Hattip Instapundit. Herewith a few tidbits, but you know you want to read the whole thing -- with pictures and video clips. You also will enjoy the other articles on the main page of the Counterterrorism blog, including Mr. Roggio's reports last from Iraq at the end of last year.
After arriving back in Kabul on a U.S. Air Force military C-130 transport from Kandahar, I met up with my friend Tim Lynch, the Afghanistan country manager for World Security Initiatives, a private contracting firm. WSI is located off of Jalalabad road, the main artery between Kabul and the eastern city of Jalalabad. The road is a rough ride and heavily populated with construction companies. Like most places in Afghanistan, the ride is always adventurous.
We armed ourselves with automatic weapons and chose the armored 4x4 Toyota pickup with red markings. The Toyota pickups are virtually everywhere in the Middle East and Central Asia, and because of this provides a level of camouflage. Haji, our Afghani driver who fought the Soviets with the Mujahideen, weaved through the rough rodes and chaotic early morning traffic in Kabul, then gunned it on the open road to Qalat. Haji is unmatched in his mastery of the Afghan roads, passing convoys of jingle trucks, farming vehicles, taxis, military convoys and local traffic. The 300 mile drive to Qalat took less than four hours, not bad on a two lane highway that weaves through mountains and towns. Along the road we passed the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Ghazni, several Afghan National Army bases and numerous police outposts and checkpoints. We also encountered several U.S. Army and Afghan National Army patrols. Tim noted this is a marked increase in a security presence over the past few months.
The drive to Qalat was uneventful, save the appearance of a suspicious red land cruiser parked on the side of the road with a man outside carrying a weapon, accompanied by another man with a weapon on a motorcycle. Haji indicated these were Taliban, and Tim agreed. We passed without incident. After dropping off the passenger at the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Qalat, we turned around and headed back to Kabul. Here's where things got a little interesting.
Tim had some business to conduct in the city of Qalat, so I tagged along for the ride. Qalat is the provincial capitol of Zabul, and lies about 300 miles south of Kabul, 125 miles northeast of Kandahar. The Kabul-Kandahar road is a well paved two lane highway that runs though the wide plains between two mountain ranges. This is the same plain the armies of Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and the British Empire marched to Kabul during their conquests of Afghanistan.
The valley region from Kabul to Kandahar is a hot, arid plain seeded with small farming villages along the wadis as the farmers seek to maximize their access to the scarce water. Green bursts pop up in the desert, and farmers grow almonds, dates, grapes and a host of fruits and vegetables. Golden wheat fields edge the highway, and shepherds guide their flocks of sheep, oxen, goats mules and camels seemingly into the middle of nowhere. The terrain provides perfect cover for the Taliban.
Afghan Road.
Zabul is considered a successful example of nation building in southeastern Afghanistan. During a briefing from a senior Coalition officer on the state of the four southeastern provinces of Kandahar, Uruzgan, Zabul and Helmand provinces, Zabul has been rated as the most advanced province as American forces have concentrated significant resources in the security, economic and political realms. An indicator of the success in Zabul can be seen in the targets the Taliban chooses: the police outposts have been the main focus of Taliban efforts, and the Taliban rarely attacks Afghan National Army or U.S. Military units in the region
Hat tip to Lucianne.com
The Danish government has hung a 'for sale' sign on the Danish military base, Camp Viking, in Afghanistan. Troops have been relocated to the southern regions of the country, but the price and potential buyers of the base are being kept secret.
Camp Viking, the home of Danish soldiers since 2002, is located on the outskirts of the country's capital Kabul. Both the price and potential buyers are being kept under wraps for the time being, according to the Danish International Logistics Center (Danilog) which is responsible for the sale. 'There are still negotiations taking place, so I am unable to say who is interested in the base before a political decision has come from the country,' said Martin Skeem, press officer at Danilog.
Although Danish troops have already vacated the area, the small base in the centre of the larger, international Camp Warehouse, is currently occupied by their French colleagues who are renting the space. The 290 soldiers of a 360-strong delegation in Afghanistan have already begun building a new base, Danelagen, in the southern Helmand province. The independent base will be located within the confines of the larger, British base, Camp Bastion. The Danish forces are to aid in establishing peace in the southern area of Afghanistan where Taliban forces are still strong.
(KUNA) -- The Arab League Secretary Amr Moussa said Wednesday that the Arab-Somali committee meeting in Sudan is to support the Somali government and to exhibit the Arab League's stepping up to the plate to take part in resolving regional crises.
That'll be a first.
Moussa, accompanied by a delegation, was speaking to reporters before heading to Khartoum to attend the committee meetings which will start tomorrow headed by Sudanese president Omar Baashir and Somalia president along with high ranking officials from Somalia. Moussa indicated that the committee will look into the deteriorating situation in Somalia and ways to entice various parties to return to dialogue. The committee will also seek ways to support the Somali government.
Until the wind changes, of course...
Samir Hosni, a member of Moussa's delegation who is director of African affairs at the Arab League, said the meeting will be attended by 11 Arab countries which will be discussing Arab response to the Somali situation and ways of achieving security and stability in the country.
I'd suggest tearing it down and building a new country. Put Somalia where Upper Volta and Dahomey are and replace it with something else. You really couldn't do much worse...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2006 00:00 ||
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Posted by: DanNY ||
06/22/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Even Saint/Great Bill Clinton says take the Norkie missle down. Will say again that real irony here is that the WOT may be Commie North Korea's only chance to finally break free from China, before China begins exerting itself for Asian-Pacific hegemony, before taking over 1/2 or more of CONUS-NORAM that is. Chicoms > North Korea is CANNON FODDER EXPENDABLE.
North Korea called Wednesday for direct talks with the United States over a potential missile test, but the Bush administration rejected the overture, saying threats aren't the way to seek dialogue. "You don't normally engage in conversations by threatening to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles," U.N. Ambassador John Bolton said. "It's not a way to produce a conversation because if you acquiesce in aberrant behavior you simply encourage the repetition of it, which we're obviously not going to do."
President Bush, meeting with European leaders in Austria, said North Korea faced further isolation if it went ahead with any launch. "It should make people nervous when non-transparent regimes who have announced they have nuclear warheads, fire missiles," Bush said. "This is not the way you conduct business in the world."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2006 00:00 ||
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#2
Unless the Nork missile is shot down, the US will know that the Norks will have quantified and qualified telemetry based on... A) how much fuel to weight has been loaded into the missile (and the Norks won't tell),...B) how much 'trueing' their guidance system will take for subsequent 'tests' and C) helpful intel for the Chicoms on the early warning and tracking signals spiked by the US on it's path!! I believe the Norks may introduce 'veering' into the trajectory for added intel insights; however in any case, should the trajectory not be descending before Hawaiian air space perimeter breachment, anything less than a hightened elevation to the next "DEF-Con" level would be highly irresponsible for the US's Strategic Defense response if not shot down!!
AN official United States report has confirmed that al-Qaeda had planned to hijack planes and fly them into buildings in Australia and other countries.
The Homeland Security Department document listed nine plans by al-Qaeda - separate to the attacks of September 11, 2001 - to hit sites worldwide, including targets in Australia, the US, Britain and Italy, the BBC said today.
Among the plans was a plot to hijack a plane at Heathrow airport and crash it into an office block at Canary Wharf in London.
The BBC said reports of such plots had surfaced in the media before but had never been confirmed.
It was believed the British plot was disrupted by security services, although it was thought no arrests were made.
The BBC said it had seen the unclassified US report dated June 16, 2006.
It said the contents had also been reported on by The US' ABC TV network.
President Bush won solid European support Wednesday for his handling of escalating nuclear crises with North Korea and Iran but was challenged over the Iraq war, the U.S. prison camp in Cuba and rising anti-American sentiment. "That's absurd," Bush snapped at a news conference in response to an assertion that the United States was regarded as the biggest threat to global security. "We'll defend ourselves, but at the same time we're actively working with our partners to spread peace and democracy."
Unbidden, Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel rose with an impassioned defense that seemed to surprise the president. "I think it's grotesque to say that America is a threat to the peace in the world compared with North Korea, Iran, a lot of countries," Schuessel said. Europe would not enjoy peace and prosperity if not for U.S. help after World War II, he said. "We should be fair from the other side of the Atlantic," Schuessel said. "We should understand what September 11th meant to the American people."
But the chancellor also prodded Bush. "We can only have a victory in the fight against terror if we don't undermine our common values," Schuessel said. "It can never be a victory, a credible victory over terrorists if we give up our values: democracy, rule of law, individual rights."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Nork missle test > Commie China may in LT only have the Nepalese. Iff the Norks try to break free, means China has three independent-minded, well-armed, potens nuclearized TAIWANS on its flanks [TW-Vietnam-NK]. Dare MacArthur's Revenge??? Yoohoo, PUTIN, the Chicoms may come sooner than you think.
Lawyers for the accused in the Toronto terrorist conspiracy have charged authorities with violating their clients rights and subjecting them to various forms of abuse, including sleep deprivation and violence, according to a report. Keith Jones writes in the World Socialist Website (WSWS) from Toronto that 15 of the 17 accused are being held at the Maplehurst Correctional Centre in Milton, Ontario. The two who are not being held at Maplehurst were already in jail at the time of the June 2-3 operation that authorities are claiming averted a terrorist atrocity.
The 15, almost exclusively young men or boys, have been denied the right to meet with their lawyers in private. They are being held in isolation in small, windowless cells that are lit at all times, and are permitted just 20 minutes of exercise alone every day. Lawyers for several of the accused claim that guards are waking the detainees every 30 minutes, have ordered them to remain silent and with their eyes turned toward the floor at all times, and are giving them just five minutes to eat their meals. Guards are also said to have manhandled and roughed up some of the detainees. When moving them about, the detainees are shackled at their hands and feet, then forced to march bent over at a 90-degree angle at the waist
According to Jones, who has followed this story form the day it broke, David Kolinsky, the lawyer for Zakaria Amara, said that a guard had pinned his client to the ground, poked his finger in his cheek and brushed his eye, after Amara, who is ticklish, laughed while being searched. When astride Amara, the guard reportedly exclaimed, Is this funny? Kolinsky said that keeping people in solitary confinement is known to cause depression and suicides and is normally a form of punishment reserved only for people who misbehave and are violent against other offenders.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
My sympathy meter is reading 0.1E-26 Give-a-shits. Working just fine.
BTW: Anyone hear from AI about the soldiers who were tortured, beheaded and then had their bodies abused? Guess the're too buzy worrying about some terrorist who has to sleep with the light on and having their right to target and murder innocent civilians denied....
#2
This is very normal treatment. I think if I were one of the guards I would be forced to bat them in the head at evey opportunity until they were so daffy they couldn't tell what day of the week it was. But that's just me.
#5
"Lawyers for the accused in the Toronto terrorist conspiracy have charged authorities with violating their clients rights and subjecting them to various forms of abuse, including sleep deprivation and violence, according to a report."
I wonder if the torture process includes being compelled to watch World Cup games?
#6
Mucky's comment alone makes this thread a classic. LOL!
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/22/2006 12:48 Comments ||
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#7
that's the real Muck. Acceptrn no substitutes!
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/22/2006 14:13 Comments ||
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If Islamofascists keep proselytizing and organizing to try and murder us -- in the near future -- these savage beasts will be executed as soon as caught. And then operating procedure would be "Give up your jihad, or die." Not go to jail and complain.
Posted by: Kalle ||
06/22/2006 22:44 Comments ||
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Other Republicans characterized the difference between the two plans as "cut and run" or "cut and jog," saying both will only alert the insurgents to the United States game plan. "Armchair generals in Washington are advocating retreat," said Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas.
Some senators decried the partisan bickering. "My soul cries out for something more dignified," said Sen. Ben Nelson, Nebraska Democrat. His fellow Nebraskan, Republican Chuck Hagel, agreed. The war is the "defining issue on which Congress will be judged," he said. "It should be taken more seriously. It should not be held hostage by political agendas. Our men and women fighting and dying deserve better."
The GOP-controlled Senate on Thursday rejected Democratic calls to start withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by years' end, as the two parties sought to define their election-year positions on a war that has grown increasingly unpopular. "Withdrawal is not an option. Surrender is not a solution," declared Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, who characterized Democrats as defeatists wanting to abandon Iraq before the mission is complete.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada, in turn, portrayed Republican leaders as blindly following President Bush's "failed" stay-the-course strategy. "It is long past time to change course in Iraq and start to end the president's open-ended commitment," he said.
In an 86-13 vote, the Senate turned back a proposal from some Democrats that would require the administration to withdraw all combat troops from Iraq by July 1, 2007, with redeployments beginning this year. No Republicans voted in favor of the plan.
Minutes later, the Senate rejected by 60-39 the proposal more popular with Democrats, a nonbinding resolution that would call for the administration to begin withdrawing troops, but with no timetable for the war's end. That vote was mostly along party lines.
Posted by: Matt ||
06/22/2006 13:52 Comments ||
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#2
When is that shitbag Murtha up for re-election?
Doesn't he have a mostly rural area in Penn?
How the hell does he expect to be the majority leader, or whip or whatever he wants to be if he gets the boot?
#5
Murtha is opposed by a fine candidate, Diana Irey. If you're sick and tired of Murtha, she deserves your support.
Murtha is also a big pork guy, and rumors abound about his connection to Abscam and to current investigations of improper influence. There are a lot of reasons to retire this Congressman.
And... now that we've had about a thousand votes not to withdraw, can we quit voting a get on to other business?
vets4irey.com is another good source of info and links.
The's right on immigration, right on security, right on spending, right on taxes - all the places where Murtha is so wrong. Plus she is good on 2nd amendment rights, family issues, etc.
She's an ideal candidate in terms of her polotical stance.
#3
Pleasing to the eye, too. A big improvement over Jack *spit* Murtha in all ways.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
06/22/2006 10:56 Comments ||
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This old bastard is not going to be majority anything. He's going to be out. Let's hope the same happens with McCain and Kennedy. All these overweight Puff Dogs need to be sent home. Voters, wake up. They are not for you or the United States interests.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., plans to vote against both Democratic amendments calling for a troop withdrawal from Iraq. Lieberman, who expects to be purged from the Party soon anyway, will announce his position later today, would be the first Democratic senator to oppose both measures now before the Senate. Votes are expected Thursday.
The progressive nutroots bearing tar and feathers expected Friday.
One resolution would call on the White House to begin phased redeployment of troops from Iraq this year, and to submit a plan to Congress by the end of the year for "continued phased redeployment." The other measure, which is expected to gain little support even among Democrats, would have President Bush pull all troops out of Iraq by July 1, 2007. Lieberman is expected to say he believes the U.S. cannot stay indefinitely in Iraq, and cannot write a blank check for its support. But, he plans to say, withdrawal of troops must be based on conditions on the ground, not fixed dates.
His colleague, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said today he would back the phased redeployment plan. In a 15 minute Senate floor speech, Dodd, who backed the war effort in a 2002 vote, said it was time for the U. S. military to pull back. "I don't mean to suggest that U.S. forces should in any way be precipitously redeployed to Iraq next week or next month," he said. "That would be a mistake, in my view, but I do think it is imperative for planning purposes to think about the benchmarks in a realistic time frame "
Dodd said it would be "realistic and possible to achieve these benchmarks (for redeployment) within the next 12 to 18 months." He joined a chorus of Democrats backing a plan authored by Sens. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Carl Levin, D-Mich., to go on the record with a tough statement of disapproval for Bush administration policy.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
You know the Left > America is the only Nation on earth that can achieve the goals of Marxism-Communism and Utopianism, ergo America must be defeated iff not destroyed. America = Amerikkka can War War War, Spend Spend Spend for empire and OWG which must be surrendered voluntarily = forcibly so that other nations can control NOT in the name of America. America must unilater give up its sovereignty, freedoms, Govt. endowments and Empire ergo the status quo will not change to the detriment or destruction of Americans = Amerikkkans - you know, ,why America = GLOBAL CALIPHATE = GLOBAL SECULAR STATE??? T'aint it grand = patriotic how a Party which in reality wants the GOP-Right to solve the big probs for them, i.e. Radical-Rogue nations wid WMDS, so that they can spend spend spend on minor nations with no WMDS, wants to make sure the GOP and America fails.
#4
Lieberman is a principled Patriot, anathema to the Donk party as it currently exists
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/22/2006 14:15 Comments ||
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Though I disagree with Lieberman on nearly everything except the war, I really feel sorry for him: one of only a tiny handful of sane, responsible adults left in the Democratic Party, surrounded by droolers, screamers, head-bangers and morons.
I have a hunch history is not going to be very kind to the Democratic Party and its radical decortication at the turn of the 21st century.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/22/2006 15:04 Comments ||
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The 'Tradition' was that the age limit was set upon the time it took an individual to complete 20 years of service. The usual rationale was that you didn't want uniformed military hanging around beyond 60. There is an 18 year lock in to 20 less cause. However, I think most personnel managers grasp that the vast bulk of those joining the Army today are unlikely to stay for more than one or two tours and therefore unlikely to be on active duty beyond age 60 [less Senior Generals or CSMs]. Now Grace Hooper set something of a record in the modern Navy.
PESHAWAR: The NWFP Assembly offered fateha (prayers) on Wednesday for Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, who was recently killed. Shagufta Naz of the MMA sought permission for Zarqawi's fateha from Speaker Bakht Jehan, who allowed it. NWFP Agriculture Minister Qari Mahmood recited verses from the Holy Quran. The opposition did not object to the move. However, most opposition members had left the house as the session was nearing its end. The National Assembly has earlier refused Fateha for Zarqawi.
Well, we knew which side they were on, so it doesn't come as a surprise.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2006 00:00 ||
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Iran backed efforts by Islamic states on Thursday to get the United Nations new Human Rights Council to counter what they call "defamation of religion" around the world.
But Canada accused the Iranians of discrediting the Council by including in their delegation the state Prosecutor-General who Ottawa says was linked to the arrest and death in Tehran of a Canadian woman journalist.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told the 45-member Council, holding its first-ever session, that freedom of expression "should not constitute a pretext and a platform to insult religions and their sanctities.
"Defamation of religions, particularly the divine message of Islam, should be rejected," he declared. Action on this should be part of the rights standards set by the Council and pursued through "implementation at the international level."
His remarks echoed a call from the Organization of Islamic States (OIC) and assertions by Saudi Arabia that Islam faced "an escalation of hatred and animosity ... disdain for its values and everything it holds sacred."
Although some diplomats say the drive reflects Muslim anger over cartoons published in the West last year depicting the Prophet Mohammad, others see it as part of a longer-term effort to counter criticism of the rights records of many OIC states.
Members of the grouping, including Saudi Arabia and Iran, were often accused at the Council's predecessor, the Human Rights Commission, of violating the rights of women and national and religious minorities.
In his speech, Iran's Mottaki accused Western countries of trying to impose "uniculturalism" on the U.N. system to ensure their own values set the model for all human rights standards.
But Mottaki made no reference to the complaint to the Council from Canada's Foreign Minister Peter MacKay, who also called on other delegations to protest over the presence in the Council of the Iranian prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi.
By including Mortazavi in its delegation, MacKay said in a statement through his office, "Iran is trying to discredit the Council and deflect attention from its goal of ensuring greater respect for human rights."
Independent human rights groupings at the session say Mortazavi has played a key role in the detention of hundreds of domestic critics of Iran's Islamic authorities, as well as of journalists accused of defaming the state.
In his speech, the President of the newly created Saudi Human Rights Commission said his country "in keeping with Islamic tradition ... accords special attention to the issue of religious tolerance" and respect for different cultures.
Although there were ongoing efforts in the West to link it with terrorism, he declared, "Islam is a moderate religion that advocates mutual tolerance, empathy and coexistence and rejects fanaticism, obscurantism and coercion."
#1
"...freedom of expression 'should not constitute a pretext and a platform to insult religions and their sanctities'..."
Actually, that's precisely what it constitutes. What happened to the Canadian journalist is just an example of how they actually apply their misguided notion.
Any prohibitive action by the UN "constitutes" violation of US law and should precipitate our withdrawal from the UN.
Any God who is weakened by a human critiquing religion is no God at all.
A new twist on Shakespeare:
"Let us withdraw-here all mouths speak of us."
"Men's mouths were made to speak, so let them talk."
#2
"Iran urges UN action to stop "defamation" of Islam"
Islam is self-defaming. How the hell is the UN supposed to stop it?
In fact, I have a lot of trouble anymore considering Islam a "religion"; looks to me more like it's some kind of primative, barbaric murder cult.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/22/2006 18:18 Comments ||
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Jules, more to the point is:
Hotsp. And I can teach thee, Cousin, to shame the Deuil, By telling truth. Tell truth, and shame the Deuill. If thou haue power to rayse him, bring him hither, And Ile be sworne, I haue power to shame him hence. Oh, while you liue, tell truth, and shame the Deuill
Shakespeare, Henry IV, part I, Act 3, Scene 1.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
06/22/2006 22:51 Comments ||
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Prosecutors can introduce evidence that a South Korean businessman accused of accepting millions of dollars to help Iraq in the United Nations oil-for-food program had relationships with high-level U.N. officials, a judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Denny Chin made the decision as he set legal ground rules for the scheduled start Monday of Tongsun Park's criminal trial. He also said the government has agreed not to introduce statements Park made to Congress and the Department of Justice three decades ago in a bribery scandal known as Koreagate. Charges against Park, 71, were dropped in the 1970s scandal in which agents of the Korean government were accused of trying to buy influence in the U.S. Congress.
Park, a citizen of South Korea, was indicted last year on new charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government and money laundering. Prosecutors said the crimes occurred when he worked as a U.N. lobbyist for Saddam Hussein's government in the early 1990s. He has been in custody since January, when he was detained in Mexico. Chin said Park's alleged relationships with high-level U.N. officials, including the former secretary general, were relevant. "It explains how he was able to carry out the alleged conspiracy," Chin said of the government's allegations.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2006 00:00 ||
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The Pentagon waited nine months after completing an investigation into the deaths of two U.S. soldiers before notifying relatives the men were killed by Iraqi troops, the military acknowledged Wednesday. The June 2004 deaths of Army Spc. Patrick R. McCaffrey Sr., 34, of Tracy, and 2nd Lt. Andre D. Tyson, 33, of Riverside, were originally attributed to an ambush during a patrol near Balad, Iraq. The Army said this week a military investigation found the two had been shot by Iraqi civil defense officers. No possible motive has been divulged.
Soldiers who witnessed the attack have told Nadia McCaffrey two Iraqi patrolmen opened fire on her son's unit. The witnesses also said a third gunman simultaneously drove up to the American unit in a van, climbed onto the vehicle and fired at the Americans, she said. Iraqi forces who had trained with the Americans had fired at them twice before the incident that killed Patrick McCaffrey, and he had reported it to his superiors, Nadia McCaffrey said.
One of the trainees has been arrested and imprisoned by the Iraqi government, according to Boyce, but he could not say which prison or when he was arrested. The second trainee is believed to be dead, according to a military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information has not been made public.
A Pentagon spokesman knew of no other incident like the shootings. Boyce said the U.S. military remained confident in its operations with Iraqis.
McCaffrey and Tyson were assigned to the Army National Guard's 579th Engineer Battalion based in Petaluma.
#1
For it's size, that unit has been hit hard, but their performance remains high. The epitome of citizen soldiers.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/22/2006 16:50 Comments ||
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Interesting that it took almost 2 years [june 2004] even though Americans soldiers witnessed the deed to investigate and notify the the families of this particular treachery, yet it only took the REMFs less than 2 months to charge our Marines for murder.
Soldiers who witnessed the attack have told Nadia McCaffrey two Iraqi patrolmen opened fire on her son's unit. The witnesses also said a third gunman simultaneously drove up to the American unit in a van, climbed onto the vehicle and fired at the Americans, she said.
Iraqi forces who had trained with the Americans had fired at them twice before the incident that killed Patrick McCaffrey, and he had reported it to his superiors, Nadia McCaffrey said.
Isn't this the same MO reportedly used by Iraqi soldiers in the latest murder of 3 of our NG soldiers in the so called triangle of death?
US-led coalition forces in Iraq have found some 500 chemical weapons since the March 2003 invasion, Republican lawmakers said, citing an intelligence report. "Since 2003, Coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent," said an overview of the report unveiled by Senator Rick Santorum and Peter Hoekstra, head of the intelligence committee of the House of Representatives.
"Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq's pre-Gulf war chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf war chemical munitions are assessed to still exist," it says.
The lawmakers cited the report as validation of the US rationale for the war, and stressed the ongoing danger they pose.
"This is an incredibly -- in my mind -- significant finding. The idea that, as my colleagues have repeatedly said in this debate on the other side of the aisle, that there are no weapons of mass destruction, is in fact false," Santorum said.
A Pentagon official who confirmed the findings said that all the weapons were pre-1991 vintage munitions "in such a degraded state they couldn't be used for what they are designed for." The official, who asked not to be identified, said most were 155 millimeter artillery projectiles with mustard gas or sarin of varying degrees of potency.
"We're destroying them where we find them in the normal manner," the official said. In 2004, the US army said it had found a shell containing sarin gas and another shell containing mustard gas, and a Pentagon official said at the time the discovery showed there were likely more. The intelligence overview published Wednesday stressed that the pre-Gulf War Iraqi chemical weapons could be sold on the black market.
"Use of these weapons by terrorists or insurgent groups would have implications for coalition forces in Iraq. The possibility of use outside Iraq cannot be ruled out," it said.
Santorum said the two-month-old report was prepared by the National Ground Intelligence Center, a military intelligence agency that started looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq when the Iraq Survey Group stopped doing so in late 2004.
Last year the head of Iraq Survey Group, Charles Duelfer, said that insurgents in Iraq had already used old chemical weapons in their attacks. Nevertheless, "the impression that the Iraqi Survey Group left with the American people was they didn't find anything," Hoekstra said.
"But this says: Weapons have been discovered; more weapons exist. And they state that Iraq was not a WMD-free zone, that there are continuing threats from the materials that are or may still be in Iraq," he said.
Asked just how dangerous the weapons are, Hoekstra said: "One or two of these shells, the materials inside of these, transferred outside of the country, can be very, very deadly."
The report said that the purity of the chemical agents -- and thus their potency -- depends on "many factors, including the manufacturing process, potential additives, and environmental storage conditions."
"While agents degrade over time, chemical warfare agents remain hazardous and potentially lethal," it said.
Reporters questioned the lawmakers as to why the Bush administration had not played up the report to boost their case for continued warfare in Iraq.
"The administration has been very clear that they want to look forward," Santorum said. "They felt it was not their role to go back and fight previous discussions."
Fear that Saddam Hussein might use his alleged arsenal of chemical and biological weapons was a reason US officials gave for launching the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/22/2006 07:49 ||
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#1
THE LEFT LIED!
Now people die, as the terrorists, who have been defeated upon the battlefield hold out another week, month, year, in hope that each butchery of stage media events will gain their allies in the Democratic Party the power to surrender.
#3
Being a lefty means never having to say you're sorry. Ever hear them apologize for the hundreds of thousands of boat people who didn't make it? For the million+ Cambodians who died in the third Holocaust of the 20th Century? for the mountains of 10s of millions of human beings sacrificed by Stalin and Mao to the glory of the great socialist revolution? It's never been about principle. It's aways been about power. And all they have to gain that power is to sell you the bill of goods labeled "Sin and Guilt".
#8
All you will hear from the MSM is that they were beyond their "use before" date. Maybe Pinch and his buds can make a little extra ching by storing these, assumably, inert and useless oldies in their basements?
#12
Jim Angle who reported this for Fox News-quotes a defense official who says these were pre-1991 weapons that could not have been fired as designed because they already been degraded. And the official went on to say that they are-these are not the WMD's this country and the rest of the world believed Iraq had-and not the WMD's for which this country went to war.
Allan Colmes on FNC. Don't hold your breath for that apology.
#13
Bugs and gas manufacturing facilities were in abundance. Attached are links to photo of a "tomato blight research facility" (destroyed by UNSCOM), the Canal Hotel in better times, and lastly the late Dr. Gerald Bull's super cannon.
#17
Scrolling through Instapundit's links, the thinking seems to be that the gas-filled shells were intermixed with regular ones with no markings to differentiate them. And there are weapons dumps all over the country -- they didn't want to give the bad guys a reason to go poking about.
My personal opinion (worth exactly what you just didn't pay for it!) is that they don't want to be distracted by arguing with the Media and the anti-War people about whether or not this relatively little stuff was worth going to war over, when we watched the trucks full of the important stuff head over the border and down to Lebanon's Bekaa Valley just before the invasion.
#18
I always thought they had WMDs. I mean they had them before and used them on the Kurds and Iranians. I think the question is not whether they had them but "What did they do with them?"
"Yup, that's Israel all right. We'd know those beady Zionist eyes anywhere..."
(KUNA) -- Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Chief Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday that there were "signs" that Hamas could recognise Israel. Israel "wants Hamas to recognise the two-state solution adopted in the roadmap," Abbas said, referring to the internationally backed plan for Middle East peace. "Hamas refuses to accept this now but maybe it will accept it in the coming days. "There are signs," he told Nobel Peace laureate Elie Wiesel on the sidelines of a forum at the World Heritage site of Petra, south Jordan.
Abbas is set to have an informal encounter with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Thursday at a breakfast hosted by Jordan's King Abdullah II for a group of guests attending the Nobel laureate forum.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2006 00:00 ||
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GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Thursday that Iran's foreign minister had told him Tehran was seriously considering an offer of incentives if it ends sensitive nuclear activities. That clinches it for me.
"They are considering the package very, very seriously," Annan told a news conference in Geneva after meeting Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. The West believes Iran wants to make highly enriched uranium that could be used in atomic bombs. The west believes this because the Iranians told the whole world. Tehran says it only wants to make low-level enriched fuel used in nuclear power stations.They said this too, but the world gave it less credibility than Reuters.
As pressure developed on Iran to respond to the package quickly, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he expected to meet Iran's chief nuclear negotiator again, probably next week, to explain details of the offer. Did Solana do that because of the pressure developing on Iran? What is the source of that pressure?
An Iranian official said the meeting would take place in the next two weeks and would give Tehran the chance to discuss what it has called "ambiguities" in the proposals.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that Tehran would reply to the EU proposal by August 22, prompting President Bush to say that "seems like an awfully long time" to consider a plan Solana delivered to Iran on June 6.
"It would be helpful and useful if we could get a response and know where the Iranians are before those meetings. It would advance the negotiating process," Stephen Hadley said.
In New York, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton was asked what would happen if Iran rejected the offer.
"I think we've made it clear that if the Iranians don't choose the path that has been presented to them, the alternative path is one of increasing isolation and we will be prepared to move very quickly in the Security Council," he said. Sounds like sanctions. No more gasoline for Tehran.
BAKU: The world's Muslim countries on Wednesday backed Iran with calls for nuclear talks to go forward without preconditions, as diplomats closing a pan-Islamic summit in Baku warned of growing Western Islamophobia. The 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) said negotiations over Iran's controversial nuclear programme should resume "without any preconditions" in its Baku Declaration adopted on the final day of a three-day meeting.
We know which side they're on, too...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Funny to imagine what would happen if (a) Iran got nukes (b) Theocracy was overthrown by Iranian people (c) Iranians were unhappy with Islamic worlds support of previous tyrants.
Similar situation in Korea. I don't think the PRC will enjoy a unified Korea with nukes that is mad at it for playing with them so long. Dangerous game, very dangerous. Much better when the risky stuff is happening in someone elses neighborhood.
Iran will respond in mid-August to the package of incentives on its nuclear program offered by the West, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday, but the United States immediately accused Tehran of dragging its feet. "We are studying the proposals. Hopefully, we will present our views about the package by mid-August," Mr. Ahmadinejad told a crowd in western Iran in a speech broadcast live on state television.
U.S. President George W. Bush, speaking at an annual U.S.-European Union summit in Vienna, said that seemed "like an awfully long time" to wait for an answer. "It shouldn't take the Iranians that long to analyze what's a reasonable deal," Mr. Bush said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
The Iranians are working around the clock 24/7 to perfect their quest for The Bomb, and now they know if they can delay "W"'s intrusion into the equation to as close to the elections in November as possible...big MO (media & public opinion) will ease their plight!
#2
IMO Iran = North Korea > know the Russians-Chicomsd need General Winter + Colonel Mud, etal. to offset US-Western battlespace superiority or dominance. North Korea won't go to war unless someone guarantees to mil protect their ass from USA-Allies, neither will the Iranians.
#3
How about this for a compromise ? We'll start bombing on or about July 14th, and you can get back to us any time after that, okay Ahmadinnerjacket ?
Karachi, 22 June (AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - The next terror threat facing the United States is not a nuclear or gas attack but an electro-magnetic bomb or e-bomb - which would shut down telecommunications networks, disrupt power supplies, and destroy countless computers and electronic gadgets, yet still leave buildings, bridges and roads intact. This is according to Khalid Khawaja, a former Pakistani intelligence officer who once worked closely with Osama bin Laden. "The e-bomb shall be the new threat for the USA, not the nukes or gas attacks," said Khawaja in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI).
Khawaja was a senior official of Pakistani secret service ISI when they were fueling jihadi resistance movements against the Soviets in Afghanistan, and after being forced to retire from the air force, he went to Afghanistan and fought along side with Osama bin Laden. the leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
Khawaja told AKI that he overheard the reference to the e-bomb in several conversations among Arab fighters in Afghanistan over the years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001. I never heard Osama or Dr. [Ayman al-] Zawahiri discuss a nuclear attack on the USA," he said "and neither did I hear that from any other person."
"To me, these kind of ideas are ridiculous. Only states can use nuclear technology to destroy any country. No group or individual can apply these technologies for mass destruction. I never heard anything which was discussed with any depth concerning gas attacks on America," he added. "However, I overheard conversations which strongly suggested that there is a section of the anti-American resistance which is seriously pursuing a project aimed at bringing America back to the Stone Age without harming human lives," said Khawaja.
Khawaja said he overheard references to a plan to use an e-bomb and a project to destroy US satellites, all with the single objective of crippling the American system without actually harming anyone.
Which pegs my BS meter. The jihadis want to kill infidels, not just knock out our electrical grid.
An e-bomb destroys most machines that use electricity. The weapon is designed to overwhelm electrical circuitry with an intense electromagnetic field. In a matter of seconds, a big enough e-bomb could thrust an entire city back 200 years or cripple a military unit.
Reports say that the United States has been developing such a bomb. According to a CBS news report, the US deployed an experimental e-bomb on March 24, 2003 to knock out Iraqi satellite television and disrupt the broadcast of propaganda.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/22/2006 08:47 ||
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#1
Which pegs my BS meter. The jihadis want to kill infidels, not just knock out our electrical grid.
His statement might be BS, but knocking out the electrical grid would kill quite a large number of people.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
06/22/2006 9:12 Comments ||
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#2
Which pegs my BS meter. The jihadis want to kill infidels, not just knock out our electrical grid.
I dunno, I think they would be quite ok with knocking down the US/world economy for example, anything to destabilize what they perceive as the West's supremacy, to make room for The Master Religion's... see for example the rather successful tries to creep Sharia(Tm) into international & national law, with the danish cartoons or with the tranzis help. This is a multi-spronged assault, the "military" terror one being just a very marginal one, IMHO.
#4
Speaking through my hat, this sounds like the kind of thing that would require a serious industrial base to produce. I'm under the impression that it would take a large nuclear bomb exploded high in the atmosphere to produce an energy pulse strong enough to be so debilitating -- much larger than a mere dirty bomb-- not to mention the rocketry necessary to get the thing high enough in the air to be useful. Not at all like a noble Lion of Islam sneaking into a town center to secrete a dirty bomb for future explosion.
Any thoughts from someone who actually knows something about the subject?
#5
"he overheard the reference to the e-bomb in several conversations among Arab fighters in Afghanistan"
My civilization developed light bulbs and flush toilets first. Theirs is going from the mud hut and donkey straight to the e-bomb. Saves a lot of wiring and plumbing.
"I never heard anything which was discussed with any depth concerning gas attacks on America"
Yeah, it's a big country. Better use e-bombs instead.
"seriously pursuing a project aimed at bringing America back to the Stone Age without harming human lives"
That would be Project "Spreading Islam", somehow without the sword. Don't bet on it.
"and a project to destroy US satellites"
Does he consider Afghanistan a US satellite?
"An e-bomb destroys most machines that use electricity."
Start exchanging your flashlights for candles today -- these guys are serious!
"could thrust an entire city back 200 years"
Ah yes, 1806: Thomas Jefferson was still president and Lewis & Clark came home. These guys could use a Thomas Jefferson -- collectively they don't have that much brain between them.
"could thrust an entire city back 200 years"
Um, Syed, plagirism of works copyrighted by HowStuffWorks is illegal. Nice to know your sources though.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/e-bomb.htm
"Reports say that the United States has been developing such a bomb"
US design of flux compression generator bombs dates back to the 1950s, Syed. Good to see you actually got past the first page on e-bombs at HowStuffWorks. Islamic in-depth reporting. Marvelous.
It would probably take more than one. A saturation attack with 25 or more could probably do it. I think it unlikely that terrorists could muster that many though China or the Russians would be able to.
"An e-bomb destroys most machines that use electricity. The weapon is designed to overwhelm electrical circuitry with an intense electromagnetic field."
Not true. It destroys circuitry, specifically transistors that are not in hardened enclosures. It would probably be a good idea down the road if all vital equipment were 'hardened' or had 'hardened' backups for quick replacement.
Posted by: DanNY ||
06/22/2006 9:58 Comments ||
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#8
To me, there is a moral to this story. Our high tech advantage works very well, but there is always a double edge sword, and the enemy adapts. We should always have layers of technologies.
#10
This story is bull. If the bad guys had a device capable of generating an EMP they'd blow it up and the EMP would be the least of our worries.
Military servers are hardened from EMP. Only electronics *on* at the time of the blast would be effected. The EMP would be deadened by larger buildings and Earth curvature so the range of effected electronics would be minor unless it was an airburst.
So your only real target is Manhattan at rushour so you can clog the streets or the bridges. Somehow I think the big apple would get by and manage to get more fuses. I can only hope this is the terrorists next plan.
#11
True, but electricity could be the only thing that we totally rely on in a decisive battle. China could exploit it. Once the military is on the routed, safe old men in the protected bunkers won't win the war.
#12
...Holy f*cking sh*t, that's hysterical. Reality Check - there are such beasties as conventional EMP weapons, whether or not we have them is a bit up in the air. They have what can be charitably described as VERY localized effects - quite probably line of sight and maybe a couple hundred yards. The only way you're going to get the results this idiot is jerking off over talking about is to use nukes. Al-Q ain't got any. End of story.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/22/2006 11:57 Comments ||
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#13
Assuming this assinine thing even works the US still has it's nukes/subs/etc and when faced with a disaster/starvation/Lord of the Flies situation can just say to the world "Give us food/equipment/ponies or everybody dies with us."
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/22/2006 12:12 Comments ||
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#14
I remember reading how this was the Russian big secret weapon back in the '70s. As I remember, you'd need a nuke, since the paln was to detonate one in the upper atmosphere to create the pulse.
#16
China using an EMP is a different story. IT would work as a first strike sort of thing (put a nuke in the Chinese spaceship they're launching a year or two from now and blast it over the US then take Taiwan and deny everything).
But not as an only strike sort of thing.
I think the threat from terrorists using one is minimal to nil.
#18
the Ebomb: developed by Nigerians to scam stupid net users
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/22/2006 15:21 Comments ||
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#19
How are you going to create an EMP that is strong enough to blanket a continent? Only a very large nuke at extreme altitudes could even be considered as a possibility. We are talking 20-30 megatons at 100,000 feet, and even then the shadow effects of high buildings and mountain ranges would create blank spots that were unaffected. And believe me, you set a 20 megaton warhead off over the US, you will get back ten times if not 100 times your little "gift". This is all based on a test in the 1960s over an island in the Pacific, near Hawaii. But, the military has been hardening electronics since then, and even the Federation of American Scientists is not that impressed {http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/emp.htm}. It is a typical urban legend that has a partial basis in fact, and then is spun out of all recognition by Luddittes and snake oil salesmen. Remember Y2K and the end of technological civilization?
#20
AP, shed some light here, please. EMP devices would have to follow the inverse-square law, so the impact would vary with both distance and resistance. How effective is grounding on reducing the impact of an EMP strike? I know the local power company did some major rewiring about ten years ago to reduce the damage caused by lightning strikes (quite frequent here), but I don't know if that would work with EMP or not. Comments?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/22/2006 20:13 Comments ||
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#21
I have heard from reliable sources that we have the P-Bomb, that is the Pork Bomb.
#22
Speaking through my hat, this sounds like the kind of thing that would require a serious industrial base to produce. I'm under the impression that it would take a large nuclear bomb exploded high in the atmosphere to produce an energy pulse strong enough to be so debilitating
Not at all, tw. As you can see from the information below, there is a new class of munitions specifically designed to produce high-intensity EMP without utilizing nuclear technology. My older brother described to me how to build a "magnetic bomb" in the mid 1960s.
This topic was also covered by Popular Mechanics back in 2001. Fortunately, building and then lofting a multi-ton device of this sort required to "kill" a large metropolis will still tend to draw attention.
The simple solution is to guarantee nuclear response for anyone attempting to use such a destructive weapon against us.
"Any nation with even a 1940s technology base could make them," says Carlo Kopp, an Australian-based expert on high-tech warfare. "The threat of E-bomb proliferation is very real." POPULAR MECHANICS estimates a basic weapon could be built for $400 ...
An FCG (Flux Compression Generator) is an astoundingly simple weapon. It consists of an explosives-packed tube placed inside a slightly larger copper coil, as shown below [see page 2 of the linked article]. The instant before the chemical explosive is detonated, the coil is energized by a bank of capacitors, creating a magnetic field. The explosive charge detonates from the rear forward. As the tube flares outward it touches the edge of the coil, thereby creating a moving short circuit. "The propagating short has the effect of compressing the magnetic field while reducing the inductance of the stator [coil]," says Kopp. "The result is that FCGs will produce a ramping current pulse, which breaks before the final disintegration of the device. Published results suggest ramp times of tens of hundreds of microseconds and peak currents of tens of millions of amps." The pulse that emerges makes a lightning bolt seem like a flashbulb by comparison.
The US Navy reportedly used a new class of highly secret, non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse warheads during the opening hours of the Persian Gulf War to disrupt and destroy Iraqi electronics systems. The warheads converted the energy of a conventional explosion into a pulse of radio energy. The effect of the microwave attacks on Iraqi air defense and headquarters was difficult to determine because the effects of the HPM blasts were obscured by continuous jamming, the use of stealthy F-117 aircraft, and the destruction of Iraq's electrical grid. The warheads used during the Gulf War were experimental warheads, not standard weapons deployed with fielded forces
As with a conventional munition, a microwave munition is a "single shot" munition that has a similar blast and fragmentation radius. However, while the explosion produces a blast, the primary mission is to generate the energy that powers the microwave device. Thus, for a microwave munition, the primary kill mechanism is the microwave energy, which greatly increases the radius and the footprint by, in some cases, several orders of magnitude. For example, a 2000-pound microwave munition will have a minimum radius of approximately 200 meters, or footprint of approximately 126,000 square meters.
Studies have examined the incorporation of a high power microwave weapon into the weapons bay of a conceptual uninhabited combat aerial vehicle. The CONOPS, electromagnetic compatibility and hardening (to avoid a self-kill), power requirements and potential power supplies, and antenna characteristics have been analyzed. Extensive simulations of potential antennas have been performed. The simulations examined the influence of the aircraft structure on the antenna patterns and the levels of leakage through apertures in the weapons bay. Other investigations examined issues concerning the electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of composite aircraft structures.
#23
Thank you, Rantburg Professor Zenster. I do feel better that the e-bomb needn't involve nukes, and would not be the kind of unobtrusive device favoured thus far by the terrorists for their sneak attacks.
It was a particularly large and effective hat, though. ;-)
A Chinese intelligence officer is engaged in covertly aiding the ruling Palestinian Hamas terrorist group, according to a Paris-based intelligence newsletter picked up by the Washington Posts Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough on June 19.
They identify Gong Xiaosheng as a Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) official who has worked out of Ramallah since Nov. 2002, first with Yasser Arafat and latterly helping Hamas.
It was Gong who arrianged for Mahmoud al-Zahar to be invited to Beijing shortly after his appointment as Hamas foreign minister.
The report says Gong is a strategic agent trained in Division 8 of the ministry and also at the China Institution of Contemporary Relatons (CICIR), an MSS think tank. Its Middle East section is headed by Jin Ruikun, a specialist in Palestine and Jordan, and Chen Shuanqing, a specialist on Israeli-Palestinian relations and Israels Likud party.
DEBKAfiles intelligence sources add: The Chinese strategic agent was so close to Yasser Arafat that he was among the handful of aides and terrorist chiefs confined with him in two rooms of of the residential apartment of the Palestinian leaders Ramallah headquarters when it was stormed and besieged by Israeli forces in April and May 2002.
After his death, Gong moved over to Hamas. As far back as 2004, the Chinese MSS pegged the Islamist terrorist group as an up-and-coming force heading for Palestinian rule. The American CIA and Israeli Mossad were far slower in assessing Hamas rise to power - even on the eve of the Palestinian election in January, 2006. DEBKAfiles Palestinian experts were alone in predicting the Hamas win.
Our sources disclose that the Chinese intelligence officer is very close to Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya, a-Zahar and Muhammed Jaabari, chief of the Hamas armed wing, Ezz e-Din al-Qassam. They habitually consult him for advice. Hamass actions and decisions are there not merely influenced by its relations with fellow Palestinian groups, Iran, Syria and other parts of the Muslim world. The Hamas-Gaza, Beijing connection is no less influential.
#3
Hmmm. Maybe China is the backdoor to Hamas leaders...hope they all contract some mysterious illness like Arafat. On second thought, make that an outbreak of highly contagious Sudden Death Syndrome.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted yesterday to back off from a decision it made two years ago to pursue divestment from companies that profit from Israel's involvement in the Palestinian territories.
The resolution, passed overwhelmingly at the church's general assembly in Birmingham, Ala., responded to outcries by some church members and Jews who accused the church of insensitivity to Israel. The resolution apologized for "the pain that this has caused" among "many members of the Jewish community and within our Presbyterian communion."
Church leaders said it still permitted divestment as a "last resort," but emphasized positive, not punitive, steps the church can take to support Middle East peace efforts.
Continued on Page 49
#2
"Our relationships with our Jewish friends were severely strained,"
The resolution apologized for "the pain that this has caused" among "many members of the Jewish community and within our Presbyterian communion."
So they're planning to pass a resolution against Fatah and Hamas for killing more Palestinians than the Israelis ever did? Or for shooting off rockets aimed at civilian communities within Israel proper? No? Then they are still self-righteous antisemites annoyed that they got caught by their friends.
NB: there are at least two Presbyterian Church communions in the U.S. It's my understanding that the other one does not subscribe to such vicious nonsense. Liberalhawk, it's quite possible the congregation with whom you are sharing your building belongs to the other one.
#3
this is the main one, and the other is smaller and more conservative, IIUC. Im quite sure the one using our building is a member of PCUSA (the group here)
And why would I expect them to pass a resolution about interpalestinian violence to show theyre not antisemitic? Thats a good talking point, but the fact that someone doesnt express all my talking points doesnt mean he hates me. They did condemn terrorism against Israelis and Palestinians, and I have no problem with that.
Look, there may be some genooine antisemites there. Theres a larger number of misguided lefties. There are enough conservatives and better informed liberals, to sway things back to a decent stand.
#5
According to a post a couple of days ago at Powerline, the disvestment idea was buried in another bill and they didn't know what they were voting on, then the cat got out of the bag.
Via Solomonia who liveblogged the debate, does this mean what I think it means???
Barbara...something...in favor...blames the reporting of the last General Assembly's actions for the problems the PC(USA) has had over the past two years (probably referring to the fact that it's supposed to be "phased, selective divestment," not just "divestment" as it's usually referred to)...
---
Ignorant laypeople, if only we had used the kinder, gentler description.....
#6
It's funny - in a sad sort of way - how these mainstream denominations sound more and more like political parties trying desperately to not offend constituent groups. No principles, no morals, just political positioning.
#7
That's one of several reasons I no longer belong to ANY "organized religon". Once a critical mass is reached, the group is more and more interested in perpetuating its own power than in actually worshiping God.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/22/2006 18:49 Comments ||
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#8
So only a few of the PCUSA assemblypersons were both hate-filled/self-righteous enough to believe the punishing only Israel is proper Presbyterian behaviour, and devious enough to try to pull something over the rest? And nobody noticed until the minutes were read at last year's annual meeting? Actually, that I find believable -- I've tried reading the reports put out by our synagogue's board, and my eyes glaze over. I just trust that they are good people doing their best.
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.
(KUNA) -- The 
North Korea called Wednesday for direct talks with the United States over a potential missile test, but the Bush administration rejected the overture, saying threats aren't the way to seek dialogue. "You don't normally engage in conversations by threatening to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles," U.N. Ambassador 
Lawyers for the accused in the Toronto terrorist conspiracy have charged authorities with violating their clients rights and subjecting them to various forms of abuse, including sleep deprivation and violence, according to a report. Keith Jones writes in the World Socialist Website (WSWS) from Toronto that 15 of the 17 accused are being held at the Maplehurst Correctional Centre in Milton, Ontario. The two who are not being held at Maplehurst were already in jail at the time of the June 2-3 operation that authorities are claiming averted a terrorist atrocity.
According to Jones, who has followed this story form the day it broke, David Kolinsky, the lawyer for Zakaria Amara, said that a guard had pinned his client to the ground, poked his finger in his cheek and brushed his eye, after Amara, who is ticklish, laughed while being searched. When astride Amara, the guard reportedly exclaimed, Is this funny? Kolinsky said that keeping people in solitary confinement is known to cause depression and suicides and is normally a form of punishment reserved only for people who misbehave and are violent against other offenders.
Sen. 
Iran will respond in mid-August to the package of incentives on its nuclear program offered by the West, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday, but the United States immediately accused Tehran of dragging its feet. "We are studying the proposals. Hopefully, we will present our views about the package by mid-August," Mr. Ahmadinejad told a crowd in western Iran in a speech broadcast live on state television.
Karachi, 22 June (AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - The next terror threat facing the United States is not a nuclear or gas attack but an electro-magnetic bomb or e-bomb - which would shut down telecommunications networks, disrupt power supplies, and destroy countless computers and electronic gadgets, yet still leave buildings, bridges and roads intact. This is according to Khalid Khawaja, a former Pakistani intelligence officer who once worked closely with Osama bin Laden. "The e-bomb shall be the new threat for the USA, not the nukes or gas attacks," said Khawaja in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI). 
