KABUL - The Afghan government will press ahead with a plan to require Western embassies, foreign military forces and security firms to remove security barriers in a bid to ease traffic congestion in Kabul, a spokesman said on Monday.
This doesn't sound smart ...
The US-led foreign military force in Afghanistan, which has been frequently targeted by suicide bombings and other attacks, and other Western organisations have expressed concern over the order, issued by President Hamid Karzai last week.
But Interior Ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanezai said all barriers set up on streets or pathways in the Afghan capital must be removed by Saturday. âThe government is very serious about it and will open those areas obstructed for traffic after the expiration of the time,â he said, adding there would be no exceptions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/03/2006 00:00 ||
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Karzai needs to understand the very simple fact that the US will only lower the security posture when the threat is gone. But I guess he figures if he lowers the barriers at the USEMB then we will look like a better target than he does. But you got to give it to him for his trying, lower his threat level by making everyone else an easier target.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
01/03/2006 8:11 Comments ||
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Sure thing. Now just remove all those "security barriers" around your loya jirga meeting places. Reciprocity, gotta love it.
Dear Sirs,
In reference to your desire to remove security barriers, are you aware that this is American Soil, over which you have absolutely no command or control?
We will remove these barriers under one condition, if there is a successful breach involving American Casualties we will find and execute you both.
End message.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/03/2006 13:20 Comments ||
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TRIPOLI - An African mini-summit on Darfur and rising tensions between Sudan and Chad due to take place in Tripoli on Wednesday has been postponed, a Libyan official said Monday. He said the delay followed calls from three of the countries due to take part -- Chad, Egypt and Eritrea -- without elaborating.
However, a diplomat in the Libyan capital said earlier that the meeting was called off because of the crisis between Sudanâs government and Ndjamena which has accused Khartoum of supporting Chadian rebels.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/03/2006 00:00 ||
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Egyptian authorities are preparing to deport some 600 Sudanese, part of a group of nearly 2,000 people detained after police forcibly broke up a protest in Cairo, a Sudanese official said yesterday. âThe targeted number of Sudanese who will be flown on an Egyptian airliner is around 600,â Maj. Gen. Bashir Ahmed Bashir, who chairs a committee formed to receive the deportees, told AFP.
"We've killed enough of them. The rest can go back where they came from."
A Sudanese diplomatic source, meanwhile, said the death toll among the refugees after the violent clashes Friday with security forces outside the Cairo offices of the UN refugee agency UNHCR had increased to 27. The dead include 12 children, eight women and seven men, a spokesman for Sudanâs Embassy in Cairo told AFP. The toll rose after more people died of their injuries in hospitals across the city. The Sudanese Embassy also said that Egypt planned to begin the deportations yesterday with a small group of 13 Sudanese.
Egyptian officials said that only individuals whose asylum requests the UNHCR has rejected and do not have legal residence in Egypt will be expelled. Human rights groups have expressed concern for the safety of those being returned, many of who lost their documents when Egyptian security forces stormed the park where they had been protesting for three months.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2006 00:00 ||
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France take note here. Deportation works!
Posted by: 49 pan ||
01/03/2006 8:13 Comments ||
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Unfortunately, it's not the Immigration Service that's the main problem, but Congress. They've been dragging their feet about many things that need to be done to reduce illegal immigration in this country. Also to blame are a large number of groups (ACLU, etc.) that fight everything that's attempted, employers that hire illegals knowingly, local and state governments that refuse to crack down on illegals, and the Mexican government that encourages illegal immigration from Mexico. It may take a shooting border war to stop the mess.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/03/2006 16:01 Comments ||
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Yes indeed Old Partiot. Thanks for the correction. Term limits would solve this problem I suspect.
Saad Ali Al-Shehri was only 17 when he went to Afghanistan in 1989. His aim was to support the Afghani people in their fight against the Soviets. He was driven by his enthusiasm and his desire to support his Islamic brothers, Al-Yaum newspaper reported. âI left in 1989 and stayed (in Afghanistan) for eight months. At that time the whole Muslim world was standing behind Afghanistan and we were given all facilities to go there,â said Shehri. âWe arrived in Pakistan where we trained for a period of time. After that, we began to learn how to use weapons. In training camp, we used to wake up at dawn and read and recite the Qurâan. I noticed that there was a particular hate group in the camp that was preaching violence. They were driven by ignorance and hate and whoever opposed their ideas was considered an enemy.â
Shehri decided to speak about this experience, saying that the media is partly to blame for presenting a bad image of jihad, saying that the jihad in Afghanistan against Soviet invasion was a noble one. Today, on the other hand, jihad has been co-opted by terrorist groups. Shehri warns parents to closely monitor their children lest they fall into the trap of mistaking terrorism for jihad.
He said that in the 1980s, jihad in Afghanistan was clearly a fight to liberate Afghanistan from Soviet occupation. (The Soviets were defeated in Afghanistan due to the tactical knowledge of the Mujahedeen along with the support of the CIA, which shared an interest with the jihadists in checking Soviet expansion.) Many of the Mujahedeen fighters returned from Afghanistan and became productive members of their societies. Shehri blames the shift in the perception of jihad on deviant groups from outside the country that exploit the idealism of youth, using propaganda to convince them to oppose and subvert their own states.
I thought he was just swell until he said it's outside groups. Salafism is a home-grown Soddy phenomenon. The Takfir variant has its roots there, as well. It's not Zionists, and it's not Moroccans.
The groups often take passages from the Qurâan out of context and twist their real meanings to brainwash youths to support or participate in acts of nihilism. Jihad in Afghanistan was a specific targeted struggle against the hegemony of a powerful state against a Muslim country. And now, Shehri says, deviant groups are telling Muslim youth that jihad is a universal fight against all infidels. This, he says, is a profound change and a perversion of the Qurâan as well as of the concept of jihad.
He said that while he was fighting the jihad against the Soviets, there was a group of Saudis at the camp urging the Mujahedeen fighters to shift their focus. He recalled that many of his compatriots noticed that Saudi Arabia was under attack by certain members who were criticizing the country and calling the Kingdom un-Islamic. Shehri never saw any of the notorious figures to come out of Afghanistan since the end of the jihad against the Soviet Union. âWe did not see Osama bin Laden or Ayman Al-Zawahri. Their main role was financial support,â said Shehri.
His relationship with Afghanistan and the Mujahedeen ended with the Soviet retreat from the country. He decided to leave after observing a lot of infighting among Afghans. In this hostile, shattered environment, Shehri said, it was easy for terrorist groups to set up camps. âIn these groups, none of them were using their real names. These men did not have confidence in themselves,â he said. âThere is no Muslim who points his weapon at his brother Muslim. It is so sad to see terrorists calling for jihad in the Arabian Peninsula. How could they start jihad in the land of Islam? All that I can say is that these young men have been mentally assassinated. In the past, the cause was clear: We were fighting an enemy that took the land of our brothers. The enemy was stunned when it saw males as young as 11 and 12 fighting them. Terrorist groups these days are brainwashing young minds and sending them to countries in order to commit terrorist activities.â
Shehri added that the Internet has made it easier to target susceptible youth, but also expressed optimism in the current backlash against the so-called global jihad. âI am very optimistic that many men who went astray are coming back. Even some sheikhs are regretting their issuing violent fatwaâs and have since corrected their position,â said Shehri. âMany of them came to the right path after the royal pardon was issued.â
The Mujahedeen veteran ended his interview by re-emphasizing the need for parents to play an increasingly active role in controlling their childrenâs exposure to deviant propaganda. âI say once again that it is very important that a family play a role in monitoring their children in the streets because in the streets, they will be exposed to bad and good,â said Shehri. âParents need to educate children and protect them from going astray.â
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2006 00:00 ||
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Good article, although I would have liked his opinion on the situation in Iraq.
By Daniel Pipes, through Jewish World Review
The interior ministers of two German states have recently advanced important measures for containing radical Islam. They bear close attention across the West.
In Baden-Wurtenberg, Heribert Rech (of the ruling Christian Democratic Union party) has overseen the administering of a 30-topic loyalty test for applicants to become naturalized citizens. Following an intensive and sophisticated study by the Baden-Wurtenberg government of Muslim life, it developed a manual for the naturalization authorities explaining that applicants for citizenship must concur with the "free, democratic, constitutional structure" of Germany. So they are asking would be citizens if they agree with the basic tenants of the government that they will live under for the rest of their lives. Novel idea for Western bureaucrats. Mark this one on the calendar.
Because survey research finds that 21 percent of Muslims living in Germany believe the German constitution irreconcilable with the Koran, the written yes-no questions of yesteryear are history for Muslim applicants for citizenship. As of January 1, 2006, immigration officers who suspect Islamist leanings are instructed to probe further. Personal interviews will now last an hour or two and will be given to an estimated half of naturalization applicants. That is EXACTLY what governments should be doing, instead of bringing in potential welfare *ahem* clients and jihadi nutbags. If the immigrants don't like the culture, they can immigrate to say, Pakistan, or Yemen, Sudan, or Somalia, where there is plenty of entropy to go around.
The questions amount to a summary of Western values. What do you think of democracy, political parties, religious freedom? What would you do if you learned about a terrorist operation underway? Views of 9/11 are a "key issue," says Dieter Biller, director of the alien registration office in Stuttgart: Were Jews responsible for it? Were the 19 hijackers terrorists or freedom fighters? Finally, nearly two-thirds of the questions concern gender issues such as women's rights, husbands beating wives, "honor killings," female attire, arranged marriages, polygyny, and homosexuality. The only fly in the ointment is that the would-be immigrants might get a crib card to fake the answers to the questions, thereby getting a passing grad from a clerk in the government dealing with the case. The government will have to think that one through, IMHO.
Responding to critics, the interior ministry denies discrimination against Muslims, insisting on the need to find out whether the applicants' expressed views on the German constitution correspond to their real views. Applicants who pass the test and are granted citizenship could later lose that citizenship if they act inconsistently with their "correct" answers. Should apply to any immigrants. Same with the US. Condi, please take notes. Expect the ACLU to have a heart murmor, but no biggie.
Extra requirements of Muslim applicants for citizenship is not unique to Germany; in Ireland for example, male candidates are made to swear that they will not marry more than one wife. But when it's OK to lie to Infidels, then swearing a statement like that is a comedian's throwaway line.
The second initiative originates in Lower Saxony, where the interior minister, Uwe SchÃŒnemann (also a CDU member), has stated he would consider making radical Islamists wear electronic foot tags. Doing so, he says, would allow the authorities "to monitor the approximately 3,000 violence-prone Islamists in Germany, the hate preachers [i.e., Islamist imams], and the fighters trained in foreign terrorist camps." Electronic tags, he suggested, are practical "for violence-prone Islamists who can't be expelled to their home countries because of the threat of torture" there. LOL! You be bad, so you gotta wear a toe tag. Don't worry, though, we won't send you back to the sh*thole you came from because we do not want you to be humiliated or sold for spare parts.
The electronic tagging of terror suspects is also not unprecedented. In the United Kingdom, the method has been used since March 2005 and, other than a glitch-plagued start, it has been applied to ten suspects with reasonable success. In Australia, counterterrorism measures implemented last month permit tagging for up to a year. Booting them out would also get the attention of the rest. Civilization cannot win the war against radical Islam by being PC.
But SchÃŒnemann's proposal goes well beyond these applications, tagging not just potential terrorists but also "hate preachers" who break the law not by personally engaging in violence but by articulating beliefs that encourage others to terrorism. Tagging them breaks new conceptual ground by aggressively going to the ideological source of violence. Tagging or bagging the hate preachers. Works for me.
It has potentially large implications. If hate preachers are tagged, why not the many other non-violent Islamists who also help create an environment promoting terrorism? Their ranks would include activists, artists , computer gamers, couriers, funders, intellectuals, journalists, lawyers, lobbyists, organizers, researchers, shopkeepers and teachers. In short, SchÃŒnemann's initiative could lead ultimately to the electronic tagging of all Islamists. Sounds logical to me, could be abused. Have to watch for that. Booting them out sounds like a more viable and economic solution, otherwise they will be a lifetime drain on society. Paying for your enemies to hang around, ya know, is kinda stupid.
But electronic tags reveal only a person's geographic location, not his words or actions, which matter more when dealing with imams and other non-violent cadres. With due allowances for personal privacy, their speech could be recorded, their actions videoed, their mail and electronic communications monitored. Such controls could be done discreetly or overtly. If overt, the tagging would serve as a modern scarlet letter, shaming the wearer and alerting potential dupes.
The SchÃŒnemann proposal points to the urgent need to develop a working definition of Islamism and Islamists, plus the imperative for the authorities to explain how even non-violent Islamists are the enemy. That should not be hard to do. Hire the Rantburg Consulting group. Dan Darling, are you available? [***snip the rest***]
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/03/2006 13:29 ||
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A toe tag sends a very subtle, very powerful message.
#6
Nobody expects muslims to tell the truth. Instead it sets up a grounds for fast track revocation of citizenship and deportation when they engage in behavior contrary to what they claimed in the citizenship interview.
Posted by: ed ||
01/03/2006 15:12 Comments ||
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Actually many, possibly most, Muslims do not know very much about Kitman and Takiyya and will probably freak out during the citizen tests.
#9
Shineng, those fucks are so burt they will probably jump at the chance to tell the interviewer all about how fucked up the Germ constitution is. They think people believe that shit that spews out of their mouths.
#10
Waitaminute, Seafarious! Are you suggesting JFM is one of those German politicians?
As I live and breathe!
Es tut mir leid, JFM! Bon Chance. (I ferget the German.....)
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/03/2006 20:23 Comments ||
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JFM is French, Bobby. TGA (True German Ally) hasn't been around since Angela Merkel was elected. He's a nice Jewish German, survived first the Nazi concentration camps, then the Soviet ones, and has been know to advise government figures on stuff. He was the one who told Sec. Rumsfeld about Rantburg.
#12
Applicants who pass the test and are granted citizenship could later lose that citizenship if they act inconsistently with their "correct" answers.
Something isn't right here. If you accept German citizenship, you automatically lose any other you may have. It's one or the other and not both. But there's also a law that says you can't make a person "stateless", meaning you can't take away a person's citizenship if he has no other. Most countries subscribe to this idea. So... this is probably meant more as a disincentive for undesirables applying for citizenship, and obtaining the protections this implies.
Posted by: Rafael ||
01/03/2006 23:38 Comments ||
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...which in turn makes it easier to deport the shit disturbers.
Posted by: Rafael ||
01/03/2006 23:39 Comments ||
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PARIS - French President Jacques Chirac has lifted from January 4 a state of emergency imposed after urban riots two months ago, which had been originally set to run until late February, his office said on Monday.
Chirac took the decision following a meeting with Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to assess the overall security situation in the country, the presidency said in a statement. âThe president received the prime minister this morning for a general review of the situation. Following the meeting, the president of the republic decided to end the state of emergency from January 4, 2006,â it said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/03/2006 00:00 ||
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425 cars burnt in France on New Years Eve. Thank God things are back to normal.
#2
Awww, Grunter, I wanted to say it. The good news is that Paris still can't afford to support its benefit burdens, as before. Iff the future Franco-Brit CVF follows the CHARLES DE GAULLE, the French can rest assured the props of the CVF will continue falling off or spinning off in a timely manner.
#9
Only one reason the new carrier will be a success, JosephM, it is a British design from the beginning. Only French contribution with be with costs and building one in their shipyards. The De Gaulle was a Frog design, from beginning to end, with the noted fun results.
#11
The CdG's comedy of errors started with it's powerplant consisting of 2 submarine reactors (inadequately shielded at that) generating only 83,000 SHP to power a 41,000 ton carrier. I believe during flight ops, sailors have to break out the oars to get enough headwind. For comparison, the recently retired USS America (75,000 tons) had a 280,000 SHP power plant and Arleigh Burke destroyers have 100,000 SHP. Hell, even the WWII Essex class carriers (36,000 tons) generated 150,000 SHP and they did not have to generate steam for catapults.
Posted by: ed ||
01/03/2006 15:42 Comments ||
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More than 50 mayors in southeast Turkey could face criminal charges after sending a letter to Denmark's prime minister urging him not to shut down a pro-Kurdish television station, officials said yesterday. Turkey says Copenhagen-based Roj TV is a mouthpiece for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), blamed by Ankara for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since it began an armed campaign for a Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.
In their letter, 56 mayors urged Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen to resist pressure from Ankara to close down Roj TV, saying it would hurt the needs of their people for Kurdish language broadcasting. "The chief prosecutor's office will decide whether to launch an investigation after examining the full letter," an official told Reuters in Diyarbakir, the main city of Turkey's southeast. "If a crime is found to have been committed, an investigation will be opened against the mayors for making propaganda on behalf of an illegal organization and for praising the crime and the criminal," the official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2006 00:00 ||
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I wonder if it was the Kurds who tried to hit the AMB in Bagdad? The Kurds will undoubtedly pay for it.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
01/03/2006 8:20 Comments ||
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In their letter, 56 mayors urged Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen to resist pressure from Ankara to close down Roj TV, saying it would hurt the needs of their people for Kurdish language broadcasting.
And the charges they face would be...what, exactly?
He is all for foreign direct investment (FDI) even if it comes from capitalist countries like the United States.
But when the UPA government invites US president George W Bush to India, West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is a different man altogether.
He quickly falls back on Vlamidir Ilych Lenin's thesis on imperialism and dubs the American president as the "leader of the world's largest killing gang."
"We are opposed to India's going for any kind of long-standing ties with the United States. The preceding NDA government took the initiative and the present UPA government is following the same path.
Posted by: john ||
01/03/2006 17:20 ||
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Looks like he has gotten some new orders from Beijing.
Ever the loyal commie drone, following his cHinese masters' wishes...
Posted by: john ||
01/03/2006 19:28 Comments ||
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Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
good thing he doesn't play Pro football...he'd need 72" wide shoulders to carry his name on the uni
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2006 23:26 Comments ||
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Itâs once bitten, twice shy for the UPA government. The hue and cry raised by its Left allies over the Indo-US air exercises at Kalaikunda last November has prompted the Defence Ministry to avoid future confrontation by keeping the war-games venue outside West Bengal.
A base in Punjab, likely to be selected as the alternative arena, will be upgraded to international standards by October to conduct the next mock war. And to make that happen, two officers from Delhi-based Western Air Command were sent to Kalaikunda to assess the facilities and emulate them at the optional site.
Significantly, this was not the plan before the Left protest started. The daily turnout of agitators outside Kalaikunda airbase compelled the IAF to despatch the scout team of Director (Fighter Operations) Gp Capt B Dhanoa and Director (Administration) Gp Capt R Sharma on November 18, the last day of the exercise.
The IAF spent close to Rs 10 crore in sprucing up Kalaikunda, a MiG-27 base under Eastern Air Command, with better living quarters and facilities to host large complements of foreign crew and aircraft. A similar amount would now be needed to upgrade the new site.
The IAF is not buying the Leftâs stand that the exercise was symbolic of imperialism. ââHow come the Left did not protest when similar exercises with the Americans were held in Gwalior in 2004?ââ a WAC officer told The Indian Express.
âIt was a political problem, but it was very embarrassing situation for the air force. We had guests from abroad who were subjected to this unfortunate turnout of political protestors. We would much rather have smooth-sailing in the future,ââ said the officer.
The Americans termed the protests a ââlegitimate voice in a democracyââ. The Kalaikunda exercises continued despite the protests, even as the Defence Ministry remained torn between burgeoning Indo-US ties manifested in the complexity of the exercises, and its political commitment to its allies.
The ministryâs hunt for an alternative is to avoid being caught in such a cleft again.
Posted by: john ||
01/03/2006 16:59 ||
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Buddhadeb has a new notch in his belt.
After successfully deindustrializing Bengal, driving all the business men out, with crippling, endless wildcat strikes, he now drives the US-India air exercises out.
Never mind that Calcutta could have probably used the money the erercises bring in.
The presence of yankee imperialists would obviosly spoil Calcutta's world renowned image as marxist utopia of milk and honey...
Posted by: john ||
01/03/2006 19:35 Comments ||
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Pakistan yesterday warned India that statements about the law and order situation in Balochistan province could spoil the atmosphere of the ongoing peace process the two South Asian rivals began in 2004. âStatement of these sort do tend to vitiate the atmosphere we worked so hard to build for sustaining the bilateral peace process to find a just solution to the Kashmir issue,â Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tasnim Aslam told reporters in Islamabad.
India last week made an observation over âviolenceâ in Balochistan as a result of âmilitary actionâ there that drew a rebuff from Islamabad for interfering in its internal matters. But it rejected Pakistanâs protest, saying that the statement on the situation in Balochistan was nothing âextraordinaryâ. âAnyone who issues a statement that is tantamount to interfering in the internal affairs of other countries betrays a psyche of a bull that sees red rag everywhere,â Tasnim remarked while advising India to âmind its own businessâ.
The Pakistani Army is currently scouring areas of Kohlu district where it suspects ultra-nationalists are based and carrying out rocket attacks on government installations and officials including the one on Dec. 14 during President Gen. Pervez Musharrafâs visit to that area. Tasnim did not name anyone when asked about Indiaâs involvement in Balochistan but hinted at foreign interference behind the violence.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2006 00:00 ||
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Aahh....mmm...the lush green valleys and fields of Kashmir; reminds me of the taste of wild hickory nuts?!!
#2
As I have said before, I am hoping that India will return the favor of Kashmir with Balochistan. And that the resulting low level combat results in 2 or 3 decades of death and destruction for both the Pakis and the Balocs, with a major reduction in the 18-24 adult male population among both. That would rapidly encourage the Pakis to rein in the Kashmiris and keep them occupied on their "own" soil.
A delegation from the main Sunni coalition, the Arab National Accordance Front, met senior Kurdish officials on Sunday, possibly holding preliminary discussions about the formation of a coalition government ahead of final election results due to be released this week. It was the first trip by a Sunni Arab delegation to Iraq's Kurdish region after the 15 December parliamentary elections, whose results have been contested by the sectarian minority and secular parties. The 10-member delegation was led by two of the front's three leaders: Adnan al-Dulaimi, leader of the General Conference of the Iraqi People, and Tariq al-Hashimi, head of the Iraqi Islamic party. A representative of the secular party led by Iyad Allawi, a Shia and the former prime minister, said the group had not been invited to the Kurdish north, which in recent days has seen a flurry of post-election bargaining between the Kurds and the governing Shia United Iraqi Alliance, which has a strong election lead.
Dhafir al-Ani, spokesman for the Accordance Front, told Aljazeera.net the visit had objectives different from those of the visits by al-Jaafari and al-Hakim. "Mr al-Jaafari and Mr al-Hakim may have talked about the formation of the new government in light of the results of last December's elections, but we have a different point of view," he said. "We sought the meeting with Mr Barzani to try to find an exit to solve the differences triggered by the election results," he told Aljazeera.net.
Sunni Arab and secular Shia groups have complained that widespread fraud and intimidation tainted the elections and have demanded a rerun of the poll in some provinces including Baghdad, the country's largest with 59 of parliament's 275 seats. They have also welcomed an international electoral monitoring team that is to arrive in Baghdad on Monday to assess the election process, a key opposition demand.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2006 00:00 ||
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Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the Iraqi interim prime minister, has held a long closed-door meeting with Massoud Barzani, president of the Iraqi Kurdistan province, in Salah al-Din resort in northern Iraq. The Sunday meeting started in the morning and carried on until the evening, with the two politicians holding a news conference afterwards in which they announced they had agreed to form a broad-based national unity government.
The visit of al-Jaafari, who leads the Shia al-Dawa party, to predominantly Kurdish northern Iraq came after the visit of Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim, chairman of the Iran-backed Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), the dominant Shia party in Iraq. Kurdish parties had shown dissatisfaction with al-Jaafari's performance and accused him of neglecting his partners in the political process. Sunday's visit was the first by the prime minister since he was elected in mid-2004. The race to meet and discuss the political situation in Iraq after December's parliamentary elections included the Iraqi Sunni Arab political parties.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2006 00:00 ||
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I heard last week that al-Jaafari and Al Chalabi attended the same Jesuit school in Baghdad in their youth.
Both have good command of English. Al Jaafari is, however incompetant as a manager or leader and Al Chalabi is arrogant.
JERUSALEM - European Union monitors began Monday fanning out across the Palestinian territories for this monthâs elections despite the growing lawlessness which saw gunmen raid government offices in southern Gaza. Thirty-two EU observers were heading out to the major cities in the West Bank as well as the Gaza Strip where four Europeans have been kidnapped in the last week alone.
So many hostage candidates, so little time ...
Chief EU observer Veronique De Keyser told reporters at a press conference in east Jerusalem that the mission was making regular security assessments but would still send two teams to Gaza. âWe assess the situation hour by hour. We will never send people without experience,â said the Belgian MEP.
Experience in what, being a hostage?
âMy main concern is safety and security. I will go on Wednesday myself to Gaza to assess the risk... We would never deploy if thereâs a real risk of kidnapping or them being prevented doing their work.â
Can't you guys observe from, say, Cyprus?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/03/2006 00:00 ||
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Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans eventually to scrap a US-approved road map to peace with the Palestinians and instead seek Washingtonâs blessing for annexing occupied West Bank land, a newspaper said yesterday. The report by senior staff of Maariv newspaper gave no source, but Sharonâs initial plans for last yearâs withdrawal from the Gaza Strip were first floated in a similar way.
Sharonâs spokesman declined comment, while a senior Israeli political source dismissed the report as âpure speculation.â A senior Palestinian official said he doubted whether the United States or the European Union would endorse the plan described by Maariv.
The paper said Sharon, who is up for re-election in March, would argue that Israel was justified in abandoning the peace plan and setting borders unilaterally because of the failure of the Palestinians to crack down on armed groups. In public, Sharon remains very much committed to the road map for a Palestinian state on land captured in the 1967 Middle East war alongside a secure Israel. But Palestinians have long said they suspect Sharon intends to dictate terms. The Palestinians have failed to fulfill their obligation under the plan to start disarming factions spearheading a 5-year-old revolt. Israel has not met its own promise to stop expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The Maariv report said Sharon would go public with his new plan after Palestinian parliamentary elections this month, when Israeli intelligence has predicted a new outbreak of violence.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2006 00:00 ||
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Well, when Hamas wins the upcoming elections, I don't see how the roadmap can stay in effect.
#2
I think the Gaza pullout was an experiment to see if peace was even possible with those animals. I think we all see the conclusion to be drawn here. Somehow the more you try to help those assholes the more they think their terrorist techniques are working, and wearing down the Israelis. Some people just dont have their shit together enough to govern themselves. And I think you are right Danking70 if they elect hamas to office they have just screwed the pooch.
#3
A lot hinges on Sharon's surgery on Thursday. A radio report I heard yesterday said there is little-to-no information about Arik's condition. One unconfirmed report sez he's completely blind in one eye. Also, the succession of power in unclear in Israeli law. If anyone here is more knowlegeable, please share what you know...
#4
"...would argue that Israel was justified in abandoning the peace plan and setting borders unilaterally because of the failure of the Palestinians to crack down on armed groups."
Unilateral pullout from Gaza pretty much made that a self-fulfilling prophecy.
#5
sure DG - it's the Joooos fault the Paleos can't control themslves
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2006 13:52 Comments ||
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#6
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans eventually to scrap a US-approved road map to peace with the Palestinians and instead seek Washingtonâs blessing for annexing occupied West Bank land
Sometimes I've this fantasy of living in an independent country which can---when the occasion requires---tell Washington go and f*ck itself.
#7
"sure DG - it's the Joooos fault the Paleos can't control themslves"
FrankG, I didn't assign blame for anything. I don't think I was alone in predicting the chaos as a result of the Gaza pullout. Want to venture a guess as to how many "Pass the Popcorn" references there has been on RB since the pullout announcement.
Go Down Moses!
The Palestinian president has said he will delay parliamentary elections scheduled for 25 January if Israel bars Jerusalem Arabs from voting.
Fox News sez Israel's gonna let them vote, so they've got to find another excuse...
It is the first time Mahmoud Abbas has said he may postpone the poll.
I think we've seen it coming, whether he's said anything about it or not, since it's pretty obvious Fatah's gonna get tromped...
"We all agree that Jerusalem should be included in the elections," Abbas said in Doha, Qatar, on Monday. "If it is not included, all the factions agree there should be no elections."
"Nope. Nope. Can't do it."
Israeli officials initially said they would not allow voting in East Jerusalem - occupied and then annexed in 1967 - even via post offices as in previous ballots, but they have since indicated that they will "contemplate" allowing Palestinians to vote. Abbas has been under pressure by senior figures of his Fatah party to delay the vote. On Saturday, eight members of Fatah's central committee, including Ahmad Qureia, the prime minister, and Nabil Shaath, his deputy, called for the elections to be postponed. The committee said elections would not proceed without guarantees that Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem could vote, after holding an emergency meeting on Sunday.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2006 00:00 ||
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Sure. Cancel your sham elections. See if we care. Hah!
THE British aid worker kidnapped and held for three days with her parents in Gaza, had a blazing row with her captors shortly before the family was released in a back street in the dead of night, she told The Times yesterday.
"Arseholes!"
"Bitch!"
As the two Palestinian gunmen who had abducted Kate Burton and her parents, Hugh, 73, and Win, 55, prepared to video their captives as a condition of their release, she burst into a tear-filled rage demanding they be set free. âThe kidnappers were getting nervous and angry and started shouting at me,â she said. âThey told me I was being disrespectful, despite all the food and blankets theyâd given us. I got really mad. I screamed at him, âDo you want me to get down on my knees and say thank you, thank you?â
Probably. They're Paleostinians, y'know...
âI was exhausted and started blubbering crying and crying. I told them, âI came to work with these people and I feel like Iâve been stabbed in the backâ.â
Whoa! That's never happened before, has it?
Her comments came in the first comprehensive interview she has given since spending 58 hours as a captive. After a further debriefing with British intelligence officers, Ms Burton, an Arabic speaker who had been working with a Gaza human rights group, described how her outburst had briefly delayed their freedom as the kidnappers did not want her to look bad in the video. Ms Burton, 24, continued to show mixed feelings for her captors, who had treated the hostages well and even proudly shared pictures of their own children.
"Yup. That's my boy, Mahmoud!"
"He looks like a dynamite kid!"
"Yup. He was."
âI canât forgive them for what they did to me, but I think they will keep doing it in future. I feel sorry for these guys. Their lives are completely shattered. Theyâve no freedom of movement; no family life. They canât stay at home because theyâre wanted by the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority.â
"Thre's no way they can control their violent instincts."
She described how the kidnappers, with whom she had long ideological discussions, pounced after tailing the family for an hour after they left a Gaza refugee camp on Wednesday. âIt was very surreal,â she said. âItâs like youâre in a dream and you canât quite believe this is going on. I felt embarrassed because I knew the risks and still took the chance. Perhaps itâs a feeling of shame, too. And guilt. Lots of things.
I always hate it when I prove I'm a dumbass, too.
âFrom the start they were saying, âPlease donât be frightened. Tell your parents not to worry.â They kept saying weâd be freed in a few hours. But after a while we didnât believe the guy because he said so many things.â The kidnappers soon tired of holding the family and simply wanted to be rid of them.
I guess "The Ransom of Red Chief" hasn't been translated into Arabic, huh?
Nonetheless, the hostage drama also generated moments of farce. After two days Mrs Burton demanded to wash her underwear and passed the wet garments to one of the gunmen to hang up to dry. âMy mother went to wash her knickers and then brought them back to one of the guys just to embarrass him a little bit,â she said. âShe asked him to hang them up on the line. He blushed a bit and put them up.â
Touched a woman's bloomers, did they? And an infidel's, to boot. They'll have to be killed, y'know...
Ms Burton expressed her own guilt at having taken her parents to Gaza, despite Foreign Office travel advice not to make such a visit. âI feel really, really guilty,â she said.
That's probably because you are, dumbass.
âI feel irresponsible. Iâm the one who lives there and should have known better. I wanted them to see it was safe and feel a bit calmer about where I lived. But Iâve given them their worst Christmas and their worst holiday ever."
Gave 'em a pretty good taste of the calm and safety level of your neck of the woods, too...
âThey were curious and theyâd been aware of the risks. Thatâs why weâd kept it to a day at the end. But the last thing they said was, âWeâre never coming backâ.â
See? They're not crazy in the least.
However, Ms Burton, who also speaks Hebrew and worked on a kibbutz, plans to stay in the region and hopes to go on working for the Palestinian people. But she does not plan to return to Gaza.
"I'll see if I can manage to get kidnapped on the West Bank next..."
âIâm concerned about my own personal security,â she said. âI donât know if my life would be at risk. I want to stay working with the Palestinian people. I think I couldnât be anywhere else. Iâd feel guilty if I turned my back on them.â
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Iâd feel guilty if I turned my back on them.â
#2
Even the terrorists can't handle a 24 year old Britt girls emotions! They were probably glad to be rid of her, all that bathing and bitching and crying and dirty bloomers! Kinda made Omar miss his goats!
Posted by: 49 pan ||
01/03/2006 8:26 Comments ||
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#3
Congrats Kate, appears you've gained a new muzzie perspective. Bloomers on the line, they'll sometimes do. Over the head, thats another matter.
#5
Stupidity crossed with Stockholm Syndrome is a horrible thing.
I still can't decide what is more likely for the winsome Ms Burton....a Darwin Award, or an unofficial "Do Not Kidnap - This Broad is Nuts!" decree from Hamas.
#7
Yep. Nothin hurts worse then to have your high sense of self-nobility unappreciated by the lowlife turds you're there to help.
See if this bitch jumps in front of a IAF bulldozer for you, you ungrateful Pali bastards...
#8
"Yup. That's my boy, Mahmoud!"
"He looks like a dynamite kid!"
"Yup. He was."
Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the current leading contender for Snark-o-the-Week. Glad to see this event is getting the mockery it so richly deserves. Well done.
#10
After two days Mrs Burton demanded to wash her underwear and passed the wet garments to one of the gunmen to hang up to dry. âMy mother went to wash her knickers and then brought them back to one of the guys just to embarrass him a little bit,â she said. âShe asked him to hang them up on the line. He blushed a bit and put them up.â
Ah yes, the old "Abu Grahaib" gambit. Works every time. No laboratory waldos available to handle such volatile dainties.
Note to Ms. F&%kwit Burton: That sensation of shameful embarrasment is your stupidity becoming manifest. Fear not, Ken Livingstone will have a medal to pin on you when you get home.
#11
Now this is weird. This article is very much at odds with other reports, as noted by Melanie Phillips.
Times (this article): After a further debriefing with British intelligence officers...
Phillips (paraphrasing the Daily Mail): ...British officials [found] that she refused to co-operate with them and would not be debriefed...
Times:âI canât forgive them for what they did to me..."
Daily Mail:Her aunt, Wendy Hagenbuch, told the Mail last night: âKate will be very forgiving of these men because she believes they wouldnât do this sort of thing without good reason.
I also read somewhere that she intended to go back to Gaza, but that wasn't in Phillips's story.
#12
This has still got to be the best story of the war. Someone needs to tell the Paleos if they don't settle down we will send in a thousand Britt women mixed with a bunch of Greenpeace burkenstock wearin American women. Then they will realize what hell is all about.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
01/03/2006 19:12 Comments ||
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The number of Israelis killed by terror attacks during 2005 fell by more than 60 percent, official figures say. An annual summary of terror activities for 2005 released by Israel's Shin Bet, or Shabak domestic security service, Sunday revealed that a total of 2,990 attacks were launched against Israeli targets. The attacks occurred after the truce was announced, the report stated.
Some 45 Israelis were killed in terror attacks in 2005 compared with 117 Israelis killed in such attacks in 2004. Twenty-three of those killed last year were killed in seven suicide bomb attacks. There was also a 30 percent decrease in the number of total Israeli casualties, including those injured in attacks, during 2005 with 406 Israelis wounded compared with 589 the previous year, the Jerusalem Post reported. In 2005 security forces arrested 160 potential suicide bombers in raids in West Bank villages and towns. There was a drastic drop in terror attacks launched from the Gaza Strip last year, with 1,205 attacks carried out in 2005 compared with 2,637 in 2004, the newspaper said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
build the wall around gaza a bit higher and a bit deeper - to lower the count even more.
#3
Well something is happening right as in 2003 there was even more Israeli deaths then 2004.
As the terrorist realize that their current methods are failing, I wonder what they will do. Already we can see more sophisticated arms are coming into the GAZA.
#4
Recall all those who said the Wall would only increase violence and enrage the Pals.
The same crwod that said an American foreign policy based on Peace Through Strength would only further anger the Soviets. Oh, really? Ahem, who won the Cold War and how are the "Soviets" doing these days, Leftist idiots?
#6
just like the "Friendship fence" with Mexico won't ever work, huh? Think the naysayers will be good enough to STFU? Me neither.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2006 8:49 Comments ||
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#7
I predicted some time ago that the wall would result, sooner or later, in the "out of sight, out of mind" effect with the Israelis, and thus the Paleos would turn on themselves.
It becomes increasingly difficult to blame "oppression" on people you don't see every day.
The last remaining wild card are the Arabs living in Israel proper.
#12
Depends on what kind of wall, how it is to be monitored, the manner of response to incursions, and how long strict enforcement is to be maintained. A sturdy wall with a good plan would probably work wonders.
The Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that there will be no dialogue with Europe because it is a waste of time. This point was underlined by the Iranian leader during his first appearance in front of the committee of foreign affairs and national security of the Majlis, the parliament in Tehran.
"The president, defined the attempts by the governments of the past 16 years to bring to the table a dialogue with Europe and to try and reduce tensions, as a waste of time which has so far not produced any tangible results for our country," Kazem Jalali, a member of the commission, told the media.
"The policies of the previous governments, has distanced the Islamic republic from its revolutionary origins and produced a damaging laxity," added Jalali who was quoting the words used by Ahmadinejad.
The governments that Ahmadinejad was criticising are those of the former presidents Mohammad Khatami and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Rafsanjani had taken part to the "critical dialogue" with the European Union while during his presidency, Khatami participated in a "constructive dialogue".
In his meeting with the various leaders of the committee, Ahmadinejad also spoke of the nuclear negotiations. "No negotiations with any countries or bodies on the activities of the plants in Isfahan and Natanza," said Ahmadinejad. The plant in Isfahan, currently active, is where raw uranium is transformed into gas, while in Natanza the centrifuges have been arranged for the necessary enrichment of the uranium.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also told the parlimentarians about his last two proposals to send Iranian observers to Europe, to evaluate the respect of human rights in the West, and the formation of a international scientific committee to evaluate the truthfulness behind the Holocaust. "The committee received this final proposal by Ahmadinejad with enthusiasm," said Kazem Jalali.
The president of the Majlis, Ali Asghar Haddad Adel, also welcomed these two proposals. "To examine all the documents related to the Holocaust and to hear the diverse opinions to this proposal, permits a clarification that will produce very positive results and will put an end once and for all to the divergence that dominates this historical fact," said Haddad Adel.
For Hamid Reza Asefi, the spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry, "sending Islamic observers to the West to evaluate the situation of human rights in Europe, allows for a joint evaluation on what are the rights that really have to be guaranteed to citizens."
Posted by: ed ||
01/03/2006 16:34 ||
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#1
"The policies of the previous governments, has distanced the Islamic republic from its revolutionary origins and produced a damaging laxity," added Jalali who was quoting the words used by Ahmadinejad.
Thank you Jimmy Carter for dealing with this piece of human fecal matter so effectively in 1979.
#6
"To examine all the documents related to the Holocaust and to hear the diverse opinions to this proposal, permits a clarification that will produce very positive results and will put an end once and for all to the divergence that dominates this historical fact," said Haddad Adel.
Their time might be more productively spent in Hiroshima and Nagasaki rather than Buchenwald and Belsen-Bergen. But I can understand how they would be more comfortable in the later though the more important lesson for them is at the former.
#11
Well, we got the Bad Cop⢠with Ahmadinejad, but I have not seen the Good Cop⢠routine with anyone else in the Iranian govt. Soooooooo.......The MMs have laid down the gauntlet to the EUniks. We know that France will grovel before Iran, hell they do it domestically. But what will the EU do now that their hole card (negotiate ad nausium) has been taken away? It's show time, folks. Iran is calling your bluff. Ante up and show your cards, or fold. Time is running out.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/03/2006 18:06 Comments ||
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#12
This ass has gotten two things right so far. First thing he got right, while he had Carter bent over a fence post, was to not cross Regan. Second was this "waste of time" EU statement. Now Bush needs to not waste any more time and strike Teheran and turn it to rubble. Those power plants he's building will make plenty of radioactive waste cabable of massive dirty boming campaigns.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
01/03/2006 18:22 Comments ||
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#13
DIALOGUE WITH EUROPE IS USELESS, SAYS AHMADINEJAD
Why do you think he's building all those missiles? It would seem that Europe is the only one who doesn't get this blindingly obvious fact.
#17
So now there will be another way besides demographic takeover for radical Islam to make war and possibly conquer Euroland and make it into a great northern caliphate.
The real question now becomes this....
Is the demographic assault to outbreed the emasculated and declining EUros plan A, or plan B?
Could be a scary answer to that question.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/03/2006 19:26 Comments ||
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#21
The 4th ID just arrived, fresh, somewhere in southern Iraq. And from reading local stuff, they have been undergoing extensive training, with more and more of that high tech equipment they are given. -- some they've had for at least 6 months. Others were screaming for it... but..... the 4th kept hands on, saying they needed it all for training.
Not knowing anything more about it.. but seems like this might just be overkill for Iraq. And we all know.... our military has a plan for everything -- even invading Canada that got so much attention last week.
4th ID missed out on most of the fun with Saddam (alto, they did capture him). They are ready. And which group is it that is kinda gonna hang around in Kuwait instead of going into Iraq?
#22
Sherry, I'd like to think you are right, but consider that the 4th ID was the Army's "Digital Division", the testbed for developing the way to fight with all the new toys, with "situational awareness." Having optimized the organization and tactics to use the new weapons, I'm not sure they could go back to operating without the equipment.
#23
Well RWV -- of course, I acquisence to your knowledge of the Army's "Digital Division", the testbed for developing the way to fight with all the new toys, with "situational awareness."
Not sure I understand what you mean about being able to operate without all the equipment. They run out of batteries? Guess they need to take the Energizer Bunny with 'em.
But -- I did see a train recently. Set and watched as it moved south, moving toward the Gulf. It was blocking my way! But for once, I didn't care about the blocking. It was rolling south from Ft. Hood, loaded down with every piece of war vehicle I've ever seen in any war movie I've every watched. Had the trucks, had the tanks, had the troops transports.... much looked the same ole, same ole to me.
'Course, I was lookin' through some tears, so I admit to......
#24
*hug* Sherry. Let's hope you're right -- I want this thing over, and soon. Too much nastiness is hanging over us all, despite all the lovely lunches the EU negotiators have been eating, and the longer we wait the worse it will be. I want Elder of Zion and gromgorru to be able to sleep without worrying that they might not wake up again. Stay strong, dear, ok?
#25
All the toys just enhance the combat effectiveness of a team. A wise old COL told me once that complicated and technical warfighting is just a bunch of "ten level" tasks, ten level is very basic tasks. His point was even the most technical event is just a string of very basic tasks. 4th ID may have all the newest toys, but they just help but do not replace the basic, ten level, tasks all combat is centered around. They will fight with or without the toys and win because they are drilled at basic tasks until the tasks are second nature. The toys will never replace soldier skills and crew drills.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
01/03/2006 23:14 Comments ||
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#26
Zenster: Berlin is in range of Iran's missles now.
Iran told the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency Tuesday it planned to resume nuclear fuel research after a 2 1/2-year hiatus, a vague declaration that was likely to be taken in the West as fresh evidence Tehran was trying to build an atomic weapon. International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed Elbaradei said it was important that Tehran "maintains its suspension of all enrichment-related activity" as a way of reducing international suspicions about its nuclear plans.
Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said research would "resume in cooperation and coordination with the IAEA in the next few days," adding that it would "have little to do with the production of nuclear fuel." Beyond that, he would not specify what type of research Tehran planned but claimed its nuclear program had suffered significantly during the research suspension. He said Iran could no longer keep its research scientists in limbo.
Iran has said it remains determined, at some point, to resume uranium enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for nuclear weapons. Rest at link.
Posted by: ed ||
01/03/2006 16:12 ||
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#1
I can't figure why Iran is being so public with this. The recent news about the US and /or Israel planning military action in the near future against Iran would lead me to think Iran should be doing all it can to stall our efforts. The usual lying and stonewalling. With all the rhetoric its almost like they are daring us.
#2
Seems obvious to me, they want to be attacked.
Why?
Many reasons, perhaps their Nuke Program has been so badly managed that it'll never work and they hope to hide the evidence under Radioactive Rubble.
Maybe one of the reasons is their nuke program is a semi-complete fake, see above.
Maybe they're fanatics enough to desire being attacked to "Unite Islam" (Note, if we see or hear of Mullahs and Govt Officials, such as the Royal Family dispersing, this is most likely)
I'm of the opinion that they've screwed something up so badly that they're praying daily that the
"Evidence" dissapears for a few hundred years, and they cannot get the Reactors running in any case, most probably due to massive theft, of both money and materials. (Scared to crank them up)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/03/2006 19:28 Comments ||
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#3
RJ, perhaps it's the opposite. Maybe they've got nada. We can bomb the crap out of sites that have absolutely nothing worth while. They can then play the big victim role for the next several years and gain sympathy from the wingbats, moonbats, terrs, dems, Cindy Sheehan and last but not least, the good ol' media.
#4
Same thing, a big bluff with the stakes raised daily.
The best solution would be to watch, arm and wait.
When (If, very big IF) one is seen in the air, be ready and shoot it down, THEN blast them into sub-atomic particles.
That strategy has a huge advantage, if they have nothing, they lose all around, prestige, "Face" and bluster all exposed as empty.
If they really do have a missle or two, shooting it down has it's own advantages, such as seeing if it's anything but a non-atomic test, (And the test fails by being shot down) plus the real advantage is huge, the "Right" now exists to flatten them with the world's blessing, (MSM not included)
No pretext exists for the Muzzies to claim "They Hit me First" and all is now open season on Islamics.
For these and many more reasons, I feel it's all a huge bluff designed to make us hit first, and it must piss them off mightly that we don't take the bait.
That's the reason the pressure gets ratcheted up tighter every day or so, their whole plan fails when we do NOT blast them.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/03/2006 23:35 Comments ||
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TEHRAN: Thousands of ethnic Kurds in Iran, headed by a prominent former MP, have created a movement aimed at obtaining rights they say have been "neglected" by the Islamic Republic during the past 26 years. "A large number of prominent Kurdish activists and NGOs have come together in an independent front to peacefully demand the rights that the Kurds have been denied," the founder of the reformist Kurdish United Front, Bahaeddine Adab told reporters Monday.
One of the group's aims was "to raise awareness among Kurds of their rights and help them choose the right representatives in town councils and the Parliament as these are the only ways they can get through to the authority," Adab said.
Adab is an outspoken former MP who was barred from running again in 2004 when the Council of Guardians disqualified him and thousands of other candidates. He insisted that the front was not a formal political party or NGO, which need to be authorized by the state if they are to advertise, hold meetings and take new members.
"The Kurds have had very little say in the decisions made about them and they have been denied their rights mentioned in the Constitution," he said, citing the soaring unemployment and addiction rates in Kurdish populated provinces and the restrictions on Kurdish language press.
One of the largest ethnic groups in Iran, more than six million Kurds live in the western border provinces, which are among the most underdeveloped in Iran. Adab said the Front would not pursue separatist goals, unlike most Kurdish opposition parties which seek autonomy and self-determination in a region which has large Kurdish populations in neighboring Iraq and Turkey. "We insist on working within the framework of law and avoiding violence," he said, adding that the decision was hastened by August 2005 clashes with authorities in at least two western provinces with a substantial Kurdish population.
He recognizes that the Mad Mullahs⢠would have no qualms thumping him.
Among the Kurdish parties which are banned in Iran are The Kurdistan Organization of Communist Party of Iran and the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, which are based abroad but have sympathizers in Iran.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/03/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
But they are Kurds, not Shiites. That makes them quite obviously inferior, probably even infidels. And we all know what we have to do to infidels.
#2
One of the group's aims was "to raise awareness among Kurds of their rights and help them choose the right representatives in town councils and the Parliament as these are the only ways they can get through to the authority," Adab said.
Adab is an outspoken former MP who was barred from running again in 2004 when the Council of Guardians disqualified him and thousands of other candidates. He insisted that the front was not a formal political party or NGO, which need to be authorized by the state if they are to advertise, hold meetings and take new members.
And right there, in a nutshell, is why political activism will not succeed in Iran.
Last year's climate of political tension in Lebanon continues in the new year, as the government crisis remains unresolved and the Lebanese street continues to burn after an explosive testimony from former Syrian Vice-President Abdel-Halim Khaddam. Despite the delicate tones being used in official statements, the row between the Hizbullah-Amal alliance and the parliamentary majority is escalating while other political parties are growing impatient with the failure to break the political impasse.
Of course the tension's growing. The pressure's just increased on Baby Assad...
While negotiations are being held between the Shiite blocs and members of MP Saad Hariri's Future Movement, a divide has widened among Christian MPs and ministers demanding to be included in the dialogue. Fears are also mounting within Druze leader Walid Jumblatt's camp that a rapprochement favorable to Hizbullah's demands is in the works.
Entirely possible, of course, since the Leb oligarchs have a habit of going for the short-term tactical gains, rather than the longer-term objectives...
To quell these fears, Hariri affirmed the importance of consultations with his March 14 allies in a recent interview with a local daily, and vowed his alliance with Jumblatt would last "100 years."
"More or less."
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora reaffirmed his commitment to realizing the return of the Shiite ministers who suspended their participation in the Cabinet. However, he also called for a Cabinet session this Thursday, with or without the Shiite ministers.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2006 00:00 ||
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Iranian charge d'affaires in China, Farhad Asadi said that talks are currently underway between Iran and independent states such as China on the prospect of purchasing aircraft to equip the country's air fleet.
Speaking to China Youth daily, Asadi referred to US sanctions and recent crash of C-130 plane resulting in the martyrdom of a number of media persons and said that this is a historical shame for Washington to witness that a nation does not bow to its illegal demands despite attempts to suppress it. In response to a question on whether Iran will use Chinese planes in its air fleet, he noted that Iran intends to procure its requirement from independent and friendly countries. He added that talks are currently underway on the issue and that any kind of cooperation in this respect will be welcomed.
Concerning collaboration and mutual relations in 2006, Asadi said that the two states currently enjoy the most favorable ties and referred to China as Iran's best trade partner.
"Bilateral agreements on cooperation in the oil and gas sector will result in several-billion-dollar revenue over the next 25 years. Besides implementation of dozens of minor and major industrial projects in Iran by Chinese enterprises mark the significance of such relations in economic and trade fields," he added. He predicted that trade exchanges between the two sides will exceed 10 billion dollars in the near future.
#2
Iran = China > they gotta know wid the USA dev or deploying Raptors and JSF's, etc, beside what tried-and-true assets we already have, their Air Forces are all but toast. GROUND WAR. i.e. PC ASYMMETRIC "PEOPLE'S WAR", includ escalation to no more than Limited Nuclear War, remains their preferred option unto POTUS Hillary, and
"justified" anti-US AMERICAN Socialism and OWG.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/03/2006 12:44 Comments ||
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#8
If I were going to sell a warplane to a potential enemy, I'd have a way to push a button and watch the engines shut off, the guns jam, and the canopy stick, all at the same time.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/03/2006 13:39 Comments ||
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#9
Recommend that the Iranian nuclear situation be dealt with sooner vs later. If both Russia and China send technicians and trainers in there, we are in the soup. I suspect they will drop the hammer on Formosa.
Iranian Air Force doesn't even like the Russian stuff on offer (which is ten times better than anything the Chinese can cobble together). They've been exposed to American F-14s and look down on Ruski equipment. They won't even use Chinese stuff for target practice.
Posted by: john ||
01/03/2006 14:07 Comments ||
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#11
Chinese aircraft are not exactly junk, just not very advanced in avionics and counters technology. It is the Chinese pilot training that sucks so much - low hours in the air, and the old Communist practice of ground controllers absolutely controlling the flight of the aircraft. Besides, if the Iranians are looking for good ground-attack aircraft, a lot of the MIG knockoffs are stars in that area.
#13
They may have been exposed to F-14s, but they're 25 years old and I would doubt they could put too many in the air. A fleet of Chinese planes that can be maintained and flown would be vastly superior to the highest tech hanger hog that gets the pilot zero flight hours.
The Syrian government said Monday it will put on trial former vice president Abdel Halim Khaddam, who has linked Damascus to Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri's murder, for high treason and investigate him for corruption. The announcement came after Khaddam's explosive allegation that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had threatened Hariri a few months before his death, which he made in an interview Friday on Al-Arabiya television.
"The Council of Ministers will take the necessary measures to try Khaddam for high treason, and to open an inquiry into corruption in a series of matters which will include seizing his assets," official daily newspaper Ath-Thawra said. The newspaper said the government announcement meant it would follow up on demands made by loyalist MPs, who called for Khaddam to be tried for treason and corruption.
Khaddam, long the architect of Syria's military and political domination of neighbouring Lebanon, accused Assad of threatening Hariri just months before his murder, dealing a fresh blow to the increasingly pressured Syrian regime. Khaddam, who broke his silence for the first time since resigning in June and was speaking from Paris where he and his family now live, said the meeting took place a few months before the February 14 assassination of Hariri.
The popular five time prime minister was killed in a Beirut bomb blast for which a UN probe has implicated Syrian intelligence. The UN commission of inquiry probing Hariri's murder asked Monday to interview Assad, Khaddam and Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara and was awaiting an answer from Syria, a spokeswoman in Beirut said. She added that the commission wanted to meet Khaddam "as soon as possible". But the Damascus government daily Tishrin blasted Khaddam for his allegations against his country.
"We were surprised by Khaddam's mudslinging against his country ... he is the last one who can talk about corruption," it wrote Monday. Khaddam was "the first to get in the way of reform measures. During all the (Baath) party meetings he warned against the risks of introducing democratic freedoms and economic and administrative reforms" in Syria, Tishrin said.
Iran yesterday dealt a new blow to a compromise offer from Russia on its nuclear program, saying it would only consider such a deal if it acknowledged the Islamic republic's right to enrich uranium on Iranian soil. "As we said before we want to have enrichment inside Iran ... and any proposal which is based on this principle will be studied," government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters. "We are studying the Russian proposal based on this framework," he said. "The government will never give up its principles." Moscow has suggested allowing Iran to conduct uranium enrichment in Russia, giving the country access to the nuclear fuel cycle while guaranteeing its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
If I had Sharon's ear, I would recommend a last ditch effort of detonating one of those 200 nuclear devices at the bottom of the Dead Sea! It would spell craps for the tourism interest of the area, but the shock the Iranians would get from this would persuade an immediate backdown from the "brinksmanship"!
#2
SMN That would more like confirm and justify the Iranian drive for a nuke while at the same time give the UN ammo to go for thier disarmement. The lead the other day at Aljizz was about the BBC peice on the Isreali secret nuke program and its Hypocracy crapola.
They really cant do much more than start producing ballistic missles or preferably ballistic missle subs and early warnning enmass while at the same time letting the Arab world know that they consider all of the Arab world as one so wether Iran or terrorist nuke Isreal the responce would be the same across the board decimation of all major muslims religious cities first followed by population centers in order of population with the absolute goal of genocide. MAD works only when both sides face annialation in full, Isreal cant afford the perception that if one Arab nation annialates Isreal it will be Marytred alone in the responce while the Arab world will continue. The entire Arab world must be forced to share in the risk so they are forced to bring their radical elements under control if for no other reason than self preservation.
Personaly I think the Iranian nukes are more for defence like to scare off a military responce from the west and intimidate thier neighbors to do what they want like embargo punish the west. All the while they support terrorist actions against all who disagree with their goals mainly Isreal and the West who have to weigh responce against nuclear war. Iranians with nukes and thier current mentality will result in nuclear war it will just be a matter of time. They have tunnel vision with thier world domination goal they will really crank up the pressure and belligerence with nukes in storage and at some point the west will be forced into conflict, the longer that conflict is put off the more people will have to be killed and sacrifised in the conflict.
#3
C-Low, good comment. Just one thing, though, take out the word "Arab" and replace with "Muslim".
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/03/2006 14:34 Comments ||
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#4
C-Low,
I agree with most of your comment. Iran is most likely to use it's nukes for intimidating its neighbors. But I dont know that I would consider that a defensive use, rather aggressive as in passive-aggressive. And it is highly probably.
In response to this threat, we should consider a nuclear attack-only defence pact providing for nuclear response by the U. S. with all non-nuclear states within the range of Iranian nukes.
I also don't know that I would want to depend on Iranian weapon security from preventing a device from falling into terrorist hands, whether stolen or "lent". This is a much lower probability event, but with much more serious consequences for the U. S. There is too great a chance that a combination of wackos in the chain of control will redirect a device. Defence against this is much tougher, but I suggest we tell Iran publicly at the U. N. that if we suffer a nuclear attack from terrorists we will consider it to have originated in Iran and repsond accordingly. The sooner we tell the world, the better
The only thing we can affirmatively do is accelerate regime change in Iran.
EFL - HT to Drudge
Rep. John Murtha, a key Democratic voice who favors pulling U.S. troops from Iraq, said in remarks airing on Monday that he would not join the U.S. military today.
A decorated Vietnam combat veteran who retired as a colonel after 37 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, Murtha told ABC News' "Nightline" program that Iraq "absolutely" was a wrong war for President George W. Bush to have launched.
"Would you join (the military) today?," he was asked in an interview taped on Friday.
"No," replied Murtha of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees defense spending and one of his party's leading spokesmen on military issues.
"And I think you're saying the average guy out there who's considering recruitment is justified in saying 'I don't want to serve'," the interviewer continued.
"Exactly right," said Murtha, who drew White House ire in November after becoming the first ranking Democrat to push for a pullout of U.S. forces from Iraq as soon as it could be done safely
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2006 09:56 ||
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#2
Our all-volunteer military has no place in it for cowards, blowhards, and terrorist sympathizers, so Murtha wouldn't be suitable material anyway. Win-win, I say.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/03/2006 10:10 Comments ||
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#3
Not really surprising.
Some of us have gone from moonbat to thinking, a few are going from moonbat to... moonbat.
I mean, if you have been a democutandrun for so many years without puking...you remain a democutandrun...
#6
What does he want exactly? To come home without finishing the mission? Civil war for Iraq? An arguable defeat for the democrats to tout against George Bush? That seems like a heavy price for the dimocrats to get a temporary "one up" on the Bush administration.
#7
I forget where I read it (might have been here) but I am glad people like Murtha arenât joining the armed forces and those that are joining are of the right character that we need right now. The last thing the Armed forces need right now is another sniveling whining blowhard like Murtha. BTW if I was young and had it to do all over again I would raise my hand and promise another 20 years.
#8
So he was a Marine? Well, so was Lee Harvey Oswald. Just meaning that even if there are more brave and patriotic people in the Marines than elsewhere you cannot tell that just because someone is/was Marine he is automatically a agood guy
Right now, John Murtha is the best friend Zarqawi has in this country. Many years ago, John Murtha was probably a very different man. (Are you the same person you were even ten years ago?) That John Murtha may well have been a decent, honorable patriot--but today's John Murtha is a terrorist sympathizer and a backstabbing coward.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/03/2006 11:05 Comments ||
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#15
Answer: The Iraqis create and maintain a stable, democractic government thus becoming a role model for other peoples in the Middle East who wish to join the modern world. Then, when we are certain that their army and police forces are up to their assigned tasks, we leave save for a few scattered military bases.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2006 11:20 Comments ||
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#17
Mike:
I totally disagree with you on Con. Murtha.
Even though I dont totally agree with him on some of the specifics of his re-deployment plan,
I believe his speaking out was a galvanizing point, that told President Bush that he no longer has a "never ending" open commitment of the American people or Congress to "stay the course" for a "undefined victory" in Iraq.
If you have noticed since Con. Murtha spoke out,
both Congressional Republicans and Democrats have put pressure on and passed legislation for President Bush to respond with specific progress reports and a timetable for handing over power to the Iraqis and redeployment of U.S. forces there.
I believe President Bush's recent speeches on his Iraq policy, in the face of losing a majority of american public support on the Iraq War,coupled with withering anti-war criticsm, and the recent announcement by Sec. Rumsfield on upcoming redeployment of U.S. forces in Iraq are direct responses to the ball that Con. Murtha got rolling to get this Iraqi War on a direction of completion as the american public becomes increasing impatient the rising total of U.S military deaths/casualties.
#18
"Maybe the VFW should get him to be their keynote speaker. I'm sure he'd get a memorable welcome."
Especially since that filthy slimeball did the same whining during Somalia, which helped get us in this mess in the first place.
Posted by: Ernest Brown ||
01/03/2006 11:53 Comments ||
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#19
I believe President Bush's recent speeches on his Iraq policy, in the face of losing a majority of american public support on the Iraq War,coupled with withering anti-war criticsm, and the recent announcement by Sec. Rumsfield on upcoming redeployment of U.S. forces in Iraq are direct responses to the ball that Con. Murtha got rolling to get this Iraqi War on a direction of completion...
Cassini, try to keep up. The drawdown of troops was planned a long time before Murtha became a media darling.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
01/03/2006 11:54 Comments ||
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#20
Think what you will, Cassini, but when you get right down to it, you'd have sent the troops home from Valley Forge; hung Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin from the second floor of Independence Hall; and kissed King George III's behind, too.
#21
"... and the recent announcement by Sec. Rumsfield on upcoming redeployment of U.S. forces in Iraq are direct responses to the ball that Con. Murtha got rolling..."
Maybe...just maybe...conditions in Iraq made force redeployment inevitable. And maybe...just maybe...Murthas statement as well others was timed just prior to that predictable announcement. And maybe...just maybe...the motivation for timing the upsurge in anti-war rhetoric was to take credit for said redeployment. And maybe...just maybe the result would be the democrat faithful would see their party as actually accomplishing something.
Maybe...just maybe that type of political trickery isn't beneath the democrat leadership.
Of course troop redeployment was preplanned,
but did you ever hear of any specific timetable for it? Think those upcoming midterms and repub
complaints have anything to do with rumsfields
recent announcement?
Can anyone from his voting district back this up? Is he saying what he believes or is this just something to keep him ut of hotwater as is supposed on other threads?
#24
How come we don't hear any more about Murtha's son's lobbying and making money with the Pelosi empire? Boy that dropped off the radar so fast that I can't even remember what it was about.
#26
We don't need his district's support to try, convict and execute him for treason like he deserves. Maybe once a few of these traitors suffer their legal and just punishment, the rest will crawl back under their rocks with the rest of vermin.
I noticed that too. All these little nits have been touched on here and on other blogs countless times, yet still they have this annoying habit of being repeated...
What's so funny is that I can say the EXACT same things about repub/con "talking points" on Iraq,
Murtha, Pelosi, Reid, Kennedy, THE MSM etc...
I can go to ANY Conservative/RNC website or publication, network or talkshow and hear the same bs over and over andn over and over...
It's ridiculously funny to hear you complain....
lmao
#31
Why is this newsworthy? Some fat pig "old school" congressman who, like hundreds of thousands of others, served in Vietnam.
BFD
Let's be honest. This fuckstick wouldn't pass muster today. Individuals will heads stuck in their asses are not permitted in today's armed forces.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/03/2006 12:35 Comments ||
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#32
Captain America:
As much as I hate to say this because, I have been thinking it since i read all these hateful
comments on Con. Murtha coming from repubs/cons in this site for him taking what i think is a very logical stand about the Iraq War.
So rantburg moderators, I hope you understand
in the call for fairness what I am asking.
Do you right wing repubs/cons believe that President Bush and V.P. Cheney are suitable
for today's military, in regards to their OWN
dubious histories/records with respects to U.S. military service.
After all, Con. Murtha IS a decorated
Vietnam War Veteran with 37 years of military service who retired as a Marine Colonel.
#34
Cassinni...I am a senior Reserve officer, mobilized once. I have a son who will soon be commissioned and over in the sandbox as a JO in the infantry.
I am a "decorated" officer, too. But being a "decorated" officer does not give me the right to be a seditious, treasonous SOB who is subject to, and in direct violation of the UCMJ.
#35
Chickenhawking is not convincing here. Con. Murtha should be honored for his service to the nation, but his service in the Marines THIRTY yers ago does not place him above criticism. Most people here at the Rantburg think he is wrong. Get over it.
#36
Retaliate, hurt Murtha in the worst possible way.
Cut off his Microphone.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/03/2006 13:30 Comments ||
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#37
SR-71
Ad hominen attacks on Con. Murtha dont impress me either.
Face facts, with the dubious military service record and nonservice records of Bush-Cheney it is absolutely ludicrous for right wing repubs-cons to talk these two "up" as if they are some
some superpatriot macho-men, who more than likely, if asked to volunteer for today's military, would take the SAME actions they did TODAY as the did when they were eligible to drafted. Get over That.
Face it, If President Bush and V.P. Cheney were asked to voluteer for todays military, I am willing to bet you they would do the same things
they did when they were eligible to be drafted before.
Bush would join the National Guard and Cheney would get 5 deferments. lmao
#44
Cassini: George Bush served. He learned to fly an F-102 -- not an easy thing to do. It was a dangerous airplane, and he flew numerous interceptor missions in it (his unit was tasked to intercept Russian 'Badger' bombers that flew along our coast). He lost interest in flying when it became clear that, despite an excellent record as a Reserve officer, he wasn't going to get the chance to advance. The Air Force was down-sizing after Vietnam, and active duty officers were getting all the plum jobs.
It is equally wrong to insult George Bush as it is John Murtha over their military service. I don't do either.
As to other, non-trolling questions you posted --
Exactly what does "winning" the Iraqi War mean?
It means that Iraq has a democratic government (or governments). It means a stable state or states. If the Iraqi people decide to form 3 states instead of 1, that's fine as long as it's peaceful.
Winning means Iraq is stable enough that it can't be used to sponsor, aid or abet terrorism, and that whoever ends up in charge of the elected government does not lead the country in ways that harms us.
Winning means average Iraqis have a chance -- a chance mind you, not a certainty -- of having a decent country and a decent life for themselves and their children.
How do President Bush and Republicans define it?
Please go to whitehouse.gov and look at the President's speeches. He defines winning clearly, and not in dissimilar terms to what I outlined above.
At Rantburg, we put a premium on what people actually say as opposed to what others say they said. So with the President -- if you want to know what he defines as winning, go read his speeches. It's all there. You don't need the MSM spin, and you don't need ours.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/03/2006 14:22 Comments ||
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#45
More from Cassini --
NOTHING going on over THERE is going to prevent another domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. in the future. If so, please explain how?
Reducing the capabilities of al-Qaeda over there makes it more difficult for them to strike over here. They do not have infinite capacity. Reducing the capabilities of other terrorist groups and various Ba'athist reprobates changes conditions in these other countries, and makes them less hospitable to terrorist groups.
Terrorists need a base, a home from which to plan big missions. You can do all the planning you need for a small-group, small-scale attack from a hotel room. But if you want to stage a big attack you need a safe place to plan the work. Notice all the planning that went into 9/11 -- al Qaeda spent years setting that up. They could do that because they had safehouses throughout Europe and safe bases and camps in Afghanistan. Reduce the latter, expose the former, and you make large scale attacks less likely.
The FBI and the CIA testified before the U.S. Congress that terrorist "cells" are ALREADY here in the U.S. as we speak.
Correct -- hence the NSA program, hence other counter-terrorist measures.
You have to understand that it's a coherent, global strategy. Focusing on one to the exclusion of others means you miss the big picture; and doing only one part without the others means you're more likely to fail to stop the terrorists. The plan requires each part -- terrorist interdiction, vigorous law enforcement at home and in friendly countries, surveillance, intel, destroying terrorist bases abroad, killing terrorists abroad, and overthrowing states that harbor/sympatheize with terrorists -- to be aggressive and successful.
Doing some parts without the other parts leads to failure.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/03/2006 14:29 Comments ||
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#46
Besides which, the Copperheads are trying the same tactics as they did in 1864 : dredge up someone with military experience to criticise the sitting President to improve their political fortunes. Back then, it was General McClelland - today is former Marien Murtha. The Copperhead revival in the Donks is the reason no one in my family is a Donk anymore.
And besides which, prior military does not excuse stupidity today. I don't cut McCain slack for stupid ideas, just because he was a POW in the Hanoi Hilton.
#47
Oh, and let's not forget the Libs other war hero, John F'nk Kerry. If memory serves, John was a highly decorated Vietnam war hero that the American people refused to vote into office some 14 months ago.
Murtha wouldn't join the military now, but Bush is IN the military, he is commander-in-chief. He was given the job twice by the American people.
Murtha and his big-ass friends are against the US mission, against the military. He would not be permitted into the military even if he tried to join,
Even so, I would love to see footage of this asshole being put through Marines boot camp.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/03/2006 14:34 Comments ||
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#48
Steve White:
Its really funny that all of these hateful,insulting comments and ad hominen attacks on Con. Murtha (D)
by right wing repubs/cons are taken as legitimate commentary, while my comments on
Pres Bush and V.P. Cheney, in which i use no profanity or name-calling are called "trolling"... you guys crack me up.
Seriously, I have read President Bush's Global War On Terror Strategy. Some of it I agree with,
some of it I dont.
It's just my bottomline opinion that if Al Qaeda chose to strike tommorrow or in the near future here in the U.S. nothing going on in Iraq is going to stop it.
#49
NOTHING going on over THERE is going to
prevent another domestic terrorist attack on
the U.S. in the future. If so, please explain how?
Hmm. Sorry, can't resist.
Ok, here's a timeline. Try to keep up.
9/11/01....al-Qaeda destroys the World Trade Center, part of the Pentagon.
9/12/01....Osama does happy dance in Afghanistan. Threatens more attacks, vows to bring infidels (as in, you & me, Cassini, and everyone else reading this) to their knees. Burqas for everyone, etc.
9/15/01 (thereabouts)....we demand that Afghanistan hand Osama over. They refuse, give lame excuse that they never heard of him, even though he has huge training camp in their country.
10/01.....we invade Afghanistan. Mullah Omar and Osama are either hanging out in a cave on the Pakistani border or are decaying protein spots, depending on who you believe. Instead of following up on their "success" of 9/11, Osama is reduced to pirating copies of Fahrenheit 911 and making increasingly more whiny spots to be broadcast on Al-Jazeera.
03/03.....we invade Iraq.
04/03.....we capture Abu Abbas in Baghdad, who was behind the Achille Lauro hijacking in 1985. Abbas and other terrorists were enjoying the hospitality of Saddam Hussein. Died in our custody about a year later. Sorry, our bad!
12/05.....Iraq has it's third election. Even the Sunnis get a clue and participate. This is considered to be so ordinary by the major news outlets that they give it about the same amount of coverage that they gave the Bolivian elections that took place that month. (Actually, they gave Bolivia more coverage....free cocaine being something that the media talking heads can really get behind.)
01/06.....America has thankfully not had a major terrorist attack on its territory in over 4 years. Zarqawi, head of al-Qaeda in Iraq (which, according to some brilliant talking heads has absolutely nothing to do with Osama's al-Qaeda...the name is just a funny coincidence, and they'll be settling it any day now in court, you betcha!), is now topping unpopularity polls in Iraq and his native Jordan. Baby Assad cries himself to sleep, worrying that he's gonna be next, and starts to withdraw from Lebanon. Qaddafi has given up all of his secret weapons plans. Suicide bombings go down in Israel due to the wall, and also due to the fact that Saddam ain't around to "reward" families of the shahids with 25k per boom.
Arguing, logically or otherwise, with the Talking Points fresh off the DUmmy press. Every point addressed or shot down merely moves the troll to the next - never any admission of flawed memery, much less disingenuous trollery.
And, besides, everyone knows that closing with LOL or lol or lmao trumps all cogent arguments.
#53
It's just my bottomline opinion that if Al Qaeda chose to strike tommorrow or in the near future here in the U.S. nothing going on in Iraq is going to stop it.
Look at it this way Cassini, if those Al Qaeda cowardly, homicidal, 70 virgin crazed punks COULD have hit us again, my guess is they certainly would have. Truth be known I suspect your REAL "bottom line" is, you are simply hoping they do.
youre right, arguing with braiwashed repubs is a waste of time. same canned rnc answers, different day. I have heard this same bs so many times it makes me wonder if any of you on the right ever have an original thought. this is really boring...I'm outta here for a while.
#56
Reducing the capabilities of al-Qaeda over there makes it more difficult for them to strike over here. They do not have infinite capacity. Reducing the..
Don't bother, General. Even Pearle Vision couldn't prescribe a corrective lens thick enough to cure that kind of myopia.
#59
I can't take these idiot lefties who now tout "Viet Nam Veteran" as some badge of honor deserving respect and inferring credibility. This from the same scum of the earth that spit on them and called them baby killers. Makes me want to puke. Vile scum indeed.
#60
President Bush has been transformed into a great leader by the events of 9-11-01. He is courageously fighting the War On Terror against the enemies of the U.S. who are jealous of our way of life. He has vanquished Al Queda in Afghanistan and has Osama bin Laden on the run.
He has removed a brutal dictator, Sadaam Hussien from Iraq who a direct threat to the U.S. because he possessed huge caches of WMD's and a reconstituted nuclear weapons program. He had the capacity to supply these wmd's to other terrorist groups and was a training base for terrorist groups.
The War on Terror is a global war in which the spread of democracy to the middle east will stop anti-americanism and terrorist attacks against the U.S.
The followers of the Democratic Party and its leaders Pelosi, Reid, Kennedy, Dean, Murtha and Kerry are traitorous, treasounous, communistic/socialisitc, anti-americans who hate President Bush and who blame America first.
The Main Stream Media is complicit with the Democratic Party in slanting the news with a
liberally biased negativity to turn the
american public against President Bush and the republicans. They never report any good news from Iraq and whatever they accomplish on the economy etc into a negative thru coded reporting.
Black People in the U.S. are dependent on the Democratic Party for social program handouts, which is why they vote in bloc for them. They are a lazy, shiftless bunch that doesnt want to work and most of their males are responsible for 90% of the crime in the U.S.
Illegally immigrating Hispanics are another problem that needs to be resolved because they come here and put a strain on the system and commit crimes, plus they refuse to learn
English. Our borders need to be protected.
We Repblicans and Conservatives believe in God,
Truth, Justice and the American Way.
#62
Cassini,
You asked what constitutes a win in Iraq. How about a united and democratic Iraq? How about a united and democratic Lebanon? How about a Syria free from a murderous dictatorship? How about an Iran that's not in the grip of some madman trying to create the end of the world? Are these goals good enough?
The sad thing is the Dems, if pressed, will admit they'd do the same things as Bush. Only they are sabotaging everything Bush does so they can win the next election.
The blood of our soldiers and countless Iraqis is on their hands.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/03/2006 16:04 Comments ||
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#63
Uh Oh. I think Cassini's upset.
Must be. If I made a promise and failed to live up to it, I'd be upset too. Unless "a while" was really meant to be only a half an hour.... :D
#66
Cassini -
As somebody who was lucky enough to avoid service in Vietnam because the county I was in had so many volunteers that they didn't draft anybody after 1952... and with a draft lottery number of 17....
If you want to base your analysis of Murtha and Bush off of late 60's and early 70's world views of young men - I was far left then and would still call Murtha what he is. BTW the Democrats have never been of the people. Just read what the traitor Philp Agee had to say about them. Remember he did a study for the CIA on the real difference between the Democrats and the Republicans. Its worth reading before you continue spouting off in defense of their fools.
#70
Okay, so is it a crime to kick Cassini in the balls (KITB)?
Just consider; the only motivation for anti-Bush statements is to replace Bush as CINC with a dhimmocrat. Now that we know this, what can be gained by debate against such a jerk ?
I kitb takes less effort and is far more rewarding.
#72
Thanks, Cassini. I haven't been called dude since about 1987. Probably before you were born.
Think I'll head home now. The wife's waiting on the "big tent".
#77
The issue with Cassini and Murtha is they are both from a "loser" class of people. They cant even define victory, and in the fight of terrorism it is complex. If they think, and I think they do, that this is some sort of sporting event they need to get off the nitox and back on O2. We fight day in and day out against the "Loser" stigma Murtha and his generation "won" during his years as an officer. There is no way I would let this guy in the ranks of the unit I am now responsible for. I wish people like Murtha and Cassini would STFU, stop the loser embracement, and get with the program working for victory.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
01/03/2006 18:33 Comments ||
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#78
The problem isn't with Rantburgers' claimed definition of victory.
The problem is that most of them tend to define "victory" one way (a stable, democratic Iraq, etc a definition I'd agree with) -- and then they use an entirely different and irrelevant criterion in order to measure progress to that goal (namely number of terrorists or insurgents killed vs the number of American soldiers killed).
So half the time the goal seems to be to drive terrorists and Islamofascists *away* from Iraq, so as to give it a chance for democracy and prosperity.
Half the time however, people make it sound as their goal is to drive said jihadis *into* Iraq, so that they can be killed there ("flypaper strategy"), regardless of the civilian casualties and cost to democracy and prosperity that this would cause.
Whenever you hear people measure an absurd tally of say "10.000 jihadis killed but only 1000 American soldiers killed" and yet they don't even care to mention Iraqi civilian casualties, that's when you know their definition of victory has nothing to do with the "democratic and peaceful Iraq" that they in other times will claim to support.
#79
My question to Cassini, patriotic American no doubt, is what is his definition of victory in Iraq?
Posted by: Scott R ||
01/03/2006 19:30 Comments ||
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#80
It's World Wide Web Tag Team Trolling! Cassini softens them up then the partner enters the ring to deliver the definitive sermon on Victory. From a Greek, no less. How Glorious.
#82
Remember, Murtha was the one who advised Bill Clinton that we couldn't win in Mogadishu and that the morale of the troops there was so low there was nothing they could accomplish therefore the best course of action was to retreat. Bin Laden himself said this was what convinced him the Americans wouldn't fight back. His opinion was reinforced after the Cole bombing. Murtha has been a surrender advocate for quite some time. It's my feeling he doesn't want to see any more American soldiers get killed, period. The only way to accomplish that is to withdraw from trouble spots and hope they go away. He has what a lot of officers get and all the good ones get over and that is the reluctance to risk lives. I don't know if he realizes he is a tool being used.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/03/2006 19:48 Comments ||
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#83
Ah, an evening at the 'Burg! Beats the TV any day of the week!
Steve White and Desert Blondie spelled it out quite nicely, I think. Nothing more sad than seeing Cassini's beautiful theory murdered by a brutal gang of facts!
Waitaminute.... Did he HAVE a theory?
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/03/2006 19:59 Comments ||
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#84
Aris:
I agree with your post to a point. The goal for most of us is indeed a stable and Democratic Iraq for the reason I listed in post #15: it sets an example. There were other motives for the invasion, but let's skip those for the moment as their pros and cons can always be debated at another time.
As what hopefully passes as a thoughtful conservative/Republican I would define this future Iraq, which from the evidence presented I strongly believe is in the process of being born before our very eyes, as being âstableâ in the sense that there are no serious rebellions going on (small ones are historically a constant all over the world). I would define âdemocraticâ as having a reasonable level of individual representation combined with some sort of constitutional guarantees of liberty that cannot ever be violated by the will of the majority. For example, the Shia and Kurds canât vote to disenfranchise the Sunni. I want for these two things to be accomplished in a reasonable period of time, though I am hesitant to put a specific time frame on this for domestic political reasons that have little to do with Iraq per say.
I donât want to see innocent Iraqi civilians get hurt, nor am I indifferent to their plight. If one takes the (I would argue inaccurate) view that we are the cause of the violence, than forming a stable democracy ASAP would be my number one priority if I were an Iraqi leader. Get it going and we will leave, simple as that. I honestly believe that this process will begin this year just like the President has said it will.
As to the flypaper theory... well, it seems to be true whether any of us like it or not. So lets be pragmatic: kill as many Islamofascist terrorist idiots as we possibly can while its convenient, figure out something else after we leave.
Oh, and Nimble, FYI Aris is not a troll. He posts here often, amicably, and generally only responds with insults when insulted.
#85
Cassini - you are dodging so fast its almost admirable. You have avoided addressing any of the facts presented you, and have repeated the same old disproven propaganda of the left. You answer questions with question, and reason with ridicule, instead of trying to refute you merely gainsay. You endlessly butress your fantasy world at the expense of the facts. Its fascintaing and rather sad, you obviously were intellgient at one time, before your self deceptions in defense of your ego overcame your reason.
You may want to visit a psychiatrist - you continued refusal to address reality and make up one instead speaks of a deep psychosis on your part.
#87
As for murtha, his reserve officer career was relatively undistinguished, and he apparently was a ticket puncher in Vietnam, not a leader.
His is guilty of aiding and abetting the enemies of the nation by spouting their propaganda in saying the war cannot be won. His spreading of sedition and propaganda for the enemy srves as a force multiplier - the only one available to the terrorists. He appears to be completely oblivious to the consequences of his word and their effects on our troops morale and advancing the cause of terrorists.
He is worthy of no respect given his apparent cowardice in the face of terrorism in Somolia and now Iraq, and apparent political opportunism at the cost of our soldiers blood.
And when I run into him, I will tell him so personally, for the sake of all the Marines and other servicemembers that I work with daily. He's not worthy of the honor of being called a Marine any more.
#88
He appears to be completely oblivious to the consequences of his word and their effects on our troops morale and advancing the cause of terrorists.
Not to defend Murtha...but the same can be said of all the "kill all the Muzzies" talk sometimes seen on RB.
#89
And yet, the only people that tend to bring that kind of 'talk' up are trolls or people that are extremely new. Like when it came up in the other thread before Christmas, I haven't seen any of the regulars mention that for LONG time and even then they got told to tone it down.
I'm beginning to think that bringing up this sort of 'talk' is another DNC talking point.
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.
KABUL - The Afghan government will press ahead with a plan to require Western embassies, foreign military forces and security firms to remove security barriers in a bid to ease traffic congestion in Kabul, a spokesman said on Monday.
TRIPOLI - An African mini-summit on Darfur and rising tensions between Sudan and Chad due to take place in Tripoli on Wednesday has been postponed, a Libyan official said Monday. He said the delay followed calls from three of the countries due to take part -- Chad, Egypt and Eritrea -- without elaborating.
Egyptian authorities are preparing to deport some 600 Sudanese, part of a group of nearly 2,000 people detained after police forcibly broke up a protest in Cairo, a Sudanese official said yesterday. âThe targeted number of Sudanese who will be flown on an Egyptian airliner is around 600,â Maj. Gen. Bashir Ahmed Bashir, who chairs a committee formed to receive the deportees, told AFP.
PARIS - French President Jacques Chirac has lifted from January 4 a state of emergency imposed after urban riots two months ago, which had been originally set to run until late February, his office said on Monday.
JERUSALEM - European Union monitors began Monday fanning out across the Palestinian territories for this monthâs elections despite the growing lawlessness which saw gunmen raid government offices in southern Gaza. Thirty-two EU observers were heading out to the major cities in the West Bank as well as the Gaza Strip where four Europeans have been kidnapped in the last week alone.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans eventually to scrap a US-approved road map to peace with the Palestinians and instead seek Washingtonâs blessing for annexing occupied West Bank land, a newspaper said yesterday. The report by senior staff of Maariv newspaper gave no source, but Sharonâs initial plans for last yearâs withdrawal from the Gaza Strip were first floated in a similar way.
It is the first time 
THE British aid worker kidnapped and held for three days with her parents in Gaza, had a blazing row with her captors shortly before the family was released in a back street in the dead of night, she told The Times yesterday. 
The number of Israelis killed by terror attacks during 2005 fell by more than 60 percent, official figures say. An annual summary of terror activities for 2005 released by Israel's Shin Bet, or Shabak domestic security service, Sunday revealed that a total of 2,990 attacks were launched against Israeli targets. The attacks occurred after the truce was announced, the report stated. 
Last year's climate of political tension in Lebanon continues in the new year, as the government crisis remains unresolved and the Lebanese street continues to burn after an explosive testimony from former Syrian Vice-President 
Iran yesterday dealt a new blow to a compromise offer from Russia on its nuclear program, saying it would only consider such a deal if it acknowledged the Islamic republic's right to enrich uranium on Iranian soil. "As we said before we want to have enrichment inside Iran ... and any proposal which is based on this principle will be studied," government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters. "We are studying the Russian proposal based on this framework," he said. "The government will never give up its principles." Moscow has suggested allowing Iran to conduct uranium enrichment in Russia, giving the country access to the nuclear fuel cycle while guaranteeing its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
