KABUL - Seventy-eight percent more land in Afghanistan has been planted with opium poppies this year than last, according to the latest satellite images, a Western security official said Wednesday.
In what would be a new record, a first assessment of the images showed 185,000 hectares (456,950 acres) of poppy fields compared to 104,000 hectares in 2005, the official said on condition of anonymity. Official figures are due to be released next month and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) would not comment before then. The figures are based on satellite images and ground surveys.
The same Western official said last week that initial studies had suggested a 44 percent increase in poppy cultivation, a figure also cited in media reports. According to the provisional figures, we should have 40 percent more production, the official said.
In 2005 output reached 39 kg per hectare compared to 32 kg a year earlier, according to UN figures. The country produced about 4,100 tonnes of opium last year, according to the UNODC. The crop was estimated to be worth 2.7 billion dollars. It takes about 10 kg of opium to make one kg of heroin.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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Glad to see free markets at work. Now will someone please change the laws so that this is legal? Thank you.
KABUL, Afghanistan - The Afghan and Pakistani armies agreed on Wednesday to conduct coordinated and simultaneous patrols with the United States alongside their volatile border, a statement from the American-led coalition said.
I'll believe it when I see it, but just getting more troops on the border has to hinder the Talibunnies.
NATO troops in charge of security in southern Afghanistan will also participate in patrols aimed at improving security operations alongside the porous 2,450-kilometer-long (1,470-mile-long) border, through which terrorists militants funnel money and equipment to help the Taleban-led insurgency here. In order to coordinate the movements along the border areas, the participants discussed and agreed to a proposal to conduct coordinated patrols ... on their respective sides of the border, simultaneously, the statement said.
That's going to cause a few turbans to unwind.
The patrol deal could signal an improvement in relations between the Asian neighbors, who have both felt the brunt of Islamic terrorism militancy.
Wednesdays accord was reached in the Afghan capital of Kabul during the 17th meeting of Tripartite Commission, which includes the US-led coalition and aims to improve coordination and resolve disputes related to combatting terrorism.
The parties also discussed potential use of secure mobile telephones for intelligence coordination and agreed to meet again in October in Afghanistan, the statement said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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So lemme get this straight... Now the ISI will know (or perhaps will think it knows) just where the US / Afghan patrols are - and can tell their Taleban clients?
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir asked the UN Security Council to give his government time to bring peace to Darfur and delay action on the transfer of peacekeeping in the conflict-wracked region from the African Union to a UN force, according to a letter circulated Wednesday. Al-Bashir stressed the strong opposition of the people and leaders in Darfur to a UN force and warned that the UN's takeover would lead "without a doubt to acts of violence and unmanageable confrontations among all parties in Darfur, including the United Nations forces."
With the situation in Darfur worsening and violence escalating, the United States and Britain have introduced a resolution that would transfer peacekeeping from the financially strapped African Union to a much larger and better equipped UN force. Britain's UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said he hoped it could be adopted by the end of August.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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It takes time to kill off all these people... they keep moving about and don't just sit still and die... we need time...
#2
Al-Bashir stressed the strong opposition of the people and leaders in Darfur to a UN force and warned that the UN's takeover would lead "without a doubt to acts of violence and unmanageable confrontations among all parties in Darfur, including the United Nations forces."
Well, I might see that as a threat. But the UN would probably say, "You know, he's got a point. Whaddya need? Five, ten, fifteen years? Get back to us when you're ready."
Phase II of the Islamic Courts plan to control the Horn will start soon.
(SomaliNet) Somalia Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC) controlling the capital Mogadishu and other key parts in south of the horn of Somalia, threatened on Wednesday to attack semi-autonomous region of Puntland if it continues what Islamists called the provocation steps in central Somalia.
Ethiopian troops accompanied by Puntland troops and militia loyal former defeated warlord Abdi Qeybdid had captured area of Bandiradley, south of Galkaayo town from Islamic Courts fighters on Tuesday.
Galkaayo might be Galcaio, the capital of Mudug province.
The head of information department of Islamic Courts in the capital, Sheik Abdirahin Ali Mudey has told today the local media that it would response the invasion by Ethiopian troops and its puppets on parts of Mudug region in central Somalia with military action.
Mudug is the province just below the Horn, per this map.
He warned the authorities of Puntland state of being involved actions aimed to undermine the peace in the region. Puntland should refrain from giving its support to the defeated warlord Abdi Qeybdid otherwise situation would soon be changed, he said.
To make mobilization on the Somali public to realize their national interest would also be a part of the war we assigned, Sheikh Ali Mudey said adding we (Islamic Courts) call on all the peace loved Somali people Puntland state should reject being put in hot water by their officials,.
Did they recently hire a KCNA writer?
Sheikh Ali Mudey, who is in his 40s, said the Islamists will do in Puntland regions as its done in Mogadishu, stirring up the people against Puntland authority to get the right Islamic leadership for their future. We are pretty much aware of that Puntland people love to be ruled with the Islamic religion but facing pressure from the authority to practice their religion, Sheik Mudey said.
The latest military movements by Ethiopian troops in Mudug region came as regional authority called Galmug state recently announced in southern Mudug region by intellectuals of Saad sub-clan of Habar-Gidir clan. Islamic forces continue to grab more lands and advancing towards settlements of southern Mudug region where supporters of Abdi Qeybdid.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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What is it about Islamic Fundementalism that erases any form of common sense? The Somali Army back when Somalia was a functional client state of the Soviet Union could not defeat the Ethiopian Army. And now these khat-chewers think they are going to take on the Puntlanders' militia backed by the Ethiopian Army? To complete the idiocy, they need to also threaten the Somalilanders, so that the Islamic Courts can be fighting a 3 front war. And what is really funny about all of this is that Puntland and Somaliland have been arguing the past few years about a border province, this stupidity will actually cause the two mini-states to reach an accord and concentrate on their shared enemy, the Islamic Courts.
PRETORIA (IRNA) -- Iran plays a strategic role in the Middle East region, South African President Thabo Mbeki said in Cape Town on Tuesday. In a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki, before he wrapped up his visit to South Africa, Mbeki assessed as important and strategic the role and situation of Iran in the Middle East and particularly in Iraq.
South Africa is seriously determined to consolidate relations with Iran in all fields and will mobilize all its potentials to materialize this goal, he said. He stressed Iran's inalienable right to access peaceful nuclear technology and expressed hope all remaining issues concerning Iran's nuclear case would be settled peacefully through negotiations.
All they have to do is abide by the NNPT, which they signed, and let the IAEA inspect everything, which they originally promised.
He assessed as unacceptable and inhuman the way the democratic Palestinian government is dealt with and said this intensified crisis in the Middle East region.
As opposed to the anti-democratic Paleo gummint which is getting its just deserts.
The Iranian foreign minister, for his part, presented a report on outcome of the meeting of Iran-South Africa Joint Cooperation Commission and on the latest developments in Iran's nuclear case. He conveyed the warm greeting of Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad to his South African counterpart and said, "Iran welcomes expansion of cooperation with African states."
"Shorty said to tell ya hello."
Pointing to the two sides' political determination to boost ties, he called for removal of possible obstacles to promotion of relations.
Mottaki said, "Iran's response to a package of incentives proposed by the European Union will guarantee the adoption of rational strategies and respect for Iran's inalienable rights. "Iran's response will provide a constructive way for the opposite side to continue negotiations and prepare appropriate ground. The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to immediately resume talks."
He also voiced Iran's support for the new Iraqi government, saying support for a popular government would promote stability and tranquility and accelerate withdrawal of foreign forces from the country.
As long as it does exactly what the Medes and Persians tell them to do.
Referring to atrocities of the Zionist regime in attacking Lebanon and the Palestinian occupied land, the minister said, "Despite a common stance between the United States and the Zionist regime and long silence of the UN Security Council, the Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah, achieved success in informing the world of its justice-seeking goals. No one actually came out and said "fuel rods" Paragraph 3 and paragraph 4 should certainly be of strategic interest. I hope someone in the community is watching.
#1
...Just curious. What happened to the old South African nuclear bombs? IIRC, President DeKlerk said they were destroyed before the handover to the ANC.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/24/2006 10:29 Comments ||
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Solidarity with all previously colonized people of colour! What a transparent ass.
Nigeria's oil workers' unions are considering pulling all their members out of the Niger delta after a series of abductions. Two oil unions have called an emergency meeting after the kidnappings of 17 workers, mostly foreigners, in the last month. Oil companies have imposed strict travel restrictions on their staff to try to keep them safe.
Government attempts to rescue a Nigerian hostage in the delta ended in a shoot-out on Sunday. Up to 10 members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta were killed and it is still unclear whether the hostage, an employee of Royal Dutch Shell, survived. "We are afraid for the safety of our members and anyone working in the Niger Delta. We feel the government is not doing enough," said Peter Esele, president of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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I just spent a little time in Malaysia, met a Rolls Royce engineer at a bar who works the big turbines on various oil rigs. He was saying that it's pretty hairy on the Nigerian rigs, as many of the workers were snippered from the platforms, so morale/retention a problem. I think we should secure Afhanistan and concentrate on The Caspian pipeline routes.
#2
The irony was that the Nigerian Government was offering " written safety guarantees", which didn't do much to reassure the platform workers. Not surprising, since these are the same guys that come up with the email scams.
Jordan's parliament has asked Russia to remove the Muslim Brotherhood from a list of 17 groups declared terrorist organisations by the country's supreme court. A parliamentary statement carried by the state-run Petra news agency on Wednesday, said:
The Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan is a respectable charity organisation that is far removed from any terrorist activity and is an undivided part of the Jordanian national fabric...
"This decision is unrealistic and a clear injustice. The Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan is a respectable charity organisation that is far removed from any terrorist activity and is an undivided part of the Jordanian national fabric. We call on Russia to reconsider its decision and cancel it as well as to strive to bolster relations with the Arab and Muslim worlds."
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in the late 1920s and has since become a worldwide Islamist movement boasting two million members and the support of three million more people around the globe.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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All the terror groups have some sort of historical roots at one time or another with this screwy org.
The "Tell the Children the Truth" website, (the link which I learned about on this blogg) gives an historically accurate, yet concise, summary of the legacy of Amin Al-Husseini and his links with the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda, and the Nazis. Good read.
China and Kazakhstan on Thursday launched the first phase of a joint anti-terrorism drill in Kazakhstans eastern Almaty region. The drill, codenamed Tianshan-I(2006), is being conducted by law enforcement bodies and special services of the two countries. The three-day drill will be held in Kazakhstans Almaty region and the western Chinese city of Yining in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It would be the first ever joint anti-terrorism exercise between the two countries law enforcement bodies and special forces within the framework of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
According to Chinas Ministry of Public Security, the exercise was aimed at implementing the consensus on enhancing security cooperation among SCO member states reached at the SCO summit in June, and to improve coordination between their law enforcement departments and special services. The drill, the third of its kind conducted within the SCO framework, will be witnessed by observers from the SCO member states and other countries, the ministry said.
China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the countries that make up the SCO, announced in April that the organization would also hold joint anti-terrorism drills in 2007.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/24/2006 09:39 ||
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TOKYO - Japan and the United States will work closely to develop a joint missile defense shield against the threat posed by North Korea, the top US commander in the Pacific said on Wednesday.
Adm. William Fallon of the Hawaii-based US Pacific Command also said during a meeting in Tokyo with Japans foreign minister that the allies should continue bolstering defense cooperation, according to ministry official Hiroyuki Mase. Fallon was responding to Foreign Minister Taro Asos request that the two countries cooperate further in response to North Koreas missile tests last month, Mase said.
Washington and Tokyo have been working to jointly develop a missile defense system, and last month agreed to expand cooperation on a joint ballistic missile defense shield, committing themselves to joint production of interceptor missiles. The two allies have also agreed to deploy advanced Patriot interceptor missiles on American bases in Japan for the first time.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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Unintended consequences are such a lovely thing.
#2
The Japanese have been stepping up alot lately and I'm sort of two minds about it. I've read the histories and know how cruel and ruthless they can be, and yet they have been a fairly good ally. They have the potential to be on nearly on the level of Australia I think, -if- they truly have changed.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - Australia's prime minister announced plans Thursday to substantially increase the size of the army to foster regional stability and contribute to the war on terror. ``I'll be making an announcement about a major increase in the size of the Australian army'' later in the day, Howard told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio in Hobart.
``It's a bigger army to meet our likely responsibilities, and our likely responsibilities include from time to time being involved in operations like Afghanistan and Iraq, but very particularly our responsibilities in our region where we will carry the majod. As well as Iraq and Afghanistan, Australia has peacekeeping forces close to home in East Timor and the Solomon Islands.
Howard also named the South Pacific's most populous island nation, Papua New Guinea, as one of the potential trouble spots in a ``fairly unsettled region.'' ``The rest of the world quite understandably looks to Australia as the strongest and wealthiest country in the region to carry a lot of the burden,'' Howard said.
He said the increase had no bearing on how long Australia intended to leave troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. ``They will stay in Afghanistan and Iraq for so long as the need is there,'' he said.
Of Australia's 51,000 army, navy and air force personnel, 4,000 are currently deployed overseas. Neil James, executive director of the Australian Defense Association, a security policy think tank, said the army's resources are already stretched by current overseas operations.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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With Indonesia becoming ever flakier, this is a prudent decision.
#2
Australia better be looking at its energy policy with respect to crude sources, for its own security. Here is an interesting site with a pie chart showing sources of crude for Australian refineries.
Note that Indonesia is 7% of imports, Vietnam is 12%, and the Middle East is 18%, with half of that produced by Saudi Arabia, 1/3 of ME imports by UAE.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/24/2006 9:55 Comments ||
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Nine Japanese American veterans groups have publicly criticized Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada for his decision to disobey deployment orders to serve in Iraq.
Watada, an officer based at Fort Lewis, is trying to "make himself a martyr and a hero," said Robert Wada, a charter president of the Japanese American Korean War Veterans. He said Watada's actions disrespect a legacy of military service by Japanese American soldiers dating back to World War II. "No Japanese Americans did anything like that, and that is why Japanese Americans are so upset," Wada said. "He is doing something that has never been done by Japanese Americans."
Thank you Mr. Wada both for your clarity and for your past service.
The groups expressed their outrage at Watada this week in a public statement.
Watada, 28, from Hawaii, refused to deploy to Iraq on June 22 with his unit. He is now awaiting the finding of a hearing held last week that could lead to his court-martial on charges of conduct unbecoming an officer, missing troop movement and contempt toward officials.
"No one refused to go just because they didn't believe in the war," Wada said. "We went to Korea, and we didn't know what the hell we were there for. ... But nobody refused to go."
That's not exactly the case, said Seattle resident Frank Abe. He produced "Conscience and the Constitution," a documentary about Japanese Americans who resisted the World War II draft because they and their families were held in internment camps for years after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Wada is "overlooking the fact that 315 Japanese Americans in World War II resisted the draft as a means of protesting the forced incarceration of their families," Abe said Wednesday. "They took a principled stand. These nisei, these second-generation Japanese Americans, were willing to serve in the armed forces, but only after their constitutional rights were restored," he said.
Yes, 315 Japanese-Americans refused to serve in WWII. But tens of thousands volunteered. Those soldiers fought in Europe and accumulated one of the best combat records of any Army unit. Puts it into perspective, doesn't it?
In one sense, Watada's case differs from the nisei resisters because he opposes the current war while the resisters did not object to the United States' involvement in World War II, Abe said. But in another sense, Watada and the resisters are similar in that both objected to actions by their government, he said.
Bob Watada, the lieutenant's father, said his son is grateful for the veterans who fought in previous wars and he isn't dishonoring their legacy. "My son is doing the same thing, fighting for the Constitution, fighting to preserve civil liberties," Bob Watada said. "He is standing up for our Constitution and all the principles it stands for."
Your son is a misguided coward.
Ehren Watada had scheduled a news conference at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Los Angeles, but it was canceled after veterans complained that it would be inappropriate. The center is home to several memorials honoring fallen veterans, including Watada's uncle, who died in the Korean War.
The groups opposing Watada include the Japanese American Korean War Veterans, Americans of Japanese Ancestry WWII Memorial Alliance, five Veterans of Foreign Wars posts and American Legion post and the Nisei Veterans Coordinating Council of Southern California. "He is also similar because he looks sort of Japanese and has a Japaneezy sort of name. He has also been observed eating sushi."
#2
This sort of thing really rankles the traditional Japanese personality.
Call it a cultural offense, as if some American had come out to say that not only had he eaten dog meat, he liked it, and he was going to BBQ himself up some more pooches.
#4
The 442nd Regimental Combat Team was the most decorated unit for its size and length of service, in the entire history of the U.S. Military. The 4,000 men who initially came in April 1943 had to be replaced nearly 3.5 times. In total, about 14,000 men served, ultimately earning 9,486 Purple Hearts , 21 Medals of Honor and an unprecedented eight Presidential Unit Citations.
#6
I can understand the reluctance of some internees to answer the draft call, but Watada wasnt drafted. He choose to join the Army, signed a contract, the Army trained him, and then he double-crossed them. Hard to say youre a victim when you made a conscience decision and youre an adult. Too bad the Army did away with public floggings because I would vote for that if I was on Courts Martial panel.
The article I posted earlier today was fairly ... well, fair. This evening, I saw this headline, on Mrs. Bobby's WaPo. She said, of the WaPo, "It could be worse."
Bush's New Iraq Argument: It Could Be Worse
By Peter Baker - Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 24, 2006; Page A01 - above the fold
Of all the words that President Bush used at his news conference this week to defend his policies in Iraq, the one that did not pass his lips was "progress."
For three years, the president tried to reassure Americans that more progress was being made in Iraq than they realized. But with Iraq either in civil war or on the brink of it, Bush dropped the unseen-progress argument in favor of the contention that things could be even worse.
The shifting rhetoric reflected a broader pessimism that has reached into even some of the most optimistic corners of the administration -- a sense that the Iraq venture has taken a dark turn and will not be resolved anytime soon. Bush advisers once believed that if they met certain benchmarks, such as building a constitutional democracy and training a new Iraqi army, the war would be won. Now they believe they have more or less met those goals, yet the war rages on.
While still committed to the venture, officials have privately told friends and associates outside government that they have grown discouraged in recent months. Even the death of al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq proved not to be the turning point they expected, they have told associates, and other developments have been relentlessly dispiriting, with fewer signs of hope.
Bush acknowledged this week that he has been discouraged as well. "Frustrated?" he asked. "Sometimes I'm frustrated. Rarely surprised. Sometimes I'm happy. This is -- but war is not a time of joy. These aren't joyous times. These are challenging times and they're difficult times and they're straining the psyche of our country."
Presidential counselor Dan Bartlett said Bush and his advisers still believe progress is being made and the war will be won. "No question about it, the last three months have been much more challenging," he said. "Are we always going to be pleased with the pace? No. There are days that are frustrating. But is the overall direction going the right way? . . . The answer to that is yes."
The tone represents a striking change from what critics considered an overly rosy portrayal of Iraq, and the latest stage in a year-long evolution in message.
With sectarian violence flaring into some of the worst bloodshed since the March 2003 invasion, the White House felt the need to connect with the anxiety in the American public. "Most of the people rightly are concerned about the security situation, as is the president," Bartlett said.
But with crucial midterm elections just 2 1/2 months away, Bush and his team are trying to turn the public debate away from whether the Iraq invasion has worked out to what would happen if U.S. troops were withdrawn, as some Democrats advocate. The necessity of not failing, Bush advisers believe, is now a more compelling argument than the likelihood of success.
Using such terms as "havoc" at Monday's news conference, Bush made no effort to suggest the situation in Iraq is improving. Instead, he argued: "If you think it's bad now, imagine what Iraq would look like if the United States leaves before this government can defend itself."
Christopher F. Gelpi, a Duke University scholar whose research on public opinion in wartime has been influential in the White House, said Bush has little choice.
"He looks foolish and not credible if he says, 'We're making progress in Iraq,' " Gelpi said. "I think he probably would like to make that argument, but because that's not credible given the facts on the ground, this is the fallback. . . . If the only thing you can say is 'Yes, it's bad, but it could be worse,' that really is a last-ditch argument."
As recently as two weeks ago, Bush was still making the case that things in Iraq are better than they seem. The new Iraqi government "has shown remarkable progress on the political front," he said on Aug. 7, calling its mere existence "quite a remarkable achievement."
The White House and the Republican National Committee regularly send e-mails to supporters and journalists highlighting positive developments. In yesterday's Wall Street Journal, an article by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad argued that a shift in security operations in Baghdad has shown "positive results" and said that "this initial progress should give Iraqis, as well as Americans, hope about the future."
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said on a radio show this week that violence is largely limited to four of 18 provinces and that "the government now is starting to get its legs under it."
But Bush has been ruminating on the different nature of Iraq and the battle with Islamic radicals and how hard it is to define victory. "Veterans of World War II and Korea will tell you we were able to measure progress based upon miles gained or based upon tanks destroyed, or however people measured war in those days," he said in a speech last week. "This is different . . . and it's hard on the American people, and I understand that."
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a strong supporter of the war, suggested this week that the Bush team has only itself to blame for setting unrealistic expectations.
"One of the biggest mistakes we made was underestimating the size of the task and the sacrifices that would be required," McCain said. " 'Stuff happens,' 'mission accomplished,' 'last throes,' 'a few dead-enders.' I'm just more familiar with those statements than anyone else because it grieves me so much that we had not told the American people how tough and difficult this task would be."
Such statements, he said, have "contributed enormously to the frustration that Americans feel today because they were led to believe this could be some kind of day at the beach." Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) offered a similar assessment. "I think we undersold how hard the war would be," he told reporters this week. "I think we oversold how easy it would be to create democracy. I think we missed by a mile how much it would cost to rebuild Iraq."
Through much of the war, Bush and his advisers focused on meeting benchmarks laid out for rebuilding Iraq -- writing a new constitution, electing a new parliament, bringing disaffected Sunnis into the government and training Iraqi troops. As long as those benchmarks were met, the president had tangible events to point to as evidence of progress.
But the last step in that original timetable, election of a permanent parliament last December, has come and gone with no end to the violence. When Bush mentioned that election at his news conference, he depicted it not as progress but a sign that Iraqis want progress. "It's an indication about the desire for people to live in a free society," he said.
Bush used to mention the number of Iraqi troops trained as another barometer to watch, suggesting that once a new army is in place, it could defend its country. Yet 294,000 Iraqi troops have been trained, just shy of the goal of 325,000, and no U.S. official expects to turn over the war entirely to them anytime soon.
Instead, Bush has publicly emphasized how much his administration is changing tactics to deal with the evolving threats in Iraq, and he has privately reached out for advice about further steps to take. He had lunch at the Pentagon last week with four Middle East experts to solicit ideas about how to stabilize Iraq.
"I would say he was deeply concerned about how many lives are being lost, both American and Iraqi, and how much this is costing the American taxpayer," said Eric Davis, a Rutgers University professor who was among those invited, who urged Bush to launch a New Deal-style economic program in Iraq. "He would like to see progress sooner rather than later."
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/24/2006 18:48 ||
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Some senior Bush administration officials and top Republican lawmakers are voicing anger that American spy agencies have not issued more ominous warnings about the threats that they say Iran presents to the United States.
Some policy makers have accused intelligence agencies of playing down Irans role in Hezbollahs recent attacks against Israel and overestimating the time it would take for Iran to build a nuclear weapon.
The complaints, expressed privately in recent weeks, surfaced in a Congressional report about Iran released Wednesday. They echo the tensions that divided the administration and the Central Intelligence Agency during the prelude to the war in Iraq.
The criticisms reflect the views of some officials inside the White House and the Pentagon who advocated going to war with Iraq and now are pressing for confronting Iran directly over its nuclear program and ties to terrorism, say officials with knowledge of the debate.
#1
It's this kind of faulty analysis based on wishful, BDS thinking that has led to the New York Times' long term loss of market and market share. And of course, with the resultant downsizing of reporting staff everyone has much more to do with much less support, the poor darlings.
#2
Analysts were burned pretty badly during the run-up to the war in Iraq, said Representative Rush Holt, a New Jersey Democrat who sits on the House Intelligence Committee.
Intelligence analysts didnt get burned during the run-up to the war. The whole Faulty Intelligence charge wasnt shouted until after the Kay report on WMD. It makes you wonder which analysts he is referring to. Oh thats right
Now I remember ole Rush back in 2005, he sponsored no less then five house resolutions requesting the President and Secretary of State transmit to the House of Representatives all documents relating to the disclosure of the identity of Valerie Plame. As well as directing the Secretary of Defense, CIA Director, and Attorney General to do the same. Seeing how there was (and is) an ongoing federal investigation into the matter, all the resolutions were dead in the water from the
get-go.
I can see why the NYT would want to quote this guy regarding what the GOP "say".
Your homeland security dollars at work. Thanks Mr. Mineta.
ORLANDO, Florida More than half the federal security force at Orlando International Airport failed a test in June to measure how well the officers detect explosives, guns and other threats at passenger checkpoints, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
A total of 501 people failed a test known as Threat Image Projection in June, according to a Transportation Security Administration memorandum obtained by the Orlando Sentinel. That represents about 60 percent of the airport's 830 security officers. The test randomly flashes images of explosives or other banned items onto the X-ray screen as carry-on bags are being processed through the machines.
Officers who consistently fail to recognize dangerous images fail the test and are required to undergo remedial training.
"Okay, Horace, once again, this is a gun ..."
TSA spokesman Christopher White declined to comment Wednesday on any of the numbers cited by the newspaper but said the officers fared better on the test in July. He called the June test results an "anomaly" and noted that the test is just one of many methods used to evaluate officers.
The high number of failures in June was the result of an increased number of new and less-experienced officers hired from the local Mickey D's on the job, scheduling changes and new, less-familiar threat images on the test, White said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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...and in other news, the Vatican today released a statement saying that the Pope is Catholic.
Posted by: N guard ||
08/24/2006 0:25 Comments ||
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This really inspires confidence. Looks like the passengers themselves will have to continue their own protective profiling. Just empty the plane if anything looks suspicious. The airlines will soon start doing something or go further into debt than they already are.
In a candid admission of churning that is taking place inside Israel, Dr Shlomo Ben Ami, foreign minister in Prime Minister Ehud Barak cabinet in 2000-2001, said Israel should not take on the burden of global war on terror waged by the United States and the West.
Speaking at a meeting organised by a local think-tank he advised his country's leadership to separate its war against militant organisations Hamas and the Hezbollah and the global war on terror, headed by the United States and the West. Ben Ami was in India to apprise the Indian government and to take stock of bilateral issues. He advised Indian government to "understand the ground realties."
He was of the opinion that the Indian parliament resolution condemning Israel's war against Lebanon will not affect bilateral issues. Israel is the second largest exporter of weapons and military equipment to India.
Talking on 'Israel's two-front war: The current conflict with Hamas and Hezbollah' organized by the Observer Research Foundation, the former foreign minister said Israel should focus on fighting its two major challenges �Hamas and the Hezbollah. Even this is not an easy task, he said.
Ben Ami, who was also Israel's chief negotiator at the Camp David Summit in 2000, said Israel should not be seen in the world as a US partner in the war against terror, as "it is beyond its capacity".
"Nowadays, there is hardly any war between states. But wars between militant organisations and states are increasing," he pointed out.
In what could be termed as a reality-check in post-Lebanon war Israel thinking, Ben Ami also disagreed with the policy of the Bush Administration in promoting democracies across the world. Preferring secular dictatorship to unstable Islamic democracy, he said democracy itself need not be the solution for problems. Instead, in many places, it created more problems.
"Iraq is the best example of this. The former government was any day better than the so-called Shiite Republic," he said.
He also mentioned, as a case in point, how the democratically-elected Hamas was working against peace in West Asia. He said Hamas was elected not because Palestinians did not want peace but as a protest against the corruption and inefficiency of the Yasser Arafat regime.
Ben Ami, however, claimed that Israel achieved its purpose after the war in Lebanon -- deployment of an international force and application of the UN Resolution 1559 of 2004. But he felt that Lebanon would not be able to disarm the Hezbollah. Expectedly, he accused Iran of sponsoring, financing and training both Hamas and the Hezbollah.
He said the threat of Hamas and the Hezbollah was smaller compared to the challenges posed by the "world-wide export of terrorism" by Pakistan.
Posted by: john ||
08/24/2006 06:50 ||
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Sunni terrorism is run in Pakistan funded by Saudi
Shiite terrorim is run by the Hezbollah funded by Syria and Iran.
Countries that need sorting imo in order-
1.Iran
2.Pakistan.
3.Saudi
4.Syria
#2
Preferring secular dictatorship to unstable Islamic democracy, he said democracy itself need not be the solution for problems. Instead, in many places, it created more problems.
"Iraq is the best example of this. The former government was any day better than the so-called Shiite Republic," he said.
Such thinking is why the gentleman is not in the current government, nor likely ever to be. From Israel's perspective, the current situation in Iraq is infinitely preferable to Saddam Hussein. The jostling for power and the fight against Baathist, Al Qaeda, relfious and tribal irregulars keep the Iraqi government far from the financing and training of Palestinian terrorist and suicide bombers aimed at Israel. Stable Arab despots have the energy and funds to finance anti-Israel terror groups, and to educate their own people in anti-Jew hatred as a distraction from their own powerlessness in daily life. Unlike Lebanon, which is a special case as a more-or-less province of Syria, Iraq is much too busy with its internal concerns to spare more than token words for Israel.
#5
1. I think Pakistan is not as imminent a threat as Iran, despite its current nuclear arsenal, for obvious political reasons. If I was an Israeli visiting India, I might well want to emphasize the threat to Israel from Pakistan.
2. the CURRENT situation may well be better than the Saddamite regime - the current regime is NOT a Shiite republic, per se. Yet. Its not clear to me if Ben Ami was claiming it was. Whether a Sadrist Republic would be better or worse than a Saddamite tyranny, from the Israeli POV, is debatable. Even if Ben Ami is wrong on this (and for now I lean to the view he is - but thats cause i retain some optimism aboutthe outcome in Iraq) hes not off in lululand - his view is not unreasonable.
3. The real debate on arab democracy for Israel now, is wrt to Syria. Is Israel better off losing Baby Assad, and getting a regime with at minimum a strong Muslim brotherhood element? Debatable.
4. It was hardly Ben Ami's fault that when Israel made a reasonable offer at Camp David, Arafat rejected it. Even some of Arafats own aides were apparently shocked at the flat out rejection - you can hardly expect the Israelis to have judged Arafat better than his own people did. And I would suggest that while the generous offer didnt help nearly as much as it should have in garnering euro support for Israel in the conflict that then ensued, it certainly helped in solidifying US support.
#6
"Iraq is the best example of this. The former government was any day better than the so-called Shiite Republic," he said.
For someone who should be keenly aware of the Holocaust, I'd like to see this nit say this over any of the hundreds of mass graves being dug up in Iraq. Yes, the midnight knock on the door is now transformed into a roadside IED. Believe it or not, this is better. Instead of a brutal tyrant silently eliminating scores of dubious opponents on a whim, instead, we now have the more instructive spectacle of Muslim on Muslim violence being exposed for this world to see.
If this planet's population cannot absorb the critical lesson of how fiercly Muslims are willing to slaughter each other, there is no hope for us learning what will come next (i.e., Global Cultural Genocide).
A quick glance at the dog's breakfast called the Palestinian Terrortories shows the net result of democracy being perverted by theocracy, namely, mayhem. This is no fault of democray, neither in Gaza and the West Bank, nor in Iraq. This is what happens when leadership marches under the false flag of democracy in pursuit of an undemocratic ulterior agenda.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has no authority to define Shariah because he has no knowledge of Shariah, said Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the opposition leader in the National Assembly (NA), on Wednesday.
"Only devout men have knowledge of shariah. Men with turbans. Men with automatic weapons..."
"How can a person who is not aware of Islamic jurisprudence interpret Shariah? The prime minister is pretending to be a mufti (Islamic scholar) in defining Shariah, Quran and Sunnah," Maulana Fazl told reporters in Parliament House. He said interpretation of Shariah was the job of religious scholars who spent their lives studying the Quran, Sunnah and Shariah.
"People like... ummm... me."
"It is not a job for people like the prime minister, Kashmala Tariq and Sumaira Malik," he said. He also rejected government allegations that the MMA had desecrated the Quran by tearing up copies of the Women's Protection Bill when it was tabled in the NA on Monday. Maulana Fazl said MMA members had not desecrated the Quran, but the government did by bringing a bill in parliament which was against Islamic injunctions.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Does he do endorsements of Cannon towels as well as wear them?
#4
It doesn't matter if he's warming up yo momma's undies, he's still full of sh!t.
Please try to get over the "raghead" and "diaper-head" bullsh!t. Ask a Sikh why he wears his turban. You'll find that it is done so that, as God look down upon the world, He cannot tell the difference between men, regardless of wealth or position. The sooner y'all get over your bigotry, the sooner your reasons for detesting Islamic fascism will make more sense.
Posted by: Tent Head ||
08/24/2006 7:14 Comments ||
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The key question is, does dear Dr. Fazl (he must have a PhD because it's required in order to run for the NA, even if one has to purchase one's diploma at the nearest street corner) have a different turban to match each outfit, or does he carefully choose clothes that will match the turbans? This requires ever so much more thought than the usual black-is-for-Shiites and white-is-for-Sunnis (what colour for Alawites, Baha'i, Sufis, or Pakistan's fave heretics, I've long wondered?)
#8
I have to agree with Zenster, especially since My hair is beginning to fall out (chemo) and may be needing some covering against the Arizona sun Myself.
#11
Zenster, when God looks down he doesn't see hair, he sees people's auras. What the ragheads don't realize is that after you saw off someone's head with a ginsu, your aura looks like a pool of vomit. God would like to throw a shovel of dirt on it, but He promised not to interfere until Judgement Day.
#15
Jackal, please accept my best wishes for a speedy recovery. I'm confident you already thank goodness to be living in a country with the most advanced medical services available to all mankind. I'll not even ask you to consider what your chances would be were you living in some foreign third world hellhole.
Zenster, when God looks down he doesn't see hair, he sees people's auras.
That's your take on things and you're free to believe it. Incidents like the Beslan atrocity have made me have serious questions about the existence of God. I find it is better to operate on the principle that God isn't going to intervene and that we had better sort out these problems ourselves.
Given that, it is crucial to focus on the core issues, like religious intolerance, willingness to target civilian populations and use them as shields, instead of worrying about who is wearing what on top of their head. Rest assured, sometimes it becomes almost impossible to avoid the ocassional "pull-start" joke. I myself have mentioned Turban Torque Wrenches. But we all owe it to ourselves and those we love to maintain focus on the central issue of how to bring an end to terrorism.
Instigating misplaced hatred of people who wear turbans isn't going to do this. Calling Islam on the carpet for its constant terrorist atrocities is.
PESHAWAR: A peace deal between the government and militants in North Waziristan is unlikely by Friday (August 25) because the issues of return of army weapons and release of militants are yet to be settled, a source said on Wednesday. "We wanted to finalise the deal by Friday, but it appears less likely because the two issues will take time to resolve," a member of a jirga, which was formed to broker peace between the government and the local Taliban, told Daily Times by phone from Miranshah. He requested anonymity.
... the military was asking militants to return weapons and vehicles they snatched during ambushes, while the militants were asking the military to release all their colleagues before the deal...
The local Taliban have agreed to the jirga proposal that the ceasefire would continue as long as tribal elders are in talks with them, the jirga member said. An earlier deadline for the ceasefire would expire on Friday (August 25). The jirga member denied the peace deal would cost the government Rs 200 million. The government had reportedly given Rs 50 million to key commanders for a peace deal in South Waziristan in November 2004.
The jirga member said that the military was asking militants to return weapons and vehicles they snatched during ambushes, while the militants were asking the military to release all their colleagues before the deal. He said the militants had assured the jirga they would not cross the border into Afghanistan to attack US-led coalition forces there.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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The Punjab government has told the Inspectorate of Prisons to monitor sectarian prisoners in provincial jails, government officials told Daily Times on Wednesday. A senior Home Department official said the orders had been given in wake of the current situation in the province.
The government officials said two maximum-security prisons were almost complete in Multan and Faisalabad and that many of the sectarian prisoners would be shifted there by September 2006. They said that even now sectarian prisoners were being monitored and Closed Circuit TVs had been installed near their barracks. Officials said there were 300 sectarian prisoners accused of murder and terrorism in provincial jails. They said many of them belonged to defunct religious outfits such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Sipah-e-Muhammad and Sipah-e-Sahaba.
Maximum-security prisons are not only meant for sectarian prisoners, but also for high profile criminals convicted for heinous crimes and violence. The Punjab government has allocated Rs 225 million for the construction of such prisons.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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The opposition in the National Assembly on Wednesday alleged that Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan was being "slowly poisoned" and demanded the government allow a delegation of parliamentary leaders to visit the scientist. Dr Khan has been diagnosed with prostrate cacer the government said on Tuesday.
Speaking on points of order, MNAs of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal expressed reservations over the government's claims that Dr Khan was getting the proper treatment. "We fear that Dr AQ Khan is being poisoned. I want to bring our apprehensions on the record," Sahibzda Fazal Karim of the PML-N said. Tehmina Daultana said Dr Khan was being murdered and asked the government to let the nuclear scientist receive treatment at Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital.
Alternate Universe: Islamabad, 24 August (AKI/DAWN) - Two ruling party figures told the Pakistani National Assembly that they found detained nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan "merry and hearty" when they visited him on Wednesday. The government on Tuesday announced that Khan - under virtual house arrest since last year over accusations of running a rogue nuclear trafficking ring - was suffering from prostate cancer. However some opposition members voiced concern about the condition of the man considered the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb.
Pakistan Muslim League (PML) president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said he and Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani had a one-hour meeting with Dr Khan at his home earlier Wednesday. He appeared to be hashash, bashash (merry and hearty), the PML chief said about the scientist who, he added, came up to our car to see us off.
His comment came after Tehmina Daultana of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) said she feared the scientist was being killed slowly and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) president Qazi Hussain Ahmed said he was prevented from meeting the national hero. The MMA president said the whole nation was concerned about Dr Khans health, and called for removal of restrictions. He said Dr Khan was also his personal friend with whom had could not even contact on telephone for a year.
A government statement on Tuesday said results of recent tests and diagnoses had indicated that Dr Khan, 71, was suffering from prostrate cancer and that further investigations were being conducted by a board of doctors. Information Minister Durrani said Dr Khans health was all right and he was looked after by a team of doctors. He advised the opposition not to politicise the matter.
Additional: ISLAMABAD - After more than two and a half years of virtual seclusion for his role in a nuclear proliferation scandal, Pakistans ailing atom bomb father AQ Khan Thursday appeared on the state-run station PTV, chatting with ex-prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. Hussain visited Khan, who was visibly frail, late Wednesday, after officials had reported a day earlier that he had been diagnosed with adino carcinoma (cancer) of the prostate.
He's 71 and has a history of heart problems. If they didn't catch it early, it may have spread to other organs.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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So... he is getting chemo therapy for his cancer?
Of course it is poison, that's how it kills the cancer.
'Shiite Giant' Extends Its Reach
Sadr's Armed Movement Becomes Pivotal Force in Fractured Country
By Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, August 24, 2006; Page A01 - below the fold
KUFA, Iraq -- Pumping their fists in the air, the men and boys inside the colonnaded mosque shouted their loyalty to Shiite Muslim leader Moqtada al-Sadr. "Hasten the coming of the Mahdi!" thousands chanted in the baking sun of the open-air mosque, summoning the central religious figure of Sadr's movement. "And curse his enemies!"
Booming loudspeakers outside the mosque echoed the devotion of Sadr's followers converging for Friday prayers last month in Kufa, the cleric's spiritual base outside the Shiite holy city of Najaf. "Moqtada! Moqtada!" martial male voices intoned over the loudspeakers in rhythmic cadence with the footsteps of the gathering worshipers. "Even the child in the mother's cradle cries: 'Moqtada! Moqtada!' "
Millions of Sadr's supporters turned out in December elections to give his movement the largest bloc in parliament, which in turn put him in control of four government ministries. Thousands of male followers abandoned their homes and jobs when a bomb destroyed a Shiite shrine in Samarra on Feb. 22, rallying at Sadr headquarters on a night and day of retaliatory bloodletting that plunged Iraq into sectarian war.
While opposition to the U.S. military presence in Iraq remains one of its core tenets, the Sadr movement's militia, called the Mahdi Army, took heavy casualties in two military uprisings against better-armed, better-trained U.S. forces in 2004. Today, according to Sadr leaders and outside analysts, the movement is husbanding its strength and waiting for American troops to go.
Sadr "clearly is the most potent political figure, and the most popular one," in Iraq, said Joost Hiltermann, Middle East project director for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. "Unless directly provoked, Sadrists will lay low, because they know the Americans' time in Iraq is coming to an end," he said. "Why would they risk another major loss of fighters if it's not necessary? Americans in their eyes are already defeated -- they're going to leave."
In the plainly furnished front room of his simple house in Najaf, one of Sadr's top aides agreed.
"The first time the Sadr trend fought them, it was forced on us," said Riyadh al-Nouri, a brother-in-law of Sadr's, reflecting the movement's belief that American military and civilian leaders provoked the confrontations with the cleric's followers in 2004. "We had no choice. Sayyid Moqtada didn't want to fight," Nouri said, using a religious honorific for Sadr. "This time, it might be the people who are mad and upset who would do this again. But as of now, in terms of orders from the Sadr trend, it doesn't call for these things."
"Until now, the Shiite giant has not begun to move. But if things come to a dead end," Nouri added, Shiite religious authorities "could take a decision to move him. It depends on them."
"Until now, they have patience," Nouri said.
The movement that Sadr now leads took shape in the seminaries of Najaf, a theological center of the Shiite world, as clerics in the second half of the 20th century sought to counter what were then growing secular and nationalist movements in the Arab world. Sadr's own work since the U.S.-led invasion builds upon the social and health programs for Shiite poor begun by his father, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, in the 1990s. Sadr's father died with two of his sons in 1999, in an assassination believed to have been ordered by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
The Sadr movement's ultimate goal is a "united Islamic state," Bahaa al-Araji, a senior lawmaker in the Sadr political bloc, said in an interview. In Baghdad's Sadr City and other areas under Sadr's control, women uniformly cover their hair with scarves in the style of conservative Muslims. Islamic scholars operating with Sadr's office help arbitrate divorces, inheritances and other social matters in accordance with religious law. And fighters claiming to be part of Sadr's Mahdi Army -- named for a figure some Muslims believe will usher in an era of justice and true belief just before the end of time -- enforce a stringent Islamic code that includes the prohibition of alcohol and help enforce the orders of extrajudicial Islamic courts.
MUCH more at link, including some other links. Registration, I believe, is required.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/24/2006 18:55 ||
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wow she just makes him sound terrific. fuckin cunt journalist
#2
I gotta agree, sinse. A very carefully one-sided portrait of a murdering scumbag.
I've read the posts here covering the early days after the war "ended". Many believed that killing this asshole, especially after he murdered another Shia "cleric" and was so charged, was important - and that not doing so would come back to haunt the Coalition. Additionally it became clear later that he was an Iranian agent - and that stopping the Najaf campaign while he and his goons cowered in the Ali mosque, Sistani's foolishness notwithstanding, was an imperative.
#3
Could we please find a different way to describe this person?
You're insulting a perfectly good part of the female anatomy, sinse. ;-)
Posted by: Female personal parts ||
08/24/2006 20:10 Comments ||
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#4
You're insulting a perfectly good part of the female anatomy, sinse. ;-)
sum say the best part! :-)
Posted by: Male personal parts ||
08/24/2006 20:46 Comments ||
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#5
sum say the best part!
Permit me to refute such adolescent blather with a quote from one of America's finest musical composers, Frank Zappa;
"I like my women fully loaded, with brains too."
The last woman who lived with me once told me in bed, "Guys say my ass is my best asset." I gently tapped her skull and said, "No, this is what will get you noticed by good men."
An Iraqi Kurd told Saddam Husseins genocide trial on Wednesday she was horribly burned and lost three children after aircraft bombed her mountain village with chemical weapons. I lost my sight. My children lost their sight ... My house was razed to the ground. May God blind them all, said Adiba Owla Bayez, pointing at the former Iraqi president and his six co-defendants on the third day of their trial.
Describing a spring evening in 1987, the 45-year-old mother of five said aircraft dropped bombs behind her house and she had immediately noticed a difference from previous attacks. We smelt a peculiar smell. It was rotten apple ... My daughter Nargis said she had pain in the stomach and in her eyes. She was vomiting. All my children were vomiting. I too felt like that and started vomiting, said Bayez.
The testimony echoed the recollections of two other witnesses of events on April 16, 1987, nearly a year before the formal launch of the Anfal - Spoils of War - campaign in the Balisan valley, north of Sulaimaniya. Bayez, the wife of the trials first witness, Ali Mustafa Hama, said she suffered two miscarriages and had an infant die at the age of three months following the attack. Saddam and his cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, are charged with genocide over the seven-month operation. Majid earned his nickname Chemical Ali after poison gas attacks in the north. The other defendants, who argue the attacks were legitimate military strikes against Iraqi Kurds fighting with Iran against the regime in Baghdad, are charged with war crimes. Both charges carry a maximum penalty of death by hanging.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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profoundly sad
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/24/2006 6:00 Comments ||
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I have seen medical survey results of some of the Kurdish population in the US. Some of the women have a medical history that includes up to 9, 10, 12 miscarriages--one after the other.
Serious respiratory problems, horrible cancers. . . We already see these being passed to the next generation.
Dr. Christine Gosden has done some of the best documentation of the problems.
Posted by: Azad ||
08/24/2006 20:05 Comments ||
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Some of the women who survived the Nazi concentration camps had lifelong medical problems as a result. It never ends just because it's over, sadly. Which is why the perpetraters of evil must be made to pay, even if only in the last days of their lives.
Israel is carefully watching the world's reaction to Iran's continued refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, with some high-level officials arguing it is now clear that when it comes to stopping Iran, Israel "may have to go it alone," The Jerusalem Post has learned.
One senior source said on Tuesday that Iran "flipped the world the bird" by not responding positively to the Western incentive plan to stop uranium enrichment. He expressed frustration that the Russians and Chinese were already saying that Iran's offer of a "new formula" and willingness to enter "serious negotiations" was an opening to keep on talking.
"The Iranians know the world will do nothing," he said. "This is similar to the world's attempts to appease Hitler in the 1930s - they are trying to feed the beast."
He said there was a need to understand that "when push comes to shove," Israel would have to be prepared to "slow down" the Iranian nuclear threat by itself.
Having said this, he did not rule out the possibility of US military action, but said that if this were to take place, it would probably not occur until the spring or summer of 2008, a few months before President George W. Bush leaves the international stage. The US presidential elections, which Bush cannot contest because of term limits, are in November 2008.
#1
It will be an international disgrace if Israel is forced to go it alone against Iran. This will permit Muslim justification for even more treachery against Israel. Plus it will fuel even greater anti-Semitism like little else in the last few decades.
More than anything, Israel is not the only entity threatened by a nuclear-armed Iran. So many other regional countries and the bulk of southern Europe all lie vulnerable to Iran's potential threat. How it is that they can almost universally deny the emminent danger and delude themselves that they will somehow avoid any repercussions is beyond me.
As the world's sole remaining superpower, it is incumbent upon America to avert this singularly dangerous crisis. We have both the means and ability to cripple Iran's nuclear program. Furthermore, we owe it to ourselves to not only halt Iran's progress towards wielding atomic weapons but also to make an example of this rogue regime for all others to take note of.
Iran's incessant meddling in Iraq and Israel, sponsorship of international terrorism and flagrant disregard for legitimate participation on the global stage all make it necessary to bring the mullah's house of autocratic cards crashing down upon their collective heads. Islamic theocracy, be it Shiite or Sunni, represents one of the single greatest threats to world peace and security. This moral cancer must be dealt with accordingly.
Poll: 18% of Israeli Arabs support Hizbullah
The poll found that 40% of Jewish Israelis believe Arabs supported Hizbullah during the war in Lebanon, according to an opinion poll conducted by the Dahaf institute.
18% of Israeli Arab respondents said they supported Hizbulla; 27% said they backed Israel. 60% idiots vs 82% taquia practitioners.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz has acknowledged for the first time that there were shortcomings in the military's performance during the recent Lebanon war, media reported on Thursday.
.
.
.
Now, however, some of the reservists who showed up full of enthusiasm have turned on the IDF, with some calling for the resignation of the entire leadership from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Halutz. Amen
The Foreign Ministry slammed an Amnesty International report published Wednesday charging that Israel had deliberately destroyed civilian infrastructure in Lebanon and demanding an international investigation for what it termed war crimes.
The 20-page report, the first comprehensive one issued by the human rights organization on the subject of the recent war, accused Israel of "indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks" which displaced one quarter of the civilian population.
The report alleges that "Israel's destruction of thousands of homes, and strikes on numerous bridges and roads as well as water and fuel storage plants, was an integral part of Israel's military strategy in Lebanon, rather than "collateral damage resulting from the lawful targeting of military objectives."
That strategy, in Amnesty's assessment of Israeli official statements, was carried out in part in order to turn civilians against Hizbullah. The report noted that any Hizbullah use of civilians as a means of shielding their activities constituted a war crime. But, it said, "under international law such use does not release the opposing party from its obligations towards the protection of the civilian population." It calculated that more than 1,000 civilians died, some 7,000 strikes had been carried out by the Israeli Air Force, 15,000 residences had been destroyed and at least two hospitals wiped out.
The report concluded by calling for an impartial international investigation, saying that Lebanon had never been known to carry out a review of allegations of war crimes, while Israeli efforts had "fallen short of the standards required."
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev rejected the assertions contained in the report, saying that Israel steps were taken in self-defense and that any targeting of civilians areas were also being used by Hizbullah, making such attacks "very clearly" legal according to international law.
"It's not serious," Regev said of the report, "because you have to discuss the scope of the attacks on Israel." The report does not devote any of its several sections to Hizbullah rocket attacks on northern Israel or any of its other actions, though Claudio Cordone, senior director for research at Amnesty, said those subjects would be addressed in future reports. He added that by Israel's argument about acceptable civilians targets, one could suggest that Hizbullah attacks on northern Israel were reasonable because some roads and regions there were used by the military.
Anti-Defamation League National Director Abe Foxman, however, took issue with Amnesty's decision to focus its first major report on the conflict on alleged Israeli abuses, when Hizbullah had started the war.
"They continue the pattern of biased, prejudiced, bigoted, one-sided judgments on the Israeli-Arab conflict. It's part and parcel of putting the blame on Israel," he said.
Cordone countered that, "There is less controversy about the abuses committed by Hizbullah, whereas there hasn't been sufficient attention to this kind of attack," referring to the alleged Israeli strategy of targeting civilian areas.
Cordone added that, "For those who, like Israel, have argued they've done everything according to the rules of war, they should have nothing to fear from a proper, impartial investigation, which is what we're seeking."
But Foxman said this report would create a stigma that other reports wouldn't change. Foxman, speaking during a tour of the North where he saw the damage of the Katyushas firsthand, charged that the approach of Amnesty bordered on the anti-Semitic.
He said the civilian losses on both sides were "tragic." But, he continued: "Who's the judge of what's disproportionate, what's overkill? Amnesty International? Give me a break," he said.
"We don't need to be scapegoated by a group that pretends to [represent] civility and justice."
#1
I am rapidly reaching the opinion that Amnesty International is now nothing more than another terrorist organization and as such, it should be exterminated from the face of the earth. Anyone that donates money to, supports with word or deed or enables terrorists as they do, deserves to be considered terrorists.
In the face of Iran's race to obtain nuclear power, Israel signed a contract with Germany last month to buy two Dolphin-class submarines that will, according to foreign reports, provide superior second-strike nuclear capabilities, The Jerusalem Post has learned. The submarines will be assembled in Germany and provided with a propulsion system allowing them to remain underwater for far longer than the submarines currently in the Israel Navy's fleet. According to sources close to the deal, the submarines will be operational in the near future.
Which means the 'assembly' has been underway for quite some time.
The contract signing was said to have come after a long dispute over the price and financing of the submarines. According to the details obtained by the Post, Israel will purchase the two Dolphins, manufactured by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG, for $1.27 billion, a third of which will be financed by the German government.
The navy already has three Dolphin-class submarines. They are the most expensive weapon platforms in the IDF's arsenal. Germany donated the first two submarines after the first Gulf War and split the cost of the third with Israel. The three submarines currently in the navy's possession employ a diesel-electric propulsion system, which requires them to resurface frequently to recharge their batteries. The new submarines - called the U212 - will be fitted with a new German technology in which the propulsion system combines a conventional diesel lead-acid battery system and an air-independent propulsion system used for slow, silent cruising, with a fuel cell equipped with oxygen and hydrogen storage.
The submarines will also incorporate specifications gleaned from Israeli experience. The Dolphins currently in the navy's fleet were tailor-made for Israel's needs and reportedly have considerable operational capability. They are designed for a crew of 35 and can support 10 commandos passengers. They have a maximum speed of 20 knots, a range of 4,500 kilometers and, according to Jane's Defense Weekly, the capability to launch cruise missiles carrying nuclear warheads.
Not that the Mad Mullahs don't already know that.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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Does Israel have a naval base on the Red Sea (or whatever that body of water is that touches Israel's southern border) or does their navy sail from the Med ports?
#7
Egypt does not allow Israeli warships right of passage thru the canal. 4,500 Km range would all but preclude basing them anywhere but the Med. Altho I guess you could spot a few tankers in the Atlantic and Indian ocean and do a passage that way.
#8
The subs are based in Haifa and there are no suitable facilities in Eilat.
The subs need to travel around the cape since Egypt has refused Suez transit.
What they need is a port. Two possibilities have been suggested:
(a) India
The subs have actually test fired their popeye turbo missiles at India's Balasore missile test range so there is actual collaboration between the two navies in missile development. It is thought that some of the Popeye launch technology will end up in Indian built submarines
However it is unlikely that Mumbai base could be used since the presence of the Israeli subs could not be hidden.
The new Karwar base (project Seabird - which comprises the Kadamba naval base, an air force station, a naval armament depot and ballistic missile silos) offers ample areas for camouflaged pens dug deep into cliff faces but is not yet ready.
India would fear adverse reaction from Iran if the subs were discovered.
(b)Eritrea
The Dahlak archipelago (belonging to Eritrea).
It has been reported that Eiritrea has granted refuelling access to the Israli navy and these islands at the end of the red sea would be useful. The Soviets built a sub base on Dahlak Kebir during the cold war so there are facilities in place.
Possibility - based at Dahlah and using the sub tenders of the Indian navy for at sea refuelling.
The Indian shipyards at Hazira are there for sub repair if some emergency arises.
Posted by: john ||
08/24/2006 13:47 Comments ||
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#9
Maybe I'm just paranoid, but it makes me itchy a bit thinking that Germany could booby trap the subs in some way. When I was last in Germany, I saw alot of Israeli hate groups openly blasting them in the streets. These activities seemed well received by many which was very jaw tightening.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/24/2006 14:15 Comments ||
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#10
I think you're most probably a bit paranoid ;-).
Still, this is not as far-fetched as it might seem; example in mind is cars from Renault IIRC to be exported to Israel being sabotaged by line assembly workers (most likely muslim)... to the point the direction had to take measure to insure they couldn't be recognized.
Also, the french post office found out in internal surveys about its post offices that in the Seine-Saint Denis heavily islamized department, parcels from/to Israel went missing in an alarming manner, and mail from/to the USA was often damaged (slashed with boxcutters, notably).
#12
IIRC the reports said the subs fired missiles off the coast of Sri Lanka.
The only nearby facility with the optical and radar tracking systems for missile flight testing is at Balasore, India.
Wouldn't the Israelis have already tested the popeye turbo at their own facilities in the desert?
Why borrow an Indian facility unless they needed to do a subsurface launch?
Posted by: john ||
08/24/2006 19:09 Comments ||
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#13
I don't know. But that's is a hell of a cruise for a shallow-water boat. Refueled 5 times maybe? Recrewed? It's the endurance issues I find strange. Hell, maybe they put the suckers on a flatbed rail car and took them to Eliat.
Israel Makes Nuclear Waves With Submarine Missile Test
By Uzi Mahnaimi and Matthew Campbell
Just as President Bill Clinton is engaged in a bitter public debate about how best to defend America from missile attacks launched by "rogue" countries such as Iran, Israel's intensely secretive military preparations against the same threat have gone a stage further.
Israeli defence sources claim the country has secretly carried out its first test launches from submarines of cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. The launches last month from German-built vessels in the Indian Ocean were designed to simulate swift retaliation against a pre-emptive nuclear attack from Iran.
While Israel's generals may be jubilant at the breakthrough - the missile is said to have hit a target more than 900 miles away - the development raises the worrying prospect of an escalation in the Middle East's nuclear arms race just as peace talks have been thrown into uncertainty after the death of President Hafez al-Assad of Syria.
According to Israeli sources, the three Dolphin-class submarines will give Israel a crucial third pillar of nuclear defence to complement the country's already much-vaunted land and air ramparts. While the Israelis' intention of using the German submarines as roving nuclear launch platforms had long been suspected, few experts had expected them to develop the capability to fire submarine-based cruise missiles so soon.
Planning for a submarine-launched nuclear deterrent was accelerated after reports in the early 1990s by Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, that Iran would be capable of staging a nuclear missile attack against Israel by 2000.
The latest Israeli estimate has put that threat back by two years. But uncertainty over Iran's level of nuclear capability has not slowed Israel's drive to bolster its defences.
The Dolphin-class vessels are among the most technically advanced of their kind in the world. They are twice as big as the 23-year-old Gal-class submarines that the Israeli navy has relied on to date.
Israel ordered the submarines from Germany when it could not find an American shipyard to produce the diesel and electric-powered vessels it needed, according to Israeli sources.
In a sign of the sensitivity of the project, elite crews have been assembled to man them: the 35 officers and men aboard each vessel have been nicknamed "force 700" because of the average 700 points they scored in psychological tests devised by the Israelis. The scores are equivalent to an IQ of 130-140. Another five specially selected officers solely responsible for the warheads will be added to each vessel once the missiles are operational.
America's supply of military technology to Israel is a sensitive political issue. Last week there were calls in Washington for a cut in aid to Israel unless it cancelled the sale to China of a spy plane built with American-supplied technology. The Pentagon fears it could be used against American pilots.
Since achieving nuclear capability in 1966, Israel has kept a hawkish eye on its neighbours' fumbling steps towards acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
Its fears were dramatically illustrated in 1981 when Menachem Begin, then prime minister, sent eight F-16 jet fighters to destroy a nuclear reactor in Iraq in an episode condemned around the world as reckless military adventurism.
In 1986, Mordechai Vanunu, a former technician at the Dimona nuclear reactor who revealed secrets of Israel's programme to The Sunday Times, was kidnapped by Mossad and jailed. He remains incarcerated.
A decade later, Israeli fears appear to have proved well-founded. Washington routinely cites Iraqi and Iranian nuclear ambitions as justification for America's multi-billion-dollar missile defence system, whose deployment may be ordered by President Bill Clinton this year.
America will not look kindly on Israel's development of a remarkable new military capability at such a delicate stage in the peace process.
"This is certain to irritate the Clinton administration," said a defence analyst in Washington. "It makes it that much harder to get non-proliferation to stick in the Middle East."
Despite a good personal relationship between Clinton and Ehud Barak, the Israeli prime minister, relations between the two countries have soured in recent weeks. On top of reports of the extraordinary extent of Israeli espionage in Washington, Israel's proposed sale of the spy plane to China has outraged American congressmen.
Under a contract with the Chinese, Israel Aircraft Industries has installed a Phalcon airborne early-warning system in a Russian-made Ilyushin. China has an option for three more such planes. American officials say they fear they will pose a threat to Taiwan - as much of an American ally as Israel - and upset the military balance. Relations have been strained further by other Israeli missile tests conducted without advance warning to the Pentagon. Last month the American navy criticised Israel for test-launching a Jericho ballistic missile off its coast in April when an American warship in the vicinity momentarily thought it was under attack.
Pentagon officials said the missile landed about 40 miles from the warship. "That's pretty close for a missile that's not the most accurate," said one official, adding that this was the third time in two years that Israel had conducted "nonotice" missile tests near an American warship.
Posted by: john ||
08/24/2006 19:28 Comments ||
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#16
But that's is a hell of a cruise for a shallow-water boat. Refueled 5 times maybe? Recrewed? It's the endurance issues I find strange.
Only possible with the assistance of several other countries ..
Posted by: john ||
08/24/2006 19:42 Comments ||
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#17
Or maybe the subs did transit the canal
Possible.
Posted by: john ||
08/24/2006 19:46 Comments ||
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#18
shadowing a cargo ship, submerged....count on it
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/24/2006 20:31 Comments ||
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#19
surprising that an Israeli effort in self-defense my anger the Clinton administration? Not. Saint Bill was REALLY hoping for that Nobel Peace Prize - no matter the cost to the Joooos or in hosting Yasser. His pride and desire for int'l prestige overrode national security...how many times? Asshole
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/24/2006 20:35 Comments ||
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A radical Islamic group called Hizb al-Tahrir (Liberation Party) is planning to declare the birth of an Islamic caliphate in the Gaza Strip on Friday. The relatively small party, which is seen as more extreme than Hamas, is said to have increased its popularity following what is perceived as a Hizbullah victory over Israel. On Tuesday, thousands of the party's supporters staged a demonstration in Gaza City to mark the anniversary of the end of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
... demonstrators called for establishing an Islamic caliphate that would rule not only in the PA territories, but the entire world...
It was the first demonstration in the Gaza Strip in which demonstrators called for establishing an Islamic caliphate that would rule not only in the PA territories, but the entire world. Buoyed by the large turnout, the party's leaders are now considering declaring an Islamic caliphate in the Gaza Strip during Friday prayers, sources close to the party said.
Jordanian security forces recently foiled a similar attempt by the party's followers in the kingdom and arrested most of their leaders. Ramzi Sawalhah, the leader of Hizb al-Tahrir in Jordan, was arrested shortly after he delivered a sermon in a mosque in which he called for replacing the monarchy with an Islamic caliphate.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Have any of these guys ever seen a globe?
If so have they noticed Gaza is this little dot?
#3
Serious delusions of grandeur and flights of fantasy but remember these are the people that think they get the 72 virgins. Tbey live in a crock of shit.
#4
I just don't get the 72 virgin stuff, me when I get to heaven I want a tree a nice running river a fishing pole and some BBQ and my family having a picnic behind me.
#5
Sorry boyz, way too freakin' small to qualify as a Caliphate. You can't even graze a respectable herd of donkeys in the Strip. You've got to take over a hell of a lot more territory before you get into delusions of a Caliphate.
#8
If its a Caliphate, then leaders would have the authority to order jihad, globally. Therefore they would force us to blame them for all terror, and inflict appropriate punishment. That is: we will turn Gaza into charcoal.
#9
I just don't get the 72 virgin stuff, me when I get to heaven I want a tree a nice running river a fishing pole and some BBQ and my family having a picnic behind me.
Exactly. When I was in college, I made the mistake of having two girlfriends at once. Damn near killed me.
#10
It was the first demonstration in the Gaza Strip in which demonstrators called for establishing an Islamic caliphate that would rule not only in the PA territories, but the entire world.
Well, a cancer has to start someplace. Even in a miniscule cell.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Aug. 19 From the scant personal details that can be pieced together about Lina Joy, she converted from Islam to Christianity eight years ago and since then has endured extraordinary hurdles in her desire to marry the man in her life.
Her name is a household word in this majority Muslim country. But she is now in hiding after death threats from Islamic extremists, who accuse her of being an apostate. And those imams really got those goat-grease soaked beards in a lather of this one...
Five years ago she started proceedings in the civil courts to seek the right to marry her Christian fiancé and have children. Because she had renounced her Muslim faith, Ms. Joy, 42, argued, Malaysias Islamic Shariah courts, which control such matters as marriage, property and divorce, did not have jurisdiction over her. Do we understand the problem worldwide? No. This is the norm. Even "moderate moslems" are intolerant of those who decide they don't like the Koran anymore. Of course the drug-soaked brains of most Democrats, and some Republicans seek to appease.
#1
Geez, this sort of thing is so counterproductive that it boggles. Malays are probably converting to Xtianity by the hundreds on the sly in reaction to this.
It isn't just a freedom issue, it's a romance issue; which can sway just as many minds.
#4
The PM is an islamic scholar ; he will side with the islamists. So will the spineless secular court in Lina's final ruling. It was the moonbat ex-PM Mahathir who gave more and more power to the syariah court.
#6
"Do we go down the Islamic road, or do we maintain the secular character of the federal constitution that has been eroding in the last 10 years?,/em>
You are already far down the 'Islamic road'. How do you like the scenery so far? Don't worry -- it'll get worse.
#7
How can we not be intolerant of such backwardness and ignorance? islam truly is worthy of reprehension. islam is a disease and those who practice it must be consider mentally ill.
In a suggestion bound to fuel widespread anxiety debate, a leading rights group in Sri Lanka has urged Tamils to accept the leadership of Muslims to struggle against both the government and the Tamil Tigers. In its 33-page report released Wednesday, the University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR) has also sought a UN human rights monitoring mechanism to overcome widespread rights abuses and 'Sri Lanka's climate of impunity'.
But the most significant aspect of the report, titled 'Hubris and Humanitarian Catastrophe', is the appeal to the Tamil community to acknowledge Muslims as the leaders in the campaign for democracy and equality. 'The time has come where Tamils will have to accept in all humility that the leadership in the struggle for democracy and human rights in the northeast, both against the state and (against) Tamil fascism, will have to be borne by the Muslims,' it says, referring to Colombo and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Muslims living in Sri Lanka's northeast speak Tamil but call themselves a distinct community. Many Muslims were once members of Tamil militant groups but relations between the two groups later got strained. After discussing the situation in the astern town of Mutur from where Muslims and Tamils fled in thousands following recent heavy fighting, the report says: 'What the Mutur experience has done is to mobilise the Muslims towards coming into their own, and no one could now take them for granted.'
It goes on: 'More than their homes, the Tamils have lost their sense of community, leadership and social infrastructure. Even when fascism collapses, as it surely would, it would take them at least a generation to recoup.' It says that Muslims evicted from Mutur have been able to preserve a sense of community and mobilise support from around the country and abroad. They are in locations where access is relatively easy. They have been able to make demands, activate their representatives and force the government and relief agencies to listen...
'In comparison, Tamils evicted from their homes and scattered once more at every new blast of missiles have become both politically and communally amorphous. The Tamil displaced, dead, dying and injured remained largely invisible.'
UTHR is a rights group that mainly monitors rights violations in Sri Lanka's troubled northeast. It has been critical of both the government and the Tigers. The latest report also blames both the government and LTTE for causing human misery due to their fighting that has, among other things, triggered a panic run to Tamil Nadu by thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils.
The report criticizes international agencies for leaving the conflict zone when they were most needed.Isn't that a given? This, it says, has sparked fear among the locals 'as they fear killings and massacres at the hands of the security forces without any witnesses'. Watching this story develop will be a bit like watching to see if a funnel will form on the bottom of a storm cloud.
#1
But the most significant aspect of the report, titled 'Hubris and Humanitarian Catastrophe', is the appeal to the Tamil community to acknowledge Muslims as the leaders in the campaign for democracy and equality.
Who let these lunatics out of the asylum? Talk about "hubris"! A "Rights Group" telling people to accept government by one of the most abusive ideologies on earth. We need a graphic of a melted down Cognitive Dissonance Meter for this little gem. But wait! There's more!
Muslims living in Sri Lanka's northeast speak Tamil but call themselves a distinct community.
Where have I heard this before?
[Muslims] have been able to make demands, activate their representatives and force the government and relief agencies to listen...
London. Hezbollah declared the British Prime Minister Tony Blair persona non grata in Lebanon because of his support for Israel and the U.S. during the 34-day crisis in the region, Europa Press reported. Ghaleb Abu Zeinab, politician from Hezbollah, said in an interview for a British daily that Toby Blair should be staying away from Lebanon, since he was responsible for spilling the blood of Lebanese women and children.
A group of Iranian exiles announced Thursday in France that Iran built at least 15 advanced centrifuges capable of dramatically speeding up production of nuclear fuel, and that there will be hundreds of additional centrifuges in Iran's posession within the next year.
The organization National Resistance Council of Iran reported that the centrifuges are operating in a secret area in Iran. (Reuters)
Germany said Thursday that Iran's response to a package of incentives for halting its nuclear program appears unsatisfactory because it is missing a reference to whether Tehran will suspend uranium enrichment. "We are still examining it, but from everything that I hear we cannot be satisfied," Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an interview with N24 television.
The Security Council has set an Aug. 31 deadline for Iran to halt enrichment or face the possibility of economic and political sanctions.
Merkel said Germany and its partners had hoped for Tehran to say, "'We are suspending our uranium enrichment, we are coming to the negotiating table and we will then talk about the chances and possibilities for Iran." "That unfortunately is not the case," she said. "We will call for this to happen in the coming days, but the decisive sentence is missing in this answer," she added.
Tehran says its enrichment, which can produce reactor fuel or fissile material for a bomb, is for purely peaceful purposes. As peaceful as Islam itself, by gosh.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy has said Iran must suspend uranium enrichment if it wants to return to negotiations, but Russia's foreign ministry has said it would continue to seek a negotiated solution and China has appealed for patience and more time to develop the weapons dialogue.
The State Department has acknowledged that Iran considered its proposal to be a serious one and promised to "review it." But a U.S. statement issued Wednesday went on to say that Iran's response to a joint offer of U.S, and European trade and other benefits in exchange for halting the enrichment program "falls short of the conditions set by the Security Council" full and verifiable suspension of all uranium-enrichment activity.
The Iranians' offer, which they portrayed as a major advance, appeared to be aimed at least in part at dividing the Security Council members with vetoes the U.S., Britain and France on one side and Russia and China on the other.
Secretary-General Annan will visit Iran during his trip to the Middle East next week, U.N. officials announced yesterday, adding that he expects to confer with President Ahmadinejad, the Holocaust denier who has repeatedly made public pleas for the annihilation of a U.N. member state. Mr. Annan's trip will also include a stop in Damascus, Syria, a U.N. spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said.
American officials last week attempted to deter Mr. Annan from traveling to either Iran or Syria. The trip is intended to boost the Lebanon diplomacy effort as stipulated by the Security Council's resolution 1701, which last week inspired a lull in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah forces in south Lebanon
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2006 08:44 ||
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#1
Dear Iran, you want to know how you can stop the world from invading your country? Try holding Kofi Annan hostage! Then let him go on TV over and over again, begging and pleading for the US to rescue him.
Note, I did not say he would ask the UN to rescue him. I don't think that even he's that stupid.
Now if we could just convince Jimmy Carter, Cindy Sheehan, Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, Howard Dean, John Kerry, Jane Fonda, Al Gore, Teddy Kennedy, Barbara Streisand, and George Soros to go over there with Kofi and get kidnapped...
#1
My Adobe Reader sez this .PDF is corrupt. Is there an alternate link, such as the HTML page which points to the .PDF? It's possible that it will decode correctly from there, but not directly - I've seen Adobe get cranky like this before.
#8
Addenda: Congress reserves "strategic" threat designations for dangers to the Homeland. Otherwise the term "Regional" threat applies. The President has the pretext, the bi-partisan support, public opinion (on that issue), the opportunity to collapse Shiite power in lebanon and Syria, and the need to liquidate the al-Sadrites.
Hopefully, the "hour of our choosing" is soon. I am a little concerned about the effect of satellite reception, should regime-change scenarios for Iran play out.
Sayng they are a strategic threat, isn't that like almost declaring war
Almost. When Cuba allowed Soviet missiles on their soil, that threat was "strategic." The Bush-Doctrine rests on "pre-emption," which would include potential strategic threats. (Who knows what Iran's Ayatollahs will devolve into, given a decade of indulgence). With the bi-partisan settlement on the nature of the Iran threat, the President has a free hand. I don't believe that his relationship with Iraq Shiites will impede a hardline reaction to Iran. However, Conservative commentators have expressed concerns.
An estimated 90 percent of displaced Lebanese have returned home since the cease-fire began over a week ago, UN officials said Wednesday.
You guys might want to keep an overnight bag packed.
The stream of refugees coming back from Syria, which reached 30,000 per day last week, has turned into a trickle, said Jack Redden, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. "We're now down to between 5,000 and 6,000 per day," he said, adding that UNHCR expects "the overwhelming majority" to return home. "In Syria, we're planning for a residual population of 2,000," Redden said.
As a result, UNHCR will be moving almost all the aid supplies it stockpiled in Syria over the border to Lebanon.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
I imagine many of them came to see what had survived the bombs well enough to be packed or sold. For those of you who know: is Hizb'allah's $12,000 handout enough to rebuild and refurnish a house after clearing the rubble? Because under the circumstances I'd choose to rebuild far from the near-future rubble-bouncing zone. Of course, I'm funny that way.
Lebanon urged the US on Wednesday to make Israel remove a sea and air blockade imposed on the country. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora also called on Washington to boost its financial aid to help Lebanon recover from war-related economic damage running into billions of dollars. "The United States can do more," he told a news conference. "The United States can support us in putting real pressure on Israel to lift the siege."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
We will have to consult with France. That may take some time. We will get back to you.
#4
If he lives up to his end of the bargain - which he may not be able to do, and live to tell about it - then we oughta help him out.
But not before.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/24/2006 6:21 Comments ||
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#5
Sure, we can do that. Just as soon as you destroy Hezollah in your country and we can verify it, then we'll consider it. Til that time, no money for you!
Iran will soon announce an atomic breakthrough, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Wednesday. "This great scientific achievement is the fruit of a long-term research project ... It will be formally announced by a top official," Mehr quoted an informed source as saying. "The announcement will highlight Iran's mastery of different areas in nuclear science and will reinforce Iran's position as a nuclear country," the report said.
Meanwhile, the United States said it was carefully reviewing Iran's reply to an offer meant to end the standoff over Tehran's atomic programmes, but insisted the Islamic republic must freeze sensitive nuclear activities. "Everybody understands that the international community has spoken, that a nuclear programme must end in Iran," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, who later clarified she meant that Tehran must halt uranium enrichment.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Controlled fusion reactors?
If not then its not a breakthrough just 60 year old technology.
Retards!
#2
You're not going to be a nuclear country until we drop a few very large ones right on top of you. Then, for a few brief milliseconds, you'll realize what the granduer of nuclear technology is really all about.
BERLIN - Germany sees no need for a second UN resolution on a peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon as suggested by US President George W. Bush, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.
Thomas Steg acknowledged that United Nations Security Council resolution 1701, passed unanimously on August 11 to establish a ceasefire between Israel and the Shiite Muslim militia Hezbollah, may have its faults. But, he said, the German government has always called for the implementation of this resolution which stopped the month-long war.
We have not had this resolution for very long and at the moment there are intensive international efforts to apply it, interpret it and somehow implement it, he said. The government is exclusively focused on that and for us, there is no reason to consider a second or another resolution, he said.
Guess the Germans won't be helping the EU out with any troops.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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Nope. Just lots of free advice, from the looks of it.
Egypt state media have accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of committing "massacres" in Lebanon, lashing out at Damascus in response to the Syrian leader's recent criticism of Egypt. In an editorial addressed to the Syrian ambassador in Cairo Wednesday, the Egyptian government daily Al-Gumhuriya said
... your heroic army, protector of the homeland, has a weighty record of Lebanese massacres... and you have killed thousands of your citizens in Hama and Aleppo when they rose up against the regime...
"the Egyptian army has done much to save you over the course of history. While your heroic army, protector of the homeland, has a weighty record of Lebanese massacres... and you have killed thousands of your citizens in Hama and Aleppo when they rose up against the regime of father Assad," it said.
Former president Hafez al-Assad, the father of Bashar, had unleashed a violent suppression of an Islamist uprising in two Syrian towns in the 1980s, killing thousands. Political tensions between Syria and Egypt began to rise when Assad criticized Arab leaders who had rebuked Hezbollah, the Shiite fundamentalist group which is backed by Damascus and Tehran, during a speech on August 15. Egypt and Jordan had both criticized Hezbollah's "adventurism" after the group's capture of two Israeli soldiers on July 12, which sparked a month-long Israeli offensive in Lebanon.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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Things would be really nasty when they start mutual cursing of moustaches.
European Union nations made a renewed attempt Wednesday to raise troops for a U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, but many remained wary of committing soldiers without safeguards to ensure they do not get sucked into the conflict. There were expectations nations would come forward at a meeting Wednesday of ambassadors at EU headquarters with at least tentative offers of more troops, diplomats said. But any major breakthrough in overcoming the delays in mustering the force of 15,000 is unlikely before a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Friday.
European nations are concerned their troops could get caught in crossfire between Israel and Hezbollah or forced into a confrontation with either side if, for example, Israeli troops launch more raids across the border or Hezbollah resists efforts to disarm it...
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is set to attend that meeting to press for the Europeans to urgently overcome their hesitation in sending troops to underpin the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah. Adding to the pressure on the Europeans, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday Israel would not lift its air and sea blockade on Lebanon until international peacekeepers were deployed at the Beirut international airport and along the Lebanese border with Syria.
Meanwhile, diplomats at U.N. headquarters in New York are working on rules of engagement for the force that would allow troops to open fire in self-defense, to protect civilians and to back up the Lebanese army in preventing foreign forces or arms from crossing the border. But it was not clear whether the draft would satisfy European nations who are concerned their troops could get caught in crossfire between Israel and Hezbollah or forced into a confrontation with either side if, for example, Israeli troops launch more raids across the border or Hezbollah resists efforts to disarm it.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred.
#2
Since the EU twits are at it against, its time for Bolton and Co. to start talking Mercs [Executive Action] again. If the EU et al have no problem with a non-state military formation [The Hezzies], they can't have objection [outside their own natural hypocrisy] to paid independent professionals.
#4
You know, I've seen this same story every day for the past week or so. How about a new section for stories that never change, so we don't waste bandwith linking to them? Like:
"(fill in the blank) Declares Islam is a Religion of Peace."
#1
Finally! For several years, the US has had a double Command in Iraq. A Lieutenant General as the Iraq National Commander, and a General (4-star) as the Regional Commander, in a proto-Command structure similar to the other Commands, like CENTCOM.
The big question now is, "Will Iraq be the HQ for the 'Africa' Command?" If it is, then the Africa Command will also include the ME, and all associated oceans and seas in the regions.
#2
"Long war"? No! De-stabilization by Saudi elements and Syria and Iran, have created a security situation that cannot be stablized without forcing regime change in Iran, at least.
In the Reagan era, the invasions of Granada and Panama were kept secret. Rhetoric was kept to a minimum until Reagan - "The Great Communicator" - went on the airwaves and explained it all. Liberals took a vacation for the next few days.
Bush will shift gear if he has to. As Governor of Texas, he deferred to juries on capital punishment issues. But, when faced with literally hundreds of abuses of process in the John Henry Lucas case, he stayed execution. Iran has had 5 post-9-11 years of pardon; now its time to execute.
GWB said he was reading Camus' "The Plague," which poses existential questions. To be or not to be an Ayatollah.
Wages and weekly earnings of Arab and Muslim men living in the United States fell by 10 per cent following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a new study shows. In addition, the adverse affects of September 11 on wages were greater in areas that reported high rates of hate crime related to religious, ethnic or country of origin bias, according to the upcoming study in the Journal of Human Resources.
"I was surprised," Robert Kaestner, study co-author and University of Illinois at Chicago professor of economics, said of the findings. "We see an immediate and significant connection between personal prejudice and economic harm."
Evidence also suggests the terrorists' attacks reduced intrastate migration, making Arab and Muslim men more reluctant to seek better opportunities in new destinations due to the uncertainty of their reception. The study measured changes in wages of first- and second-generation immigrants from countries with predominantly Arab or Muslim populations between September 1997 and September 2005 and compared them to changes in wages of first- and second-generation immigrants with similar skills from other countries.
#2
I was in aviation litigation, so my income fell to zero. Anybody count that?
This article sounds a lot like the gag in the WSJ op ed page: world ends tomorrow, poor and homeless hardest hit.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
08/24/2006 12:39 Comments ||
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#3
The entire economy took a hit after 9/11. The ACLU is waiting for proof of that sort of thing. I find it hard to beleive Muslims were affected worse than the general population (unless you consider that the higher wage ones may have fled and screwed the curve).
#6
I was right there w/ you Rob; no job and i was filing for an extension for unemployment when i finally found a gig; (insert irony here) with the TSA! cause and effect or something. finally got a job cleaning bus station urinals to get my self respect back....
#7
So, my question is; How much longer is world going to put up with the huge cost of having to police Islam's ultra-violent fundamentalists? When are we going to find the collective courage to instruct Islam that, if they cannot begin a program of reporting or expelling jihadist clergy and participants, they are no longer welome as immigrants or visitors?
The astronomically expensive war in Iraq aside, global terror security is costing this world untold BILLIONS OF DOLLARS per month year. This ignores the hidden effects on the global economy due to supression of tourism and increased petroleum prices. Factor those in and the cost certainly rockets to billions of dollars per month. Why is it that we in the West must have this tremendous financial drain thrust upon us?
It is more than clear that a vast majority of terrorists derive from the wahabbist, salafist and deobandi sects of Islam. Saudi Arabia has almost exclusively propagated Wahabbism resulting in the Taleban, al Qaeda and much of the central issues surrounding terrorism. It is time to lay the global war on terror at Saudi Arabia's door. They can make significant monetary contributions to all nations forced to combat terrorism or they can have their oil resources stripped away from them as a punative measure.
This idea has been floated around here for some time, most notably by .com. As the financial impact of global terrorism continues, we had better make sure that the real sponsors, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Syria and so forth all begin to take a hit in their collective pocketbooks.
Again, we have been suckered on a monumental scale to have the duty and cost of fighting Islamic terrorism foisted upon us. Severe consequences must be outlined for Islam, such as revocation of its non-profit standing as a religious organization, labeling it as a political ideology and proscription of its practice from countries that uphold freedom of religion.
Islam's intolerance of all other religions must be broken, by force if necessary. We have no obligation to play by their rules, yet continue to do so like absolute fools. It is time for Islam to clean its own house. All Muslims must participate in keeping their religion on the straight and narrow path of peaceful coexistence. If they find this too onerous a task, we must begin to take measures to isolate them from those countries they seek to destroy.
#10
Zenster, most of us realized that sort of thing on Sept 11. For the life of me I can't understand why there are any visa programs involving Muslim nations at this point. In fact if someone dared to put Muslim on the application during the duration of the conflict they should simply have seen the application filed away until the war is over. That and anyone found here illegally, or employing those here illegally or involved in any way assisting those here illegally should be arrested or expelled as a fairly obvious security measure during the duration.
Clearly it takes a long time to sober out from multiculturalism for some people.
#11
Zenster, most of us realized that sort of thing on Sept 11.
To a degree, I did too. Ask Parabellum about my advocating (at another major website which he has tried to use against me), the carpet-bombing of metro-Kandahar immediately after the 9-11 atrocity. I also predicted (and encouraged) the use of fuel-air ordnance against the Taleban at that time. (Sucking the lungs out of their bodies still retains a huge degree of appeal to me.)
As someone who wholeheartedly supports freedom of religion, it was a difficult step for me to immediately support proscription of Islam. Being a tolerant person, I sought every last chance for Muslims to differentiate themselves from that of their fundamentalist and terrorist brethern. To date, they have not, and no longer am I willing to allocate much distinction between Islam and Islamism.
This has been a (not entirely) painful lesson for me, as I have always extended any benefit of the doubt to all and sundry. Quite obviously, with respect to Islam, that sort of Pollyanna mentality has vaporized like the proverbial snowball in hell.
I give full credit to .com in this matter. He, quite validly, pointed out how so few of the suicide homicide bombers came from the households of mullahs and imams. Instead, the vast majority of these heinous criminals have come from the so-called Moderate Muslim households. This can only permit me to believe that a significant percentage of Moderate Muslims are either incapable or unwilling to steer their own offspring away from the jihadist teachings of whatever local imams instruct them.
Much to the credit of Rantburg, I have had access to thinking that declares Islam to be a political ideology and NOT an ostensible religion. I feel that this is the single most important distinction to be made about Islam. It is a political ideology and NOT any sort of religion. This world must declare it so and treat it accordingly.
To date, it now seems necessary to proscribe any and all emmigration of Muslims to America. Furthermore, it may well prove to be necessary to deport all current Muslims from America. So few American Muslims seem to feel as though integration and NOT differentiation are of importance that I can no longer support their continued influx into American society.
As someone whose own mother and family came from a foreign land (Denmark), is it less than pleasant to uphold a "send them back to where they belong" sort of attitude.
After so many years of incessant Islamist atrocities, I have little choice.
#12
>>>
we had better make sure that the real sponsors, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Syria and so forth all begin to take a hit in their collective pocketbooks.
>>>
Notice how we will pay for the knock down and reconstruction of Lebanon while the authors of the fiasco, Iran, Syria, walk away scott free. This is no way to fight this thing.
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 - Seventy-eight percent more land in Afghanistan has been planted with opium poppies this year than last, according to the latest satellite images, a Western security official said Wednesday.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir asked the UN Security Council to give his government time to bring peace to Darfur and delay action on the transfer of peacekeeping in the conflict-wracked region from the African Union to a UN force, according to a letter circulated Wednesday. Al-Bashir stressed the strong opposition of the people and leaders in Darfur to a UN force and warned that the UN's takeover would lead "without a doubt to acts of violence and unmanageable confrontations among all parties in Darfur, including the United Nations forces." 
Nigeria's oil workers' unions are considering pulling all their members out of the Niger delta after a series of abductions. Two oil unions have called an emergency meeting after the kidnappings of 17 workers, mostly foreigners, in the last month. Oil companies have imposed strict travel restrictions on their staff to try to keep them safe. 
Jordan's parliament has asked Russia to remove the Muslim Brotherhood from a list of 17 groups declared terrorist organisations by the country's supreme court. A parliamentary statement carried by the state-run Petra news agency on Wednesday, said: 
TOKYO - Japan and the United States will work closely to develop a joint missile defense shield against the threat posed by North Korea, the top US commander in the Pacific said on Wednesday.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has no authority to define Shariah because he has no knowledge of Shariah, said Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the opposition leader in the National Assembly (NA), on Wednesday.
PESHAWAR: A peace deal between the government and militants in North Waziristan is unlikely by Friday (August 25) because the issues of return of army weapons and release of militants are yet to be settled, a source said on Wednesday. "We wanted to finalise the deal by Friday, but it appears less likely because the two issues will take time to resolve," a member of a jirga, which was formed to broker peace between the government and the local Taliban, told Daily Times by phone from Miranshah. He requested anonymity. 
The Punjab government has told the Inspectorate of Prisons to monitor sectarian prisoners in provincial jails, government officials told Daily Times on Wednesday. A senior Home Department official said the orders had been given in wake of the current situation in the province.
The opposition in the National Assembly on Wednesday alleged that Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan was being "slowly poisoned" and demanded the government allow a delegation of parliamentary leaders to visit the scientist. Dr Khan has been diagnosed with prostrate cacer the government said on Tuesday. 
An Iraqi Kurd told Saddam Husseins genocide trial on Wednesday she was horribly burned and lost three children after aircraft bombed her mountain village with chemical weapons. I lost my sight. My children lost their sight ... My house was razed to the ground. May God blind them all, said Adiba Owla Bayez, pointing at the former Iraqi president and his six co-defendants on the third day of their trial. 
A radical Islamic group called 
Secretary-General Annan will visit Iran during his trip to the Middle East next week, U.N. officials announced yesterday, adding that he expects to confer with President Ahmadinejad, the Holocaust denier who has repeatedly made public pleas for the annihilation of a U.N. member state. Mr. Annan's trip will also include a stop in Damascus, Syria, a U.N. spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said.
An estimated 90 percent of displaced Lebanese have returned home since the cease-fire began over a week ago, UN officials said Wednesday.
Iran will soon announce an atomic breakthrough, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Wednesday. "This great scientific achievement is the fruit of a long-term research project ... It will be formally announced by a top official," Mehr quoted an informed source as saying. "The announcement will highlight Iran's mastery of different areas in nuclear science and will reinforce Iran's position as a nuclear country," the report said.
BERLIN - Germany sees no need for a second UN resolution on a peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon as suggested by US President George W. Bush, a government spokesman said on Wednesday. 
Egypt state media have accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of committing "massacres" in Lebanon, lashing out at Damascus in response to the Syrian leader's recent criticism of Egypt. In an editorial addressed to the Syrian ambassador in Cairo Wednesday, the Egyptian government daily Al-Gumhuriya said 
European Union nations made a renewed attempt Wednesday to raise troops for a U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, but many remained wary of committing soldiers without safeguards to ensure they do not get sucked into the conflict. There were expectations nations would come forward at a meeting Wednesday of ambassadors at EU headquarters with at least tentative offers of more troops, diplomats said. But any major breakthrough in overcoming the delays in mustering the force of 15,000 is unlikely before a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Friday.
