Cherie Blair has launched an extraordinary attack on the media claiming there is "no professional morality in journalism". She's right, and I'll bet a dollar to a dog turd journalists are upset because they don't understand the difference.
The Prime Minister's wife took her revenge on a profession that has bedevilled her for years when invited to address students at Roehampton University on Wednesday. Ma! Popcorn! Now!
She told a stunned audience that it was "not a noble calling" and journalists "have no ethics". Then, Mrs Blair - who was at the university in south-west London to open its Human Rights Centre - turned her attention to the Daily Mail and the Press Complaints Commission. Probably stunned for the wrong reason.
Since the latter has repeatedly failed to uphold the Blairs' complaints about the former, Mrs Blair's words - "the pathetic PCC dominated by the Daily Mail - are not, perhaps, surprising. I'll try to figure that out later. Munch munch munch . . .
Her spokeswoman yesterday sought to play down the incident. "Mrs Blair was merely playing devil's advocate to stimulate discussion amongst the students." No she wasn't. Wuss.
But the students say the PM's wife delivered a "rant" and they weren't given an opportunity to defend their putative trade. She's ranting? You mean "saying what she feels"?
Mrs Blair had been invited to join the university chancellor, John Simpson, as the BBC's world affairs editor addressed a small group of journalism students. One student, Lya Pfaffli, said: "I think we were all quite taken aback at her complete lack of tact and diplomacy... she was in a room with at least three, reputedly ethical, journalists. At least we were told they had ethics, so we believe it.
"Her unabashed accusations of 'no professional morality or adjudication of the truth' clearly rattled a few of us." Hadn't given it much thought, eh?
Fortunately for the "adjudication of the truth", another student, Cat McGovern, took detailed notes of Mrs Blair's harangue. Wasn't stunned, apparently. Probably heard it before.
John Simpson declined to comment. "It was a private meeting," he said. Translation: Pi$$ off for now. We're re-jigging what was said to make it more tactful and diplomatic.
#1
Journalists and their allies on the left gave up being human a long time ago. The sooner we recognize this, the sooner we can start fixing our society.
THE British will never win in Afghanistan by military means and should open negotiations with the Taliban, according to the former leader of Pakistans forces in the border areas. Give up.
On the eve of a Nato summit in Riga at which member nations will be urged to send more troops, Lieutenant-General Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai, who led Pakistans hunt for Al-Qaeda until 2004 and is now governor of North West Frontier province, said: Bring 50,000 more troops and fight for 10 to 15 years more and you wont resolve it. The British with their history in Afghanistan should have known that better than anyone else. There is a resolution: terminate PakiWaki Talibunny sponsorship, fodder-development, training camps, etc. - eliminate the ISI... and more...
In the past three years Nato and the US have more than doubled their troops in Afghanistan to 43,000. Almost half are American and last week Natos Supreme Allied Commander, General James L Jones, said that he was about 15% short of requirements. He said that failure to provide more men would make the mission longer and more costly.
Despite months of lobbying by Britain and the US, Foreign Office officials say it is extremely unlikely that the two-day summit in the Latvian capital will produce more troops. Countries are particularly reluctant to commit to the turbulent south where British and Canadian forces have suffered heavy casualties.
Aurakzai said: Nato are ignoring the realities on the ground. The reason Taliban numbers have swelled is because moderates are joining the militants. It is no longer an insurgency but a war of Pashtun resistance exactly on the model of the first Anglo-Afghan war. Then too [in 1839-42] initially there were celebrations. The British built their cantonment and brought their wives and sweethearts from Delhi and didnt realise that in the meantime the Afghans were getting organised to rise up. This is exactly what Afghans are doing today and what they did against the Soviets.
He added: The British should have known better. No country in the world has a better understanding of the Afghan psyche and very little has changed there in the past couple of centuries. That's rather charitable... nothing has changed.
Rather than fighting, he says, the only answer is to talk to the Taliban. Over the past few months he has negotiated a series of peace deals in Pakistans tribal areas. This is the only way forward, he said. There will be no military solution, there has to be a political solution. How many more lives have to be lost before people realise its time for dialogue? And dialog will achieve what? You're an ISI agent playing to the losers.
Nato commanders have questioned Pakistans commitment to the war on terror, claiming it is providing a safe haven and training for Taliban. Aurakzai dismissed the criticism. We are doing far more than the whole coalition put together, he said. Pakistan had 80,000 troops in border areas more than twice as many as Nato and had lost about 750 soldiers, more than the entire coalition. It pains me to hear people accusing us of allowing border crossing, he said. Were physically manning the border our troops are sitting there on the zero line . . . Damn it, you also have a responsibility. Go sit on the border, fight like soldiers instead of sitting in your bases. Lol. This guy could give up his day job.
The Americans say they can see even a goat on a hillside with their electronic surveillance, so why dont they tell us where crossings are taking place and we will plug those gaps and kill those people? Either they [Nato] are trying to hide their own weaknesses by levelling allegations at Pakistan or they are refusing to admit the facts. I, too, wonder about our holding back. A nice grid pattern of smokin' holes makes more sense than giving up, however, Mr Gov of NWFP.
Aurakzai said that Nato had failed to achieve any of its objectives. Why did the coalition come to Afghanistan? To find Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, Mullah Omar and the Taliban; for democracy, reconstruction and development, and [to] leave a stable Afghanistan which wouldnt be vulnerable to terrorists. All very noble, but tell me which one of those objectives have been achieved? I went to Kabul in September and they are all living in a big bunker with no control over Afghanistan. Theres no law and order. The insurgency has become far worse . . . is that a success? Far worse? Than what? Shooting wymyn in the soccer stadium? Sounds like he should join Baker's Boyz on the Iraq Working Group.
#1
The problem in Afghanistan is fact that the UN, etc is supporting Afghan "refugee" parasites in Pakistan. They don't have to earn a living, and their children are indoctrinated at Saudi financed madrasas. Afghan terrorism is flowing from these groups, with some Pakistani support. Kick the UN out of the US, and leverage Pakistani rendering of the Pashto cockroaches. And get rid of Karzai; he is one of them.
#2
And a light dusting of known extremist madrassas and training camps in Pakistan with Pollonium might help, too. The problem is where to get the stuff . . . .
Anybody believe this is legit? I may become independently wealthy. My odds are waaay better.
French and German troops who have been kept away from the fiercest fighting in Afghanistan could be used as emergency reinforcements for British, American and Canadian soldiers bearing the brunt of the war against the Taliban. They just love to get all dressed up.
A Nato summit this week in Riga, the capital of Latvia, is expected to agree greater flexibility for commanders to call on coalition allies for frontline support. Uh huh. More wishful thingking - that always works.
British officers have described how military police and engineers have had to fend off Taliban attacks while well trained coalition troops remain far away in Kabul and the relatively peaceful north. Bingo. Playing bingo.
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Natos secretary-general, is urging all nations to lift the restrictions imposed on where their troops can be stationed. There has been a sharp disparity within Nato between European allies that have sought to minimise their casualties and concentrate on reconstruction, and Britain, Canada and the United States, which are committed to defeating the Taliban. That is the point.
The Americans said: We want all forces to be available to commanders on the ground. We cant have forces who dont go to certain places and do certain things. The bobblehead version of military operations.
Germany, in particular, has come under criticism over Chancellor Angela Merkels insistence that German troops should remain in the north, although her government will now permit units to be sent for emergency short-term missions elsewhere in the country. To do what? Pick up cigarette butts?
French troops are also likely to show more flexibility. An official pledged that if there were real danger they would help Nato allies in the south. Oh yeah, I wanna depend on them. Think PakiWaki armor, Mogadishu. Yewbetcha.
#1
Froggie will put up a token force so they can bleat about negotiating with Taleban. They are protecting Hezbollah missile launchers in occupied Lebanon.
#2
"We can’t have forces who don’t go to certain places and do certain things."
What? They won't do windows?
Maybe the US forces could trade with French and German troops so we can hear what they have to say after a little while.
#6
Hilarious, and on-target, .com (and commenters)!
Actually I've been heartened by the role that Canadian, Dutch, and other NATO forces have been playing. I was stunned that they would actually step in and get their hands dirty (not surprised that they soldiers were game, but that their governments and reality-averse polities would permit it!).
This is one of my "sleeper good news" items of the last year. It joins India's strategic shift since 9/11 as among the most important - and utterly unremarked - positive changes since the outset of the Long War.
#9
France and Germany are still suffering from collective post-traumatic stress and guilt stemming from the World Wars, an exercise in stupidity that they brought on themselves. Their current shared collective urge to die out by default and to be replaced by an immigrant invasion stems from this disaster. Possibly their only way to a future worth having is for them to recover some of their ancient heritage. The French take their name from the Franks, a Germanic tribe of frankly vicious barbarians whose name means "the free." "Farengistan" (meaning the land of the F-R-N-G or Franks) is a term commonly used in various Muslim Asian languages to refer to all of Europe and especially to the military threat posed by infidel Christian nations with a propensity to invade various Muslim nations and thrash them from time to time.
German nationalism stems from the fact that the northern/eastern boundary of the Roman Empire was established by the extermination of several Roman legions in 9 AD by other vicious Germanic barbarians led by Arminius, aka "Hermann", whose descendants inherited and transformed the remains of the western Roman Empire into modern Europe, a historical role Germans used to take pride in. Things in Europe really started to roll when the Frankish/Germanic chieftains and their peoples converted to Christianity, and started to combine their tribal values of freedom, individualism, a talent for teamwork, and respect for private property with various ethical restraints and religious values brought by Christianity from the pre-Muslim middle East. The US definitely descends from these tribes.
Nato runs critically short of combat troops to keep Taliban at bay
Tony Blair and other Nato leaders gathering in the Latvian capital, Riga, this week will almost certainly fail to secure the additional troops being sought to keep the Taliban at bay in Afghanistan, according to sources here.
Although it took over responsibility for the whole country just a few weeks ago, Nato's mission remains at least 15 per cent undermanned, with a significant shortage of combat troops and a desperate lack of helicopters. A succession of Nato meetings has failed to secure reinforcements, and all the indications are that the alliance's Riga summit, presented as one of the most crucial in its post-Cold War history, will not be any more successful. Because NATO is riddled with losers and half-hearted dinks masquerading as military leaders.
Commanders have repeatedly sought at least 1,000 fighting troops to form a quick reaction force which could deal with upsurges of violence, but many in the 37-nation mission have insisted on constraints which effectively keep them away from the front line. Germany refuses to allow its troops even to be based in the south and east of the country, where the Taliban are most active. Other countries say peacekeeping commitments, such as those in Lebanon and the Balkans, prevent them sparing more for Afghanistan. Time for either a housecleaning of NATO - or dissolution.
A Polish contingent is due to be deployed in southern Afghanistan in January, possibly freeing troops from countries with more robust rules of engagement, such as Britain and Canada, for other tasks. But military chiefs say they would still need further resources to have a reserve ready to deal with any revival of the insurgency in the spring.
Fears that Afghanistan would slide into Iraq-style anarchy have eased for the moment. Kabul has not had a suicide bombing for six weeks, although two local people were injured yesterday in a suicide attack on a Nato convoy south of the capital. After a spate of casualties in the summer, the last British soldier to die in action was Marine Gary Wright, killed in a suicide bombing in mid-October. It's the Brutal Afghan Winter, methinks.
A series of truces at local and national level, produced by informal talks between Hamid Karzai's government with the Taliban and its Islamist ally, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, appear to be holding for the time being. Sources close to the Taliban admitted to The Independent on Sunday that the insurgents had suffered during Nato's recent offensive in the Kandahar region, Operation Medusa.
There is also the traditional Afghan break from campaigning during the winter, and the fact this is the poppy planting season. The Taliban, like others in Afghanistan, profit from heroin and do not want to disrupt production. Yep, thought so. So brutal the Talibunnies run back to PakiWakiLand for R&R and some well-reported lying about in those non-existent camps.
The British commander of Nato's forces in Afghanistan, Lt-Gen David Richards, sought to speed up development work when he took over in mid-2006, believing it was essential to win public support. He also helped President Karzai set up an action group to co-ordinate security operations with aid work. But his tenure is due to end early in the new year, and the Pentagon has successfully lobbied to replace him with an American who is expected to take a far more aggressive stance. Oh my. We can't have that! Killing terrorists instead of appeasement? How unsophisticated. When the Afghans aren't for sale to the Talibunnies, then you help them rebuild and create your farcical "action groups". No more pots 'o money until the Afghanis decide which world they want - or have they, already? Until then, we use the shithole for flypaper to drain off the PakiWaki madrassah losers.
Some senior Afghan officials want General Richards to remain in some capacity, but that will be subject to Nato's labyrinthine politics. I'll just bet they do... he dispenses cash, instead of death. Besides, he gave them all lucky hats.
The Taliban may also return to confrontation as winter recedes. According to Islamist sources, Mr Hekmatyar's tentative talks with the Afghan government have run into opposition from his al-Qa'ida allies. The most active of the Taliban commanders, Mullah Dadullah Akhund, is strongly against any truce, and it will be easy to replace the fighters lost or killed during the summer from madrasas, or religious schools, across the border in Pakistan. Doncha know it. With allies like PakiWakiLand, it's a slam dunk.
#1
Because NATO is riddled with losers and half-hearted dinks masquerading as military leaders.
That is sooo mean. Just because the members don't want to engage in traditional military operations like killing bad guys and blowing up their stuff doesn't mean they are a bunch of euro-pussies. It *is* the North Atlantic *Treaty* Organization after all. You know, treaties - diplomacy, nuance, shrimnp cocktail, and fine dining.
The authorities of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, have agreed to adopt Shari'a law after Islamic leaders in the region recommended the move, local sources said. The announcement was made by the authority after a committee of religious leader met the leader of Puntland, Gen. Muhammed Adde Muse, and recommended that Shari'a law be adopted in the region, Sheikh Fuad Mahamud, a member of the religious leaders said on Tuesday.
You get the sense that the Punters aren't strong enough, even with Ethiopian help, to hold off the Islamic Courts.
"We presented our recommendations that Puntland adopt Shari'a law and the President and his cabinet accepted it," said Sheikh Mahamud. A local journalist said the announcement followed "intense pressure from Islamic leaders supported by traditional elders" from the region. "He [Muse] has been visiting Galkayo [Mudug region, and close to the border with Islamic court forces] and was told by elders there of the need to adopt Shari'a," said the journalist.
The Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) controls most of south and central Somalia, including the capital Mogadishu, and has been pressuring Puntland to join it. Puntland is the home of the interim President Abdullahi Yusuf. On 6 November, fighting broke in the town of Galinsoor, in Mudug region, 780 km north of Mogadishu, between forces of the UIC and those allied with Puntland. The fighting marked the first clashes between forces in Puntland and the UIC and came amid fears that an all-out war in Somalia is imminent.
The fighting occurred just days after peace talks between the UIC and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, collapsed. Abdirahman Muhammad, Puntland's information minister, said "Puntland already uses some aspects of Shari'a. Marriage, divorce, inheritance, and even murder cases are decided by Shari'a law."
He said that Muse will appoint a committee composed of religious leaders, elders, members of government and civil society, "to come up with the best way of implementing [the law] and which parts of Shari'a to be adopted".
Abdishakur Mire, a former Puntland deputy information minister, said that Muse's decision "was a good one that averted conflict and confrontation. The president [Muse] made a brave decision that united the people of Puntland," he added.
He said the announcement is likely to reduce the tension between the UIC and Puntland, and could lead to Puntland mediating between the TFG and the UIC. "Puntland could now play a role in averting an all-out war in Somalia," said Mire.
Meanwhile, UIC forces moved into the town of Abudwaaq, in Galgadud region, on Tuesday, local residents said. "They are here in force. They arrived this morning, peacefully," said a local resident. Abudwaaq was the only town in Galgadud region which was outside the control of the UIC.
#1
This is probably why we haven't actually taken sides in this dispute. As with all such situations, none of the parties is actually on our side - they're all telling us whatever we want to hear so that we'll give them what they want. Once they've gotten all they want from us (or know they'll never get what they want), they'll show their true colors.
I don't know what's worse, multiculti madness like that, or the business-motivated proliferation of hallal products, and the caving of supermarkets under muslim pressure (vandalism against pork-based products, demands for hallal sections,...)?
#6
To the best of my knowledge, rjshwarz, halal food is nothing like kosher, except the intersecting sets of forbidden/permitted ingredients. As I understand it, halal slaughtering is done while saying a certain prayer and facing Mecca, and things like a sexually trangressed-upon permitted animal is halal for selling to villages other than one's own, so long as it is slaughtered in the halal manner. Cleanliness as such, so critical for kashrut, doesn't seem to be nearly as important for the halal label, given reports coming out that halal labelled foods sold in Europe fairly consistently fail State-required hygiene tests. this compares to kosher-certified foods, which generally exceed FDA standards.
#8
given reports coming out that halal labelled foods sold in Europe fairly consistently fail State-required hygiene tests
And sometimes are not hallal at all, even containing pork! When big money is at play, and hallal food IS, screwing your fellow believers is, well, hallal.
#1
Scholastic Australia pulled the plug on the Army of the Pure after booksellers and librarians said they would not stock the adventure thriller for younger readers because the "baddie" was a Muslim terrorist
If you can't fire them, issue dhimmi badges and knee pads. Make their names public, after all, I'm sure they would want their muslim overlords to kill them last
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/26/2006 18:18 Comments ||
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Orbin’s report cited Muslim students’ refusal to use the “plus” sign in mathematics because it looks like a crucifix;
Grethe Olsen, accompanied by her guide dog Isak, experienced being rejected by no less than 21 taxis before finally getting a ride. Olsen thought the taxi drivers said no for religious reasons … Mullah Krekar, former leader of Kurdish guerilla group Ansar-al-Islam, lives in Oslo. He … has stated that “Osama bin Laden is a good person” … Rumor has it that Krekar is such a respected man among many fellow Muslims that he gets taxi rides for free. Which means that it is easier to get a taxi ride in Norway’s capital if you praise Osama bin Laden than if you are blind.
The only full members of the Islamic community are Muslim men. All others have fewer rights, due to their religion, sex or slave status. The rates for blood money mirror this religious apartheid system, which is deeply ingrained in Islamic law. A Saudi Arabian court ruled that the value of one woman’s life was equal to that of one man’s leg.
A secret high-level UK police report concluded that Muslim officers were more likely to become corrupt than white officers, with complaints of misconduct and corruption against Muslim officers running 10 times higher than against their colleagues.
Direct link: http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/1183
#2
Zenster, some Orthodox Jews refuse to use the plus sign too. In my days at Brooklyn College, back in the 1970s, my advisor mentioned that one of his other students had confused him by using a peculiar symbol instead.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
11/26/2006 10:00 Comments ||
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#3
"Di ya recognize what I'm holdin' above ya, lad?"
"Why, it's a cross, symbolizing the quartering of the universe into active and passive principals."
#4
I guess the Jews who later won Nobel prizes didn't make a big stink about using the "+" sign in their work or about using incomprehensible substitutes. On the other hand, they may not have answered the phone call from the Nobel Prize Committee if it came on a Jewish holy day.
#5
& comes from the handwritten abbreviation for the Latin et or "and"; review of early Euro works on arithmetic show the progression from et to the cursive "&" to the very short "+", whose only connection with Christianity is its origin in what was then Christian Europe, a history which matters nought to truculent chauvinists of various sorts.
Rocks, punches, chairs and abuses flew thick as hundreds of furious supporters of Kashmir's independence clashed on Sunday with pro-Pakistan rivals on a street in Srinagarin one of the biggest-ever public showdowns between the two ideologies.
Sixteen peopleincluding 12 civilians and four policemenwere injured and top separatist leader Yasin Malik, who supports freedom for Kashmir, was holed up in a building surrounded by hundreds of pro-Pakistan rioters until Sunday evening, local police officer Farooq Ahmed said.
However, the tally of injured could be higher as the street fights lasted for hours. An HT reporter saw terrified people rushing out of the area into narrow alleys, some holding their bloodied faces. Photographers were warned not to take pictures and witnesses said some of them were beaten up.
The rioting began after Malik inaugurated his first-ever office in downtown Srinagar, the century-old stronghold of the family of Kashmir's chief priest Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the moderate faction of the separatist All-Parties Hurriyat Conference.
Malik arrived for the inauguration ceremony after marching with some 3,000 supporters through its lanes in a show of strength, on the shoulders of an activist.
Downtown Srinagar, a maze of narrow lanes, has been a hub of the 17-year-old insurgency in Kashmir. In 1989 and the early 1990s, it was considered by many as a "liberated zone", where armed terrorists brandished weapons. Even today, it is a hotspotof dissent against Indian rule in the state. News photographers avoid taking pictures of protests there as they have been attacked for doing so in the past.
Kashmir's separatist politicians and armed terrorists have been divided for years over the aim of their campaignwhether Kashmir should be a free nation or merge with Pakistan. But a confrontation between political groups has never flared as violently as it did on Sunday. It is expected to worsen the divide among Kashmir's separatist politicians.
"What do we want? Independence!" frenzied members of Malik's Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front shouted in Urdu as the inauguration began. But within minutes, dozens of people in the crowd raised clenched fists and began shouting in Punjabi: "Long live Pakistan!"
Malik frowned on them but did not make any comment, and ignored them in his speech. But soon the two sides began pushing and punching at each other, pausing only during a portion of Malik's speech in which he indirectly referred to the apparent incursion into Mirwaiz stronghold. "I have not come here to do politics. I have lots of places to go to if I have to do politics," Malik said.
"Downtown Srinagar is the place that has shown immense hospitality to terrorists, much more than anywhere else in Kashmir." Minutes later, a stampede began. Plastic chairs could be seen being smashed on people's heads. Mobs chased opponents, pinned them down on the road and kicked them.
In the distance, soldiers of the CRPF watched in silence. Two hours later, police moved in to guard the second-floor JKLF office as mobs threatened to torch it.
Posted by: john ||
11/26/2006 18:03 ||
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#1
Is Geraldo Rivera doing a show there or something? :-)
SRINAGAR, India - Islamic militants warned on Saturday of dire consequences if revolt-hit Indian Kashmir goes ahead with a plan to lease land at its showpiece ski resort to outside investors.
The warning by the pro-Pakistan Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahedin guerrilla groups came as a one-day strike called by separatist political hardline leader Syed Ali Geelani crippled life in Indian Kashmir.
We warn outsiders of dire consequences if they (outside investors) enter into any lease agreement with the government, Lashkar spokesman Abdullah Gaznavi told AFP by telephone. India wants to settle outsiders here so that Kashmiris are turned into a minority and their land is occupied forever, Gaznavi said.
'cause you guys have been such good stewards of the land and all ...
A similar warning was issued by Hizbul Mujahedin against outside investment in the ski resort region, a focus of Kashmirs efforts to draw tourists to the state racked by a bloody 17-year insurgency against New Delhis rule.
State authorities have been seeking to promote the ski resort as a top Asian ski destination.
Ski lovely Kashmir, the scenery, the seething, the ambushes, ...
The warnings came even though the state government has said it will re-examine the plan to lease land to private investors from outside as well as inside the state, an assurance given in the face of mounting local opposition. The Lashkar spokesman did not specify what action militants might take if the government proceeded with the plan aimed at bolstering infrastructure at Gulmarg, 50 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of Srinagar, summer capital of Indian Kashmir.
They're a terrorist group. Think about it.
C'mon, they're activists. They'll prolly just put a flyer on your windshield or ask you to sign a petition or somethin'. Give 'em a couple of bucks and a pat on the back.
Hokay, so long as they don't squee-gee my windshield. I hate when activists do that.
Under both the Indian and the states own constitution, people from outside Kashmir are barred from owning land in the region. However, there are no restrictions on leasing out land.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/26/2006 00:00 ||
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NEW YORK - The Iraq insurgency has become financially self-sustaining, raising tens of millions of dollars a year from oil smuggling, kidnapping, counterfeiting, corrupt charities and other crimes, The New York Times reported in Sunday editions.
According to a classified United States government report, a copy of which was obtained by the newspaper, groups responsible for many of the insurgent and terrorist attacks are raising an estimated $70 million to $200 million a year from illegal activities.
Some $25 million to $100 million of the total comes from oil smuggling and other criminal activity involving the state-owned oil industry aided by corrupt and complicit Iraqi officials, the Times said, citing the report.
As much as $36 million a year comes from ransoms paid over hundreds of kidnappings. Unnamed foreign governments -- identified in the past by senior U.S. officials as including France and Italy -- paid kidnappers $30 million in ransom last year alone, the report said.
The Times also quoted the report as saying: If recent revenue and expense estimates are correct terrorist and insurgent groups in Iraq may have surplus funds with which to support other terrorist organizations outside of Iraq.
The report, completed in June, was provided to the newspaper by U.S. officials in Iraq who told the Times they had done so in hopes that the findings could improve U.S. understanding of the challenges faced in Iraq.
According to the Times, the report holds out little hope that much can be done any time soon to stem the flow of funds to insurgents, acknowledging how little U.S. authorities in Iraq know about crucial aspects of insurgent operations.
And it paints a bleak picture of the Iraqi governments ability, or willingness, to take the necessary measures to contain the insurgencys financing, the Times said.
Some terrorism experts outside the government who were given an outline of the report by the Times criticized it for a lack of precision and a reliance on speculation, the newspaper noted.
The report was compiled by an interagency working group that is investigating the financing of militant groups in Iraq. A Bush administration official confirmed the groups existence and said it is studying how money was moved into and around the country, the Times said.
The official said the group, led by the National Security Council, drew its members from the CIA, the FBI, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the State Department, the Treasury Department, and the United States Armys Central Command, which oversees the war in Iraq. The group is led by Juan Zarate, deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism.
The report also concluded that the Iraqi insurgency no longer depends on the sums, in excess of $1 billion, that Saddam Hussein and his associates seized as his government collapsed.
The possibility that Iraq-based terrorist groups could finance attacks outside Iraq appeared to echo Bush administration assertions that prevailing in the war is essential to preventing Iraq from becoming a terrorist haven as Afghanistan became under the Taliban, the Times said, adding that that suggestion was one of many aspects of the report that drew criticism from Western terrorism and counterinsurgency experts working outside the government.
According to the Times, the report also said that U.S. efforts to follow the insurgency financing trails have been hampered by a weak Iraqi government and its new intelligence agencies; a lack of communication between U.S. agencies and between the Americans and the Iraqis; and the nature of the insurgent economy itself, chiefly driven by manual money transfers rather than more easily traceable means.
#1
Hmmm. I'd join those who doubt this analysis, based on the inherent difficulty of knowing most of the inputs with any precision. My limited experience in these things is that this is just guess-work - but even less educated than most intel analysis is. No fault of those doing the analysis - this is simply a very difficult thing to assess.
A few months back the hostage working group at the embassy estimated that the kidnapping business alone (some unknown portion of which put cash in so-called insurgent hands) generated close to a billion dollars a year. Again, another guess.
Then you have the belief (I assume, based on reliable info) that major cash flows exist from supporters (both exile Iraqi and other) from nearby Sunnia Arab communities in Syria, Jordan, Egyp, and the Gulf. There seems little doubt that this is going on - and none of this comes from inside Iraq.
The way this thing is being pushed by the MSM seems odd, unless one steps back and sees that it's one more "oh no, we're doomed, the bad guys are SELF-SUSTAINING!" negative hit. Otherwise,it's too thin and complicated to merit front page headlines.
One small thing: another reminder that total energy price decontrol should have been the first thing done by CPA. Wimping out on "shock therapy" back then led directly to the creation of large criminal organizations based on smuggling. This not only continues to put money in terrorist hands, it has helped create or sustain large criminal networks that otherwise might not be there - but which are there now, and have been getting into new lines of business as there has been some progress on brining Iraqi fuel prices in line with the regional markets ....
#3
A lot of the inputs may not be determinable. But, it seems to me the input of $30 million from our "allies" Italy and France can be determined fairly easily. We need to make it real clear that if they want to pay ransoms, we will not assist in searching or recovering victims. They're on their own.
#4
A few months back the hostage working group at the embassy estimated that the kidnapping business alone (some unknown portion of which put cash in so-called insurgent hands) generated close to a billion dollars a year. Again, another guess.
Sorry, but's off by a scale of 20-30, IMHO
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/26/2006 17:17 Comments ||
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#1
Though the Bush administration continues to insist that it is not, a growing number of American and Iraqi scholars, leaders and policy analysts say the fighting in Iraq meets the standard definition of civil war.
The common scholarly definition has two main criteria. The first says that the warring groups must be from the same country and fighting for control of the political center, control over a separatist state or to force a major change in policy. The second says that at least 1,000 people must have been killed in total, with at least 100 from each side.
So that qualifies South Central LA with the Bloods and Crips. Its officially a quagmire. Withdraw Now!
#3
Actually, "W" is sustaining the Civil War, rather than allowing it to tip to the stronger side by observing only. Short of totally destroying the country, it would take 200,000 US troops with 3 to 400,000 Iraqi troops to completely subdue the country (depending of course on how many vehicles are permitted to traverse the roads)!
#5
By most definitions the current conflict in Iraq isn't a civil war. The number of dead is actually very low on a national level and only looks really bad when you isolate out Baghdad (where the media is). Beyond that if you take out the damage done by foreigners (Al Queda and Iranians) I suspect the casualties are very low.
What we actually have is a regional war that is being fought on Iraqi property and a lot of folks (Media and bad guys) hoping to start a civil war.
#6
Yup, there it is, simplified. Y'know, rjschwarz, That's so clean that I'll bet that even a "journalist" could understand it. But it wouldn't get past the editors, lol.
#7
Yes, rjschwarz, you've nailed it. Yet again, this is a somewhat bizarre "debate" - without any significance - that the administration has botched by not participating. The first time it raised it's head, they should have said (all-hands, across the board):
"In some ways the conflict resembles a civil war, but it's more complicated. You have outsiders coming in, which is something else - and yes, you should be puzzled when you read the phrase 'foreign insurgent' in your wire service story - it's nonsensical. But the conflict is mostly between Iraqis, which is what civil wars basically are. However the main dividing line is not ethnic or sectarian. You have enemies of the new Iraq - a federal country with elected, representative government - from several different sides. They are violent, ruthless. The other side, which we support - which has all ethnic communities represented on it - favor a new Iraq.
The enemies of the new Iraq are both Iraqi and foreign, and have a variety of motivations, almost all bad - there are very few people on that side who can sensibly be called 'nationalists'. So you can call the situation in Iraq a civil war, but that is a poor description - it's a very brutal struggle between those who seek a more open, civilized, and democratic future, and those who for widely varying reasons want to prevent that new Iraq from emerging and becoming stable."
The media and the clueless "elite" seem to have among their core beliefs a silly perception that civil wars are unwinnable, or somehow especially unpleasant. Much of the public seems to share this mistaken thinking, so of course the former have been trying to push the concept hard. There's nothing magical about civil wars. But there IS something magical about failure to educate, lead, and shape the discussion in a democracy at war. On this front, alas, the administration has been utterly, inexplicably, and disastrously hapless in a manner without precedent in US history (that I can think of, anyway).
#9
The media and the clueless "elite" value peace at any price and de-value self defense and national defense for any reason unless it favors the jihad.
"utterly, inexplicably, and disastrously hapless in a manner without precedent in US history" - kinda resembles how the USA got into the War of 1812. The US Army post on Mackinac Island was captured by the Brits since the US government didn't bother to tell the on-site US command there was a war on. The US commander in chief personally led his army in a defense of his capital - and lost. The White House got its name from the whitewash used to hurriedly cover the black burn marks left by the invading Brits after they trashed DC.
The title is all that's really needed. It sums up a story of frustration, near-futility and desperately sought peace in a land that desires anything but calm and tranquility.
The military cannot in any way be blamed for this. Their lack of success is a glaring indictment of political failure on a grand scale. Certainly not just republican mistakes alone but also the infusion of liberal PC mentality into a conflict with opponents who scruple at absolutely nothing. The idiocy of such a mismatched set of objectives would be laughable were it not for the fact that coalition lives have been lost as a result.
One merely need examine the massive scale of retaliation used to demoralize and defeat our enemies towards the end of WWII to know what even now remains missing from this current conflict. It is tragic testimony to the unforgivable impermanence of historic memory in a modern society blessed with every form of media and recording device imaginable short of an actual time machine.
Yes, Vietnam lasted longer, and it too was a conflict hogtied by the exact same sort of political ineptitude we are seeing in Iraq. In an irony of egregious proportions, the liberals who have infected our government with PC moral relativism and equivalency simultaneously cry out "quagmire" when it is they themselves bogging down the issue with their morass of irreconcilable demands. One cannot be both delicate and militarily successful, especially against a brutal enemy who thinks nothing of sacrificing innocent life.
We must relearn the lessons of The War to End All Wars. When confronted with a foe who does not flinch at the most barbaric forms of slaughter and mayhem, such gruesome tactics must be brought to their door and doubly repaid. We no more belong in Iraq at this late date than we would have in a war torn 1948 Europe.
#2
Just look at how long the US military's been in the former Confedereate States! It's a quagmire!!!
*spit*
The Democrats are still pissed over the defeat of their "military wing" -- the Klan -- and never want to see the US defeat their fellow travellers again.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/26/2006 8:49 Comments ||
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#3
In an irony of egregious proportions, the liberals
who have infected our government with PC moral relativism and
equivalency simultaneously cry out "quagmire" when it is they
themselves bogging down the issue with their morass of irreconcilable
demands.
This is the best summary of the problem I have ever read.
#5
Well, this may be long and hard, but it is one conflict that we had better learn to deal with because the underlying pretext of what is making this a war is not something we can Live with. Just because it is hard and it costs lives does not mean it is not the right thing to do, and because we have people willing to do it still is a testament to the power of riteousness. Bless you who are still slogging this out, you will not be forgotten.
#6
And how long were trans-Appalachian territories with both indigenous and raiding aborigines being 'settled' before statehood? Far longer. With minds like these back in the 19th century, most of the west would still be unsettled. And with the resources and expanded population which those states did provide not available, the 20th century struggle against authoritarianism and totalitarianism would have turned out a lot different.
Had the US not interceded in WWII, Germany would have had time to complete their heavy water experiments and perfected the A Bomb for the V2 rocket or kamikaze pilots. The thought of A bombs raining down on western metropolises in the late nineteen forties, would have given Japan the extra edge it needed for a pacific invasion of the US. And Hitler would not have shared his new 'wonder weapon' with the Japs; that went against the protocols leading to the establishment of the Third Reich (Aryan Supremacy)!
#8
haven't we been 'involved' in Germany & Japan for quite some time now?
Yes, but not in the sense of an active (hot) military war. I knew that some would attempt to point out our extensive involvement with NATO and the Asia Pacific Alliance. This is why I noted a "war torn 1948 Europe." Somehow, in a much more extensive conflict, we were able to terminate hostilities in a shorter amount of time. That was my sole point.
the underlying pretext of what is making this a war is not something we can Live with.
Which is why I have supported our involvement in Iraq from day one.
Had the US not interceded in WWII, Germany would have had time to complete their heavy water experiments and perfected the A Bomb for the V2 rocket or kamikaze pilots.
Again, my Europe reference was solely for the sake of showing how protracted Iraq has become and not commentary on the indisputable merits of America's participation in WWII.
#9
Zenster, I salute your clear-eyed passion, and support your analysis. Except in one, perhaps dark respect: what you refer to as PC, and what I usually refer to as over-analysis, is actually a raging ailment within the uniformed services, not just the civilian ranks. It's probably a combo of mundane careerism issues and mistaken concepts of war-fighting, and it seems mostly to be in the Army, but I've heard (to my horror) a few Marine officers show symptoms as well. It's hard to summarize, but if one must do so, we can reduce it to: you can't win a war by fighting, killing the enemy, breaking his will and capacity to fight, and motivating, impressing, or scaring everyone else into compliance or submission. Since all the basic tools of warfare are discarded, a priori, as insufficient, all sorts of silliness fills the resulting vacuum. Mostly ill-timed or irrelevant economic and social measures, in the mistaken belief that these levers are effective in a militarized, violent context (they're not).
I call it war without warfare. It's mostly a mindless application of logical concepts without regard for specific situations. A civil affairs outreach and reconstruction effort in a poor Shi'a community in southern Iraq that has some Mahdi Army presence or recruiting makes perfect sense - the same approach in Anbar or a Sunni neighborhood of Baghdad where the team of die-hard Ba'athists and jihadis hold the whip hand of fear is insane.
Oversimplified, but essentially correct.
In some ways, the application of force in many situations is so parsimonious that we aren't even seeing the mistaken war-fighting doctrine being given a proper test. There is a robust end of the scale at which the non-kinetic activities presume some ass-whuppin' up front, but as that is so rare in Iraq (Fallujah II being the sole large exception), a careful observer might say that even the new-fangled, and suspect, approach to warfare that is our main problem hasn't even been properly tested.
Many of our fine military officers (and they are fine, and the cream of our crop in so many ways) seem to have out-smarted themselves.
#10
Zenster, given what you say above, and assuming it is true, should we make all of Iraq look like post-war Germany? Or do we try and take a less destructive approach? Someone chose "less destructive", and this is what we get. Would you and/or I prefer more-destructive? Would it be more effective?
In your very first line, you hit the nail on the head: Everyone says we want "peace", but what they really want is to kill their enemy and to call victory "peace". If we had flattened Iraq like we did Germany, perhaps noone would be willing to fight; anybody convinced that they would win would be dead, and those left alive had experienced so much hardship that they became convinced that their previous political path was wrong.
I'm not saying that this is the way to fight a war, but perhaps it is. I do know that I would be interested in how much violence was taking place in Europe during 1945-50. Perhaps there is a method of getting such information.... ;-)
Posted by: Mark E. ||
11/26/2006 13:11 Comments ||
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#11
Except in one, perhaps dark respect: what you refer to as PC, and what I usually refer to as over-analysis, is actually a raging ailment within the uniformed services, not just the civilian ranks. It's probably a combo of mundane careerism issues and mistaken concepts of war-fighting, and it seems mostly to be in the Army, but I've heard (to my horror) a few Marine officers show symptoms as well.
However reluctantly, I am willing to accept what you say, Verlaine. There have been too many incidents of such lame military doctrine to ignore. I suppose that in my haste to place blame where it was overwhelmingly due, I neglected to spread the manure around the way it needed.
should we make all of Iraq look like post-war Germany? Or do we try and take a less destructive approach? Someone chose "less destructive", and this is what we get. Would you and/or I prefer more-destructive? Would it be more effective?
Without wanting to sound indecisive; Somewhere in between. Fallujah should have been flattened with Moqtada Sadr still inside it. Has we found the nerve to do this, there would be far less strength in the Shiia militias today. Instead, al-Maliki's henchmen run riot and the bloodshed continues. Sadr City springs to mind as well. Major militia strongholds of either sect need to be viewed as enemy territory and treated as such.
#12
I think conflict continued with some Germans beyond the official armistace date.
I think the US took far higher casualities during WW2 as well. Interesting trade-off, if possible would the American public have taken 10x the military casualities, endured a draft, and rationing, if we could have finished the war in 4 years?
Since we don't know how long the conflict will actually take its an unfair question but an intersting one none-the-less.
#14
Thank you, .com. Either way, Sadr needed to be tucked in for a nice long dirt nap years ago. Our failure to do so has caused unending grief for ourselves and Iraq as well.
#16
I love the part where Iran is chiding us for poor security in Sadr city when it's Malicki, at the behest of Iran's man, Sadr, who insisted on taking down the checkpoints the Coalition had set up.
While those checkpoints were active, there were few, maybe no, bombings in Sadr city. The Shiites insist that the slaughter of their own people must continue.
Very cogent. I've been advocating the same. You overcome the opposition with brutal force. It's very hard for the PC club to swallow, but its true. And, the oppostion very much is the civilian populace as well. When they suffer, they exert suffering onto the truoblemakers. Or they at least identify them. Going in with social programs does no good whatsoever until true paciifcation of the enemy. When the general populace feels safe from attack from either side, they will begin cooperating. Not before. By not applying force in this mess, I believe we'll leave due to the mounting political climate in US, despite the efforts by those of you on the ground. This will only delay the real application of extreme force next time. Next time, very few troops will be involved. Only a few SOF for early targeting.
#18
By not applying force in this mess, I believe we'll leave due to the mounting political climate in US, despite the efforts by those of you on the ground. This will only delay the real application of extreme force next time. Next time, very few troops will be involved. Only a few SOF for early targeting.
Word, SpecOp35. Any delays imposed by these foolhardy Muslims fighting their petty sectarian vendettas only act as a force multiplier. Most likely, in an exponential fashion.
We must relearn the lessons of The War to End All Wars. When confronted with a foe who does not flinch at the most barbaric forms of slaughter and mayhem, such gruesome tactics must be brought to their door and doubly repaid. We no more belong in Iraq at this late date than we would have in a war torn 1948 Europe.
One such example is the ongoing academic, intellectual, and moral assault on area bombing, something that helped reduce German and Japanese capacity and will to continue the fight.
I wrote a lengthy critique of one these revisionist authors books that attacked the Allied (meaning the US and UK) conduct during WW II.
Such area bombing would crush Sadr City in a matter of days, but our modern-day PC military command cannot even countenance such a policy. So we slog on, setting ourselves up for yet another defeat (please, I know, we didnt lose a single battle in Nam and Iraq. Yea, yea, great and a few weeks ago the Pittsburgh Steelers held the Oakland Raiders offense to 97 yards, but who won? Pssttt Raiders 20, Steelers 17).
I wrote this back in December 2004, when many were still hopeful that Iraq was winnable:
No commander knowingly commits his troops into combat with estimates of casualty figures in the twenty-five percent range. Only under the most unavoidable of circumstances does a commander commit his men knowing casualties will reach such a high percentage. Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower comes to mind. On the eve of the D-Day landings in Normandy, he was told that as much as fifty percent of the airborne would be lost in the pre-invasion nighttime parachuting behind German lines (fortunately, the 82nd and 101st airborne suffered only ten percent casualties on June 5-6, 1944.) The great danger of urban combat derives not from the international condemnation that comes from killing hapless civilians either too feeble or stubborn to evacuate and for whose deaths responsibility lies entirely with the insurgents. Rather it comes from the seemingly endless angles of fire the enemy can pour unto an attacking force. Enemy fire often comes in the form of stealth, ambush, and ruse. Again, Filkins (NYT reporter in Fallujah, Iraq) informs us of the madness of such fighting:
Sometimes the casualties came in volleys, like bursts of machine-gun fire. On the first morning of battle, during a ferocious struggle for the Muhammadia Mosque, about 45 marines with Bravo Companys Third Platoon dashed across 40th Street, right into interlocking streams of fire. By the time the platoon made it to the other side, five men lay bleeding in the street.
The most glaring portion of that account stares the critical reader right in the face: during a ferocious struggle for the Muhammadia Mosque it is a line that ought to infuriate every American patriot. It should infuriate the Commander in Chief and his advisors to the point that a new war-fighting declaration of principles ought to be proclaimed. American-led Coalition Forces (code for U.S. forces and the occasional Iraqi National Guard unit) will no longer storm a mosque from which incoming fire has been received. The new war-fighting declaration of principles (call it A Declaration of War Against Islamo-Fascist Criminality) should name a date and state that from that day on, any mosque used as a bunker, a shooting post, a weapons depot, or any other military-terrorist purpose, will be subjected to pulverizing air strikes. We will no longer expend Coalition lives by trying to take such mosques using only infantry assaults. We will no longer limit our firepower in order to avoid offending the Arab Street or the collective hyper-sensibilities of the global Left. If the Jihadi-Baathist Fascist alliance wants martyrdom by turning mosques into fighting-posts in clear violation of all internationally recognized rules of war as well as religious sanctions against such actions, then they will ingloriously die in the thunderous detonation, flames, choking dust, and rubble of carpet-bombings.
Bottom line is Zenster is right, if we wage war in such a cautious, clinical manner, against this existential foe, we're doomed to one disappoinment after another to be followed of course, by study groups scratching their collective gonads and wondering, gee, why are we not winning?
#21
I don't think I'm unique in being taught from my first day in the military that war was the use of controlled force to achieve a political objective (von Clauswitz's "politics by another means"). Unfortunately, the politican objective in Iraq is poorly defined, constantly changing, and less conducive to massive firepower than previous wars. The first objective that MUST be identified and stated in plain language is, "What is our goal?" From that derives, "How do we achieve that goal?" The next step is "What forces are needed to achieve that goal, and how should they be used?" We won the initial war - we destroyed Saddam Hussein's ability to remain in power, we destroyed his Ba'athist government, and we "broke the cycle" of dictatorial tyranny in Iraq. Now we're faced with a different problem that requires different tactics, different force levels, and different goals. We're not adapting to those different problems very well, mainly for lack of leadership. The use of military force cannot be held back and accomplish anything. We need to provide our military with goals and objectives, and allow them to do what it takes to achieve them. Instead, we're trying to play PC games. Give the guys on the ground the job of determining how to achieve the goals, and they'll do it. Keep playing these PC games and we'll have another mass exodus like we did after Vietnam.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/26/2006 21:11 Comments ||
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#22
Keep playing these PC games and we'll have another mass exodus like we did after Vietnam.
I foresee one huge difference between a "last helicopter out" scenario in Iraq and that which we experienced in Vietnam. The South Vietnamese represented the intelligentsia of their divided country. One glance at their current role as American citizens reveals an almost exceptional degree of assimilation. South Vietnamese immigrants are truly glad to be here in the United States, regardless of how homesick they might feel. They have a keen appreciation for the opportunities presented by their American citizenship.
A quick examination of Vietnam's history provides sharp insight as to why this is so. Vietnam is one of the most enlightened of all Asian cultures. As an example, Vietnamese women have always been able to; Vote, own businesses, inherit wealth or property and even fight in wars. Amongst Vietnam's most glorious war heroes are the Trung sisters who fought and expelled the Chinese in 40 AD.
Compare this to the prospect of America inheriting even a slight fraction of Iraq's post-withdrawal refugees. What portion would you suggest we absorb into our already Muslim laden population? While the Kurds spring to mind, they would not be central figures in the waning days of an Iraqi pullout. Instead, we would be confronted with the prospect of bringing to our shores a collection of intensely violent, corrupt and potentially seditious people.
Old Patriot, I do not think your were suggesting that anything like this should be done. My only intent is that we carefully consider the prospects which await such an outcome.
A U.N. envoy urged Iraq's government on Saturday to halt a slide into civil war and stop the "cancer" of sectarianism from destroying the country, warning that the carnage of this week could tear Iraq apart.
As a curfew was extended until Monday, possibly derailing a trip to Iran by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, the U.N. envoy in Baghdad, Ashraf Qazi, said car bombs on Thursday that killed more than 200 Shi'ites and "blind acts of revenge" were "tearing apart the very political and social fabric of Iraq".
"No country could tolerate such a cancer in its body politic," Qazi said in a statement. The rest is as pointless as this bit, only moreso. It's Rooters.
Al-Sadr loyalists take over Iraqi television station
Followers of the militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr took over state-run television Saturday to denounce the Iraqi government, label Sunnis "terrorists" and issue what appeared to many viewers as a call to arms.
The two-hour broadcast from a community gathering in the heart of the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City included three members of al-Sadr's parliamentary bloc, who took questions from outraged residents demanding revenge for a series of car bombings that killed some 200 people Thursday.
With Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki relegated to the sidelines, brazen Sunni-Shiite attacks continue unchecked despite a 24-hour curfew over Baghdad. Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia now controls wide swaths of the capital, his politicians are the backbone of the Cabinet, and his followers deeply entrenched in the Iraqi security forces. Sectarian violence has spun so rapidly out of control since the Sadr City blasts, however, that it's not clear whether even al-Sadr has the authority - or the will - to stop the cycle of bloodshed.
"This is live and, God willing, everyone will hear me: We are not interested in sidewalks, water services or anything else. We want safety," an unidentified Sadr City resident said as the televised crowd cheered. "We want the officials. They say there is no sectarian war. No, it is sectarian war, and that's the truth."
Militia leaders told supporters Saturday to prepare for a fresh wave of incursions into Sunni neighborhoods that would begin as soon as the curfew ends Monday, according to Sadr City residents. Several members of the Mahdi Army boasted they were distributing police uniforms throughout Shiite neighborhoods to allow greater freedom of movement. The government announced it would partially lift the curfew Sunday to allow for pedestrian traffic.
In the Diyala province north of Baghdad, Sunni insurgents stormed into two Shiite homes, lined up 21 men and shot them to death in front of women and children, police there said. Later in the day, a Shiite television station showed footage of the victims' burials.
And in the western province of Anbar, a suicide bombing at a checkpoint in Fallujah killed a U.S. serviceman and three Iraqi civilians, according to a U.S. military statement. Another American and nine Iraqis were injured.
Also Saturday, Iraq's most prominent Sunni cleric made an appeal in Cairo, Egypt, for Arab nations to withdraw recognition of Iraq's Shiite-led government and said U.S.-led troops were complicit in Iraq's sectarian crisis. Hareth al-Dhari, leader of the militant Association of Muslim Scholars, declared Iraqi efforts toward a unity government "dead" and said the current violence is political rather than theological.
"The occupying forces have been giving cover to the militias and criminal gangs," al-Dhari said. "The government has been seen setting the atmosphere for them with the curfews to aid them in catching the victims and carrying out their attacks."
Al-Maliki's administration acknowledged it was powerless to interrupt the pro-Sadr program on the official Iraqiya channel, during which Sadr City residents shouted, "There is no government! There is no state!" Several speakers described neighborhoods and well-known Sunni politicians as "terrorists" and threatened them with reprisal. "We'll obviously try to control them as much as we can, but when they (kill) more than 150 people in bombings, they have the right to speak," said Bassam al Husseini, one of Maliki's top advisers. "What are we going to do? We can't stop this. It's too hot right now."
Sunni politicians vowed to file complaints against the channel for inciting sectarian violence. Ordinary Sunnis were shocked to hear their neighborhoods singled out for attack on the government's station. "I got four phone calls from friends telling me to change the channel to Iraqiya and see what's happening," said Mohamed Othman, 27, a Sunni resident of Ameriya, one of the districts mentioned in the program. "I think this is an official declaration of civil war against Sunnis. They're going to push us to join al-Qaida to protect ourselves."
Al-Husseini, the government adviser, also affirmed that a meeting between al-Maliki and President Bush would continue as scheduled next week in neighboring Jordan, despite the threats of al-Sadr's allies to withdraw from the government if it occurs. The Cabinet met for more than an hour to hash out an agenda for the trip, he said. "The meeting will take place. That's the plan," al-Husseini said. "We need to straighten things up."
Al-Husseini said the top two items of discussion would be a report from the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan commission that will make recommendations for U.S. policy in Iraq, and a timetable for a withdrawal of U.S.-led forces. "We want to talk about it," al-Husseini said, "to ask, `How long are they going to stick around?"
#1
"I got four phone calls from friends telling me to change the channel to Iraqiya and see what's happening,"
Iraqiya, rhymes with taqqiya.
Either we start leveling large swaths of Sadr City and other militia strongholds, both Shiia and Sunni alike, or we must simply pull back and let this slaughter go on unabated until some sort of victor emerges. There is simply no use expending valuable Coalition lives trying to keep the peace amongst those whose very last desire is peace.
#2
Sounds reasonable to me. I can imagine voicing the same concerns if what they say is true. Government authorities and US troops have been nurturing an environment that favors militias. I don't know WTF they were thinking when they didn't just go take them out as they stood up. Way too PC. Way too divorced fom reality due to oversensitivity to moonbats. I hope the coalition forces actually learn something from this. As long as in the end they don't end up feeling the need to form death squads or militias, I suspect that the net result will be positive. Too bad way more lives have to be lost this way than dealing with the problem in the first place, but it will be less expensive than allowing it to go further.
#3
in retrospect killing Tater early in OIF would probably have delayed but not prevented the effort by radical Shiites to carry out their own reign of terror
we simply underestimated the awfulness of that toxic brew of Islam and arab tribalism
AMMAN - Jordan and Turkey warned Saturday against dividing neighbouring Iraq along sectarian lines, saying that would spark civil war in the already violence-wracked nation and endanger the whole region.
A division of Iraq would mean a descent into the abyss and a civil war that ... would also have dangerous repercussions for all neighbouring countries, Jordanian Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit told a press conference with visiting Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. We are coordinating with several countries in the region who want peace and stability for Iraq, Bakhit said, without elaborating.
And who might those be? Kuwait?
Many of Iraqs neighbours fear rising violence combined with a constitution that enshrines federalism will lead to the countrys breakup into Shia, Sunni and, of particular sensitivity to Ankara, Kurdish zones. Erdogan warned that Turkey will not accept a division of Iraq ... We consider a division of Iraq into three regions as the start of a civil war.
But which civil war, theirs or yours?
Turkey has its own restless Kurdish minority, and many Kurdish separatist rebels are based in northern Iraqs Kurdish autonomous area. Those who play a bad role to divide Iraq will never be pardoned, neither by history nor by humanity, said Erdogan. We cannot, as Iraqs neigbour, remain neutral and we need to deploy efforts to help it out of the crisis, he said, proposing a new meeting of Iraqs neighbours to discuss the situation there.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/26/2006 00:00 ||
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A noted religious Zionist rabbi has advocated arming ungoverned civil defense groups in western Negev communities to fight back against Kassam rocket attacks from northern Gaza.
Rabbi Yisrael Rosenne, director of the Tzomet Technology and Jewish Law Institute in Alon Shvut, says that arming civilians and permitting them to fire back at the terrorists would be a proper way to stop the attacks from terrorizing residents in southern Israel "if the government were in 'Jewish' - and not necessarily religious - hands."
The rabbi's remarks, written in the weekly bulletin Shabbat BShabbato, note that the issue is one of Jewish ethics.
The eternal response to terror is counter-terror, an eye for an eye, Rabbi Rosenne wrote. The Yesha Rabbinical Council this week similarly advocated a return to the Jewish ethic of "rising to kill him who would kill you."
Palestinian Authority terrorists continue to fire deadly Kassam rockets at Sderot and nearby Negev communities, as well as the Ashkelon area, despite a recent IDF incursion into Gaza aimed at stopping them. The PA is taking no action to stop the rocket launches, and rather than pressuring the terrorists to stop, the general public in Gaza has begun taking on the role of human shields to block Israeli counterterrorism efforts.
Rosenne suggested that providing weapons to youth in places like Sderot, Ashkelon, Kibbutz Netiv HaAsarah and Kibbutz Zikkim all areas targeted in a constant barrage of rocket attacks from northern Gaza would create an additional deterrent force against those who are committed to driving Jewish residents from their communities. "The Strategic Affairs Minister could claim that the State of Israel has become integrated into the Middle East and cannot control the mili-Zionist youth," he wrote.
The rabbi agreed that his plan might not be effective, "mainly because of the leftist underground in the media... But let it not be said that it is not ethical."
#1
The PA is taking no action to stop the rocket launches, and rather than pressuring the terrorists to stop, the general public in Gaza has begun taking on the role of human shields to block Israeli counterterrorism efforts.
Forget about issuing small arms to the villagers. Take the battle to the enemy. Those who would shelter or shield the enemy are the enemy. After enough of those who would interfere with military prosecution of the terrorists end up dead, the interference will cease.
So long as Israel is willing to back down when confronted with the prospect of incurring collateral damage against those who joyously inflict collateral damage, their cause is lost.
#2
I think it was yesterday or the day before that I suggested the inhabitants of the Negev be given their own rockets to fire back toward Gaza when Gaza fires rockets toward them.
Naturally, I regard Rabbi Rosenne as a tactical genius.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2006 15:10 Comments ||
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#3
But what about the international uproar? It's not fair! They should just sit there and take it! Oh, the poor, poor Palestinians. People could get hurt. And a few more truckfulls of similar crap from people who are just as clueless as they are opinionated.
I've always thought it would be good to drop a 500# bomb at some random location in the Paleostinian area each time a suicide bomb went off or was even found, even if it was unexploded. And returning fire, rocket for rocket, makes a lot of sense. But I don't think civilians ought to do it. It should be something the IDF does, even if it won't make a bit of difference to the terrorists, it would be something more palateable to the ever-so-philosophical international community.
#4
And returning fire, rocket for rocket, makes a lot of sense. But I don't think civilians ought to do it. It should be something the IDF does, even if it won't make a bit of difference to the terrorists, it would be something more palateable to the ever-so-philosophical international community.
Fred, in this case I must respectfully disagree. As gorb notes, it would be unwise to allow the civilian population of Sderot and other edge-locations to return rocket fire. Such actions would only serve to cement the long held Palestinian insistence that ALL Israelis, including civilians, are fair targets. The Palestinians must denied any attempt at imposing moral equivalency. Especially so when their population votes for, shields and actively supports terrorist activities. Rest assured that your response was my first thought as well, but the Palestinians both need and royally deserve the bitter taste of crushing military defeats much more than any tit for tat ballistic exchanges.
#5
Perhaps the itinerant members of the International Solidarity Movement and other Jew-hating peaceniks would like to serve as "human shileds" in Sderot?
Why not follow in the flattened footsteps of that idiot from Seattle who was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer a few years back in Gaza?
Peace is peace, so the ISM shouldn;t have any qualms lining up to defend Jewish as well as Muslim lives, right? I thought so.
#7
I prefer the Lamekh version For I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.
If Qayin shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamekh seventy-sevenfold.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz vowed Thursday night to remain in his position despite calls by members of the Labor party for his resignation. The embattled Labor party chairman has been locked in a feud with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over a telephone conversation he had with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas last week.
Olmert accused Peretz of exceeding his authority in discussing peace options with Abbas, while Peretz charged Olmert with maintaining contact with PA officials without him. Political observers say Olmert is now seeking a way to gracefully oust his Defense Minister.
The backbiting between Olmert and Peretz has become an issue for his Labor party as well. Peretz faced an angry membership at the Labor party meeting Thursday night in which calls for his resignation were peppered with comments about the deterioration in his relationship with Olmert that resulted from his conversation with Abbas.
The Defense Minister charged his critics with turning the world upside down and bitterly cast aside calls for his resignation. As for his talk with Abbas, Peretz said, I am not slamming the phone on anyone, so long as there is hope for peace.
Labor party members say he has reversed his priorities since taking on the defense portfolio, scuttling the partys platform in the process. Promised changes in aid levels for Israelis living at or below the poverty line and those who are unemployed have been placed on the back burner, charged party members.
Peretz is also being held at least partly responsible for the governments mismanagement of the war this summer with Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon. He is being blamed as well for the governments inability to stop the Kassam rocket attacks on Sderot, where he has been a long-time resident.
The Labor party chairman agreed at the meeting to convene the partys Central Committee on December 17, in order to set a date to hold leadership primaries.
Five terrorist groups offered Israel a limited truce Thursday night in exchange for an end to IDF counter-terrorist operations. IDF offficers say Israel must not agree.
Islamic Jihad leader Khader Habib said all the major terrorist groups, including Hamas, had agreed to stop firing Kassam rockets at southern Israeli communities on the condition that Israel cease all counter-attacks in Gaza, Judea and Samaria.
The truce includes only Kassam rocket attacks, Habib said. Other forms of terror activity, such as cross-border raids, suicide bombings and kidnappings would continue unabated.
Senior IDF officers said that ending IDF offensives in Gaza would cause great damage to the fight against terrorism, and would enable the terrorists to re-arm themselves in anticipation of the next round of fighting.
#1
Is no truce, only hudna. In Soviet Union, truce breaks you!
What does it tell you when the terrorists are offering to stop rocket launches that don't kill anyone in exchange for stopping reprisals that kill scores?
1) Israel honors 'truce.
2) Paleos continue to ignore truce.
3) Israel gets fed up with continuing attacks, strikes back.
4) Euros and MSM blame Israel for collapse of 'fragile peace deal'.
Palestinian militants have agreed to stop firing rockets into Israel in return for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a halt to targetted killings, it emerged last night. Mahmoud Abbas, the ineffectual Palestinian President, telephoned Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, and told him that all Palestinian factions had agreed to a ceasefire from 6am this morning.
Olmert replied that if there was no rocket fire from Gaza, Israeli forces could stop their operations and begin to withdraw from Gaza. The ceasefire could bring an end to a spate of violence which has seen the death of more than 100 Palestinians in Israeli operations and two Israeli civilians killed by Palestinian rockets within the past month.
If the ceasefire is successful, it could bring about a host of developments including the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured in June, Israel's release of Palestinian prisoners and the formation of a new Palestinian government. The agreed ceasefire only relates to Gaza and does not include the West Bank. Israel said it also included a stop to the digging of tunnels to Egypt, used to smuggle arms to the militants.
Ha, you don't honestly believe that, do you?
In an indication of a new atmosphere, the murderousKhaled Mashal, an exiled leader of the militant Hamas organisation, said in Cairo that his organisation was willing to give Israel the opportunity to negotiate on the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza for six months. If the Israelis did not take up the opportunity, he said, the Palestinians would reply with a third 'intifada'.
Hokay, Olmert, you got six months to get your country ready or get out of the way and let someone else do it.
'Hamas will become stronger all resistance forces will become stronger ... and will go on with a third uprising,' he said. Mashal, who wields massive influence in Hamas because he is the main conduit for money, was skulking about in Cairo to discuss the release of Shalit and the formation of a new government with representatives of Abbas's Fatah faction and the Egyptian government. He is seen as a hardliner in the Hamas movement with close ties to the military wing.
Because he's the money-man connected to the Mad Mullahs, but don't expect the MSM to tell you that.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/26/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Hamas: "I want to shoot you twice. You don't want me to shoot you at all. Let's compromise--I only shoot you once."
Nice currency you got here; be a shame if anything happened to it.
The implementation of sharia-style laws in several regions in the country could negatively affect foreign investment and hurt Indonesia's international relations, a European parliamentary delegation visiting the country says.
The head of the eight-member group, Hartmut Nassauer, said in Jakarta on Friday the delegation was concerned religious laws could discriminate against non-Muslims. While Europe had strong Christian traditions, it was not a Christian continent but a secular collection of states, Nassauer said. There were 30 million Muslims living in Europe, he said.
Two sentences, complete understanding of the problem.
Despite claims to the contrary, Nassauer said if a religious law became a state law, followers of other faiths and non-believers could be obliged to live under that law. "You cannot force a citizen to hold a certain religion, which is against his or her will," he said. Implementing religious laws could also isolate Indonesia from other nations and create frictions.
#3
If sharia-style laws forbade a woman to leave her house after dark, they would not only be a major concern to followers of other faiths, Nassauer said.
At least not until the religious police start hassling people for non-compliance. It is an insult to Islam, ya know?
#4
Don't worry about your money. Worry about how you're going to keep your heads attched to your bodies. Your money will be a very small matter indeed.
Riiight. It hadda be them evil, sneaky, Joooooos. (Typical Arab logic. Salt to taste).
No one could be benefited from assassination of Lebanese Minister of Industry Pierre Gemayel but Israel and its conniver allies, Egyptian daily 'al-Akhbar' said Friday, adding that ''there is no interpretation to what is going on in Lebanon but it is a work of intelligence apparatus of big states allied with Israel,"
The paper added in an article written by Jalal Dwidar" through this crime they wanted to destabilize Lebanon and abort the feeling of victory and defeating the Israeli military machine as well as to accuse Syria of committing such crime that no reason or logic pushes her to do that,"
" The reasonable thing is that those who committed the crime aimed at confusing the opposition and preventing them to peacefully demonstrate to pressure the Lebanese government in addition to stirring up sedition to open the door to a civil war inside Lebanon that is still suffering impacts of the Israeli late attack.''
" What the Lebanese arena is witnessing is no more than one chapter of the tragic series the Arab Nation is living. Israel has succeeded to sow seeds of partition and discord among political powers as long as it failed attain any goal through its destructive war on Lebanon ." the paper asserted.
The paper concluded by stressing that what is going on couldn't be spontaneous. There are hidden hands and certain parties that are interested in keeping the Arab region in a constant restless and confusion state to cover what they perpetrate and plot to.
In Tunisia, Tunisian 'al-Sarih' newspaper said that "the Israeli Mosad stands behind the series of assassinations in Lebanon starting from assassination of Premier Rafik Hariri reaching to assassination of Lebanese Minister of Industry Pierre Gemayel to stir up sedition among the Lebanese themselves and between Lebanese and their Arab brothers, "
" The UN Security Council resolution of setting up international is a US and Israeli decision for sticking charges with those who stand against Israel's interests in the region ," the paper mentioned.
'Assabah' paper for its part, held the March 14 forces the responsibility of stirring up sedition, warning that internationalization doesn't serve Lebanon's interests.
#1
you know, I've about had it. Right up to here. For years I've read the reports and held a sidebar of hope, No more, Tonight, I've had it with them all. Now I want mass death and slaughter. Gone. I want them gone. All of them. Toast. The uglieness and violence need responded to in kind. Dead. Now. Nothing less than all.
#3
This is why crushing the Islamic propaganda machines needs to be given a much higher priority. The average Arabic mind's astonishing credulity demands that their propaganda networks be destroyed. There is no limit to the disinformation and outright lies that can be absorbed by what passes for the Arab intellect. Their capacity for distortion, twisted logic and perversion of truth simply knows no bounds.
Until this world summons the collective will to begin eliminating the real source of so much aggression and barbaric savagery, we must satisfy ourselves with crippling Islam's ability to continue infecting its masses with the incredible filth they pass off as everyday news. The cartoonifada served notice of what we could expect in terms of reciprocity. Now is the time to act upon it.
#4
Someone needs to give that editorial essayist a dictionary & point out the entry for "tragic". Here's a hint: when it's an evil all-powerful cartoonish enemy, that's not tragedy, it's melodrama. Tragedy flows from the protagonist's own flaws - hubris, wrath, greed, duplicity, etc, etc. Lebanon's situation *is* tragic, because the causes are internal & to a certain degree self-generated. You could take up the northern Levant & deposit it on the coast of Terra del Fuego, six thousand miles from the nearest large concentration of Jews, and the people would create nearly the same sad scenes & disasters & butcheries, all while blaming Chileans, Argentinians, and the shadowy Penguin Conspiracy.
[Now reading a bootleg copy of <i>The Protocols of the Adelies of Patagonia</i>]
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
11/26/2006 9:25 Comments ||
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#5
Great item. Mitch, you must comment more - I nearly had a coffee-keyboard event just now!
#7
I gave up drinking coffee and reading Rantburg at the same time a LOOONNNGGG time ago. The keyboard expense was killing me - especially with these new 'wireless' ones...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/26/2006 22:09 Comments ||
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Expect more assasinations real soon now, all to be denied by the Syrians and Hezbollah.
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanons U.S.-backed government on Saturday approved the creation of an international tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, overriding objections by Hezbollah and the countrys pro-Syrian president.
The approval, though widely expected, was bound to deepen the countrys political crisis and spark mass street demonstrations threatened by Hezbollah and its allies to topple the government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.
An ongoing U.N. investigation into the February 2005 truck bombing that killed former Hariri and 22 others has said the killings complexity suggests the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services played a role in the assassination. Damascus has denied any role in the killing
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/26/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
What remains of Lebanon’s U.S.-backed government on Saturday approved the creation of an international tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, overriding objections by Hezbollah and the country’s pro-Syrian president who expressed deep concern about the trial's procedural fairness and possible issues regarding the sensitivities of the dearly departeds' family members.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on Islamic countries to come together and establish independent political, economic, and cultural organisations.
Ahmadinejad said that Islamic countries "through cooperation should provide new and better ways of governance."
The failures of capitalistic and materialistic western world necessitates it, he added.
He was speaking at a meeting with visiting Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar here on Thursday.
Pointing to the plentiful resources and tremendous potential of Islamic nations, president said the advancement of any Islamic country is a step forward for the entire Islamic world.
Iran and Malaysia are two of the most advanced Islamic countries, he said adding that Iran would strengthen its ties with Malaysia.
The Malaysian foreign minister said Iran provided a great role-model for other Islamic nations to emulate.
#1
Pointing to the plentiful resources and tremendous potential of Islamic nations, president said the advancement of any Islamic country is a step forward for the entire Islamic world.
And exactly how has the presence of those "plentiful resources" (oil) contributed to the creation of universities, hospitals, aerospace programs or extensive manufacturing infrastructure? From all indications, the huge revenues derived from those "plentiful resources" have gone to blowing people and things up around the globe. It's time to return the favor.
Iran and Malaysia are two of the most advanced Islamic countries, he said adding that Iran would strengthen its ties with Malaysia.
"[A]dvanced Islamic countries", now there's an oxymoron for the ages. From all indications, the final advancement that awaits most of these despotic hell-holes is the extremely hasty arrival of nuclear weapons ... from foreign arsenals.
The Malaysian foreign minister said Iran provided a great role-model for other Islamic nations to emulate.
How comforting. Iran's Ahmadinejad calls for unity and establishment of uniquely Arab cultural institutions whilst simultaneously working with all his might to exacerbate the Iraqi conflict until it becomes outright civil war. For this alone he needs to die.
#2
Starting to make their pitch for taking over the ummah ? This must make the House of Saud nervous. Wonder if Cheney brought up this tender issue? Notice that the Sauds are buying huge amounts of military equipment the last five years, not that they can handle it, but I think they see a showdown with the Mullahs coming round the bend.
According to Islamic Jihad leaders, the potential bomber interviewed is one of over "hundreds" of young Palestinians in the northern West Bank who passed necessary recruitment stages and is available to attempt to infiltrate Jewish population centers wearing an explosive belt with the goal of blowing up as many Israelis as possible.
The interview took place in a remote building in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, a well-known Islamic Jihad stronghold from which the majority of recent Palestinian suicide bombers have originated.
The Islamic Jihad terror group has taken responsibility for every suicide attack inside Israel the past two years, including a bombing in Tel Aviv in April that killed American teenager Daniel Wultz and nine Israelis. Islamic Jihad also has carried out scores of recent deadly shootings and rocket attacks against Israeli civilians.
Islamic Jihad leaders allowed WND to interview the potential suicide bomber in a room together with his recruiter, who is a senior member of the terror group.
Both the recruiter and potential bomber were aware WND's reporter is Jewish.
#2
Every time somebody else dies as a martyr in a suicide bomb attack, I pray for him but I feel jealous
Muslim jealousy leads to rage. Muslim sexual frustration leads to rage. Muslim jealousy of someone else's sexual activity leads to boomers. It's all about sex and jealousy.
#6
Hi asshole Ahmed, I'm a JDAM and I want to blow you and your Jihadis to hell. Please give me or better, my B-2 bomber pilots who will guide me to your hovel, your GPS coordinates and let them let me do my thing.
Hi Ahmed, I'm a simple dumb bomb just kind of hanging out here in Diego Garcia inside the bomb bay of a B-52. I'm waiting on my owners to fly over your mud hut and let me loose. You'll feel the full effects of my 500 pounds.
#7
I do not think my family will be surprised if I do it but I never told them anything because there may be some pressure and all our ideology is based on avoiding pressures and temptations connecting us to this lower world.
Bonehead hear is only 23 and he gets it. It's not complicated. Let's hope western civilization gets it in time to minimize the carnage.
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.
The authorities of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, have agreed to adopt Shari'a law after Islamic leaders in the region recommended the move, local sources said. The announcement was made by the authority after a committee of religious leader met the leader of Puntland, Gen. Muhammed Adde Muse, and recommended that Shari'a law be adopted in the region, Sheikh Fuad Mahamud, a member of the religious leaders said on Tuesday.
SRINAGAR, India - Islamic militants warned on Saturday of dire consequences if revolt-hit Indian Kashmir goes ahead with a plan to lease land at its showpiece ski resort to outside investors.
NEW YORK - The Iraq insurgency has become financially self-sustaining, raising tens of millions of dollars a year from oil smuggling, kidnapping, counterfeiting, corrupt charities and other crimes, The New York Times reported in Sunday editions.
Five terrorist groups offered Israel a limited truce Thursday night in exchange for an end to IDF counter-terrorist operations. IDF offficers say Israel must not agree.
Palestinian militants have agreed to stop firing rockets into Israel in return for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a halt to targetted killings, it emerged last night. 
Recruited attacker for terror group talks to WND
