Khaled al-Maqtari's nightmare began when American troops arrived at the al-Ghufran market in Fallujah in January 2004. He was arrested along with other terrorist suspects and taken to Abu Ghraib jail. For the next four years he was held captive, moved from country to country and suffered, he says, appalling torture. Mr al-Maqtari, from Yemen, was one of the many inmates in the US's secret "ghost detention" who disappeared into an international network of prisons, their whereabouts unknown to family and friends. British soldiers, he claims, were involved in investigating him although they did not play any part in the abuse.
These are all allegations. Maqtari doesn't have any proof of any of this, and we (of course) are not talking. Let's remember that al-Qaeda commands its people to lie to the West when captured, to claim that they've been abused and tortured, and to do everything possible to use our legal system against us.
Details of what Mr al-Maqtari, 31, says was done to him emerge after a recent admission from the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband (after previous denials) that the island of Diego Garcia, a British territory, had been used in American rendition flights. Amnesty International, in a report into the Yemeni's case, has called for an independent inquiry into the extent of the UK's role in the US's "war on terror" and, especially, rendition flights. An investigation across the Atlantic into the subject was also necessary, says the human rights group, to bring the torturers to justice and provide compensation for the victims.
Assuming that there was any torture, which AI is always ready to believe. They're rather gullible that way.
During his incarceration Mr al-Maqtari was moved from Baghdad to a prison near Kabul in Afghanistan and later in Yemen. In between he was taken to another country, but does not know which.
Might as well blame everyone then. Maybe we moved him to North Korea? Or Zimbabwe? Perhaps it was France. Never can tell.
What remained constant, he says was mistreatment which included beatings, cigarettes being stubbed out on his body, being hung upside down, the use of disorienting music and light, starvation, sleep deprivation and being kept naked, hooded and manacled.
Any cigarette burns on him? Maybe he smoked in bed. Dangerous, that. Any x-rays with old fractures?
Mr al-Maqtari was born in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, but had lived most of his life in Hodeidah on the Red Sea coast of Yemen. His reason for travelling to Iraq in early 2003 remains unclear as do the reasons for his stays in Mosul, Ramadi and Fallujah, cities which became centres of the Sunni insurgency.
He was just a missionary. Or a student. Or doing charity work. Distributing arms alms to the poor, that's it.
Civil rights groups stress, however, that any involvement by Mr al-Maqtari in acts of violence against the Americans does not justify what he says was done to him.
If indeed anything was done to him, which we still haven't established.
Mr al-Maqtari was working part time in an internet centre in Fallujah ...
... what an interesting place to be, right where he can handle communications ...
... when he was arrested in January 2004, seven months after the US-led invasion, a time when insurgents were stepping up their attacks on American forces. According to the US military, its operation "market sweep" led to the confiscation of rifles, machine guns, grenades and mortars. Mr al-Maqtari vehemently denies any connection with this although he was repeatedly questioned about his supposed knowledge of terrorist weapons caches.
"Lies! All lies!"
It was during the searches for hidden weapons that, Mr al-Maqtari claims, British troops became involved. A unit of UK special forces working with the Americans took him from Abu Ghraib to a location in Baghdad, but no arms were found.
Ben Griffin, a former SAS man who was stationed in Baghdad in early 2005, told Amnesty that British special forces would not have taken part in interrogations, but would have been aware of the methods likely to be employed in Abu Ghraib. Mr al-Maqtari said one of the American interrogators used him as a footstool, trampled on his face and put a cigarette out on his shoulder while shouting, "I'm from New York, the place you Arabs tried to destroy."
We're being conned once again. Magtari has no proof of any mistreatment but he's going to shout from the rooftops. AI and the other gullible lefties have swallowed whole all his allegations, and no amount of 'investigating' will ever convince them otherwise. As was said in Through the Looking Glass, verdict first, trial later. If ever.
#3
Civil rights groups stress, however, that any involvement by Mr al-Maqtari in acts of violence against the Americans does not justify what he says was done to him.
they're right. We should've executed him. He didn't deserve the kid-gloves treatment. "Civil rights groups" can FOAD
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/14/2008 8:22 Comments ||
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#4
Because as every Lichtensteiner knows, retaliation for any act of violence against America is just...mean!
Posted by: Creling Darling of the Lichtensteiners8341 ||
03/14/2008 8:37 Comments ||
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#5
You have a 'story' about someone (who apparently offered not a single shread of evidence - no scars from cigarettes or anything) from an organization who are trained to claim mistreatment (I'm talking about both Al-Q and AmNasty International here)
Add a few references to retention flights and voila - you have the next big story about what meanies Americans are.
#6
Ben Griffin, a former SAS man who was stationed in Baghdad in early 2005,
Mr. Griffin appears to be uncharacteristically forthcoming with his both his SAS forces affiliation and assignments. I'm afraid the rubbish flag must be thrown on this one.
#8
Manacled, starved, beaten
He's lucky I wasn't his interrogator, we'd have a lot more information, and he'd have a colostomy bag and 3 missing toes to go with his complaint.
#9
Mr al-Maqtari was born in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, but had lived most of his life in Hodeidah on the Red Sea coast of Yemen. His reason for travelling to Iraq in early 2003 remains unclear as do the reasons for his stays in Mosul, Ramadi and Fallujah, cities which became centres of the Sunni insurgency.
At least we know that a Saudi, hailing from Yemen and travelling extensively throughout Anbar prior to the Coalition invasion, couldn't possibly be a member of Al-Q tasked with preparing the battlespace, securing Saddam's weapons stocks and training up the locals, since the NYT tells us so.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/14/2008 10:44 Comments ||
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#11
Fantastic job, ryuge (though far too cool and gentle in its sarcasm, given the moral imbecility of the usual suspects). Great comments,too. I think this is one area where our characteristic silence has got to be altered, to specifically and decisively refute slanderous errors of fact and interpretation.
#14
tu - You can borrow my electric femtoviolin, if you've got the equipment to play it. It makes lovely music. It's just the thing for heart-broken ayrab terrorists who got caught. Makes 'em cry, it does, especially when the amp's cranked up to 250dB.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/14/2008 15:55 Comments ||
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#15
this just brought a tear too my eye, never mind it was saw dust
#16
Of course, it is an honor when the AoS - or any of the great moderators here - adds any comments or pictures to one of my posts. I'm always proud to contribute to Rantburg in any way. I wouldn't be surprised if we see Al-Maqtari's name in Rantburg again before too long. Let's hope that it's for nothing more serious than being a jihadi display victim.
(AKI) - By Syed Saleem Shahzad - Prisoners held in Kabuls controversial Pul-i-Charkhi jail rioted late on Thursday when NATO forces tried to shift Taliban inmates for interrogation.
Unnamed sources told Adnkronos International (AKI) that inmates in block 4 of the prison resisted their removal by NATO personnel, alleging that NATO officials wanted to carry out an extrajudicial killing.
Now there's an idea ...
The protest soon spread all over the jail. Inmates in another part of the prison (block 7) turned violent and around five were wounded when NATO personnel opened fire on the prisoners, according to AKI's sources.
Pul-i-Charkhi, where political prisoners are held, is located outside the Afghan capital. Most Taliban prisoners are currently held there. The prison gained notoriety for its treatment of prisoners as long ago as during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1978-1989).
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
So this pork-greased squid is trying to connect NATO troops to the Soviets?
#6
Two, but I'm (Ex) regular Navy not a Squid.
Doesn't bother me.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/14/2008 16:43 Comments ||
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#7
this wasn't a good reason to start shooting these inmates as would be done in a US prison, and i recall a similar uprising at the start of the afghan war that killed some of our CIA guys and troops
(Xinhua) -- The Sudanese government denied categorically on Thursday that it had armed Chadian rebels and sent them across the borders into east Chad as what had been accused by the Chadian government.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
The traditional "Strongly Worded Statement",
that ought to just about take care of the Darfur situation, let's call it a day boys, espressos on the taxpayers for everyone!
Egypt detained at least 10 Muslim Brotherhood members yesterday ahead of local council elections next month, and provincial courts ruled the state must let opposition politicians submit papers to stand in the vote. The Brotherhood, the countrys strongest opposition group, put the number detained at 15. The group said on its Web site the men were picked up in pre-dawn house raids and from the streets, mostly in outlying areas of the Egyptian capital.
The detentions came as a 10-day nominating period for potential candidates to register for the April 8 ballot neared an end. Brotherhood officials have said the movement planned to field about 7,000 candidates for the 52,600 seats on village, town and provincial councils across the country. But the Muslim Brotherhood says the state has systematically blocked its members from registering to stand by arresting large numbers of likely candidates and through bureaucratic obstruction and police harassment.
In the southern province of Qena yesterday, a court ruled that the authorities must let 14 members of the Brotherhood stand in the elections, judicial sources said. In the last few days various courts have issued more than 1,000 rulings in favour of people tring to stand, though court rulings are often not enforced.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2008 00:00 ||
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HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe's police commissioner has warned his force would not allow "puppets" to rule the country following general elections scheduled for March 29. "We will not allow any puppets to take charge," Augustine Chihuri was quoted as saying in the state-owned Herald newspaper on Friday. President Robert Mugabe, 84, seeking a sixth term at the helm of the country, has often referred to his challengers in presidential elections as puppets of the West.
"This time we are wiser and we are determined and this must serve as a warning to puppets," Chihuri was quoted as telling a police contingent leaving for a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Liberia. "Most of us here are truly owners of the land. This is the sovereignty we should defend at all costs, because for us to get at this point, others had to lose their lives. At this point our gains should never be reversed."
The commissioner of prison services, retired major-general Paradzai Zimondi, vowed last month not to accept anyone other than Mugabe as head of state, as he instructed prison staff to vote for the veteran leader. Zimondi said he would not salute presidential aspirants Morgan Tsvangirai or former finance minister Simba Makoni should either of them emerge victorious from this month's joint presidential and legislative polls.
So Paradzai is the first person to be shotpurgedremoved dismissed after the election. And Gus is the second ...
Chihuri said the country's economic crisis -- marked by inflation over 100,000 percent, critical shortages of basic goods and 80 percent unemployment -- was a result of sanctions imposed by Britain and its Western allies.
Both Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change and Makoni, Mugabe's former finance minister, have pledged to review Mugabe's oft-criticised land reform policy, which saw white-owned farms seized for distribution to landless blacks and government cronies.
"It is unfortunate when people are saying it's not illegal sanctions causing all these problems but misrule," said the police chief. "The illegal sanctions, which Britain imposed on Zimbabwe were the major cause of the problems troubling the country."
In the run-up to 2002 presidential elections, widely condemned as rigged, Zimbabwean defence chiefs declared they would not support a president who did not participate in the 1970s war of liberation, as Mugabe did.
SnuffleUppagus - Dept. of Agriculture
The Count - Dept. of Commerce
Skeksis - bob's brown shirts
Doozers - well, they were chased out of town because of fraggle dreams.
#3
Watch Mugabe's loyalty evaporate if he shows signs of weakness. Of course his toadies and lickspittles will remain loyal, but they will be buried with him.
The Kuwaiti judiciary released a Shiite former lawmaker on bail Thursday after questioning him about the eulogy of a slain Hezbollah militant that has raised sectarian tensions in this small Gulf state and strong U.S. ally.
He was the last of six Shiite Muslim Kuwaitis, including a preacher, to be released after questioning this week. The group had participated in an eulogy praising Lebanese Hezbollah militant Imad Mughniyeh as a hero after he was killed by a car bomb in Syria last month. The eulogy sparked an outcry among Kuwait's Sunni majority. The Cabinet said it was insensitive to other Kuwaitis who blame the Shiite Hezbollah militant for a 1988 hijacking of a Kuwait Airways flight and the murder of two Kuwaiti passengers.
Lawyer bin Haidar said many of those questioned this week had not attended the eulogy and were interrogated about belonging to an alleged branch of Hezbollah in Kuwait.
Prosecutors have asked that parliamentary immunity of two Shiite legislators who took part in the eulogy be lifted so that they can be questioned. Adnan-Abdul Samad and Ahmed Lari were expelled from their parliamentary bloc for praising Mughniyeh, but they remain members of parliament.
This article starring:
Imad Mughniyeh
Hezbollah
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2008 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
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With helpful bonus pic of ham sandwich goodness at the link.
Muslim prisoners who were offered ham sandwiches during the holy month of Ramadan have received a letter of apology from the Government. Officials said sorry to the 200 Muslim inmates of HMP Leeds believed to have been offered the meat, which is forbidden by Islam. Jack Straw said in a letter that a "regrettable administrative error" led to the blunder and apologised for any offence caused to the Muslim community.
The Justice Secretary has ordered staff at the category B facility to be more diligent and prison officers will be re-trained to consider inmates' cultural and religious needs.
In October last year the sandwiches were on a menu created for the festival, which requires Muslims to fast in daylight. A complaint from a city councillor to local Labour MP Hilary Benn led Mr Straw to send the personally signed letter to Mr Benn.
#2
They could just serve them prison-vegetarian-sandwiches...
YUMMY VEGGIE SANDWICH:
1) Get served ham sandwich, as usual
2) Open. Remove ham. Please dispose of properly.
3) Eat. Best served warm.
4) Shut up. You're in jail...
#5
The Justice Secretary has ordered staff at the category B facility to be more diligent and prison officers will be re-trained to consider inmates' cultural and religious needs.
Looks like the inmates actually do run this asylum...
The relatives of five American missionaries who were abducted and murdered by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have filed suit against Chiquita Brands International Inc., accusing the banana company of secretly financing and arming the rebel (and terrorist) group.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleges the banana company knowingly and willfully provided the FARC with protection money and weapons in the late 1990s.
The case sheds much-needed light on the role that U.S.-based companies (and certainly others) play in fomenting conflicts that cost thousands of lives. Chiquita has admitted to being one of them.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Nail them to the wall. Put them out of business with lawsuits. Otherwise, other companies will be encouraged to pay ransoms and bribes in the future.
#2
ION, KOREA TIMES?YONHAP NEWS > US GENERAL: ZERO PROLIFERATION OF NORTH KOREAN MISSLE TECHNOLOGY. Believes there is little to no evidence of NK Missle Exports since 2005, but also expressed concerns about NK's advanced missle designs and ambitions.
#3
Our actions were always motivated to protect the lives of our employees and their families, company spokesman Ed Loyd told the Wall Street Journal. We are contesting the suits vigorously and believe we have a strong defense.
Sounds like a sound bite from the Nuremberg trials.
#5
See also PRAVDA > ROBERT REYES - URIBE: ENOUGH!
AUthor proclaims suppor for CHAVEZ + DEFENSE OF SOUTH AMERICA = SOUTH AMER PEOPLES, espec the "DAUGHTERS OF BOLIVAR" [Ecuador, Colonbia, venezuela]. The "SINGING OF THE RIFLES" [violence/war] AGZ ALLEGED US-ALLIED LED SAmer IMPERIALISM must begin???
#8
EINNEWS OP-ED > TRACY DOVE - THE FARC IS A POST COLD WAR SUCCESS STORY; + JAPAN TODAY > ECUADOR'S CORREA TELLS BUSH: SEND US YOUR TROOPS OR "SHUT UP". 'Tis NOT US troops getting killed or fighting at the Ecuadorian border regions.
#1
So convicted international terrorists have a RIGHT to Canadian passports and international travel after release from prison? In this case, even before the length of the original sentence (early release.) Sounds like grounds to block admission to anyone holding a Canadian passport. I don't mean to insult our many Canadian friends, but this is nucking futs!
#2
The Iranian father of trailing daughter #2's best friend told me everyone in the world should be entitled to come to the U.S. and get American citizenship. Same thing.
#3
#2 The Iranian father of trailing daughter #2's best friend told me everyone in the world should be entitled to come to the U.S. and get American citizenship. Same thing
Well, they might not be "entitled" to, but they're for damn sure all GIVING IT A GO!
#4
This is the same philosophy touted by George Soros and others in the UN crowd that advocate open borders in a global community entitled to universal "human rights", guaranteed in the US Constitution, yet still advocate freedom FROM American law and justice. Too bad logic isn't a commodity, as there is a real shortage in the world today, just waiting to be cornered in the marketplace.
Okay? Can I have my mulligan now?
WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday denounced inflammatory remarks from his pastor, who has railed against the United States and accused its leaders of bringing on the Sept. 11 attacks by spreading terrorism. As video of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has widely aired on television and the Internet, Obama responded by posting a blog about his relationship with Wright and his church, Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, on the Huffington Post. Ah, yes. The Huffy. He's among friends. "And that's all I have to say on this matter", right, Barack?
Obama wrote that he's looked to Wright for spiritual advice, not political guidance, and he's been pained and angered to learn of some of his pastor's comments for which he had not been present. Geez, Barack, did you miss all the good fire breathing ones?
Obama's statement did not say whether Wright would remain on his African American Religious Leadership Committee, and campaign officials wouldn't say either. If that's a hard decision for him, he's got some real problems.
"I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies," Obama said. "I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it's on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Reverend Wright that are at issue." ...or as the Rev calls it "Amerikka".
In a sermon on the Sunday after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Wright suggested the United States brought on the attacks."We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye," Wright said. "We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost." Yeah. I'll bet we sold the Michelins to Winnie for her necktie partys...
In a 2003 sermon, he said blacks should condemn the United States."The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme." Friggin government! Where were they when I needed my drugs!
He also gave a sermon in December comparing Obama to Jesus, promoting his candidacy and playing down Clinton. I'm not Jesus. Really. Well...not yet.
Questions about Obama's religious beliefs have dogged him throughout his candidacy. He's had to fight against false Internet rumors suggesting he's really a Muslim intent on destroying the United States, and now his pastor's words uttered nearly seven years ago have become an issue. Obama wrote on the Huffington Post that he never heard Wright say any of the statements that are "so contrary to my own life and beliefs," but they have raised legitimate questions about the nature of his relationship with the pastor and the church. Suuuuuure they did.
He explained that he joined Wright'schurch, Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, nearly 20 years ago. He said he knew Wright as a former Marine and respected biblical scholar who lectured at seminaries across the country. "Reverend Wright preached the gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life," he wrote. "... And the sermons I heard him preach always related to our obligation to love God and one another, to work on behalf of the poor, and to seek justice at every turn." Like I said, did he miss all the good ones?
He said Wright's controversial statements first came to his attention at the beginning of his presidential campaign last year, and he condemned them. Been going there for twenty years and he first heard about them last year? Uh huh...
Because of his ties to the 6,000-member congregation church he and his wife were married there and their daughters baptized Obama decided not to leave the church. We're staying, dammit! The man's a visionary!
Okay, Michelle...
Obama also has credited Wright with delivering a sermon that he adopted as the title of his book, "The Audacity of Hope." "With Reverend Wright's retirement and the ascension of my new pastor, Rev. Otis Moss, III, Michelle and I look forward to continuing a relationship with a church that has done so much good," he wrote. See. He's gone. So everything's okay now. Okay?
Also Friday, the United Church of Christ issued a 1,400-word statement defending Wright and his "flagship" congregation. John H. Thomas, United Church of Christ's president, lauded Wright's church for its community service and work to nurture youth. Other church leaders praised Wright for speaking out against homophobia and sexism in the black community."It's time for all of us to say no to these attacks and to declare that we will not allow anyone to undermine or destroy the ministries of any of our congregations in order to serve their own narrow political or ideological ends," Thomas said in the statement. How dare anybody use the "Reverend's" own words against him. Although it has done wonders for his DVD sales...
#2
IIUC the Obamas donated $21-22,000 to that church in 2006. I approve of tithing but it does suggest tighter connections than BHO would like to admit.
#3
WND.com > YNETNEWS - RABBI OVADIA: AVENGE YESHIVA ATTACK THROUGH THE LOVE OF GOD. Argues that "the biggest revenge agz the goyim is for them to see HOW MUCH GOD LOVES THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL ... THE SOULS OF THE VICTIMS WILL/SHOULD GO TO HEAVEN TO SEND THE MESSIAH BACK DOWN TO ISRAEL".
2008-2010 > YESHIVA ATTACK > JUDAIC MESSIAH versus ISLAMIST "HIDDEN IMAM/MAHDI", versus FARC-ROBERT REYES' "SINGING OF THE RIFLES", vv OSAMA BIN LADEN'S DESIRED FINAL APOCALYPSE???
WASHINGTON (AP) - House Democratic leaders agreed Thursday to a rare closed-door session - the first in 25 years - to debate surveillance legislation. Republicans requested privacy for what they termed "an honest debate" on the new Democratic eavesdropping bill that is opposed by the White House and most Republicans in Congress. The closed-door debate was scheduled for late Thursday, after the House chamber could be cleared and swept by security personnel to make sure there are no listening devices.
I'm betting the New York Times will get and publish a transcript.
The last private session in the House was in 1983 on U.S. support for paramilitary operations in Nicaragua. Only five closed sessions have taken place in the House since 1825.
President Bush vowed to veto the House Democrats' version of the terrorist surveillance bill, saying it would undermine the nation's security. Bush opposes it in part because it doesn't provide full, retroactive legal protection to telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on their customers without court permission after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
About 40 lawsuits have been filed against telecommunications companies by people and organizations alleging they violated wiretapping and privacy laws. The lawsuits have been combined and are pending before a single federal judge in California.
Thus substituting the judgment of a single judge for the President, National Security Council, and leaders of Congress. What could possibly go wrong?
The Democrats' measure would encourage the judge to review in private the secret government documents underpinning the program in order to decide whether the companies acted lawfully. If they did, the lawsuits would be dismissed. The administration has prevented those documents from being revealed, even to a judge, by invoking the state secrets privilege. That puts the companies in a bind because it puts off limits evidence they might use to defend themselves.
Which is how the trial-lawyers, those good friends of Dhimmicrats, want it.
It wasn't clear what information would be presented in the closed session. Just a fraction of Congress has been allowed to read secret documents underpinning the surveillance program, and those who have arrived at varying conclusions.
The Senate Intelligence Committee, after seeing classified material, said the companies acted on the good-faith belief that the wiretaps they allowed were lawful. Democrats on the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees were unconvinced after being presented with the same material.
Rhode Island Democrat Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse sits on both the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary committees. He said the documents lay out the Bush administration's rationale for why it was legal to sidestep a special secret court that normally authorizes wiretaps. Whitehouse said the documents assert that the president has the power to determine what his constitutional powers are, particularly in a time of war.
The surveillance law is intended to help in the pursuit of suspected terrorists by making it easier to eavesdrop on foreign phone calls and e-mails that pass through the United States. A temporary law expired Feb. 16 before Congress was able to produce a replacement bill. Bush opposed an extension of the temporary law as a tactic to pressure Congress into accepting the Senate version of the surveillance legislation. The Senate's bill provides retroactive legal immunity for the telecommunications companies.
Bush said lawsuits against telecom companies would lead to the disclosure of state secrets. Further, he said lawsuits would undermine the willingness of the private sector to cooperate with the government in trying to track down terrorists.
What the Dhimmicrats can't get openly they try to take by stealth. Create fear of prosecution and lawsuits in telecomm boardroom offices and you lose cooperation.
Michigan Rep. Peter Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said intelligence is already being lost. "Each and every day our capabilities are eroding," he said.
Directing his message at the House, Bush said, "They should not leave for their Easter recess without getting the Senate bill to my desk." Bush predicted the Senate would not pass the House version of the bill, and said even if it did, he would veto it.
At least one Senate Republican said the lawsuits should go forward to determine whether the wiretapping program was illegal. But Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter wants to substitute the government for the phone companies as the defendant in the court cases. "The president can't have a blank check," Specter said in an interview. "If you close down the courts, there's no check and balance."
He added: "Wiretaps are important for national security. There's no doubt about that. Al-Qaida and terrorism continue to be a major threat to this country. It is my hope that the president will not find it necessary to veto the bill, that we'll be able to work it out."
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Bush is misrepresenting the House bill, and suggested the fight is less about surveillance powers than it is that House Democrats are refusing to bend to Bush's wishes. "Congress owes the American people more than blind obeisance to the executive branch," said Hoyer, D-Md.
Blind? How long have you been debating this issue, Steny?
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/14/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Whatever they decide, I can only say that what is good, they will choose the opposite. Fight the man, screw the country, we are democrats and we are proud.
#2
Be careful what you wish for Dems. Muslim terrorists are not planning to commit mass murder in Republican suburbia or rural towns. The effort to yield ratio is too low. It's the densely populated Democratic bastion cities that the muslims wish to destroy. And I must confess I have lost a lot of the feelings of solidarity with those areas. If they insist on committing suicide, at some point everyone will say "Go ahead."
Posted by: ed ||
03/14/2008 1:06 Comments ||
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#3
No shit ed, they aren't going to bomb Kentucky. In fact D.C. is a favorite target for the barbarians. Denver might be even better though if they picked just the right time.
#4
Denver may be a harder nut to crack than either the Dems OR a-q realize. While it's gone "blue" over the last fifteen years, there's still a strong Republican base there. There's also NORAD, Space Command, and Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, plus F. E. Warren in Cheyenne, and a nice F-16-hosting Air National Guard base in Aurora -- NOT an ant's nest you'd want to stir up.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/14/2008 17:14 Comments ||
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A meeting of law-enforcement and intelligence agencies on Thursday named Al Qaeda and pro-Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud as the prime suspects in Tuesdays twin suicide attacks in Lahore.
Sources privy to the meeting said representatives of intelligence agencies, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Punjab Police and the Crime Investigation Department said Lahore was being targeted because it housed regional headquarters of various security agencies.
Investigators said at the meeting that Lahore was not a new target as intelligence had arrested 48 suspects including seven would-be suicide bombers from the provincial capital and seized 640 kilogrammes of explosives before Muharram.
Sources in law-enforcement agencies said the owner of the vehicle used in the FIA building attack had made important revelations.
US investigators: Dawn News television said a team of US investigators visited the FIA regional headquarters bombing site on Thursday. The channel said FIA Director General Tariq Pervez had asked the Interior Ministry for a team of foreign investigators to probe the attacks. The team, consisting of two men and a woman, were accompanied by Cantt SP (Investigations) Babar Bakht, and spent twenty minutes at the site, the channel said. It quoted unidentified FIA sources as confirming the arrival of the investigators but said their plans would be kept secret because of security fears. The team is likely to visit the Model Town attack site before flying back to Islamabad, the channel said said.
15 held from Lahore: The Punjab Police on Thursday held 15 more suspects in connection with Tuesdays bombings. Police sources said the men were being questioned. Police also conducted several raids in southern Punjab, they added.
Four arrested from Muzaffargarh: APP said the district police held four members of a banned organisation from Muzaffargarh on Thursday. They were identified as Moinullah, Qari Taj Muhammad Saqib, Abdur Razzaq Mandhera and Rana Ihsan Phullu. Police also raided the houses of Qari Khalid Mahmood Zia and Maulana Abdur Rashid Bilal at Khangarh but could not arrest them, the news agency said.
On Wednesday, police had arrested more than 50 suspects most of them from banned militant organisations in raids in Lahore, Faisalabad, Okara, Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur, and had said they were investigating whether Al Qaeda was behind the attacks.
At least 30 people were killed and more than 200 others wounded in suicide blasts at the Federal Investigation Agency headquarters and an advertising agency office in Model Town on Tuesday morning. Attackers rammed explosives-laden vehicles into the targets in both the attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
ASIA TIMES > AL QAEDA STEPS UP ITS WAR IN PAKISTAN. AQ agz undercover/covert Paki SIA; + STARS-N-STRIPES > MILITANTS REAP NEW RECRUITS AS PAKI VIOLENCE GROWS.
Pakistan lodged a protest with coalition forces in Afghanistan on Thursday after two Pakistani women and two children were killed by US fire from across the border in North Waziristan, the army said, AFP reported.
They fired five rounds which landed in our territory and in the process a house was destroyed, resulting in the deaths of two women and two children, military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said, according to Reuters. We have lodged a very strong protest with the coalition forces across the border. Local officials said the house in Lwara Mundi town belonged to a local tribesman.
In Kabul, a spokesman for the US-led coalition said it could not comment on the Pakistani account but confirmed the strike.
Precision-guided: We can confirm a precision-guided ammunition strike on March 12 on a compound connected with Haqqani network 1.5 kilometres across the border in Pakistan, coalition spokesman Major Chris Belcher told AFP. The Haqqani network refers to militants led by Taliban commander Sirajuddin Haqqani, allegedly based in Miranshah.
I do not have any information on any casualties that may have occurred, Belcher said. The information I have is that the Government of Pakistan was notified immediately following the strike. It is not the first time that they have had to respond to an imminent threat across the border in Pakistan. Every time we do, we clear that with Pakistani authorities, he added.
Protest:Meanwhile, several hundred Bajaur Agency tribesmen protested against the killing of innocent civilians on Thursday after security forces and militants exchanged heavy crossfire on Wednesday, reportedly killing up to eight civilians. JI leaders Sahibzada Haroon Rashid and Amir Sardar Khan strongly condemned the killing of innocent tribesmen. They alleged security forces were killing innocent tribesmen on President Musharrafs orders to appease the US.
It was the duty of the political administration and scouts to provide protection to tribesmen, and to stop security forces from shooting innocent civilians, they added. There will be a popular uprising if security forces do not stop killing innocent people, said Rasheed, AFP reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
In the words of Bluto Blutarsky, "Oh...ummmmmmmmmm...sorry."
#2
Gee that's too bad. Perhaps if you got off you lazy ass and took care of bidness we wouldn't have needed to to that. And we will probably do it again.......
#1
You can lead the media to information, but you can't make them read. The political battle would be so much more civilized and focused on solutions if everyone realized what is at stake in the war. Imagine the dynamic change if only the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's sermons were diffused with facts!
#3
IRANIAN.WS > WAPO OP-ED > WILLIAM ARKIN - PETRAEUS WINS IRAQ BATTLE [vv Adm. Fallon], BUT KILLS IRAN WAR. Army General Petraeus prevails vv Navy's Fallon despite overwhelming US political imperative to withdraw = demands for major pulldown-redux of US milfors from Iraq back to CONUS. IRONICALLY, PETRAEUS' "VICTORY" INFERS US MILFORS IN IRAQ-ME ARE INSUFFIC TO ATTACK, INVADE, ANDOR OCCUPY IRAN???
#3
A long time skeptic of the connection between al Qaeda and Iraq and a former CIA senior Iraq analyst, Judith Yaphe yesterday said, "I think the report indicates that Saddam was willing to work with almost any group be it nationalist or Islamic, that was willing to work for his objectives. But in the long term he did not trust many of the Islamist groups, especially those linked to Saudi Arabia or Iran."
I need a job... And THIS silly girl is a former SENIOR Officer.
Well, no, the Pope is not mobilizing the Swiss Guard. But I kinda wish he would, just to make a point.
Pope Benedict XVI condemned Thursday the killing of kidnapped Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho in Iraq as "unjustifiable violence targeting coexistence among Iraqis." Rahho, the archbishop of Mosul, some 390 km north of Baghdad, was abducted on February 28 after gunmen attacked his car and killed his driver and two bodyguards. His body was found dead half-buried in Mosul Thursday, police said.
"This is an act of inhuman violence that offends the dignity of the human being," Spokesman of the Vatican Church Rev. Federico Lombardi quoted the pope as saying in a letter to leaders of Iraqi churches. "The most absurd and unjustified violence continues to strike the Iraqi people and particularly the small Christian community. "Pope Benedict XVI is praying that sorrowful incident would prompt the Iraqis to restore peace to their country.
"Our hope is that this tragic event will underscore and reinforce everybody's commitment and particularly that of the international community to bring peace to this troubled country," he added.
The Chaldean Church, an affiliate of the Roman Catholic Church, represents the biggest Christian community in Iraq who practice ancient Eastern rites. It descends from the Church of the East in mid the 16th century.
Rest in God's grace, Archbishop. You deserved better.
#2
Great... I hope that B-XVI (B-16, get it?? Sorry...)
has the good sense to appoint a 'secret-archbishop.
They do (or did it) for Chinese Catholics. Why not for the Chaldeans?
#7
The compulsory two-year service in the Swiss Guards is too short for an exhaustive basic training to be acquired. This is why Guards must already be in possession of the military skills which they can acquire in the Swiss Army. We use the same military language as the Swiss Army and we share its concept of discipline.
And they do have and use the Swiss Army's assault rifle.
So don't let the showcase uniforms fool you. Cream of the crop of the Swiss Army for generations.
Just very few in numbers. And sadly, too few to deploy as safety for the Clergy other than the Pope.
#8
Magnificent sculpture - larger than it looks here: The Lion of Lucerne. What is hard to see in that picture is an arrow/bolt into the chest of the lion. A little tidbit missing from the link is 'although they had a chance to flee the violence being mercenaries, but chose to stay and fight according to their honor.'
And those guys at the Vatican can look right through you...had to double check to make sure I didn't have shorts on (dress code requirement).
The terrorist who carried out the attack at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem last week was sent to assassinate one of the yeshiva rabbis, the Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar reported Thursday. According to the report, based on Palestinian sources, the organization which sent the terrorist planned to assassinate one of the yeshiva heads, but after the shooter failed to find the rabbi, he opened fire at the students in the library. The rabbi's identity was not mentioned in the report.
"The group behind the attack wanted to declare that it succeeded in killing the rabbi, but reconsidered this declaration after the shooter, Alaa Abu-Dheim, did not manage to kill him," one of the sources said, adding that the organizations had "a long score to settle with Israel."
The newspaper also reported that the Israeli government has asked the Palestinian Authority to hand over two members of the Islamic Jihad and Fatah's al-Aqsa Brigades suspected of helping Abu Dheim obtain the weapon he used to fire at the students.
(Xinhua) -- The result of a poll shows that a majority of surveyed Palestinians, in Gaza Strip and West Bank, support a ceasefire deal with Israel. The poll, conducted by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (PCPO), said that 73 percent of the 1,220 surveyed people agree Israeli-Palestinian calmness for the time being.
The poll was carried out between February 22 and March 6, a period in which Israel killed more than 125 Palestinians during raids and incursion in Gaza Strip. Nabil Kukali, director of the PCPO, said in a statement that the survey also found out that nearly half of the people (49.4 percent) do not support suicide attacks into Israel at this time. The lull which prevailed in Gaza following March 3, when Israel ended the ground Operation Warm Winter, was broke on Thursday with armed groups firing rockets into Israel in response to the killing of four Palestinians by Israeli undercover forces in West Bank on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
So why don't they shoot or otherwise restrain the active perps?
#6
#4. Dont make peace based on trust. Make peace, and retain strength and vigilance. Maintain security fences. Maybe a deal and accompanying withdrawl will raise that 49.4%. Maybe it wont. Even if it doesnt, you can be as safe after a withdrawl as you are now. And yes, Gaza doesnt show differently. No suicide bombers from Gaza. Rockets are bad, but Israel is surviving them. And the world is tolerating what Israel is doing to counter.
"Hezbollah is coming," mourners chanted at Thursday's funeral of a Palestinian militant killed by Israel, his body wrapped in the flag of the Lebanese guerrilla group. A Hezbollah flag, along with Hamas banners, also adorned the home of a Palestinian man who was killed after gunning down eight Israeli students at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem last week. A shadowy group Palestinian security officials say is a front for Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the rampage.
Hezbollah has long operated behind the scenes in the Palestinian territories, funneling millions of dollars to militant groups for attacks against Israel, according to Israeli and Palestinian security officials. The Lebanese group's influence has become increasingly visible in the West Bank since last month's assassination of its military chief, Imad Mughniyeh, in an explosion in Syria that Hezbollah has blamed on Israel.
It remains unclear whether more Palestinian militants are simply taking their cue from Hezbollah, or whether the Lebanese group is getting more directly involved in violence in the Palestinian territories, in part to make good on its threat to avenge Mughniyeh. Hezbollah has been sending large amounts of money to Palestinian militants in the West Bank since 2000.
Israel is concerned that Hezbollah, with Iranian help, is trying to carry out a "quality attack" with many casualties that could trigger harsh Israeli retaliation and perhaps another Israel-Hezbollah war, the Israeli daily Maariv on Thursday quoted Israeli security officials as saying. Israel and Hezbollah fought a destructive but inconclusive monthlong war in 2006.
Israel has not said whether it was behind the car bomb that killed Mughniyeh. But since his death, Hezbollah's leaders have signaled they'll carry out revenge attacks in Israel itself, not just against Israeli targets abroad, said Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, a Hezbollah specialist in Lebanon. "Hezbollah's leaders made it clear that they are in a new stage of their war with Israel, and definitely the tools will be changed in this new phase," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
See related on EINNEWS > HIZBULLAH BECOMING POPULAR IN JUDAEA AND SAMARIA; + SOURCES: ISRAEL [secretly]WARNS SYRIA OF RETALIATION [War] IN RESPONSE TO ANY HEZBOLLAH ATTACK.
(Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement on Thursday said discussions on reopening a crossing point between Egypt and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip have made progress. "An essential progress was made in the talks between Hamas and the Egyptian officials regarding Rafah crossing," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.
A final agreement, however, on the mechanisms of running the passage was not reached, he said. Abu Zuhri disclosed that the 2005 U.S.-brokered deal, which stipulates the presence of European Union (EU) monitors as a third party on the border passage but rules out any Hamas involvement in the management of the crossing, will not be reactivated. "It is not possible to exceed our vision and stance in this regard... Hamas will have a central role in any arrangements to reopen the crossing," said Abu Zuhri.
The Rafah crossing has been closed since June last year when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip by force after routing security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The EU monitors also withdrew from the terminal following the takeover.
Hamas blasted open the Rafah border in January to allow hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to stock up on daily necessities in short supply due to Israeli blockade and has demanded a role in running the border.
Recently, Cairo has intensified efforts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants. The deposed Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya on Wednesday publicly called for a ceasefire with Israel and lay out his conditions for an interval in fighting that has killed at least 120 Palestinians in recent weeks. Haneya demanded an end to Israeli military activity in Gaza, a lifting of Israeli sanctions and the opening of Gaza's borders, which have been sealed since Hamas seized control of the area last June.
Meanwhile, Ismail Radwan, another spokesman for Hamas, said his movement did not oppose that pro-Abbas forces be deployed on the crossing. But he lay out the condition that the security personnel "must be pure and acceptable to Hamas." Radwan's remarks followed Israeli reports that Hamas and Egypt had agreed to deploy the Presidential Guard on the crossing. Radwan did not confirm the report.
This article starring:
Ismail Haneya
Hamas
Ismail Radwan
Hamas
Sami Abu Zuhri
Hamas
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2008 00:00 ||
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(Xinhua) -- Ismail Haneya, Prime Minister of the deposed Palestinian government based in the Gaza Strip, said on Wednesday that a truce with Israel should include both Gaza Strip and West Bank. "The Palestinians seek a comprehensive, mutual and parallel cease-fire that could lead to an end of the imposed siege and opening the closed crossings," Haneya said, adding that "The decision to agree on a cease-fire is in the hands of Israel."
Egypt has been mediating recently between Israel and the Palestinians in order to forge a cease-fire that ends rocket attacks from Gaza Strip at Israel and halts Israeli ground and air attacks on militants groups in the enclave. But Haneya denied that Hamas is seeking a cease-fire deal with Israel, adding that "such reports aim at disfiguring the Hamas image after its great sacrifices following Israel's military operation in Gaza, where 130 people killed."
This article starring:
Ismail Haneya
Hamas
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I suggest you take Sharon's example and stipulate no agreement unless no attacks or rockets for 1 month.
They'll never be able to make it.
#2
WAFF.com Poster Thread > REUTERS/MAARIV DAILY [Israel] > ISRAEL VULNERABLE TO CRUISE MISSLES. Ukraine claims that in 2005,SOVIET-ERA LR [1800-mile] ISRAEl-REACHING KH-55's/AS-15s TCMS went missing and were likely covertly smuggled out to IRAN. SYRIA NOT BELIEVED TO HAVE TCMS AT THIS TIME. OTHER SOURCES -SOVIET/COLD WAR KH-55's ARE "DUAL-USE" i.e. CONVENTIONAL VHE + NUKE-WMD CAPABLE.
Also from WAFF.com > THE ECONOMIST - BRACING FOR THE BIG ONE [Bigger One]. WIDER ME WAR despite seeming lulls in Gaza violence; EXPERTS: AN ESTIMATED 30,000 IRANIAN OPERATIVES MAY BE [working] INSIDE IRAQ. See also new STRATEGYPAGE vv QUDS FORCE.
*TOPIX > ISRAELI INTEL: 2008 IS "THE YEAR OF IRAN".
*IRNA > ADHMADINEJAD - proclaims that TURKEY's DEVELOPMENT IS IRAN'S DEVELOPMENT [and vice verseys?]; + GERMANY'S EASTER MARCHES TO PROTEST WESTERN MILITARY MISSIONS IN ISLAMIC COUNTRIES.
University of Maryland research that started with bacteria from the Chesapeake Bay has led to a process that may be able to convert large volumes of all kinds of plant products, from leftover brewer's mash to paper trash, into ethanol and other biofuel alternatives to gasoline.
---- They haven't gotten this to the 1-gallon a day production stage yet so they are looking to have some real business buy their start up (although they are pretending otherwise).
#1
Not necessarily. This is the biofuel future. Corn as basis is merely transitory, because the process has been known to distillers for hundreds of years. Decomposing hydrocarbons of all types, then reconstituting them into products which are desired will become common within ten years. Real progress towards fuel independence will follow. Ethanol itself is transitory. Butanol is the most desirable auto fuel. Pure hydrogen could also work if storage density issues can be solved. Now that a pathway for synthesized propane has become known, it too could be a viable candidate for auto fuel as well as heating fuel. The MIT group who pioneered the synthetic propane did not wait for someone to buy their technology. They incorporated and are seeking funding for scale up. The technical pathway is well known. Only economy of scale is to be determined. These are tremendous steps forward. The end of the Saudi piggy bank is in sight. It's like a distant mountain range, still far away, but within sight.
#2
If they can turn pretty much any organic waste into fuel, landfill owners are going to be (or should be) stampeding to make this viable.
Imagine if you're the owner of "Mount Rumpke" here in Cincinnati -- decades of household waste at hand, relatively easy access to it, and a way to turn it into auto fuel.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
03/14/2008 12:09 Comments ||
Top||
#3
landfills will be the high ore content mines of this century.
#6
assume 200 millon tons/year of solid municipal waste in US
assume 80% is biomass
assume 25% of biomass can be converted to fuel
assume 300 gallons fuel per ton of converted biomass,
that would be about:
200,000,000 x 0.8 x 0.2 x 300 =
about 10 billion gallons
current motor vehich fuel consumption/year is about 140 billion gallons
so, even if we could process all municipal waste, a lot of other stuff would have to be processed to make a big difference
Posted by: Mike ||
03/14/2008 13:55 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Using biomass inherently can't be as efficient as using algae, which just needs water, sunlight, and waste CO2 and NOx gases.
The whole process would begin with a water treatment plant, most likely getting effluent water from a large city. After separating out the solids and processing like a regular treatment plant, but before chlorination and fluoridization, it would send the water to an adjacent algae farm.
The algae farm would have rows of shallow but wide tanks in the ground, like the rows of a farmer's field. These would have ordinary pipe on the bottom to bubble waste CO2 and NOx gasses through the water, and be covered with "self-cleaning" glass to allow sunlight, but not foreign algae in, yet not let the unused gases out.
Machines under the glass would slowly move up and down through the rows, harvesting algae to sluices on the side of the rows, where it would be flushed or conveyed away for processing.
After the effluent water had flowed through the algae farm, it would go back to the treatment plant for a final filtration, chlorine and fluoride before being returned to the city water system.
The day's crop of algae from a dozen acres of algae farm would be hauled off at night for processing into biodiesel and a little ethanol.
Unlike using biomass crops, which are harvested about three times a year, or garbage, which also is produced at irregular intervals and quality, an algae farm south of the Mason Dixon would be in production every day for perhaps 10 months out of the year, growing predictable quantities of algae.
Once production conditions were known and perfected, the methods and production of biodiesel could be scaled to local and regional need.
Ironically, area factories that provided the waste CO2 and NOx would want to discontinue expensive scrubbing processes, to deliver as much of the waste gas as possible. So they would not just save money, but make money, from their waste.
Last December, Boeing, under contract from the Department of Defense, installed a $200-million prototype of the laser into a C-130 at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico in preparation for test flights this year. From there it will go to the Air Force for more testing, and it could be in battle within five years.
Precise control over the beams aim allows it to hit a moving target a few inches wide and confine the damage to that space. The Pentagon hopes such precision will translate into less collateral damage than even todays most accurate missiles. Future versions using different types of lasers could be mounted on smaller vehicles, such as fighter jets, helicopters and trucks.
A death ray! This must be the twenty-first century!
Posted by: Mike ||
03/14/2008 07:53 ||
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#2
Why don't we test it in Waziristan? That's as good a place as any. Could we call it the "Zionist Death Ray", that just sounds scarier to me. Wouldn't that blow their minds if the murderer sitting next to them suddenly burst into flames and splattered all over the hut like a frog in a microwave!
#5
There are some interesting twists and turns to airborne lasers.
1) A primary function is as an air superiority weapon, in that it can take out enemy rockets, air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles.
2) Ground attack is less important, because damage can be mitigated and limited in many ways. In addition, there is a tacit ban on the use of airborne lasers to blind ground troops.
3) However, anti-aircraft ground based lasers are the obvious counter to aircraft based lasers, which drastically limits aircraft based lasers to the "over the horizon" angle. That is, the air laser can prevent the use of enemy aircraft, but cannot itself enter enemy airspace.
But this, in turn, means that cruise missiles have to be used against enemy ground based lasers. The cruise missiles are guided by satellite--so satellites become a major target for enemy missiles and ground based lasers.
#8
bigjim-ky: Why don't we test it in Waziristan? That's as good a place as any. Could we call it the "Zionist Death Ray", that just sounds scarier to me. Wouldn't that blow their minds if the murderer sitting next to them suddenly burst into flames and splattered all over the hut like a frog in a microwave!
Jim I appreciate your instincts, but they are my second choice.
I was hoping for a Full On test in Washington DC this Fall, right after Congress is in.
#9
Bright Pebbles: I've long suggested that we should use black bag operations to administer poisons and grotesque diseases to radical Imams and Mullahs.
Start a small rumor about them being cursed by Allah, then they get disfiguring skin welts and lesions, their hair falls out, and they just generally look like hell before they die in agony.
The hardest part would be crafting the rumor to make it clear *why* Allah despised the pig boinkers. They are so superstitious that they will fill in the blanks.
#12
Actually I still like "transmorphigizer" better.
AND I like the visual of one of those perverts suddenly exploding all over his mud hut....and just think of the secondary damage. All of those bone fragments flying everywhere.
Posted by: Grand Proconsul Sock Puppet ||
03/14/2008 21:57 Comments ||
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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.
Khaled al-Maqtari's nightmare began when American troops arrived at the al-Ghufran market in Fallujah in January 2004. He was arrested along with other terrorist suspects and taken to Abu Ghraib jail. For the next four years he was held captive, moved from country to country and suffered, he says, appalling torture. Mr al-Maqtari, from Yemen, was one of the many inmates in the US's secret "ghost detention" who disappeared into an international network of prisons, their whereabouts unknown to family and friends. British soldiers, he claims, were involved in investigating him although they did not play any part in the abuse.
Mr al-Maqtari was born in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, but had lived most of his life in Hodeidah on the Red Sea coast of Yemen. His reason for travelling to Iraq in early 2003 remains unclear as do the reasons for his stays in Mosul, Ramadi and Fallujah, cities which became centres of the Sunni insurgency. 
(AKI) - By Syed Saleem Shahzad - Prisoners held in Kabuls controversial Pul-i-Charkhi jail rioted late on Thursday when NATO forces tried to shift Taliban inmates for interrogation.
The Kuwaiti judiciary released a Shiite former lawmaker on bail Thursday after questioning him about the eulogy of a slain Hezbollah militant that has raised sectarian tensions in this small Gulf state and strong U.S. ally.
The relatives of five American missionaries who were abducted and murdered by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have filed suit against Chiquita Brands International Inc., accusing the banana company of secretly financing and arming the rebel (and terrorist) group.
WASHINGTON (AP) - House Democratic leaders agreed Thursday to a rare closed-door session - the first in 25 years - to debate surveillance legislation. Republicans requested privacy for what they termed "an honest debate" on the new Democratic eavesdropping bill that is opposed by the White House and most Republicans in Congress. The closed-door debate was scheduled for late Thursday, after the House chamber could be cleared and swept by security personnel to make sure there are no listening devices.
A meeting of law-enforcement and intelligence agencies on Thursday named Al Qaeda and pro-Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud as the prime suspects in Tuesdays twin suicide attacks in Lahore. 
Pakistan lodged a protest with coalition forces in Afghanistan on Thursday after two Pakistani women and two children were killed by US fire from across the border in North Waziristan, the army said, AFP reported.
The terrorist who carried out the attack at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem last week was sent to assassinate one of the yeshiva rabbis, the Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar reported Thursday. According to the report, based on Palestinian sources, the organization which sent the terrorist planned to assassinate one of the yeshiva heads, but after the shooter failed to find the rabbi, he opened fire at the students in the library. The rabbi's identity was not mentioned in the report. .JPG)
"Hezbollah is coming," mourners chanted at Thursday's funeral of a Palestinian militant killed by Israel, his body wrapped in the flag of the Lebanese guerrilla group. A Hezbollah flag, along with Hamas banners, also adorned the home of a Palestinian man who was killed after gunning down eight Israeli students at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem last week. A shadowy group Palestinian security officials say is a front for Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the rampage.
(Xinhua) -- 
