No, this isnât about Michael Moore. Read on:
A prize-winning âstallionâ, tipped for a lucrative life on a stud farm, has been found to be missing some vital equipment. Clydesdale colt, Black Prince, has been stripped of several awards he won in Scotland after it was found heâd been castrated as a foal. Yep, just as youâre about to hit easy street, someone rips your balls off.
Among his honours were a blue ribbon at this yearâs Doune and Dunblane Show and a prize at the National Stallion Show. That made him eligible for a place in The Stud Book, the Clydesdale horsebreedersâ main reference. His virility came into question only when his owner, Kevin Cargill, decided to sell him to a breeder and a vetâs inspection was requested. A vet informed the surprised parties the two-year-old had been castrated as a foal, says The Times. "They werenât the only ones who were surprised, Wil-l-l-l-bur!"
Robert Hamilton, president of the Clydesdale Horse Society, said the organisation had no choice but to remove the awards. "Put simply, the necessary ammunition wasnât there - and no balls means no awards," he said. That is so-o-o-o true in so many walks of life.
Mr Hamilton said prize judges, who were representatives of various fairs endorsed by his society, had made a mistake that, although obvious, was easy enough to make. "When horses are on display they often retract their testicles. You cannot see them, and judges are not at liberty to start groping horsesâ balls." You can always tell who the judges are at these shows: they have a horseshoe print on their faces. And a happy look.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/29/2003 12:37:17 PM ||
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#1
If I were judging a horse show, the testicle check for Clydesdales would be on the honor system.
#2
Well, a testicle check *is* part of dog shows, but a very small number of people cheat by having their vets insert fakes. And yes, the judges do hope that the owners & handlers of breeds like Giant Schnauzers and the livestock guarding dogs have trained their animals to accept the exam!
#4
Wait till the European Court of Hippic Rights hears of this. There'll be hell to pay when Brussels learns how disrespectfully the Scots treat EUnuchs.
A restless gorilla broke out of its zoo enclosure Sunday injuring a 2-year-old and a teenager before it was sedated and recaptured almost two hours later, according to zoo officials. The gorilla escaped from the Franklin Park Zoo minutes before the zoo was scheduled to close, according to Zoo New England CEO and President John Linehan. The gorilla injured the young girl and an 18-year-old woman almost immediately after escaping, Linehan said. A witness told police she later saw the gorilla sitting at a bus stop on a street near the zoo. This wouldnât happen in California. They just passed a law permitting gorillas to get driverâs licenses.
"Weâve had a very difficult evening, and we feel very badly about the adult and young child injured. We donât know the extent of their injuries, but we think theyâll be OK," he said. The 5-foot, 300-pound adolescent gorilla escaped from its section of the Tropical Forest exhibit in August, but did not leave the exhibit grounds. Zoo officials installed electrified wires to keep the 11-year-old primate from escaping again, but on Sunday he managed to leave the zoo grounds entirely. "Needless to say, until further notice, he is not going to be on exhibit," Linehan said.
Posted by: eyeyeye ||
09/29/2003 9:19:23 AM ||
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#1
Why'd the gorilla go to the bus stop? He knew he'd never make it past airport security.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/29/2003 9:47 Comments ||
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#2
Catching the bus to the nearest Starbucks. He knows that's where all the cute chicks hang out.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/29/2003 10:24 Comments ||
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RC
Too funny.
Luckily Brachiating-Americans aren't on the profile list.
#9
This raises many questions.
Where was he planning to go on the bus? Did he have fare? If so, where did he get it?
Did he have outside help; say, from PETA?
Will the retirement of noted ape-fighter Charlton Heston lead to an upsurge in simian subversion?
Is the suspect an "enemy combatant", a POW, or just another victim of capitalist oppression?
Does Gitmo have gorilla (as opposed to guerrilla) cages?
Will the ACLU sue for his freedom if he is not charged in a timely manner?
Inquiring minds want to know!!
The assassin of Jarallah Umar, the late assistance secretary general to Yemenâs National Authority (NA), has been sentenced to death. But the NA criticised the court verdict on Saturday, claiming a shallow investigation failed to identify motives, accomplices and evidence publicly. Dr Abd al-Qudus al-Midhwahi, a member of the NA, said all hope of discovering the truth would accompany Ali Ahmad Jarallah to his grave and suggested a government cover up or possible involvement. Muhammad Kahtan of the Islah party even called on the Yemeni authorities to stop using armed force against political opponents, claiming the judiciary were not independent.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/29/2003 12:25 ||
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A Yemeni member of parliament narrowly escaped death in the province of Ibb after assassins sprayed his car with machine gun fire. Foiling the unidentified attackers on Sunday, Nabil Sadiq al-Bashaâs bodyguards fought off the ambush 190km south of the capital, Sanaa. A member of parliament from Yemen's ruling General People's Congress (GPC), al-Basha was uninjured.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/29/2003 12:22 ||
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#1
This is how bodyguards are supposed to behave. But it sounds like the assassins went to the Hek School of Firearms Training.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/29/2003 12:38 Comments ||
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A Muslim immigrant has been jailed for life by a court for slitting his daughterâs throat in an "honour killing" after she embraced Western culture and began dating a Christian. Speaking to reporters after the trial, police detective inspector Brent Hyatt said honour killings involving immigrants to Britain were on the increase. "We have identified a number of other cases of so-called honour killings," he said
Posted by: TS ||
09/29/2003 10:34:28 AM ||
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#1
This is what happens when immigrants are not coached in the ways of their new home, something that really needs to be done.
It's almost comical that when Westerners (espepcially Americans, it seems) go to some country with customs and taboos that would normally be considered odd or unusual and violate them, the result is usually a mountain of criticism for the Westerner. When someone from Hellholistan takes up residence in our country and violates a custom or a taboo, the media seems to treat it as something that's not all that big a deal.
The Old Bailey heard Abdalla Yones, 48, murdered 16-year-old Heshu at their home ... because he feared she was becoming westernised. He pleaded for the court to pass the death sentence on him for his "appalling" crime after he tried to take his own life. Heshu, who was described as popular and fun-loving, planned to run away from home after starting a relationship with an 18-year-old Lebanese teacher. In a letter to her parents, apparently showing she planned to run away, Heshu wrote: "Bye Dad, sorry I was so much trouble. Me and you will probably never understand each other, but I'm sorry I wasn't what you wanted, but there's some things you can't change. Hey, for an older man you have a good strong punch and kick. I hope you enjoyed testing your strength on me, it was fun being on the receiving end. Well done." The court heard that after repeatedly stabbing his daughter and slitting her throat, he cut his own throat and jumped from a third floor balcony.
Scotland Yard described it as a "brutal honour killing" - a reference to the practice of women being killed by male relatives to redeem the family name. Detective Inspector Brent Hyatt said: "There was nothing, nothing at all 'honourable' about her murder. After hacking his daughter to death, Mr Yones has attempted every defence, from psychiatric, and diminished responsibility to extreme provocation, in order to save his own skin." He added that Yones first claimed al-Qaeda members had broken into the flat, murdered Heshu and then attacked him. He only admitted murdering her last Monday. Yones's counsel, Icah Peart QC, said his client wanted to be sentenced to death. Judge Neil Denison said Yones had tried to commit suicide twice but told him he would pass the only sentence he could for murder - life imprisonment. He added: "This is, on any view, a tragic story arising out of irreconcilable cultural differences between traditional Kurdish values and the values of western society."
Really? I'd call it plain old murder. Murder inspired by bigotry is still spelt M U R D E R. And the domestic abuse beforehand - a tragic result of "irreconcilable cultural differences"? If he'd roughed up and slit the throat of the white-skinned protestant 16 year old next door, that would be some kind of romantic tragedy, too?
But Scotland Yard warned the sentence should be a warning to those who condone or stay silent about the mistreatment of women in their communities. Commander Andy Baker added: "Violence in the name of culture will not be tolerated. Murder in the name of honour will be punished by the severest penalties available in law."
Scotland Yard believe there were 12 'honour killings' in the UK last year and said they were not restricted to Muslims, but also occurred in Sikh and Christian families. A specialist police unit is researching the practice but police say only a handful of people believed 'honour killings' were an appropriate cultural response. Mr Baker said people who had tried to protect Yones could now be investigated on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. "We are completely satisfied that some members of the community, or his friends, tried to assist him in that cover-up," he said. "It's not about one person committing the murder, it's about the few that acknowledge it and support it and are involved in it." Yones was a political refugee who fled Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq 10 years ago.
Sounds as though the police have the right attitude. But the spineless moralizers who make up the judiciry once again make themselves sound like a bunch of, well, spineless moralizers.
#4
Lovely--an immigrant doesn't want his daughter to become westernized so he kills her. If he didn't want to adopt the ways of his new country, he should have kept his ass in the old country.
I'm sick of idiots like this thinking they can go where they want and expect the people there to adapt to them rather than adapting to their new surroundings. Yes, that includes the "Ugly American" tourist as well. I'm not anti-immigrant; I'm anti-idiot.
Posted by: Dar ||
09/29/2003 13:18 Comments ||
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#5
Heshu wrote: "Bye Dad, sorry I was so much trouble. Me and you will probably never understand each other, but I'm sorry I wasn't what you wanted, but there's some things you can't change. Hey, for an older man you have a good strong punch and kick. I hope you enjoyed testing your strength on me, it was fun being on the receiving end. Well done."
Hope dad gets the same brutal treatment from his bunkmate.
Hat tip: Kim du Toit
Fury erupted last night over a book telling kids as young as nine how to pleasure themselves. It includes a cartoon of a girl fondling herself in a bath. The 16-page guide â called 4 You â also contains explicit diagrams of how to manipulate female genitals. It tells youngsters itâs normal to be attracted to people of the same gender. The book was published yesterday by the Government-funded sexual health charity fpa. Leaflets about the book, which costs £15 for 50 copies, are being sent to all schools in England and Wales in the next few days. But head teachers, family values campaigners and education experts branded it inappropriate for its target age group of nine to 11-year-olds. Nick Seaton of the Campaign for Real Education said: âParents will be horrified that this sort of pornographic material is being targeted at primary school children.â However, fpa chief executive Anne Weyman said: âThis booklet will help dispel playground myths.â
Posted by: Dar ||
09/29/2003 8:54:19 AM ||
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#1
I'm thinking this guide could be classified as kiddy porn here in the states. Don't know if it's available on-line (who am I kidding?), but I would be very wary about down-loading it if I was you.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/29/2003 10:05 Comments ||
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#2
dialing "O" on the pink telephone huh?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/29/2003 10:47 Comments ||
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#3
However, fpa chief executive Anne Weyman said: "This booklet will help dispel playground myths."
This might sound strange, but when I was nine, we weren't talking about beating off or humping girls and we didn't care.
#5
FWIW, you can see the "fpa" (Or Family Planning Association) press release here. It does't go into the details of the book.
Britain's sex education and youngsters' attitudes towards sex are seriously f'ed up (if you pardon the expresseion). We have one of, if not the, highest rates of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe. I won't pretend I know the answer to this sorry situation, but showing nine-years olds how little girls should masturb8 in the bath seems to me a definite step in the wrong direction.
Meanwhile, the government's social engineers are also busy telling schoolkids how to get high.
BRUSSELS â Belgium has been infiltrated with fake EUR 1 and EUR 2 coins over the past few months. The counterfeits were discovered when a batch of coins was sent back to the national bank as stock. The coins were issued in another European country as they do not carry the Belgian face, but the Treasury has confirmed they are of very high quality. It is the first time false euro coins have been found in the country. Fake notes however have become a growing problem, with EUR 20 and EUR 50 denominations being the most counterfeited. The national bank uncovered 10,111 fake notes in the first quarter of this year alone, with the European central Bank identifying 230,534 false notes Europe-wide over the same period.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
09/29/2003 11:19:52 AM ||
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#1
The coins were issued in another European country as they do not carry the Belgian face,..
Just look for the coins with Chirac's head on one side... ;)
#2
Can't see face; black turban and beard gets in the way...
Posted by: steve d. ||
09/29/2003 13:11 Comments ||
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How convenient - what's the betting the EU will soon announce plans to replace the 'national' euro coins with a single, harmonized, pan-EU design? All that passe national symbolism stuff's best swept under the carpet anyway...
#4
The crime is actually being perpetrated by a guy hanging in a clear box over the Thames. He is in the process of establishing the most fiendish alibi in history.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/29/2003 19:37 Comments ||
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#5
The crime is actually being perpetrated by a guy hanging in a clear box over the Thames. He is in the process of establishing the most fiendish alibi in history.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/29/2003 19:37 Comments ||
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EFL....How NOT to celebrate Rosh Hashanah
The ceremony to open the common cemetery of Latvian legionaries - Nazi SS veterans - is taking place in Latvia today. The solemn ceremony started at midday, local time, it was broadcast on the national television and radio. Former legionaries, their relatives and Hitler fan club members followers are to take part in the ceremony together with a lot of Latvian politicians and leaders of Latviaâs largest religious confessions. Three military orchestras of the Latvian Defense Ministry will be playing at the ceremony. "The whole Latvia will see that monument to disgrace an old sanctuary has appeared in the country," chairman of the National Warriors Association Nikolay Romanovskis said. Note to Nikolay....these guys werenât warriors. Shouldnât you have really gone somewhere else that day? And taken the military bands with you?
It is very hard to be unbiased about the current events in Latvia. Gotta agree with them on that.
Of course, one may recollect that SS divisions had not been formed only in Latvia. Nazis attracted the French, the Dutch, the Croatians. However, the attitude to SS members was the same for all countries after the war was over - people despised them. Monuments or memorials in honor of SS members have never been opened or unveiled in any country of West Europe. At times, SS veterans organize demonstrations in Germany, although the German government has always tried to stand aloof from marching elderly men, who were lucky to avoid a Soviet, an English, a French or an American bullet. In addition, the German police had to take a lot of efforts not to let antifascists beat SS veterans on such demonstrations. In Latvia, SS veterans are referred to as the military men, who defended their fatherland from the Soviet invasion. Well, ok, they helped round up Jews and some other undesirables, and maybe worked as camp guards, and tortured some of the camp inmates on the way to the gas chambers.....but they REALLY didnât like the Soviets, so we wonât hold those little "indiscretions" against them.....
Latvia has recently held the referendum devoted to the countryâs membership in the EU. The majority of Latvians supported the idea - they already imagine themselves the "residents of the joint European space." One may only congratulate Brussels: the European Union will have the country that praises Nazisâ "deeds."
Posted by: Baba Yaga ||
09/29/2003 3:14:51 AM ||
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The Latvians, like the Estonians, Lithuanians, Finns and others, considered the Soviet Union to be far worse than Nazi Germnay, so they were enthusiastic fighters in Waffen SS, which accepted volunteers from all over Europe.
The Balts have always been in a difficult situation, because the people who fought against Stalin were in many cases participants in the Holocaust.
However the Waffen SS was primarily an elite frontline force, while the acts of extermination were mainly committed by the Totenkopf SS. So even though the Waffen SS was responsible for many atrocities, and Latvians were among the volunteers in rounding up Jews and other uttermenchen, it isn't meant as a celebration of Nazism, but an ill advised commemoration of the tens of thousands of soldiers who died fighting against what they rightly or wrongly saw as the lesser of two evils.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
09/29/2003 7:40 Comments ||
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#3
However the Waffen SS was primarily an elite frontline force, while the acts of extermination were mainly committed by the Totenkopf SS.
Thanks, Paul.
To amplify: Man for man, the Waffen SS had the best trained, most fit soldiers in the world during WWII. Their lesser compatriots in Totenkopf who did murder seem to take away from the accomplishments on the battlefield the Waffen SS performed.
I have a theory about military forces, and it seems to be bourne out by every military organization in history, except for the Waffen SS. That theory is that every military force which takes part in atrocities such as firing on the unarmed, tend to lose their combat efficiency over time.
It should have happened to the SS, but it didnt. The SS maintained the highest standards for an military organization throughout WWII right until the end. The explanation, of course, is that the bulk of the Waffen SS didnt participate in the pogroms in the east. The men there were recruited to destroy communism through military means.
#4
Just want to point out that the Totenkopfverbande (SS-VT) shouldn't be confused with the 3rd SS "Totenkopf" division, which was Waffen SS.
Additionally, while the Waffen SS may have been a combat arm and not associated with the SS-VT concentration camp personnel, it should be pointed out that they are responsible for their own atrocities, as the 2nd SS "Das Reich" performed at Oradour-sur-Glane, the 1st SS at Malmedy, and countless villages on the Russian Front.
Man for man, I'd have taken any of the 82nd, 101st, Red Devils, and Desert Rats any day!
Posted by: Dar ||
09/29/2003 9:26 Comments ||
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#5
I disagree.
A book "History of the Waffen SS" (sorry don't remember author) tells the following. First: there was continuous movement of personnel between
both from Tottenkopfverbande to Waffen SS and the opposite.
Second: The Tottenkopf division was created as a way both to improve the status of the Tottenkopfverbande and its personel came mostly from the camps.
Third: There were many non-Germans and non-Aryans
in special units of the SS. Even Slavs, even
Yougoslav Muslims. The book documented the actions of the Hanschar (Muslim) division whose poor performance in combat was equalled only by its atrocities against Serb civilians. At one point even the SS were sickened by the Hanschar people and its leader was executed (partly for trocities and partly for diverting funds).
4) The book praised highly the performance in combat of the SS. However: a) the first German division who yielded significant ground in the war
was SS Viking against the Poles. b) After the russian winter offensive in 1942 Hitler began to
distrust the Army and new equipment was assigned to SS units. That meant SS got Tigers in 1942, Panthers in 1943, Konigs Tigers for the Bulge while even in 1945 most Wehrmacht Panzer units were still equipped with the Mark IV (that is those who still had tanks :-). Being equipped with a tank who is nearly invulnerable to enemy fire or one who can be defeated by about every allied AT weapon makes a lot of differnce both for effectiveness and for the morale.
5) It is wrong to tell SS bad/Wehrmacht good. One of the first war crimes was perpetrated by
Rommel against Senegalese soldiers belonging to
the French army. And the EinsatzGruppe who killed
hundreds of thousands of Jews in Russia was Wehrmacht.
6) Dar: Pitting the 82nd, 101st or Red Devils
against Gross Deutschland is not fair: those
were para units with mostly light weapons and
nothing effective against Tigers. Pick an elite armored allied unit, equip it with 17 pounders (the only allied gun really effective against the
frontal armor of the Tiger or Panther) and Sherman Fireflies, have some Typhoons overfly the zone and then let's play.
Note: A Firefly is a Sherman with a 17 pounder, unfortunately they were in short supply, unfortunately too some a...hole American official
told it was NIH and refused to equip American troops with the 17 pounder and Firefly. The result was many American soldiers unnecessarily killed.
4) Good point. I'd add the MP44 to that list of SS-first weapons.
6) Gross Deutschland, although elite, was a regular army (Heer) division, not SS. And I meant literally "man for man", as I think man for man the Allies fielded some first-rate soldiers. Even when said divisions were encountering armored German forces (Market Garden and Bastogne primarily), despite being lightly equipped they performed heroically.
In addition to the idiot who refused to consider the Fireflies, don't forget Patton and his hindering of the Pershing tank advanced deployment. Yet another reason so many American tankers died needlessly in their Sherman "Ronsons".
Posted by: Dar ||
09/29/2003 11:37 Comments ||
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#7
Excellent thread. There has been so much bad information banded about regarding the Waffen SS (note the origin of this article) so it is good to see Rantburgers debating the facts...and not the fiction. Where's TGA? I am currently reading Storm of Steel: The History of the 1st SS Panzer Corp in Normandy. Highly recommended.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
09/29/2003 13:32 Comments ||
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#8
I heard on a radio talk show -possibly Liddy - that The Foriegn Legion was actually winning in Vietnam until it was leaked to the press that most of the Legionaires were former Waffen SS. The public French outcry lead to the Legionaires being replaced by the regular French army with disasterous results.
#9
The Foreign Legion is way too small to win wars: there are only four or five regiments of it AFAIK.
What is true is that the French communists, at that time important due to Resistance mithology (their motto was "the Party who had 75,000 members executed. The Germans only executed 25,000 French in total) did their best to sabotage France's war effort. It went all the range from
propaganda and spying ("SS in foreign legion" bears their fingerprints), to insults and agressions on the wounded soldiers when they returned to France. They also helped the Vietminh in making the prisonners speak. I think that meant torture.
#10
While it only saw limited combat, the 90mm on the Pershing was considered as effective against German frontal armor as the 17 lb'er. Pity it wasn't available sooner. Of course the little Sherman fit nicely into the cargo holds.
The Mark IV continued to take out Allied tanks to the end of the war... and to be identified as a "Tiger" by dismayed Allied troops (to be fair, there was a superficial resemblance). Partly due to the skill of the crews, and partly to the excellence of the Long 75 and its optics, the Mk IV was the Wehrmacht's real breadwinner in WWII (along with the "lowly" StuG) despite the attention lavished on the big cats (of which only Panther was really a practical MBT design, Villers-Bocage notwithstanding).
Mega-tanks look foolish stuck in mud and show up nicely in the bomb-and-rocket sights.
Posted by: Mark IV ||
09/29/2003 15:51 Comments ||
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#11
Shermans did get a high-velocity 76mm gun before the end of the war. This was not quite as powerful of the 17-Pounder (of the same calibre) but the real difference was the US Army's scandalous failure to adopt APDS (armour-piercing discarding sabot) ammunition for it.
The British had APDS for the 6-Pounder by D-Day, and for the 17-Pounder by the early fall of 1944. The 17-Pounder's discarding sabot projectile (though not the cartridge case) was compatible with the American 76mm, and the British even furnished a large number of these for American use. They were apparently never mated with the appropriate cases and issued, at least not until after the war.
The 76mm gun, btw, was available for at least 2 years before it was incorporated into the Sherman, having been used on the Sherman-derived M-10 tank-destroyer from the time of its introduction.
The M-10 itself was upgraded into the 90mm M-36 in time to participate in the European war.
The 76mm gun used on the post-war M-41 "light" (25 tons) tank was virtually identical in performance to the Sherman version. With APDS ammunition, it proved quite capable of taking out T-54s in Vietnam.
#12
I kind of find it disturbing that so many of you have 'in-depth' knowledge of the Waffen SS. Is the left right? Are we Nazis? Yes the Balkan states thought Germany the lesser of the two evils. I guess they came to this conclusion after they saw what the Red Army did in Poland and to a lesser extend Finland. Of course they paid dearly for choosing sides, some 40 years of occupation and oppression. Check me on this but the SS was more of a political Army as opposed to the Wehrmact was a professional Army? Also I believe that only Germans could serve in the Wehrmact, where as any âSocialist Brotherâ could serve in the SS? OMG! I know too much too!
#13
Hmmmmm Cyber Sarge....i'm not saying a word (flashing back to Marathon Man, The Boys from Brazil, etc)
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
09/29/2003 17:26 Comments ||
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#14
"I kind of find it disturbing that so many of you have 'in-depth' knowledge of the Waffen SS. Is the left right? Are we Nazis?"
Sorry, Sarge, but I find it disturbing that you would make a statement that seems to equate knowledge with approval. Personally, I would agree that there is an unhealthy streak of Germano-phile prejudice among many military history enthusiasts, but this is not the same as having some insight into the complexities of the period.
The SS is important as the prime example of a totalitarian political party's military arm. All totalitarian parties have such affiliates, though the connection is usually much less formal.
I believe that there are parallels in the radical parties of democratic countries. Besides the obvious example of Sinn Fein/IRA, we have the elite corps of "adventure sport" activists in the Greenpeace gang, and the masked blackshirt thugs who play such a crucial, and "plausibly deniable", role in providing muscle for Green Party events and other "peace" demonstrations.
#15
Cyber Sarge,
First, it's the Baltics, not the Balkans.
Second, the sides were pretty well picked for them due to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Everybody remembers the part where Germany got Poland; most people forgot the part where Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia were put under the Soviet sphere. Stalin occupied those countries just weeks after Poland was invaded, and in the span of the year, killed thousands (about 2,000 in Estonia, where I'm living as an ex-pat).
I understand why people find this offensive, but from the Balts prospective, it was the lesser of two evils, and most of the Latvians were fighting against Russia and not so much for Germany.
Interestingly enough, the historiographies of the period show that it might have been much worse in the long run under Nazi occupation (Hitler wanted to kill all the Balts, form the Ostland territory for the Germans). But that doesn't mitigate the fact that the Russian invaded first, and the Balts knew what life was life under Stalin.
BTW, it should be noted that Latvians fought on the side of the Allies as well. The ships of the Latvian Navy that escaped (about eight of them) protected Allied shipping in the North Atlantic through the war.
Posted by: Baltic Blog ||
09/29/2003 17:49 Comments ||
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#16
Mark IV.
The late models of Mark IV with the ultralong 75 (ie
the same gun than the Panther) carried a lot of punch. The difference was that about any allied tank or AT gun could punch holes in the Mark IV, while for the Panther the only gun who could reliably defeat its frontal armor was the 17 pounder (who was much more powerful than the American 76).
For the Tiger. I know about its slowness and its
tendency to bog (it was grossly underpowered for its weight) but one occasion (or was it two) a single Tiger ran through a column of Canadian Shermans, knocked out twenty five of them and escaped unharmed. You could not make this with a Mark IV.
The reason Mark IV stood as the main breadwinner for the Wehrmacht is the sae one who kept the Meserscmit 109 active despite the superiority of
FW190: its replacements were not available in big
enough numbers. Specially with the SS getting priority for the Tigers and Panthers while more experienced Wehrmacht tankers had to content with the with Mark IV (and until 1943, with the Mark III). Absurd if you want my opinion about this policy.
#17
The Waffen SS is the model for "Elite Republican Guards" of all totalitarian stripes, so there's a reason to be interested in their composition and employment. That doesn't imply approval. They're also much better documented than, say, the NKVD divisions the Soviets used.
They're also over and done with, set in amber, so to speak, so they're susceptible to being turned this way and that to be examined under a microscope. The German military of that period developed or refined many of the concepts we're still building on today, and battles like Kursk and Stalingrad and Bastogne will be studied for many years to come. Guderian was a brilliant general, regardless of his political leanings, just as Patton and Zhukov were. Dietrich was a pretty good one, too, independent of the fact that he was a thug.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/29/2003 18:13 Comments ||
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#18
I kind of find it disturbing that so many of you have 'in-depth' knowledge of the Waffen SS. Is the left right? Are we Nazis?
I'm not a Nazi, but I do want to amplify my remarks.
I said man for man the SS fielded the best soldier during WWII, I want to also point out that the operational element of the Waffen SS were a fearsome force to be reckoned with: although not as well supplied or equipped as the Wehrmacht, their senior officer ranks had a number of old German Army trained officers recycled into the war. Their organization and operational elements of fighting those larger formations were second to none.
It is when we talk about squad and platoon tactics is where we find the SS was very much a poorly trained military fighting force. SS Units suffered heavier casualties, not because of their fighting spirit, but because of their lack of trained experienced NCOs within their ranks.
And having a well trained, well paid and motivated NCO cadre within your military organization makes all the difference between defeat and victory.
Now, I dont march around in jackboots or wear swastikas or any of that, but WWII is a subject of fascination with me, and I have read, read, read all I can about the subject, even going so far as to learn Russian and become involved in wargaming.
#19
"...I seriously don't think that makes me a Nazi."
LOL badanov, no it would take a fair bit more than that.
Having an interest in, and appreciation of, military history does not make you a war-lover, or a political extremist. But I would say that it does give a person a knowledge and appreciation of the vital role that conflict has played in all our lives. It's when you have an unrealistic idea of war that people make mistakes, not from knowing too much about it.
I suspect that if you asked your anti-war protestor to give five facts about WWII, they would be stumped. Their ignorance is precisely what allows them to hold the conviction that war is something that is optional, and somehow unnecessary. It's a fool's idea of paradise.
#20
Hey Baltic Blog! (Love that site, by the way!) I hope I didn't imply somehow that Balts are Nazis or sympathizers. My 100% proud Lithuanian dad taught me better than that.
Thanks for bringing up what the Nazis were really hoping to do to them (kill them off to make room for Germans). I just have a hard time with fellow Balts commemorating people who fought on the wrong side, and who were responsible for sending some of my family members to the camps. Not everyone who ended up there was Jewish, ask TGA if you don't believe me. And to do this on Rosh Hashanah, of all days, seems even more insulting to the memories of their victims.
The SS were a very effective force, as noted by the previous posters. To pretty them up as "patriots" so you can justify memorializing them makes me sick.
Posted by: Baba Yaga ||
09/29/2003 18:45 Comments ||
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#21
I'm probably expected to comment on that. Sorry I don't feel like it.
#22
From a military standpoint, it pays to know about the German army and how they rolled up Western Europe in lighting fashion. If you think that Swartzkoff and Franks didn't study Rommel, you're kidding yourself.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/29/2003 19:45 Comments ||
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#23
From a military standpoint, it pays to know about the German army and how they rolled up Western Europe in lighting fashion. If you think that Swartzkoff and Franks didn't study Rommel,
#24
TGA--no offense intended. Sorry to drag you into this, my bad.
Posted by: Baba Yaga ||
09/29/2003 20:18 Comments ||
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#25
The Germans were the innovators of defense in depth, maneuver warfare, trench clearing, tank tactics, list goes on. We still study the hell out of them. It's easy to see hind sight w/perfect 20/20 vision. The Waffen SS did have great warriors, still doesn't negate the fact that they committed atrocities as did most militaries one time or another. War is a messy business. No one's condoning or absolving them of their treatment of the Jews and whole list of other peoples. Based solely on their feats on the battle field they are very impressive.
This subject will always be controversial due to the Nazi theme and anything to do w/Hitler.
About poorly-led SS. A french historian told about the way SS attacked his unit in 1940: bare torso, yell and charge. They were repulsed with heavy losses. He soberly commented: "This doesn't work when the opposite machine gunners keep their nerves". In 1940 SS units had a real leadership
and experience problem. In addition they were not better equipped than the Wehrmacht. In 1944
their cadre had had four years to gain experience and have some natural selection to weed out the idiots. It is possible that by 1944 some army people had gone to the SS due to better career perspectives. SS had also better tanks than Wehrmacht units.
However I am not aware of the SS ever getting a first class general a la Guderian
In 1984, closed-door Congressional hearings were held following the exposure of 497 KGB officers that had infiltrated the CIA, and over 800 double agents that were in the CIA. Even though the exposure of the KGB and the double agents was never made public, every member of the 98th Congress was aware of it, as they were all present at the closed-door Congressional hearings. President Reagan and his national security team were, of course, acutely aware of the exposure of the KGB officers.
I was also present at the closed-door hearings. Prior to 1984, very few people believed that the CIA had been infiltrated, although for seven years I had been telling operatives that the KGB had infiltrated the CIA. I told them that the head of domestic operations was a KGB officer, that former CIA Director John McCone was a KGB officer, and that there were, in fact, many KGB officers in the CIA. Some operatives filed intelligence reports that said the KGB had infiltrated the CIA, but it did not yield any results as the KGB officers had seniority over the field agents that filed the reports. Finally, in 1984, Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, former CIA Director William Colby, and former Deputy Director Frank Carlucci all cooperated with me in exposing the KGB officers.
Tom Ridge, appointed Director of Homeland Security in 2001 after the September 11 terrorist attacks, first served in the 98th Congress and continued to serve until 1994. Vice President Richard Cheney had also been a Member of the 98th Congress. Like the many current Members of Congress who had been in the 98th Congress, they are aware of the KGB infiltration that had been exposed.
Information in this book is based on what the KGB officers admitted to in 1984, and on my knowledge of the vast corruption that has existed in the CIA since then.
Renegade CIA operatives were entrenched at many levels of the CIA in 1984, from field agents through the hierarchy. They took over handling the terrorist and criminal activities that had been initiated by the KGB. The KGB¡¯s renegade successors knew that the secrecy and corruption gave them free reign to perpetrate criminal activity at will and follow the example of their KGB progenitors.
The KGB officers admitted to killing thirteen of the fourteen Members of Congress who died from unnatural causes from 1957 to 1983. Among the factors in those deaths and four more deaths perpetrated by the renegade successors are:
>Four vehicles became instruments of death for Members of Congress who were not aboard the vehicles on four separate occasions.
>The pilot of a Congressman¡¯s plane "appeared nervous and even ran the aircraft off the taxiway shortly before take off."
>Two "mechanical failures" caused planes with Congressmen aboard to crash.
>A helicopter crashed into a Senator¡¯s plane when it was allegedly making a "second attempt" to "inspect the landing gear," even though communications between the plane and the tower showed "no problem with the landing gear" and the plane was "cleared to land." The pilot of the Senator¡¯s plane had "three hours of experience as the pilot-in-command," and "had problems on a previous flight."
>A Congressman named Mills allegedly left "at least seven" suicide notes in 1973 when it was reported that prior to his special election in 1971, his campaign had received "an unreported cash transfer of $25,000" from President Nixon¡¯s campaign.
"One official said that in one of the notes, Mr. Mills said ¡¯he had done nothing wrong but said he couldn¡¯t prove it, and so there was no other way out.¡¯"
"Three of his Congressional aides, including his former campaign treasurer, Colonel James L. Webster," had been killed in a traffic accident in 1972.
>Two Congressmen are "presumed dead" after a plane that they weren¡¯t even supposed to be on disappeared in the Alaska wilderness.
>No one in Congress has died in a traffic "accident" since 1965, but three Members of Congress died in traffic "accidents" in 1957, 1959, and 1965.
>In the final traffic "accident" in 1965, a truck driver ran down a Congressman with his tractor-trailer, and the truck driver allegedly had cataracts on both of his eyes, suffered from high blood pressure and asthma, and had exceeded the ICC limit on maximum hours of service.
>In the traffic "accidents" of 1957 and 1959, members were killed while driving in their Congressional Districts, but no Members of Congress have died in traffic "accidents" since the 1965 "accident" with the "sickly" truck driver who allegedly had cataracts on both his eyes. (As if Members of Congress stopped driving in their Congressional Districts as of 1959.)
>In 1957, a train engine (just an engine; there was no train) smashed into a Congressman¡¯s car.
>In 1959, a Congressman crashed into an elevated train pillar "early" one day and the New York Times reported that he "had apparently fallen asleep at the wheel or had been cut off by another car." (The alleged "need for sleep" was also part of the equation in 1965 when an allegedly asthmatic truck driver with high blood pressure and cataracts on both of his eyes "exceeded the ICC limit on maximum hours of service.")
>In each of the three traffic "accidents," the Member of Congress was the only one killed.
A train engine in 1957, an elevated train pillar in 1959, and a tractor-trailer in 1965 apparently weren¡¯t the only ways to kill Members of Congress.
Beginning in October 1972, the aforementioned airplane "accidents" became an easy and acceptable alternative to traffic "accidents." There had only been one flying fatality from January 1951 until October 1972, and the KGB admitted they were responsible for it.
***More of the nine-page Introduction will be posted contingent upon comments***
Posted by: Anthony Frank ||
09/29/2003 9:08:50 PM ||
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#1
Someone delete this drivel.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/29/2003 21:14 Comments ||
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#2
Dont forget that Elvis ran the whole operation from his secret base on Pluto, and transmitting his secret instructions directly into the heads of his agents here using a Z-ray he got from Aliens from Kryptonite in exchange for 12 chocolate covered peanuts.
#6
On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
12 ninjas crouching
11 airplanes crashing
10 bugs a-listening
9 psychics viewing
8 trains a-rolling
7 needles a-poisoning
6 anvils falling
5 one time pads
4 trench coats
3 metal hats
2 Russian spies
and an arsenic kiss of death!
Someone please improve this... I've spent too long already.
In a fierce gun battle Sunday night, Indian soldiers killed 15 Muslim guerrillas as they sought to cross into Indian-held Kashmir, officials said Monday. Security officials said the militants were trying to cross into the Kashmir Valley when they were spotted by Indian soldiers guarding a heavily forested area along the Line of Control, the cease-fire line that separates Indian and Pakistani forces in Kashmir. The death toll could not be independently verified. An army spokesman, Lt. Col. Mukhtar Singh, told Reuters that Sunday nightâs clash was "one of the major infiltration bids in recent months by Pakistan-backed terrorists." The gun battle north of Srinagar, Kashmirâs summer capital, lasted 18 hours and soldiers were still searching for militants in the area on Monday, Singh said. Itâs infiltration season, have to get across the passes before first snow.
In separate incidents, Pakistani mortar rounds killed an Indian soldier and wounded two others along the disputed frontier, while in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, officials said a 33-year-old man had been killed and five others -- including three women -- had been wounded by Indian shelling, according to news agency reports. Kashmir, where the shells fall like leaves from the trees.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/29/2003 3:57:50 PM ||
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#1
Awwwwwww. Now where'd I put my nanoviolin?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/29/2003 16:07 Comments ||
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#2
In a fierce gun battle Sunday night, Indian soldiers killed 15 Muslim guerrillas as they sought to cross into Indian-held Kashmir, officials said Monday.
#3
These are not "guerrillas". They infiltrate Kashmir to slaughter Hindus at various shrines, shopping malls, etc. They rarely engage Indian regulars and then only because they were stumbled upon.
Leaders of the Tehrik Ahle Hadith (TAH) and the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) met at Abu Bakar University on Sunday and devised their strategy to counter the âattacks on madrassahsâ by the governmentâs secret agencies and arrest of six Indonesian, including younger brother of Hambali, and 13 Malaysian students at two Salafi seminaries in the city last week.
"We can't have people being arrested just for being associated with terrorist organizations. There ain't no laws against that, are there?"
âWe had detailed discussion on the issue and devised our unified strategy to launch a protest campaign against the governmentâs atrocities against our schools,â TAH chief Allama Abdullah Ghazi told the Daily Times.
"We'll protest, by Gawd! We'll turn our people out into the streets in droves... Like we always do."
MNA Mohammed Husain Mehnati and Sindh MPAs Nasrullah Shaji and Younus Barai â all from the Jamaat-e-Islami â represented the MMA and Allama Ghazi and Maulana Ayesh Mohammed, vice chancellor of Abu Bakar University, were there to host them. âWe told them (Ahle Hadith) that weâll take up this issue at the National and Sindh assemblies,â MMAâs deputy parliamentary party leader in the Sindh Assembly, Nasrullah Shaji, said. Besides, sources said, the managements of all the madressahs in the province would form a joint forum to counter any further raids on religious schools in future. So far, the Jamaat-e-Islami is the only component of the six-party religious alliance that has begun protest demonstrations and rallies on this issue. Two other components of the MMA, Maulana Nooraniâs JUP and Maulana Fazlur Rahmanâs JUI, are intriguingly silent on the issue so far. The JUI has the largest number of Deobandi madressahs in the country followed by the seminaries run by Maulana Nooraniâs Brelvi school.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/29/2003 15:30 ||
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Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami has decided to quit the six-party religious alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) at provincial level and withdraw support for the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) to protest the governmentâs ânon-cooperative attitudeâ to the alliance. âIt is hoped the consultative body will approve the decision,â MMAâs NWFP President and JUI-S provincial chief Qazi Abdul Latif told Daily Times on Sunday. JUI-S Secretary General Maulana Yousaf Shah told Daily Times that the NWFP Assemblyâs Deputy Speaker Akram Ullah would resign if the consultative body confirmed the general bodyâs decision. Mr Akram Ullah is the only representative from the JUI-S in the NWFP government. Mr Qazi said, âWe shall remain part of the MMA at central level, because there are no differences on constitutional, national and international issues.â He said it would be the biggest lie if somebody said there was an MMA government in the NWFP.
"It's, ummm... something else. We're not in charge, anyway."
He said actually there was a two-party government in the NWFP, and the JUI-Fazl and Jamaat-e-Islami parliamentary members had converted their constituencies into their estates.
Sami's ego's offended that he's only third man on the totem pole, if that...
Mr Qazi said the JUI-F was playing a double game because on one hand, it opposed the Jamali government while on the other it got development projects approved for their constituencies. âHafiz Hussain Ahmad got a project approved by the federal government quietly,â he added.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/29/2003 15:17 ||
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Punjab law enforcement agencies have been directed to strictly monitor seminaries in the province, particularly those with foreign students and who have connections with jihadi and sectarian groups. Sources said the instructions came from the Federal Interior Ministry on September 27. âThere are around 500 foreign students in Lahore alone and we have been directed to strictly monitor the seminaries and their students,â said a law enforcement official. âWe have not received an order to start an operation against the seminaries, but there might be raids on seminaries involved in sectarian and militant activities, including ones that promote terrorism and provide refuge to suspected terrorists,â he said.
"But there probably won't be..."
According to official reports, there are 310 foreign students in the four major seminaries of Lahore: 100 in Jamia Ashrafia, 100 in Jamia Rehmania, 90 in Jamia Muntazeer and 20 in Jamia Naeemia. There are an estimated 200 foreign students in other seminaries, and many of them have not submitted permission letters from their foreign offices. Sources said there were 10 Lahore seminaries for which âspecial directionsâ had been received. These reported seminaries are Jamia Manzoorul Islamia, Jamia Madnia, Jamia Bilal, Jamia Farooq-e-Azam, Jamia Ashrafia, Jamia Rehmania, Jamia Nomania, Jamia Muhammadia, Tableegi Markaz Raiwind and a Jamaat ud-Dawa seminary in Gawalmandi.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/29/2003 15:11 ||
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Pakistan dismissed a threat against its president by the al-Qaida terrorist network, saying the war against "terrorism will continue." Just the kinda thing to get Perv moving. Learn how to motivate from the Black Hats next door?
A message broadcast Sunday by Arab satellite television stations was attributed to al-Qaidaâs second-ranking leader, Ayman al-Zawahri. The speaker urged Pakistanis to overthrow President Pervez Musharraf. He said the Pakistani leader has betrayed Islam by helping the United States topple the Taleban regime in neighboring Afghanistan.
But Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan told reporters in Islamabad, his country will not be deterred by such threats. "Al-Qaida is a terrorist organization we donât control right now. Pakistan is an equivocating part of the war on terrorism and our pursuit of terrorists, al-Qaida and there associates will continue despite these threats. We [will] not be deterred," he said.
In the message, the speaker says Muslims in Pakistan must unite to remove President Musharraf, calling him a traitor. The speaker urges the Pakistanis to put in place a loyal leadership in Pakistan that defends Islam and Muslims. He accuses President Musharraf of planning to send his troops to Iraq to be killed instead of American soldiers.
The identity of the speaker on the audio tape or the authenticity of the tape has not been verified.
But Pakistani spokesman Masood Khan rejected the charges, saying that President Musharraf is fighting for the Muslim world and, in his words, has become the symbol of Muslim unity. "[Mr. Musharraf] is a bridge between the Islamic world and the West. All the allegations that have been made by al-Qaida allegedly, are misplaced and are deliberately designed to mislead the people of Pakistan and the Islamic world and we reject them," he said.
The Pakistani spokesman said such statements do pose a threat to his country, but he said it is prepared to meet any challenge. "These shady characters from time-to-time, al-Qaida leaders, I do not know whether they are speaking on their behalf or their proxies speak on their behalf, they issue such threats to Pakistan and to the head of a sovereign state. This is outrageous. But we are alert and are fully capable of meeting any challenge," he said.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/29/2003 2:49:20 PM ||
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Sri Lankaâs northwestern town of Mannar was tense on Monday, a day after the demolition of a Catholic shrine in the predominantly Muslim area, the Tamilnet Web site reported. The clash between Muslims and Catholics -- both ethnic Tamils -- is thought not to be related to tension last month in the east of the island between Muslims and rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who are mostly Hindu.
Posted by: TS ||
09/29/2003 11:11:04 AM ||
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#1
Further proof that the Muslims don't get along with ANYBODY. So much for being a Religion of Peace (tm).
Posted by: Baba Yaga ||
09/29/2003 20:07 Comments ||
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EFL/FU:
It was a standing room only, bring-your-own-gun evening as comedian Drew Carey headlined nearly two hours of comedy for troops in Iraq. Carey and six other comedians performed two United Service Organizations shows in Baghdad for largely 1st Armored Division audiences Friday and Saturday, and another show Sunday in Tikrit for the 4th Infantry Division. Much of Careyâs performance, thick with Army jokes, brought loud cheers from the audience and even a few smiles from the assembled front-row brass. Careyâs only boos came when he announced that he was a former Marine. Some enterprising soldiers held up a large sign stating, âWe forgive you Drew.â
Kathy Kinney, who played the makeup-heavy Mimi on TVâs Drew Carey Show, followed his opening, talking to the troops who filled in between helicopters and equipment at a large hangar at Saturdayâs airport performance. She received a large cheer from male soldiers when she explained one benefit of being away from home. âThe longer youâre here the closer the Olsen twins get to being legal,â she said.
âDrew Carey Showâ fan and 1st ID soldier 2nd Lt. Katrina Gawlik said Kinneyâs performance was great, as was that of Vietnam veteran and Georgia native Blake Clark, whose act had a Southern twist. âHe talked about saying âfixinâ toâ and I can relate to that,â said Gawlik, who is also from Georgia. âWhen I start talking and say âIâm fixinâ toâ to people back home, they say âyouâre what?ââ
The three nights of off-colored jokes contrasted greatly with the monotony of the troopsâ singular tan uniforms and areaâs sandy landscape. âThis gets everybodyâs minds off the war,â said Sgt. Richard Schnieder. âEvery day here is a Monday. This breaks up the routine and makes everybody happy.â
Actor Bruce Willis and his blues band The Accelerators finished a Middle East USO tour last week, performing for 101st Airborne Division troops in Mosul. Actor Brian Dennehey and comedians from the Laugh Factory will be visiting troops at various locations in the region this week. Thank you.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/29/2003 12:31:11 PM ||
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As United States officials try to determine what role Al Qaeda may have had in recent attacks in Iraq, investigators and Special Forces are also pursuing two men known to have had previous connections to Osama bin Laden. On a half-dozen occasions in recent weeks, one of the men, Abdul Rahman Yasin, slipped through the net. He has been indicted in connection with the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 and is on the F.B.I.âs most wanted terrorist list. He has been living in Iraq for about 10 years. The Americans have also been trying to track Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a more senior Qaeda operative; according to American officials, he has been moving in and out of Iraq since the war ended this spring.
Fox News reported on this yesterday, but I couldn't find their source — duh. I get the Times headlines e-mailed to me every day, and didn't bother looking. Yasin got his villa and a pension from Sammy for his outstanding contribution toward global instability. Zarqawi, of course, is Qaeda's Middle East and Europe operations chief at the moment.
On Friday, L. Paul Bremer III, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, said at least 19 Qaeda members were in custody, but he offered few details about where and when they had been captured. It was the first public mention by an American official of the detention of Qaeda members in Iraq. Since before the war, United States officials have singled out Mr. Zarqawi to illustrate Al Qaedaâs presence in Iraq. Officials say they believe that Mr. Zarqawi, a Jordanian, has worked with Ansar al-Islam, which the Americans describe as a terrorist group that had a base in the Kurdish region of Iraq. I think pretty much everyone describes them that way.
German authorities have linked Mr. Zarqawi, who was in Iranian custody for a time, to a militant Palestinian group, and said he ran training camps in Afghanistan alongside Mr. bin Laden.
The "militant Paleostinian group" they're talking about is al-Tawhid. The Times describes it as though it was a junior version of Hamas or IJ. Nor is it only Paleostinian. Its original reason for existence was to overthrow the Jordanian state.
An American law enforcement official said Al Qaeda was seeking to form "new alliances, new associations" with Baathists and other groups putting up resistance to the Americans in Iraq. It is not a natural alliance, however, because the Iraqis are far more secular than the fundamentalists. But lately, an American official here said, some of the Iraqi resistance groups have been wrapping themselves in more religious rhetoric. Sammy began this process himself, years ago. Building mosques and having a copy of the koran written with his own blood.
It's a tactic directed at getting the rubes on board...
Estimates of the number of Qaeda fighters here range widely, from a few hundred to 2,000. But those numbers are based largely on extrapolating from the number already caught, an American diplomat in the region said. Plus they donât carry membership cards.
And since they all have at least a dozen aliases, it's hard to avoid counting the same guy more than once. When this is all over, 30 years from now, we'll discover that the entire Qaeda terror machine consisted of a half dozen patron families and their clients...
Mr. Yasinâs roots in terrorism run deep, but he may have abandoned them. Not likely.
He was born in 1960 in Bloomington, Ind., where his father was a graduate student, and grew up in Baghdad. He returned to the United States in the early 1990âs, to live with his mother and a brother who were living in Jersey City. It was then that he met Ramzi Yousef, an early operative for Mr. bin Laden long before he had become a notorious public figure. Mr. Yousef recruited Mr. Yasin for the plot to blow up the World Trade Center. Mr. Yasin helped mix the chemicals, at one point severely burning his leg. The scar should help i.d. his body.
The F.B.I. detained Mr. Yasin after the attack and then released him, but only after he provided information about Mr. Yousef, the mastermind. Mr. Yousef fled to Pakistan, then Manila, where he was plotting to blow up 12 airliners over the Pacific, a precursor to the Sept. 11 attacks. He was later captured. Mr. Yasin returned to Iraq. Ostensibly, Mr. Hussein put Mr. Yasin under house arrest, but American officials said this week that they now have evidence he was being liberally supplied with money, women and alcohol. So much for the "Saddam didnât support al-Q meme.
In an interview with the CBS News program "60 Minutes" in June 2002, Mr. Yasin expressed regret for what he had done. "Iâm very sorry for what happened," he said. "I donât know what to do to make it up." Well, have you thought about sticking a gun in your mouth and pulling the trigger?
There is a $25 million bounty for information leading to his arrest. But officials say it may not be money that brings him in. "It will be some transgression," said an American official involved in the search for Mr. Yasin, Mr. Hussein and others. That was the case with the $30 million reward that was offered for information about Uday and Qusay Hussein, two of Mr. Husseinâs sons, Western officials said. According to that account, the brothersâ landlord gave them away after they started molesting his wife and daughter. Special Operations soldiers killed the brothers at the home. Hadnât heard that, but it sounds typical of them.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/29/2003 11:48:04 AM ||
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"...said at least 19 Qaeda members were in custody here.."
Iraqi security forces and U.S. military police on Monday teamed up in the hunt for those behind a series of deadly attacks against American troops -- their largest joint raid to date. Backed up by dozens of soldiers from the U.S. Armyâs 720th Military Police Battalion, the 200-plus American-trained Iraqi police led the overnight raid in Saddam Husseinâs turbulent hometown. The joint raids, along with U.S.-led raids conducted in other Sunni Muslim areas, netted 92 people and weapons including Kalashnikov rifles, mortars and their firing tubes, 155 millimeter artillery shells and multiple rocket launchers. Large artillery shells being broken down to get the explosives for use in roadside ambushes. Not a job anyone with shaky fingers should try.
Among those arrested were 12 men suspected of being behind a series of recent attacks against U.S. troops in the Tikrit area, said 4th Infantry Division spokesman Maj. Gordon Tate. A U.S. commander credited the success of the joint operation to the leadership of the Iraqis. "We think we are turning the corner with the police. This was completely led by the Iraqis," Lt. Col. David Poirier, who commands the 720th, based in Fort Hood, Texas, said. "We hope this operation has tightened the noose on the bad guys. This operation was designed to break the back of the Fedayeen. They are off-balance, on the run, they know we are after them and that the Iraqi police are after them. We want to send the message that if you pull the trigger on the coalition, we will get you."
In another incident, 4th Infantry Division troops late Sunday killed one Iraqi and captured three others in a shootout nine miles south of Balad, U.S. officials said. In the car, troops found two M-16 rifles which belonged to two American soldiers who were abducted and killed in June, officials said.
I hope they're busy trying to wrap the barrels of those M16s around those guys' heads...
U.S. troops have carried out dozens of raids, mostly at night, over the past two weeks, arresting men who have funded those known by the U.S. military as the trigger-pullers. They also have uncovered weapons caches, including two of the biggest found to date last Saturday. The raids intensified after Iraqi resistance fighters shot and killed three Americans in an ambush two weeks ago just outside Tikrit. In a coordinated series of attacks and ambushes against U.S. forces last week, nine Iraqi fighters were also killed. Even Fox hasnât gotten the message yet that these are NOT "resistance fighters", but primarily foreign dumba$$es that think killing Americans is "cool".
"We think all these people and weapons found in the past are linked. We think they are linked to the organized attacks and are also responsible for the assassination attempts against the Iraqi police as well," Poirier said. The headquarters of the Iraqi provincial police, where a portion of the operation began just after midnight, had come under mortar attack three days before. The operation was carried out after information received by the Iraqi police, and Poirier said the information was an indication that people in Tikrit have begun to tire of the near-daily violence. "Itâs Saddamâs hometown and thereâs a lot of family here. Some still believe heâs going to return, but more and more they are realizing Saddam is gone and the old regime is dead," Poirier said. "Tikrit was a tough nut to crack, but I think we have cracked it. That, of course, doesnât mean itâs a safe place."
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/29/2003 7:13:47 AM ||
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I hope it is the Iraqi police who nab Saddam (or his remains). It would be a tremendous morale boost.
#3
Ran across a photo at yahoo news showing 2 Troppers searching a house.There is an Iraqi boy sleeping peacefully in bed.Troops didn't even disturb the childs rest.
Can't think of any other army in the world who would try not to disturb a sleeping child.
What do you want to bet if that had been in Turkey a young Kurdish boy would have been thrown out of bed?
#5
Fascinating story, especially the fact that five months after the war ends it's the Iraqi COPS who are leading these roundups. It's incredible and a tremendous achievement. It may also be unprecendented...does anyone know?
Posted by: R. McLeod ||
09/30/2003 3:36 Comments ||
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The Religion Of Piece.
They only want a piece of you.
Yâknow, a hand here, a foot there, or a head if need be....
KUALA LUMPURTHE ruling Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) state government in Terengganu has announced that from next month, it will begin enforcing controversial Islamic penalties for crime, such as stoning for adultery and amputation of limbs for theft.
With this latest development, the Islamic party appears headed for a new confrontation with the federal government.
The announcement was made by the party president, Datuk Abdul Hadi Awang, at the weekend.
âNow, it is in the process of being gazetted,â he said of the legislation. âGod willing, it will be completed in October.â Enforcement would follow shortly after.
The move is likely to provoke a strong response from Premier Mahathir Mohamad, who has accused PAS of trying to force its extremist views on a multiracial society.
It also raises questions about the rights of the federal authority against those of the states.
PAS has accused the federal government of blocking its previous attempts at imposing Islamic laws in the Kelantan and Terengganu states, which it controls.
Among the laws passed in Terengganu are: whipping for Muslims who drink alcohol, stoning for those found guilty of adultery or sodomy, and death for Muslims who leave the religion.
Datuk Abdul Hadi, who is also Terengganu Mentri Besar, said on Friday that new judges and enforcement officers would be appointed to implement the laws.
âA change in courts is needed to safeguard the law. Our main target is to ensure that all parties understand the enactment,â he said.
But the Malaysian police have said they are answerable only to the federal government and will enforce only laws governed under the Constitution - which guarantees secular laws.
Terengganu passed its hudud legislation last year but had withheld the enforcement.
Instead, it has chosen to use the federal governmentâs obstruction as political fodder to accuse the Barisan Nasional administration of being un-Islamic.
Although Terengganuâs laws do not apply to non-Muslims, their enforcement is likely to alienate the non-Muslim electorate further.
But PAS leaders have accused the media of scaremongering.
Datuk Abdul Hadi reminded Muslim journalists pointedly that it would be a sin to spread negative remarks about the laws, the New Straits Times reported.
âGoing against the law is like criticising the true teachings of Islam,â he said.
Authorities have arrested a member of the notorious Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom gang who was involved in the abduction of a rice-mill trader in Central Mindanao two years ago. Supt. Donardo Torres, chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said the suspected Pentagon member, Rahib Mano Mohammad, a resident of Pansacala Street here, was arrested in a raid on their hideout while having a shabu session over the weekend along with Bai Puti Alim and Brahim Ali.
"Shabu" is methamphetamine hydrochloride...
Five grams of shabu were seized from the three, who are facing charges of illegal possession of prohibited drugs. They are detained at the PDEA-ARMM in Pedro Colina Hill. Torres said they received intelligence information that Mohammad was among the Pentagon members who kidnapped the rice trader Martina Martin of Libungan, North Cotabato in 2001. Martin, who now resides in Manila, was seized on November 4 inside their family-owned rice mill in Poblacion Libungan. âWe have already sent a photo of the suspect [Mohammad] to the family of the victim in Manila to confirm his involvement in the kidnapping. We hope to get a feedback anytime this week,â Torres said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/29/2003 14:49 ||
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Fred,
You confused me with the headline. I thought the DEA had caught another Clinton holdover in a the men's john of a DOD building.
Indonesia, the worldâs most populous Muslim nation, is drafting regulations that could outlaw sex before marriage, living together outside wedlock and homosexuality, an official said on Monday. Abdul Gani Abdullah, director general of legislation at the ministry, said the draft revisions would also ban witchcraft. Muslim leaders, including experts in Islamic Sharia law, had been consulted over the draft revisions, he added. Details of proposed punishments were not immediately available.
I'd guess that they contain considerable chopping and stoning provisions. I wonder what the non-Muslim minorities make of their prospects with this sort of thing?
Posted by: TS ||
09/29/2003 11:33:34 AM ||
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Whoo, fancy that!!! No rants/comments on this bit of news. Maybe this piece of intolerance and homophobia in Indonesia is exactly what the ranters on this site stand for, yes? Funny how right wingers, muslim, christian, hindu, or from anywhere all think alike. Hyuk Hyuk..:))
#3
Cynic--I hadn't bothered to comment because if I were to comment on every example of how the Religion of PeaceTM enslaves whole countries, represses women, rejects science and progress, stifles free speech, and promotes jihad, my fingers would fall off.
Posted by: Dar ||
09/29/2003 13:06 Comments ||
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"These include cohabitation, oral sex, extramarital and non-marital sex, sorcery aimed at hurting other people and homosexual sex, spokesman Sukartono Supangat said."
Just think how much more productive the Clinton years could've been with these prohibitions!
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/29/2003 13:52 Comments ||
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Is cursing someone's mustache considered sorcery?
#7
Gee, I hadn't commented because I hadn't read it until a minute ago. I think it's typical barbarism from the RoP, and another example of why we need to win.
Sorry to go against your bigoted stereotype, though.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/29/2003 14:32 Comments ||
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Maybe this piece of intolerance and homophobia in Indonesia is exactly what the ranters on this site stand for, yes?
Come back when they've made these drafts into official laws and concocted brutal punishments over the objections of the general population. Since the headline says "may", that means that the deed hasn't been done yet, has it?
#11
For the sake of protecting jobs, couldn't a pimp marry his stable of ladies? I mean the sex wouldn't really be pre-marital then, right. Might be a loophole.
Maybe to cut down on pre-marital sex the British government could provide some of those bathtub instruction manuals to Indonesian 9 through 11 year olds. It would be one culture reaching out to another.
#12
[quote]Funny how right wingers, muslim, christian, hindu, or from anywhere all think alike. Hyuk Hyuk..:))[/quote]
No, what's funny is that left-wing pop-culture conformists are the ones doing everything possible to sabotage the war effort, excuse Islamo-fascist barbarism, and generally advance the cause of global shariah law. These rats are not abandoning their ship, they're trying to sink it themselves.
Ah, yes, why else would the evvvviiilll Zionist tools and anti-terrorist bigots fail to comment immediately? It might, just might, have something to do with the original rant being posted a little before noon on a Monday.
You see, bogus-cynic/Hollyweird slave, the right-wingers often have things called "jobs" and "businesses" which require them to be elsewhere at that time of day. These things are their substitute for drug-dealing, welfare, panhandling, and activist protection rackets. You should try it sometime. Even minimum wage will keep you in shade-grown coffee, Kit-Kat bars, and second-hand Che shirts; though you still might have to raid mom's purse for hooch money.
Transcript of radio report:
MARK COLVIN: American interrogators appear to have uncovered the first publicly known financial links between al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah â the south-east Asian group accused of the bombings in Bali. The man described as JIâs operations chief, Hambali, has reportedly told his interrogators that al-Qaeda sent US$100,000 to help the families of the men who executed the Bali attacks. Part of the "Cash for Boomers" program.
But the cash was apparently diverted to fund the Marriott Hotel bombings in Jakarta this year. Cuz killing people is Job #1.
Rafael Epstein reports.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: Hambali was arrested last month in Thailand, and was apparently taken to Americaâs massive base at Bagram in Afghanistan. Thatâs the second source reporting that fact.
Jakartaâs Media Indonesia newspaper says in his interrogation, Hambali claims al-Qaeda had been quote "very satisfied" by last yearâs Bali bombings. So satisfied that al-Qaeda sent two special payments worth US$100,000 to support the families of more than 30 people arrested over the Bali attacks. But the money was diverted by JI leaders to the Marriott bombing in Jakarta last month. That killed 12 people, just a week before Hambaliâs arrest. Speaking from Boston, JI expert, Zachary Abuza.
ZACHARY ABUZA: It tells us a lot about JI and how theyâre moving their money about and what theyâre using it for. If the reports are truth, thatâs a really a page out of the Palestinian handbook, in terms of maintaining popular support that the organisation feels that it has to take care of their own. Also the fact that they divert funds earmarked for the families to more violence is very palestinian.
I really would be fascinated to know from the interrogations how much they thought out this strategy as a long-term effort to recruit, to train people, but more importantly, to let them know that their loved ones will be looked after.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: Hambali apparently said JI raised money in Indonesia from companies that sell bananas, coconut milk and oil. But heâs also claimed al-Qaeda sent him operational funds. And it appears his brother, Rusman Gunawan, arrested in Pakistan last month, also helped fund the group. An Indonesian consulate official in Karachi said Hambaliâs brother, had transferred US$50,000 from Pakistan to Hambali in Jakarta on orders from a Saudi Arabian man living in Thailand. Weâd like to know more about this Saudi, please.
ZACHARY ABUZA: Now weâre starting to learn much more about the relationship between al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah. And al-Qaeda obviously sees the south-east Asian branch as important players who deserve financing, whose attacks can be beneficial to the al-Qaeda cause. Theyâve been the most active branch office, right ahead of Kenya. Stands to reason theyâd get the most funding.
Second, the most important information would be members who have not been rounded up, different cells that⊠and some of the details about how the different cells communicate, what are their means of communications, different code words they use, future strategies they were looking up, factionalism within the organisation. So there is quite a bit of information to be garnered from him. Which is why weâre squeezing his brain dry.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: Indonesia has had success tracking down those who carried out the Bali bombings. But Jakarta is still waiting to be allowed to directly question Hambali so they can find the leaders of JI. Jakartaâs also asked Pakistan if they can speak to Hambaliâs brother and five other Indonesia JI suspects who were arrested in Karachi. You can talk to them after weâve finished. Please submit questions if youâd like them answered sooner, weâll get back to you.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/29/2003 10:00:14 AM ||
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From World Tribune...........
LONDON â Al Qaida has warned its agents that they have been infiltrated by the United States.
An Al Qaida spokesman said the infiltration had been conducted by the United States in cooperation with unspecified Arab intelligence services.
"We warn of attempts to infiltrate the holy warriors in Iraq," the Al Qaida spokesman said. "There is a need to kill spies and make them an example for punishment after their presence and activities have been demonstrated." I wonder if the Saudis got scared enough to cooperate?
The statement came in wake of the capture of several Al Qaida agents in the Sunni Triangle and Mosul area of Iraq, Middle East Newsline reported. The arrests have pointed to links between Al Qaida and loyalists of deposed President Saddam Hussein. The enemy of my enemy is.....
The statement was relayed by the London-based Center for Islamic Research and Studies.
This was the first time Al Qaida has acknowledged that its forces have been penetrated by Western agencies. Until now, Western intelligence analysts said the United States and its allies have failed to infiltrate the middle and senior ranks of the Islamic movement. If this infiltration rumor is true, then there will be some good light at the end of the tunnel in the Baghdad TOA.
Al Qaida asserted that the penetration efforts first stemmed from Algeria. The statement by the unidentified spokesman said Algeria sent agents dressed as Islamic mujahadeen, or holy warriors, who identified themselves as members of the leading insurgency groups that operated in the North African country.
The latest appearance of spies in Al Qaida came from an unidentified Arab ally and neighbor of Iraq, the statement said. The Al Qaida infiltrators were detected several months ago and have infiltrated organization cells in Iraq. Sow just the thought of infiltrators into the network, stand back and watch the action. Let them do the dirty work to each other.
Islamic sources close to Al Qaida said the reference was to Saudi Arabia. Over the last few months, thousands of Islamic volunteers have left Saudi Arabia for Iraq to participate in the Sunni insurgency war against the United States.
The United States was said to have placed tracking devices on the infiltrators to target Al Qaida cells in Iraq. The Al Qaida statement warned against accepting Islamic volunteers without screening them to ensure that they do not contain U.S. agents. Al Qaida said all Islamic volunteers must demonstrate a background in insurgency activities.
The Islamic sources said Al Qaida had suspected that the United States tried to infiltrate the upper echelons of the group after the suicide strikes in New York and Washington in September 2001. The sources said a U.S. air strike against the Al Qaida leadership in the Afghan city of Kandahar in October 2001 stemmed from information by a spy within Taliban. Good work.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/29/2003 8:00:33 PM ||
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This is even better if it isn't true, because then it's pure al-Qaida paranoia. Although it's very possible that the Saudis have decided to get medieval on al-Qaida.
Posted by: John Bragg ||
09/29/2003 20:15 Comments ||
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Dear Al Q,
A word to the wise - I'd be particularly suspicious of the bearded guy standing to your left ...
Posted by: A Jackson ||
09/29/2003 20:30 Comments ||
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AJ,
Now you know that it is standard procedure for spies and traitors to stand to the LEFT of the victims for easier identification.
And dont forget that the transmitters in their bodies dont start up until a certain -er- location on their body is rubbed vigorously.
Me love you long time
An inflammatory blend of sex, war and the internet have fired up anti-Japanese feeling in China after reports that hundreds of tourists from Tokyo held a two-day orgy with Chinese prostitutes on the eve of the anniversary of the Imperial Armyâs invasion of Manchuria in 1931.
According to the Communist Party newspaper, the Peopleâs Daily, 400 Japanese men were serviced by about 500 local women at the five-star Zhuhai International Convention Centre Hotel in Guangdong province between September 16 and 18.
They are said to have paid between 1,200 and 1,800 yuan (£90-£130) each night - more than double the rate for a single room at the plush hotel.
Police have ordered the closure of the hotel, which denies involvement in the orgy, while they look into the allegations.
"We are conducting an investigation into the case to find out whether media reports tally with reality," a spokeswoman for the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Bureau told reporters.
Exactly what happened is unclear. The only witness quoted in the local media told of Japanese men "flirting" with Chinese women in a lift.
Something racier is not inconceivable. Prostitution is nominally illegal in China, but huge red light districts are growing openly on city streets throughout the country as communist ideology wears off and a get-rich-quick capitalist mentality takes hold.
Much of the business centres around expensive hotels catering to foreigners. In Japanese magazines, sex tours to Asian destinations, including China, are advertised just as they are in publications in the west.
But the details appear to matter less than the nationality of the alleged perpetrators and the timing of the incident. In China, September 18 is remembered as "the day of shame" - the anniversary of the 1931 Mukden Incident, which led to the Japanese Imperial Armyâs invasion of Manchuria, the atrocities of the germ warfare unit, and the use of Chinese sex slaves.
It is also a time when it is easy to stir up anti-Japanese sentiment. The strength of that feeling has already been made apparent on several occasions this year, most recently after the death of a Chinese labourer who uncovered a Japanese chemical weapon discarded after the war.
Last month, a million people signed an online petition calling on the Chinese government not to pick a Japanese rail company to build the Shanghai to Beijing high-speed rail link. But while Chinese students are taught the bitter significance of September 18, few Japanese are aware of its importance.
Unless the tourists were historians or ultra-nationalists, it is unlikely that the trip was timed to mark the anniversary.
None the less, media reports of Japanese "sex rites" and "orgies" so close to such a sensitive date sparked outrage in China, especially on the internet, where surfers said the "Japanese devils" wanted to celebrate their countryâs wartime behaviour.
"The Japanese are animals. They deliberately selected the date to humiliate the Chinese people," one chatboard contributor wrote, claiming that the tourists had attempted to raise their national flag at the hotel.
#1
I smell a rat. This sounds way too contrived to be the whole story. I wouldn't be surprised if the Chinese set this one up stir up anti-Japanese sentiment. Now why would they do that?
The Saddam Hussein-style palace being built by Robert Mugabe could be used as proof in a corruption trial that the President plundered the country's coffers while his people starved, critics say.
I'm sure they don't say it very loudly, though...
"It is not as unlikely as it sounds. He (Mugabe) could have his house confiscated and turned into something useful, like a public building, when he leaves office and loses the protection he had as President," said John Makumbe, chairman of the Harare chapter of global corruption watchdog Transparency International.
Talk about a high-traffic business location...
Work on the lavish three-storey retirement home began two years ago in the plush northern Harare suburb of Borrowdale, home to the city's wealthy elite. The house is closely guarded, but Zimbabwe's independent media have reported that the house covers 1000sqm, with an ornate Chinese temple facade, ballrooms and hand-carved fittings. It is believed to be modelled closely on one of the palaces of former Iraqi dictator Hussein, a man whom Mr Mugabe admires openly. Dozens of dark, arched windows with pale wooden trim and deep blue roofing tiles can be seen above the high security walls. The tiles are said to have been imported from Shanghai. China has long backed Mr Mugabe, and the Chinese embassy is one of Harare's most important diplomatic homes. Mr Mugabe is regularly seen inspecting progress on the site. His free-spending wife, Grace, also is a regular visitor and is believed to have taken personal charge of decorating the estate. "Zambian president Frederic Chiluba was put on trial for corruption by his own party when he gave up power. The same thing could well happen to Mugabe when he goes," said Mr Makumbe.
Assuming he goes. When he kicks it, Grace might have him stuffed and just leave him in power...
There are already indications that not all in Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party approve of the way the country is being run. These party members would like to see some of the excesses of the current leadership curbed. Mrs Mugabe was forced in 2001 to sell a lavish home she owned nearby, dubbed Graceland, after she was accused of plundering a low-cost housing scheme for civil servants to build it.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/29/2003 20:51 ||
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northern Harare suburb of Borrowdale
Now that is a well named area! Should be Borrowed-time-dale, or Stolendale, though.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/29/2003 21:09 Comments ||
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Interview with David Crane, the chief prosecutor of the United Nations-created Special Court for Sierra Leone Are you in any discussions with the Nigerian government concerning the extradition of Charles Taylor to Sierra Leone to stand trial? What exactly is the procedure you would follow at this point given the indictment of Taylor months ago and his current sanctuary in Nigeria. What do you do now?
Well, Nigeria took a very important leadership role in ensuring that peace continued in Liberia. One has to understand that when I publicly announced the indictment of Charles Taylor on the fourth of June, I said that Charles Taylor has to be removed from the equation for true peace to start in Liberia -- and actually all of West Africa. Certainly that happened on 11 August when he stepped on an airplane and went into exile to Nigeria as a disgraced war criminal. A legitimate peace process began to take place. However, because he is still at large, he is still causing problems. Charles Taylor has breached over eight peace accords and 13 ceasefires. He was using the Accra (Ghana) summit as another means by which he could hang on to political power and to manipulate events while the rebels began to move on Monrovia.
So, what we're doing with Nigeria at this point is allowing the dust to settle to ensure that peace starts in Liberia. But Nigeria is a signatory to the Geneva Conventions, various African and international conventions related to this type of topic including the African Convention on Human Rights, along with the Rome Statute which created the International Criminal Court. They state clearly that if you have a known war criminal, or someone who is suspected of being a war criminal that you should investigate or put that person on trial yourself, or turn them over to the appropriate organization. They know this; they know they have to do this and so I am allowing Nigeria to sort this out. But at the end of the day, Charles Taylor must be turned over to the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone.
Do you have any indications that Nigeria is actually investigating Charles Taylor, doing or planning to do any of these things you've just listed?
I'm not aware of them. They can certainly investigate or do what they want to do as far as the crimes that he has committed, however there are a lot of legal hurdles which they would have to face under Nigerian law. It's not necessary. It's appropriate for them to turn him over to the Court by which he has been charged with 17 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. This is probably the more prudent way to go.
Do you think Nigeria will actually do that?
Yes I do, as a matter of fact. Internationally, domestically there is a great deal of support for this to happen. President Obasanjo has very little support for keeping Taylor in Nigeria. Civil society, local NGOs as well as the Nigerian Bar Association, the Nigerian Journalists Association, former commanding generals of Nigerian troops who lost their lives in Liberia back in the mid-nineties - there have been thousands of Nigerian soldiers and civilians murdered by Charles Taylor and his forces in the 1990s.
I think there's a certain amount of wishful thinking here, though there could be enough internal pressure on Obasanjo to nudge him into doing it. A more likely scenario is for Chuck to bolt, turning up in the Liberian bush with another gang of thugs to retake power the same way he grabbed it in the first place.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/29/2003 18:31 ||
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Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/29/2003 17:28 ||
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Don't feel bad, Fred. Programming can be a black hole, that, if you get too involved, will suck all the time and energy you have (as well as that of anyone around you that thinks they can help).
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/29/2003 17:36 Comments ||
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Cooooooooool!
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/29/2003 17:48 Comments ||
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Hat tip: Drudge. Edited for brevity.
The CIA is set to spend several million dollars to develop a video game aimed at helping its analysts think like terrorists, The Washington Times has learned. The agencyâs Counter Terrorist Center, or CTC, is working with the Los Angeles-based Institute for Creative Technologies on a project designed to help its analysts, "think outside the box," a CIA spokesman said. The project is close to approval, but officials wouldnât comment on the exact cost of the program. The institute, part of the University of Southern California, works with Hollywood movie and video game specialists. I remember reading years ago about some Marine unit on embassy duty modifying "Doom" by creating a custom WAD (map file) representing their embassy and modifying weapon effects. They would then get fireteam members to game co-operatively on their LAN. Iâm sure the simulations have gotten much better since then!
Disclosure of the CIA video game project follows the Pentagonâs recent cancellation of a plan for an online gambling parlor designed to predict a Middle East terrorist attack. The Pentagonâs gambling scheme led to the resignation of retired Navy Vice Adm. John Poindexter, head of the Total Information Awareness data-mining counterterrorism program. A military official said the CIA video game is "a ridiculous and absurd scheme that makes Poindexterâs project look good in comparison." A second critic of the program said: "These absurd ideas about countering terrorism suggest that the war on terrorism has been a failure, that terrorists are still ahead and that the CTC does not know what it is doing. The key issue here is the CTC misspending funds on silly, low-priority projects, exactly the kind of thing that forced Admiral Poindexter to resign." WTF? Does this "second critic" think we should just sit back on our laurels and declare victory? Does he think the terrorists are too stupid to change tactics and we should stop trying to anticipate what theyâll do next?
CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield defended the video project and called it an "innovative approach" to counterterrorism. The game will select a scenario that could involve analysts playing terrorist-cell leaders or members, a terrorist "money mover" or a facilitator, he said. "For out-of-the-box thinking, we are reaching out to academics, think tanks and external research institutes that are critical in the fight against terrorism," Mr. Mansfield said. "If it will help us to prevent terrorist attacks, it is worthwhile." A CIA analyst playing the game also could be placed in the role of CIA analyst or operations officer, a U.S. Customs agent or even a cooperative or hostile neighbor living next to a terrorist. "Analysts would have to think and act inside the character they choose or are assigned," Mr. Mansfield said. The goal, he said, is for "our analysts to become accustomed to looking at the world from the perspective of the terrorists we are chasing." Iâm curious how open this game will be, because most computer systems are pretty inflexible and terrorism is, like hacking, looking to exploit the loopholes and work outside the system. If not properly designed, the simulation could actually restrict their thinking rather than broaden it.
Posted by: Dar ||
09/29/2003 5:04:27 PM ||
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It sounds more like a "wargame" in the Pentagon sense than a "video game" in the Playstation sense. Of course, there appear to be quite a few people who will oppose ANY approach to dealing with terrorism, as the unnamed "military official" (Syrian?) and "second critic" demonstrate.
I also love the characterization of the terror futures idea as "gambling". I'm surprised Gertz wrote something that stupid; are commodities futures "gambling"?
Oh well. It took nearly a year for the US to get our heads out of our asses at the beginning of WWII. I guess it's going to take a few years this time.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/29/2003 17:43 Comments ||
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The CIA has been looking at simulations since the game Balance of Power came out after the Gulf War. I used to own BOP and liked it. I'm not much for arcade games as they take too much hand/eye.
As for the Terror Futures, I hope like hell a conservative think tank implemented the idea immediately after its cancellation by the government.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/29/2003 19:53 Comments ||
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A Muslim man, with ties to a group that evaluates Muslim military candidates, appeared in court Monday after allegedly failing to tell U.S. customs agents he had traveled to Libya. Agents from the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI took Abdul Rahman al-Amoudi into custody at Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia on Sunday as he returned to the United States. A federal magistrate in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., ordered Al-Amoudi to be held without bail pending a Tuesday detention hearing. First you pick him up on a easy charge, something you can hold him for a while, then.....
Lawyers representing him said they did not have a comment on the case since they had just been handed the complaint, but did say their client was surprised he was arrested. "Lies, all lies, er, what was that charge again?"
A government source said Monday that al-Amoudi flew to Washington from London and upon entry to the U.S. did not reveal to customs agents that he had traveled to Libya. Gee, now why would he be in Libya? Visting old friends?
But several officials familiar with al-Amoudiâs case say the investigation goes well beyond anything relating to his travel. We hope so.
Al-Amoudi has been under investigation for some time as part of a broad probe into Muslim charities and groups mostly in the northern Virginia area, officials have said. Investigators have been looking into whether these groupsâ funds may have ended up in the coffers of terrorist organizations. Just like Al Capone, itâs the accountants thatâll get ya.
Offices of several of the groups were searched in March 2002. Officials from many of these groups have denied those charges and say no arrests have been made stemming from those searches. Guess they spoke too soon.
Michael Mason, the head of the FBI field office in Washington, characterized the arrest as an important one, and said al-Amoudi was arrested without a warrant but with probable cause. "I can say no more"
Posted by: Steve ||
09/29/2003 4:18:54 PM ||
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more: A criminal complaint unsealed Monday alleges Abdul Rahman al-Amoudi violated U.S. law by accepting, either personally or through the American Muslim Foundation he heads, $10,700 from the Libyan mission to the United Nations and by failing to disclose numerous trips to Libya on his passport.
Such actions are illegal under U.S. economic sanctions imposed in 1986 following terrorist bombings tied to Libya in Vienna and Rome.
In August 2003, the affidavit said, customs officials in Great Britain found $340,000 in sequentially numbered $100 bills in al-Amoudi's luggage. Al-Amoudi, who was not charged, told the officials that he received the money from an unknown individual at a London hotel after visiting the Libyan Islamic Call Society based in Tripoli.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/29/2003 17:00 Comments ||
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How does one repeatedly enter/exit Libya without getting your passport stamped, hmmmm?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/29/2003 17:13 Comments ||
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#3
..."But Comra, er, I mean Col. Khadafy sends his greetings! Honest!"...
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat emerged smiling from his battered West Bank compound Monday after a bout with the flu and thanked Jordan for sending doctors to treat him. Wonder how many doctors he would get if he had a hangnail.
Arafat, 74, had been ill for three days and was unable to keep down food, said his aide, Nabil Abu Rdeneh. The Palestinian leader sent for his personal physician, Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi, who lives in Jordan. Smiling at reporters after descending the steps slowly, Arafat thanked King Abdullah II of Jordan for sending the doctors, adding, "but now the illness is over, thank God." Al-Kurdi, who has treated Arafat for many years, said he was joined by a heart specialist, neurologist and internist. So which one gave him the digital protological examine?
"We checked President Arafat and we found him in good health," al-Kurdi said. "There is no doubt that his Palestinian doctors did what was necessary, and we were astonished to find him in good health despite his living in unhealthy conditions." Several years ago, Arafat developed noticeable tremors in his lower lip. Doctors have said it was a nervous tic. Media reports have speculated he suffers from Parkinsonâs disease, a degenerative neurological disease. Clinton tried to teach him to bite his lower lip but evidently this training took a turn in another direction.
#2
Did you guy hear that Forbes Magazine stated that Yassir was worth sixty million dollars? Now how did a poor man acquire such wealth. There is a saying that goes: 'Yassir is stealing from the Palestinian people on the West Bank, while his wife spends it on the Left Bank, and the rest goes in a Swiss Bank, while the Palestinian people starve.' When the hell are the Palestinians going to wake up and stop allowing themselves to be exploited by opportunists.
Colombiaâs second-largest rebel army, the ELN, on Monday claimed responsibility for the Sept. 12 kidnapping of eight foreign tourists at an ancient Indian ruin in the jungle.
In a communique sent to a local radio station, the National Liberation Army said it took the hostages in the Sierra Nevada mountains to mark the 30th anniversary of the coup which overthrew leftist Chilean President Salvador Allende. So it wasnât FARC after all.
"In this operation the foreigners were retained on the Sierra Nevada," the ELN said. The group uses the term "retained" when it is holding people against their will. I guess having a "dialogue" with someone they "retained" involves pliers and hot coals.
It did not specify demands for the release of four Israelis, one Briton, one Spaniard and a German. Iâm sure they will "solicit donations" for the "discharge" of their "retainees".
Posted by: Steve ||
09/29/2003 2:22:16 PM ||
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#1
Is it me or aren't the Sierra Nevada mountains in California (USA)? Do they have them in Columbia as well?
Rummy, are you vituperating again?
U.S. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld reportedly let loose a string of malignant vituperation against the DPRK at a luncheon hosted by the Association of U.S. and South Korean Businessmen. He told nonsense that it is necessary to make sure that the rays of freedom reach the oppressed north Koreans, asserting that a satellite photo shows the rays of freedom on one part of the Korean peninsula and the darkness of dictatorship on the other part of it and communism is shaking on its own.
These unsavory remarks intended to tarnish the image of the dignified DPRK and destroy its steel-strong political system are touching off towering indignation of the Koreans and evoking their stronger anti-Americanism. His remarks only go to prove that he is just an old man politically illiterate as he can not measure up the present reality when all the countries are promoting peaceful co-existence, reconciliation and cooperation irrespective of ideologies and beliefs. It is not likely at all that he would speak truth as he is obsessed with wantonly harassing peace and security in different parts of the world and igniting wars. His outbursts, therefore, can not be construed otherwise than a desperate shrill cry of a psychopath on his death bed. Rumsfeld whose political faith is to establish the U.S. style world order by strength is known to be a typical stupid man for professing "neo-conservatism" censured and mocked at worldwide. He is, therefore, not a guy who the DPRK can deal with. Rumsfeld asserted with acrimony that one who does not follow the U.S. view on value can never coexist with it but must die. One can easily assess the political line of the Bush administration which includes such a dangerous international dictator as that guy.
It is only the U.S.which has the right to judge the international justice, its sovereignty remains supreme and that of those countries challenging the U.S. view on value must be overthrown. This is what Rumsfeld, a principal proponent of the U.S. theory of neo-conservatism, advocates. He is cursed and hated worldwide for this.
The policy pursued by the U.S. neo-conservatives to hold hegemony over the world and steadily increase their unchallenged control over the international issues is rejected in different parts of the world for its reactionary and anachronistic nature. It is considered to be trash of history.
This is clearly proved by the U.S. Iraq policy which has gone totally bankrupt.
It is true that the DPRK has economic difficulties. But that is attributable to the economic blockade and sanctions imposed by the U.S. pursuant to its decades-long hostile policy toward the DPRK. These difficulties are temporary and there are ways to cross over them.
The DPRK has its socialist system of its own style chosen by its people themselves and a solid economic foundation and strong potentials they have created for scores of years with much effort.
No smear campaign can ever keep the DPRK from going its own way with strong pluck and faith in sure victory.
#2
So, Kimmie, how are your Army Boys doing up on the Yalu end of your country? Are they trading cigs with the 150,000 ChiComs, in good Communist Comradeship?
By the way, malignant vituperation is a great phrase, but the rest seems a bit thread worn. Juiche it up a little and we'll take another look.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/29/2003 14:35 Comments ||
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Anybody see the US women's soccer team beat the Juchettes in world cup play yesterday? The Nork ladies didn't crack a smile the whole game as far as I saw. One defender who had just let a goal in had an expression on her face that seemed to say that her whole life was passing before her eyes.
Posted by: Matt ||
09/29/2003 15:26 Comments ||
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#4
Matt -- if they were playing on a grass field, they were probably thinking about all the people they could feed back home.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/29/2003 15:44 Comments ||
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Matt,
Her entire life probably was passing before her eyes. How long before she finds herself in a political gulag re-training center deep in the bowls NK?
#7
Anybody see the US women's soccer team beat the Juchettes in world cup play yesterday?
Oh yeah. The NKor players looked reasonably well fed, as evidenced by the fact that the cameras didn't catch them grazing once during the entire match.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/29/2003 19:13 Comments ||
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#8
LMAO. That was cold, guys, real cold.
Posted by: Matt ||
09/29/2003 19:55 Comments ||
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#9
Ok, guys, enough with the "playing ON your food" stuff. ;)
Ptah, your rating on this latest rant is?????
Posted by: Baba Yaga ||
09/29/2003 20:32 Comments ||
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A man affiliated with at least two American Muslim groups has been arrested on criminal charges, federal law enforcement officials said on Monday. They confirmed a report by Al Jazeera that Adurahman Alamoudi has been arrested. They declined to give details of the charges against him. Iâm sure they regard them as false, anyway.
Muslim activists described him as one of the founders of a group called the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veteran Affairs Council and a board member of another Washington, D.C.-based group called the American Muslim Council. Well, well, well. This is the group that certifies Muslim chaplins for the U.S. military, wonder what the FBI wants to talk to him about?
The officials said the arrest took place over the weekend, and that details about the case were expected to be released later on Monday. Weâll be waiting.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/29/2003 1:11:20 PM ||
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Looks like it was a couple of exciting days in Pyongyang...
An international scientific symposium on potato took place in Pyongyang from Sept. 24 to 26. Present at the symposium were delegations and delegates of the DPRK, international organizations and foreign countries, the resident coordinator of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the UN resident coordinator who is deputy resident representative of the UNDP and officials of international organizations and foreign embassies.The symposium was attended by Minister of Agriculture Ri Kyong Sik, officials concerned and agricultural scientists, technicians and experts. Hey! Letâs all go to Pyonyang and talk about the potato! Guess Vegas was all booked up.
Kye Yong Sam, president of the Academy of Agricultural Science, in his opening address expressed thanks to the Bureau for Development and Cooperation of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs for its sincere assistance and aid to the successful symposium. Now all they gotta do is figure out how to grow them.
Minister of Agriculture Ri Kyong Sik in his congratulatory speech referred to the fact that leader Kim Jong Il kindled the flame of revolution in potato farming and wisely led it, thus bringing about a turn in the potato farming of the DPRK. Is there anything the man canât do?!
Ueli Muller, resident coordinator of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in the DPRK, in his speech hoped that the international scientific symposium on potato would help make progress in the cultivation of potato and develop agricultural cooperation and friendship among countries.
Speeches were made under the titles "The present condition and prospect of potato cultivation in our country" My guess? Not too good
and "The study and production of potato in the world " My guess? A lot better then North Korea.
and on the subject of the establishment of the production system based on virus-free potato seeds, the study and production of potato in different countries, achievements in introducing comprehensive mechanization into potato production and the basic study of potato and training of potato researchers. Wonder if they figured out a way to smuggle heroin in them.
The participants widely exchanged achievements and experience gained in scientific researches into potato during the symposium. Potato War Stories. Sounds fascinating...
A letter to Kim Jong Il was adopted at the symposium. As always, a must do.
A memorandum on the successful symposium was adopted. ...and the world was changed forever.
#1
I've always been suspious of the fact we've never seen Mr Potato Head and Kim Jong Il at the same time. Could it be that one of our favorite childhood toys is in fact the leader of North Korea?
Posted by: Steve ||
09/29/2003 13:32 Comments ||
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Maybe we could teach them how to make 'Freedom Fries'
Newsday from Worldwire
Thousands of men weave through the mortar-blasted streets of Liberiaâs capital, pushing wheelbarrows laden with sacks of rice, onions or anything else in need of fast delivery. They are an industry born of war, and perhaps a solution for the future. This is conclusive proof that Liberia has not slipped into the Stone Age. I believe wheeled carts are definitely Bronze Age.
Late Bronze Age, at that...
In a city where mail and delivery vans barely exist, itâs the 8,000 card-carrying men of the National Wheelbarrow Operator Union of Liberia who keep things moving, trundling their green one-wheelers along trash-choked thoroughfares. Doesnât sound as if recycling has become popular in Liberia yet. The Adcouncil needs to get on the stick.
Charging as little as a quarter for a delivery, barrow men can make $5 a day -- not bad considering 85 percent of Liberiaâs 3 million people live on less than $1 a day. "Pushing the wheel," as wheelbarrow work is known, got its start after Liberia descended into near-constant civil war 14 years ago and fighters hijacked any car they could get their hands on. An excellent market opportunity for Lowjack.
Now it is being eyed as the kind of no-collar labor that could offer a livelihood to some of those very same fighters who know no skill beyond handling a gun. The Aug. 18 peace deal following ex-President Charles Taylorâs flight into exile is meant to end a conflict in which government effectively died and it fell to unions, civic groups and churches to improvise order from chaos. Iâm sure any government headed by Charles Taylor was probably on life support from the get-go.
"I used to be a fighter, but now Iâm pushing the wheel," says 24-year old Prince Wilson. Wilson says he was a child soldier for Taylor until he was 11, when Taylorâs forces killed his parents. Killing the parents of your supporters is a definite indication that Taylor didnât have Karl Rove advising him.
Later, for lack of other options, he stepped between the handles of a wheelbarrow. "Itâs not good work, but I have no skills," he says.
Precisely why isn't it good work? It sounds like honest work to me. Even though it obviously doesn't pay as well, I'd consider it much superior to shaking people down with an AK...
Taking the guns from fighters and plugging them back into society is "one of the greatest challenges in Liberia," according to a U.N. report that estimates the number of armed combatants at 27,000 and 38,000. "We need to get the gun culture out of their head," says Melvin Dennis, an assistant minister in Liberiaâs looted Labor Ministry. "They think that with an AK-47, they can get what they want. We need to change that." Personally Iâld give a guy with an AK-47 whatever he wants.
Liberiaâs 22 trade unions, representing 40,000 largely low-skilled workers such as tailors, transport workers and farmers, have an important part to play. "Soap-making. Carpentry. Put them in short-term skills training," says Dennis. Or wheelbarrows. Matthew Leeco is the 63-year-old president of the union, founded Aug. 12, 1989. Sitting in his dilapidated office, without electricity like the rest of the blighted city, he recalls that during the fighting "There were wheelbarrows carrying people to hospitals, injured people, pregnant women." It became known as the "push-push" ambulance system. Running an EMT training course for these guys might be worthwhile - no sarcasm intended.
As Liberiaâs economy failed, businesses closed and unemployment hit 80 percent. But the wheelbarrow pushers muscled on and the government recognized their union in 1997, the year Taylor became president. Rebels took up arms against him two years later. The efficiency of the wheelbarrow industry stands out against the backdrop of Liberiaâs chaos. Each operator is assigned to one of 20 zones in Monrovia, a city of 1 million, and has a number painted on his barrow. Operators often add a verse from the Bible. But since the June attacks began, weekly union dues of 5 Liberian dollars -- worth about 12 cents -- have gone uncollected, says Leeco. That means no funds for the unionâs repair services or dispute-mediation, he says. An international union could certainly throw some money that direction.
I'm not sure why the union's required. They sound like independent businessmen to me â and the union sounds more like a craft guild, set up to keep outsiders out...
The barrows are made overseas, and Leeco hopes international organizations will help buy more of them for rental. Or ex-fighters can buy one for $35, if Liberia follows neighboring Sierra Leoneâs example and does a weapons buyback. Here is an opportunity for the AFL-CIO to reach out.
Or they could set up their own wheelbarrow factories. We're not talking about really, really high tech — round thing, axle, box, coupla handles, and you've got it...
"If the man from fighting hasnât learned anything, they can come and push the wheel," says Leeco. "Theyâll earn money and feel fine and not think about hurting people." If an enviromentalist group bought and donated every industrial motor rusting in a junkyard in the US, think of how many windmills could be manufactured to generate power in Liberia. Maybe I should pitch that to Michael Jackson.
#1
When you have nothing, anything is an improvement. There are literally thousands of small things that people can do to earn a living until the economy begins to pick up and the whole country begins to get organized. If I truly knew the money would get to a guy that could USE it in Liberia, I'd chip in $20 - a lot of money for me.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/29/2003 14:03 Comments ||
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#2
"National Wheelbarrow Operator Union of Liberia"
They're a natural for the Teamster's, they already have the required skill sets, if you know what I mean.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/29/2003 14:29 Comments ||
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Old Patriot
The UAW, for one, has billions of dollars in rainy day funds. This is an opportunity for the workers of the world to unite.
#4
visions of one legged, one armed wheelbarrow operators...
Posted by: john ||
09/29/2003 20:27 Comments ||
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Wheelbarrow, don't fail me now! All kidding aside, they need to look around and see what else they can do, and then some real progress can be made. Literally a ground level effort. I wish them well, they deserve some peace and stability in their lives.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/29/2003 21:06 Comments ||
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Let the self-feeding frenzy begin!
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean accused some party insiders on Sunday of desperation politics in backing Democratic presidential rival Wesley Clark, a retired general who voted Republican in the past. Voted for Reagan! HEâS A WITCH! BURN HIM! BURN HIM!
Dean, who has campaigned as a Washington outsider, said members of the establishment embraced the former NATO commander after White House bids of ALL others in their circle sputtered. "I think that Wes Clark is, first of all, a good guy," Dean told CBSâs "Face the Nation." But Dean added, "I think what you see in the Wes Clark candidacy is a somewhat of a desperation by inside-the-Beltway politicians. Youâve got a lot of establishment politicians now surrounding a general who was a Republican until 25 days ago." Yup, desperate is what I would call it.
Clark declared his candidacy and party affiliation as a Democrat this month, and promptly replaced Dean atop a number of polls for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. (Shows how weak the field still is)
Clark joined Dean and eight other Democratic presidential candidates for his first debate last week as some polls showed the political newcomer even with President Bush. (For about a nanosecond)
Bushâs job approval ratings have dropped from the 70 percent range during the Iraq war to below 50 percent, about what where they were before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. (But climbing back up)
Dean noted that Clark voted for Republicans Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon for president. "I think thatâs going to be hard to swallow for a lot of Democrats," Dean said. (Please donât say âswallow' and Democrats! Iâll have those Monica nightmares again!)
Another Democratic presidential contender, U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri, took aim at Dean. Again sounding a line from the Thursday debate, Gephardt accused Dean of having echoed Republican criticism nearly a decade ago of the federal Medicare health insurance program, a critical issue to older voters. "We need to improve (Medicare), but we sure donât need to adopt the Republican rhetoric on this that itâs a horrible program. Itâs not. Itâs a great program," Gephardt told NBCâs "Meet the Press." (Maybe France can show us how their system works? How do you get 15k people out of the medical system?)
Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, who is also seeking the 2004 Democratic nomination, said he would not back the Bush administrationâs request for $20 billion for Iraqi reconstruction until it answers questions about the postwar effort. "Questions, like ... what are we going to do to bring our friends and allies into this process, how long is this going to go on, what is the long-term plan, what do we expect the long-term cost to be?" Edwards told "Fox News Sunday." (Good thought Senator! Now that our troops have won the war, letâs lose the peace. In addition why donât we tell our troops that they cannot actively seek out terrorists. Change the rules so we canât touch them until the shoot at us.)
Americans are increasingly concerned about the soaring costs of the Iraqi operation. Besides the $20 billion for reconstruction, Bush has asked the U.S. Congress for $67 billion more for the U.S. military deployment. He received $79 billion in emergency funding mostly for the Iraqi operation in April. I wonder why NONE of the news shows hold the candidates feet to the fire? Why not ask a hard question like: Ok you donât like the $87b request, where should we get the money? How long DO YOU think it should take to turn a totalitarian ruled country into a democracy? How long DO YOU think our troops should be in Iraq? These idiots are getting softball pitches and then trying to throw spitballs in return. None of them has a novel idea on how to run the country, help the economy (Note: you canât tax yourself into a good economy), or manage foreign policy. Save for Mr. Dean who thinks that we should consider Hamas an Army and not a terrorists organization. That is why I'm throwing my support behind the only candidate that makes sense, Rev, Al Sharpton!
This has little to do with the price of AKs in Peshawar — except that if one of these goobers were to be elected the pursuit of the WoT would be up for grabs. They really scare me.
The latest buzz word is "exit strategy." I believe it was Edwards I heard honking about it yesterday, though probably they've all used it by now. An "exit strategy" implies we're going to dump Iraq, rather than turn it into a friendly nation, hopefully even a long-term ally. We don't have an "exit strategy" for Portugal or Spain or Denmark. These guys are still so busy fighting Vietnam, quagmires and all, that they can't see what's going on around them.
Bush has a year and a month to get it together before the next election. The things the Dems are harping on now are going to have cleared up remarkably in the next twelve months. But they can't bring themselves to offer helpful suggestions — only carping and negativity and quagmires. They don't appear to be following Bush's (very intricate) diplo game, they regard minor casualties in what's still a low-level guerrilla war as something to view with alarm, and they don't appear to have any conception of strategy. I'm disappointed, because if the Dems were a serious party — and recognized the necessity of the WoT — they would partner with Bush and try to demonstrate that they're even better strategists and diplomats than he and his team. I can only conclude that they don't because they're not.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (Republicans for Sharpton) ||
09/29/2003 10:51:24 AM ||
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#1
I wouldn't worry to much about Gephardt or Edwards - both have been missing about 90% of the votes in the offices they now hold - while they frantically try to become presidential nominees. Wonder if they realize you can't miss 90% of the choices when you're president?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/29/2003 11:43 Comments ||
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#2
Have any of the DNC beltway insiders figured out which positions of Clark's they support? The changes are tough to keep track of.
Iran has dispatched hundreds of agents posing as pilgrims and traders to Iraq to foment unrest in the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, and the lawless frontier areas. Donât have to check the suprise meter on this one.
Tehranâs hard-line regime has also allowed extremist fighters from Ansar al-Islam, a terror faction with close links to al Qaeda, to cross back into Iraq from its territory to join the anti-American resistance. The Pentagon believes that Iran is building a bridgehead of activists inside Iraq, ready to destabilize the country if that serves its future interests. It does and they are.
"They are provoking sectarian divisions, inciting people against the Americans and trying to foment conflict and anarchy," said Abdulaziz al-Kubaisi, a former Iraqi major who was jailed by Saddam Hussein and is now a senior official in the Iraqi National Congress. "The last thing that certain elements in the regime want is to see a stable democratic and pluralistic Iraq next door, so they are trying to export trouble here," said a leading official in another Iraqi party. Although Iranâs president is a so-called political moderate, true power remains in the hands of the fundamentalist clergy. At a time when Iran is facing domestic discontent over the slow progress of democratic reform and mounting international pressure over its nuclear program, hard-line elements believe that instability in Iraq will distract attention from the regimeâs problems. Time tested and mullah approved.
The National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI), an opposition group, claims that some translators working for the U.S. forces are reporting back to Tehran. It also says that its informants within the regime have supplied details of senior Iranian intelligence commanders who are operating inside Iraq. "The Iranian agents have melted into the population and are just waiting until the moment is right," said one NCRI official. L. Paul Bremer, the American head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, has already accused Iran of "meddling" in Iraqâs internal affairs and backing some attacks on American forces. On Friday, he confirmed that several hundred members of Ansar, which set up a Taliban-style ministate in Kurdish-controlled territory in 2001, had re-entered Iraq. "They are a very dangerous group," he said in Washington. "The flow of terrorists into Iraq is the biggest obstacle to the reconstruction of the country." Mr. Bremer said that U.S. forces are holding 248 non-Iraqi fighters captured in Iraq. Most came from Syria, but the second-largest group was Iranians. Tap, nope.
At the start of the war to topple Saddam, Kurdish militia and U.S. Special Forces had crushed Ansarâs 750-strong force of Arabs, Pakistanis, Chechens and Kurds. About 250 Ansar fighters were killed and another 100 captured, but Iranâs military turned a blind eye as the rest escaped across the mountainous border. As predicted here.
Most have returned to the violent flash points west and north of Baghdad, according to U.S. military officials, Kurdish political leaders and former mukhabarat officers. Ansar adheres to the same extremist Sunni Muslim interpretation of Islam as al Qaeda. Although Iran follows the alternative Shiite version of Islam, its hard-line military rulers have allowed Ansar to regroup and return to Iraq because they share its anti-American cause. The old "enemy of my enemy" policy.
Iran has also taken advantage of its largely unpoliced border with Iraq â a 210-mile stretch of which was turned over Friday to an American-trained police force by the U.S. Army â to deploy agents who are building networks of spies and sympathizers. One Iraqi of ethnic Iranian origin, who returned to Najaf after 23 years in Iran and who has contacts with Tehranâs intelligence services, told the Sunday Telegraph that he has seen many Iranian agents mingling with visitors to the city of golden-domed mosques and shrines. Najaf, an ancient seat of Shiâite learning, is fertile ground for the Iranian agents. Last week, many of the visiting pilgrims were speaking Farsi (Persian). The real pilgrims provide cover for the agents.
Long-banned pictures of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, are once again on sale in the markets of the town where he spent part of his early exile before moving to Paris. The returning Iraqi exile said that several agents from the political wing of the Revolutionary Guards had been deployed to Najaf, some operating within the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). "They are gathering information on the Americans and establishing their contacts with anti-U.S. groups," he said. Iran denies interference or sending agents to Iraq, saying that it has already recognized the Governing Council. "They ainât our agents, theyâre, somebody elseâs!"
The Iranian opposition, however, says that the Quds force of the regimeâs Revolutionary Guards, which specializes in foreign operations, commands the loyalty of key commanders within the Badr Brigade, the Iranian-trained militia army of the SCIRI. Yup.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/29/2003 10:39:10 AM ||
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#1
The returning Iraqi exile said that several agents from the political wing of the Revolutionary Guards had been deployed to Najaf, some operating within the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), one of the five political parties represented in the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council. "They are gathering information on the Americans and establishing their contacts with anti-U.S. groups," he said.
These scumbags need to be rooted out and exposed, and Iran given a clear warning to put the brakes on their games or else.
#2
Build a series of gallows just inside the Iraq/Iran border. Whenever you catch one of these toads, hang him and leave the body there until it falls apart. It won't take long for either the leaders in Iran or the idiotarians they ship to Iraq to get the message. Having them on the border like that provides a much more direct message that interference with the internal affairs of Iraq will not be tolerated, and what you see is what you can expect if you try.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/29/2003 14:23 Comments ||
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#4
Maybe nobody (most of the world) has noticed, but Iran has been and is now at war with the west. They are on a fast track to developing nuclear weapons and are sure to use them as soon as they do. One of the Mullahs in that country has already said that if Iran hit Israel with a nuclear weapon it would happen so fast that Israel would not be able to respond in kind. There are two problems with this Mullahs argument. For one, what does he think the response to Iran would be from the United States, a strong allay of Israel? Secondly, Israel just moved ships and subs into the Persian Gulf. Though they haven't said that they were carrying nuclear missles and even deny they have them you can bet your sweet ass they do and their reason for going there was to be able to launch missles at Iran in the event Iran does attack Israel. It was also intended to send a clear message to Iran to think twice before attacking.
Yasser Arafatâs personal doctor will come Monday to the West Bank city of Ramallah to examine the Palestinian leader, who has been complaining in the last few days of tiredness and exhaustion, according to Al Quds newspaper. In its Monday edition, the East Jerusalem-based newspaper said that Arafatâs mild ailment may likely be the result of tremendous efforts the Palestinian leader has been putting into meetings with delegations arriving in Ramallah to express their support in him, as well as meetings concerning the formation of Aba Alaâs government. In recent weeks, many delegations have visited Arafat, 74, to kiss his ring show their support for the Palestinian leader, following the Israeli governmentâs decision to "remove" him. Dr. Ashraf al Kurdi, Arafatâs doctor has declined from commenting on the seriousness of the PA leaderâs condition. âI have not yet seen the Palestinian presidentâŠand so I do not know anything about what has happened to him. I shall talk to the media in details after returning from Ramallah,â Kurdi told Al Bawaba. "I can say no more"
Last year, Kurdi â a renowned neurologist and former Jordanian health minister who has been overseeing Arafatâs health since the eighties - said that the 74-year-old Palestinian leader is not suffering from Parkinsonâs disease, but rather has a form of the âshakesâ due to nervous tension. In June 1992, Arafat underwent a surgical operation to remove a blood clot from his brain that only appeared after his plane crashed in the Libyan desert. Meanwhile, according to Arafatâs top aide, Nabil Abu Rudenieh, the Palestinian leader has been ill for three days and has been unable to keep down his food. A few years ago, Arafat developed noticeable tremors in his lower lip. Doctors ascribed these tremors to a nervous tic, but press reports speculated that the Palestinian leader was suffering from a degenerative neurological illness. Hereâs hoping itâs painful and fatal.
Barfing isn't usually a good sign...
It should be noted, however, that in the past, newspapers had widely reported on various ailments Arafat had allegedly been suffering from, but as it turned out, those reports were apparently part of an ongoing internal struggle to succeed the Palestinian leader. Psst, Arafat is dying and taking your cause with him. Better knock off any rivals and seize power while you can. Pass it around.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/29/2003 9:29:30 AM ||
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#2
Sounds like the death ray is doing its job! Crank up the power, boys, and get this over with!
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/29/2003 9:59 Comments ||
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#3
Actually, Anonymous, Edward Said and Yassir had a falling out back in the early 90s. Said thought Yassir's acceptance of the Oslo process was a sellout. They apparently had partially made up subsequent to the breakdown of the Camp David-Taba process. Apparently, Said wasn't bothered by Yassir's corruption, brutality, etc. was was bothered by Yassir's words about peace even though the words were insincere. Go figure.
#4
Sounds like Arafart has the same problem I do - arthritic growths inside the spinal column putting pressure on the spinal chord, and increasing the pressure of the spinal fluid around the brain. Causes hard-to-diagnose trembling, shaking, weakness in the extremities, hot and cold flashes, and all kinds of other weird but non-lethal symptoms. Makes life real "fun". All that said, I have NO SYMPATHY WHATSOEVER for Arafart - and I'd be glad to help alleviate the problem by doing a brain tap on his skull - with a .45 at close range.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/29/2003 10:54 Comments ||
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#5
Didn't I see this scenario in a Robert Redford movie?...
#7
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has the flu and has sent for his personal physician who lives in Jordan, an Arafat aide said Monday. Arafat, 74, has been sick for three days and has been unable to keep down food, said his aide, Nabil Abu Rdeneh.
Maybe it's one of those old Russian strains of the flu, ya know, the kind of flu the Soviet leaders used to catch. They'd go to bed with a cold and then next thing you knew, somebody else would be standing atop Lenin's Tomb.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/29/2003 12:04 Comments ||
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#8
Yes Bomb-a-rama, I think Yassir did fool Eddie Said (also Clinton, Rabin, etc.). But then so did the Islamofascists who, instead of fading away like Said predicted, came back strong. Not only that, but the Islamofascists used Said's book Orientalism to justify themselves much to Said's dissappointment (he was nominally a Christian).
#9
A few years ago, Arafat developed noticeable tremors in his lower lip. Doctors ascribed these tremors to a nervous tic, but press reports speculated that the Palestinian leader was suffering from a degenerative neurological illness.
OP, this probably isn't spinal stenosis (what you're describing). Lower lip tremor doesn't fit with that; sounds more like a chronic degenerative problem.
My question: only a few years? I've wondered whether Arafat had had a syphilitic gumma in his brain the past 30 years or so. That would explain just about everything.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/29/2003 12:22 Comments ||
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#10
My diet thanks you, Steve - I had to google syphilitic gumma to see what you were thinking about....now I'm not hungry. Yecccchhh. Think Suha might've picked up the spirochete? Or did they wash off the turkey baster ;-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/29/2003 13:20 Comments ||
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#11
Thanks for the inagery, Frank. Right after I had some herring snacks. Thanks alot.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/29/2003 14:44 Comments ||
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#12
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat emerged smiling from his battered West Bank compound Monday after a bout with the flu and thanked Jordan for sending doctors to treat him.
Yasser crawls out of his hole, sees his shadow, declares six more weeks of violence.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/29/2003 15:26 Comments ||
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#13
Steve--nice imagery. :-)
Let's send Yasser another picture of Rachel Corrie--lovingly sprinkled with anthrax.
Posted by: Dar ||
09/29/2003 17:11 Comments ||
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Edited for brevity.
An SUV believed to be carrying illegal immigrants overturned on a desert highway as it was being followed by U.S. Border Patrol agents, killing four people and injuring 17 others, authorities said. The Chevrolet Suburban rolled over about 5:30 p.m. in Imperial County [CA], about 20 miles north of the border, said Border Patrol spokesman William Robbins. The driver, who was pinned behind the wheel, was taken to a hospital and may face smuggling and endangerment charges, Robbins said. Robbins said agents had signaled the sport utility vehicle with their lights and tried to stop it with a spike strip. But the Suburban swerved around the tire deflation device. After agents saw the driver continue, they stopped their close pursuit, but followed the SUV at a distance in case it dropped off passengers, Robbins said. "We donât want to stay on top of them because we donât want to cause an accident," he said. Mexican officials in the past have criticized U.S. enforcement agencies for high-speed pursuits of suspected illegal immigrants. In March, two men died and 20 people were injured when a truck swerved to miss a spike strip and crashed on Interstate 8. I love how law enforcement is always at fault for simply trying to do their job. All they really needed to do is yell "Stop!" in a firm voice, the aliens would have stopped, and all would have been averted.
Yeah, right...
Posted by: Dar ||
09/29/2003 9:04:38 AM ||
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#1
The driver, who was pinned behind the wheel, was taken to a hospital and may face smuggling and endangerment charges, Robbins said.
How about charging the farking drivers and their organization with manslaughter and not blaming law enforcement? Why isn't the mexican government cracking down on their side of the border instead of turning a blind eye?
On the other hand these are ILLEGAL immigrants -- They made their choice and were engaged in an criminal act in breaking federal law.
#2
Here in San diego, we've had several of these accidents, usually with about 10-20 illegals in the SUV or Pickup/Camper. There's checkpoints in east county on I-8 and highway 94, so they have a new trick they like to do - drive west in the eastbound highway lanes with the lights off - makes for great fun and spectacular head-on accidents, usually with multiple American deaths as well.
Mexico uses illegal immigration as a source of income (they often send the $ home to support families) as well as a pressure-relief valve on an economic outhouse rife with corruption and political idiots. I've come to believe until a terrorist crosses the border with illegals and commits a huge atrocity/attack, nobody will take the problem seriously. Loook at how the PC police try to use "undocumented immigrant" to hide the illegality of their act sneaking in - as if they just forgot their documents on the dresser at home....
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/29/2003 10:46 Comments ||
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#3
After agents saw the driver continue, they stopped their close pursuit, but followed the SUV at a distance in case it dropped off passengers, Robbins said. "We donât want to stay on top of them because we donât want to cause an accident," he said.
Apparently, their tactic failed.
Mexican officials in the past have criticized U.S. enforcement agencies for high-speed pursuits of suspected illegal immigrants.
Advice: Keep your peasants on your side of the border and this sort of thing won't happen.
Posted by: Dar ||
09/29/2003 11:54 Comments ||
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#5
This means war!
No Margaritas, no peace!
Posted by: Chris Smith ||
09/29/2003 12:32 Comments ||
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#6
These coyotes don't seem to be concerned about the enviroment in the slightest. Haven't any of Arianna Huffington's columns been translated into Spanish? Dump the SUV's for the Prius's. You can still get plenty of people in a Prius if you utilize the trunk, roof rack and tow a U-haul.
#7
For the last year O'Reilly has been calling to put the military on the border and I agree. We can shut down any opposing military in the world but can't police our own border? Ridiculous. The whole point of having a military according to our constitution is to protect the borders. Politicians need to get some balls and stop worrying about pissing off the hispanic voter. Doing the right thing isn't always popular.
#8
But... but... didn't he have a current California driver's license? Shouldn't that have averted this tragedy?
I think we have no choice but to ban firearms use by the Border patrol... if the 'undocumented workers' weren't afraid they wouldn't drive so fast and if the Border Patrol were just disarmed then the 'undocumented workers' would have nothing to fear!
#9
Putting the military on the border is a bad idea. The Army and the Marines aren't trained to be border patrolmen. Military equipment, like ground surveillance radars, sensors, that sort of thing, yes.
I will agree, though, that reorganizing the Border Patrol into a more military (vice police) structure makes sense. Have a look at Germany's Grenzschutz, or even at the Russian border guards. But don't use a hammer to drive screws. The Navy's not built to do the Coast Guard's job...
Posted by: Fred ||
09/29/2003 20:38 Comments ||
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#10
Politicians need to get some balls and stop worrying about pissing off the hispanic voter.
This apparently doesn't include Cruz. At some town hall meeting, he gave no answer when he was asked twice which government services that he thought the state should deny to illegal immigrants. Then in that debate last week, Bustamante didn't bother to provide a dollar figure when asked how much he was willing to spend on health care for the kids of illegal immigrants. And guess who said that anyone who worked and paid taxes ought to have a right to citizenship?
#11
Putting the military on the border is a bad idea. The Army and the Marines aren't trained to be border patrolmen. Military equipment, like ground surveillance radars, sensors, that sort of thing, yes.
I will agree, though, that reorganizing the Border Patrol into a more military (vice police) structure makes sense. Have a look at Germany's Grenzschutz, or even at the Russian border guards. But don't use a hammer to drive screws. The Navy's not built to do the Coast Guard's job...
Posted by: Fred ||
09/29/2003 20:38 Comments ||
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#12
Tequila shortages, as in: Up goes the price!
Posted by: john ||
09/29/2003 20:58 Comments ||
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Super Hose & Fred,
Yes we can do it and have. It used to be called JTF-6 (joint task force 6) where we supplemented the Border Patrol. Basically a Marine reserve unit would deploy to the border for 15 to 30 days at a time and just rotate. Plus, the last Marine unit in Bagdad has left. Saying the Army and Marines can't back or augment the BP is ludicrous. What do you think we're doing everyday in Iraq? I have trained w/local law enforcement in North Carolina and have done "real world" anti-riot ops on Vieques. We can handle the deal. We train more in non-lethal restraint tactics then ever before. Our ability to put in recon to survey likely avenues of approach, intel assets, air assets, interpreters and a lot of manpower to help our beleagured BP brethren is not only logical but essential. We also bring logistics, medical assets, transportation assets, and plenty of firepower. How many border agents do you think we have? The answer is not damn near enough. "But don't use a hammer to drive screws"
-I never said anything about any hammer, I'm talking about a damn power drill. Is it going to take a terrorist walking across our porous border and killing our countymen to wake us up? Or how many more kilos of drugs need to infest our streets and ruin the lives of our young Americans until anyone pulls down their sack and does something? Until we seal the border and mean it, we will always have these problems. The politicians don't want to because it means votes. And because most of them care more about their career then their constituents. Just right now in Arizona, 70% of the electorate has voted to cut entitelments to illegals because they're going to bankrupt the state. However, McCain and the rest of the politicos are totally against that action, they want to keep things as is. (And I usually like McCain.) Socialism is neat isn't it?
More innocents die in a part of the world strangely unnoticed by Hollywood activists.
Rebels fighting a 17-year insurgency raided a village in northeast Uganda, killing at least 22 people, a local government official said Sunday. The rebels of the Lords Resistance Army, or LRA, attacked Olekai, 168 miles northeast of Kampala, on Saturday, killing five civilians and six members of a local civilian defense force, said Musa Echweru, the coordinator of the force in district. Eleven rebels were also killed, Echweru said by telephone. Arrow Boys need more training. 11 of them for 6 of your own is not good enough.
The civilian defense force, known as the Arrow Boys, is mainly made up of former soldiers and was formed by the government about two months ago in response to increasing attacks by the LRA. Led by Joseph Kony, who claims to have spiritual powers that can protect his fighters, the LRA is a shadowy organization that has been fighting President Yoweri Museveni, a southerner, since his forces came to power in 1986 after a five-year bush war. The group replenishes its ranks with children it abducts to keep as fighters, porters or concubines. The rebels rarely speak to journalists and could not be reached for comment. The rebellion has wreaked havoc across northern Uganda, and in recent months the LRA has launched attacks in eastern parts of the East Africa nation as well, forcing some 300,000 people to flee their homes since June, according to the U.N. World Food Program. Some 1.1 million of Ugandaâs 24 million people have been displaced by the insurgency. Wonder what it will take for Michael Moore to make a film about this -- oh I know, letâs get Condi and Rummy to deplore the LRA!
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/29/2003 12:45:31 AM ||
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Thousands took to the streets of Hollywood on Sunday to protest the occupation of Iraq in one of several weekend demonstrations around the world criticizing the Bush administration. An estimated 3,000 people took part in the peaceful march and rally, some chanting, "George Bush, Uncle Sam, Iraq will be your Vietnam," while walking down Sunset Boulevard. Most of these fools still pine for Uncle Ho.
Similar rallies were held in Boston and San Francisco, and followed international protests Saturday in London, Athens, Paris and other cities. No arrests or injuries were reported in the Los Angeles protest, which drew a diverse group of ninnies from left-wing activists war veterans to International ANSWER stooges parents with children in strollers. Some demonstrators carried signs saying "Recall Bush" and "Iraq Equals Quagmire." "We are supposed to be a democratic, free nation and I want to express my feelings against this criminal administration," said Pilar Happori, 58, of Garden Grove. "This is a dangerous administration for destroying not only the U.S., but the world." I guess I missed it. Anyone around here see the US destroyed? Send me an e-mail, ok?
At the rally, Democratic flake presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich said U.S. troops should be pulled out of Iraq and replaced by international forces. "We need to get the U.N. in and the U.S. out," Kucinich said. "There can be a way to extricate this nation from the quicksand of Iraq." Dennis, thereâs a reason why youâre polling about 0.1% right now. Fernando Suarez del Solar of Escondido, whose 20-year-old son died in March while fighting in Iraq, led the crowd in chants of "Bring them home now!" "My son was a peace lover. He was a soldier for peace, not for oil," said Suarez, holding a picture of his son in his Marine uniform. Your son was a good man. Donât besmirch his name now.
The protest was the first major demonstration in Los Angeles since Saddam Husseinâs regime was ousted. Demonstrators also included the Palestinian cause at the rally. Several coffins were rolled through the streets by supporters of the free Palestine movement. Wonder if any of the protesters would acknowledge Saddamâs brutality? Rhetorical question, we already know the answer.
In Boston, an estimated 150 rubes and suckers protesters demonstrating the governmentâs Iraq policy, the Palestinian cause and other issues waved rainbow flags and chanted as they marched behind a pickup truck from the cityâs Copley Square to the Park Plaza Hotel. No arrests were reported.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/29/2003 12:39:40 AM ||
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Tuesday, April 01 2003 @ 08:23 AM EST Link
CBSNEWS.com - Marine Lance Cpl. Jesus Suarez del Solar, 20, of Escondido, Calif., part of the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, was killed in combat March 29, his wife said Sunday.
Suarez' wife of nearly a year, Sayne, said her husband wanted to fight in Iraq to prevent an attack on the United States.
"He always told us that he would rather go over there so that those people don't come here and hurt us," said Sayne, who said she was notified of her husband's death Friday by two Marines. "I love him and we're very proud of him."
The couple have a 16-month-old son, Erik.
A native of Tijuana, Mexico, Suarez' father brought the family to the U.S. in 1997 to fulfill his son's wish to become a Marine, the North County Times reported. Fernando Suarez de Solar said he blamed himself for his son's death.
"This never would have happened if I didn't come to this country," Fernando Suarez de Solar said.
Suarez enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2001 after graduating from Valley High School. He was based at Camp Pendleton and was deployed on Feb. 5.
"He put his family first," Sayne Suarez said. "He was always helpful to others and he was just a person that everyone could easily love," she said.
#2
Maybe more people would show up if they wouldn't keep harping on the same old, tired crap (Vietnam, the Palestinians, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......)
They need some new slogans to energize the movement. How about "Get the US out of North America!"
(I bet a lot of them wouldn't get it, thanks to the public education system....)
Posted by: Baba Yaga ||
09/29/2003 1:36 Comments ||
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There was a peace protest last Sunday here in Mountain View, only 51 attended. About the same number as a coffee shop down the street.
#4
I followed the link about the death of Lane Cpl
Jesus Suarez del Solar and then read the comments.
One of them is in Spanish and seems to be from the father of Jesus
Suarez. The father he seems to be kind of nutso resorting
to the "it was about oilllllll" argument and apparently resorting to a kind of Aztec fascist nationalist dream apparently forgetting the massive human sacrifices of the Aztecs (eighty thousand in four days in one occasion) and that if a mere 500 hundred Spanish (what remained after the Noche Triste) succeeded in conquering Mexico it was because about everyone else in Mexico was tired of being raided by the Aztecs and the captives having their hearts riped from their chests. So great was the hate that Cortez had to take measures in order to avoid the total extermination and eating of the Aztecs by the Tlaxclatecs. And that guy is dreaming about the Aztecs and calling his son
an Aztec warrior!
However the sins of the father must not fall on the son. He was an honourable man and I hope he has been granted citizenship even if posthumously.
#8
It's sad that ANSWER and W.W.W. are using this guys father: "He was a soldier for peace, not for oil." If that isn't out of the ANSWER 'peace' flyer then I wil buy everyone a beer. Shame on them for exploiting this man in this way. BTW Mr. Suarez del Solar your son was a Marine and a member of the armed services, it's redundant to call him a 'soldier of peace.'
#10
I have seen Free Tibet bumper stickers around. [My fave: "Free Tibet (with equal or greater purchase)"]. I think it normally happens when the left overlaps with Buddhism (see Richard Gere, for example).
#12
In VA Beach, once saw homeless people put to work on street corners counting cars for a traffic study. I wonder if the homeless in California can be used as protesters fill-ins when the turnout is light. Most would probably march around and carry a sign for a carton of smokes.
#14
In the spirit of satire, and keeping in mind that a lot of these Mumia-Cong slugs and trustafarian hopheads cheered the 9-11 attacks and continue to do so to this day, I present this news story from an alternate universe:
San Francisco, September 28--The death toll has now reached 214, with dozens more missing, after peace activists of the Wahhabi Solidarity Coalition (formerly ANSWER) gathered for a final demonstration in the Mission district. The black-garbed peace activists chanted "death to America" and brandished homemade weapons and posters of Mumia Abu Jamal's gravesite.
The keynote speaker, former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, urged resistance and direct action in the name of peace and solidarity. In response, the demonstrators poured into the streets; looting stores, attacking tourists, and defecating on sidewalks.
Business-owners and passersby responded with automatic weapons and fire-bombs, scattering the demonstrators.
Security forces mobilized from 3 directions to restore order. Thousands of office-workers cheered from balconies and rooftops as armored vehicles and mounted police herded the surviving demonstrators onto the Bay Bridge. Trapped between two forces, many were crushed under tracks, forced over the rail into the bay, or hacked down with sabers. Municipal sanitation workers then hosed down the bridge and shoveled the mixture of black rags, crushed Evian bottles, and human remains into dump trucks.
Several prominent Hollywood celebrities are among the missing.
EFL
Thousands of lemmingslooney Palestinians marched through the streets of the West Bank on Sunday to support Yasser Arafat as they marked the third despicable anniversary of the latest violent uprising, or intefadeh, which has claimed thousands of lives. The demonstration came as the Palestinians appeared set to appoint a new Cabinet filled with Arafat cronies loyalists, despite efforts by the United States and Israel to sideline the Palestinian thug leader, whom they accuse correctly of fomenting terror attacks. Not even the Paleos would deny that Arafat is a terrorist.
The Islamic terrorist organization militant group Hamas, responsible for scores of homicide suicide bombings against Israel, marked the anniversary Sunday with a pledge to continue the uprising nonetheless. In a statement released in Gaza, Hamas reiterated its opposition to the U.S.-backed ``road mapââ peace plan and called on the Palestinian Authority and the new Cabinet to continue terrorist acts uphold the Palestiniansâ right to resist the occupation.
Hamas simply doesn't know how to do anything else...
In the West Bank city of Nablus, about 5,000 thugs people from an array of Palestinian terrorist factions marched in support of Arafat and called for the intefadeh to continue. Hamas supporters carried miniature versions of an Israeli bus and warplane to the center of town and burned them. Dozens of people dressed as suicide bombers wore mock explosive belts. Rat bastards.
In Cairo, Egypt, nearly 300 people rallying to mark the anniversary called on the Egyptian government to open the door to a holy war against Israel, to expel the Israeli ambassador and to abolish the 1979 peace treaty between the two countries. The protesters were surrounded by at least 400 police officers in riot gear. Better than 1:1 ratio. Thatâs about right. Wonder if any batons and truncheons were used?
Israel says Arafatâs Palestinian Authority has done nothing to stop suicide bombings and other attacks by Palestinian militants. In response, it has refused to deal with the old goat Arafat and, along with the United States, pushed for the appointment of a Palestinian prime minister as part of an effort to weaken the leader. The first prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, resigned Sept. 6 after just four months in office after continuing struggles with Arafat over control of the security forces. Abbasâ replacement, Ahmed Qurei, is a longtime Arafat aide unlikely to challenge him. Since Qureiaâs not going to challenge the Fish, heâs an old drinking buddy.
On Saturday, grand kleagle Qurei presented his Cabinet choices to Arafat for review and then gave them to the Arafat-controlled Fatah movement for approval. The new Cabinet, expected to be approved by the Palestinian konklave parliament in the coming days, appears to resolve the conflict over the gang security forces in Muggsyâs Arafatâs favor. Security chief and Arafat rival Mohammed "Walking Dead" Dahlan has been left out of the new government. Instead, a longtime Arafat bum boyally, Maj. Gen. Nasser Yousef, was to become chief capo interior minister, putting him in charge of the security forces, Palestinian officials said. Under a new arrangement, Arafat will head a 12-member national security council that will pick bus routes and targets set policy and work with the interior minister. Yousef has worked with Arafat for nearly four decades. The replacement of Dahlan makes it even less likely the Palestinians will crack down on militant groups, as called for in the road map. Israel has said it will not work with a Cabinet controlled by Arafat. However, Sharon has said Qurei will be judged on his deeds. Amounts to the same thing.
In a further effort to weaken the Palestinian leader, Israelâs security Cabinet decided Sept. 11 to ``removeââ Arafat - interpreted as a threat to either expel or kill him. Sharon implied that action will be taken against Arafat if there is another major suicide bombing with heavy casualties. On Sunday night, Israeli soldiers began searching houses bordering Arafatâs Ramallah compound. Israelâs threat has greatly boosted Arafatâs flagging popularity among Palestinians, but Sharon has attributed the recent lull in major attacks to the threat. The Fish knows the Isrelis are serious.
Palestinian militant groups are concerned that if they launch an attack they could be blamed for Israeli action against Arafat; at the same time, the groups have spawned small cells that could act independently, Palestinian officials said. And after the Israelis whack the Fish, they should specify -- in great detail -- who was responsible. "It was Rantissi!" would be good enough. Then sit back and watch.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/29/2003 12:32:27 AM ||
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Nah, blame Dahlan. Get all the factions to shoot each other up, that's the only chance to let the rational ones take over (c'mon, they can't ALL be Arafat fans in Palestine, can they?)
Posted by: Baba Yaga ||
09/29/2003 1:56 Comments ||
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actually Dahlan's starting to sound like the voice of reason, saying the "armed struggle has been a mistake", which is why Arafat's left him out.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/29/2003 11:39 Comments ||
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Palestinian militant groups are concerned that if they launch an attack they could be blamed for Israeli action against Arafat; at the same time, the groups have spawned small cells that could act independently, Palestinian officials said.
The IDF needs to keep working on the bad leadership removal program, and the US needs to dry up the money. These guys cannot run on nothing, they need that back pocket money to keep booming.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/29/2003 15:03 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
