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UK Quran protests at U.S. Embassy
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
4 00:00 Phil Fraering [] 
17 00:00 Old Patriot [1] 
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48 00:00 Get Real [1] 
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 4: Opinion
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Caribbean-Latin America
Colombia Rebels Kill at Least 13 Officers
Colombian rebels ambushed a police convoy and fought government forces along the border with Ecuador in separate attacks Thursday, killing at least 13 police, authorities said. The latest violence came as the air force announced Thursday that its warplanes had bombed a column of leftist guerrillas trudging through southern jungles over the weekend, killing at least 16 insurgents. The convoy was traveling on a remote jungle road in Choco state, a strategic corridor for arms and drug trafficking through Panama, when hit with a hail of gunfire and explosions, said Choco Deputy Governor Freddy Lloreda. Lloreda blamed the attack on guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which has been battling to topple the government here for 40 years. The group funds itself through drug trafficking, kidnapping and extortion. At least 10 police were killed and three wounded in the ambush near Tado, some 220 miles northwest of Bogota, Lloreda said. Only three police survived.

Elsewhere, FARC rebels killed three police officers in fighting along the border with Ecuador. A police unit, responding to explosions they heard along an oil pipeline near the border town of San Miguel, encountered FARC rebels and two hours of combat ensued, said Capt. Carlos Insuasti, police spokesman for the region. He said two other police officers were seriously injured, while the FARC rebels escaped without casualties.
Posted by: Fred || 05/20/2005 00:47 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Kulayev Pleads Not Guilty
The man accused over the Beslan school raid in southern Russia that killed more than 330 people has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
"Nope. Nope. Wudn't me."
Nur-Pashi Kulayev, the sole defendant in the trial, is accused of terrorism and murder. More than 1,200 hostages were held in a sweltering gymnasium at the Beslan school by over 30 heavily armed militants. The raid ended in a maelstrom of explosions, gunfire and frightened, bloodied children fleeing the mayhem. More than half those who died were children. Officials say 31 of the militants were killed either during or after the final day of fighting. At the trial, Judge Tamerlan Aguzarov asked Kulayev if he wanted to plead guilty to any of the charges. Kulayev said "no".
Just hang him now.
The plea came after prosecutors spent nearly two days reading the lengthy indictment and listing the victims of the raid last year's at Beslan's School No. 1 and the injuries they suffered. In television footage last year, Kulayev was shown confessing to participating in the raid, but said he personally did not kill anyone.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
If convicted, Kulayev could get up to life in prison.
A shot to the back of the head would be appropriate.
I have no doubt that someone in Russia remembers how to do this.
Posted by: Fred || 05/20/2005 01:07 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
US Split On North Korean Food Aid
Posted by: Pheresing Greter5645 || 05/20/2005 14:51 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Last year, 50,000 metric tons of American food were sent to North Korea..."
We are out of our minds.
Posted by: Tom || 05/20/2005 15:00 Comments || Top||

#2  As a Marine friend of mine once said, "Feed 'em lead"...
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/20/2005 15:03 Comments || Top||

#3  i say f-em! Any money or food we send over means Kimmie-boy can

A) spend that much more on his military (read: ON KILLING AMERICANS and South Koreans) and

B) allows kimmie to appear as 'the Savior' as he repackages any food as being 'from Kim' and/or give the food to his lackeys / thugs / military.

As much as I would like to help the North Korean 'people' anything we send will be rerouted to his military. Hell we may as well start sending food to Al-Q, Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, NBC, the DNC, and everyone else who would like to see us destroyed.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/20/2005 15:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Dropping 50,000 metric tons on the DNC might be effective...
Posted by: Tom || 05/20/2005 15:20 Comments || Top||

#5  Send them a freighter filled with White Castles.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 05/20/2005 15:32 Comments || Top||

#6  We fight one hell of nasty war with them. Roundly trounce their butts until the Chinese get hands on. Then we slowly work our way to the point where we've been providing aid to prop the regime up and can't seem to stop it. All the while they growl and bear rotten teeth to us like a vicious little animal whose back's against the wall. Then they go all out to learn how to make nukes and long-range missles. Why is it again that we provide them food aid and what has been the benefit derived?
Posted by: Tkat || 05/20/2005 15:41 Comments || Top||

#7  Any money or food we send over means Kimmie-boy can..

Exactly. Once the food aid gets past the dock onto NKor mother soil, the donors no longer have any control over it.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 05/20/2005 16:43 Comments || Top||

#8  North Koreas Army of Starved Soldiers

A decade of famine in North Korea, which has killed about ten percent of the population, has also stunted a generation physically and mentally. Until a few years ago, the North Korean army rejected any young man who was not at least five feet three inches tall. No more. Visitors to the north note that more and more of the young soldiers they see appear to be the size of children (under five feet tall.)
Posted by: john || 05/20/2005 16:48 Comments || Top||

#9  The Giant Leap Backwards. Redux. II.

It's just simply amazing to me that anyone can suggest support, of any kind, for regimes such as NKor, Zimbob, etc. - and be serious about it.

Their personal guilt trips should remain personal affairs - not involving my tax dollars. I heard it referred to as The Kennedy Syndrome, somewhere back awhile ago. That certainly seems to fit - and there's little doubt it's an integral part of the Moonbat psyche. PEST and BDS don't begin to cover the range of the malady. I figure someday there will be an entire psychological school of thought dedicated to studying this misanthropic behavior.
Posted by: .com || 05/20/2005 17:07 Comments || Top||

#10  Food Aid is effective and important when provided to non-kleptocracies and countries that suffer specific catastrophes. Pumping economic aid into a tyranny is akin to providing a skid row bum with a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon.
Posted by: Super Hose || 05/20/2005 17:51 Comments || Top||

#11  Hey! I'm under 5' tall!
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/20/2005 18:09 Comments || Top||

#12  And I hear no suggestions about subsidizing me, even though I am definitely not a totalitarian kleptocracy. So I don't see why North Korea should get anything.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/20/2005 18:12 Comments || Top||

#13 
US Split On North Korean Food Aid
Yeah, that's a tough call.

Should we give them NOTHING?

Or less than that?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/20/2005 19:16 Comments || Top||

#14  Well, according to the Wall Street Journal (dead tree edition), we ARE giving them nothing. :)
Posted by: Edward Yee || 05/20/2005 19:20 Comments || Top||

#15  TW,
Then you can still see the top of Kimmie's head in heels (his, not yours).
Posted by: ed || 05/20/2005 19:24 Comments || Top||

#16  Well, I'm not going to dance with him, not even for the sake of peace in the region.

But I will weep quietly for the nation he torments, even as I agree with all of you that under no circumstances should we subsidize his evil.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/20/2005 20:25 Comments || Top||

#17  There is one effective, sure way to totally destroy the North Korean army. Grade the area on this side of the DMZ and build every type of fast-food restaurant that exists. Build huge fans south of there, pointing north. Have them all start cooking, and turn on the fans. I'd be willing to bet on 50,000 desertions a day until there's nothing left.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 05/20/2005 21:43 Comments || Top||


Europe
UK Quran protests at U.S. Embassy
LONDON, England (CNN) -- About 100 people have been taking part in a noisy protest over the alleged desecration of the Quran outside the U.S. Embassy in London. The protesters chanted "Death, death to the USA," "USA watch your back, Osama is coming back" and other anti-American slogans.

Many in the crowd covered their faces with scarves, the Press Association reported.
Musta been cold in London in late May ...
Al Jizz claims it is 200 people ... goes on to say:

More than 200 people have gathered outside the US embassy in the London to demonstrate against what they call systematic and institutionalised abuse of the Quran.

Muslim and non-Muslim groups alike heard former Guantanamo Bay detainee Martin Mubanga on Friday talk about frequent instances of disrespect for Islam's holy book during his time at the US prison camp. "The soldiers thought I was a dangerous man, a martial artist, so they liked to beat me to a pulp, which they did routinely fight me," the former prisoner said. Released in January, Mubanga was held in Camp Delta's Charlie Block for more than two years.

"This was one of the methods they used, throwing the Quran, my Quran, on the floor in my cell. This was in the first month at Camp Delta, but it is not something that stopped, rather continued and increased," Mubanga said.
Oooh! They threw it on the floor not the bed...oooh!
He's a real tough boy now in front of a crowd, isn't he.
Posted by: 3dc || 05/20/2005 12:10 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Marine guards have M-16s, don't they?
Posted by: Mike || 05/20/2005 12:26 Comments || Top||

#2  "USA watch your back, Osama is coming back"

Wow, that even rhymes. Very impressive.
Posted by: Xbalanke || 05/20/2005 12:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Cowards hide their faces. Nothing more needs to be noted.
Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom || 05/20/2005 12:45 Comments || Top||

#4  They keep protesting about "desecration of the Koran", and I'll have to show them desecration!

Posted by: Robert Crawford || 05/20/2005 12:49 Comments || Top||

#5  Hmmmmmm. We have this long story from The Observer in February...

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1406987,00.html

about Mr. Mubanga's internment at Guantanamo and not once does the subject of the dreaded Koran abuse come up. He is however a helluva poet...
Dem labelled me a
terrorist
Calling me a thug.
Dem labelled me a terrorist
Calling me a slug... But I never did join bin Laden's crew anyway And now me know to be a Muslim is a hard core ting...
And I got no love for the American government
Dey can go suck and I don't mean peppermint.
Now hear da bombs drop
As de Muslim babies, dem a die,
Now hear de bombs drop
As de Muslim mothers dem a cry
Now hear de bombs drop
As de Muslim soldiers dem a fly
Why? Because dey no want fe die.

Is that State Poet of New Jersey job still open?
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/20/2005 13:03 Comments || Top||

#6  I wish they would .... off to where they came from.
Posted by: Shistos Shistadogloo || 05/20/2005 13:31 Comments || Top||

#7  More than 200 people have gathered outside the US embassy in the London to demonstrate against what they call systematic and institutionalised abuse of the Quran.

Even if "systematic and institutionalised abuse of the Quran" had happened (which it didn't), it seems it was an isolated event (like Abu Gharib). So I guess using their logic, 200 protestors represents the highest form of "systematic and instituionalised" moonbattery, eh? Lock and load, boyz! Headin' for European heartland now, are we?
Posted by: BA || 05/20/2005 14:20 Comments || Top||

#8  Here's more at at this link
Posted by: ex-lib || 05/20/2005 15:29 Comments || Top||

#9  About 100 people have been taking part in a noisy protest over the alleged desecration of the Quran outside the U.S. Embassy in London.

Translation: "We Muslims are stupid enough to believe all the negative stuff we hear, regardless of who says it and regardless of whether they have any credibility or not."

Many in the crowd covered their faces with scarves, the Press Association reported.

Hah, what a bunch of phuquing cowards. Even the protest-happy leftoids here in the U.S. don't do that.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 05/20/2005 15:45 Comments || Top||

#10  Are there no fire hoses?...
Posted by: mojo || 05/20/2005 15:48 Comments || Top||

#11  All we have to do is put up a barricade of korans around the embassy and the respect of the mooselimbs for their sacred text will prevent them from crossing the force field. If only they had known about the powers of Allan's word at the Iranian embassy.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 05/20/2005 16:18 Comments || Top||

#12  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Get Real TROLL || 05/20/2005 17:47 Comments || Top||

#13  Hate hate hate, your all as bad as each other

Oh no! It's those big, bad, mean and nasty Americans!
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 05/20/2005 18:07 Comments || Top||

#14  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Get Real TROLL || 05/20/2005 18:13 Comments || Top||

#15  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Get Real TROLL || 05/20/2005 18:15 Comments || Top||

#16  Has it really left? Hooray! Tea and little cakes (or something stronger for those of you who prefer it) to celebrate!
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/20/2005 18:17 Comments || Top||

#17  Is there a gas leak or something?
Posted by: Pappy || 05/20/2005 18:43 Comments || Top||

#18  How many Qurans were burnt or destroyed in the World Trade Center?

I won't even go into Bibles here...
Posted by: True German Ally || 05/20/2005 19:16 Comments || Top||

#19  No, Get Real,
If anyone is shipped off to an Island with Islamists, it will be the likes of you who are too chickenshit to defend yourselves and your families. Let's see how long you, with your kumbaya delusions, can keep your head attached and your nine year old daughter's virginity intact in the face of those who worship Mohammed.
Posted by: ed || 05/20/2005 19:32 Comments || Top||

#20  is teh korran menshen anythin bout idolatry?
Posted by: muck4doo || 05/20/2005 19:58 Comments || Top||

#21  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Get Real TROLL || 05/20/2005 20:05 Comments || Top||

#22  Get Real,
I've done my time overseas in Korea and Okinawa, though in the 70's. You can be assured I checked about re-upping after Sept. 11, but the armed forces don't want an old non-lifer like me.

If you are American, what have you ever done defend her? Did you sympathize with Osama bin Laden and thought "Hey, he has his points, though I could never be so crude about it". At what point will you defend yourself, your family, your country? Or are you one of those despised extasy loving, birkenstock wearing, Chardonnay sipping, relying on your betters to defend you, pacifist pussies?

If you are a smug European, then you will soon have your chance to fight the muslims in your homeland. I have bad news for you. The slaughter of WW2 will look like a skirmish and there are a lot of reinforcements just to the south. I suggest you train, prepare, and read up on the muslim campaigns of conquest, such as occurred in Afghanistan/India in the 1200's. If you are too smug or lazy for it, read up on the fate of present day Christians in southern Sudan. That is your "I won't fight them" fate.
Posted by: ed || 05/20/2005 20:47 Comments || Top||

#23  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Get Real TROLL || 05/20/2005 21:01 Comments || Top||

#24  get real - your attempts at relevance sound like bleating, get help
Posted by: Frank G || 05/20/2005 21:12 Comments || Top||

#25  soon you'll be a muslim, get real, people like you are pushovers not like the americans. we're going to make you one of us. all of you.
Posted by: Mahmoud || 05/20/2005 21:16 Comments || Top||

#26  Here is an article (not a complete list) talking about seven congressmen with children serving in the armed forces. Given the age distribution of congressional children (older than average), I remember reading that congressional kids served in a higher percentage that the general population. If I find the cite, I will post it.

Get Real. What is your nationality? Did you serve? How many of your friends served? Is there a point where would you fight?
Posted by: ed || 05/20/2005 21:20 Comments || Top||

#27  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Get Real TROLL || 05/20/2005 21:25 Comments || Top||

#28  What does it matter how many "Senators kids" are htere?

I went - I served, I put my life on the line. I continue to serve although now as a civilian.

You didn't server, and those of your ilk refuse to do so, you're too much of a coward.

You have liberty, but only at the price your betters pay.

Woe to you the day the bill comes due and guys like us are not around to keep you from having to pay it in blood.
Posted by: OldSpook || 05/20/2005 21:28 Comments || Top||

#29  You were offered a chance to exchange information, views, and to debate. But you don't have the balls to engage in a minimal exchange of information. I have taken your measure and you have been found wanting. Goodbye Euro-pissant. Try to hold onto your neck as long as you can.
Posted by: ed || 05/20/2005 21:30 Comments || Top||

#30  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Get Real TROLL || 05/20/2005 21:33 Comments || Top||

#31  I just wish, just once, that someone at one of these little get-togethers the Muslims hold in London would stand up and shout, in a Drill-Sergeant bellow, "Comp'ny, fix bayonets!".

Of course, I hope the Mayor of London can take a joke, and will kindly clean up all the c$$$ that cascades down "brave" Sir Mohammed's leg...
Posted by: Old Patriot || 05/20/2005 21:49 Comments || Top||

#32  Real, old bean,

If you're a citizen of the United States, you have the freedom to spew your bile here because my great-great-yada,yada,yada grandfather Charles Weatherford fought the British in Georgia and South Carolina in the 1700,s and again during the War of 1812 - at one point against his own grandson.

You have your freedom because another ancestor of mine fought against Mexico in 1846, and another fought against Spain in the Philippines in 1898. You have the right to rattle your yap because my grandfather fought at the Marne in 1918, and my father fought at the Bulge in 1944. Finally, you're still a free man today because I and my dozen or so cousins helped fight the Cold War, including some of the "hot" segments, like Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, and Panama.

There are several dozen retirees on this site that would gladly have gone to Afghanistan or Iraq, except the military decided in its infinite wisdom that we're "too old, too fat, and too slow". We'd love to join the border patrol protecting our borders, if the government would have us.

Now, what have YOU done to ensure freedom in this country? What sacrifices have you made? I can count 31 dead family members dating back over the 250 years of history my ancestors have lived in this country.

I believe the highest calling of any soldier is to honor the words of Thomas Jefferson, that people have the right to live under a government of their choice, and fighting to help them achieve that goal is noble, right, and honorable. I believe that's what we're doing in Afghanistan and Iraq. I believe that's what we did in Korea, and tried to do in Vietnam, before the US government turned its back on an ally.

You can believe what you wish, but unless you can walk the walk, don't try to talk the talk.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 05/20/2005 22:01 Comments || Top||

#33  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Get Real TROLL || 05/20/2005 22:19 Comments || Top||

#34  I bet you would turn the other way.
Posted by: Frank G || 05/20/2005 22:28 Comments || Top||

#35  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Get Real TROLL || 05/20/2005 22:40 Comments || Top||

#36  "Get Real" simply doesn't quite have a grip on reality, nor any strategic vision. Just like the typical shallow kids that have come after us. For shame, for shame. (they don't even know what shame is, either)
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 05/20/2005 22:43 Comments || Top||

#37  entertain me, get real.
Posted by: Frank G || 05/20/2005 22:47 Comments || Top||

#38  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Get Real TROLL || 05/20/2005 23:01 Comments || Top||

#39  Hate hate hate, your all as bad as each other

You should all be put in a box and shipped off to an island somewhere, given as many weapons as you want and then you can kill each other as much as you want.

Then the rest of the sane world can get on with things without you

Goodbye...
Posted by: Get Real || 05/20/2005 17:47 Comments || Top||

#40  NO, the Muslim extremists as well

You can take Saddam for target practice to start with

Have a nuke each

With a bit a luck no-one will come back

There will be no need for this site then either, two birds with one stone so to speak
Posted by: Get Real || 05/20/2005 18:13 Comments || Top||

#41  Oh, and no postcards of him in his pants PLEASE...
Posted by: Get Real || 05/20/2005 18:15 Comments || Top||

#42  Hey ed, why not jump on the next plane to the front line if you feel so strongly

With a bit of luck you will take some of them out - while they take you out

Two birds with one stone so to speak
Posted by: Get Real || 05/20/2005 20:05 Comments || Top||

#43  Have you seen the news about army recruitment problems? People are not as stupid as they once were…

Also how many senators kids went to the Middle East?

That’s a talking point.
Posted by: Get Real || 05/20/2005 21:01 Comments || Top||

#44  Haha

Here’s a thought why don’t you all charter a ship, get the government to arm you, and make the numbers up?

Freelance like.

The Muslims did it, your turn now.

See ya
Posted by: Get Real || 05/20/2005 21:25 Comments || Top||

#45  "You have liberty, but only at the price your betters pay."

Do you really believe I have liberty because Saddam has been ousted ?
Posted by: Get Real || 05/20/2005 21:33 Comments || Top||

#46  I will NOT fight when someone tells me to do so, especially someone like bush.

Right men, jump of that cliff, yes sir what ever you say sir.

But then again, let’s be brutal and topical. If I saw someone molesting a kid say, I would cut off their head with a rusty knife myself and stick it on a pole. A bit right wing eh? But then there is not just left and right, it’s a mix with everyone somewhere within, but there is too many people in here who are right wing extremists.
Posted by: Get Real || 05/20/2005 22:19 Comments || Top||

#47  Would you watch...
Posted by: Get Real || 05/20/2005 22:40 Comments || Top||

#48  Nah.
I’ve grown bored of your putrid site. So I’ll leave you all to fester and stink in your filth.
One last genuine piece of advice, don’t let that fool Norm near the Whitehouse.
Goodbye potato heads.
Well I hope that's how you spell it !!!!!
Posted by: Get Real || 05/20/2005 23:01 Comments || Top||


What did Zippy know and when did he know it?
More on the possible PSOE-Madrid bombing ties posted at Barcepundit, and Adventures of Chester has a flowchart.

YET MORE DETAILS emerging about the Syrian-born Spanish policeman who seems to be at the center of everything on the March 11 investigation (again, thanks to Fausta for the translation; scroll down for much more): The police found a document belonging to agent Kalaji at a locale used as "nerve center" for the 3/11 attack.

AND - hehehehe, seems the "Spanish Miracle" might be ending, peruse Barcepundit.

SUDDEN SIESTA in the Spanish economy, BusinessWeek says:

Is the spanish miracle at an end? After 11 years of buoyant growth, Spain's standard of living has soared, unemployment has plunged, and the country's biggest companies, from BBVA to Telefónica, are playing an increasingly active role on the international stage. But cracks in the economy are showing. Although growth is expected to be around 3% this year, foreign direct investment is diving, the current account deficit is ballooning, inflation is on the rise, and productivity growth lags behind the rest of the core 15 members of the European Union.....
Posted by: anonymous2u || 05/20/2005 10:51 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Very sad, what the Spaniards appear to have done to themselves.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/20/2005 18:23 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Thai police find Al Qaeda training manuals in troubled south
BANGKOK - Thai police claim to have uncovered Al Qaeda military training manuals during a raid on an Islamic boarding school in the troubled south, a senior official said Friday. "The find gives rise for grave concerns," Thailand's Interior Minister, Police General Chidchai Vanasatidya, told the state-run Thai News Agency (TNA). Police reportedly found the terrorist documents hidden on a coconut plantation near an Islamic school in Pattani province that they raided looking for Muslim militant ringleaders.
If I was looking for militant ringleaders that's where I'd look. Check the facility roster, better yet just jug the whole lot.
Thai authorities have thought that the surge in violence in Thailand's three majority Muslim southernmost provinces - Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala - was caused by Thai separatists, with no outside interference from foreign militants such as the Al Qaeda terrorist network of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a militant Muslim organization in Indonesia.
Well, that's the offical position anyway. Wonder if they can say it with a straight face.
Earlier this week the Internal Crisis Group (ICG), a Brussels-based think tank, said they had found no evidence of outside involvement in the South but warned that if the situation is allowed to "fester," it might encourage an international jihad.
"Brussels-based think tank", need we say more?
"Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is very worried about this and he has assigned me to take care of it," said Chidchai. Thaksin's heavy-handed handling of the southern violence, which has claimed more than 700 lives since January, 2004, has drawn international criticism and concerns among Muslim nations. The deep South is the only majority Muslim region in predominantly Buddhist Thailand.
The 3,694th holiest place in Islam
The Organisation of Islamic Conferences (OIC) plans to send a delegation of officials to assess the problems in Thailand's southern provinces during a two-week visit to the region starting on June 2, Chidchai said.
Posted by: Steve || 05/20/2005 1:21:18 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Dissident, Diplomat Say Iran Appears to Be Smuggling Graphite for Nuclear Purposes
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Iran is circumventing international export bans on sensitive dual-use materials by smuggling graphite and a graphite compound that can be used to make conventional and nuclear weapons, an Iranian dissident and a senior diplomat said Friday. Graphite has many peaceful uses, including steel manufacture, but also can be used as a casing for molten weapons-grade uranium to fit it to nuclear warheads or to shield the cones of conventional missiles from heat.
With most countries adhering to international agreements banning the sale of such "dual-use" materials to Tehran, Iran has been forced to buy it on the black market, Iranian exile Alireza Jafarzadeh told The Associated Press - allegations confirmed by a senior diplomat familiar with Iran's covert nuclear activities. Phone calls to Iranian diplomats seeking comment were not answered.
While with the National Coalition of Resistance of Iran, Jafarzadeh disclosed information about two hidden nuclear sites in Iran in 2002 that helped uncover nearly two decades of covert Iranian atomic activity - and sparked present fears Tehran wants to build the bomb. Much of the equipment - including centrifuges for uranium enrichment and other technology with possible weapons applications - was acquired on the nuclear black market. Those implicated include Dutch businessman Henk Slebos, who is awaiting trial in the Netherlands on charges of importing banned material - including 100 pieces of graphite - as part of disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan's clandestine smuggling network.
Jafarzadeh, whose organization was banned in the United States for alleged terrorist activity and who now runs the Washington-based Strategic Policy Consulting think tank, said Iran was additionally smuggling and trying to manufacture a graphite-based substance called ceramic matrix composite. The highly heat resistance compound is also used in missile technology. He said he learned this from sources of information within Iran.
The diplomat, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of his position, said Iran also may be interested in acquiring specially heat-resistant "nuclear-grade graphite" that can be used as moderators to slow down the fission process in reactors generating energy. While Iran does not now have reactors using such moderators, it insists it has the future right to all aspects of peaceful nuclear technology. Neither Jafarzadeh nor the diplomat could say how much graphite Iran had imported and over what period of time.
But the diplomat said a graphite-moderated nuclear plant would require a "huge amount" of graphite - as many as 1,000 tons for a 250-megawatt reactor. Crucibles to hold molten uranium metal would need much less graphite - no more than about 2.2 pounds per nuclear weapon, the diplomat said. He said investigations by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency revealed laboratory experiments by Iran aimed at making nuclear-grade graphite, which later were abandoned. Domestically manufactured Iranian conventional missiles would require dozens of pounds of graphite per missile cone, he said.
Jafarzadeh also said a plant now being built near the central town of Ardekan for what Iranian officials say is steel manufacturing will actually be a cover for mastering graphite technology.
The revelations came as Iran's top nuclear negotiators prepared to meet early next week with the foreign ministers of France, Britain and Germany, acting on behalf of the 25-nation European Union, for what could be a last-ditch attempt to convince Tehran to agree to a long-term freeze of uranium enrichment activities. French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said Friday the talks were "very fragile." He said the talks range over issues including economic, technical and commercial cooperation, Iran's wish to join the World Trade Organization, and political dialogue.
The United States wants U.N. Security Council action against Iran for what it says are nuclear weapons ambitions, and the Europeans have threatened to support such U.S. calls if it resumes enrichment programs. Iran says those programs are needed to generate power, but Washington labels them as part of plans to make weapons-grade material.
Posted by: Steve || 05/20/2005 3:11:19 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Does this me #2 pencils are a dual use technology? In every high school classroom?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 05/20/2005 16:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Mrs. D, this problem shouldn't be made light of. What will happen when these kooks start churning out really high quality tennis rackets and shafts for golf clubs?
Posted by: Super Hose || 05/20/2005 17:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Weren't there some incidents during the period of the sanctions regime in Iraq when import of pencils was denied as they were 'dual use' or was this just propaganda ?



Posted by: john || 05/20/2005 17:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Super Hose: What do you think they use to build stealth fighters out of?
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 05/20/2005 23:25 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Afghan kidnapper says he killed Italian hostage
KABUL (Reuters) - A man claiming to have kidnapped an Italian aid worker in Afghanistan told Reuters on Friday he had killed her, but a government spokesman said she was still alive. Timoor Shah, who claimed to be holding Clementina Cantoni, said he had killed her after President Hamid Karzai's government refused to accept his demands. "We strangled her with a rope at nine o'clock last night," Shah said by telephone.
Karzai's spokesman, Jawed Ludin, said Cantoni, 32, was still alive. Cantoni, who works for the Care International aid agency, was seized by gunmen in Kabul on Monday night. "I will not give her body to anyone," said Shah, who was contacted on Cantoni's mobile phone number. "I killed her because the government didn't listen or accept my demands," he said. He declined to discuss his demands saying: "The matter is over."
Ludin dismissed Shah's claim, saying Cantoni was still alive. "He is lying. He makes such comments in order to put pressure on the government," he said. "I have assurances from the interior minister that she is alive. The talks are going on."
Posted by: Steve || 05/20/2005 1:36:49 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The bit about the cell phone got me wondering: why not embed a small lo-jack transponder chip in everyone that gets assigned to Iraq or Afghanistan. This would make it easier to locate the captive as well as find the bad guys. Surely, with the advances in nanotechnology and bioscience this is achievable. It would also save the Italians, French, Germans, Spainards and Russians (easy marks who always pay up) lots of cash.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 05/20/2005 14:50 Comments || Top||

#2  An ordinary cell phone can be localized to within a hundred meters.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/20/2005 17:20 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Army Warns Iraqi Forces On Abuse Of Detainees
And of course, it's all our fault ...
BAGHDAD, May 19 -- Before leaving Iraq in February, the 1st Cavalry Division compiled a list of more than 100 allegations of abusive treatment of detainees over the previous six months -- not by U.S. troops, but by Iraqi soldiers and police.

The 3rd Infantry Division, which has since taken over responsibility for the Baghdad region, has recorded 28 more such allegations, 15 of which have been substantiated, division lawyers say.

These previously undisclosed U.S. military records documenting Iraqi mistreatment of detainees, often accompanied by photos showing prisoners bruised or cut, highlight what U.S. commanders are calling a high-priority concern. As Iraq's military and police assume greater responsibility for fighting insurgents, senior U.S. officers say they have cautioned Iraqi authorities repeatedly -- in formal letters from commanders and in face-to-face encounters at detention centers and elsewhere -- against abusing prisoners.
They're right to do so, but I can imagine most Iraqi police and military commanders shrug their shoulders and say, "it's our country, we'll do it our way, thanks for the advice."
This effort has led to friction between U.S. and Iraqi forces in the field, with Iraqis at times questioning demands for humane treatment of enemy fighters who themselves show no respect for the laws of war. U.S. officers say they regularly warn the Iraqis that failure to curtail abusive behavior could tarnish the image of the new security services, risking a loss of Iraqi public support and jeopardizing U.S. and other foreign assistance.

Privately, U.S. commanders also express worry about their troops getting drawn into an Iraqi dirty war, particularly as several thousand military advisers embed this year with Iraqi units, putting them in a position to witness abusive action or be accused of acquiescing to it. The U.S. military has spent the past year struggling to get out from under the shadow of mistreatment by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison and other detention facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In a letter last month to troops preparing to serve as advisers to Iraqi units, Army Gen. George Casey, the senior U.S. officer in Iraq, said one of their principal missions would be to ensure that Iraqi forces understood and complied with proper standards of detainee treatment. "It is very important that we never turn a blind eye to abuses, thinking that what Iraqis do with their own detainees is 'Iraqi business,' " Casey wrote, according to a copy of the letter made available to The Washington Post. "Nor can we wink at suspected transgressions."

On April 29, Lt. Gen. John Vines, the senior U.S. tactical commander, issued an order requiring all U.S. forces to prevent, where possible, any abusive treatment by Iraqi forces and to report all such incidents of abuse up the chain of command. "We don't expect our soldiers to do a formal investigation, but we expect them to get the basic facts -- what Iraqi unit did this, what are the names of the soldiers involved, who else witnessed it -- and get statements and photos the best they can," said a senior lawyer on Vines's staff who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The lawyer said command staff members had not focused on how to approach the issue of Iraqi treatment of detainees until they arrived in February and received the confidential records compiled by the 1st Cavalry. Those records revealed a range of methods in use. A summary page, shown to The Post, cited "assault with fists, wooden sticks, cords and weapons" and "beatings done with electrical cables." It also said "electrical shock and choking" were "consistently used to achieve confessions."

"Once we saw that, we began to think through the process of what we needed to do, and, quite frankly, we're still working through it," the lawyer said.

Iraq's treatment of detainees has drawn criticism from human rights groups. A 94-page report by Human Rights Watch in January concluded that abuse by the Iraqi police and intelligence forces had become "routine and commonplace." Based on research between July and October last year, the study found "little indication" of any serious measures "to enforce existing laws and put an end to" the mistreatment.
Remind me where I can find HRW's report on the jihadi's beheading of innocents ...
Senior members of the new Iraqi government have assured U.S. commanders in private conversations that they are aware of the problem and committed to addressing it, according to several U.S. officers. But spokesmen for the Defense and Interior ministries and the prime minister's office said this week that they were unaware of specific U.S. military reports alleging abuse of detainees by Iraqi forces.

The issue has gained urgency in recent months as Iraqi security forces have expanded and begun conducting counterinsurgency operations on their own. Prisoners taken in operations led by U.S. forces are still sent to U.S.-run detention facilities. But insurgents captured in Iraqi-led raids now often end up being detained by the Iraqis and at times subjected to harsh interrogations.

Iraqi forces receive some instruction about human rights and the laws of armed conflict during U.S.-designed basic training programs, and U.S. soldiers are giving additional guidance to those responsible for running prisons. But the advice has tended to be general, lacking many of the specifics in the U.S. Army's recently revised field manual for handling detainees. "We've given them recommended guidance," said Capt. Jacob Lilly, the 3rd Infantry's chief counsel for detainee operations. "But we haven't gotten that detailed."

Under the order issued by Vines, reports of alleged Iraqi abuses documented by U.S. forces are to be reviewed by division commanders, then passed up to Vines and Casey and forwarded to Iraqi provincial or national authorities.

Sometimes senior U.S. commanders become personally involved. This month, for instance, Army Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, who is leading the effort to develop Iraq's security forces, delivered what witnesses described as a stern warning to senior members of the Major Crimes Unit, the country's equivalent of the FBI. The warning followed an incident at the Rusafa police station in Baghdad during a visit by U.S. forces and an international police liaison team. Hearing screams in a second-floor room, the group investigated and found an Iraqi brigadier general and two police commissioners with a detainee who was "crying and hopping from foot to foot," according to a U.S. report. The detainee had been "questioned on theft of money" from Iraq's banking system, the report said.

The Iraqi general acknowledged that the detainee had been hit a few times "to get more information," the report said. Searching the room, the U.S. visitors identified "two number 7 plastic hoses, a large number 7 rolling pin with a rope through it and a hand-cranked number 7 generator with wire clamps," the report said.

The group went to see an Iraqi two-star general at the station about the matter, but the general offered "no response," the report said. Returning to the interrogation room, members of the group saw the detainee being questioned again and observed that "he had changed his story about what had happened to him." They then removed the man from the station "for his own safety," the report said.

Petraeus, according to participants in the meeting, told the members of the Major Crimes Unit that such mistreatment would jeopardize their operation by undermining public and international regard for their activities. "You can't allow the new Iraq to treat people the way Saddam did," he reportedly said.
He's right, but the culture needs to change, and it isn't ready to do so.
The head of the Major Crimes Unit has told U.S. officers that the incident is under investigation and that the findings will be reported to the interior minister.

In classes and conversations on the handling of detainees, Iraqi soldiers often challenge the idea that international human rights conventions should apply to insurgents, several officers said. "One of the most frequent questions we're asked is, 'Why do we have to treat these people humanely, because their only aim is to kill us?' " said Col. William Hudson, senior lawyer for the 3rd Infantry Division.

Lilly concurred. "The number one question we get from Iraqi interrogators is, 'How am I going to break these guys if I can't use physical force?' " he said.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/20/2005 13:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan/South Asia
Pakistan arrests three al Qaeda linked suspects
ISLAMABAD, May 20 (Reuters) - Pakistani police have arrested three Pakistani Islamic militants suspected of links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, police said on Friday. The three were members of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an outlawed Sunni militant group implicated in assassination attempts on President Pervez Musharraf in December 2003, said a senior police official who asked not to be identified.
He identified them as Ali Sher, Haji Ejaz and Pir Jamil and said they were arrested in the central city of Multan five days ago. "They were arrested in a raid on their hideouts on the outskirts of Multan. They have been arrested for suspicion of links with al Qaeda," the police official said. "These people had fought in Afghanistan and have also reportedly met Osama (bin Ladan) and (Ayman) al Zawahri," the official said, adding that the meetings with the al Qaeda leaders were thought to have taken place about a year ago. "They were involved in ensuring safe passage and settling down of terrorists and militants fleeing from the South Waziristan area," he said, referring to a tribal region bordering Afghanistan where al Qaeda militants took refuge last year.
He said laptop computers, satellite phones and maps were seized at the time of the arrests.
Goody, goody

The arrests followed the capture this month of Abu Faraj Farj al Liby, thought to be al Qaeda's number three, in northwestern Pakistan, but it was not clear if the raids were connected.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri told reporters on Thursday that bin Laden was thought to be alive, based on video and audio tapes the al Qaeda leader had released and the tracking of communications by security forces. Kasuri said bin Laden was probably moving from place to place in a small group, but it would not be in his interest to remain in the border region if he was there. Kasuri said Pakistani security forces had succeeded in destroying the communications, propaganda and other infrastructure of al Qaeda and the network no longer had the capability to carry out large-scale attacks in the country.
Musharraf said in early March that his forces believed they nearly hunted down bin Laden about 10 months earlier, but the trail had since gone cold.
This article starring:
ABU FARAJ FARJ AL LIBYLashkar-e-Jhangvi
ALI SHERLashkar-e-Jhangvi
HAJI EJAZLashkar-e-Jhangvi
Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Posted by: Steve || 05/20/2005 10:41:17 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  muslim copper watch.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 05/20/2005 10:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Copper? Why not stainless steel or silver? ;-) (Or do you mean police?)
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/20/2005 13:56 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Iraq PM to Demand Syrian Crackdown
ANKARA, Turkey May 20, 2005 — Iraq's new prime minister said Friday he will soon visit neighboring Syria to demand that the government halt the flow of foreign insurgents crossing into Iraq. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari also said it was not clear Syria was backing the gunmen.
"There are some armed groups infiltrating from Syria
. How much of this infiltration is related to the Syrian government, we will discuss this issue directly with Syrian authorities," al-Jaafari said at a news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "We will visit Syria some time soon, and one of the issues that will be taken up will be the security file and the prevention of such infiltrations," he added.
"This is our claim, our threatening and my message....."
Iraq and the United States have stepped up pressure on Syria to do more to halt cross-border infiltrations amid growing violence that has left more than 520 people dead since the new government was announced on April 28. On Thursday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has made it "quite clear that we, and others, are watching how Syria behaves itself." The Syrian border has long been poorly patrolled and since the beginning of the insurgency there were reports that gunmen were crossing the border to join the fight against U.S. forces.
A U.S. official said Wednesday that lieutenants of Iraq's al-Qaida leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, held a secret meeting in Syria last month. The Syrian government has not commented on either allegations.
Posted by: Steve || 05/20/2005 10:33:51 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "...unless the Dolphin, so-called, be present?'
Posted by: mojo || 05/20/2005 11:47 Comments || Top||

#2  "...DAUPHIN. For the Dauphin:
I stand here for him. What to him from England?
EXETER. Scorn and defiance, slight regard, contempt,
And anything that may not misbecome
The mighty sender, doth he prize you at."
Posted by: Jonathan || 05/20/2005 12:39 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Israeli-Palestinian Clash in Gaza Kills 1 Militant Terrorist
Israel forces say they killed a Palestinian militant terrorist in the Gaza Strip during a gunbattle early Friday. The army says three Palestinians began firing missiles and small arms at Israeli soldiers from an abandoned building near the Gaza settlement of Kfar Darom. As Israeli forces returned fire, two of the militants terrorists escaped, but an army spokesman says the third man was killed.
Three militant groups, Hamas, the Popular Resistance Committees and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, say they were involved in the attempt to infiltrate the Jewish settlement.
So did each group send one guy, or are they collecting paychecks from each group?

Today's clash further strained a shaky three-month cease-fire. Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade have pledged to respect the truce, but both groups say they are determined to avenge Israel's recent military actions in Gaza. The Israeli military has been ordered Thursday to use all means necessary to suppress Gaza militants' attacks on Jewish targets.
Posted by: Steve || 05/20/2005 10:24:06 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I hope the abandoned building will be duly flattened. And every other hiding place used by the vicious fools to shoot at Israelis. In the end, instead of inheriting newly built, fully functioning modern communities emptied of their Israeli inhabitants, the Palestinians will take possession of piles of rubble that look just like the piles they already have. Actions ==> consequences.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/20/2005 14:12 Comments || Top||

#2  The Arab "victim" mindset makes me long for napalm in big canisters, dropped from A-1D Skyraiders, one after another, followed by ARCLIGHT strikes. Burn everything to the ground, plow the ground, and start over from scratch.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 05/20/2005 22:23 Comments || Top||

#3  LGF noted the "abandoned building" was a UN school...and it was only abandoned 'cos it was the middle of the night.
Posted by: Seafarious || 05/20/2005 22:58 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Troops Build Their Own UAVs
May 20, 2005: Troops in combat zones are eager to get their hands on robotic vehicles, but the supply is limited. So the troops have been improvising. Radio controlled (RC) cars and aircraft are readily available from hobby stores, or their web sites. Items can be sent via air freight to Iraq. The high end RC trucks cost several hundred dollars, but can be controlled from as far away as 200 meters. These are often carried by troops on convoy duty, for checking out items on, or alongside, the road that might be bombs. Just shooting at these objects doesn't always set them off. But run an RC car up to it, and ram the object, and you quickly know if it is heavy (and possibly a bomb), or light (and likely just some garbage.) These vehicles can also be equipped with wireless video cameras, perfect for checking out what's around the corner.
RC aircraft, especially the high end ones that cost $500 or more, can also, with some effort, be equipped with a wireless vidcam. However, using off-the-shelf equipment, your transmission range is only a few hundred meters. Most RC aircraft can be controlled up to 500 meters away, and with more expensive commo gear, nearly twice that. But troops have gotten their own improvised UAVs into the air (and sometimes shot at as well.) The army calls these efforts "field expedients," and they are one reason why the army (and the other services as well) are scrambling to get official versions of this gear into the hands of the troops. The government issue stuff is often little different than what the hobbyist troops are coming up with. The military versions are more expensive because they have to be built so that any soldier can quickly figure out how to use them. That takes a lot of effort, and runs the costs up. But for units that have some RC hobbyists in the ranks, you can make your own, crude but effective, recon UAVs for under a thousand dollars. The official versions cost $20,000 or more.
Posted by: Steve || 05/20/2005 9:36:01 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  (/stereotype) Typical American ingenuity! (/end stereotype)

But nonetheless true. Way to go, guys!
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/20/2005 9:50 Comments || Top||

#2  This morning NPR carried a long interview with the Brigadier-General who is in charge of working out countermeasures for IEDs; there was a very brief mention of aerial survelliance, but not a word about this kind of in-field problem-solving.
Advantage: Rantburg, once again.
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 05/20/2005 10:35 Comments || Top||

#3  200m for R/C cars seems like enough range as long as you have some decent cover between you and the IED. I think this is a great job of improvising.
Posted by: Dar || 05/20/2005 10:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Another prove how the idiots in army , armament industry and procurement in Pentagon dont help the soldiers and dont have vision whatsoever to see the wars. What they like is gold platted stuff with billions attached.
Posted by: Hupomoque Spoluter7949 || 05/20/2005 12:37 Comments || Top||

#5  The EOD teams have Talon robots with manipulator arms to pick up items or place some C4 next to a suspected IED. The SWORDS system, which is a Talon with a weapon platform mounted upon it is also likely to go in theater in the coming months. These systems are far more capable than an RC car. That said, you have to love the overwhelming evidence that remote vehicles are the way to go if the guys are using RC trucks and planes on their own cause they want them so much.
Posted by: remoteman || 05/20/2005 12:45 Comments || Top||

#6  A possible skunkworks project, remoteman? ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/20/2005 14:06 Comments || Top||

#7  The official versions cost $20,000 or more.

That's a little under the price of two race relations classes, but infinitely more valuable.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 05/20/2005 16:49 Comments || Top||

#8  Necessity is the mother's milk of invention. Let's get some of these state-side ya-whos on the frontline and see how fast they move their blessed b-hinds.
Posted by: Captain America || 05/20/2005 17:47 Comments || Top||

#9  Don't blame the developers; it's a lot more expensive doing business with the federal government than just buying the parts and building one yourself.

Joe Improviser in Baghdad doesn't have to worry about whether wbat he's built is ISO-9000 compliant. He just has to make the system work.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 05/20/2005 20:37 Comments || Top||

#10  It is easy to miss the essence of the difficulty with solving the IED problem - speed. RC cars and planes are easily controlled from stationary soldiers. IED's are a hazard to moving vehicles, ones that move faster than a Tycho toy. The toys are certainly a useful field expediant but a difficult to use to protect a moving convoy. This the need for the $20k outlay.
Posted by: Super Hose || 05/20/2005 21:04 Comments || Top||


Iraq, Iran Issue Joint Statement Blaming Saddam for 1980-88 War
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - For the first time Iraq has joined with Iran in labeling Saddam Hussein as the military aggressor of the 1980-88 war between the two countries and of Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The joint statement, issued Thursday during Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi's historic trip to Iraq, comes as the Shiite Muslim-dominated governments of both countries try to forge better ties following Saddam's ouster two years ago.
The former Iraqi dictator, who was captured in December 2003, is facing charges including killing rival politicians during his 30-year rule, gassing Kurds, invading Kuwait in 1990 and suppressing Kurdish and Shiite uprisings in 1991. He is in U.S. military custody with several of his former top aides awaiting trial. No trial dates have been set.
Iraqis in the new government and Iran's Shiite-led theocracy have previously blamed Saddam for starting the bloody eight-year war against Iran, in which 1 million people died. But the latest statement, issued by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, marks the first time Iraq has sided with Iran to accuse the former Iraqi president of being the aggressor in the war. "The two sides confirm the necessity of trying the leaders of the former regime in Iraq in a fair trial because they committed war crimes and crimes against humanity and their military aggression against the Iraqi people, Iran and Kuwait," the statement said.
Shiite lawmaker Jalaleddine al-Saghir said Friday that Iranian officials have made it clear previously that "they are not after financial compensation, but seeking rehabilitation." He described the statement as a "positive step to solve all problems between the two countries." Asked if such a statement would anger this country's Sunni Arab community, to which Saddam belonged, al-Saghir said it was not only Iraqi Shiites who accuse the former dictator of being the aggressor in the war with Iran, "but all Iraqis as a state, and the proof is that the foreign minister is a Sunni," referring to Hoshyar Zebari, an Iraqi Kurd. Iraqi and Iranian officials were not immediately available for comment Friday, a weekly religious holiday in both countries.
Iran has said previously it is considering filing a lawsuit against Saddam for invading Iran, which says it is owed billions in war damages. Iraq also owes billions to Kuwait for damage to oil facilities and the environment caused during Iraq's occupation of Kuwait, which began in August 1990 and ended with the February liberation by a U.S.-led coalition during the Gulf War.
During that crisis, Iraq flew 120 military and civilian planes to Iran for safekeeping. Tehran since has said it would keep the planes as compensation for war damages it sought from Iraq. Iraq had started to pay through the United Nations billions of dollars to Kuwaitis who lost possessions and relatives during the Iraqi occupation and the Gulf War.
Views among Iraqi Shiites toward Iran range from hate to devotion. Despite 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million people being Shiite, many harbor resentment toward Iran over the war. Some Iraqi Shiite leaders have previously said that their country should compensate Iran over the war, comments that have angered many Iraqis.
Posted by: Steve || 05/20/2005 8:30:54 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ok. Can we hang him now?
Posted by: JerseyMike || 05/20/2005 8:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Wait a minute. I thought it was the fault of Bush, or maybe Rumsfeld, or at least the US.
Posted by: Jackal || 05/20/2005 9:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Damn straight I was the aggressor, that's why my pants are off!
Posted by: Saddam Hussein || 05/20/2005 9:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Sorry, I must have dropped down a worm hole. In the history of my reality Sadaam was an evil aggressor and Iran was trying to export its Islamic revolution to the entire neighborhood. I wonder how I can return to my parallel universe where Irian religious fascists aren't the good guys.
Posted by: Super Hose || 05/20/2005 21:15 Comments || Top||


At home in the rubble: siege city reborn as giant gated community
BY THE standards of most of the inhabitants of the Askari neighbourhood in Fallujah, Majid Ahmad should consider himself lucky. His house may have been looted of all its valuables, the windows smashed and several walls punched through by large chunks of shrapnel, but at least he still has a roof over his head. "It's not much, but I'm better off than my neighbours," he said, pointing at the huge piles of rubble either side of his home, which workers were clearing with their bare hands in the baking sun yesterday. "I plan to move back in here tomorrow and then maybe my wife and children can follow. Being a refugee is worse." Like most of the residents of this luckless market town west of Baghdad, Mr Ahmad has the drawn, defeated look of someone who has endured one of the toughest experiences anywhere in postwar Iraq.

Fallujah, which was known for its many mosques, its strict tribal customs and its proud, some would say arrogant, citizens, has lurched from one bloody episode to another as it has earned the reputation as being the most dangerous city in Iraq. Now a tour of Fallujah, once feared by foreigners as the headquarters of the most militant of the Islamic insurgents, is akin to visiting a violent psychiatric patient after a lobotomy. Children wave, shopkeepers smile, and it is even possible at dusk to walk through a residential neighbourhood with only the odd crack of distant gunfire punctuating an otherwise calm evening.

By the standards of Iraq today, Fallujah is peaceful. Where other cities are subjected to suicide car bombs, Fallujans stop meekly to allow US military convoys to overtake or wait for hours in long queues to be searched and checked before entering the municipal boundaries. The reason for the city's passivity is the thousands of US Marines who have built such a tight security cordon around it that it is jokingly referred to by the Americans as "Iraq's largest gated community". The Marines led the offensive last November to reclaim Fallujah, which had become the headquarters for the insurgency and a haven for militant Mujahidin volunteers, who flocked here from across the Arab world.

In the three-week battle, more than 1,000 insurgents and 38 Americans were killed, the city was left in ruins and the population homeless. The Americans vowed that it would never return to its former lawlessness. "If we removed the controls, there is no doubt that those for whom we shed so much blood to remove would return to Fallujah once more," Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Miles, one of the Marine commanders in the city, said.

Yet, with the controls in place, it is not clear that the city will ever recover properly. Only about half of Fallujah's 250,000 population have returned home; large residential and commercial areas lie in ruins and basic services such as water and electricity are patchy at best. For those who do live in Fallujah, life is made even more difficult by the draconian security measures that make it difficult to conduct business and trade, the lifeblood of the city.

Each resident must obtain a security pass from the US military. The pass contains the holder's names, other personal details, a photograph, fingerprints and an iris scan, which is fed into a computer and can be cross-checked with the names of suspected insurgents and former detainees. The cutting-edge biometic technology may give the Americans a security edge, but it has won them few friends. "Everyone is out of work," Shafi Mohammed Khalaf said. "I am a driver, but I am trapped in Fallujah. How can I drive when I can't leave the city?" The restrictions have led to growing calls from local leaders for the need to ease the security cordon and allow normal life to return.

Sheikh Khaled al-Jumaili, a formidable turbaned and bearded tribal chieftain who was elected head of the city council this week, boasted that Fallujah's days of violence were over for good. "Fallujah is the safest city in Iraq, compared with the others," he said. "The people here don't want to fight any more, they want a return to normal life." Coming from him, the remarks carry some weight. When the insurgents ran the city, he had such good relations with them that he was detained by US forces; now the Americans welcome his high-level appointment.

Nevertheless, no one would predict confidently that this city's problems are over. Insurgent activity has increased substantially across Anbar province, where Fallujah is one of the main trading towns on the Euphrates. There are fears that insurgent cells have returned to the city and are planning to strike. "Fallujah is a place where we have seen the worst of the worst," a US official said. "We know that if we can make it work in Fallujah, we have crossed a Rubicon. "The insurgents know that, too, and they will do everything to stop that. It is a pivotal contest."

His suspicions are confirmed by Ahmad Ismali, an Islamic student from Fallujah, who still lives as a refugee in Baghdad, and is one of many young men plotting how to drive the Americans out. "I would say that 70 per cent of Fallujans supported the resistance," he said. "It is the natural response for any occupied population. The resistance is still there. We are just waiting for the moment to strike."

TARGET CITY
# US troops opened the battle of Fallujah on November 8, 2004
# 38 American troops, six Iraqi soldiers and about 1,200 insurgents were killed in a week of fighting
# Between 70 and 90 per cent of Fallujah's 250,000 population fled before the attack. About half of them have now returned
# Up to two thirds of Fallujah's buildings were damaged in the fighting
# America's desire to bring the city back under control was spurred by the deaths of four US contractors, whose bodies were burnt by a mob in Fallujah in March 2004
# US troops sealed off the city in April 2004, but lifted the siege in May, handing control of the area back to local Iraqis
Posted by: ed || 05/20/2005 07:54 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh, the poor Fallujahians! And our "Draconian" security measures? Standing in line to get in to the city for hours? He#l, I stand in line that long for a new driver's license here in the US of A!
Posted by: BA || 05/20/2005 8:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Yet, with the controls in place, it is not clear that the city will ever recover properly.

good - call it "exhibit #1" and leave it in rubble
Posted by: Frank G || 05/20/2005 8:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Article: Each resident must obtain a security pass from the US military. The pass contains the holder’s names, other personal details, a photograph, fingerprints and an iris scan, which is fed into a computer and can be cross-checked with the names of suspected insurgents and former detainees. The cutting-edge biometic technology may give the Americans a security edge, but it has won them few friends.

This is hyperventilation, of course. People from the Arab world are required to produce ID on demand, or face fines or a short jail term. Most of East Asia, too. I don't really see how this is such a big imposition.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 05/20/2005 9:53 Comments || Top||

#4  ZF: I don't really see how this is such a big imposition

true, and even if it is, I really don't care
Posted by: Frank G || 05/20/2005 10:22 Comments || Top||

#5  I suspect that Fallujah is going to get considerable "urban renewal", being a city designed from below the ground up for mischief. That is, tunnels are going to be filled in, streets are going to be widened, infrastructure will be improved, mostly underground, and centralized, etc. The idea is that a more modern city is more difficult to create nuisance in, being more homogenous, no ghettos or high crime districts, business areas separate from residences. It really makes it harder for troublemakers.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/20/2005 10:24 Comments || Top||

#6  good points, moose.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 05/20/2005 10:48 Comments || Top||

#7  See the British and Malaysia. This looks to be according to the same blueprints.
Posted by: OldSpook || 05/20/2005 12:43 Comments || Top||

#8  Now a tour of Fallujah ... is akin to visiting a violent psychiatric patient after a lobotomy.

A nice turn of phrase, one that adds a useful bit of perspective.
Posted by: thibaud (aka lex) || 05/20/2005 13:57 Comments || Top||

#9  It can be surprising what happens when one wages war and loses... to the loser, anyway. The Germans and the Japanese had to put up with this kind of thing for years. Accept reality!
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/20/2005 14:08 Comments || Top||

#10  Considering what Fallujah was and what was done there with the assent, if not outright approval, it should have been bulldozed flat and the earth salted as a lesson on the consequences of picking the wrong enemies.
Posted by: RWV || 05/20/2005 14:51 Comments || Top||

#11  For those who do live in Fallujah, life is made even more difficult by the draconian security measures that make it difficult to conduct business and trade, the lifeblood of the city.

Tolerating an insurgency run by losers tends to do that...
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 05/20/2005 15:59 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Six Afghans on U.S.-Funded Project Killed
Gunmen shot and killed six Afghans in an ambush on a major highway in the country's troubled south Thursday, the second fatal attack in two days on employees of a U.S.-funded anti-drugs project, officials said. The company managing the project said it was withdrawing employees from southern Afghanistan, according to the U.S. State Department. The victims were transporting the body of one of five victims in the earlier assault to the capital, Kabul, for a funeral when militants stopped their vehicle and shot everyone in the head, said Naik Mohammed, a doctor in the town of Qalat where the bodies were taken. The killings are the latest spasm of violence in a region prey to drug traffickers and insurgents. The assaults, along with the kidnapping of an Italian aid worker this week in Kabul, have raised fears that tactics used in Iraq may be copied here.
Posted by: Fred || 05/20/2005 00:50 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Report: Brutal Details of 2 Afghan Inmates' Deaths
A reminder that while our soldiers have been great, they haven't been perfect. Torture has occurred. Very long NYT piece, just a couple paragraphs here.
Even as the young Afghan man was dying before them, his American jailers continued to torment him.

The prisoner, a slight, 22-year-old taxi driver known only as Dilawar, was hauled from his cell at the detention center in Bagram, Afghanistan, at around 2 a.m. to answer questions about a rocket attack on an American base. When he arrived in the interrogation room, an interpreter who was present said, his legs were bouncing uncontrollably in the plastic chair and his hands were numb. He had been chained by the wrists to the top of his cell for much of the previous four days.

Mr. Dilawar asked for a drink of water, and one of the two interrogators, Specialist Joshua R. Claus, 21, picked up a large plastic bottle. But first he punched a hole in the bottom, the interpreter said, so as the prisoner fumbled weakly with the cap, the water poured out over his orange prison scrubs. The soldier then grabbed the bottle back and began squirting the water forcefully into Mr. Dilawar's face.

"Come on, drink!" the interpreter said Specialist Claus had shouted, as the prisoner gagged on the spray. "Drink!"

At the interrogators' behest, a guard tried to force the young man to his knees. But his legs, which had been pummeled by guards for several days, could no longer bend. An interrogator told Mr. Dilawar that he could see a doctor after they finished with him. When he was finally sent back to his cell, though, the guards were instructed only to chain the prisoner back to the ceiling.

"Leave him up," one of the guards quoted Specialist Claus as saying.

Several hours passed before an emergency room doctor finally saw Mr. Dilawar. By then he was dead, his body beginning to stiffen. It would be many months before Army investigators learned a final horrific detail: Most of the interrogators had believed Mr. Dilawar was an innocent man who simply drove his taxi past the American base at the wrong time.
More at the link. Much as we want the Taliban and al-Qaeda defeated, we can't allow this.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/20/2005 00:01 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No big surprise here, Once again the old grey whore regurgitates this old news to denigrate our soldiers and our commanders. Their articles about our military avarage about 99.9% negative. (agit/prop)





OTOH I don't support sadism....If it's true that the Afghani was innocent, Court Marshal, DD,Leavenworth Penitentiary.
..break big rocks into little rocks.



Posted by: Mr. Peepers || 05/20/2005 1:02 Comments || Top||

#2  my spelling is less than average.
Posted by: Peepers || 05/20/2005 1:05 Comments || Top||

#3  While I agree with Steve this cannot stand, I get this queasy feeling when I read anything from the New York Times, an underlying glee with which these writers try to smear the whole of the military with leaked raw material.

The thrust of this "story" is clear. The same people who committed the alleged abuses at Abu Ghraid were the same ones described in this story. It bolsters claims that the whole of the military is out of control.

I no more believe that than I do the NY Times is an unbiased source for news, but the Times sure does.

What is interesting is that the times described the leaker as a "person involved in the investigation who was critical of the methods used at Bagram and the military's response to the deaths." rather than imputing any other reason that could conceivably cause the military to investigate how this leak occurred. Very slick and very sleazy, NY Times. Not only do you get to make matters worse for us on the battlefield, your little weasel who stole this information is still in, still giving information to you to further help your jihadi friends in the field.
Posted by: badanov || 05/20/2005 1:29 Comments || Top||

#4  It speaks well of us that we worry about these things. But the brutal reality is that innocents will keep on getting caught in the net. If the interrogators were overly forceful, then new guidelines need to be set. Prosecuting people for actions that occurred before guidelines were set seems unfair. It's not like our people are setting these suspects alight and then mutilating their bodies.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 05/20/2005 1:56 Comments || Top||

#5  This is not torture. This is routine humiliation with rough handling. The NYT article is (deliberately) vague on the nationality of the guards, but I'm willing to bet most or all are Afghans, who were doubtless baffled by how well the Americans treated the prisoners and were well aware what the Taliban had done to their relatives. I'm sick of this handwringing everything must be perfect shit.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/20/2005 2:23 Comments || Top||

#6  It would be many months before Army investigators learned a final horrific detail: Most of the interrogators had believed Mr. Dilawar was an innocent man who simply drove his taxi past the American base at the wrong time.

agreed - this sentence says many things, depending on your bias. It tells me the interrogators were not American. It also tells me they are still not sure about the mook's guilt or not...how many sources? How much hard evidence? The NYT would like to smear all of the military. Their bias makes anything they print suspect
Posted by: Frank G || 05/20/2005 8:00 Comments || Top||

#7  It bolsters claims that the whole of the military is out of control.
Absofrigginlutely badanov, that is exactly what that birdcage liner and its cast leftyf*ckwits is shooting for.
Reading the Times is easiest when you know their mindset is evil Chimpy Bushitler unleashed the knuckle dragging American mititary on poor misunderstood "insurgents".
I wouldn't wipe my dogs ass with that rag.

Posted by: JerseyMike || 05/20/2005 8:04 Comments || Top||

#8  Why not, JM? I would!
Posted by: Raj || 05/20/2005 8:12 Comments || Top||

#9  Note that the NYT specifically names someone involved. Either:

o They got this from official military records.

o Their source is iron-clad.

o Or, they're going to be in court explaining why they defamed Specialist Claus.

At what point can we start to prosecute the press for treason? We don't have to worry about them admitting to it; they're actions are out in public.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 05/20/2005 8:26 Comments || Top||

#10  Ah. Here's the scoop on this "story":

o These events occured in 2002.

o The military investigated, prosecuted, and punished those responsible.

o All of the details in the "story" come from the military's investigation.

In other words, this is a non-story. It's not news. It's muck-raking. It's back-stabbing. It's par for the course for the New York Slimes.

Anyone remember how every new revelation about Clinton's corruption was met with yawns and cries of "that's an old story"? It seems the press has different standards when the story hurts the war effort, damages the US, and puts us all at risk.

Posted by: Robert Crawford || 05/20/2005 9:35 Comments || Top||

#11  This is just the NYT covering for Newsweek. More of the "fake but true" mindset coming through.
Posted by: MW || 05/20/2005 10:22 Comments || Top||

#12  As much as the Newsweek article wasn't news, this one is news. I hurt to know this. Following on the heels of the Newsweek stupid, I believe the NYT piece to be brutal and true.

I would not spike this story. My readers expect me o find information out for them. After confirmations had been double-checked and a talk with the attorneys, after submission to the review board, I am sure that I would run this story. You can't make truth go away be not reporting it.

I believe in the mission and the military. To spike would make me complicit in a new wrong--a coverup.
Posted by: OregonGuy || 05/20/2005 10:30 Comments || Top||

#13  More of the "old news because we have nothing new to smear with today". I've seen a bunch of these old "news" stories lately. They're good, cheap propaganda that allow the NYT and other MSM to minimize expenditures on foreign correspondents and real news. When's the last time you saw a real story on what the Afghan government is doing in 2005? You'll get quotes from the president or foreign minister because they're easy to obtain, but you don't get reporters doing reporting at the grass roots level.

The tip-off is that they don't give you the 2002 date until paragraph 8. By then the horror story is already told and the victim is already dead. No unbiased newspaper journalist is going to give you the "who, what, where, and why" but save the "when" to paragraph 8. Those "five W's" are supposed to be right up at the top. But, of course, the NYT is biased against W's.
Posted by: Tom || 05/20/2005 10:42 Comments || Top||

#14  GIVING NEWSWEEK COVER [John Podhoretz]
The New York Times continues the bizarre act of carrying Newsweek's water in the wake of the false Koran-desecration story (which I write about this morning here). The paper's lead story is a lurid account of the vicious treatment of two Afghan prisoners by U.S. soldiers -- events that occurred in December 2002 and for which seven servicemen have been properly punished. Let me repeat that: December 2002. That's two and a half years ago. Every detail published by the Times comes from a report done by the U.S. military, which did the investigating and the punishing. The publication of this piece this week is an effort not to get at the truth, not to praise the military establishment for rooting out the evil being done, but to make the point that the United States is engaged in despicable conduct as it fights the war on terror. In the name of covering the behinds of media colleagues, all is fair in hate and war.

that's not spiking OG, that's regurgitating so the bile can be tasted again
Posted by: Frank G || 05/20/2005 10:55 Comments || Top||

#15  To spike would make me complicit in a new wrong--a coverup.

Bullshit, "OregonGuy".

A cover-up would mean no one is punished, no one is held responsible.

People have been tried, convicted, and punished for their role in the abuses involved in this story. Hell, I suspect that just like Abu Ghraib, the existence and progress of this investigation were covered in daily briefings. It just wasn't considered newsworthy, because reporting it at the time would have emphasized that the military was dealing with the issue. But now, the press can conveniently gloss over that fact, and treat it as something "new" and "important".

If you're really in the news business, your concept of a "cover-up" and your sense of what's "news" is emblematic of what's wrong with the modern press.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 05/20/2005 11:47 Comments || Top||

#16  Scoop

Fellatio in the W.H.

Cover-up denied
Posted by: SwissTex || 05/20/2005 12:21 Comments || Top||

#17  I was going to give the MSM and in particular the NYT's about a week, not 48 hours for chrissake, to start coming up with long exposes of "real" and "confirmable" military crimes. Not those without attribution and discredited but real meat on the bones stuff. But typically, you can't trust these guys - they have this stuff sitting on shelve ready to go once someone finds a credibility weakness in them. There is also the story of Red Cross reports on Koran handling in the NYT's today - a real CYA twofer.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 05/20/2005 14:54 Comments || Top||

#18  This is like watching obsessive compulsives. They keep doing the same thing over and over, whether it's appropriate or not, whether it makes sense or not. The objective on a two-year-old story like this can't be to inform or to shed light on current actions. Its only worth is to push an agendam, banking on the probability that the Great Unwashed won't notice the date...
Posted by: Fred || 05/20/2005 15:11 Comments || Top||

#19  The MSM seem absolutely, utterly determined to keep us-- by whatever means necessary-- from winning this war.

Why? What the f*ck do these idiots want, anyway? What the hell do they think they're going to achieve by doing this?
Posted by: Dave D. || 05/20/2005 16:03 Comments || Top||

#20  The story ... emerge[s] from a nearly 2,000-page confidential file of the Army's criminal investigation into the case, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times.... The Times obtained a copy of the file from a person involved in the investigation who was critical of the methods used at Bagram and the military's response to the deaths.

Some q's for the Times:
- When did the investigation conclude?
- When and how did the Times "obtain" this file? Did they seek it out from their source immediately after the uproar over Newsweek's PissKoran article? Or has it been on the shelf, and if so, for how long?
Posted by: thibaud (aka lex) || 05/20/2005 16:11 Comments || Top||

#21  Dave D. My guess is a good beating. They have it comming. In spades. I intend to be a mean, nasty and ofensive to all journalists of all stripes until they get the message. Stop stabbing us in the back if you expect to live in the same space as I do or share the same air.

Anyone who works for the "times" is a target for a broken limb if they should happen to get in my way and fall down on the curb.
Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom || 05/20/2005 16:12 Comments || Top||

#22  I've perused the comments in response to the Times report and I am really shocked. Most people posting here seem to think torture and murder are acceptable and that any reporting that brings this sort of behavior by Americans to light is evil. That mode of thinking is SICK -- and people thinking along those lines are animals, no better than the terrorists they profess to hate. If this country is to have any hope of regaining the respect of the world, we will have to stop being brutal, vile hypocrites or, like many who seem to visit this site, apologizing aggressively for brutal, vile hypocrites. The worst aspect of the story is that the creeps who tortured and murdered other people will get off very lightly for their grotesque behavior. In fact, they would probably be punished more severely if they killed a dog on main street in one of the two bit towns they crawled out of. Support our troops? Give me a fucking break.
Posted by: Disgusted || 05/20/2005 21:57 Comments || Top||

#23  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Get Real TROLL || 05/20/2005 22:09 Comments || Top||

#24  "both" of you can bite me. Get real - your time here is wasted. so is your alter ego Disgusted
Posted by: Frank G || 05/20/2005 22:27 Comments || Top||

#25  th eTimes report was old news, and people were punished. To swee sick f*cks like you wallow in the "self"-flagellation while disregarding the nature of your enemy is to see the human detritus that will scatter when Islam comes to call. You'll be begging others to give in. A waste of skin and air. Nite POS
Posted by: Frank G || 05/20/2005 22:30 Comments || Top||

#26  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Get Real TROLL || 05/20/2005 22:37 Comments || Top||

#27  I am surprised DNA can get that screwed up twice.....bio-weirdness abounds. Two invertebrates with the same grammar!
Posted by: Frank G || 05/20/2005 22:46 Comments || Top||

#28  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Get Real TROLL || 05/20/2005 22:58 Comments || Top||

#29  thks Emily
Posted by: Frank G || 05/20/2005 23:02 Comments || Top||

#30 
"I am surprised DNA can get that screwed up twice.....bio-weirdness abounds. Two invertebrates with the same grammar!"


Frank, love those sweet notes!!! LOL!
Posted by: Gregorii Spemblov || 05/20/2005 23:03 Comments || Top||

#31  Don’t be shocked disgusted as most of the people here have far right extreme views, and this is the only place anyone will listen to them. I only noticed this site a day ago and decided to amuse myself a little.
Posted by: Get Real || 05/20/2005 22:09 Comments || Top||

#32  Haha. Stupid man.
I'm sure the admin of this site can confirm that my IP has not changed before and after disgusted's post.
And I’m sure disgusted has a different one.
Are you that shocked people have a differing opinion to your own?
Posted by: Get Real || 05/20/2005 22:37 Comments || Top||

#33  Yes it does.
All the right wing neo-cons that abound in here.
But alas I’ve grown bored of your putrid site. So I’ll leave you all to fester and stink in your filth.
One last genuine piece of advice, don’t let that fool Norm near the Whitehouse.
Goodbye potato heads.
Posted by: Get Real || 05/20/2005 22:58 Comments || Top||


US brothers freed in Pakistan after eight months
ISLAMABAD - Two US citizens of Pakistani descent have been freed after more than eight-months' detention in Pakistan on suspicion of links with militants, one of the men said on Thursday.

Kashan Afzal, 25, said he and his younger brother Zain, 23, had been tortured during the early part of their detention. "We were released last month after detention of eight months and 10 days," Kashan told Reuters by telephone from the southern city of Karachi.
Did he look well fed?
The Afzal brothers, who were both born in the United States, went missing in August when relatives said about two dozen armed men, who they presumed to be intelligence officers, took them from their home in Karachi. "Initially we have been tortured," Afzal said without elaborating. "They kept us in Pakistan, but we don't know exactly where."

He said he and his brother were questioned by Pakistani as well as American F.B.I. agents. He did not say who was responsible for the torture. "They have been asking us about jihadi (holy warrior) organisations," he said. "Thank God, we stand cleared of all allegations."

New York-based Human Rights Watch said in March that the Pakistani government should either charge or release the men, and also called on the US government to clarify its involvement, if any, in the case.
And we should answer them, why?
Spokesmen for the Pakistani government and the US embassy could not immediately be reached for comment. The Pakistani government has never confirmed the detention of the brothers.

In its report, Human Rights Watch said the brothers were known to be Islamist sympathisers and had been members of a militant group operating in the divided Himalayan territory of Kashmir, which is claimed by Pakistan and India. "However, no evidence has been provided to suggest they have engaged in any criminal or terrorism-related activity, and neither has ever been convicted of any offence," the rights group said.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/20/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
Iraqi oil official gunned down in Baghdad
BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed an Oil Ministry official on Thursday, the latest assassination in escalating violence that threatens to push Iraq towards civil war. Ali Hameed was shot outside his home as he left for work, a police official said.

Mainly Sunni terrorists insurgents have stepped up attacks on officials and security forces since a Kurdish and Shi'ite-led government was announced last month. They have killed more than 400 people in a bloody campaign that has challenged government promises of stability.

In violence on Thursday, a university professor was shot dead, one Iraqi soldier was killed and nine injured in a suicide bombing and four other Iraqi soldiers were kidnapped in a separate incident.

The surge of attacks have raised concerns the country could erupt into a full-scale civil war.
Anyone on the terrorist side consider who's likely to win that?
Some of those killed were Shi'ite and Sunni clerics. Recent discoveries of people killed execution-style and then dumped at various sites have stirred sectarian passions. Most victims were Shi'ites but some were Sunnis.

A funeral service was held for Muhammad al-Allaq, a Shi'ite cleric who was gunned down on Wednesday, relatives said. Top Sunni Muslim cleric Harith al-Dhari publicly accused the Badr Brigades, the militia of the main Shi'ite political party, of assassinating Sunni preachers. It was the first time Dhari publicly accused the armed wing of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), which won January's elections in a Shi'ite coalition.

Dhari's Muslim Clerics Association called for a three-day closure of Sunni mosques in protest at the killings and he warned that Sunnis would not keep silent. The top Badr official denied the accusations.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/20/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think "civil war" is the latest meme to be circulated around, that somehow what is happening now is more civil-war-ish then what was going on before.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/20/2005 0:10 Comments || Top||

#2  moderate muslim martyr watch. A moment of silence for Ali Hameed.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 05/20/2005 10:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Civil war is a goodie-but-oldie meme. Been floated more or less constantly by MSMers since at least the end of 2003. First it was the Yugoslav analogy (cf Peter Galbraith, multiple articles in the NY Review of Books), then Lebanon. Of course, that last analogy vanished in the light of recent events, so the latest one I've seen is Latin American: Iraq as an arab Colombia.
Posted by: thibaud (aka lex) || 05/20/2005 13:54 Comments || Top||

#4  I thought Afghanistan was supposed to be the Arab Columbia. Silly me, I always did have a bit of a problem with geography. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/20/2005 18:30 Comments || Top||



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Thu 2005-05-19
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Wed 2005-05-18
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Tue 2005-05-17
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Wed 2005-05-11
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