a large rectangular pit chipping bone fragments out of the dry earth and cradling the dusty skulls they uncovered. Police looked on as the remains were placed in piles after an excavation in a rural area north of Najaf, some 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad following a tip-off by a farmer.
Those in the grave had taken part in the Shaabaniya uprising, a 1991 revolt in southern Iraq against Saddam Hussein in which tens of thousands of Iraqis died, a spokesman for the Najaf provincial government said. There is knowledge that there is more than one mass grave in this area, said spokesman Ahmed Diabil. He said the remains of 13 bodies had been found by Tuesday afternoon and excavation was expected to continue on Wednesday.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/21/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Yeah, I'll never forgive Bush, Sr. for letting those people swing in the wind.
Why should we support democracy in Iraq when we really don't support democracy in America?
Just ask the people in Washington state, St.Louis, Chicago.... It's all about staging the appearance of free and open elections while making sure only the right correct people get the power. That's why they were better off under Saddam. They didn't have all those tiresome public shows that consume time and emotions just to have those who should be in charge wasting their valuable personal time engaged in something as plebeian as 'the consent of the governed'.
#6
Has anybody (Zenster?) read enough history, or is there even enough available, to determine whether it was Bush Sr. or Colin Powell who was responsible for this?
#8
NS - as Harry Truman stipulated, "The buck stops here." It's the Prez that gets the dishonor.
Note well, however, it is all the pin-stripe policy wags in the beltway and in the lofty academic world who keep hoping* that people will be able to 'liberate' themselves with out having someone else get blood on their hands. From my observations, first and even second generation dictatorial/authoritarian regimes don't fall without outside intervention. As long as the regimes can have a cadre of 'true believers' to carry out their their orders, they're unlikely to be tumbled. It takes a generation or two before the rot sets in to allow internal pressures to start to compromise the stability of the 'leader' and his entourage.
#9
Has anybody (Zenster?) read enough history, or is there even enough available, to determine whether it was Bush Sr. or Colin Powell who was responsible for this?
As Commander in Chief, Colin Powell was Bush's subordinate and this happened on Bush's Sr.'s watch. If Bush succumbed to Saudi pressurefrom all appearances a genetic predisposition in their familythen he allowed American foreign policy to be steered by our enemies. Something thatas previous head of the CIABush damn well knew or should have.
US commander in Iraq General David Petraeus held talks at Turkeys military General Staff on Tuesday on fighting Kurdish guerrillas based in northern Iraq, a US embassy official said. The General Staff talks with Petraeus as well as General James Cartwright, vice-chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, came amid Turkish threats of unilateral military action in northern Iraq against the Kurdish militants.
Ankara has massed up to 100,000 troops, backed up by tanks, artillery and warplanes, along its mountainous border with Iraq for a possible incursion to root out an estimated 3,000 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) hiding there. Turkeys military later confirmed the meeting between Petraeus and Cartwright and General Ergin Saygun, deputy chief of the Turkish General Staff, in a brief statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
The risk of a major Turkish incursion into northern Iraq to strike at Kurdish PKK guerrillas has diminished because of better cooperation between Baghdad and Ankara, Iraqs foreign minister said on Tuesday. The danger is still there to be honest ... but I think the chances of a major invasion are less now, Hoshiyar Zebari told reporters on arriving for a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Brussels.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
WASHINGTON A key turning point in the U.S.-led war against the Iraqi insurgency came even before last winter's troop surge, FOX News has learned.
A map drawn by Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who was killed last year by U.S. forces turned up last December in an Al Qaeda safe house and essentially gave U.S. war planners insight into the terrorist group's methods for moving explosives, fighters and money into Baghdad.
"The map essentially laid out how Al Qaeda controlled Baghdad. And they did it through four belts that surrounded the city, and these belts controlled access to the city for reinforcements and weapons and money," said Maj. Gen. Bob Scales, a FOX News contributor who recently visited Iraq.
"And [U.S.-led forces] simply made the decision to reduce these belts one at a time, and essentially what that did was it choked off Al Qaeda's access to the city. And once that was done, Al Qaeda had no alternative but to leave the city, to leave the belts and to retreat into the city of Baquba," Scales said.
The map showed four rings around Baghdad, nearly identical to rings former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein once created to protect the city.
U.S. military planners used those maps to choke off Al Qaeda, moving ring by ring, hunting and destroying Al Qaeda in Baghdad, flushing them out of their urban strongholds and picking them off as easy targets in the desert.
The troop surge was announced Jan. 10 and began soon after that. Gens. David Petraeus and Raymond Odierno took a risky but calculated move to send U.S. troops out of main base camps and set up small patrol stations that were jointly manned with Iraqi forces, essentially living among Iraqis in Baghdad. It made it easier for intelligence to surface but made U.S. troops easier targets.
U.S. forces seized on an opportunity as Al Qaeda gathered in the northern city of Baquba. The surge allowed troops to encircle Baghdad, and the insurgents fled into the desert, making them even more vulnerable to U.S. forces.
"What this offensive did is it essentially cut the head off the snake," Scales said.
The explanation for the turning point came as new reports of a more peaceful Baghdad surfaced.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that Iraqi civilians were returning to more normal rhythms of life, which had been disrupted first by Hussein's oppressive rule and then by fighting that ensued after the 2003 U.S. invasion.
The Times reported that days now pass without a car bombing, unheard of in the height of the insurgency. The number of bodies appearing on the streets has fallen from a peak of 35 eight months ago to five a day, and homicide bombings dropped to 16 in October, half as many as last summer and down from a peak of 59 last March.
The Times report, based on interviews with 50 Baghdad residents, said that people are moving freely about Baghdad for the first time in nearly two years. While there still are places people do not enter, there is more travel between Shiite and Sunni areas for everyday routines such as work, shopping and school. Significantly, this travel occurs even after dark, the Times reported.
Other signs of emerging life included women displaying wedding bands, liquor stores opening up and children being able to walk between libraries and their homes.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC ||
11/21/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
#1
Looks like five sectors to me, with an option for a sixth.
#7
IMHO - the Petraeus COIN plan and this plan, when combined, borders on brilliant. This is a classic example of the strategic "art" that will be studied for years like that of the British action in Malaysia. We brought the fight to the enemy in ways they could not counter regardless of their perceived strength. It took some time and came with a heavy price but we've defeated them in detail. The tipping point may have been the Zarqawi hit/map capture but it still took boots on the ground and the heroism of thousands of brave warriors. I take solace knowing our future leaders (SNCOs/LtCols) are now young Sgts and Capts who won this fight. Semper Fidelis.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
11/21/2007 18:10 Comments ||
Top||
#8
I take solace knowing our future leaders (SNCOs/LtCols) are now young Sgts and Capts who won this fight. Semper Fidelis.
I hope some of these soldiers end up in our government running our country--replacing the likes of Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, etc.
Iraqi refugees are returning home in dramatic numbers, concluding that security in Baghdad has been transformed. Thousands have left their refuge in Syria in recent months, according to some estimates. The Iraqi Embassy is organising a secure mass convoy from Damascus to Baghdad on Monday for refugees who want to drive back. Embassy notices went up around the Syrian capital yesterday, offering free bus and train rides home.
Saida Zaynab, the Damascus neighbourhoods once dominated by many of the 1.5 million Iraqi refugees, is almost deserted. Apartment prices are plummeting and once-crowded shops and buses are half empty.
The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) was scrambling to assess the transformation last night. An interim report is expected today. There is a large movement of people going back to Iraq. We are doing rapid research on this, a spokesman said.
"Right after lunch [burp]," he added.
Syria has absorbed the lions share of Iraqi refugees since the US-led invasion and subsequent insurgency, with the rest going to Jordan, Egypt and other countries around the region. They, too, report a growing number of returnees.
Hussein Ali Saleh, the director of the National Theatre in Baghdad, who is staging Iraqi plays for refugees in Damascus, said that his audience was disappearing. A month ago the al-Najum theatre near the Syrian central bank building was filled with 400 Iraqis every night. Now barely 50 turn up. In the last month, 60 per cent of the Iraqis I know have returned, he said. The situation has been changed completely. They all want to go back. Even my own family back in Baghdad is telling me the situation is much better.
The return of so many Iraqis is a strong vote of confidence in the security situation in Baghdad. However, it also reflects the tightening of visa regulations by Syria two months ago, making it more difficult for refugees to stay and impossible for most to come back if violence flares up again. The border crossing into Syria is closed for them. Their trip to Iraq is one way.
Now let's hope that, given what they now know, they'll work to make Iraq a better place.
Not everyone is returning voluntarily, a spokeswoman for the UNHCR said. Its a mixed picture. Some Iraqis report an improvement in security in Baghdad, while others fear their Syrian visas are running out.
Abdel Samad Rahman Sultan, the Iraqi Minister of Displacement and Migration, said that about 9,000 families had returned from abroad since February. He noted, however, that 170,000 families were still listed as internally displaced people inside Iraq. Returnees often come back to ethnically cleansed neighbourhoods, sometimes finding their abandoned homes looted or even occupied by families who have fled from other parts of Iraq.
Its better to have a chance at peace than wait here forever, Haidar Ibrahim, a refugee, said. Not all Iraqis in Damascus agree. Before, my family refused to let me even talk about going back, Ahlam Ahmed said. Now they are calling me every day and saying, Why dont you come?. This is a real change. But I dont yet trust the situation.
Most Iraqis interviewed by The Times, though, seemed enthusiastic rather than despondent. Throughout history Baghdad has fallen many times but she always rose up again, Abu Ibrahim said. We all know this and thats why we return. We return to rebuild Baghdad now.
Saida Zaynab, on the outskirts of Damascus, is known as Iraq Street because at least 350,000 Iraqis have lived in the area in the past few years. With them they brought a little bit of home. There is the Bakery Baghdadi selling Iraqi specialty pastries such as sticky-sweet pieces of carrot-pistachio marzipan, and the Habayibna Restaurant, where guests eat charcoal-grilled fish from the Tigris.
The Syrians were generous with us for a long time, one diner said, but they didnt really like having us here. With so many more people in the city, the prices for everything went up, like flour, milk, vegetables. So it is best to go home when you can.
Life has been hard for Iraqis in Damascus too, with most prevented from working there. It was, though, the only refuge for poor Iraqis who could not pay to get into Jordan, and many of them said that they were grateful. Thank you, Syria, one said, but I am homesick.
In a side street Iraqi families were packing their cars for the journey home. Some of the vehicles were decorated with their national flag. We are not going to Anbar or Basra or Baghdad, a young man said, we are going to Iraq.
Israel has approved the transfer of 25 armoured vehicles to Palestinian security forces in the West Bank.
The move has long been opposed by Israeli security forces but officials described it as a goodwill gesture. The road to the place where the horned guy with the pitchfork lives is paved with good intentions
The Russian-made vehicles are to be deployed in Nablus. Israel also allowed provision of 1,000 guns and 2m bullets. As if there wasn't enough gun sex there already
The moves are meant to bolster Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who will attend peace talks next week in the US city of Annapolis.
Israeli officials said another 25 armoured vehicles could be sent if Mr Abbas's forces make progress in curbing militants. How do you verify such progress?
The militant wing of Hamas, which wrested the Gaza Strip from Mr Abbas in June, called the shipment a "Zionist gift" and accused Palestinian security services in the West Bank of collaborating with Israel.
Delivery of the vehicles was first approved in 2005, said an Israeli government spokeswomen, but was put on hold when Hamas won Palestinian Authority parliamentary elections in 2006.
In another gesture to the Palestinians, Israel announced that flower and strawberry exports could resume from the Gaza Strip via Israel to Europe. Flowers and strawberries don't concern me as much as armoured cars
Israel has blocked exports from Gaza, whose borders it controls, since the Hamas take-over, and in September it declared the coast strip a "hostile territory".
Correspondents say Israel's blockade has raised warnings of a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished, overcrowded territory where more than 80% of the population depends on aid. So they can keep firing rockets...
Ma'an Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will head to the Annapolis peace conference next week without the "joint document" that they have been working to draft throughout the fall, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday.
Abbas' political advisor, Nimir Hammad, said both sides will go to the conference with their own sets of demands.
In light of the failure to reach a joint document, Hammad expressed his pessimism about the outcome of the conference. He said, "Going without a document resembles going to a meeting without one's clothes."
A series of meetings between Palestinian and Israeli negotiating teams since September were supposed to yield a document that would be the basis for negotiations at the US-backed conference.
Hammad also said that Abbas will receive the long-awaited formal invitation to the conference in the coming hours.
Negotiators met one last time this afternoon, in a last ditch effort to draft a document.
Territory and security
"The Israelis still insist on their demands and refuse to end the occupation of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967. They also insist on the implementation of the Road Map plan's articles and on disarmament of the Palestinian factions including those in Gaza Strip," Hammad said.
Hammad was referring to the Quartet-sponsored Road Map peace plan, which requires both sides to take initial concrete steps towards peace. The Palestinian Authority has already sent its forces to crack down on armed groups in the West Bank. The government, led by Abbas' Fatah faction, has no power in the Gaza Strip, which is governed by Hamas.
With regard to the possibility that Syria might boycott the conference, Hammad said, "The absence of any country is unjustifiable, specifically if that country has occupied territories." He called on all Arab states to attend the meeting, even in light of today's setback.
Hammad said the Palestinian negotiating team will demand a final settlement to the conflict in accordance with UN resolutions. He said the Palestinian side would "show the world which side does not want peace," referring to the Israelis.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#1
"Can you pass those crabcakes down here, Ehud?"
"Certainly, Mahmoud. Would you like some Old Bay?"
"I sure would, Ehud, but it makes my reflux flare up."
"Too bad, that's simply awful. Old Bay is the best!"
Tehran, 21 Nov. (AKI) Iranian police responsible for moral crimes have announced death sentences for 50 people in the latest clampdown on what the authorities term as "immoral behaviour".
"Fifty of the 3,400 people arrested for immorality in recent weeks, have been condemned to death," said General Ahmad Roozbahani, who is in-charge of moral crimes.
While announcing that arrests would continue, the Iranian general said that 53 percent of those arrested were aged between 17 and 25 years. He said 5 percent of those arrested in the moralisation campaign, which began in March, were minors under the age of 17.
#2
Holding hands in public? Dancing together? Sitting next to each other at a movie? Kissing in the park? Who knows what vile offenses against the state were committed by these heinous criminals.
Our great Mikado, virtuous man,
When he to rule our land began,
Resolved to try
A plan whereby
Young men might best be steadied.
So he decreed, in words succinct,
That all who flirted, leered or winked
(Unless connubially linked),
Should forthwith be beheaded,
Beheaded, beheaded,
Should forthwith be beheaded.
And I expect you'll all agree
That he was right to so decree.
And I am right,
And you are right,
And all is right as right can be!
Chorus.
And you are right.
And we are right,
And all is right, is right as right can be!
Pish-Tush & Chorus.
And all is right as right can be,
Right as right can be!
Pish-Tush.
This stem decree, you'll understand,
Caused great dismay throughout the land!
For young and old
And shy and bold
Were equally affected.
The youth who winked a roving eye,
Or breathed a non-connubial sigh,
Was thereupon condemned to die
He usually objected,
Objected, objected,
He usually objected.
And you'll allow, as I expect,
That he was right to so object.
And I am right,
And you are right,
And everything is quite correct!
Chorus.
And you are right,
And we are right,
And everything is quite, is quite correct!
Pish-Tush & Chorus.
And everything is quite correct,
All is quite correct!
Pish-Tush.
And so we straight let out on bail
A convict from the county jail,
Whose head was next
On some pretext
Condemned to be mown off,
And made him Headsman, for we said,
"Who's next to be decapited
Cannot cut off another's head
Until he's cut his own off,
His own off, his own off,
Until he's cut his own off."
And we are right, I think you'll say,
To argue in this kind of way;
And I am right,
And you are right,
And all is right too-loo-ral-lay!
Chorus.
And you are right,
And we are right,
And all is right too-loo-ral, loo-ral-lay!
Pish-Tush & Chorus.
And you are right,
And we are right,
And all is right!
Exeunt Chorus.
Posted by: bruce ||
11/21/2007 18:01 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Well, it seems that these 50 will be non-existent soon enough (if they are indeed gay).
You know, as a gay man, few things so fills me with contempt than self-styled gay rights advocates who carry on about how President Bush is a homophobe for advocating tradional marriage and an Islamophobe for finally standing up to Iran's two decades of aggression against us.
Meanwhile Iran is concocting a form of government which tries to combine the worst of Nazi ideology with the worst of an perspective from the Dark Ages, and the condemnation - when there is any - is perfunctory and usually "balanced" by noting that Iran's leaders are "fundamentalists" like Bush (or some similarly specious claim).
Bush destroyed the government most openly hostile to gay people in the world (the Taliban) and is now trying to stop one most likely to endorse an anti-gay holocaust from getting nukes. And for this he gets cynical comments from demogogues like John Edwards about "We know how this movie ends". It's disgusting and it's an outrage. Any gay leader who backs this sort of nonsense is the equivalent of an Al Sharpton.
I have more respect for a sincere Christian who feels homosexuality is a sin than I do for hypocrites who want to buy my vote by having the government do favors for me. I happen to know that my liberty and my great life are due, in large part, because of our Judeo-Christian heritage with its development of respect for the individual, post-Enlightenment humanism, etc. I am frightened by those who would jettison this wide-ranging set of traditions and ideals for this or that academic, collectivist flavor-of-the-month ideology. I would never trade my liberty as a self-reliant citizen for "equality" as the member of a group "taken care of" by the government.
Amid mounting tension on the eve of the controversial presidential elections, Lebanon's Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman indicated Tuesday that his troops would confront any attempt to destabilize Lebanon. In his order of the day marking the 64th anniversary of Lebanon's independence, Sleiman told his troops:
"Your national role is dictated by the blood of martyrs and confidence of the citizens who would remain by your side They call upon you to safeguard their security and stability; to prevent aggression on their lives and property; to protect public and privately-owned institutions and they support you in striking at whoever attempts to target security and the freedom of others."
"Let it be known that any aggression on security is (tantamount to) national treason, and any weapon directed against the interior is a weapon of treachery. The homeland is at stake and you are the nation's protectors," Gen. Sleiman said in his order.
The army and security forces have been entrusted with the task of enforcing law and order as the nation faces controversial elections to choose a successor to Syrian-backed President Emile Lahoud whose extended term in offices expires at midnight Friday. "Lebanon will emerge stronger than before and will be proud of your sacrifices and devotion," The Army Commander told his troops.
He addressed the soldiers saying: "you have been a symbol of national unity. Pay no attention to whatever is happening regarding implementation of the constitution or interpreting it ... listen only to the calls of duty and the homeland ... defend your homeland, Lebanon."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
A verbal confrontation broke out Tuesday between Free Patriotic Movement Leader MP Michel Aoun and Praliament Speaker Nabih Berri over remarks published by a French daily newspaper. Liberation quoted Aoun as saying "the election of a president is an issue that concerns the Maronite community and not Shiite Berri or Sunni Saad Hariri."
Berri's closest aide, MP Ali Hassan Khalil, responded by saying he was "amazed by Aoun's statement", noting that "it was only normal for the parliament speaker to consult with parliamentary majority over the presidential elections."
He said the "Hezbollah-led opposition supported Berri's efforts and if Aoun wants to break away from the opposition it is up to him." Khalil added that despite Aoun's stance Berri would proceed with his efforts backed by his own parliamentary block and the opposition.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
MP Atef Majdalani on Tuesday accused Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his ally Hezbollah of blocking the presidential elections in Lebanon.
Majdalani, in a statement to Naharnet, said the March 14 majority alliance is committed to two stands: "Principles of the Cedar Revolution and Patriarch (Nasrallah) Sfeir's list" of candidates. "Obstacles are being placed not by us, but by Hezbollah and its allies. The problem is with Ahmadinejad and no one else," Majdalani added. The March 14 alliance, Majdalani added, is "keen on safeguarding the Christians' " role and civil order in Lebanon." He reiterated the March 14 stand of supporting any agreement on a consensus presidential candidate listed by the Maronite Patriarch.
Majdalani did not disclose his source of information, but Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah delivered a defiant speech about 9 days ago in which he blasted the March 14 alliance and urged the president to form a second government , which could further destabilize the country. Many political analysts were in agreement that Nasrallah's defiant speech has torpedoed the French initiative which is aimed at bringing Lebanon's feuding leaders to agree on the election of a new president and avoid a power vacuum that could plunge the country into further chaos.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
DIGG > AHMADINEJAD CALLS US DOLAR/CURRENCY A WORTHLESS PIECE OF PAPER, AND OPEC AGREES.
Also fron DIGG > BUSH-CHENEY REALLY ARE PLANNING TO ATTACK IRAN!
#2
SALON > AMERICA'S EMPIRE GOING, GOING, .... [Gone?] Article -Imperialist, non-democratic Empires of antiquity actually thrived and protractively prospered due to their penchant for cultural diversity - declined or collapsed only after turning inwards and adopting chauvanistic, xenophobic policies in hostile = egregious oppos to historical diversity and tolerance. *ALSO FROM SALON > WHEN WE DID WE BECOME LIKE SYRIA? Author claims the lines between democracy and dictatorship/despotism is becoming [wilfully?] blurred in America.
Iran sent a letter to the world's top diplomats on Tuesday to argue its case in the deepening nuclear row with the West, official media reported. "I would like to emphasize that Iran's nuclear program is completely peaceful," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki wrote in the letter, published by news agency IRNA in Farsi. "This program is not a threat against any country."
The agency said the letter was sent to "the world's foreign ministers" but did not specify whether it went to the United States and Iran's other western foes, who fear the Islamic Republic wants to use the program to pursue nuclear weapons.
Tehran says it only aims to generate electricity so that, as the world's fourth-largest crude producer, it can export more oil and gas. Mottaki said Iran had shown goodwill "even beyond its legal commitments" to remove ambiguities about its atomic activities, working with the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). "All Iran's nuclear activities ... are based on the agency's charter and the NPT (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty), under the agency's full and continuous supervision," said his letter, which ran to four pages on IRNA.
The IAEA said in a report last week that Iran had made important strides towards clarifying past nuclear work, as part of an August agreement between the two sides.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Iran sent a letter to the world's top diplomats on Tuesday to argue its case in the deepening nuclear row with the West, official media reported. "I would like to emphasize that Iran's nuclear program is completely peaceful," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki wrote in the letter, published by news agency IRNA in Farsi. "This program is not a threat against any country."
THE letter is just another Earnest Beseechment for an A$$ Kicking.
~:) /woid coinage
.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
11/21/2007 2:33 Comments ||
Top||
#2
WND.com/TOPIX > RUSSIAN NUKES PLACED ON HIGHER ALERT STATUS. President PUTIN rattles NUCLEAR SABRE at NATO - argues that Russ will NOT tolerate any NATO mil buildup near its borders, i.e. certain "countries building up their resources". FREEREPUBLIC > Over 100 inducted into military at major sports game. MIGHT WANNA KEEP A'DOIN THAT, AND PROB MORE, vv PUTIN.
*Also fron WND > THE END OF CIVILIZATION IS NEAR. Too many single men, not enuff women or brides.
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.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday that U.S. President George W. Bush belonged in a mental asylum for referring to the possibility of World War Three if Tehran developed nuclear weapons. The remark is the latest in a long line of insults the outspoken left-wing leader has leveled at Bush, whom he has also called "the devil", a genocidal assassin and a donkey.
A United Nations panel rebuked Myanmar, Iran and North Korea on Tuesday for human rights abuses, overcoming objections by developing nations that the move amounted to "demonization" of some states.
U.S. military planners used those maps to choke off Al Qaeda, moving ring by ring, hunting and destroying Al Qaeda in Baghdad, flushing them out of their urban strongholds and picking them off as easy targets in the desert.
Iraqi refugees are returning home in dramatic numbers, concluding that security in Baghdad has been transformed. Thousands have left their refuge in Syria in recent months, according to some estimates. The Iraqi Embassy is organising a secure mass convoy from Damascus to Baghdad on Monday for refugees who want to drive back. Embassy notices went up around the Syrian capital yesterday, offering free bus and train rides home.
Tehran, 21 Nov. (AKI) Iranian police responsible for moral crimes have announced death sentences for 50 people in the latest clampdown on what the authorities term as "immoral behaviour".
