Eritrea has expelled Canadian, Russian, European and United States peacekeepers from the United Nations mission monitoring the border with Ethiopia. The decision makes UN observation of the tense border almost impossible, says the BBC's Ed Harris in Asmara.
It's not like they'd do anything, but they like to watch.
In a letter to the UN mission, the Eritrean government gave staff of those nationalities 10 days to leave. Relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea are poor and there are fears of a new war over their disputed border.
Call us when you've finished killing each other, OK? Maybe we'll put on another telethon if we can fit it into our schedule
Posted by: Steve ||
12/07/2005 09:25 ||
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How come they get to kick out the Vampire Vulture Elite (the UN) and we can't?
Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at crowds trying to break through blockades of polling stations in an opposition stronghold Wednesday, the final day of parliamentary elections, and two people were killed and hundreds were wounded.
And a wonderful time was had by all, except for the dead guys...
Government supporters armed with machetes alighted from a police armored car in this Nile Delta city and attacked supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the government's main rival in the voting.
Bringing in the brownshirts to do the dirty work
The two deaths occurred in the northern town of Damietta, said Dr. Mohammed Balboula of Damietta Public Hospital.
"They're dead, Jim!"
The Interior Ministry confirmed the two deaths and accused the Brotherhood of instigating riots in Damietta.
"Yeah! They attacked our machete-wielding brownshirts!"
The statement indicated the police had nothing to do with the fatalities because the men were killed by live ammunition and the police in Damietta did not use firearms.
"So y'see, they musta shot each other!"
Uh huh
Police also cordoned off polling stations in the southern city of Sohag, frustrating hundreds trying to vote.
The deaths raised to four the number of people killed in political violence since the elections began Nov. 9. Police in Cairo said about 600 people were wounded in election violence Wednesday, and more than 80 people were arrested.
"Ow! Ow! Ooooow!"
"Shuddup! Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!"
Earlier, Interior Ministry spokesman Ibrahim Hammad said "the election process is going normally," apart from 10 polling stations where he accused Brotherhood "thugs" of causing disturbances.
"Those bastards keep hitting our truncheons with their heads!"
Hammad said the police are protecting the judges who supervise polling stations "and helping the voters to reach the ballot box." But Associated Press reporters in Zagazig, 50 miles northeast of Cairo, and Sohag, 240 miles south of the capital, saw security forces blocking voters from reaching the polls.
"'Scuse me, officer! Couldja move aside so I can vote?"
"Beat it!"
AP photographer Amr Nabil was wounded in Zagazig and hospitalized in Cairo.
"Oooow!"
"Oh, Amr! That hadda hurt!"
Egypt's three-stage elections, which began in November, have been plagued by increasing violence as police and government supporters try to put down a strong showing by the outlawed Brotherhood, which so far has increased its presence in parliament fivefold. Independent monitors and human rights groups have reported numerous irregularities, including busing of state employees to polling stations, tampering with ballot boxes, blockading of polling stations, and bribing, intimidating and attacking voters.
"Hey! Dis is Egypt! What's so irregular about dat?"
The United States sharply criticized the violence, including "intimidation and harassment" and abuse of monitors and voters by Egyptian authorities. "We've seen a number of developments over the past couple weeks during the parliamentary elections that raise serious concerns about the path of political reform in Egypt," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Tuesday. "Clearly, these actions send the wrong signal about Egypt's commitment to democracy and freedom, and we see them as inconsistent with the government of Egypt's professed commitment to increased political openness and dialogue within Egyptian society."
Maybe it's the "wrong" signal, but it's an accurate signal. Lucy Ramirez would understand.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/07/2005 14:08 ||
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including busing of state employees to polling stations, tampering with ballot boxes, blockading of polling stations, and bribing, intimidating and attacking voters.
Just another election day in Atlanta and Fulton County Georgia......yawn.
Representatives of more than 50 Islamic countries met on Tuesday ahead of a two-day summit, with delegates saying the world's largest Islamic organization must reform if it is to deal with the "great challenges and dangers" it faces. Foreign ministers and senior officials of the 57 states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference opened discussions to prepare for the summit, which begins Wednesday and is expected to forge a plan to reform the group and give it more clout. "The Muslim nation is facing great challenges and enormous dangers targeting its cultural foundations and religious creeds," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said in an opening speech Tuesday.
The summit "will forge a comprehensive plan to overcome the obstacles that block the aspirations of our nation and consolidate concepts and principles of tolerance and intercultural dialogue," he said. Al-Faisal said that during the summit, Saudi King Abdullah will propose a plan for reform "spreading virtue, tolerance and brotherhood between people." The OIC meeting, which opens in Islam's holy city of Mecca on Wednesday and continues in Jeddah on Thursday, was called by Saudi's King Abdullah.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2005 00:00 ||
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So this is a conference to PREVENT a muslim MARTIN LUTHER from ever arising?
Azerbaijan may resume war against Armenia if the country recognizes the independence of the controversial Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, the Azeri Defense Minister said on Tuesday. At a meeting with the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Jim MacDougall, Safar Abiyev said the longstanding conflict over the enclave posed a threat to the security of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. The pipeline is set to start delivering Caspian Sea oil to the Mediterranean.
Abiyev was quoted by AP as saying the Armenian leadership declared that it may recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh. If it does, it could lead to the resumption of fighting, he said. Armenia said last month that it could officially recognize Nagorno-Karabakh if negotiations on its status reach a dead end.
A 1994 cease-fire ended a six-year war that left Nagorno-Karabakh, a mainly ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, in Armenian hands. Some 30,000 people were killed and 1 million displaced. The regionâs self-declared independence is not recognized internationally.
In case you missed it â doing your hair that year or something â Nagorno-Karabakh is a chunk of the middle of Azerbaijan that's populated almost exclusively by Armenians. In the very declining days of the Soviet Union, Azeri yahoos showed up at 4th Army motor pools and said friendly things like "Give us some of those combat vehicles or we'll kill you!" The guards were the usual 18-year-old draftees, either ethnic Russers longing to go home to Ekaterinburg or Novosibirsk, or locals who thought it'd be a good idea to have a BMP in the garage. They stood aside while the yahoos drove off in their equipment, to drive up and down the streets in Armenian neighborhoods shooting things up and hollering "Death to the Armenian scum!"
In response, the Armenian yahoos went to 4th Army motor pools and said things like "Give us some of those combat vehicles or we'll kill you." They then proceded to drive up and down the streets of Azeri neighborhoods, hollering "Take that, Turban Boy!" Occasionally two columns of stolen BMPs would meet up and shoot it out. The Armenians were better shots, which caused the Azeris to decide to expel all the Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh as a threat to newly-created state security. Armenia took the side of Nagorno-Karabakh and the two fought a brief but ugly little war, with Azerbaijan cutting off the electricity and fuel shipments to the enclave in the dead of winter. The newly-created Armenian military beat up the newly-created Azeri military, which wasn't distinguished by any vestige of tactical competence.
It still remains a "pox on both their houses" situation. The Azeris felt no obligation to protect their citizens of Armenian background, and the Armenians were willing to try and annex a portion of Azerbaijan completely surrounded by the rest of Azerbaijan.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/07/2005 10:46 ||
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Not much to add to Steve's potted history, except there is a fair amount of unfinished history here and chances are it will blow up again.
#2
Uhhh ... yeah. Armenia, being the oldest Christian nation in the entire world has, to put it delicately, some rather distinct issues centering upon Muslim aspirations towards ascendency in the region. The words "undying hatred" probably figure somewhat prominently in there somewhere.
#3
yeah, but theres a language element that crosses the religious one. Armenian is an indoeuropean language, Azeri is related to Turkish. Russia AND Iran have supported the Armenians. Turkey (no fan of Armenia, or of Russia, or of Iran) supported the Azeris. The Azeris are Shia, but of course not Farsi speakers. The Azeris have supported the coalition of the willing on Iraq, and are considered potential important in the event of confrontation with Iran. Unfortunately the leader of Azerbaijan hasnt gotten this whole democracy thing down yet - the elections were better than say in Turkemenistan, but not really free and fair.
And of course theres plenty of reason to sympathize with the Armenians.
A senior US diplomat has branded North Korea a "criminal regime" involved in arms sales, drug trafficking and currency forgery.
Alexander Vershbow, the new US ambassador to South Korea, was explaining why the US had imposed economic sanctions against the North.
The unusually harsh comments are likely to infuriate North Korea.
Jung spittle machine warming up as we speak
The North warned on Tuesday it could walk out of talks on its nuclear plans unless the sanctions were lifted.
But Mr Vershbow, who is a Russian specialist and former Nato envoy, told journalists on Wednesday that the sanctions were a matter of law enforcement. "This is a criminal regime," he said. "And we can't somehow remove our sanctions as a political gesture when this regime is engaging in dangerous activities such as weapons exports to rogue states, narcotics trafficking as a state activity and counterfeiting of our money on a large scale," he said. Correspondents say the allegations are not new, but it is unusual for them to be made so publicly.
The timing of the comments will also cast doubt on the prospects of six nation talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions. The North agreed in principle in September to dismantle its nuclear weapons programmes in return for security guarantees and energy aid. But there has been no progress since then, and Mr Vershbow's comments are likely to delay or even discourage Pyongyang's return to international talks on the issue.
South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday that Seoul wanted to resume the six party talks in mid-January, and urged the US and North Korea to resolve their dispute over sanctions bilaterally.
Washington agrees it would be better to keep the issue separate from the nuclear talks, and has reportedly offered to brief the North on the reasons for the sanctions.
"We are ready to negotiate the nuclear issue, but right now it's North Korea creating the artificial obstacle to the progress," Mr Vershbow said. "Our enforcement of US law should not be used to hold up the six party talks," he said.
The US has been targeting what it sees as North Korea's illegal activities for some time. In September, US financial institutions suspended transactions with a Macau-based bank that was alleged to have helped North Korea launder drug money and counterfeit currency. Washington also froze the assets of eight companies accused of involvement in weapons sales.
A US report last March said that North Korea was "highly likely" to be engaged in state-sponsored drugs trafficking, citing the seizure in 2002 of a North Korea-owned ship allegedly carrying up to 125kg (275lb) of heroin in Australian waters. It also cited allegations by unnamed defectors that North Korea was engaged in large-scale opium poppy production. Analysts believe the impoverished state is reliant on remittances from White Slag trafficking and currency forgery to shore up its failing economy. The US accused the North in a court indictment earlier this year of forging millions of dollars of high-quality counterfeit US dollar notes, known as supernotes.
But connecting such allegations and publicly labelling North Korea a "criminal regime" is unprecedented. Pyongyang is notoriously sensitive to such labels. US-North Korean relations were seriously damaged by President Bush's branding of the North as part of an "axis of evil" in 2002. Some analysts suspect hardliners have seized the initiative once again inside the Bush administration and that could prove a significant obstacle to further progress in the nuclear talks.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/07/2005 09:40 ||
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Lil Kimmie makes it state policy to counterfiet money, sell heroin and methamphetimines, sell long range ballistic missiles to Pakistani, Iran and any other tinpot maniacal dictatorship and it's somehow US "hardliners" fault? Those same missiles pointed at your Euro heartland, soon to be nuke tipped and with enough range to obliterate London. I bet the BBC apparatchiks think that the fireball will somehow go around their headquarters due to their ideological purity. The Kims' starved to death 10% of North Korea's population and it's US "hardliners" fault? Kimmie 300,000 North Koreans in concentration camps with a 25% annual death rate and it's US "hardliners" fault?
Kimmie wasn't importing European prostitutes for his little gangbangs. It was BBC "journalists".
Posted by: ed ||
12/07/2005 10:46 Comments ||
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US-North Korean relations were seriously damaged by President Bush's branding of the North as part of an "axis of evil" in 2002.
#6
Congress and the Navy are trying very hard to get rid of the last two WWII battleships. I would suggest, instead, that they revitalize them, replace the 5" mounts with Army MLRS systems, add a dual-level anti-aircraft missile system, and set them off the East and West coast of Korea. Let the 16" guns lob a shot into a harbor here or there every now and then, totally without warning. Little Kimmie's shorts would be in such a tight knot he'd sing soprano.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/07/2005 16:35 Comments ||
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Korean War, Take two.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/07/2005 20:11 Comments ||
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Posted by: ed ||
12/07/2005 11:47 ||
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While lavish welfare payments have to some extent enabled Sweden to buy off Muslim discontent more effectively than France, some think this has also fomented other problems by preventing many immigrants from advancing economically or socially in Swedish society.
Obviously patterned after the highly successful US welfare model. When will they learn, the boot you lick is the boot that kicks!
#3
It is a pattern echoed across Europe. While moderate Muslims may disown extremists and bar them from mosques, they do little to challenge extremist ideologies and the radical preachers merely regroup elsewhere, out of sight of both mainstream Muslims and the authorities.
Ah, yes. The usual "thundering silence." I'm thinking it's going to take some serious anti-Islamic riots or violence and a few mass deportations before the Muslims finally catch on to just what a bad idea it is to lay low and not speak out vocally against extremism within their ranks.
Until they do, their complacency can only be interpreted as tacit approval for jihadist scum. Someone really needs to bring this home to them in spades.
"France has a tradition of revolt and demonstration against the state," says Jonathan Friedman, professor of social anthropology at the nearby University of Lund. "But in Sweden it's almost as if the state has sided with the immigrants against the Swedish working class."
Preferential treatment to a bunch of foreigners who make no effort to assimilate? Sounds like the perfect prescription for societal unrest. Time for the Swedish people to purchase a clue.
Turkiye - Speaking at a conference at New Zealandâs Canterbury University, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey was a country comprised of some 30 ethnic groups who have lived in peace and harmony throughout history. (coughArmenianscoughKurdscough)Stressing that Kurds are represented in both Parliament and senior leadership posts without any discrimination, Erdogan stated that the PKK was a terrorist group which exploits citizens of Kurdish origin. âWeâre opposed to separatism,â said the premier. Commenting on Turkeyâs European Union membership bid, Erdogan said that Turkey was heading for the EU to take on a burden, not to be a burden to the Union.
Expressing his hope that the Greek Cypriot administration would make efforts for a settlement on Cyprus, Erdogan vowed that the Turkish side would continue to do its best to reach a peaceful resolution on the island. After completing his contacts in New Zealand, Erdogan proceeded to Australia, the second stop of his official trip, last evening.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/07/2005 10:49 ||
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Weâre opposed to separatism
Separatism is bad. What we really want is one United Eurabia with me as the head turbin.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has signed a deal with Romania allowing the United States to set up military bases in the country, the first such facilities in the former Soviet bloc. Rice, in Bucharest on the second leg of a four-nation European tour, signed the deal on Tuesday with Foreign Minister Razvan Ungureanu at a public ceremony in the Romanian capital. "This agreement brings Romania into the mainstream of global security," the country's President Traian Basescu said at a news conference alongside Rice.
According to Basescu, the deal will see the United States establish four permanent military bases, one of which, the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base in the southeast of the country, was used by US forces during the Iraq war. The other three sites are a base at Babadag, also in the southeast, and in Smardan to the south and Cincu in the centre.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2005 00:00 ||
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Cool. So we can close bases in Germany and Turkey, say?
Khadr returns to Toronto after Pakistani release
A published report says Abdullah Khadr has been released from custody in Pakistan and returned to Toronto. "Glad be back. Where's my welfare check..."
The Toronto Star said in its Wednesday edition the 24-year-old man, accused by Western intelligence services of running an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan in the 1990s, arrived in the city last Friday. His brother is the only Canadian being held in the U.S. detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. We've heard his sob story here before.
The newspaper says the RCMP questioned Khadr at Pearson airport, then dropped him off at his grandparents home. Thanks for the lift...INFIDEL PIGS!
Apparently the U.S. Navy SEALs have lost their blanket license to kill. In a recently issued navy document, it was announced that, "Under no circumstances shall any Department of the Navy personnel condone, support, encourage, engage in, or conspire to engage in the assassination of a specific individual or individuals." There was no other discussion of this in the Department of the Navy (which consists of the Navy and Marine Corps as two separate entities). Chances are, the admonition was issued as a bureaucratic covering of ones rear end. However, American Special Operations and intelligence operatives have been forbidden from using assassination for years. Then again, in wartime, how does one tell the difference between assassination and just another wartime killing.
Posted by: ed ||
12/07/2005 13:26 ||
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This statement is ridiculous. When we drill a terrorist in Yemen with a Predator drone, that is not an example of a "snatch and grab" gone awry. The SEALs can whack all the vermin they want.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/07/2005 16:38 Comments ||
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Then again, in wartime, how does one tell the difference between assassination and just another wartime killing.
Randall "Ismail" Royer saw himself as a bridge, a white Muslim convert from suburban St. Louis uniquely positioned to help other Americans understand his faith. The U.S. government had a different view - that Royer was part of a shadowy band of Islamist extremists, bent on holy war. In legal terms, the government view prevailed.
Royer, 32, now sits in a Pennsylvania medium-security federal prison. He's serving a mandatory 20-year term after pleading guilty of using firearms in support of a militant Muslim group battling Indian forces over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
But while officials including then-Attorney General John Ashcroft hailed Royer's guilty plea last year as a victory in the U.S. war on terrorism, the plea agreement acknowledged no act or plot against U.S. interests here or abroad. Under the plea deal, other charges that could have sent Royer to prison for life were dropped.
Federal prosecutors defend the long sentences meted out to Royer and others in what became known as the "Virginia Jihad" cases, also called the "paintball cases" because defendants had played war games at local paintball courses.
But to Royer and his family, and to many Muslims around the country, the disposition of the cases sent a different signal - one of a government overreaching when national fears run high, and understanding low.
Royer still sees himself as uniquely positioned to drive that message home to non-Muslims who haven't experienced it firsthand. "I think the American people need to be concerned," Royer said in a letter to the Post-Dispatch from prison that arrived this week, "because once the system is bent to start putting a minority in prison, the system stays bent."
Victim card, nicely played.
Mirsada Stabancic and Ramon Royer have Ismail Royer in common - her husband, his son.
Stabancic's background is wartime Bosnia. Royer's is farmland Illinois, Army service, a career in commercial photography and suburban St. Louis. Together they're coping with a life that neither envisioned.
Stabancic, 27, is raising the couple's four children, ages 2 to 7. She lives in an apartment building a block from the Dar al-Hijrah Mosque in Falls Church. The senior Royer and his wife, Nancy, live down the hall; they moved from St. Louis this summer to help with the children. A support group at the mosque pays Stabancic's rent and also tuition at the local Islamic school.
'support group'? Mayhaps the gov't should quietly check the financing of the 'support group'?
Since August, Stabancic and her children have been unable to visit Royer at the Allenwood, Pa., prison or even to talk with him on the telephone. He has been denied phone and visit privileges for six months because prison officials said he had once called home without getting approval first. Prison officials declined to comment on an individual inmate situation but said such disciplinary procedures are common.
The youngest of Royer's children, 2-year-old Hassan, knows his father mostly from photographs. "Hassan says he's in the kitchen when people ask where his dad is," Stabancic said, "because that's where his photograph is."
Stabancic met Royer when she was still in high school. She immigrated from Bosnia to the United States and moved to St. Louis knowing no English. She learned the language watching "Days of Our Lives" on television, and now speaks fluently and expressively.
Adjusting to American life wouldn't have been easy even with a more conventional husband. Stabancic wears a full hijab that covers her head to foot, including all of her face except her eyes. Today she wears jeans under the long cloak and a ring on one of her toes. But eight years ago, as a new arrival in middle America, she got looks standing in line at a St. Louis McDonald's. "Someone said 'Look at how she dresses. She's in America. She can take that off now. She shouldn't let her husband do that to her.'
"And I said, 'What are you talking about? It's not my husband. He has nothing to do with this.'"
More recently, on a shopping trip to Wal-Mart with a friend, also covered, she overheard a man in the parking lot tell his wife, 'There go the Saudis. There go the terrorists.' Inside the store, she caught up with the man. "I said, 'What if I called you a rapist?' He said, 'But I'm not a rapist.' And I said "Well, I'm not a terrorist, either.'"
You just married one, that's all.
But those are the exceptions, not the rule, Stabancic is quick to add. She loves America, she says. "There are a lot more nice people here than ignorant people," she says.
When Frank Brostrom of the St. Louis FBI office called in fall 2001, just after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Ray Royer was happy to answer questions about the activities of his Muslim convert son. "I spent three years in the Army," the elder Royer said. "I gave my oath - and I don't take that lightly.
"I let them know that I was on their side. I said that if anything Randy was involved in risked harming this country I would have told them - but that there wasn't anything."
Brostrom, a 15-year bureau veteran, confirmed that he had met half a dozen times with the senior Royer between fall 2001 and his son's arrest in June 2003. Some of the meetings took place at Denny's restaurants. Others were at the family's home, with Royer making a specialty dish that he now calls "FBI spaghetti."
"I think it shows that we're human, too," Brostrom said. "I sat down and had spaghetti with the father of someone who had problems. I treated them with respect and I had sympathy for their situation."
The Royers were of interest not just because of their son but also for a stream of young Muslims who had rented rooms in their Manchester house. One of them was Zihad Sadaqa, also known as Zihad Khaleel, who bought a satellite telephone that ended up in the hands of senior al-Qaida operatives. Sadaqa was never charged with a crime; he died in an mysterious automobile accident in Saudi Arabia in 2002. "I think these people took advantage of the fact that the Royers were allowing people a place to stay," Brostrom said. "I wish Mr. and Mrs. Royer the best. They're very patriotic people."
Ramon Royer says he wonders if the FBI took advantage of him, manipulating the law enforcement system to build a case against his son. His experiences remind him, he says, of a famous passage in George Orwell's "Animal Farm." "I guess in this country, too, all people are created equal," Ramon Royer says. "It's just that some are more equal than others."
If only you'd put a little more time into knowing what your son was doing ...
The activities of Randall "Ismail" Royer were scarcely a secret. The Parkway South graduate had found Islam as a 19-year-old and became an ardent proselytizer and explainer of the faith, on Web sites and as communications director for two of the biggest Muslim associations in America.
He had fought alongside Muslims in Bosnia's civil war in the mid-1990s and in 2000 visited a Muslim training camp on the disputed border of Kashmir between Pakistan and India. He even took the opportunity to fire a gun in the "general direction," he said, of Indian forces. And from 2001 on he voluntarily discussed his activities with Brostrom and other FBI agents.
He also attended lectures by Ali al-Timimi, an Iraqi-American Muslim imam, or preacher, known for his inflammatory anti-American rhetoric. Timimi was convicted this year of inciting terrorism and sentenced to life in prison. His alleged urgings that Royer and others in the paintball group join Jihad forces abroad were a key factor in the government's prosecution of the case.
As it should have been. Let's see: goes to Kashmir, check. Gets weapons training, check. Pals around with known Islamist kook, check. Fights in a foreign country, check. I think I could build a case with that.
Royer says his own condemnation of violence was clear. In August 2001, a month before the 9/11 attacks, a posting by Royer on a Chicago-based Muslim Web site singled out a Hamas attack on a Sbarros restaurant in Jerusalem. "If the Israelis are unjust for killing a Muslim child, then this action is just as horrifying," he wrote. "How miserable I would feel to stand before Allah with this action on my record of deeds."
In a letter from prison last month Royer stressed that he had "never thought for an instant, or even discussed, any kind of anti-American actions."
The law he pleaded guilty of violating was the rarely enforced Neutrality Act, a law dating to the 18th century that bars citizens from joining military action against nations friendly to America. Royer pleaded guilty of using weapons and explosives in violation of the act.
'Rarely enforced' doesn't mean 'never enforced', nor does it mean 'shouldn't be enforced'.
Sources close to the case say Royer could have negotiated a shortened sentence but forfeited the opportunity when prosecutors learned last spring that he had communicated improperly with al-Timimi, the imam, then on trial. Royer says the real problem was his refusal to back up the government's claim that the group had planned to fight in Afghanistan and elsewhere against U.S. forces.
Three of the paintball defendants said they had intended to fight U.S. forces; they received reduced sentences. Three others were acquitted and six convicted, with sentences ranging from 15 years to 85 years.
Royer's father put the issue bluntly. The prosecutors "were very angry with Randy," he said, "for not agreeing to lie for them."
There's an alternate explanation ...
In his recent letters, Royer says he is determined to make the best of life in prison, even as he reflected the resentment that many Muslims feel about law enforcement tactics. "In our situation, what you have is a passel of prosecutors and FBI agents who are taking advantage of post-9/11 hysteria to build their careers," Royer says. "This is not to say that there are not Muslims in the world who are dangerous to U.S. security," Royer wrote. "But we were just not those people."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/07/2005 01:05 ||
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*sniff*
They can all leave, IMHO, then we don't have the sorting problem. They can take their asshole apologists with them, too. Islam adds nothing positive to any society it invades. It is a drag on all aspects, all venues. It is a disease for it is an implacable ideology. Dormant, hanging out in hudna mode one day, virulent the next - when the activated Muzzies come to town to kick off a little action. I have no idea why this isn't plainly obvious to all non-Muzzies, but there ya go. Mebbe many folks are either too lazy or stupid, I dunno. Mebbe such an uncomfortable fact is just incompatible with their chosen touchy-feely world-view. Makes no difference in the end, of course. It'll get very personal and in your face someday - and they'll suddenly get it.
#3
Royer says his own condemnation of violence was clear.
Well then...that pretty much sums it up then, doesn't it. Such incisive reporting.
I might add that I am SHOCKED at the treatment that poor woman received at the hands of those ignorant people...just think they sent FUNNY LOOKS her way. As Fred would say, Fatima get my salts!
Would she have been more comfortable if we had taken her hostage and sawn off her head? That's the more traditional reaction to outsiders from some of her co-religionists...
#4
"Three of the paintball defendants said they had intended to fight U.S. forces; they received reduced sentences. Three others were acquitted and six convicted, with sentences ranging from 15 years to 85 years."
Ummm ... by any chance, did they intend to fight U.S. forces using only their paintball guns? I would think if this were so, a fair trade off would have been to allow these asshats to carry out just such a plan. The trade off? Should you, paintball warrior, survive your encounter *cough* *gag* *snicker* with U.S. forces, the U.S. authorities will in turn suspend your prison time and set you free. Sounds like a good deal, hey?
In the pursuit of criminals, FBI agents across the nation routinely use DNA tests, fingerprints, ballistics, psychological profiling and the world's most advanced forensic methods. But a little-known policy at the Federal Bureau of Investigation keeps investigators from using one of the simplest and most effective tools in law enforcement: the tape recorder.
When agents testify months or years down the road, they rely on [a typed summary known as Form 302], and memory. As a result, jurors and judges hear recollections and interpretations, not what was actually said. And the defense lawyer often follows up with a cross-examination designed to impugn the agent's memory, competence or integrity. Critics say the FBI practice leads to botched investigations, lost evidence, unprofessional conduct and damaged credibility for America's justice system.
The policy emerged as a problem for defendants, judges and juries during federal trials of Osama bin Laden, Oklahoma City bombing defendant Terry Nichols, TV star Martha Stewart and lesser-known figures.
Responding to questions about the policy, William David Carter, an FBI spokesman in Washington, D.C., wrote in an e-mail that taping is strictly limited because it "can inhibit full and frank discussion or can end an interview entirely." Yet most other U.S. enforcement agencies leave taping to the discretion of investigators - some even encourage officers to record interrogations - without any problem.
Carter refused to provide a copy of the entire policy, claiming it is an "internal FBI document." He said he did not know when the rule was instituted or by whom. He did not respond to other detailed questions on the policy. Carter did say that recording interviews may be a "sound enforcement policy" if the subject is comfortable with a tape machine. However, he added, "The FBI believes that it would unduly burden ongoing criminal investigations and impede immediate law-enforcement responses to fast-breaking criminal events to require that all witness statements be recorded."
Some defenders of the FBI policy suggest that taping and transcribing interviews would become a logistical nightmare and a waste of money for an organization with 11,000 agents.
Early this year, a federal jury in Philadelphia acquitted a banker accused of lying to agents because the only evidence was the agent's scribbled notes and testimony. "We wouldn't have been here if they had a tape recorder," one juror told the Associated Press.
A 1998 study for the International Association of Chiefs of Police reported "little conclusive evidence" that videotaping affected suspects' willingness to talk. Instead, researchers found, "the majority of agencies that videotape found that they were able to get more incriminating information from suspects on tape than they were in traditional interrogations."
#3
Some defenders of the FBI policy suggest that taping and transcribing interviews would become a logistical nightmare and a waste of money for an organization with 11,000 agents.
Yea, takes quite a while for them "Special Agents" to learn how to operate those new fangled tape recorders and steno pads. The bureau of idiots certainly knows a great deal about both "nighmares" i.e., 9/11, and "wasting money." I'll give them that. Trash the entire organization and start anew.
#4
Don't nobody tell the FBI about digital voice recording and computer-driven voice translation. Takes at least, oh, $100 for the DVR, $1,000 for the computer and $100 for the software to do that for an entire office.
Like I said, don't tell them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2005 8:29 Comments ||
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Heh, Doc. By the time they finished writing up the funding proposal, it would cost $5K H/W (3 decent PC's) + $47.31M Consulting and take a whole slew of Arab-owned computer firms to code it up... wrong... wasting 2 or 3 years... having to be scrapped...
#8
Just FYI, if you *ever* talk to a policeman, assume that you are being voice recorded with one of those small, inexpensive voice-activated tape recorders in his shirt pocket. Soon, probably a much-smaller mp3 digital recorder.
They usually do this mostly to get details for their paperwork later.
Importantly, it also helps that, by hearing the actual conversation, the officer can "sell" an arrest to other officers, detectives, and even the prosecutor, in a way a written record wouldn't "sell".
The rules of admissibility have also changed, so if you blurt out something without thinking, it might end up being used in court against you, even if you haven't been "Mirandized".
According to media sources, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Wednesday that Moscow had offered to sell several long-range bombers to India - a deal that would significantly bolster New Delhi's strike capability, news agencies reported.
Ivanov said the offer to sell Tu-22M3 bombers to New Delhi was made Tuesday during talks in Moscow with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. India hasn''t yet responded to the offer, he said, according to the ITAR-Tass, Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies.
Ivanov said India previously had considered leasing the bombers, but the two sides couldn''t finalize the deal because of "technical reasons" he did not specify.
The Soviet-designed Tu-22M3 is capable of carrying long-range cruise missiles at almost twice the speed of sound.
India has bought more than US$30 billion (A25 billion) worth of Soviet and Russian arms since 1960. In recent years, it has been second only to China as a buyer of Russian weaponry.
Russia and India also conducted joint military maneuvers this year, and are discussing working together on a next-generation fighter jet and a medium-range transport aircraft. Military cooperation figured prominently in Singh's talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Posted by: john ||
12/07/2005 17:31 ||
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#1
Interesting that this comes up along with news of the Akula SSNs. The initial reports of the Gorshkov carrier deal claimed that the Backfires and Akulas were part of the total package. This was subsequently denied.
Posted by: john ||
12/07/2005 18:09 Comments ||
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From UPI
Russia has offered India a chance to purchase long-range bombers instead of leasing them as part of an arms deal.
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Wednesday he offered the deal during Prime Minister Monmohan Singh's visit to Russia, Itar-Tass reports.
The deal would include several Tu-22 M-3 bombers. Ivanov said it was a small portion of the arms deal. He said he hasn't gotten a response yet from Singh.
Posted by: john ||
12/07/2005 18:52 Comments ||
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I think this is either:
a) housecleaning; Putin is holding a fire sale because the Russian military has stuff they can't afford to keep and don't plan to use, or
b) arms sales; Putin needs to generate some bidness to keep an assembly line going somewhere.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2005 21:20 Comments ||
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Moscow, Dec. 7 (PTI): India will get two 'Shchuka-B' class nuclear submarines from Russia on lease and an Indian crew has already arrived here for training as part of the aircraft-carrier Admiral Gorshkov deal, a media report said on Tuesday.
Two 'Shchuka-B', also known as Akula, are at different stages of construction since the collapse of Soviet Union and could be leased to India for ten years in estimated USD 1.8 billion deal after their simultaneous completion, Russian daily 'Kommersant' reported.
Due to slippage in the indigenous Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) project for the development of S-2 nuclear submarine, India is leasing the two submarines as part of the package deal on the acquisition of Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier, the daily said.
It said that about 200 Indian naval officers have arrived in Russia in October for a course at Russian nuclear submarine fleet's North-West training centre at Sosnovy Bor near St. Petersburg, the paper wrote.
India earlier had received Charlie class K-43 nuclear submarine from ex-Soviet Union, which was known as 'INS Chakra', on lease.
Kommersant wrote that at that time Indian crew did not have access to the reactor of INS Chakra, which was manned by Soviet naval personnel.
The daily also said that Moscow is helping India in designing the nuclear reactor for the ATV, which resembles Russian submarine of Project 09710 'Samara' class (NATO code name Akula-II).
Posted by: john ||
12/07/2005 14:11 ||
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Is this like a car lease? Can I expect to be able to buy one of these things cheap when it comes off lease?
#2
"Buy one carrier, get two, count em, two nuclear submarines at 50% off! Call now! Our operators are standing by"
Posted by: Steve ||
12/07/2005 15:31 Comments ||
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I think I would be a bit cautious in this thing: While airplanes have come down after taking off, it ain't a rule that subs' surfacings must = submergings, and there are more (peacetime)Russian subs holding the sea bottom down than any other. "Your bouyancy may vary"
#4
Ever try to repo an SSN when they stiff you on payments? Just finding the damn things is a bitch, unless they start joyriding. And getting them started ain't just reaching under the dashboard to connect a coupla wires, I'll yell ya.
Posted by: Paul Wolfowitz ||
12/07/2005 16:11 Comments ||
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It's a big ocean, nuclear power will get you where you wanna be faster, that said, they must be seriously slipping on the home-grown.
Yesterday (Sept 21 2005) the battle group of ships from Pacific Ocean Fleet left from Vladivostok to Indian Ocean, where they would participate in joint Russian-Indian naval maneuvers INDRA-2005. The maneuvers also have a goal to demonstrate to the top brass of Indian army and navy the nuclear sub Project 09710 âSamaraâ â two subs of this class are being built right now in Komsomolsk-on- Amur for New Delhi.
The interest of Indian navy to this sub is understandable: two subs of this class are being built right now in Komsomolsk-on- Amur for New Delhi. One of the ships named âNerpaâ (Seal) is already on the water and its nuclear reactor has been started. Kommersant learned that the sub could be transferred to the Indian navy as early as the end of 2006. Another sub is 70 percent ready.
Posted by: john ||
12/07/2005 19:17 Comments ||
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LAHORE: Around 2,200 madrassas from across Pakistan registered with the government from August to November this year, Daily Times learnt on Tuesday. Most of these, 1,672, are in Punjab, with the rest in Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP. Added to the 6,000 madrassas already registered with the government, this means around 8,200 madrassas in total are now registered.
President General Pervez Musharraf announced following the London bombings of July 7 that all madrassas in Pakistan would have to register with the government by December 31. However, the pace of registration has been slow, largely because of the reluctance of the Ittehad-e-Tanzeemat-e-Madaris-e-Deenia (ITMD), an alliance of religious education boards that runs thousands of seminaries in Pakistan.
Senior government officials told Daily Times that the madrassas registered so far constituted âpretty much allâ the independent seminaries in Pakistan, and just the ITMD seminaries remained. However, the officials said the government had tried to cajole cooperation out of the ITMD rather than press it too hard, because the groupâs cooperation was essential to getting a record of all the madrassas in Pakistan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2005 00:04 ||
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WASHINGTON - The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee warned Tuesday that Congress would throw out any âopaqueâ plan by the Bush administration to forge unprecedented civilian nuclear cooperation with India.
President George W. Bush agreed to give India, which is not a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), access to civil nuclear energy technology under a deal he signed with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in July. But India has to first separate its civilian and military nuclear programs and place its nuclear reactors under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections. Under US law, the deal also has to be approved by the US Congress.
âWhile the Bush Administration has, I think, been very clear in discussions with the Indian government about its expectations, let me emphasize that any Indian plan will have to pass muster with the United States Congress,â Republican Senator Dick Lugar said. âThat should not be viewed as a threat, but rather as a political challenge that must be met,â he told senior Indian policy makers and business leaders gathered in Washington for a US-India Strategic Dialogue.
Under the July deal, the United States also agreed to lobby allies in the Nuclear Suppliers Group for full civil nuclear energy cooperation and trade with India.
India is seen by Washington at present to be not in compliance with key non-proliferation practices and conventions. New Delhi is at present working on a plan to separate civil and military facilities and programs.
Lugar said an âopaque or incomprehensibleâ Indian separation plan would only raise more questions, particularly in the Congress, about Indiaâs intentions. âMore generally, as a politician in the United States Senate charged with guiding this agreement through the legislative branch, I would urge the Indian side to think in maximalist terms and include as many facilities as possible within the scope of the civilian declaration,â he said.
âConversely, a minimalist approach will likely only delay consideration of this initiative in the US Congress and in the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Or, at worst, it could result in unfavorable action by one or both bodies,â he said.
Lugar wanted the plan to be âcredible, transparent and defensible from a non-proliferation standpoint.â In addition, he said, it should be based on safeguards focusing on tracking nuclear material exported to and used in India subject to IAEA safeguards. âThe separation plan must ensure, and the safeguards must confirm, that US-India civil nuclear cooperation does not in any way assist India in manufacturing nuclear weapons,â he said.
âThis is consistent with US obligations under the NPT and with US law.â
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2005 00:00 ||
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The United Nations fired its highly regarded electoral chief Tuesday, just 10 days before Iraq's election by Kofi Annon. Carina Perelli was considered a rising star within the UN for her successful monitoring of elections in dangerous places such as Afghanistan and Iraq. MORE:
The United Nations' top elections official, Carina Perelli, was fired Tuesday after complaints that she sexually harassed subordinates and presided over a department that permitted such abuses to flourish, senior U.N. officials said. Perelli, 48, was notified by letter Tuesday morning that she was "summarily dismissed" without pay for engaging in "sexual and professional harassment" of her staff.
U.N. officials changed the lock in her office, froze her e-mail account and barred her from entering the U.N. headquarters without special permission and an escort. The United Nations has never publicly detailed specific charges against the Uruguayan election expert. But the U.N.'s chief spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said they include "allegations of harassment, including sexual harassment and abuse of authority." He said the U.N. feels "very strongly" about their veracity. "Otherwise we wouldn't have gone ahead with the case."
Perelli denied harassing her workers in an interview Monday and vowed to challenge the decision through the U.N.'s appeals process. "We're going to fight this one, we're going to appeal," Perelli said. She said her lawyers are also considering filing a lawsuit against the United Nations. Perelli said that the United Nations has denied her due process and that the allegations -- which are contained in a confidential report by the U.N.'s personnel department -- were vague and unsubstantiated. Perelli said that no staff member filed a formal harassment complaint against her and that the United Nations has never conducted a formal investigation to test whether the allegations are true.
The timing of the decision, coming about one week before the Iraqi election, was criticized Monday by John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, who said nothing should be done to disrupt Iraq's Dec. 15 election. "Why make a decision 10 days before the election in Iraq?" Bolton asked. "If you're going to make a decision, make it at an appropriate point." Perelli had been lauded for her work as the U.N.'s election chief, overseeing successful elections in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Palestinian territories. President Bush has singled out Perelli for her role in preparing Iraqi elections. Perelli said that some members of the Iraq election unit are "in disarray right now. I hope that they can pull through it. I'm going to be cheering for them. But obviously, the timing (of the dismissal) is not the best suited to contribute to their work." Dujarric said that the action would have no impact on Iraq's election. He said that another U.N. electoral official, Craig Jenness of Canada, has been overseeing the U.N.'s role in the elections since Oct. 23. "He is the lead person for the U.N. on the Iraqi elections," Dujarric said.
Color me skeptical. I wonder whose phone call Kofi took just before he dictated that letter...
o Rape children, force women into sex-for-food trades: OK, they'll even cover it up for you.
o Make inappropriate comments at the office, with no one complaining: YOU'RE OUT!!!
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
12/07/2005 19:07 Comments ||
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She was good in Afghanistan and would probably have signed off on the Iraqi elections coming up. I suspect more than one UN leader - not to mention other leaders - don't want this election to be seen as legitimate.
#3
We had this last week as a "she's about to be fired" story. Now she has been. The timing is rather interesting, isn't it?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2005 21:21 Comments ||
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I wouldn't jump to her defense too quickly. From WaPo: The United Nations' top elections official, Carina Perelli, sharply criticized U.S. military forces in Iraq Wednesday for distributing material urging Iraqis to vote in the country's elections Sunday.
December 12 2005 at 0200 LT in position 10:19N - 108:50E, off Vietnam, South China Sea. Persons in a fishing boat attempted to board a LPG tanker underway using a hook attached to a rope. Master altered course to prevent boarding. After a few attempts fishing boat gave up and fled.
December 01 2005 at 1745 LT in position 01:42.4S - 116:38.5E, Adang Bay Anchorage, Indonesia. Five robbers armed with guns and knives boarded a bulk carrier at the poop deck and stole a liferaft. D/O raised alarm and crew mustered but robbers threatened them with guns and escaped in their boat. Port control informed.
November 30 2005 at 0710 LT in position 06:00.6S - 106:54E, Tanjung Priok Anchorage, Indonesia. Robbers boarded a container ship and entered accommodation. They stole safety equipment and escaped. Master tried to contact port control but received no response.
A man shown as a hostage on an insurgent video aired on Arab television is "my brother, there's no question about that," a North Dakota man said Wednesday. The man shown in the video is Ronald Schulz, 40, an industrial electrician who has worked in Iraq, said Ed Schulz, of Arvilla, N.D. He said he last spoke with his brother on Nov. 4, when Ronald Schulz was at his home in Anchorage, Alaska.
The video, broadcast Tuesday by the Arab television network Al-Jazeera, claimed insurgents had kidnapped a U.S. security consultant, and displayed a blond, Western-looking man sitting with his hands tied behind his back. The video bore the logo of the insurgent Islamic Army.
The video also showed a U.S. passport and an Arabic identification card with the name Ronald Schulz, but the spelling of the name was uncertain because it was written in Arabic.
Ed Schulz said both he and his mother, Gladys, identified his brother on the video. "She's convinced it's him and the FBI is running like it's him," Ed Schulz told The Associated Press. Ed Schulz, 42, said the FBI had asked family members to give reporters only limited information.
"I don't want to get my brother killed," Ed Schulz said. "But the fact that he has blond hair and blue eyes might get him killed. God only knows with these people."
He said his brother's last known location was Amman, Jordan. "The FBI is trying to retrace his steps," Schulz said. "They're not even sure what country he's in."
The authenticity of the video had not been confirmed. Liz Colton, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, said U.S. authorities were investigating the Al-Jazeera report. Ed Schulz said his brother worked for several companies, and that it was not unusual that he had not heard from him for several weeks. "He built a feed mill in China once and he disappeared for three weeks," Schulz said. He said his brother had visited relatives in North Dakota during the summer. Ronald Schulz graduated from high school in Jamestown, and served in the Marine Corps from 1984 to 1991, Ed Schulz said.
Jamestown Mayor Charlie Kourajian said if the person shown in the video is confirmed as the Ronald Schulz who grew up on a farm near Jamestown, it would be "quite devastating for us because we aren't a big town."
About 15,500 people live in Jamestown.
40 year old ex-Marine, worked for several companies, disapppears for weeks at a time, pops up in China, Jordan and Iraq. Well, he could be a traveling electrician.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/07/2005 13:56 ||
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On a recent afternoon, two sheiks representing their Sunni and Shiite communities meet in the modest studio of Radio Dijla to discuss terrorism and why people are killing innocent civilians.
Moufaq Al-Alani, the host of the show, patiently waits for a caller to finish a thought before politely suggesting parents and teachers must instill a sense of national unity and respect into younger generations.
Qasem Al-Joubari, the Sunni sheik, proposes imams bring the communities together to emphasize that killing innocent civilians is never acceptable for a Muslim.
Mahdi El-Mohamedoui, his counterpart, adds that the violence reflects poorly on their country and their religion.
Next, an engineer who was busy turning and sliding dials on a bulky sound board furiously spins his right hand in a circle, signaling a commercial break before a young staffer rushes three small glasses of sweet black tea into the studio for the host and his two guests.
This is talk radio in Iraq.
"Our country has been usurped by a `with us or against us attitude,"' says Al-Alani, who has worked as a reporter in Iraq for 44 years. "This station is giving all Iraqis a chance to express their viewpoints in a non-confrontational manner. Our audience enjoys this; they want peace."
Iraqis have responded overwhelmingly to the country's first independent all-talk radio station.
Radio Dijla, which transmits to a 90-mile radius from a two-story villa on a sleepy residential side street in west Baghdad, gets up to 1,000 calls per day and more than 1 million hits a month on its Web site, according to the station manager, Kareem Al-Yousif.
"We want to bring people together, and make everyone feel welcome no matter who they are and what their viewpoint is," says Omar Fadhia Al-Azaouwey, the station's 28-year-old program director. "We give our listeners a topic to discuss, and then we let them call in and talk without interrupting them, as long as they're respectful."
Radio Dijla's moniker comes from Arabic name for the ancient Tigris River wending through Iraq and its capital. The station carries 21 live hours of programming a day, between 7 a.m. and 4 a.m., on the FM dial at 105.2 in Baghdad. The station offers 23 programs weekly, including a variety of political, religious, sports and entertainment shows wrapped around hourly news updates. There also are programs on women's issues and children's interests, and even a mix of traditional and modern music.
Suhad Rabiat, 29, hosts "Service Period," one of Radio Dijla's most popular shows. She fields callers' questions and complaints about issues ranging from utilities to the government and its policies.
Rabiat recently spoke with Saleh Sarham, a defense ministry official, regarding a new government initiative that allows officers under Saddam Hussein's regime to rejoin the military.
"My husband was an NCO (non-commissioned officer) for 20 years, and he can't get back in," says a caller. "He even paid a bribe" to rejoin the military.
"There is no need for bribes as long as he's less than 45 years old, and his rank was not beyond major; he's eligible," Sarham replies, before giving a number listeners can call for more information.
Rabiat believes politicians and other government officials are among her most devoted listeners because "it's the one place where they can hear what the people are truly thinking."
Fatah Al-Shaich, a national assembly member loosely associated with the powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr, says Dijla Radio provides Iraqis with a unique and invaluable service.
"There are many politicians like me listening because the station is independent, and doesn't serve any party or group," he says in a telephone interview.
Programs such as "Eve on the Air," which considers issues facing Iraqi women, and "The Referendum," a political roundtable, allow listeners to express opinions and concerns without fear of judgment or reprisal. Perhaps most significantly, they also provide Iraqis with a forum for constructive dialogue.
"We like any kind of show that supports unity and brings people together," says Abu Mohamed, a 36-year-old grocery clerk.
Al-Yousif, the station's executive manager, says there have been no public threats against Radio Dijla staffers since they took to the air nearly 20 months ago.
"The only difficulty," he explains, is the occasional one of "getting guests safely into the studio."
Radio Dijla -- founded with a $300,000 grant from an undisclosed Swedish aid group -- offers streaming Internet broadcasts at www.radiodijla.com. It also recently began transmitting across North America and Europe through the German satellite company Hotbird. The station is preparing to provide an FM signal throughout the rest of Iraq in the coming weeks.
Al-Yousif says the station has operated solely on advertising since its inception and currently holds 12 percent of the ad market among all media outlets in Baghdad.
Station managers hope to eventually expand studio and office space and update equipment. Right now, the station employs about 100 Iraqis, most in their 20s and 30s, including 60 journalists and broadcasters, and 40 support staff. Most work long hours for no more than $300 per month, a lower-middle-class income by Iraqi standards.
Tuesday's noontime slot is reserved for the station's 78-year-old anomaly, Khaleel Alrafai, the "Old Storyteller." The legendary Iraqi actor of the screen, theater and radio spends an hour spinning yarns and reminiscing.
On this day, Alrafai, who rose to fame in a 1946 television serial called "The Trouble Maker," relates a parable of brotherly love, a timely comment on Iraq's current sectarian strife.
Alrafai -- dressed in a gray wool sport coat over a bright green V-neck sweater with a red paisley scarf rakishly draped over his neck and a colorful yellow patterned prayer cap propped atop his head -- animatedly waves his hands while jumping between classical and modern Arabic for comedic effect. For good measure, he plays an Iraqi folk song on his harmonica.
"I'm running out of breath ... I'm tired," Alrafai says to signal the engineer to open the phone lines. "Please help me."
The harmonica melody garners a call from a listener who inquires about the Iraqi maqam, a centuries-old music genre. Alrafai reflects on the days when countless coffeehouses across Baghdad featured maqam singers and ensembles during peaceful nights filled with song and dance.
No longer, but perhaps again one day.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/07/2005 01:54 ||
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Anthropologists talk about 'a package' of innovations. An example from 5,000 years ago would be cultivating wheat, pottery and wooden/stone houses. In 2005 the 'package' would include democracy, reality TV and talk radio (and of course blogs).
From Teheran Times. Full-bodied, old-style propaganda in the classic mold. Warning: Take with salt. May impair motor skills, induce drowsiness, or cause cramping. Do not take with chili.
Former Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi is a dangerous, mysterious figure who is currently trying to play a significant role in the Iraqi political scene, which seriously threatens the future of the country. The fact that Allawi was the only Iraqi official to attend a recent military parade inspection ceremony indicates that he intends to play an ambiguous military role in Iraq.
After the collapse of Saddam Husseinâs dictatorship, Allawi, who was once an Iraqi officer close to Saddam and a prominent member of the now disbanded Baath Party, tried to isolate all of the popular Iraqi political figures, with the help of the United States and certain regional Arab countries. And now, regional Arab countriesâ satellite networks are trying to portray Allawi as a national hero and savior. Concurrently with all these measures, at meetings with leaders of some regional Arab countries during a recent trip, Allawi discussed a plan, according to which he would lead a coup in Iraq after reestablishing the Iraqi army and reorganizing the scattered forces of the Baath Party.
The regional Arab countries, the United States, and some other Western countries believe that, at this point in time, only a military dictator can extricate Iraq from the current crisis and that Allawi is the man for the job. This plan is being considered because the United States and certain Arab countries fear a Shia victory in Iraqâs December 15 parliamentary election will lead to the formation of a Shia Crescent in the region. Allawi is being strongly supported by both the U.S. and the Arab world, and it is predicted that if his party fails to gain a majority of parliamentary seats, he will probably be asked to lead a military coup.
Yet, despite the fact that Iraq is experiencing difficult days in the run-up to the election, all its political groups are determined to play a significant role in the political life of the country. But will Iyad Allawi and his Arab allies be able to reestablish Arab nationalism in Iraq? Definitely not! The Kurds and Shia Arabs, who form the majority of the Iraqi nation, are carefully following political developments in their country and will forcefully respond to any measures meant to disrupt the democratic process.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2005 00:00 ||
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This fits nicely with what was, probably, Tater's Tots trying to hit Allawi the other day. Thanks for the confirmation, asshats.
Ummmmmmmmm...no. Not Pennsylvania. Former American President Jimmy Carter set to arrive in region to supervise Palestinian elections in January, ensure democratic, clean process Oh, absolutely. Can't put nuthin over on him.
Former United States President Jimmy Carter will arrive in the region soon, as head of an American monitors delegation that will supervise elections on January 25 for the Legislative Council in the Palestinian Authority. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright may join the delegation as well, Israel's leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday. Wow, the Dynamic Duo Goes To Palestine.
The delegation will represent the American National Democratic Institute (NDI), an organization headed by the former state
secretary which specializes in dispatching envoys to countries
across the world, in a bid to ensure democratic, transparent and proper elections. Some 80-100 monitors are expected to arrive, including high ranking government officials, senators, congressmen and governors. Some of the envoys have already arrived in the region, and are expected to remain here for two months. It's junket heaven! See the Holy Land on somebody else's dime and pretend it's for World Peace!
In addition to the American monitors, Canadian and European observers are also planning to operate during elections as well. What? You don't trust Jimmah and Maddy to rubber stamp this on their own?
Representatives of NDI met with Foreign Ministry officials several days ago, in a bid to coordinate the monitors' activity during elections. During the meeting, Israeli representatives stressed Israel's concern regarding the participation of Hamas in the elections, and stated that although Israel will not interfere with the internal Palestinian process, the involvement of a terror organization in the elections is worrying and raises hard questions. Oh, don't worry, Israelis. Jimmah will take care of it.The Palis love Jimmah. He'll tell 'em no blowing up shit and there'll be no blowing up shit. You can trust Jimmah. But if it does happen, just know that Jimmah will blame it on you.
Posted by: Evil Elvis ||
12/07/2005 14:37 Comments ||
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Whew -- for a moment there I thought Jimmy was going to monitor Pennsylvania (PA) elections. That could really be trouble. Palestine, on the other hand, can't be much more messed up than it already is.
Dec 2005, (DVB) - Although it is not clear whether foreign embassies will move to Burmaâs ânewâ capital Pyinmana in central of the country, around 500 homes in the town have been forcibly destroyed and relocated by the authorities in order to widen its streets, according to local residents. The streets of Pyinmana have been widened to make it look like a proper capital, and U Razat Street, Maung Khaing Street and Pagoda Street were the first to be widened and other streets are likely to follow soon, residents told DVB.
The authorities are not only giving any compensation to home owners but also threatening them with arrests and prosecutions if they do not dismantle or destroy their homes and move out in time.
Shades of Zim-Bobs-Way
Meanwhile, members of military HQs security force have been interrogating active local National League for Democracy (NLD) youth members and forcing them to sign pledges. Nearly 100 youth members had been interrogated so far and the actions followed the interrogations of 15 youth leaders including poet Maung Thin Khaing. The security agents detained the youths up to 3-4 hours and mainly asked them who their contacts in the NLD are, what they have been doing for the party, and forced to sign the pledges that they wonât be getting involved in political activities anymore and provide full biographical details.
Moreover, the agents also threatened to cut off the telephone connection of anyone caught talking to foreign radio stations and arrest those who talk to foreigners or those who possess cameras or tape recorders.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/07/2005 10:30 ||
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The Marine Police are considering using hovercrafts to further boost their efficiency. Assistant Commander (Development/Finance/Projects) of Marine Police, ACP Teh Heng Thong said they were trying out several hovercrafts and if found suitable, the Marine Police would submit a proposal to the government to buy them under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.
"They can travel over areas where boats cannot enter such as muddy areas," he told reporters after witnessing demonstrations on rescuing a ship from pirates in the waters of Awana Porto Malai here. The demonstration was in conjunction with the International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA '05) which started Tuesday.
#3
Odd wording, if the hovercraft are designed to go where boats cannot go, such as marshy areas, why the need to go there.
By definition the pirates are not there, since the regular boats cannot sail in marshy areas.
Seems to me they could really use a squad of airboats (Think Florida Everglades travel) they can go anywhere a hovercract can go and are much lighter and more versitile than one or two big expensive hovercraft.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/07/2005 8:19 Comments ||
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#4
Here's an image. FEMA purchases 100,000 Segways in preparation for the next New Orleans flood.
American terrorism expert Sidney Jones has resumed her work in Indonesia after her entry ban was lifted by the government last week. Marking her first public appearance after the lifting of the ban, she addressed a two-day international conference on security challenges in the Asia-Pacific region in Jakarta, which began on Tuesday.
Jones, director of the Jakarta office of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG), arrived here last Friday. "As a researcher, my client is free to conduct studies and to share views, attend seminars or to visit conflict-prone areas in Indonesia," Jones' lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said. "I will file a protest if any restrictions are imposed on her in carrying out her work, which includes visiting conflict zones such as Aceh, Papua and Poso," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
I dunno, mebbe they should kept her out. I mean just look at her... pretty intimidating and skeery looking, if you ask me. Heh.
It reads like the cast of a B-movie: part fantasy, part thriller. A hooded witness, shaking off his disguise, recants his evidence. An-other character is introduced as a fanatical assassin but ends up a likely decoy. Yet another may be innocent, tangled in a web of intrigue. The melodrama of the UN investigation into the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri is intensifying.
The head of the investigation, the German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, says he will not continue much beyond the end of his mandate that runs out on December 15, despite pleas from Lebanon and members of the UN Security Council. That has cast doubt on the future of a high-stakes probe, though UN officials say a new chief would be named quickly.
This week, after months of wrangling, the UN team started questioning five Syrians, including intelligence officers, in Austria's capital, Vienna. But the well-known heads of security branches are only part of the story. The investigators seek to talk to all the people mentioned in their interim report, six weeks ago, implicating a range of Syrians. They include a possible witness now known to be in a Syrian jail, only one of many who do not seem to be available for questioning or who have disappeared.
The plot laid out in the interim report implicated both Lebanon's and Syria's security agencies, naming some very senior members of Syria's governing elite including Assef Shawkat, President Assad's brother-in-law, who also heads military intelligence, and Maher Assad, the president's brother. Another witness who investigators may want to talk to again is a self-professed former Syrian intelligence agent in Lebanon, Hosam Taher Hosam, who last week suddenly turned up in Damascus where the authorities paraded him before the world media to undermine the credibility of the UN investigation. Mr Hosam stated that he had given false evidence, at times hooded to avoid detection, after having been threatened by Lebanese officials and after Mr Hariri's son, Saad Hariri, as well as Lebanon's interior ministry, had tried to bribe him. Mr Mehlis was not amused by the appearance. The whole affair smacked of the kind of "propaganda" he had witnessed in the Soviet-dominated former East Germany, he told Lebanese media. But he acknowledged Mr Hosam had been a witness.
None of this compares to the fog around the original mystery man: Ahmad Abu Adass, a devout young Palestinian living in Beirut who in a pre-recorded video message claimed that he carried out the suicide attack that killed Mr Hariri on February 14 for an unknown fundamentalist Islamic group. The investigation's interim report found no evidence that Mr Abu Adass drove the truck. He may have been used as a decoy by Lebanese and Syrian intelligence. Mr Adass disappeared mysteriously a month before the assassination, possibly in Syria. Investigators may also consider the possibility he ended up in a recently discovered mass grave near the former HQ of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon.
Finding him there would be "unfortunate" for the Syrians
In the Palestinian refugee camp Sabra, outside Beirut, Mr Adass's mother, Nohad Moussa, told the Financial Times her son did not look himself in the video. "He looked sleepy, drugged." He had become intensely religious after his grandfather died two years ago, but Mr Abu Adass was "normally devout" - no extremist.
Others say he frequented a Salafi mosque - a fundamentalist, often harshly anti-western strain of Islam. Mr Abu Adass may have wanted to fight in Iraq. That could be how he came into contact with Syrian intelligence, said by experts in Beirut to have been running the jihadi-smuggling network from Lebanon to Iraq, through Syria.
Ziad Ramadan could shed light on Mr Adass's intentions. A young Syrian and one of his best friends, he lived in Lebanon until this year. The interim UN report said investigators wanted to question Mr Ramadan but could not find him. It is now clear he is in jail in Syria.
Or buried behind the jail
Lebanon's government last week asked for a six-month extension of the UN investigation. Mr Mehlis may have sufficient evidence to name his Syrian suspects after the Vienna interrogations or in his December 15 report to the UN Security Council, marking a breakthrough. If not, it may well be left to another chief investigator to navigate the maze of intrigue that Hariri's killers have constructed.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/07/2005 11:26 ||
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Abdallah Khoja, former Al-Qaeda member: "The Emir of the Uzbek mujahideen in Afghanistan came to Taif, where I worked. I wanted to meet with Taher Khan, so I found him and talked to him about my strong desire to go to Afghanistan or to any region where there is fighting for the sake of Allah, under a clear banner. He said that, Allah willing, he would take me with him. He said: 'You may not be able to bear it, since you all live a carefree life of luxury here.' I said to him: 'No, Allah willing, I will endure it.'"
Ziyad Ibrahim Asfan, former Al-Qaeda member: "I returned to Afghanistan by myself, and I joined the training camps. At first, I joined a camp called the Al-Sadiq camp. The course was very simple, it lasted two or three weeks, and involved training in small arms. Of course, you are all familiar with songs of enthusiasm and bravery that always deal with... the conspiracies of the Jews and Christians against the Muslim countries, and especially our main cause - which is Palestine."
Abdallah Khoja, former Al-Qaeda member: "We crossed the border, and entered. We simply crossed the border on foot. We wore full Afghan garb. Of course, we had to disguise ourselves a little, so nobody would notice that you were Arab or that you came from an Arab country."
"I asked to go to a training camp. I asked what the next stage was. I was told I had to go to a training camp, and to undergo training, to be patient, and not to ask too many questions. I went there, and had training in small arms. I went in, and met a group of men, Arabs and non-Arabs, Daghestanis, French, British, German, American, all Muslim mujahideen. I liked them. There were Pakistanis, Africans, Indonesians, from all over the world.
"Once a Yemenite said to me: 'Allah willing, we will enter Riyadh as conquerors.' I resented this. I asked him: 'Why should you enter as conquerors? Our people are there, our brothers and sisters are there.' He said to me: 'You don't understand.' There was one Algerian who used to talk with contempt. I was hurt by him. It was the first time I had heard such things. I was shocked, I was angry, I was mad - what kind of talk is this? I went to talk with the Emir of the training camp, who was Eritrean. He said: 'Don't mix with them, leave them alone. We've had trouble with them too.'
"This was the Khaldan camp of Abdallah Azzam. In that camp there was a group of Egyptians, Algerians, Tunisians, Libyans, Moroccans, Saudis, Yemenites, Daghestanis, Chechens, Dutch... Abu Talha the Dutchman, was there, and so was Abu Khaled the Frenchman, who was black. He talked in classical Arabic. We had disagreements. They used to say bad things about the clerics and sheikhs."
Walid Khan, former Al-Qaeda member: "The problem was that most of the Arabs there were Jordanians, supporters of Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi. We mixed with them. The problem was they didn't care about anyone but their sheikh, al-Maqdisi. They belonged to the Jordanian Bayat Al-Imam, organized from 1995. They pledged allegiance to al-Maqdisi and were in jail for five years. They were sentenced to 15 years. They served five years and then were pardoned. So they went to Afghanistan. Their ideology further developed there. Of course, they accused the government, the army, and the police of heresy. This is the most dangerous group. I understood that they had differences of opinion with bin Laden on a number of issues and positions. Of course, we understood that only later.
'From the day al-Zarqawi's group arrived, there were [disagreements]. Some of their leaders were in complete opposition. But they needed money. At one point, there were only 10,000 Kalashnikov bullets on the entire front. The only thing they wanted was money. Whoever supports them now will control them, and will impose his positions: 'You want money? I will give you money, on condition that you do such-and-such for me.' They'll agree to it whether they like it or not. At that moment, al-Zarqawi arrived. He saw that their situation was very difficult. They had no money and were thinking of reaching a truce with the Taliban. He said: 'No way.' He got mad and left. They said: 'Why are you mad?', and so they had problems with him. So he sent them one of his men, Abu Muhammad, to see what their condition was. He stayed with them five months, and then wrote a report, saying the only thing they needed was money. He gave them some $500,000, which breathed new life into them. Now these people are grateful to al-Zarqawi, next to Allah, because he saved them. That's it, now he controls them. If you want to control any Jihad front in the world, you should finance it."
Khoja: "The guys were scared. If I saw a guy I trusted, I wouldn't ask him where he was from, where he knew so-and-so. The guys are careful, and are afraid. You shouldn't ask too many questions. The guys told me not to ask too many questions. When asked, you have to answer. They tell you, that's so-and-so, and that's such-an-such, and [you] shouldn't ask them if they are from Najd, the Eastern Province, from Yemen, Iraq, India, or China. Keep it to yourself, because the guys are afraid that you might be intelligence. So you have to keep to yourself, so that the guys don't hate you."
Asfan: "They told us that Islam will only be well with the collapse of this infidel, hypocritical, apostate country, which shields the Jews and Christians, and the Jews hide behind it... They kept repeating these things all the time - that Allah had shown us that many Muslim and Arab countries are infidel, but that this [Saudi Arabia] of all countries, alone among all these countries, is a great evil, and is more evil and more dangerous than the rest."
Khan: "Take, for example, the Council of Senior Religious Scholars and the Mufti. Everybody, or maybe three-quarters of the men, or 90% of the men I met in the Jihad - do not follow the Mufti or the Council of Senior Religious Scholars."
Khoja: "I said that Abu Bakr al-Jazairi is a sheikh and an [important] cleric in Al-Madina. They said to me: 'He's a cleric who works only with air-conditioning. His Muslim nation is not his top priority. He has a salary in his pocket. He issues religious rulings from an air-conditioned room.' I was in shock. These were strange things, which I was hearing for the first time. How can you say such things about Sheikhs Ibn al-Aithmein and Ibn Baz, who are great scholars and the imams of the nation. He said: 'They are not fighting the Jihad with us.'"
'Asfan: "They would constantly give us examples and say: 'Look at those Arab and Muslim countries - how they are preparing themselves, and building all these armies and how the soldiers in these armies are all enduring difficulties for the sake of the sultans' thrones.'"
'Asfan: "They kept telling us we must endure difficulties. I kept hearing these things while we were climbing mountains, and walking through wadis... I kept hearing we must be patient and determined, and have the proper intent, because with this intent we will build an Islamic army that, Allah willing, will proceed from Kabul to Palestine and Al-Aqsa."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/07/2005 01:00 ||
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Osama bin Laden has vowed never to be taken alive and once gave his bodyguard a pistol with two bullets to shoot him if it appeared that he might be caught, according to a new book of interviews with people who know the al Qaeda leader.
The book excerpted in the new issue of Vanity Fair, "The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History" by CNN security expert Peter Bergen, also says bin Laden intensely dislikes deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein .
After the 2001 attacks on the United States carried out by al Qaeda the Bush administration made much of what it said were links between Saddam and bin Ladenâs organization, citing this as one justification for the 2003 invasion of Iraq .
Bush said in a speech in October 2002 that "weâve learned that Iraq has trained al Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and gases."
Bin Ladenâs Pakistani biographer, Hamid Mir, told Bergen that when he interviewed bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader "condemned Saddam Hussein ... He gave such kind of abuses that it was very difficult for me to write," he said.
In an interview with Bergen, bin Ladenâs former chief bodyguard said, "Sheikh Osama gave me a pistol and made me his personal bodyguard. The pistol had only two bullets, for me to kill Shiekh Osama with in case we were surrounded or he was about to fall into the enemyâs hands, so that he would not be caught alive."
Bergen, who met bin Laden in 1997, interviewed more than 50 people over eight years to produce the book which will be published next month.
In the Vanity Fair excerpt, Bergen said that contrary to claims from the Bush administration, bin Laden was in the mountainous eastern Afghanistan region of Tora Bora after the fall of the Taliban, in 2001.
Reports at the time said U.S.-backed Afghan forces scoured the area in a vain bid to catch bin Laden and his top lieutenants, although there has never been any U.S. confirmation that he was definitely there.
Abu Jaafar al-Kuwaiti, an eyewitness, posted an account about the morning of December 10, 2001, on al-Qaedaâs main Web site, writing: "We received the horrifying news! The trench of Sheikh Osama had been destroyed; the trench where Sheikh used to come out every day to check the moujahedeen situation and follow the news of the battle. God kept Osama bin Laden alive, because he left the bunker only two nights to an area only 200 metres (650 feet) away."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/07/2005 00:56 ||
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#1
Being his father was a tribesman from Yemen. Shouldn't he have had a rhino-handled dagger instead of a whimpy gun?
#2
who gives a flying fck what shooter he has - he wont use it anyway the scared little rat just like Sammy hid in his sewerage drain or as MSM called it a 'spider hole' , hahahahaha
Posted by: Shep UK ||
12/07/2005 4:40 Comments ||
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#5
Osama bin Laden has vowed never to be taken alive and once gave his bodyguard a pistol with two bullets to shoot him if it appeared that he might be caught,
Bullshit, this is obviously an attempt to generate a legend, nobody would give a single bodyguard a single pistol with only two bullets in it unless he had no more bullets.
Since we can plainly see that Osama had a whole stockpile of ammo this article leaps instantly to the "Bullshit" category.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/07/2005 8:26 Comments ||
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#6
Ima feelin a ballad working it's way to the surface......oops...just indigestion. Belay the ballad.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/07/2005 11:36 Comments ||
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#7
LOL!
Posted by: Red Dog ||
12/07/2005 20:38 Comments ||
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PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Princeton University has cancelled a pro-Israel lecture by three self-described former terrorists, but a spokeswoman said on Wednesday the decision was made for planning reasons, not because the university objected to the speakers.
The Walid Shoebat Foundation, named after a former member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, was scheduled to send three speakers, including Shoebat himself, to the New Jersey university on Dec. 8 for an event organized by the Princeton Israel Public Affairs Committee, an undergraduate group. The other speakers were Zak Anani, an Arab gang leader who the foundation says was involved in "numerous killings," and Ibrahim Abadallah, a former member of the PLO. The three were to "discuss the terrorist mindset," according to the Pennsylvania-based foundation.
All three are converts to Christianity who have renounced violence and now recognize Israel's right to exist, according to Keith Davies, executive director of the foundation.
Is that why the speech was cancalled?
The application to hold the event was denied last week on the grounds that parking and security arrangements would be inadequate to cope with an expected heavy turnout, Princeton spokeswoman Cass Cliatt said. Cliatt denied Davies' contention that the event had been barred because its reference to terrorism was inflammatory, and that the action amounted to a violation of free speech. "This had nothing to do with any inflammatory content," she said. "We have visitors to the campus from every culture, religion and ideological background."
Uh huh
Cliatt said the Student Projects Board, which decides on such events, told the organizers to reapply at a later date because the scope of the event had changed "drastically" since first proposed. The number of speakers had gone from one to three and it had been nationally promoted, she said.
Getting any pressure from national groups we should know about? Did the Wahabbi Lobby call?
Davies told Reuters the student body had been pressured by university officials to scrap the event and he rejected a statement by the committee that he had "intentionally misled" it about his plans for the event. Davies said the discussion would still be held on Thursday somewhere in the Princeton area at a location to be announced.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/07/2005 16:06 ||
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#1
somewhere in the Princeton area at a location to be announced
In the deepest, darkest corner they can think of so no one will find it.
Can we nuke our universities yet?
EFL: A waterfront sweep by the US Coast Guard and immigration authorities that resulted in the arrest of 13 men has sent panic through New Bedford's large immigrant community, causing workers at seafood processing plants to stay away from their jobs.
When workers at the AML International fish processing plant arrived for their shifts at 7 a.m. Monday, officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement were waiting for them. Eight of the men, who could not provide identification, were handcuffed and loaded into a van. Officers arrested five more men at other plants.
After the arrests, cellphones all over the waterfront started ringing, and fish cutters and packers from Central America, who make up the bulk of the workforce at the city's fish processing plants, fled the squat seafood warehouses. ''It didn't take long with the cellphones," said Frank Ferreira, plant manager at AML International. ''The whole city emptied out, all the plants. ''People were just leaving because they didn't want to get in trouble," Ferreira said. ''Even the legal ones left. Nobody knew what was going on. It looked like an invasion."
Business owners and immigrants in New Bedford are still reeling from the arrests. Only six of AML's 40 workers showed up yesterday to cut the day's catch of monkfish, skate wings, and dogfish. And many in the city were wondering whether the raid marked a new crackdown in this period of intense national debate over immigration. ''This is going to start happening more often," said Helena Marques, executive director of the Immigrants' Assistance Center in New Bedford. ''It's only a matter of time. People are getting picked up, and then you'll see a lot of people going underground."
#2
"They're saying these people are taking jobs from other people, but no Americans want this," Mr. Ferreira said. "They're chasing people who make $6.75 an hour."
Let me get this straight. Some would call me a racist xenophobe because I believe in strict enforcement of our existing immigration laws. And I'm somehow less then compassionate to suggest that the "Better Life" line is nothing more then a BS excuse to get votes and cheap labor. But hey...I can get the same temp job at $6.75 an hour...right? All I have to sign on for is fourteen hours a day, up to my knees in fish guts, in horrible working conditions with no healthcare. And if I keep my head down and mouth shut I might get a promotion to breaking my back hand-loading a freezer-truck and maybe get an extra buck.
Yeah...that's real compassionate you disingenuous whores.
I'm all for rounding up and deporting illegals, but what about the employers? You can't tell me they didn't know. They should arrest the "Johns" with the "hookers".
And if legals won't do that nasty work for $6.75/hr, then pay more. That's how free markets work.
#5
New Beffa used to be a big Portugese town. So I take it after doing their time in the plants, the Portugese immigrants all became stockbrokers and brain surgeons, thus opening up these positions for our Latin American friends?
#8
A waterfront sweep by the US Coast Guard and immigration authorities that resulted in the arrest of 13 men has sent panic through New Bedford's large immigrant community, causing workers at seafood processing plants to stay away from their jobs.
Wait a few weeks, then sweep it again. Repeat until the illegals in the area vamoose to some other locale.
...Air America CEO Danny Goldberg told Radio Ink: "We are very grateful the [Armed Forces Network] has recognized that Al Franken is a profound and unique American voice with a significant following and that it is appropriate for his program to be one of the listening options for those who serve in the armed forces."
In a statement, Franken said he was "absolutely thrilled" to be carried on the network that broadcasts to U.S. troops overseas. He added that, because of the nature of the network, "of course, that means I will have to stop criticizing President Bush. After all, he is our commander in chief..."
#2
Air America's Randi Rhodes April 2005: A spoiled child is telling us our Social Security isnât safe anymore, so he is going to fix it for us. Well, hereâs your answer, you ungrateful whelp: [audio sound of 4 gunshots being fired.] Just try it, you little bastard. [audio of gun being cocked].
At least she didn't say to shoot the officers, yet.
Posted by: ed ||
12/07/2005 10:55 Comments ||
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#4
I give about two weeks before the troops demand that it be taken off.
You think AFRTS HQ will listen to the troops on this? They have been complaining about having to carry Rush since the Republicians forced it down their throats. The AFRTS higher-ups are all professional broadcaster types, attending the same J-schools as your average MSM broadcaster, with much the same attitude. I know, I worked on and off in AFRTS for 24 years as a maintenance troop, finishing up at HQ-AFNEWS.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/07/2005 11:22 Comments ||
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#5
The AFRTS higher-ups are all professional broadcaster types, attending the same J-schools as your average MSM broadcaster, with much the same attitude.
Are they civilians? If so, can't they be terminated like any other employee for unsatisfactory performance?
#8
So you are saying there was no request from the field for Rush?
No, there was a hugh request from the troops in the field. It was the management at the highest levels of AFRTS that didn't want him on. I can remember when Clinton was elected, I overheard a conversation where they were practically rubbing their hands with glee thinking they could dump Rush.
Troops now are asking for all three hours of Rush, but it ain't gonna happen.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/07/2005 13:47 Comments ||
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#9
There is a story about a missile during the 50s (Regulus? Bomarc?) that was called the Civil Service Missile: "It won't work and you can't fire it."
I think it was the (NoGo) Navaho, one funky piece of hardware.
#11
Are these f**kwads on anywhere else? It seems a little strange that programs so lame that they can't survive in any US civilian market should receive an infusion of cash to demoralize the troops. We would be better off with an hour of static.
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.
Eritrea has expelled Canadian, Russian, European and United States peacekeepers from the United Nations mission monitoring the border with Ethiopia. The decision makes UN observation of the tense border almost impossible, says the BBC's Ed Harris in Asmara. 
ZAGAZIG, Egypt - 
The deaths raised to four the number of people killed in political violence since the elections began Nov. 9. Police in Cairo said about 600 people were wounded in election violence Wednesday, and more than 80 people were arrested.
Representatives of more than 50 Islamic countries met on Tuesday ahead of a two-day summit, with delegates saying the world's largest Islamic organization must reform if it is to deal with the "great challenges and dangers" it faces. Foreign ministers and senior officials of the 57 states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference opened discussions to prepare for the summit, which begins Wednesday and is expected to forge a plan to reform the group and give it more clout. "The Muslim nation is facing great challenges and enormous dangers targeting its cultural foundations and religious creeds," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said in an opening speech Tuesday.
A senior US diplomat has branded North Korea a "criminal regime" involved in arms sales, drug trafficking and currency forgery. 
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has signed a deal with Romania allowing the United States to set up military bases in the country, the first such facilities in the former Soviet bloc. Rice, in Bucharest on the second leg of a four-nation European tour, signed the deal on Tuesday with Foreign Minister Razvan Ungureanu at a public ceremony in the Romanian capital. "This agreement brings Romania into the mainstream of global security," the country's President Traian Basescu said at a news conference alongside Rice. 
Randall "Ismail" Royer saw himself as a bridge, a white Muslim convert from suburban St. Louis uniquely positioned to help other Americans understand his faith. The U.S. government had a different view - that Royer was part of a shadowy band of Islamist extremists, bent on holy war. In legal terms, the government view prevailed.
In the pursuit of criminals, FBI agents across the nation routinely use DNA tests, fingerprints, ballistics, psychological profiling and the world's most advanced forensic methods. But a little-known policy at the Federal Bureau of Investigation keeps investigators from using one of the simplest and most effective tools in law enforcement: the tape recorder.
LAHORE: Around 2,200 madrassas from across Pakistan registered with the government from August to November this year, Daily Times learnt on Tuesday. Most of these, 1,672, are in Punjab, with the rest in Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP. Added to the 6,000 madrassas already registered with the government, this means around 8,200 madrassas in total are now registered. 
December 12 2005 at 0200 LT in position 10:19N - 108:50E, off Vietnam, South China Sea. Persons in a fishing boat attempted to board a LPG tanker underway using a hook attached to a rope. Master altered course to prevent boarding. After a few attempts fishing boat gave up and fled.
Former Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi is a dangerous, mysterious figure who is currently trying to play a significant role in the Iraqi political scene, which seriously threatens the future of the country. The fact that Allawi was the only Iraqi official to attend a recent military parade inspection ceremony indicates that he intends to play an ambiguous military role in Iraq.
And now, regional Arab countriesâ satellite networks are trying to portray Allawi as a national hero and savior. Concurrently with all these measures, at meetings with leaders of some regional Arab countries during a recent trip, Allawi discussed a plan, according to which he would lead a coup in Iraq after reestablishing the Iraqi army and reorganizing the scattered forces of the Baath Party.
American terrorism expert 
It reads like the cast of a B-movie: part fantasy, part thriller. A hooded witness, shaking off his disguise, recants his evidence. An-other character is introduced as a fanatical assassin but ends up a likely decoy. Yet another may be innocent, tangled in a web of intrigue. The melodrama of the UN investigation into the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri is intensifying.
...Air America CEO Danny Goldberg told Radio Ink: "We are very grateful the [Armed Forces Network] has recognized that Al Franken is a profound and unique American voice with a significant following and that it is appropriate for his program to be one of the listening options for those who serve in the armed forces."
