A section from the Times report on Powells presentation to the UN that caught my eye
Mr. Powell withheld some critical details today, like the discovery by the intelligence agencies that a member of the royal family in Qatar, an important ally providing air bases and a command headquarters for the American military, operated a safe house for Abu Mussab al Zarqawi when he transited the country going in and out of Afghanistan. If you look at a map, there are a few other countries that Zarqawi would have had to gone through or over to get from Afghanistan to Qater, the only question is did he go through Iran, or via Pakistan?
The Qatari royal family member was Abdul Karim al-Thani, the coalition official said. The official added that Mr. al-Thani provided Qatari passports and more than $1 million in a special bank account to finance the network. I bet there are similar charitable people in the Kuwaiti and UAE royal families, although i'm sure no Saudi would ever fund terrorist groups
Mr. al-Thani, who has no government position, is, according to officials in the gulf, a deeply religious member of the royal family who has provided charitable support for militant causes for years and has denied knowing that his contributions went toward terrorist operations. I wonder if this guy has anything to do with the coup
Private support from prominent Qataris to Al Qaeda is a sensitive issue that is said to infuriate George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence. After the Sept. 11 attacks, another senior Qaeda operative, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who may have been the principal planner of the assault on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, was said by Saudi intelligence officials to have spent two weeks in late 2001 hiding in Qatar, with the help of prominent patrons, after he escaped from Kuwait. Hopefully this will be dealt with after Iraq along with the Saudis
Posted by: Paul ||
02/06/2003 04:08 pm ||
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There was a report in November that we have a Bahraini royal in Guantanamo.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2003 18:44 Comments ||
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Seven people have been arrested by anti-terrorist officers following a series of raids in Scotland and England. The raids were carried out this morning on addresses in London, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Six men and one woman have been detained under the Terrorism Act 2000. Those arrested in England will be brought to Scotland and they will all be questioned at a secure location. Giggle juice and bagpipes
The raids were part of an operation by Lothian and Borders Police assisted by Greater Manchester Police, the anti-terrorist squad of the Metropolitan Police and Strathclyde Police. Lothian and Borders Police said two men were arrested in Edinburgh, one man was arrested in Greater Manchester, a man and woman were arrested in Glasgow and two men were arrested in London. Deputy Chief Constable Tom Wood, operations director of Lothian and Borders Police, said no dangerous substances had yet been discovered. He said: "This was a carefully co-ordinated operation which was executed successfully.
"Since this operation is connected to another matter which is presently 'active', under the Contempt of Court Act no further information can be given out at present." Cheers! Hey, Fred! Can you make a separate catagory for the UK? I hate filing them as Europe. It feels like a slur on them. Thanks.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/06/2003 04:01 pm ||
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Steve --- RE: "Giggle juice and bagpipes"
That really cracked me up! I can just see the detainee: "Please stop! The chanter is bad enough, but the drones are making my head explode at close range. Stop them and I will tell you everything!"
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/06/2003 10:19 Comments ||
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German prosecutors said on Thursday they were questioning three men suspected of planning extremist attacks in Germany and of supporting the al Qaeda cell in Hamburg which launched the September 11, 2001 attacks. Federal prosecutors based in Karlsruhe said in a statement they were questioning three men and searching six buildings, including the Islamic Center in the western town of Muenster and the Islamic Community building in central Minden. The prosecutors said two of the men were suspected of forming a group with the aim of launching attacks. The third man was suspected of supporting the group. All three were leading members of the Islamic centers in Minden and Muenster. Humm, my surprise meter must be still broken
"The searches carried out today serve the goal of finding further evidence about the existence, structure and objectives of the association and its integration in an international network of violent Islamic fundamentalists," the statement said.
The prosecutors said the group was suspected of considering attacks in Germany at the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2002, including on U.S. buildings in Frankfurt. "Two of the...accused are suspected of forming a group based in Minden and Muenster with other persons in order to commit attacks on the basis of an aggressive, militant Islamic fundamentalism," the statement said. Prosecutors also suspected one of the men had supported the al Qaeda cell based in Hamburg which is believed to have provided three of the suicide pilots in the September 11 attacks on the United States, but no evidence linked the group in Minden and Muenster to the attacks on New York and Washington.
Germany has been a focus of the investigation into the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon since it was discovered that three of the suicide hijackers had lived and studied for years in the northern port of Hamburg. The first trial anywhere of an alleged September 11 plotter is underway in Hamburg. Prosecutors Wednesday demanded the maximum possible jail term of 15 years for Mounir El Motassadeq, a Moroccan charged with helping the Hamburg al Qaeda cell. Five Algerian men are also on trial in Germany suspected of belonging to the al Qaeda network. Four of the five are charged with planning to bomb a Christmas market in Strasbourg, France. Well, at least Germany hasn't stopped this part of the war.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/06/2003 08:19 am ||
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Americans are really unhappy about Germanyâs and Franceâs refusal to approve the Iraq campaign Don't make us mad, you really won't like us when we're mad.
The Pentagon struck France out form the list of USAâs allies. The closer the war in Iraq is, the less patient the White House gets. American officials keep expressing their indignation about the stand of their NATO allies â Germany and France, first and foremost. This indignation is set out more and more often. Diplomatic decencies are not observed anymore â they do not pay any attention to them. The squabble between Washington on one part and Paris and Berlin on the other part get rougher and rougher. Let's play Hahhdball!
As UPI news agency reported, Richard Perle, an adviser to the Pentagon, released a very scandalous statement during his speech at a press briefing in New York. This statement will make the relations between the USA and France get even worse. Richard Perle claimed that France was no longer an ally of the United States and NATO. Now the alliance will have to elaborate a strategy to restrain the former ally, as if the alliance is going to fall apart over to the French negative attitude regarding Iraq. There is a simple strategy if one can extend the good Mr. Perle's remarks: France either gets back on the wagon or it can walk away. We really won't care which and it'll be the same as the sign says at the discount store: "all sales final."
Germanyâs position regarding the USAâs intentions about Iraq does not differ a lot from the one that France has. However, Perle only said that Germany's refusal to back the military operation in Iraq is nothing but a mistake, which was made by the discredited German chancellor. The French stand seems much more important to America, for French President Jacques Chirac is allegedly certain deep in his heart that Saddam Hussein is a lot better than any of his successors. We could allege a lot of things for certain about Jacques.
And we could wonder whether any of Mr. Chirac's successors would be better.
Perle claimed that France wants to diminish the USAâs role in the world with its position to denounce any military action that is not approved with a special resolution from the United Nations. Consistent with their foreign policy, France is scared of America's "hyperpower" status: it tends to make people notice that France, well, really doesn't matter much. Such perfidy must not be allowed to stand!
As a matter of fact, Richard Perle should have some experience of a psychoanalyst, not a Pentagon advisor, since he knows so much about the French president's heart. Being puerile serious, Perle formulated the idea, which has been wandering in the minds of the White House officials for long. If an international organization becomes an obstacle on the USAâs way to implement its plans, America will simply stop paying attention to it. To put it short, the United States will ignore it, even if this international organization is NATO. By George, I think they've got it! Sing it again, Liza!
It is not hard to understand the indignation of the White House. The alliance makes decisions on the joint basis, with the participation of its every member.
Except when Article V is invoked, in which case all the members who weren't attacked work in concert to defend contrain the U.S. one who was attacked.
If two countries (such respectable countries as France and Germany) say no to the war in Iraq, NATO will not be able to send its soldiers to the Persian Gulf. However, it seems that other membersâ opinion is not really relevant for the USA and Great Britain. "The r-a-a-in in Spa-a-in falls m-a-a-inly ..."
Washingtonâs attempts to make Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder support the war in Iraq were over with nothing. On the other hand, all other NATO members expressed their intention to back the military operation in Iraq. It is Paris and Berlin that undermine the picture of freedom-loving peopleâs unity against malicious Saddam. "... in the pl-a-a-in."
This way or other, but the Iraqi issue has become a big test for NATO. Time will show, what will happen to the alliance after this test ends. Most likely, the USA will manage to show it to everyone that alliance is nothing without the American support. The United States is likely to prove that it is too much for a NATO country member to have an opinion that differs from the one of Washington. More likely we'll show the other NATO countries that if you sign a treaty pledging to defend each other, and then ignore us and undermine us when we're attacked, then we'll show you the meaning of the word "perfidy."
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/06/2003 12:35 am ||
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From Mark Steyn's colum in the National Post:
...Meanwhile, the peacenik predisposition of the other Continentals is a useful cover for French ambition. Last year Paavo Lipponen, the Finnish Prime Minister, declared that "the EU must not develop into a military superpower but must become a great power that will not take up arms at any occasion in order to defend its own interests." This sounds insane. But, to France, it has a compelling logic. You can't beat the Americans on the battlefield, but you can tie them down limb by limb in the UN and other supranational bodies.
In other words, this is the war, this is the real battlefield, not the sands of Mesopotamia. And, on this terrain, Americans always lose. Either they win but get no credit, as in Afghanistan. Or they win a temporary constrained victory to be subverted by subsequent French machinations, as in the last Gulf War. This time round, who knows? But through it all France is admirably upfront in its unilateralism: It reserves the right to treat French Africa as its colonies, Middle Eastern dictators as its clients, the European Union as a Greater France and the UN as a kind of global condom to prevent the spread of Americanization. All this it does shamelessly and relatively effectively. It's time the rest of the West was so clear-sighted....
#2
We demand more proof, i.e., a "smoking gun" before we accept the fact that France is not our true-blue NATO ally....It is inconceivable that a member of NATO would do such a thing (well, they did walk out before, but that was DeGaulle, see)
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/06/2003 13:26 Comments ||
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Quite honestly if the French vote against or use their veto, then its time to take the 'ol buick (NATO) for a re-alignment. Even the Russians right now would make better allies. (Get them into NATO, what a thought) There's no reason to be so obstructionist about this, unless you don't want to lose billions in trade with Iraq, in which case you're putting your financial welfare ahead of your ally's personal welfare, in which case you're not really an ally are you.
On the other hand, if I may be permitted to venture, some of this may have to do with another topic: American support of Israel. Whenever I speak to normal Europeans (I personally don't know any other kind), they put increasing blame on Washington for the troubles in the land of the holy. I wonder how much of this has permeated into political circles in Europe.
#4
Don't write off France yet. There are now over 20 anti-jihad websites in France, including www.aipj.net, versus only a couple a year ago. Also a self-described "Resistance" has formed in Corsica, and have claimed least two bombings of Maghrebi targets. En garde, Abdullah!!!
MECHANICSBURG, Pa. â It was no surprise that President Bush, lacking smoking-gun evidence of Iraq's weapons programs, used his State of the Union address to re-emphasize the moral case for an invasion: "The dictator who is assembling the world's most dangerous weapons has already used them on whole villages, leaving thousands of his own citizens dead, blind or disfigured."
The accusation that Iraq has used chemical weapons against its citizens is a familiar part of the debate. The piece of hard evidence most frequently brought up concerns the gassing of Iraqi Kurds at the town of Halabja in March 1988, near the end of the eight-year Iran-Iraq war. President Bush himself has cited Iraq's "gassing its own people," specifically at Halabja, as a reason to topple Saddam Hussein.
But the truth is, all we know for certain is that Kurds were bombarded with poison gas that day at Halabja. We cannot say with any certainty that Iraqi chemical weapons killed the Kurds. This is not the only distortion in the Halabja story.
I am in a position to know because, as the Central Intelligence Agency's senior political analyst on Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war, and as a professor at the Army War College from 1988 to 2000, I was privy to much of the classified material that flowed through Washington having to do with the Persian Gulf. In addition, I headed a 1991 Army investigation into how the Iraqis would fight a war against the United States; the classified version of the report went into great detail on the Halabja affair.
This much about the gassing at Halabja we undoubtedly know: it came about in the course of a battle between Iraqis and Iranians. Iraq used chemical weapons to try to kill Iranians who had seized the town, which is in northern Iraq not far from the Iranian border. The Kurdish civilians who died had the misfortune to be caught up in that exchange. But they were not Iraq's main target.
And the story gets murkier: immediately after the battle the United States Defense Intelligence Agency investigated and produced a classified report, which it circulated within the intelligence community on a need-to-know basis. That study asserted that it was Iranian gas that killed the Kurds, not Iraqi gas.
The agency did find that each side used gas against the other in the battle around Halabja. The condition of the dead Kurds' bodies, however, indicated they had been killed with a blood agent â that is, a cyanide-based gas â which Iran was known to use. The Iraqis, who are thought to have used mustard gas in the battle, are not known to have possessed blood agents at the time.
These facts have long been in the public domain but, extraordinarily, as often as the Halabja affair is cited, they are rarely mentioned. A much-discussed article in The New Yorker last March did not make reference to the Defense Intelligence Agency report or consider that Iranian gas might have killed the Kurds. On the rare occasions the report is brought up, there is usually speculation, with no proof, that it was skewed out of American political favoritism toward Iraq in its war against Iran.
I am not trying to rehabilitate the character of Saddam Hussein. He has much to answer for in the area of human rights abuses. But accusing him of gassing his own people at Halabja as an act of genocide is not correct, because as far as the information we have goes, all of the cases where gas was used involved battles. These were tragedies of war. There may be justifications for invading Iraq, but Halabja is not one of them.
In fact, those who really feel that the disaster at Halabja has bearing on today might want to consider a different question: Why was Iran so keen on taking the town? A closer look may shed light on America's impetus to invade Iraq.
We are constantly reminded that Iraq has perhaps the world's largest reserves of oil. But in a regional and perhaps even geopolitical sense, it may be more important that Iraq has the most extensive river system in the Middle East. In addition to the Tigris and Euphrates, there are the Greater Zab and Lesser Zab rivers in the north of the country. Iraq was covered with irrigation works by the sixth century A.D., and was a granary for the region.
Before the Persian Gulf war, Iraq had built an impressive system of dams and river control projects, the largest being the Darbandikhan dam in the Kurdish area. And it was this dam the Iranians were aiming to take control of when they seized Halabja. In the 1990's there was much discussion over the construction of a so-called Peace Pipeline that would bring the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates south to the parched Gulf states and, by extension, Israel. No progress has been made on this, largely because of Iraqi intransigence. With Iraq in American hands, of course, all that could change.
Thus America could alter the destiny of the Middle East in a way that probably could not be challenged for decades â not solely by controlling Iraq's oil, but by controlling its water. Even if America didn't occupy the country, once Mr. Hussein's Baath Party is driven from power, many lucrative opportunities would open up for American companies.
All that is needed to get us into war is one clear reason for acting, one that would be generally persuasive. But efforts to link the Iraqis directly to Osama bin Laden have proved inconclusive. Assertions that Iraq threatens its neighbors have also failed to create much resolve; in its present debilitated condition â thanks to United Nations sanctions â Iraq's conventional forces threaten no one.
Perhaps the strongest argument left for taking us to war quickly is that Saddam Hussein has committed human rights atrocities against his people. And the most dramatic case are the accusations about Halabja.
Before we go to war over Halabja, the administration owes the American people the full facts. And if it has other examples of Saddam Hussein gassing Kurds, it must show that they were not pro-Iranian Kurdish guerrillas who died fighting alongside Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Until Washington gives us proof of Saddam Hussein's supposed atrocities, why are we picking on Iraq on human rights grounds, particularly when there are so many other repressive regimes Washington supports?
Stephen C. Pelletiere is author of "Iraq and the International Oil System: Why America Went to War in the Persian Gulf."
Posted by: Murat ||
02/06/2003 04:09 pm ||
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This article is a lie.
Gases that the Iraqis did have blood agents in March 1988 when Halabja was attacked! In mid-1983 Iraqis were using mustard, and in March 1984 with tabun (the first use ever of a nerve agent in war). Iraq began producing sarin in 1984. Iraq started production of VX in 1987-88.
The most detail survey of the medical effects was done by Professor Christine Gosden, a medical geneticist from Liverpool Uni. From looking at the health problems of those who were victims of the attacks on Halabja, her results show that mustard gas, sarin, tabun and VX were used in the attack.
Why would the Iranians attack a city that they held for 36 hours before the chemical weapons attacks and bombing their own units and key supporters for 48 hours.
Nor was Halabja the only city hit by Saddam in 1987 there are reports of attacks by Iraqi aircraft against several other Kurdish villages.
#2
Since a war was going on between Iran and Iraq at the time, and Halabja was near the front lines, exactly what happened at Halabja has some level of uncertainty.
However, Pelletiere and his supporters have consistently ignored the mountain of evidence that shows that after the war, Saddam used gas against the Kurds. Much of that evidence was compiled by NGOs -- who, as a group, aren't known for being members of the vast right-wing conspiracy. For example, note this article concerning the nerve gassing of the Kurdish village of Birjinni on August 25, 1988.
Posted by: Patrick Phillips ||
02/06/2003 8:12 Comments ||
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The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal has said that Jihad is the only way to rid Kashmiris of Indian occupation as negotiations and the UN resolutions have failed to give them the right to self-determination. The MMA organized a rally on the Kashmir Solidarity Day, which was taken out on Wednesday from Muhabat Khan Mosque and culminated at Kabuli Chowk with participants chanting anti-US and anti-India [slogans]. If the only tool you own is a hammer, a hammer's the tool you use...
Jamaat-i-Islami deputy chief Liaqat Baloch, Professor Mohammed Ibrahim, JUI leader Mufti Kafaitullah, Maulana Hamidul Haq Haqani, Shabir Ahmad Khan and others spoke to the participants at the Qisa Khwani Bazaar. ... waving their arms, spewing spittle, and calling on God to destroy all infidels, of course...
The rally also demanded of the government to lift ban from Jihadi organizations and allow people to cross the Line of Control and let them fight along with the Kashmiris against Indian forces. "Yes! We demand our right to rush across our borders and kill people in other countries! This is our God-given right!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/06/2003 07:30 pm ||
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Central Leader of Muttahida Mujlis-e-Amal and Naib [deputy] Amir Jamat-e-Islami, Professor Ghafoor Ahmed has reaffirmed that every Pakistani is shoulder to shoulder with the innocent people of Iraq, Palestine and Kashmir. That means they're opposed to us, in case you missed it...
He urged US to take on impartial conduct by preventing its visible and secret support to Israel and India, otherwise, he warned, that its name would cease to exist on the soil like Pharaoh. Professor Ghaffor said that innocent Muslims were being subjected to atrocities around the world specially in Kashmir and Palestine. India and Israel are the major hubs of terrorism in the world, while US is playing the roll of a guardian, he added. Got it. Quit supporting regimes with which we have something in common, like human freedom and dignity. Better to side with Pakistan or Paleostine, because... ummm... he said so.
MMA leader said that US must have to quit its ways so as to play due role in maintaining peace in the world. He said, days are not far way when Kashmir would secure independence and become component of Pakistan. "Just a few more beheadings, just a few more temples wiped out, and we'll have it!"
On the occasion, Dr. Mairaj-ul-Huda termed the possible US attack on Iraq as against of Muslims instead of terrorism. When we've conquered Iraq, there won't be any Muslims left there, will there?
Maulana Abdul Karim Abid of Jamiat Ulema Islam cautioned that US was hatching conspiracies against Pakistan. Hell, I've got six or seven of them going myself!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/06/2003 07:14 pm ||
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Some U.S. intelligence agencies believe that rogue elements of Syria's ruling elite have accepted millions of dollars in bribes in return for providing a safe haven for some of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, according to former and serving U.S. officials. Chemical and biological weapons were taken by truck to a Syrian munitions compound near a military base near Khan Abu Shamet, about 50 miles northeast of Damascus. The chief suspects in the operation are Bushra al Assad, the sister of Syrian President Bashar al Assad, and her husband Gen. Assaf Chawkat, the No. 2 in Syria's military intelligence organization, the Mukhabarat. Oh, bad girl, Bushra. Betcha Khan Abu Shamet's had its picture taken several times in the past month. It's that "Axis of Almost as Evil" thing...
The allegation that Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein was trying to hide suspected weapons of mass destruction in Syria was first made — somewhat hesitantly — on Dec. 23 by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The claim was repeated and firmed up by his foreign minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, last month. The IDF watches these guys even more closely than our guys do...
At a recent Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was questioned about reports that weapons of mass destruction had been moved around Christmastime from Iraq into Syria. Armitage replied: "I would say there's been a debate in the administration ... (in) the intelligence community ... I don't think we know the definitive. I've seen the report you referred to. And I've seen other reports. Now, I can't give you a level of credibility on other reports as to whether missiles are in other countries. Those countries whom we've approached with our suspicions have vehemently denied (them)." What're they going to say? "Yeah, Bushra took the money"?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/06/2003 09:02 pm ||
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Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was expected to sign deployment orders Thursday that would alert the USS Kitty Hawk and USS Nimitz to be prepared to move into the region on short notice. The Kitty Hawk is based in Japan, and the Nimitz is conducting exercises off San Diego, California. The Nimitz could be in striking distance of Iraq within a month, Pentagon officials said.
The departure of the Kitty Hawk from the Pacific region would not leave that area uncovered, the official said. Military planners would move the carrier USS Carl Vinson in the region as a precaution as tensions continue with North Korea, according to U.S. military officials. The Carl Vinson is in port at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The carriers requested for the region thus far are the USS Constellation, already in the Persian Gulf; USS Harry S. Truman, operating in the eastern Mediterranean Sea; USS Abraham Lincoln, now in the North Arabian Sea and returning to the Persian Gulf; and the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which is headed to the eastern Mediterranean.
The Nimitz is scheduled to replace the Abraham Lincoln, which was recalled to the Persian Gulf after wrapping up a tour supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, Navy officials said.
When the Abraham Lincoln finally leaves the Persian Gulf, the carrier and its support ships will have been deployed close to nine months, three months longer than a typical carrier group deployment. Anyone still think Bush hasn't made up his mind?
Posted by: Steve ||
02/06/2003 03:57 pm ||
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The Nimitz pulled out for exercises at 9AM or so this AM - watched it from my office window - the Stennis was in and out lately too, but I think they're staying put for a while since they were out for quite a while this fall/winter. The San Diego Bay traffic has been pretty busy the last month - tick tick tick is right....
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/06/2003 14:25 Comments ||
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Soldiers from a predominantly Welsh regiment are preparing to leave for Kuwait to spearhead a possible war on Iraq.
Ninety soldiers from First, The Queen's Dragoon Guards, have left their barracks in Catterick, North Yorkshire, for RAF Brize Norton. In the early hours of Friday, they will fly to Kuwait where they could be among the first UK troops involved in any attack on Iraq. The 600-strong regiment, commonly known as the Welsh Cavalry, specialises in scouting missions on the battlefield and may be in the front line. Welcome to the dance, lads.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/06/2003 03:58 pm ||
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Ah, the Welch -
(Henry the 5th, Act 3, scene 3)
King. How yet resolues the Gouernour of the Towne?
This is the latest Parle we will admit:
Therefore to our best mercy giue your selues,
Or like to men prowd of destruction,
Defie vs to our worst: for as I am a Souldier,
A Name that in my thoughts becomes me best;
If I begin the batt'rie once againe,
I will not leaue the halfe-atchieued Harflew,
Till in her ashes she lye buryed.
The Gates of Mercy shall be all shut vp,
And the flesh'd Souldier, rough and hard of heart,
In libertie of bloody hand, shall raunge
With Conscience wide as Hell, mowing like Grasse
Your fresh faire Virgins, and your flowring Infants.
What is it then to me, if impious Warre,
Arrayed in flames like to the Prince of Fiends,
Doe with his smyrcht complexion all fell feats,
Enlynckt to wast and desolation?
What is't to me, when you your selues are cause,
If your pure Maydens fall into the hand
Of hot and forcing Violation?
What Reyne can hold licentious Wickednesse,
When downe the Hill he holds his fierce Carriere?
We may as bootlesse spend our vaine Command
Vpon th' enraged Souldiers in their spoyle,
As send Precepts to the Leuiathan, to come ashore.
Therefore, you men of Harflew,
Take pitty of your Towne and of your People,
Whiles yet my Souldiers are in my Command,
Whiles yet the coole and temperate Wind of Grace
O're-blowes the filthy and contagious Clouds
Of headly Murther, Spoyle, and Villany.
If not: why in a moment looke to see
The blind and bloody Souldier, with foule hand
Desire the Locks of your shrill-shriking Daughters:
Your Fathers taken by the siluer Beards,
And their most reuerend Heads dasht to the Walls:
Your naked Infants spitted vpon Pykes,
Whiles the mad Mothers, with their howles confus'd,
Doe breake the Clouds; as did the Wiues of Iewry,
At Herods bloody-hunting slaughter-men.
What say you? Will you yeeld, and this auoyd?
Or guiltie in defence, be thus destroy'd.
After weeks of opposition from France and Germany, NATO tentatively agreed Thursday to start carrying out an American military plan to protect Turkey in case of a war on Iraq.
France and Germany or any other opponents have until Monday to raise objections, otherwise the military preparations will start automatically, NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson said. Got them boxed in, they would have to go on record as voting against it.
Diplomats said the planned measures include the deployment of AWAC surveillance planes, Patriot anti-missile systems, in-air refueling planes and NATO's anti-chemical, biological and nuclear weapons center. France, Germany and Belgium had held up the start of military planning requested by the United States for almost three weeks, arguing that it would send the wrong signal while U.N. efforts to avert a war continue. Three weasels
After a meeting of the 19 allies, Lord Robertson announced the agreement to use the so-called "silence procedure" in implementing the plan. The "silence procedure" usually signifies agreement has been reached, but allows governments to look at the fine points back home before ultimately signing off. I guess this is "diplospeak" for agreeing without having to go on record as agreeing.
"I'm confident we'll reach a decision early next week," he told reporters. He declined to give details of the proposed measures for the alliance to prepare for an Iraq war. Diplomats said some of the proposals originally put forward by Washington have been removed, notably planning for the alliance to play a peacekeeping role in a postwar Iraq. We don't want NATO peacekeeping troops, thank you.
However, officials said those elements could be added later.
Just before the decision was announced, Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel still signaled doubts. "It is premature to take a decision now already about the possible involvement of NATO in the Iraq crisis," Michel said in a statement. He added while he did not want "to reject that possibility out of hand ... the United Nations road must continue to be followed with the view to a diplomatic and peaceful solution."
Going into the special meeting of NATO's policy-setting North Atlantic Council, Belgian officials indicated their country and France and Germany would continue to push for a delay, despite Secretary of State Colin Powell's indictment of Iraq's arms programs at the United Nations on Wednesday. Turkey, the only NATO member bordering Iraq and a likely launching pad for military action against Baghdad, also has appealed to the alliance to begin planning to protect it against any Iraqi counterstrike. "If this is not done, then the credibility and deterrence of the military alliance will come to zero," Turkish Foreign Minister Yaser Yakis warned last weekend in Ankara. Yup
The three holdouts say they have no objections in principle to the proposals for protecting Turkey and other options set out by the United States, which include increased naval patrols in the Mediterranean and filling in for U.S. troops sent from the Balkans to the Persian Gulf. In a radio interview Thursday, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said France's view on war against Iraq was unchanged after Powell's speech, reiterating that "force can only be a last resort, but we do not exclude any possibility, including that of force." Trying to find a way out
Luxembourg, which had stood alongside the French, Germans and Belgians in opposing the start of planning, said Wednesday it would now back Turkey's appeal for NATO help. Luxembourg must have slipped their leash.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/06/2003 03:58 pm ||
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This is the dual path with negotiating with the Turkish parliament. Under Turkish law, the security council (military-dominated and pro-US) is the sole authority that must approve NATO actions, but non-NATO actions require approval by the Muslim-dominated parliament. The US is trying to find the cheapest path - either bribing the Turkish parliament, or bribing France and Germany and their puppet Belgium.
#2
BTW, I think US approval Tuesday night of the UN Resolution supporting the French intervention in the Ivory Coast was the quid pro quo for NATO approval here. Too bad we have to betray the Ivory Coastians to get support from our so-called "allies."
#3
Sounds as if the only thing saving the French hostages civilians from certain death is that the angry general populace is not armed. They gave away the store to the rebels
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/06/2003 14:21 Comments ||
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Turkey's parliament has agreed to allow the United States to upgrade Turkish military bases in preparation for a possible war with Iraq. Deputies passed a motion on Thursday authorising US personnel to start "renovation, development, construction, expansion and infrastructure work at military bases". YES! Let's get busy, the ships carrying the 4th ID from Fort Hood are on the way.
The BBC's correspondent in Istanbul, Jonny Dymond, says the vote is Turkey's first step on the road to war. A vote on allowing Turkish troops to be sent abroad and foreign troops to be stationed in Turkey is expected in about 10 days' time. Our correspondent says the Turkish Government resisted as long as it thought conflict could be averted. But before Thursday's vote Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said Turkey had no choice but to back Washington on Iraq. "We have to act together with our strategic partner and ally the United States for our national interests," the daily Milliyet quoted him as saying, echoing remarks by his party leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday.
The motion was passed by 308 votes to 93 with 9 abstentions. Not bad
It makes clear that Turkey regards itself as a victim of circumstances. Before the vote, Iraq's ambassador to Turkey, Talib Abid Saleh, warned that any state providing logistical support to the US would "be participating in the war. Iraq might lob missiles into Kuwait, but I don't think they will attack the Turkish bases. That would make the Turks unhappy, you don't want to do that.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/06/2003 03:59 pm ||
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Iraq is moving troops and artillery closer to its southern border with Kuwait and deploying them astride highways in preparation for U.S. attacks, according to military officers with access to the region. Iraqi forces also are increasing intelligence activities along the demilitarized border, sending tough-looking "civilians" to visit the area, the officers said. U.S. commanders, meanwhile, have dispatched crew-cut American "engineers" to the border, the officers said. Heh, heh
Most of the Iraqi troops look ragged, and some complain that they are eating only bread and are not being paid, said officers in the 32-nation U.N. Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission (UNIKOM), based on the border. "Some say their families were put under protective custody" to make sure they fight, said a UNIKOM officer who traveled recently on the Iraqi side of the 150-mile border. This ties in with the reports from the Turkish oil truckers on conditions in the north.
Tens of thousands of U.S. troops in Kuwait would use the oil-rich sheikdom of Kuwait as a springboard for a ground attack on Iraq if President Bush decides to invade.
U.S. military experts have long predicted that American troops would face little resistance from Iraq's ill-trained and poorly equipped regular army, largely stationed far from Baghdad. More formidable units, the Republican Guard and the Special Republic Guard, protect the capital, about 280 miles north of the border with Kuwait. UNIKOM officers who patrol the 9-mile-wide demilitarized zone, created after the 1991 Persian Gulf War, provided a firsthand independent look at war preparations and troop morale in the region. Real intel from professionals
"They are terrified," said one army captain, clad in a blue beret. "They won't surrender at the first shot. They will surrender when they hear the first American tank turn on its engine." After they shoot their officers who try to stop them.
Officers from four nations participating in UNIKOM said a few thousand Iraqi troops moved closer to the border in recent weeks and began digging trenches on either side of the three north-south roads in the region. Trenches again, they ain't learned from the last time.
Iraq also deployed six 105mm artillery pieces and several antiaircraft guns to bases surrounded by 15-foot-high sand berms on the northeast end of the border near the port of Umm Qasr, they said. Couldn't mark the target area any better if thet tried.
An army division based in the Iraqi city of Basra, 28 miles north of the border, has established a new combat command post near Umm Qasr, they added. Which will last about 30 seconds
All the officers asked for anonymity because of their U.N. assignments. OK, we won't tell if you don't.
Some Iraqi soldiers were armed with British pre-World War II machine guns, prompting speculation that they may be militiamen. Sounds like the poorest troops are being placed in the front line positions to act as a trip wire.
Iraqi troops mostly go unshaven and wear tattered uniforms, sometimes with sandals instead of boots. Some complain they have been paid only a half-month's salary in the last three months, the officers said. Soldiers have told visitors that they receive one pizzalike piece of bread at each meal and sometimes beg food from passing civilians and UNIKOM personnel. Drop food attached to those leaflets and watch them surrender
One UNIKOM officer said he had spotted two groups of suspected Iraqi soldiers in civilian clothes and vehicles cruising the DMZ in apparent intelligence-gathering missions. Four young Iraqi men are slowly building a house in the DMZ on high ground, where they can easily observe western Kuwait, the officer said. Some nights, what appears to be a radio antenna sprouts from the house. Someone will be paying them a visit at night, real soon.
Several groups of American civilians also have visited the DMZ recently, the officer added, "some with crew cuts and young enough to be my son, not the oil engineers they claim to be." Recon
UNIKOM officers said they had quietly advised their troops to be ready to evacuate the DMZ quickly in case of war and to watch UNIKOM's American members, because they might get advance warning. "But I don't think there will be much fighting here," one UNIKOM captain said during an interview in a coffee shop. "That waiter there looks more together than any soldier I have seen in southern Iraq." Sammy's keeping his hard boys close to Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/06/2003 03:59 pm ||
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Sounds like just like the last time. I know guys who were over there and they said half of the fodder didn't even have weapons.
#2
The Iraqi 'civilians' are making sure the 'Iraqi soldiers' don't surrender.
The US should put up a beacon on the Kuwaiti side of the border (away from the majority of our troops) and drop leaflets telling the Iraqi's to come to the beacon and surrender during the night. That way we can hopefully keep them from surrendering enmass, in front of our tanks.
The morale bonus of Iraqi's trickling out of the trenches will be terrible. It would be even worse when those same Iraqi's that escaped are talking into the radio to their buddies telling them to kill the officers and head for the border as well.
Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said yesterday that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government had done its utmost to avoid the need for a possible US-led operation against Iraq but that now it would do what the nationâs interests require. âTurkey will support the US in such an operation,â proclaimed Gul. âLast monthâs Istanbul summit to seek a peaceful solution to the Iraq issue was appreciated by the United States and European Union countries as well.â He also said that the government had continued its peace efforts at the Davos, Switzerland World Economic Forum and in a letter to US President George W. Bush, adding however that all these initiatives had fallen short and avenues to peace were now exhausted. âI believe that now only the Iraqi leadership has the power to head off such a war, specifically by cooperating with the United Nations weapons inspectors in good faith,â Gul stated. âNow we have to consider the nationâs interests, and these require our acting alongside the US in a possible war. For the sake of our national security, we canât be an onlooker to developments in our regional neighborhood.â He added that without Turkeyâs participation a Kurdish state could be founded in northern Iraq, a development which the nation is adamantly opposed to.
The Justice and Development Party (AKP)-led government yesterday presented a proposal to Parliament to authorize the US to deploy its troops at Turkeyâs airbases and ports in preparation for a war in Iraq. The proposal stressed that Turkey should pursue an Iraq policy that protects its own national interests. The government also proposed that US military officials be authorized to conduct upgrades at Turkish military facilities. Parliament is expected to discuss the proposals during closed sessions. They are meeting on this today.
British daily the Times of London yesterday reported that Turkish troops could patrol a sector of Iraq as part of a peacekeeping operation after a war and the expected ouster of President Saddam Hussein. According to the daily, Turkey has already proved its credentials in peacekeeping operations through its successful command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul, Afghanistan. âThe Americans are hoping that the promise of a role for Turkish troops in a postwar Iraq might persuade the Ankara Parliament to approve a US troop presence in Turkey,â added the Times. âThe involvement of Turkey in the US-led coalition is seen as one of the most important elements in the whole American strategy for Iraq, before, during and after a war. The Turkish Parliament is due to vote this week on whether to allow American troops to be based in Turkey for an attack on Iraq from the north, although there are indications the vote might be delayed.â The deployment of US troops is not scheduled to be voted on until Feb 18th, after the Feast of Sacrifice holiday.The NATO Council, a body comprised of 19 permanent national representatives to the alliance, is to hold an extraordinary session today to discuss the Iraq issue and possible ways of protecting Turkey in case of war. The council is expected to recommend swift completion of preparations aimed at ensuring Turkeyâs national security, including measures to send AWACS surveillance planes and Patriot missiles to the country. Germany and France, who are urging restraint in the push to war, had earlier blocked a vote on such measures. Turkey, a NATO charter member, is the only country in the alliance which borders Iraq, and NATO doctrine says that an attack against one member is an attack against all.
In the latest in a series of high-profile US visits on Turkeyâs role in a possible Iraq war, US Treasury Secretary John Taylor is due to arrive in Ankara today to discuss the possible economic fallout in Turkey of such a war. Prime Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday stated that Taylorâs visit carried great importance since he is expected to brief Turkish officials on Bush administration proposals designed to compensate for Turkeyâs losses. Taylor is today expected to meet with State Minister for the Economy Ali Babacan and Treasury Undersecretary Faik Oztrak, and tomorrow with Prime Minister Gul.
Just one day after the US presented the UN Security Council what it called proof of Iraqâs continuing weapons violations, Ankara is hosting a historic summit of Iraqi opposition leaders hoping to shape a post-Saddam Hussein future. The meeting brings together Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (IKDP) leader Jalal Talabani, Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) Sanan Ahmet Aga, and Nechirvan Barzani, the nephew of Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (IKDP) leader Massoud Barzani as well as prime minister of the so-called regional Kurdistan government. Joining them will be officials from Turkeyâs Foreign Ministry and General Staff Office, as well as US Ambassador to Turkey Robert Pearson and Zalmay Khalilzad, US President George W. Bushâs envoy to the Iraqi opposition. The Turkish officials are expected to convey a message to the Iraqi and US sides that Turkey would consider the establishment of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq a âcasus belli.â This being a bad thing.
Richard Perle, chairman of the Defense Policy Board, an important advisory panel to the Pentagon, yesterday said that the US launching an operation against Iraq without the benefit of Turkeyâs support was all but unthinkable. âTurkeyâs support for a US-led operation in Iraq is indispensable,â said Perle. âRegime change in Iraq will be beneficial not only for the US, but also for Turkey. Turkey and Iraq will then be able to improve their commercial ties.â A free people having more money to spend.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/06/2003 04:00 pm ||
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Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said on Thursday Iraq had not cooperated sufficiently on disarmament and that if it did not change tack, his next report to the United Nations would starkly reflect his frustrations. "What has not worked is for the Iraqi side either to present prohibited items for destruction or present evidence that they are finished," Blix told reporters after talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London.
"We hope at this late hour...that they will come to a positive response. If they do not do that, then our report next Friday will not be what we would like it to be."
Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, who have headed more than two months of weapons inspections in Iraq, will return to Baghdad at the weekend. The pair will then deliver a fresh report to the U.N. Security Council on February 14. Blair has suggested that date could be a deadline for war, saying this week that he would "make his judgments" then. Bye, bye, Sammy
Posted by: Steve ||
02/06/2003 04:00 pm ||
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"Gee, we should get this drawer here looked at. It sticks (unh) sometimes (unh) when...
Syria's ambassador to the United Nations on Thursday said the United States made up evidence allegedly showing Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Mikhail Wehbe was reacting to Wednesday's presentation to the U.N. Security Council by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. Wehbe said he didn't think Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and was blocking inspections. "The Iraqis stated many times that they don't have any kind of mass destruction weapons," Wehbe told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. Asked whether he thought evidence presented by the United States was made up, he replied: "Yes. The Iraqis themselves mentioned that. I have to believe what they (the Iraqis) said. Why not?" Because they're lowlife lying bastards?
According to Wehbe, only U.N. inspectors, and not U.S. officials, had authority to determine whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Asked why he thought the United States had made up the evidence shown by Powell, Wehbe said: "You have to ask the Americans why they are saying that." Syria, trying hard to make number two on our hit list.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/06/2003 04:07 pm ||
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Anything to the rumour floating about that Syria was storing some of Sammy's Stuff, or maybe providing the local "H" boys with bio or chem for attacks on Israel when sh-t hits the fan?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/06/2003 19:53 Comments ||
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Statement by the Foreign Ministers of Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia in response to the presentation by the United States Secretary of State to the United Nations Security Council concerning Iraq:
Earlier today, the United States presented compelling evidence to the United Nations Security Council detailing Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs, its active efforts to deceive UN inspectors, and its links to international terrorism.
Our countries understand the dangers posed by tyranny and the special responsibility of democracies to defend our shared values. The trans-Atlantic community, of which we are a part, must stand together to face the threat posed by the nexus of terrorism and dictators with weapons of mass destruction.
We have actively supported the international efforts to achieve a peaceful disarmament of Iraq. However, it has now become clear that Iraq is in material breach of U.N. Security Council Resolutions, including U.N. Resolution 1441, passed unanimously on November 8, 2002. As our governments said on the occasion of the NATO Summit in Prague: "We support the goal of the international community for full disarmament of Iraq as stipulated in the UN Security Council Resolution 1441. In the event of non-compliance with the terms of this resolution, we are prepared to contribute to an international coalition to enforce its provisions and the disarmament of Iraq."
The clear and present danger posed by the Saddam Hussein's regime requires a united response from the community of democracies. We call upon the U.N. Security Council to take the necessary and appropriate action in response to Iraq's continuing threat to international peace and security. Bravo! Welcome, Friends, we will remember.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/06/2003 04:02 pm ||
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The Romanian UN rep said more time was needed, but his Foreign Minister appears to have overruled him. Let's hope he gets yanked and someone more responsive to his own country is put in his place.
As foreign leaders weigh his detailed indictment of Iraq's arms programs, Secretary of State Colin Powell is trying to bolster congressional support for a possible war with Saddam Hussein. A senior White House official says the next 24 hours or so will be critical. During testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Powell planned to seek support for the Bush administration's view that weapons searches have about run their course and that Saddam is determined to defy U.N. inspectors and U.N. disarmament resolutions. Democrats, especially, are reluctant to endorse war with Iraq even while agreeing with the Bush administration that Baghdad has a record of years of defiance. Biden: "We're concerned."
Lieberman: "Saddam is evil, no doubt."
Kennedy: "He's been evil a long time."
Makulski: "But war is evil."
Feinstein: "War is always evil. Evil, evil, evil."
Boxer: "We can't endorse war."
Kerry: "The President has to do something. Just not war."
Durbin: "Because that would be evil."
Breaux: "We can't ignore the wishes of the American people."
Daschle: "I did that recently and see what happened?"
Kennedy: "That was evil, too."
[ghost of Paul Wellstone, muttering]: "Spineless rat bastards."
On the Republican side, Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, who was briefed at the White House in advance of Powell's presentation to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, said he thought the administration would give the United Nations about a ``two-week time frame'' to digest the material Powell offered. Jack Straw said eight days, but two weeks, okay.
Roberts is chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Among Democrats, Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia said there were enormous risks at play. ``But, faced with such a dangerous dictator who is building deadly weapons in defiance of international law, the price of inaction may simply be too great to bear.'' "Losing the next election over this? Now that would be evil."
But Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., said: ``The threshold for starting a war through unilateral military action should be very high. It should require the presence of an imminent threat, or a solid connection to al-Qaida. ``Secretary Powell asserted that there is such a solid connection today. But classified briefings here in the Senate have cast real doubts on this assertion. I am troubled by this inconsistency,'' Feingold said. And since it's classified, you won't have to make good on that assertion.
Another Republican leader, House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois, said Powell made clear that ``Saddam Hussein has a loaded gun pointed at the civilized world. It is time to take that loaded gun away from this evil tyrant.'' Hastert doesn't seem to have any trouble recognizing what's evil.
In Baghdad, Iraqi officials dismissed Powell's case as a collection of ``stunts,'' ``special effects'' and ``unknown sources'' aimed at undermining the work of U.N. arms inspectors in Iraq. This was reported as truth by the Al-Guardian.
As for U.S. allies, most believe more weapons inspections are necessary before any resort to force in Iraq, although French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, speaking after Powell's presentation of declassified intelligence, left open the use of force as an option. He also called for more inspections in Iraq. The French always leave things open.
A Bush administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said French President Jacques Chirac holds the key to whether President Bush will seek a new resolution from the Security Council to authorize force against Iraq. If Chirac insists on vetoing such a resolution, Bush will not seek one, the official said. That should do it.
But if Powell determines in the next 24 hours that a resolution can be adopted, the next step would be to determine what it might take to get a consensus. One option is adopting a deadline by which Saddam would have to comply, the official said. I thought we had one of those. And what's this nonsense about "what it might take?"
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said no timetable has been set for removing disarming Saddam and feeding him to the vultures. ``We'll see how people responded to the message'' Powell carried to the United Nations, Fleischer said. Bush watched a portion of the presentation with his assistant for national security, Condoleezza Rice, and other aides. In the coming days, the pace of phone calls between Bush and foreign leaders and between Powell and foreign ministers will increase, another official said. But at the end of the short period of consultation, ``there has to be a decision,'' the official added. Otherwise we'd look like, well, the French.
Although Bush has not made a decision to attack Iraq, the number of U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf region now stands at about 113,000, and it is expected to reach 150,000 by Feb. 15, a senior official said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity. Tick, tick, tick.
Rice, meanwhile, said on the ABC-TV ``Nightline'' program that ``the Iraqis have one thing to do, and that is to come completely and totally clean about the many, many different questions that have been asked of them, the many programs that have been exposed today.'' Methodically making his case that Iraq has defied all demands that it disarm, Powell presented tape recordings of intercepted telephone calls, satellite photos and informants' statements Wednesday that he said constituted ``irrefutable and undeniable'' evidence that Saddam Hussein was concealing weapons of mass destruction. Powell also detailed intelligence that purports to link Saddam to supporters of al-Qaida. Post-Sept. 11, the alleged links center on a Jordanian named Abu Mussab al Zarqawi, whom U.S. officials describe as affiliated with Osama bin Laden. Zarqawi fled left Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and has traveled to terrorist states Iran, Iraq and Syria. He spent two months in Baghdad last spring and summer receiving medical treatment, Powell said. Did we nick him?
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/06/2003 04:01 pm ||
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The Dems are trying to have it both ways - i.e.: Daschles' "concerns" about the threat to the U.S., yet "concerns" about whether we should do anything proactive about it. The ankle-biters are trying to set Bush up so that if it all goes well they were with him all along, and should something go badly (like the ineveitable attack on American soil, given enough time), they'll say "we told you so"
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/06/2003 9:14 Comments ||
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#2
DiFi is on board. Kennedy isnt. No surprises so far.
#3
Ted will never be on board. But he will be around later to pose in the victory picture and grab up all the credit he can, like the great liberal he is. I'm so proud that he's my senior senator.
More rantin' and ravin' from KCNA
Pyongyang, February 5 (KCNA) -- The U.S. imperialists should drop their moves to stifle the DPRK by force of arms, mindful that their bid is a daydream that can not be realized any time, says Rodong Sinmun today in a signed article. It goes on:
It is by the U.S. that the DPRK was compelled to withdraw from the NPT.
Since the emergence of the Bush administration, the U.S. imperialists have been more frenzied in the moves to stifle the DPRK. We LOVED Clinton and Carter. Can they be president again? They designated it as part of an "axis of evil" and a target of preemptive nuclear attacks.That's tough.Pyongyang. What else is worth nuking in that shithole? Recently they clamoured for "tailored containment" and "military sanctions" upon the DPRK under the pretext of the "nuclear issue."
But it is a big miscalculation to think that the DPRK may be frightened by some military threat or pressure, "blockade" or "sanctions."
The U.S. imperialists should not run amuck, mindful of who is their opponent. I believe Americans "run amuck". S. Koreans and Japanese "go reckless".
The DPRK Government's decision to withdraw from the NPT is revelation of the firm faith and will of its army and people to smash the U.S. imperialists' anti-DPRK campaign with the toughest stance and safeguard the sovereignty and security of the country.
We have invincible might enough to defeat any formidable enemy who encroaches upon our sovereignty and security. More tree bark? Want some moss on it?
Hamas leader: group is ready to take over from Arafat
Hamas is prepared to assume leadership of the Palestinian people, a senior Hamas official said Thursday, a rare expression of the goal of the violent Islamic movement, while five Palestinians, another Arab and two soldiers were killed in clashes.
Mahmoud Zahar, a leader of the Hamas political wing, told The Associated Press that his group is "absolutely" prepared to lead the Palestinian people now. He said Hamas has the infrastructure to take over leadership "politically, financially (and) socially."
Hamas has been responsible for dozens of suicide bombing attacks against Israelis during 28 months of fighting. As a matter of Islamic principle, Hamas does not recognize the existence of a Jewish state in the Middle East, opposing Arafat's policy of creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Hamas has avoided direct conflicts with Arafat's regime up to now, though from time to time, clashes between the rival groups have erupted.
[...]
Zahar said the Hamas takeover would come through elections, not a military operation. Palestinians had elections scheduled for Jan. 20 but postponed them because Israeli troops are in control of most of the West Bank population centers.
Reflecting Hamas policy, Zahar said the armed conflict with Israel would continue. Egypt has been trying to obtain a declaration from rival Palestinian factions to stop attacks on Israeli civilians, but Hamas has refused, torpedoing the efforts.
Ziad Abu Amr, a Palestinian legislator from Arafat's Fatah movement, said Hamas leaders rarely state the takeover goal in public, but it is clearly their intention. "They want to mold things according to their vision," he said. "All along they presented themselves as an alternative, but they want to do it peacefully."
#4
A great choice for the Palestinian People: Corrupt and Nutcases, or just plain Hard-Core Nutcases...yes, they need a viable no. 3 alternative if they ever are going to get anywhere...hope they find one soon...
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/06/2003 20:05 Comments ||
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FLORENCE, Colo. â A man sentenced to a life term for trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoe has arrived at the Supermax federal prison near here.
Richard C. Reid was sentenced last week in Boston after pleading guilty to eight charges including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. Reid, a British citizen who said he was a member of Al Qaeda, tried to light the explosives on a Paris-to-Miami American Airlines flight Dec. 22, 2001. Passengers and crew members overpowered him. Pueblo Memorial Airport manager John O'Neal said the airport was closed briefly to other air traffic when Reid arrived Tuesday, escorted by U.S. Marshals. A prison spokeswoman confirmed his arrival.
The high security prison has housed Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind Ramzi Yousef. Good riddance
Posted by: Steve ||
02/06/2003 01:28 pm ||
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Put the worthless little shite into general pop. I have bets on how long he lasts...
New York state has banned its prison system's one-time head Islamic chaplain from further prison visits after a published report quoted him as saying even Muslims opposed to terrorism "admire and applaud" the Sept. 11th terrorists.
Warith Deen Umar, 58, who retired from his $67,919-a-year prison job in 2000, won't be allowed in the system he has tried to visit at least three or four times, state prisons spokesman James Flateau said Thursday.
"The comments that he has made since leaving our employ are nothing short of reprehensible, disgusting and rejected by virtually all Americans regardless of race, creed or color," Flateau said. "There is no room in this prison system for anyone who expresses those kinds of viewpoints. So yesterday, the commissioner [Glenn Goord] ordered that he be barred from ever entering a correctional facility again for any purposes."
Umar's comments were reported in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal. Umar was quoted as saying the United States risks further attacks because it oppresses Muslims around the world.
"Even Muslims who say they are against terrorism secretly admire and applaud" the World Trade Center's destruction, the Journal reported, quoting an unpublished memoir written by Umar.
Through a spokeswoman at his home in Glenmont, Albany County, Umar declined immediate comment. Umar told the Journal that the Koran holy book doesn't condemn terrorism against oppressors of Muslims, even if it results in the deaths of innocent people.
"This is the sort of teaching they don't want in prison," the Journal reported Umar saying. "But this is what I'm doing."
The New York Post first reported Umar's ban from prisons in Thursday's editions. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the state has tried to fire two other imams or Islamic prayer leaders for pro-terrorist comments, Flateau said. One was dismissed and another imam appealed and was instead suspended for 90 days then retired shortly after.
In March, chaplain Sufwan El Hadi was fired for comments to inmates and staff at the Cape Vincent Correctional Facility on Sept. 11, 2001. The imam appeared to suggest that sins by the victims caused the attacks. His dismissal was upheld by an arbiter. "We are not going to put up with insensitive comments or racist remarks from anyone," Flateau said.
When Umar retired after 25 years on the state payroll, the state Department of Correctional Services changed the process of hiring Islamic prayer leaders. Previously, Umar hired them through an Islamic organization he ran from his home. Now Islamic leaders from several centers statewide have a hand in hiring, Flateau said. There are now 40 Muslim chaplains on the state payroll in the prison system serving 9,862 Muslim inmates, or about 15 percent of the prison population. Many of them were hired by Umar, but Flateau said no action is being taken against those chaplains and no special monitoring of their activities will occur. Flateau said it would be a "dangerous philosophy" to assume they shared Umar's "extremist views." And I think it's dangerous to assume that they don't.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/06/2003 01:21 pm ||
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When Umar retired after 25 years on the state payroll, the state Department of Correctional Services changed the process of hiring Islamic prayer leaders. Previously, Umar hired them through an Islamic organization he ran from his home.
A Muslim hackmaster in charge of handing out state jobs. Nice racket, like a Muslim Tammany Hall...
A group of three Saudis and three Moroccans, currently standing trial at the Casablanca court of appeal denied on Tuesday that they are members of Al Qaeda group. "Nope, not us, never heard of them"
One of the defendants, Zouhair Tabiti, however, conceded that he met Usama Ben Laden in Afghanistan in 2000 but denied that he bought chemical products to make explosive devices. "OK, well, yes, I met him, but we were just friends"
In Tuesday's session that heard accounts of the defendants, two of the three Moroccan suspects said they had business relations with the Saudis, while a third one said his relations with Zouhair Tabiti is only part of "religious affinities and solidarity with a Muslim facing a financial crisis." "I ran out of money, and needed a loan to buy explosi.., I mean a birthday present for my wives"
The trial was opened last October 28 after the group was arrested last June and accused of preparing terrorist acts in Morocco and against western ships crossing the Gibraltar strait.
The Moroccan interior ministry announced that the Al Qaeda cell infiltrated Morocco to prepare terrorist acts inside Morocco and against western ships crossing the strait of Gibraltar. And a nice catch it was.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/06/2003 11:20 am ||
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The man does good work...and this would probably get them on board.
2003-02-05) -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, at the eleventh hour, has altered his presentation to the U.N. Security Council to try to satisfy the concerns of Congressional Democrats, as well as U.S. critics elsewhere in the world.
Previously, Mr. Powell planned to show images and documents demonstrating that the Iraqi government has weapons of mass destruction and is deliberately deceiving U.N. inspectors.
However, the White House has become convinced that even with such evidence, the U.N. and Democrats in Congress will still oppose action to disarm Saddam Hussein.
So, instead, Mr. Powell will present the following accusations against Iraq:
--Saddam Hussein personally owns guns, and uses them.
--Iraq produces oil, the combustion of which will doom the planet to a second ice age.
--Saddam supports the death penalty and uses it.
--Some Iraqis, including government officials, drive Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV).
--Saddam believes Iraq is better than other countries.
--Saddam is decisive, often seeing issues in black-or-white terms, rather than countless shades of grey.
--Many Iraqis are meat eaters.
--Many Iraqis are "pro-life," opposing abortion.
A few Democrats who have previewed the script for the presentation expressed outrage at Iraq, and wondered why President Bush has not previously gone public with this "damning evidence."
"We are ready to authorize the use of overwhelming force," said one unnamed Senate Democrat. "This crazed dictator must be stopped before his ideas spread throughout the region."
#1
Here's a way to liven up the party this weekend:
Ask an anti-war liberal if they believed Sec. of State Powell's presentation made a case for war.
If they respond no, throw a drink in their face and accuse them of being a racist! Insist that they'd be for war if Powell were white! The more they deny being a racist, the more adament you become, saying they don't like Condi either and think she too is a liar because she's both a woman and black! Denounce them for disliking VP Cheney because his daughter is a lesbian! Say the President's "Latina" sister-in-law is the real source of their animus towards Bush.
Claim that you are outraged! offended!! and "feeling uncomfortable"!!!
In short, give 'em a dose of their own liberal debating skills, then throw up and pass out.
Geography quiz time!
The government of the Central African Republic has sent troops from its Congolese allies to stop a rebel advance on the CAR's second largest military base. Some 1,000 troops from the Congolese rebel group, the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), have recently arrived in the CAR capital, Bangui. Question #1: where the heck is this place? And don't cheat because the link has a map.
The BBC's Joseph Benamse in Bangui says that some of these have already been sent to the base at Bouar, while others are preparing to go to Bozoum, which rebels loyal to former army chief Francois Bozize recently recaptured. Question #2: True or false: Every city in the Central African Republic has a name that begins with a 'B'.
President Ange-Felix Patasse has meanwhile repeated a call for former colonial power France to send troops into CAR, as it has done in the Ivory Coast conflict. If you look at the photo of this guy at the link, he's got the pasty, worried look of a dictator whose time is about to arrive.
Rebels control some 70% of CAR territory and our correspondent says that supplies of the staple food, cassava, are running low in Bangui as most of the agricultural areas are in rebel hands. Question #3: what the heck is cassava, and just how hungry do you have to be to eat it?
He also says that residents of the capital are worried about their relatives, as they cannot travel to rebel-controlled areas.
Mr Patasse had said that the MLC troops backing him up would be withdrawn after they were accused of killing, raping and looting by Bangui residents when putting down a rebel attack near the capital last year. Question #4: True or false: having your allies' troops kill, rape and loot is a good way to keep the civilian population on your side.
But he wants French troops to hold back the rebel advance, as they have done in Ivory Coast. "There are French soldiers in Ivory Coast. So why not CAR? It's discrimination... I am asking that France send us soldiers, too," he said. This only works when Al Sharpton does it.
France has previously intervened in several CAR conflicts but its last troops left Bangui in 1998. In a bid to calm tensions, Mr Bozize has been granted exile in France, together, reportedly, with the former CAR President, Andre Kolingba. Perhaps Mr. Patasse will be joining them shortly.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/06/2003 01:19 am ||
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#1
The French have been in and out of there over the years, as have the Libyans. Under the Emperor, cannibal feasts were not uncommon at the palace.
Isn't Central Africa just a lovely freakin' place?
#3
Personally I would love to see the French get involved and help out with some of the heavy lifting in the world. Europe can handle all of Africa if they want.
#5
Emperor "Freddy"? His name was Bokassa. Apparently it's not just the towns of the C.A.R. that always begin with B.
The place was known as Ubangi-Shari (spelling may differ) before independence, when it was a French colony. The Ubangi tribe was once famous for its women's jewelry. You've probably seen pictures. They wore (still wear?) multiple metal rings around their necks and add more from time to time until their necks were stretched so far that they couldn't hold their heads up without the rings.
The C.A.R. is kind of wrapped around the northwest corner of the Congo. (The big Congo that was once known as Zaire, not the other Congo.) I think it's also the next country south of Chad.
No, I didn't have to look any of that up. I'm a geography buff from way back.
Posted by: Dr. Weevil ||
02/06/2003 20:55 Comments ||
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#6
I remember - their necks were supported by intricate systems of added gold rings, yet they couldn't figure that a simple bra would keep their breasts off their knees, right?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/06/2003 22:31 Comments ||
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North Korea has warned the United States that any decision to send more troops to the Korean peninsular could lead it to make a pre-emptive attack on American forces. Bluffing, classic sign of weakness.
US officials said on Tuesday that Washington was considering strengthening its military forces in the Pacific Ocean as a deterrent against North Korea. They said the reinforcements would help signal that a possible war with Iraq was not distracting the US from a nuclear stand-off with the North. Quiet prudence, classic sign of strength.
North Korea said on Wednesday that it had reactivated its nuclear facilities and their operations were now going ahead "on a normal footing". There is nothing that is "normal" in that God-forsaken land.
Pyongyang says it will use the facilities to produce electricity "at the present stage". However, the US and nuclear experts say the Yongbyon reactor, which has been mothballed since 1994, is too small to generate meaningful amounts of electricity. According to Steve DenBeste, it produces as much electricity as a large, modern diesel locomotive. We ought to call the NKors on this, and offer them an old Santa Fe hauler. We'd be happy to, er, "drop" it off.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/06/2003 04:01 pm ||
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This engineer has heard 5 megawatts before and agrees that we should call their bluff. Truck a 5 megawatt generator to the DMZ along with a year's worth of fuel and say "take it to replace the nuclear unit, or you're toast".
Posted by: Tom ||
02/06/2003 10:58 Comments ||
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They make stand-alone mini-turbine generators these days (about the size of a home refrigerator) that run on pretty much anything flammable and produce 30KW each.
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.
