London, England, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair met in London with Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley Monday about power sharing with Northern Ireland's Assembly. Last week, Blair met with Gerry Adams, leader of the Sinn Fein, the political arm of the separatist Irish Republican Army. Sky News said Paisley is holding out on whether his party will reject or sign on to an agreement with Sinn Fein to resurrect the Assembly. Paisley has maintained there will be no agreement until the destruction of IRA weapons is backed up by photographic evidence, but Adams has refused to take such action. Paisley is also calling for disarmament to be witnessed by Protestant and Catholic clergymen along with Gen. John de Chastelain, the head of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning.
I'm sure they'll come to an agreement any decade now.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/06/2004 1:17:12 PM ||
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Yvonne Ridley, the British ditz journalist who made international headlines three years ago after her dramatic capture and release by the ousted Taliban regime in Afghanistan, believes her life completely changed to the better, thanks to Islam.
"I was pretty stoopid before I converted, y'know. That's all changed now..."
What started out as a purely research about Islam following her release turned into a soul-searching trip that culminated with the firm conviction that Islam is not about oppression or violence, but rather peace, tolerance and understanding, she recently told Malaysia's English-language The Star newspaper. Embracing Islam in August 2003, the Sunday Express journalist admitted that she used to "work hard and play hard" and was a "prolific drinker", but found herself now healthier, happier, and more content.
I think it was the drugs, myself...
"And my girlfriends can see this, and they ask: 'What is this that has changed your life so much?' And I say it's Islam. And they say: 'No, really, what is it?'" Ridley was in Malaysia last week to raise funds for the UK-based Islamic social service organization Al-Khaaem.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2004 10:57:54 PM ||
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Islam, Fosters, tolerance, peace: one out of four aint too good, Yvonne.
#2
Yvonne then concluded the interview, saying that her husband told her that if she didn't come in the house RIGHT NOW, that he would beat her to a senseless pulp, and there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it.
"âWhen I look back at my experience now, and I see the shocking images of Guantanamo Bay , and the horrendous images and stories emerging from the Abu Ghraib prison , I thank Allah I was captured by the most evil and brutal regime in the world and not by the Americans.â
Ridley, as an anti-war activist at the time, recalled how the US intelligence sent a dossier to Taliban alleging that she was a spy to silence her anti-war movement."
#5
What about the horrendous images of your fellow Muslims beheading people with dull knives, you hypocritical twit.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/06/2004 1:04 Comments ||
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â'And my girlfriends can see this, and they ask: âWhat is this that has changed your life so much?â And I say itâs Islam. And they say: âNo, really, what is it?â'"
I'd go with: she's a stereotypical left-wing self-loathing attention-seeking pseudo-feminist who would rather see her own society replaced be a primitive superstitious barbarism than accept its minor imperfections as things she alone can't change. A jibbering moral pervert.
#8
The Road to Dhimmitude, First Waypost: Large Prominent western journalists given to self-hatred (and substance abuse, and possibly emotional disturbances) convert to Islam.
#9
Large Prominent western journalists given to self-hatred (and substance abuse, and possibly emotional disturbances) convert to Islam.
Speaking strictly from experience, substance abuse per se does not a dhimmi make. You will notice journalists who have signed off on Islam are usually leftwing/liberal, which basically means their egos are so huge they think that embracing a hostile ideology makes them the smartest person in the world.
This is how western cultures will be destroyed; by journalists, substance abusing or not, decide on their own that immolating a decent society will be their own contribution to mankind, the consequences be damned.
#11
Badanov, "This is how western cultures will be destroyed"
I would use 'might be destroyed'. I don't belive it will be, despite the possibility of moonbats flocking to Islam in droves at some point. It will just make the recon of the enemy more accurate, after some state of confusion.
In the end, we'll win. Not saying it will be pretty in between now and then...
#14
Its always easier to 'just do as your told and dont think' then it is to have, and be responsible for, your own freedom.
I think many slaves were (and are in the instance of Sudan, Saudi-Arabia and other ISLAMIC countries) perfectly content in their lot as 'slaves' - they dont have to think or be responsible, they just do what their 'master' says and everything will be all right.
#16
CF took the words out of my mouth. She just wants the koran to do her thinking for her vice using her own brain. Typical crutch of the addictive & self loathing personality.
#17
She's probably being PAID to say this. Lotta islamic money looking for cracks in the West.
They're smart, they know we think they're women-haters, and if they get a woman journalist (supposed symbol of an independant, critical thinker) then that is a powerful symbol for recruiting more of US!
Don't forget: their goal isn't to defeat us militarily but culturally. Their goal is to make us Islamic!
#24
Ridley, as an anti-war activist at the time, recalled how the US intelligence sent a dossier to Taliban alleging that she was a spy to silence her anti-war movement.
Hmmmmmm. We must've been busy that day.
Posted by: The Mossad ||
12/06/2004 13:48 Comments ||
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Is it me or does she look something like St. Pancake?
#26
And my girlfriends can see this, and they ask: âWhat is this that has changed your life so much?â And I say itâs Islam.
Dont mean to insult anyone, or to miss the very real problems with violence that Islam today has, but doesnt this sound EXACTLY like what you hear from a certain kind of new Christian, the proverbial "Jesus freak"? Or even a new member of Chabad (the ultraorthodox group that proselytizes among secular Jews)? Its just the standard hippie found religion reaction.
#27
She has been on the wagon way too long. Get that girl a drink.
Posted by: d guy ||
12/06/2004 16:29 Comments ||
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Is it me or does she look something like St. Pancake?
CrazyFool, yes. noticed it too. It is the type. I knew a few of them, they all look alike and follow the pattern. I could almost bet that if I see another one, she would be in the same mold. Not sure how to explain it, though. Some form of morphology and state of mind correspondence. Weird.
#36
SPofD, google "Rachel Corrie" and then say a good Act of Contrition.
Posted by: Matt ||
12/06/2004 22:43 Comments ||
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LOL I don't have to google. Now I get the " St. Pancake" bit now. Funny a D9 will do that if you get terminally stupid around one. I think you can also google "terrorist felching" and get a hit on her too.
#40
Plus--wasn't she the wacko idiot that took her young daughter to Afghanistan after she was set free? She said she saw some of her abductors and was "really nervous" (about 'nice guys'?) Anyway, she's an example of the post-trauma classic attempt of a victim to revisit the site of the crime to "prove" that they've mastered the situation of the abuse. And as a "Moslem" she can be pretty certain that the guys won't hurt her again.
#1
Two years ago a South Korean woman reportedly asked a North Korean why President Kim Jong Il was the only fat man in the country, and was detained for several days as a result.
Now that is a legitimate question. Why is Kimmie-boy the only fat North Korean? (And why are North Korean's generally shorter then others?)
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/06/2004 12:28:49 AM ||
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The Norks will push and shove this issue aimed at the South, while denying "unfettered" inspections on it's own production facilities. Why the IAEA would fall for this bait, is anybodys guess.
Former U.S. Army Sgt. Charles Jenkins has said that he believes North Korea intended to make spies out of the two daughters he had in the country with Japanese abductee Hitomi Soga, Time magazine reported Sunday. The article, based on an interview with Jenkins and available on the Time website, said the 64-year-old American began to suspect at one point that his daughters Mika, 21, and Brinda, 19, were meant to be ''spy fodder.''
''They wanted us to have children so they could use them later,'' the article titled ''In From the Cold,'' written by Jim Frederick, quoted Jenkins as saying. He describes his 1965 desertion from his army post in South Korea to North Korea as ''the stupidest thing I have ever done.'' Jenkins realized almost immediately that he had made a mistake, it said. Jenkins and the daughters remained in North Korea when Soga, 45, returned to Japan in October 2002 for the first time since she was abducted by North Korean agents in 1978. In July this year, they were reunited in Jakarta and came to Japan.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2004 10:10:32 PM ||
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do the crime, you do the time. Looks like he did his.
#2
Better to realize a mistake late than to never do - I say welcome back to God's country, where fathers don't think of daughters or kiddies as spies for the almighty State and Socialism.
I'm all in favor of people getting justice for their crimes and all that stuff. But there are some mistakes whose consequences are so severe that further legal punishment really doesn't make any sense. For example, I think people should pay a fine if they try to feed cigars to bears at the zoo. But, if in the process the bear bites off half your face, the courts should pretty much stay out of it.
The story of Robert Jenkins seems to fall pretty squarely into that category. Desertion is bad and should be punished. Defection is even worse. But forty years of hell in North Korea seems to have been a pretty good punishment for his actions. He wasted his whole life, and regretted his decision every day. I was glad to see the army went relatively easy on the guy -- dishonorable discharge, demotion, but only 25 days in the stockade -- while still upholding the principle that what he did was unforgivable. He reportedly had to share as much intelligence as he could as well. If he'd spent the last forty years living it up in a Russian dacha, I would have been glad to see him spend the remainder of his days behind bars. But this seems like the right call to me.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/06/2004 15:36 Comments ||
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Some people's purpose in life is to serve as a horrible example for others. This is such a case.
Rowan Atkinson defended the right of comedians to poke fun at other people's religion last night as he joined the campaign against Government plans to create a new offence of incitement to religious hatred.
The star of the BBC's Blackadder television series lined up with leading barristers, writers and politicians to oppose the proposed law. 'There should be no subject about which you cannot make jokes'
Ministers say the Bill will protect faith groups - particularly Muslims. Under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill, which will have its second reading in the Commons today, anyone judged to have stirred up religious hatred through threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour, would be liable to a maximum of seven years in prison.
But opponents of the measure say that while it is well intentioned, stopping the right to criticise other religions would end centuries of tolerance and could stoke tensions between religious groups rather than ease them. Speaking at a press conference in the House of Commons, Atkinson said the proposals would destroy one of society's fundamental freedoms - the right to cause offence.
#1
This ill intentioned law is to give the state the right to persecute one for speaking their mind. Nothing less. That this is a law put forth by the left of course one can have no doubt. It's stupid and ill considered.
A group of Muslims has reported a Danish broadcaster to the police for repeatedly airing a controversial film about Muslim oppression of women, Danish media reported on Sunday.
Some 20 Muslims are pressing charges against Danish public broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR) for airing recently murdered Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh`s film "Submission" in its entirety, as well as for repeatedly showing clips from the film in newscasts.
"My clients feel deeply offended," Laue Traberg Smidt, the lawyer representing the group, told DR on Sunday, adding that both Muslim clerics and members of the general public were among his clients.
"They have all come to me independently of each other because they feel that Danmarks Radio has gone too far, and that it is ignoring that the film is seen as an extraordinarily serious and manipulative insult against their religion," he added.
Van Gogh was brutally murdered on November 2 by a suspected Islamic radical apparently angered by his portrayal of Islam in the film, which shows women talking about abuse dressed in see-through robes with texts from the Koran painted on their bodies.
DR news director Lisbeth Knudsen rejected that the broadcaster`s decision to air the film and clips from the film constituted incitement to religious hatred.
"We are not airing clips from the film to feed on sensationalism or to offend those who have been offended by it (the film). We show these clips to put the debate over limited or unlimited freedom of speech into perspective," she said.
Posted by: tipper ||
12/06/2004 9:15:09 AM ||
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Actually they may have a point. Granted, this mini-movie is very important, but it's only one movie. They should produce dozens of others, a wholescale deluge that depicts wife and child abusers as utter monsters, who drink liquor and eat roast pork on the sly and are secret devil worshippers, while pretending to be pious and moralistic. These villains should get their comeuppance, too, by women who suddenly refuse to stand for their antics. Previously abused women who just happen to have a butcher's knife under their dress, which comes out halfway through a beating, and *scene ends*. Well, you wouldn't want to depict *violence*, now would you?
A number of Swiss Muslim activists voiced reservations about the launch of a new forum aimed at making the "moderate" voice of Muslims heard, fearing it could split the community.
"Who sez any of us want to be 'moderate,' anyway?"
They warned, in interviews with IslamOnline.net, that the new forum would be exploited by the media as a pretext to target any Swiss Muslim adhering to his/her religion, label them as "extremists" and even call for their deportation. The forum's chairwoman, Tunisian-born Saida Keller-Messahli, told swissinfo on Friday, December 3, that the forum will have no taboos with respect to issues put for debate and will "criticize in an intellectual fashion."
"Only after the opinions have been presented will we start killing each other and our neighbors. We've learned to be very orderly, living in Switzerland, y'know..."
"We want to show that Islam can be interpreted in a way that is compatible with human rights." With a debate already taking place in Switzerland about whether Imams should be trained at Swiss institutes, Keller-Messahli argued that people were making too much fuss about nothing. "Any person who can read Arabic can interpret the Qur'an, [although] we accept that we are not all Qur'anic scholars," she told the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation's website. Muslim activists in Switzerland showed deep concerns about a proposal put forward by major Swiss Christian groups on the need for a government-supervised institute to educate imams on the "liberal" lifestyle in western societies. The proposal raised some fears within the community that the institute would be a platform for imposing a European Islam, sidelining the Shari`ah and dealing with the Noble Qur'an as an out-dated historical heritage.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2004 11:03:55 PM ||
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A number of Swiss Muslim activists voiced reservations about the launch of a new forum aimed at making the âmoderateâ voice of Muslims heard, fearing it could split the community.
"If you are not an extremist, you are not Muslim!!!"
Posted by: Steve ||
12/06/2004 11:37 Comments ||
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Muslims in Switzerland? Who knew. Sic John Calvin on them.
Lex, I was thinking Hans Brinker.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/06/2004 12:04 Comments ||
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That looks like Shirley Temple (the Czechs favorite American) playing Heidi, to me. Note the edelweiss embroidered on her bodice. I think the directors just didn't know how to make Peter look distinctively Swiss.
#8
"They warned, in interviews with IslamOnline.net, that the new forum would be exploited ......to target any Swiss Muslim adhering to his/her religion, label them as âextremistsâ and even call for their deportation.
A. They are all extremists.
B. What's wrong with their deportation.
EIGHT US soldiers have sued the Pentagon, claiming the military extended their tours of duty in Iraq although their contracts had expired, their attorneys said. It is the only known court challenge by active-duty soldiers against the US Defence Department's so-called stop-loss policy, said attorney Staughton Lynd. About 7000 soldiers are affected at any given time by the policy, which bars them from leaving the military or moving to other units for an 18-month period if they are in units deployed or about to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan, said Lieutenant Colonel Pamela Hart, an army spokeswoman. "It stops movement of soldiers so units can maintain integrity of strength," Lt Col Hart said. "So, units that deploy together come home together."
Seven of the soldiers in the lawsuit have asked to remain anonymous, but one of them, David Qualls, said at a news conference in Washington that the court challenge is over "a question of fairness." I enlisted in July 2003. I completed and served that one year," Mr Qualls said. "I feel it is time to let me go back to my wife." Mr Qualls signed a "Try One" contract on July 7, 2003, which allows a soldier to serve for one year before deciding whether to extend service. Qualls says no one told him about the stop-loss policy. The other soldiers asked to remain anonymous "because they fear one or another kind of retaliation if their names became known," Lt Col Lynd said. Six of the soldiers are stationed in Iraq, while the two others are in Kuwait and on their way to the embattled country, he said. "Our government has not been honest with Mr Qualls and the other seven plaintiffs in this action," said Jules Lobel, an attorney at the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR). "The government must tell them the key facts that may affect his enlistment. One key fact is how long" they are supposed to be enlisted, Lobel said. Qualls has been stationed at Camp Taji, north of Baghdad, since March 2004. It has been the target of suicide bombings and mortar attacks.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
12/06/2004 5:07:09 PM ||
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Qualls says no one told him about the stop-loss policy.
#6
Maybe they can be stationed at the radome at Tin City LRRS, 100 mi west of Nome, Alaska. The radome sits on top of a 45 deg sloped rock ridge with a tram to get up there. Winds blow up to 200 kt gusts occasionally. Sometimes you can even see it if the cloud deck lifts. Welcome to the white hell, REMF.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/06/2004 22:08 Comments ||
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EW YORK - A Yemeni sheik accused of funneling millions of dollars to terrorist networks warned U.S. agents that "Allah will bring storms" to America because of his arrest, according to newly filed court papers. Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad made the remark last year after a German court ordered him extradited to the United States to face charges he helped finance al-Qaida and Hamas, prosecutors said in the documents filed in U.S. District Court.
The statement — spoken in English to agents bringing al-Moayad from Frankfurt to New York on Nov. 16, 2003 — counter defense claims that he has no command of the language, prosecutors said. "Allah is with me," he allegedly told a detective. "I am Mohammed al-Moayad. Allah will bring storms to Germany and America."
Prosecutors have previously alleged al-Moayad was overheard boasting about his relationship with Osama bin Laden, saying in Arabic that bin Laden "tells me that I'm his sheik."
"Who's your sheik?" "You're my big, strong sheik, Mo. Just be gentle with me."
The defense claims his statements during a sting operation at a hotel in Frankfurt were mistranslated from Arabic by FBI informant Mohamed Alanssi, who set himself on fire outside the White House last month.
Oh, crap, there goes that testimony.
The new documents, filed late Friday, offer details of al-Moayad's conversations with an undercover FBI operative posing as an American Muslim eager to donate $2.5 million to terrorist causes.
"Where is my money going to? Is it going to Hamas? Or is it al-Qaida? ... I need to know," the operative demanded during one clandestine meeting, according to the court papers. Al-Moayad allegedly responded: "The way we see it is to support all organizations — Hamas, al-Qaida ... mujahideen and such. Everybody that we learn is fighting jihad to raise God's word we shall support."
The transcripts also say he told the operative he was in regular contact with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and had "knowledge of every aspect" of the Palestinian Islamic group. The papers were filed in response to defense motions asking a judge to bar portions of the transcripts from al-Moayad's upcoming trial.
Attorneys for al-Moayad and his alleged accomplice, Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed, have sought to discredit the transcripts by attacking Alanssi, who lured the cleric into the sting and acted as a translator between al-Moayad and the FBI operative. A defense motion called Alanssi's translations "inaccurate, incomplete and frequently embellished." Alanssi is recovering from burns after setting himself on fire, reportedly because he was distraught over his role as a witness against al-Moayad. But prosecutors suggested that because al-Moayad speaks English, he understood what the translator was saying during the sting and did not correct any alleged embellishments. Prosecutors insist the translations were accurate, and said excluding portions of them from evidence would "make it almost impossible for the jury to understand what happened."
Posted by: Steve ||
12/06/2004 2:19:35 PM ||
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. . . warned U.S. agents that "Allah will bring storms" to America because of his arrest . . .
A few observations:
1. How the f*ck does this a**wipe know what allan's gonna do? Here in the US, when deities talk, the person hearing the message either goes to the looney bin or gets a cable show.
2. Why the f*ck would allan care all THAT much about this a**wipe anyway? What's he done, other than "made bad choices?"
3. Haven't just about all of these predictions of such dire consequences⢠not come true?
4. Wouldn't getting your ass kicked so many times get most people to reassess whether they're fighting for the right side?
#6
A Yemeni sheik accused of funneling millions of dollars to terrorist networks warned U.S. agents that "Allah will bring storms" to America because of his arrest, according to newly filed court papers.
We already get storms. Got anything more serious to offer?
— In an exclusive report on Sunday, The Jerusalem Post claimed that the two staff members of AIPAC suspected of spying for Israel were actually set up in an FBI sting. FBI agents apparently coerced Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin into luring the AIPAC officials who already knew him into accepting what he described to them as "classified" information on Iranian plans to take out Israeli operatives in northern Iraq. The report suggested that David Szady, the FBI's senior counterintelligence official, targeted AIPAC, the main Jewish pro-Israel lobby in Washington, out of jealousy for its perceived clout and extensive access to US government leaders.
Gee, would the FBI do something as illegle and petty as that?
Posted by: Steve ||
12/06/2004 1:27:29 PM ||
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Of course not
Posted by: Stephen Hatfill ||
12/06/2004 14:11 Comments ||
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Seem to be getting a lot of reposts today. I posted this yesterday.
Posted by: Don ||
12/06/2004 13:29 ||
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Just for reference TITLE 10 United States Code,Subtitle A, PART II, CHAPTER 39, paragraph 671a says - "Unless terminated at an earlier date by the Secretary concerned, the period of active service of any member of an armed force is extended for the duration of any war in which the United States may be engaged and for six months thereafter."
To cut off whining, SJR 23 is the invocation of war powers. And to those who further whine that just because the phrase declaration of war is not printed on the document, the author Sen. J.Biden (D-DEL) says otherwise here - http://biden.senate.gov/press/release/01/10/2001A24C02.htm
M: (Inaudible) Talbot(?). Senator, thank you for this broad gauged approach to the problems we face. My question is this, do you foresee the need or the expectation of a Congressional declaration of war, which the Constitution calls for, and if so, against whom? (Scattered Laughter)
JB: The answer is yes, and we did it. I happen to be a professor of Constitutional law. I'm the guy that drafted the Use of Force proposal that we passed. It was in conflict between the President and the House. I was the guy who finally drafted what we did pass. Under the Constitution, there is simply no distinction ... Louis Fisher(?) and others can tell you, there is no distinction between a formal declaration of war, and an authorization of use of force. There is none for Constitutional purposes. None whatsoever. And we defined in that Use of Force Act that we passed, what ... against whom we were moving, and what authority was granted to the President.
Posted by: Don ||
12/06/2004 13:46 Comments ||
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#2
WOW. See Reuters RUMSFELD STAYS ON, Hopes Troops Quit Iraq in 4 years. Again What is for the duration??
Andrea
Posted by: andrea ||
12/06/2004 18:41 Comments ||
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#3
Technically; For the duration = till Congress repeals SJR:23. BTW, that is how we ended our involvement in WWI, Congress repealed the war declaration.
Now practically, they would be discharged in a much shorter period of time. These individual have Military Occupational Specialties (MOS), skills, which are undermanned in the manpower inventory. The system is set up to move new manpower, recruitment, into the shortage skills. However, it takes some time to get the soldier from induction to the job. Somewhere between nine months to, rarely, two years, these individuals should be released from active duty. If their original enlistment contract had lapsed, then the individual would be not be subject to further duty particularly if the enlistment was with the National Guard, which was federalized for the duty.
The Navy folks who haunt here could enlight us with the situation for a sailor deployed on ships, what happens when their enlisted contract lapses in the middle of the Indian Ocean, for example.
Posted by: Don ||
12/06/2004 19:45 Comments ||
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For now all one needs to know is that a timely recent sale of stock in a company called Taser International, Inc., where he has been serving as an outside member of the board, has made the nation's soon-to-be-confirmed new Secretary of Homeland Security nearly $6 million richer than he was just three weeks ago... It is, for example, by no means clear that Kerik did an especially commendable job during the three months of 2003 when he worked in Baghdad heading up the rebuilding and training of Iraq's post-Saddam police forces. In prepared remarks praising the new nominee last week[...]the President was oddly — and utterly — silent on Kerik's work in Baghdad, and perhaps for good reason. Though Kerik presided over the hiring of thousands of recruits for the reconstituted Iraqi police force, most were hired without background checks, and many turned out to be hardened criminals. As a result, some 30,000 of them, or roughly 25 percent of the entire force, are now reportedly being let go, with the U.S. footing the bill for $60 million in severance payments. Arguable, I guess. But, still, we didn't hear much about what he actually did over there, did we?
There's also Kerik's never-fully explained role in the 1990s as head of a New York City Corrections Department foundation that was secretly funded with roughly $1 million of tobacco company rebates from departmental purchases of cigarettes using city funds. Kerik's hand-picked treasurer for the foundation, Frederick Patrick, is now serving a one-year prison sentence after admitting in court that he pilfered nearly $140,000 of the foundation's money to pay for collect-call phone sex from inmates. Kerik wasn't the one who did this. Poor character judgement, perhaps, but how responsible does that make him? [...] Then the writer goes off on a long ramble about how Tasers really are dangerous though they're claimed to be nonlethal.
For the moment, Kerik seems comfortably in the clear, for whatever his reasons may have been for selling his shares, they are now changing hands for almost exactly what they were selling for when he unloaded them on Nov. 11th — meaning that until now at least, his nomination as security biggie for the homeland has been pretty much a non-event. But I doubt that this is the end stories about Kerik and Taser International, and for what little it may be worth, I at least will be watching to see whether, in the fullness of time, the Department of Homeland Security (or maybe even the Iraqi national police force) becomes a major new buyer of Taser's non-lethal stun guns. I've never heard anything bad about him till this. Sure, one of it means he's a bad pick, but it's sure to come up during hearings.
#1
for what little it may be worth, I at least will be watching to see whether, ...the Department of Homeland Security ... becomes a major new buyer of Taserâs non-lethal stun guns.
ooooh....so it was never about the oil afterall! The war in Iraq and this whole Homeland Security charade is all about the sales of Tasers. It's a vast a deep conspiracy!
#2
Got to be bigger than that. Who manufactures the Zionist Death Ray?
Posted by: Matt ||
12/06/2004 13:44 Comments ||
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Acme.
They do good work.
Posted by: The Mossad ||
12/06/2004 13:50 Comments ||
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I'm still curious about why he left Iraq 3 months into what was supposed to be a 6 month minimum assignment just as the bad guys shifted into high gear - he left right at the time of the bombings of the UN HQ, Jordanian embassy, and the mosque blast that killed 100 people included the cleric in charge of SCIRI. Heck of a time to leave early. There could be a good reason for that, but it's odd no one has ever tried to make the case.
#6
im not sure if he screwed up in Iraq, but I could make a defense of his record in Iraq.
1. at the time, the insurgency was not large, and looked to be in decline. The real problems were looters, street crime, general disorder. Against those you needed experienced cops, who cared if they had some ties to the old regime or were in other ways politically questionable. The urgent need was to restore order from chaos, and QUICKLY, NOT to prepare for a guerilla war - and Kerik was a COP, not warrior. When it became clear that this was NOT a job for a cop, but was part of a counterinsurgency war, he left.
#8
Given that DHS is a sprawling collection of bureaucracies in which real authority lies elsewhere, wouldn't it make sense to have as DHS Director someone with superb managerial skills and a deep knowledge of how to get things done inside Washington? Kerik strikes me as a very odd choice.
It's telling that his nomination won high praise from Schumer and Hillary. Is Rove signalling that New York's in play for 2008?
Posted by: Andrea In Memory of Pat Tillman ||
12/06/2004 10:14 ||
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#1
This falls under the category of "don't you have anything better to do, Coll?" My take: the writer is so insecure about his own lack of manhood that he became obsessed with proving to the world that the Pat Tillmans of the world are the weak - while he, the brave reporter who poured through Pentagon document after Pentagon document, is the real hero warrior. Good luck in your quest for testosterone, little girly man.
With efforts spent on stories like this, no wonder their circulation numbers are so tanked.
#2
I disagree, 2b. Pat Tillman gave his life to protect us all, and the Pentagon should have been forthright from the very beginning as to the circumstances of Pat's death.
Everyone knows that bad things happen in war, and hiding the truth was disrespectful to Pat, to his family, and to the American people.
#3
True. Be that as it may, what was gained by all of the effort that went into this? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. This is nothing more than Steve Coll pissing on Pat Tillman's grave in order to make himself feel bigger than a hero, who fought and died for his country.
#4
IIRC the Pentagon declared it a friendly fire incident fairly quickly. This article is just flogging a memory to try and devalue the "hero" status Tillman rightfully deserved for giving up all he had to serve our country. That acclaim just enrages the left and the WaPost social circle to no end.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/06/2004 10:48 Comments ||
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#5
well put Frank. If guys like Steve Coll keep up the good work, their numbers will continue to decline until they finally collapse allowing us all to be spared from their misery.
#7
The whole situation truly sucks. Blue on blue fratricide is one of the commander's worst nightmares, we practice hard to prevent it but it's the shitty part of war. Shitty things happen to good people no matter what it seems. We must try to minimize it as best we can. Pat Tillman was a special breed in the modern synical lights of the superficial professional sports world. He was a real role model for youngsters and will be sorely missed. One Pat Tillman is worth more then any Ron Artest, Terrell Owens, or Mike Tyson any day. An inspirational young man indeed.
#8
In Phoenix, the local "civic leaders" decided to throw a great party in honor of Tillman, a great big photo-op to show how sensitive and caring they were, and how much they adored this "hero". According to Tillman's family and friends, he always despised such people. Tillman's youngest brother, Rich, wore a rumpled white T-shirt, no jacket, no tie, no collar, and immediately swore into the microphone. He hadn't written anything, he said, and with the starkest honesty, he asked mourners to hold their spiritual bromides.
"Pat isn't with God," he said. "He's f---ing dead. He wasn't religious. So thank you for your thoughts, but he's f---ing dead."
This statement was greeted with shock and dismay by those who hoped to capitalize on Tillman's death, but they have since forgotten it, focusing instead on still trying to squeeze every dime and ounce of publicity from the deal.
#9
Frank G is correct. The Army admitted Mr. Tillman died as a result of "blue on blue" VERY soon after the fact (within 48 hours if memory serves). I started to read the WAPO piece yesterday and wasn't able to finish same. Why? Because the bile being regurgiatated by the WAPO writer was so evident. The WAPO piece doesn't seek to hail Mr. Tillman, it seeks to undermine the mission. It seeks to undermine our national resolve to win. Given the chance, I'd spit in the face of the WAPO writer Steve Coll.
Posted by: Mark Z. ||
12/06/2004 11:44 Comments ||
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#10
Moose, you'll have to provide a source for crap like that.
I agree that this story is full of bullshit and bile, signifying nothing more than the continued treason of our so-called press. When I heard this story on the radio this morning, they said it took "five weeks" for the "real story" to come out. My reaction was "that's no time at all" -- and it isn't, considering the circumstances and the nature of the event.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
12/06/2004 12:05 Comments ||
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#11
RC: Moose, you'll have to provide a source for crap like that.
#12
Zhang, If you or others are using the SF Chronicle as a record of source for this claim, you're wasting everyone's time. We watch the Chronicle for bad reporting, false reporting and bogus claims all the time. They never fail to provide us with grist for the mill. The SF Chronicle is a biased a rag as you'll find in the United States. The columnist provides no back up or substantiation for her claims
#13
He was a soldier who disdained self-aggrandizement. His memory has been trashed by pygmies for whom self-aggrandizement is a way of life, including the idiots at WaPo who are playing "gotcha!" when the Pentagon never made any effort to conceal the fact that friendly fired killed Tillman. Good for Tillman's brother for calling them out.
#14
I wrote this piece to announce to the world and to record for posterity what a small and hateful little man I am.
Posted by: Steve Coll ||
12/06/2004 12:58 Comments ||
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#15
I have known a lot of guys like Pat Tillman. To put it in more ordinary terms, "He was a real guy." He liked sports and cars and Guiness, not the ballet and Sartre and white wine. He could be at home camping, or hunting, or even at a Monster Truck Rally. He was a Red State guy. And after giving his life in patriotic service to his country, a bunch of Blue State fops decide to use his good name for their self-aggrandizement, and maybe to make a few bucks. I understand exactly what his brother was really saying to them: "up yours, you jackals."
#16
"The U.S. military has confronted a series of prominent friendly-fire cases in recent years, in part because hair-trigger technology and increasingly lethal remote-fire weapons can quickly turn relatively small mistakes into deadly tragedies. Yet the military's justice system has few consistent guidelines for such cases, according to specialists in Army law. Decision-making about how to mete out justice rests with individual unit commanders who often work in secret, acting as both investigators and judges. Their judgments can vary widely from case to case."
What a case of BS. The blue on blue killing is an aspect of the chaos of the battlefield. You try to eliminate or minimize it, but it does happen. It is not an immediate subject of judicial investigation. The WaPo hack is building a straw man arguement. These events are studied like a bridge failure for problems in tactial execution, doctrine, training and potential technological applications to minimize the events. It is only looked in a judicial manner when in the normal review process, it appears that some act of commission or dereliction of duty of duty as occured which resulted in the casualties.
If you want some background on blue on blue casualties try here
Posted by: Don ||
12/06/2004 15:26 Comments ||
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#17
RC: Zhang, If you or others are using the SF Chronicle as a record of source for this claim, you're wasting everyone's time.
From the New York Daily News: At one point, Richard burst forth with a stream-of-consciousness tribute, insisting Pat did not believe in religion, that he was not with God, that he was just dead. A war veteran standing not far from the stage bristled, while others cheered. Richard, the former quarterback-turned-aspiring comedian, looked more like an Elvis-wannabe, but despite the funky jeans and the cigarette dangling from his mouth, he, too, was clearly a Tillman: an iconoclast rebel daring to challenge the norm, oblivious to convention, slightly crazy.
Richard Tillman is apparently the kid who did not make it to the NFL (or boot camp), instead choosing to go into show business. (Need I say more?). Hey, every family has to have a black sheep. Think of the guy as Clark Griswold's brother-in-law.
Look at it this way - people took time out of their day to pay their respects. And Richard Tillman insulted the heck out of them. If not for the fact that this was his brother's funeral, he should have been beaten to within an inch of his self-absorbed life. This was his deceased brother's occasion, and he chose to use it to grandstand and make a spectacle of himself.
#18
You are CORRECT! I was pressed for time today and could not respond in a manner such as you
of many pen names 1- #17 I agree with your
responses and after thoughts. But WHere are we going? Look at the cost; loss of lives, family members left behind, and the billions spent on this war **##!!
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: andrea ||
12/06/2004 17:02 Comments ||
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#19
Screw Coll, we all knew what Tillman stood for: honor and valor. The scribes can wave the bloody shirt all they want. In this day and age, when baseball players hit drugged up homers, Tillman is the image I want my three boys to see. He is someone who put country ahead of riches, and no two-bit scribe can take that away.
Posted by: Capt America ||
12/06/2004 17:03 Comments ||
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#20
Yes, I agree with what you are saying about Bravery and Valor. I can't comment on Tillmans character- only read about him, when he was killed and I think PEOPLE did a story on him prior to going into the armed forces...about his potential football career and how he was rolling the dice by joining the service! Had he only known his fate.
Andrea
Posted by: andrea ||
12/06/2004 17:07 Comments ||
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#21
Had he only known his fate.
I think he would have gone anyway. He wanted his life to be more than just football, and it was.
#22
Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the Gate:
``To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his gods
December 6, 2004: No one really noticed, but the pass rate of those in training to be U.S. Navy SEAL commandos has gone way up. But the navy isn't worried about the quality slipping. One of the rarely discussed, or even mentioned, aspects of the SEAL training was that the number passing in each class depended more on how many SEALs the navy needed, than on the quality of the candidates. The final cut was not made randomly. Increasingly difficult (like sitting in the cold California surf at night until enough people passed out) tasks would be assigned to the students until enough failed to leave the magic number of candidates the navy had jobs for. One could say that this was simply a way to get the best of the best, or grading on the curve. And many SEALs accepted it as a reasonable way to train elite fighters. But the fact remains that many qualified trainees were flunked. Now, everyone that qualifies, gets to be a SEAL. The navy is expanding the SEAL force and needs all the qualified people it can get. It's doubtful that there will be any noticeable decline in the quality of SEAL commandos.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/06/2004 9:16:47 AM ||
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#1
"Itâs doubtful that there will be any noticeable decline in the quality of SEAL commandos."
-yeah, bullshit. There's a reason why 5'7" white boys who run a 5.4 40 yard dash don't play in the NFL (disclaimer for punters/place kickers).
#3
I don't know, but the bad thing - whether or not StrategyPage is right - is that any degradation will be noticed mainly at the cost of SEALs' lives :-(
#4
Frankly the Navy has flushed a lot of high quality folks out of BUDS for the very reason the article states: Navy needs 40 SEALs that year and they aren't going to graduate 41. The unfortunate thing for the Navy is that you can't disperse BUDS graduates throughout the fleet, like the Army does with Rangers. A SEAL is of little use in an engineroom.
I met guys in the surface Navy who had the misfortune of spraining an ankle two days before Hell Week. Can't run, can't graduate, and the Surface Navy gets another batch of embittered sailors.
#5
Well, Dreadnought, maybe this means that your embittered sailors will get another shot and if they pass again, be confirmed? :)
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
12/06/2004 17:46 Comments ||
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#6
Only 40 per year? Is it really the case that the quality of #s 51-100 is significantly lower than for #s 1-40?
To use the NFL analogy, that would be like saying the NFL's capable of filling out only one Pro Bowl squad. Doubt it. It's a big country, I'm sure we can come up with another 100 or so standouts for the SEALS program. We're fighting a global war on dozens of fronts across Africa, middle east, south and central and east Asia. We need all the talent we can get.
#7
Lex, the article says "Now, everyone that qualifies, gets to be a SEAL."
a lot of people qualify to be Marines to, doesn't mean they get to be Marines or should be Marines, just that they qualify. Take it from someone whose been through some grueling military ran schools, that's a big difference.
#8
a lot of people qualify to be Marines to, doesn't mean they get to be Marines or should be Marines, just that they qualify.
What Jarhead meant to say was:
There's an upper level of "qualification" and a "lower" level. When the need is greatest....ALL "qualified" personnel are accepted for training, and MAY, after successfully completing training...graduate.
When the need is reduced...only the BEST qualified are accepted for training, but they still have to graduate before the "bear the title Marine", or SEAL, if that's their wont.
The Australian Federal Defence Minister Robert Hill is due to visit Indonesia next week in a sign of strengthening ties between the two countries in the wake of deadly extremist bomb attacks, according to state media. The state Antara news agency said Senator Hill's visit was agreed to by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer during a religious summit held in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta. Canberra stepped up security links with Jakarta in the wake of the October 2002 Bali bombings in which 202 people, including 88 Australians, were killed.
Australian police specialists played a key role in the investigations. The cooperation was extended in September this year when militants detonated a bomb outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, killing nine people. Both attacks have been blamed on the Jemaah Islamiah regional terror network said to have links to Al Qaeda. Mr Yudhoyono, who was installed as president in October, has promised to get tough on Islamic extremists in the world's largest Muslim-populated country, a stance welcomed by the Federal Government which views him as an ally.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
12/06/2004 5:14:30 PM ||
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Syria's President Bashar al-Assad met on Monday PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei and Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath in the first official Palestinian visit to Damascus since 1996. Talks during the meeting dealt with the situation in the occupied Palestinian lands and the underway preparations for the Palestinian elections. According to SANA, "President Assad stressed Syria's support to the Palestinian people's resistance and national unity in the face of the forthcoming requirements." For his part, Abbas underlined importance of the Syrian-Palestinian coordination and consultation in the face of the current challenges.
In a joint press conference following their meeting, Abbas expressed pleasure over his visit to Syria and meeting President Assad, adding that talks between dealt with many issues of common concern. He also asserted importance of coordination and consultation between the two sides as soon as possible to deal with issues of common interest in the region, pointing out to the importance of the national dialogue among the Palestinian factions. Qurei said that the most important result that could stem from this visit is reaching a serious, clear and frank coordination between the Syrian and the Palestinian sides. He also pointed out to the importance of coordination among the Palestinians, Syrians, Jordanians, Lebanese and the other Arabs since all sides seek a just and comprehensive solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2004 4:16:16 PM ||
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Okay, I'm game - let's have a JUST solution indeed.
Actually, that's a hard one since there are legitimate grievances on both sides. Sigh.
Posted by: too true ||
12/06/2004 20:19 Comments ||
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#2
Hmmmmm - usually they took their pay from the mid-level terror-managers
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/06/2004 20:20 Comments ||
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While the results of this year's American election may have liberal Democrats and much of the extended international community shaking their heads in disbelief, a surprising number of Arabs seem to have not only expected President George W. Bush's return to power but also supported it. Since I began teaching in Damascus six months ago, I have been continually surprised to find support and even admiration for Bush in that city, mixed in with the usual polemics about American imperialism. The presumed wildfire of anti-American and anti-Bush sentiment that has consumed much of Europe and Asia has apparently skipped over parts of the Arab world, where people often have more in common with Middle America than they do with the Middle East... "But doesn't he scare you?" I asked finally, unable to contain my personal feelings and throwing the lesson plan out the window. "Because of Bush's ideas many people in my country think that all of you are terrorists." Rahaf and most of the others just shrugged. Maybe that was all true, they said, but he was still a good president... An interesting combination. They both respect Bush and utterly abhor many things the liberal left support.
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
12/06/2004 9:13:58 AM ||
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#1
It's that strong horse thing Binny talked about.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/06/2004 9:41 Comments ||
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#2
What a novel take on the American election by a professor. Bush won because the proletariat are a bunch of homophobic, gun-totin', religious-sheep, ignorami. Such deep and insightful thought.
#3
What the libs don't understand is that in other cultures, strength is respected. Negotiation is a sign of weakness. Arabs do abhor the exporting of porn, abortion and drugs which have come to represent America to much of the world.
Posted by: John Simmins ||
12/06/2004 10:27 Comments ||
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#4
Actually, negotiating itself isn't a sign of weakness. It's not establishing that you will negotiate from a position of strength (which can be as simple as pointing out that what the other party is delivering is not what was originally promised).
And thus I came to realize something that the Democrats could never admit: that there exists a support base for both the Republicans' domestic and foreign agenda among the very people we thought most opposed current U.S. policy. The cultural background and value systems which inform many of these young Arabs' outlook on the world mean they will always favor men like Bush over men like Kerry. The tenets of faith, family and, yes, "moral issues" determine the overall political leanings of a considerable number of the Middle East's future leaders, in rejection of Democratic stump issues like increased liberalism, internationalism and scientific progress.
Though Democrats are often quick to criticize their opponents for seeing the issues in stark black and white, "us and them" terms, perhaps they ought to step back from their own obsession with "red" and "blue" dichotomies and recognize this nuance of Middle Eastern reality. Having a truly even-handed and practical approach to peace in the Arab world means realizing that not everyone, and certainly not all of the elites in Arab society, sympathize with the anti-American movements taking place within their own ranks, and that these heartland Arabs could prove a valuable ally in future U.S.-Arab relations.
Iran's embattled President Mohammad Khatami, isolated as one of the few reformists left in office, has admitted that he cannot wait until his second and final term in office ends next year. "I am counting the moments for my involvment in political affairs to be over," he was quoted as saying during a meeting Saturday with staff from the student news agency ISNA. Rather than stay in politics, Khatami said he wanted to "enjoy my old age in a squalid cell in Qom university atmosphere."
After a stint as the Islamic republic's culture minister and then in the national library, Khatami was elected president with landslide majorities in 1997 and again in 2001 after he reluctantly decided to stand for re-election. But the mild-mannered, mid-ranking cleric's promise to shake-up the way Iran is run and liberalise the country has met with stiff opposition from hardliners who wield more power through the courts, political oversight bodies, the security forces and state media. His image as a lame-duck leader was cemented after his allies in parliament were ousted in February's elections. Most or all reformists were barred from contesting those polls by the Guardians Council, a conservative-controlled legislative oversight body. With Khatami also unable to stem a judicial crackdown on his leftist supporters in the press and universities, the president has also come in for heavy criticism. In recent months he has been barely visible on the political scene. The Iranian constitutional bars any president from serving more than two successsive terms in office.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2004 11:20:16 PM ||
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The degree of difference between an Iranian 'reformist' and a 'conservative' counterpart is the difference between the shade of black in their turbans.
Fearful of being left behind, Syrian President Bashar Assad has been telling people something quite startling - that he is willing to resume peace talks with Israel unconditionally. The Israeli and US response so far has been lukewarm, with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon insisting Thursday that Syria first must crack down on militants. Publicly, Assad's government has backpedaled. Yet the overtures - documented by visitors including UN Mideast envoy Terje Roed-Larsen - are another clear sign of how a virtually dead Middle East peace process has suddenly reached its most hopeful moment in years.
You don't suppose it has anything to do with Yasser being in stable condition, do you?
"I don't think anybody is sitting very comfortably and nobody is pleased with the status quo," said Rami Khouri, executive editor of Lebanon's English-language Daily Star. "I think everybody - the Syrians and Israelis - are eager and even, I would say, desperate for a negotiated peace." The Syrian outreach may end up resulting in little, despite the optimism. Many analysts believe Sharon will focus first on talks with the Palestinians, who are seen by Israelis as more open to deals after the death of Yasser Arafat and next month's Palestinian elections. And the United States appears far more interested in pressuring Syria to stop militants from crossing into Iraq than in any vague peace overtures. Yet Assad - under strong US pressure on many fronts and needing international credibility to open his country economically - has clear reasons for reaching out now. "I would wager to say it has a lot to do with US pressure," said Jonathan Lincoln, a senior research associate at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2004 10:30:12 PM ||
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Syrians and Israelis - are ...desperate for a negotiated peace
Hmmm...negotiated peace? I'd say that at this point we are all fed up with "negotiated peace" and looking for real peace.
#3
the UN official announced with the same sort of enthusiasm he used to show about Yasser Arafatâs peaceful intentions ha!...someone should tell the assad man that the 20th Century ended on 9/11/2004 and we are in the 21st now.
Is it just this glass of wine, or does this article really say that the assad-man is being informed by many sources that if he doesn't pull out of Lebananon and work with Israel that he's next?
The grave marker in the front row of Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery looks like almost every other marker in that precise arrangement on the grassy burial ground, but for Sikhs, it is one of a kind. Under that gray-white headstone lies Sgt. Uday Singh, the first U.S. soldier of the Sikh faith killed in the war in Iraq. A group of three dozen Sikh people from the area came yesterday morning to honor the first anniversary of the 21-year-old Army gunner's death in Iraq with a modest service, and just as important, to remind the rest of the world that Sikhs are Americans. ...
The youths at the ceremony wore the typical trappings of U.S. teenagers -- Old Navy fleece jackets and designer boots. But they carried their heritage as well, leading their parents and fellow churchgoers in a centuries-old battle cry that Sikhs yelled when fighting Moguls who were trying to forcibly convert everyone to Islam. "Whoever replies to this chant . . . " the children shouted in the Punjabi language. "Let them be victorious!" the adults responded.
Sgt. Uday Singh was on patrol in Habbinayah, Iraq Dec. 1 when an enemy ambush took his life.
Singh, an armor crewman with the 1st Battalion, 34th Armored Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, was honored posthumously in a Jan. 12 ceremony in which his parents accepted the Meritorious Service Medal and the Purple Heart on his behalf.
âHe was a courageous young boy and the Army was in his blood, and he died with honor,ââ said his mother, Manjit Singh.
Singhâs father, Preet Singh, is a colonel in the Indian Army. The parents flew in from India to accept the awards. Col. Singh spent time with Soldiers that knew his son at a luncheon, thanking them for their service and the friendship they had with his son.
As Iran moves closer to obtaining a nuclear weapon, the Pentagon has started eyeing construction of a new military base near the Iran border in western Afghanistan. American officials confirmed yesterday to The New York Sun that the military has begun scouting out an area in the Holang desert area of the Herat province within 20 miles of the Iran border.
That'd be why they had to move Ismail Khan on to more lucrative pickings greener pastures.
Two administration sources familiar with the plan said the base would be largely for the Afghan army but that American aircraft would probably be deployed there as well.
Next year's headline: "Afghans take Sistan-Baluch as Americans move on Qom"?
The development could give America and its allies more military options should the president decide to use force to delay or still the Persian nuclear program. In many ways, American forces have effectively encircled Iran, projecting power not only from a coalition base in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, but also from military facilities in Uzbekistan. Those facilities were initially leased for Operation Enduring Freedom shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York City and the Washington area. In addition, the American Navy still patrols the Persian Gulf sealanes, making it possible to bring an aircraft carrier into those shallow waters off the coast of the Islamic republic.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/06/2004 4:19:00 AM ||
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We should set up multiple bases on the Iranian border in Afghanistan and in Iraq. We should invite young Iranians to get across the border to these bases and join up for training to liberate their own country.
Rumsfeld wanted a much bigger Iraq force in the war, but was turned down by State. We should have been training Iranians in these bases since the fall of Baghdad. Let's roll.
#4
Rumsfeld wanted a much bigger Iraq force in the war, but was turned down by State.
I thought it was the Pentagon who wanted a larger force, but Rummy turned them down. And State didn't want to invade at all, but just talk them to death.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/06/2004 10:37 Comments ||
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#5
You are mixing up US forces in Iraq with Iraqi forces in Iraq.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/06/2004 12:06 Comments ||
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#7
There are several problems on moving on Iran. The biggest is the Russians. Second is supplying attacking forces. We can't do that through Afghanistan, and there are no decent Indian Ocean ports at all. Bandar Abbas is the closest thing to a port capable of sustaining heavy combat operations, and it's in the narrowest portion of the Persian Gulf. Two other major problems are Syria and Saudi Arabia, neither of which would be happy with a US attack on Iran. We may need to dispose of those two obstacles before we can bring the jaws together on the Iranian mullahs. Taking out Saudi Arabia would also cut a huge amount of funding for the jihadiboomers.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/06/2004 13:39 Comments ||
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#8
Take out Syria and we have several fine ports to use.Totally unrelated:any gamers out there that have beat Splinter cell I could use some help.Embasy2:how do I get the Colonel to activate his pc?I have already interogated him and he still won't activate his pc.Shoot me an e-mail instead of eating up Fred's bandwidth: w_r_manues@yahoo.com
#9
Let's see...that be Zarqawi's old digs before fleeing Afganistan for transit through Iran.
How Iranic...
Posted by: Capt America ||
12/06/2004 16:54 Comments ||
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#10
So the order you take them out is 1) Russia, 2) Syria, 3) Saudis, and then 4) Iraq? Do you secure Iraq first - perhaps wait a couple odf weeks after the election, then start on the above? Or perhaps just get going now? There is no great necessity for troops in western europe, so you could use them.
Maybe the bunker-busting nukes (pre-set for Iran and N. Kor sites) should be accelerated.
The Taliban threatened Monday to launch attacks during the swearing in of Afghan President Hamid Karzai while the U.S. military said every precaution was being taken to protect a ceremony to be attended by top U.S. officials. The inauguration will take place on Tuesday morning at Karzai's fortress-like presidential palace in Kabul, and will be witnessed by Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, as well as other foreign dignitaries. Mullah Dadullah, the most senior Taliban military commander and a member of the movement's 10-man leadership council, warned people they should stay away from government and military installations throughout Afghanistan during the inauguration. "We do not want to harm innocent people," he said, adding that Taliban guerrillas had been given orders: "If you get a chance, disrupt the ceremony."
They threatened to stop the election,too. That worked well, didn't it?
Must be imposters: the real Taliban doesn't worry about harming innocent people.
He said guerrillas all over the country had been asked to be prepared to launch attacks to remind foreigners that Islamist fighters opposed their occupation of Afghanistan. U.S. military spokesman Major Mark McCann said quick reaction ground and air units from U.S.-led forces and NATO-led peacekeepers were part of a comprehensive plan to counter potential militant action. "Every possible contingency has been planned for," he said. McCann told a news briefing all major routes and venues in Kabul would be well-protected and foreign troop units were standing by to carry out explosives disposal and to provide medical and command and control assistance. VIPs attending have been asked to supply their blood groups as a precaution.
Doesn't that add a festive air to the inauguration parties?
McCann said the U.S.-led force, together with the Afghan army and police, planned winter operations throughout Afghanistan, collectively code-named "Lightning Freedom," to create conditions for successful parliamentary polls next spring by squeezing militant groups harder. McCann expressed hope that an offer of amnesty by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad to rank and file Taliban who laid down their arms would bear fruit. "There have been from time to time reports from the field that there are members of the Taliban who we believe are receptive to the offer of reconciliation," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/06/2004 4:15:43 AM ||
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Osama bin Laden is using cash from the Afghanistan heroin market to finance his life on the run, paying bodyguards and buying off warlords in Pakistan, says a congressman who has visited the region. Rep. Mark Steven Kirk, Illinois Republican, said in an interview that bin Laden's al Qaeda terror organization is reaping $28 million a year in illicit heroin sales. Some of the money is funding bin Laden's fugitive status as he pops back and forth between Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal areas and Afghanistan's eastern mountain regions.
"We now know al Qaeda's dominant source of funding is the illegal sale of narcotics," said Mr. Kirk, a member of the House Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee. Mr. Kirk said that, while bin Laden has lots of allies in the Waziristan tribal lands east of Kabul, Afghanistan, he does not speak the native tongues and cannot trust everyone as his entourage moves from place to place. "He is a foreigner in a strange land," Mr. Kirk said. "He must have money to buy off the local warlords. Operating a clandestine, heavily armed organization takes money and running narcotics is the natural way." A Pentagon adviser on drug policy said Mr. Kirk is "on target."
"We know of individuals in Afghanistan who continue to fund al Qaeda with drug proceeds," the Pentagon adviser said. The congressman believes the way to catch bin Laden is to cut off his money. "We have to nail the drug-lord financing first," he said. "Once you hit his income, you head off his ability to pay local warlords."
Bin Laden's major supplier, U.S. authorities say, is Haji Bashir Noorzai, a former Taliban financier who smuggles heroin from the Kandahar area to al Qaeda in Pakistan. The Pentagon adviser said Noorzai helped finance al Qaeda when it operated with the Taliban. The alliance continues to this day. In return for money, Noorzai gets al Qaeda operatives who move his drugs offshore. "If we are able to take out a couple of kingpins, suddenly bin Laden would have to miss a payment to his warlords," Mr. Kirk said. He said the U.S. obtains "credible reports" on al Qaeda and drugs from "people who have contact with the outer ring of the bin Laden organization."
One piece of evidence of al Qaeda drug connection arose last winter, when the U.S. Navy intercepted small boats in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Pakistan and seized large quantities of heroin. Mr. Kirk said the U.S. military interrogated four crewmen and learned they were al Qaeda operatives taking the drugs to the United Arab Emirates. In Quetta, Pakistan, a kilo of heroin fetches $2,000; in the United Arab Emirates, the same quantity brings $10,000.
"This was an attempt by al Qaeda to develop a downstream retail market at which they could increase their profits five times," he said. "[Bin Laden] requires his own protection, and the kind of security apparatus that he is supposed to have around him, that gives a very big signature," Lt. Gen. Safdar Hussain told Reuters. "There is not an inch of South Waziristan or the tribal area which we have not swept time and again, and if he was here in the tribal areas, I can assure you that he wouldn't have escaped my eyes and ears."
But the Pentagon adviser cautioned that "just because they throw up their hands and say he's not here, don't believe he's not." "You've got to remember that area has strong support for bin Laden."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/06/2004 4:14:19 AM ||
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#1
I actually met Congressman Kirk last week, although in a different context and somewhat unexpectedly, so I forgot to mention support for the WOT. I thought afterwards to point him to Randburg:) He is a straight-shooter and good guy.
From his web site: Congressman Kirk is a Naval Reserve intelligence officer who served during conflicts with Iraq, Haiti, and Bosnia. He served four tours at sea and three in Panama. The U.S. Navy named Kirk 'Intelligence Officer of the Year' in 1999 for his combat service in Kosovo. Kirk flew on missions over Iraq and continues to serve one weekend a month in the Pentagon. He is the only member of Congress to serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom and was an air crewman over Iraq during Operation Northern Watch.
#4
I thought you were making a comment about howmany peoploe from RAND post here.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/06/2004 9:33 Comments ||
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#5
well this is convenient. We could wrap up the war on drugs and the war on terror all at the same time just by stopping the movement of white slag around the globe. Here's an idea. Why don't we just manufacture this stuff - getting a big boost in our stock market which, btw we can use to fix social security and medicare - and then if someone is addicted, they can admit themselves for treatment and if that fails, they get a perscription for their ILLNESS. This would cause a huge decrease in crime, end multiple problems in our ghettos, decrease the spread of AIDS, and put both Kimmy and bin Laden out of business. Jeesh. We already realized that prohibition doesn't work. How many people have to die before we get a clue this time around?
#6
Can't do it. Sorry. American-made white slag lacks Songun. We just can't compete...
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2004 10:39 Comments ||
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#7
Sorry Fred, but we make an EXCEPTIONAL heroin replacement. I took it for about five months before my wife complained about the personality change, and I quit. It's called Oxycontin, and you can become addicted to the stuff. Anything over about 50mg will screw with your mind as much as White Slag. There are a dozen or so others on the market, as well.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/06/2004 14:04 Comments ||
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#8
Hillbilly Heroin, OP? That stuff is evil.....
Of course, so is the real thing.
If I'm correct, doesn't Haji mean that he's done the whole goin' to Mecca thing? I love it when a holy guy pushes dope.
Britain has won American agreement to hold an international peace conference on the Middle East in London early next year, The Telegraph has learned. The meeting, planned for late January or early February, is likely to be attended by foreign ministers. But it is not yet clear that Israel will send a delegation at that level. If it does not attend, the conference is expected to go ahead with the Palestinian, Arab, American and European participants. Tony Blair will discuss the details with Israeli and Palestinian leaders when he visits the Middle East this month.
Washington appeared to pour cold water on the idea at first when the Prime Minister met President George W Bush last month. But the plan has been quietly revived and now has America's blessing. Senior diplomatic sources say that preparations for the conference now dominate foreign policy discussions between the US and Britain and are at the heart of attempts to heal the transatlantic divisions caused by the war in Iraq. Even hard-line supporters of Israel in the Bush administration appear to accept the idea of a conference as a means of shoring up the new Palestinian leadership after the Jan 9 ballot to choose a successor to Yasser Arafat, who died last month. The conference will probably be announced only after the ballot and will depend on the election of the front-runner, Mahmoud Abbas, who negotiated the Oslo accords.
The challenge by the populist Palestinian leader, Marwan Barghouti, who has said he will stand for election from his Israeli prison cell, could upset Britain's plans. Washington, which has demanded that the Palestinians choose a new leadership "not tainted with terrorism", is unlikely to deal with a man serving five life sentences for masterminding attacks that killed four Israelis and a Greek monk. Blimey. He only snuffed one Greek monk and a handful of Jews. What's a guy gotta do to get a little bit of forgiveness round here? After all, how many world leaders can honestly say they never got up one morning, went out, and murdered a bunch of random strangers? Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Bulldog ||
12/06/2004 3:56:07 AM ||
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#1
Looks like a carrot to the Paleos to induce them to elect Abbas. My money's still on Barghouti. That cell is going to get pretty crowded.
#5
This kind of international brokering is more effective when there are no outside parties organizing the negotiations, especially, I'm afraid, European ones. Tony means well, but this kind of thing is a set-up where everybody gangs up on Israel. There is no point in negotiating anything until the Arab parties are serious about actually accepting Israel's right to exist within viable borders (the Green Line does not meet that criterion), with no right of return for the Palestinians, and are willing to negotiate a real peace treaty (not a mere cessation of hostilities, ie hudna) on that basis.
#6
Payback for support for Iraq. Fitting that it's timed for right around the Iraqi elections as well. Let's hope Bush's people turn this into a PR victory for us: two free elections for the first time in the muslim middle east, and neither would have happened without pressure by the Bush admin.
#8
'Britain to host Mid-East peace summit (Jan/Feb)
Lex makes a good point , but Mid-East , Peace and summit all in the same sentence , nah !! I dont beleive it !
hosted by us infidels , no arab is gonna take this seriously . Expect a walk out after day one of Israel bashing .
#9
Instead, America and Israel want a businesslike meeting to focus on "practical issues" such as rebuilding Palestinian security services and providing financial support for Palestinians after Israelâs planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip next year.
Wait a minute - hoooold everything!! "Financial support"????
NO. Not until the Paleo "leadership" takes solid steps toward reforming their whole society. They know what these steps are, and nothing else needs to be said about the matter until some action on their part is seen.
So the brits have a whack at it, so much the better.
Wake me up when there's real news.
Posted by: Capt America ||
12/06/2004 17:08 Comments ||
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Amen, BAR. NO SUPPORT until Pallies stop all attacks inside Israel. Measurably. Period.
I saw today that Musharraf is yapping about root causes again, poverty, ignorance, blah blah blah.
So are jihadis too stupid to know it's wrong to kill innocents, too poor to know it's wrong to kill innocents, or indifferent to killing innocents because what matters to them is superlative barbarity when proving the strength of their religious faith?
How many of the 19 hijackers were poor and ignorant? How many were educated, financially secure, and rabid zealots?
End of conference. My fee is $50,000. Here's the door. Click.
#12
I agree with Capt America BIG YAWN. There will always be trouble over there- no matter who is in office. Too many cooks in the kitchen and the pot is always boiling. # 11 Jules 187
you are so right...but where do you come up with $50,000.00- DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YOUR BACK SIDE. RUN DONT WALK.
ANdrea
Posted by: andrea ||
12/06/2004 17:46 Comments ||
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Andrea-a study was done and everyone in the international community agrees-it's a 5-figure gig. ;)
#14
Expect more of these make-believe show "conferences", "summits" etc on a host of issues, not just Isr-Pal. This is the tribute we're expected to pay PC polite world opinion, represented by Blair above all other leaders, for having been so arrogant as to re-elect Bush.
So we can expect another summit to revise Kyoto, a conference to reform the UN (ie do nothing), more summits on African debt relief etc. Sound and fury, signifying f-all....
From the Rantburg Diplomacy Desk:
The tomb of Yasser Arafat has become a pilgrimage site for visiting diplomats, many of whom shunned the veteran Palestinian leader before his death last month. Joschka Fischer, the German foreign minister, added a wreath yesterday to the dozens already decorating the burial site in Ramallah. Others were placed in recent days by Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, and the foreign ministers of Russia, Japan and Spain. Mr. Arafat died in a French hospital at the age of 75 on 11 November. Since then, violence has dropped considerably and diplomats are talking optimistically about the possibility of new peace moves. In parallel, Palestinians are sensing a posthumous easing in world attitudes toward Mr. Arafat. "Many parties are now reviewing their positions," said Abdallah Abdallah, the deputy foreign minister for Palestine. "Even US officials now are talking about Arafat serving his people and the peace process."
Posted by: Seafarious ||
12/06/2004 12:11:30 AM ||
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#1
"Even US officials now are talking about Arafat serving his people and the peace process."
#4
Arafat's grave should be a hazardous waste site. What is Jack Straw doing at that landfill?
Arafat was a lifelong terrorist and a thief of billions from his own people. They should have packed him in lye to purify the earth.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/06/2004 1:25 Comments ||
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Jack Straw... is a fitting prop at the hazardous waste site. He is not just a POS, but a whole refuse.
#7
Just think of all these asshats going there is a clear message. WE HATE ALL JEWS! Europe needs a good cleaning it appears anti-semitism is still rampant there.
#8
That pilgrimage thing again. The 3,278 most holy site in Islam.
Posted by: john ||
12/06/2004 4:59 Comments ||
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We now have a new pilgrimage site for Islam.
Miracles are already happening.... after the visit the length of Mr. Straw's dick has increased by 2 inches (on a good day). The bad new's is he cant get it up any more because every time he pulls it out, he remembers Arafat's face
and completely looses tumescence.
Also, pregnant women have been known to miscarry
after visiting the Arafish memorial.
We are also witnessing material transmutation....
A poor sheperd passing the grave with a loaf of bread discovered that the loaf turned into high-grade RDX.........
Such is the power and holyness of the grave of the hero of Islam........
Ticket's ? ... Anyone... ???
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
12/06/2004 10:19 Comments ||
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#10
I'm tellin' ya - headstone shaped like a urinal...
#11
Well, maybe they're making the pilgrimage to make sure that the late Arafish is really, and truely most sincerely dead. Dealing with that duplicitious set of scum, I'd want to make very sure. I certainly wouldn't take the PA's word for it.
Posted by: ed ||
12/06/2004 17:46 Comments ||
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#14
For me, regardless of his history Arafat's grave is prob the proverbial "high-water mark" of contemporay Islam, at least for the those generations alive today. Whether one believes that Osama and Radical Islam are PC mercs for International Leftism-Socialism-Communism, or NOT, ISLAM MUST NOW, UNILATERALLY AND INDEPENDENT OF ITS LEFTIST MASTERS, ENTER ITS OWN "FINAL STRUGGLE" BETWEEN DE FACTO COEXISTENCE WITH NON-ISLAM, OR GLOBAL WAR; TO CHOOSE BETWEEN FINAL WAR OR FINAL PEACE. Not just ags Israel but for the very essence and LT survival of its faith, as like anti-US FRANCE Islam must realize that to help destroy the USA only hastens its own inevitable demise at the hands of the Communists. IFF the Failed Left has its way, IT'LL BE WAR!
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday described Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as the Palestinians' best chance for peace. Mubarak's comments echoed those of his foreign minister, who returned the day before from a rare trip to Israel, that were strikingly upbeat and could mean warming relations between the Jewish state and an important Middle East peace mediator at a crucial time. "I think if they [Palestinians] can't achieve progress in the time of the current [Israeli] prime minister, it will be very difficult to make any progress in peace. He [Sharon] is capable of pursuing peace, and he is capable of reaching solutions, if he wants to," Mubarak told reporters in Port Said, where he had gone to inaugurate a new port project.
Mubarak urged the Palestinians, who are to elect a successor to Yasser Arafat on January 9, to unite behind Mahmoud Abbas, the interim Palestinian leader. He criticized rival Marwan Barghouti's decision to run in the election. "Israel's prime minister said he was ready to do what the Palestinians want, to facilitate the election and help in removing the checkpoints. He only asks for one thing: the end of the explosions, so they can work together on a solid basis," Mubarak said. Israel will not launch attacks or raids against Palestinians if the situation remains calm and it is not provoked, Sharon said at a meeting of newspaper editors on Thursday. However, Israel would act if it had information about "ticking bombs" or if Palestinians fired rockets at Israel, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2004 10:47:01 PM ||
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Mubarak urged the Palestinians, who are to elect a successor to Yasser Arafat on January 9, to unite behind Mahmoud Abbas, the interim Palestinian leader.
Uniting behind Mazen is not enough. The Paleos need to give up the Jew-hating. They must stop the constant conspiring to attack Israel, the constant teaching of Jew-hatred in Paleo schools, and crush all the organizations dedicated to Jew-hating. There must be no ground given to the Paleos until these things happen. Is Mubarak willing to lead the way? He can, by making these points nice and clear.
#2
That will be hard for him, BaR. Mubarak's government sponsored a 10-part TV special based on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion during Ramadan last year. The ancient Jewish communities of Egypt, some founded during the time of Alexander the Great, were eradicated after 1948. And how can the West demand such things of the Muslim world, when our own universities teach that Israel is the root of all evil? (I have a 14 year old daughter who will head to a good university in a few years -- if she keeps up her grades. She tests for her black belt this Friday, and does not tolerate idiocy well. I am very concerned about her college experience, as they like to call it.)
#3
Mubarak is a no good hypocrite who does what is convenient for him at the moment.
We should not judge him by his declarations but by what he does.
Egypt had a large part in the weapon smuggling into Gaza through the egyptian border.
They have their own agenda to push (which we should not blame them for) and we must not be misled by PR stunts they ocassionaly perform.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
12/06/2004 10:27 Comments ||
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Abbas beating Bargouti, and Mubarak pushing Pals to vote for Abbas against Bargouti, may not be everything wed want, buts its a good step.
Mubarak telling Pals that Sharon is their best chance for peace, is a massive piece of reality centeredness on his part - something not only other arabs need to know, but lots of people in the West.
The government envisions Palestinian insurgency strikes on civilian and military targets during a planned effort to expel up to 10,000 Israeli from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank in 2005. Officials said the government and military forsee a coordinated effort by Palestinian insurgents, supported by the Palestinian Authority, to attack Israeli soldiers and police deployed to evacuate residents from Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank. They said Palestinians could also be planning to launch mortars and rockets toward convoys of Israelis forced out of the areas. "If there will be [Palestinian] fire, Israel will have to respond in the most harsh manner," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Thursday. "We are talking of thousands of trucks, of women, men, children, equipment. We will not allow the evacuation effort to harm in any way those being evacuated." Sharon said he was intent that the expulsion of Israelis from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank begin in September 2005. But he acknowledged that Palestinian attacks would disrupt his timetable and lead to massive Israeli retaliation against insurgency strongholds in the PA areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2004 10:08:26 PM ||
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Jeez, you'd think if the joooz were leaving, they'd give 'em a break and lay rose petals on the road out. But no...any chance to kill Hebrews.
Turkey and Russia are interested in the normalization of the situation in the Caucasus region more than anybody else, stated Vladimir Putin in an interview with the Turkish media on the eve of his visit to Turkey. "I believe that Russia and Turkey are states that are interested in the normalization of the situation in the Southern Caucasus more than anybody else. We understand the current situation in the region better than anyone else does, and we are more interested in its normalization than anybody else because we are neighbors of that region. We have close economic and humanitarian ties with the region," the Russian President underlined. According to Mr. Putin, it is in the interest of both Russia and Turkey to solve effectively the existing problems in the region without unnecessary rivalry and involvement of additional outside forces.
In addition, the Russian President expressed his concern about continuing violence in Iraq. "We will do everything possible to improve the situation in Iraq as soon as possible using the UN framework and our traditional channels of interaction with Iraq," Mr. Putin stated. In his opinion, full and final reestablishment of the sovereignty of Iraqi people might be a sign of normalization of the situation in Iraq. Answering the question about Russia's intention to send its troops to the north of Iraq if an independent Kurdish state is established there, Mr. Putin emphasized that "sending the military is an extreme measure, which is not always the most effective."
"There are plenty of other methods. Generally, we should not bring the situation to the point where the intervention of the military is necessary. Yet our position remains clear: we stand for the territorial integrity of Iraq and against the division of the country on quasi-states," the Russian President announced. He said that the Russian and Turkish positions on that issue coincided.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2004 10:15:35 PM ||
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I believe that Russia and Turkey are states that are interested in the normalization of the situation in the Southern Caucasus more than anybody else.
Sounds like a press release for the actions listed in the article above re: Turkey raiding Chechens. As for the veiled Kurdish threat...at this point, I'd put my money on the Kurds.
#5
Chechnya is the North Caucasus. South Caucasus is Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Its possible in Russian terms S. Caucasus extends into northern Turkey and Iran.
And it's the first I've heard about Russia sending troops (sounding more like invading) to Iraq if the Kurds get independence. Putin's playing a deep and dangerous game.
#6
Why would Putin be concerned about Kurd independence? Turkey, I understand -- it is an article of faith to them that they retain the final remnant of the Ottoman Empire. Syria"s concerns make sense, too -- in a terror state, loss of control in one area presages loss of control overall. But why should Russia care?
#8
Putin's just brown-nosing again. After 9/11, he got on TV and declared, "We are with you [Americans]."
Last week he went to India and declared his support for a UNSC seat with a veto for India.
Yesterday he went to Turkey and parroted the Turkish line that there will be no Kurdistan.
Congenital insincerity, perhaps. More likely diplomatic jujitsu from a wannabe superpower.
#9
We will do everything possible to improve the situation in Iraq as soon as possible using the UN framework and our traditional channels of interaction with Iraq," Mr. Putin stated. In his opinion, full and final reestablishment of the sovereignty of Iraqi people might be a sign of normalization of the situation in Iraq.
Using normal UN channels and acknowledging the sovereignty of Iraq sounds like Russia intends to do nothing, in re: to Iraq, to me. Also a big n.o. on military intervention.
phil_b: thanks for the informative map and the insight.
Posted by: too true ||
12/06/2004 10:13 Comments ||
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#12
I must bow to the superior minds. I always thought "they" should split Iraq into three to avoid a civil war and to prevent sectarian fighting. But reading this I see I was wrong. Kurds are much better off attached to Iraq - with an army and a bigger claim to the land than Turkey has. I admit I was WRONG.
#14
Meanwhile, Pooty Poot enables Iran to have plutonium. Can't have it both ways. He helped to build Iran into a monster that will eventually bite him in the ass.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/06/2004 11:36 Comments ||
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Hands-down, the most effective Iraqi fighting force is the Kurdish peshmerga. Properly equipped, they could handle the Turkeys stupid enough to cross the border - a risk that might lead to re-uniting those the Kurdish areas in both Iraq and Turkey, that vestige of the Ottoman Empire mentioned above... Of course we now must realize that Gul & Co aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, so... And if the Mad Mullahs are toppled, perhaps that section of traditional Kurdistan could, also, rejoin... Many dominoes lined up here - and the Kurds deserve better than they have ever gotten - as proven during the no-fly period where they flourished even under the threats and subversive actions of Saddam. The Kurds rock in many, many ways.
I've been a proponent of partition since day one in Iraq - and still see no valid reason to change that assessment. Just make sure the Kurds get the northern oil lands around Kirkuk and play nice with the Turkmen and Arab minorities in their zone, and they'd do a bang-up job of showing the Arabs what you can do if you "get" capitalism and aren't held back by Islamic sectarian idiocy.
A loose Confederation of 2 or 3 Partitions may, yet, be the outcome for Iraq - a BS entity created by Sykes and Picot - prolly over drinks. British and French arrogance knew no bounds in those days... which must be why there is such a hue & cry over American power, today. Imagine what they would do with it. Back on-point: There is no sanctity to the current confabulation called Iraq - period. It is a ME version of Yugoslavia. That worked out really well, eh?
#17
The whole Middle East is version of Yugoslavia. There are lots of words the English langauge needs and doesn't have. Balkanize means to break up a state into multiple warring smaller states. It has a heavily negative connatation (and incidentally the state of Yugoslavia was created to solve the problem of balkanization). What we need is the equivalent term that describes breaking up into multiple competing and succesful states. The best I could come up with was Balticize (for the succesful small states around the Baltic).
Jordan, besieged by domestic and internal threats, plans to restructure its military and security forces. Jordanian officials said the restructuring would aim to bolster border and internal security. They said the focus would be to monitor the Islamic opposition and halt the flow of weapons and insurgents from neighboring Iraq and Syria. On Dec. 1, Jordan's King Abdullah said the kingdom's defense forces would be restructured. He said the effort was meant to maintain the security and stability of the kingdom, which he deemed his top priority. "We will work towards reshaping these forces in accordance with our vision for its modernization and upgrading its efficiency, while preserving its size and numbers, so that it will remain -- as it has always been -- a role model in efficiency, excellence and belonging," Abdullah said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2004 10:06:10 PM ||
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We're going to double the number of Bedu in the ranks, in other words.
#3
Or sympathizers. Remember, Zarqawi is Jordanian and got his start in thugdom by trying to destabilize the government there. No doubt there are old Syria / Paleo / Ba'athist sympathies on the part of some of the senior military staff the current king inherited from his father.
First the half brother, then the unreliable generals and ministers.
Posted by: too true ||
12/06/2004 9:01 Comments ||
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Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Shalaan held talks with Pakistani leaders in late November in the first effort by a post-Saddam Hussein government to forge defense and military cooperation with Islamabad. On Nov. 23, Shalaan met President Pervez Musharraf and Defense Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal. Shalaan was said to have discussed proposals for defense cooperation between the two Muslim countries. Pakistani officials said Islamabad has offered to sell weapons and military platforms as well as provide training to the Iraqi military and security forces. Pakistan has been a leading military ally of Saudi Arabia, who has offered assistance to Baghdad. The officials said Islamabad briefed Shalaan and his delegation on a range of Pakistani platforms. They were said to include Al Khalid main battle tank and the Super Mashak air trainer.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2004 10:09:12 PM ||
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Tripoli/ 5 al Kanoon/Jana The Leader of the Revolution received King Abdullah II of Jordan and his high ranking delegation who arrived in Great Jamahiriya Sunday within the frame work of constant consultations and coordination. The meeting was also attended by General Mustafa Mohamed al Khroubi, the Secretaries of General Peoples Committee and the General Peoples Committee for Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation, the Leader and King Abdullah II studied the latest developments of the situation in the region, and international issues of common interest. The Leader of Revolution hosted a lunch banquet in honor of King Abdullah II and his accompanying delegation.
"More chicken, yer majesty?"
"No, thank you, Colonel. I've got to leave soon. I'm on my way to see Bush, y'know."
"Hmmm... I've been waiting for my invitation to Crawford for awhile now..."
"I'll mention it to him."
General Mustafa Mohamed al Khroubi, the Secretaries of General Peoples Committee and the General Peoples Committee for Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation were present in banquet. King Abudallah II of Jordan Kingdom arrived in Great Jamahiriya earlier today . General Mustafa Mohamed Alkaroubi was at the head of the welcoming delegation at Metiega International Airport. The Secretary of the General People's Committee for Foreigin Liaison and International Cooperation, and the Ambassador and members of the Jordanian Embassy were at the airport to receive King Abdullah.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2004 10:51:26 PM ||
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More pictures of Guh-Daffy's bodyguards, please!
Posted by: Dar ||
12/06/2004 10:39 Comments ||
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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.
Former U.S. Army Sgt. 
A number of Swiss Muslim activists voiced reservations about the launch of a new forum aimed at making the "moderate" voice of Muslims heard, fearing it could split the community.
Iran's embattled President Mohammad Khatami, isolated as one of the few reformists left in office, has admitted that he cannot wait until his second and final term in office ends next year. "I am counting the moments for my involvment in political affairs to be over," he was quoted as saying during a meeting Saturday with staff from the student news agency ISNA. Rather than stay in politics, Khatami said he wanted to "enjoy my old age in a 
Fearful of being left behind, Syrian President 
The Leader of the Revolution received King Abdullah II of Jordan and his high ranking delegation who arrived in Great Jamahiriya Sunday within the frame work of constant consultations and coordination. The meeting was also attended by General Mustafa Mohamed al Khroubi, the Secretaries of General Peoples Committee and the General Peoples Committee for Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation, the Leader and King Abdullah II studied the latest developments of the situation in the region, and international issues of common interest. The Leader of Revolution hosted a lunch banquet in honor of King Abdullah II and his accompanying delegation. 
